Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane at Legal Odds…Again

In a story that could also appeared under the headline, "Judge Compares Slutty Angels for Acclaimed Novelist," Neil Gaiman has returned to court over a copyright dispute with Todd McFarlane regarding characters he created for the "Spawn" series nearly two decades ago. Gaiman won a lawsuit granting him respective royalties associated with "Spawn" characters he and McFarlane co-created in the early '92 back in 2002, but now according to the Wisconsin State Journal Gaiman's trying to figure out how much money he's owed for current characters he alleges are derivative of he and McFarlane's originals including Medieval Spawn/Dark Ages Spawn and Angela/Tiffany/Domina (which we've arranged action figure images of below).

Rather than take the matter to trial just yet, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ordered an evidentiary hearing to take place on June 14. Crabb recognized the plausibility of Gaiman's legal claim with the following, fairly amusing, statement:

Angela, Tiffany and Domina "are warrior angels with voluptuous physiques, long hair and mask-like eye makeup," Crabb wrote. "Their 'uniforms' consist of thong bikinis, garters, wide weapon belts, elbow-length gloves and poorly adjusted armor bras."

I don't really have anything to add, other than that I still kind of find it bizarre that an author as acclaimed as Neil Gaiman ever had anything to do with "Spawn." What's more bizarre, though, is reading a judge's comparison of slutty angels on his behalf.[Via The Beat]