Legal Rights
In 1993 McFarlane contracted Neil Gaiman (along with three other recognized authors, Alan Moore, Dave Sim, and Frank Miller) to write one issue of Spawn. While doing so, Gaiman introduced the characters Angela, Cogliostro, and Medieval Spawn. All three characters were co-created and designed by series creator Todd McFarlane. All continued to be featured in the series after Gaiman's involvement, and some had tie-ins with McFarlane's toy company. Cogliostro had a prominent role in the live-action movie in 1997. McFarlane had initially agreed that Gaiman retained creator rights on the characters, but later claimed that Gaiman's work had been work-for-hire and that McFarlane owned all of Gaiman's co-creations entirely, pointing to the legal indicia in Spawn #9 and the lack of legal contract stating otherwise. McFarlane had also refused to pay Gaiman for the volumes of Gaiman's work he republished and kept in print. In 2002, Gaiman filed suit and won a sizeable judgement against McFarlane and Image Comics for the rights due any creator. All three characters are currently co-owned 50/50 by both men.
Read more about this topic: Angela (comics)
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