My esteemed colleague, Monsieur Evanier, on his website takes to task those in the industry whom he feels displayed excessive joy (although he used a fancy shmancy German word for it) over another’s misfortune when Todd McFarlane initially was on the receiving end of a multi-million dollar judgment against him. Seems TMcF thought it would be funny to name a gangster character after real life hockey player Tony Twist in the SPAWN comic and TV show. Twist didn’t think it was funny, sued him, and brought in testimony stating he’d lost $100,000 in endorsements because of it. Jury awarded him a ludicrous amount of money. The judge subsequently tossed out the jury verdict, and the appeals court just supported the judge. Mark believes this to be a Good Thing and a triumph for the First Amendment.
Mark, of course, has this luxury. He, after all, wasn’t portrayed as a member of the Ku Klux Klan, as I was in an issue of SPAWN. To me, it was never a First Amendment issue. It was a “Todd’s being a jerk” issue. Yes, the First Amendment defends Todd’s right to be a jerk, but not at someone else’s monetary expense. The courts felt “no reasonable person” could confuse Twist with the comic book character. Oddly, to my mind, no reasonable person could confuse a soap opera actress with her character, yet actresses portraying bad girls get slapped in public by irate soap fans. No reasonable person could think “Harry Potter” can lead a child to witchcraft, yet the book is banned from some school systems and libraries. No reasonable person could find OJ Simpson innocent, yet he’s out playing golf. No reasonable person could think that a comic book store selling adult comics to adults presents a danger to the town, yet stores are shuttered, store managers arrested and lives disrupted.
We do not live in a reasonable society. And the question is whether Todd McFarlane, now having hidden behind the skirts of the First Amendment, will take greater efforts to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund…or will just see this as a vindication and empowerment to screw over other people, such as Neil Gaiman.
I think we all know the answer to that.
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