With the latest court rulings once again going against Todd, I an once more struck by how unnecessary this all is. All Todd needed to do was keep his initial promises to Neil. In a company that was founded on the basis of honoring creator rights, I would have to say–to use “Dark Tower” Gunslinger parlance–that Todd McFarlane has forgotten the face of his father.
What I found interesting, though, was the judge’s commentary on whether a subsequent Spawn was derivative of Neil’s work:
“If defendant really wanted to differentiate the new Hellspawn, why not make him a Portugese explorer in the 16th century; an officer of the royal Navy in the 18th century, an idealistic recruit of Simon Bolivar in the 19th century, a companion of Odysseus on his voyages, a Roman gladiator, a younger brother of Emperor Nakamikado in the early 18th century, a Spanish conquistador, an aristocrat in the Qing dynasty, an American Indian warrior or a member of the court of Queen Elizabeth I? It seems far more than coincidence that Dark Ages (McFarlane) Spawn is a knight from the same century as Medieval (Gaiman) Spawn.”
Am I the only one who thinks those are some REALLY good ideas? When all this is over, Todd may want to seriously consider hiring the judge to develop characters for him. He just better be dámņëd sure to pay her.
And for anyone who thinks that this posting is entirely too favorable to Gaiman, and that I’m giving him a free pass in all this, well…uhm…
Neil…get a haircut.
Seriously. Check out the picture (along with the detailed coverage) at Maggie Thompson’s blog.
PAD
Originally published July 30, 1993, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1028
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