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[explodet]

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1218mcfarlane18.html

A multimillion-dollar jury award against Todd McFarlane, a Valley businessman who has made headlines for buying home-run baseballs, appears to have pushed his comic-book company into Bankruptcy Court.

Tempe-based Todd McFarlane Productions Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Phoenix on Friday, listing a $15 million claim by former National Hockey League player Tony Twist as the largest creditor.

In July, a St. Louis Circuit Court jury awarded Twist, a former St. Louis Blues player, $15 million after concluding that McFarlane and his company profited by using Twist's name without permission and Twist's publicity rights were infringed. McFarlane gave the name Antonio "Tony Twist" Twistelli to a violent New York mob boss character in his Spawn comic books in the early 1990s.

 

[belgurdo]

Who to hate? McFarlane, for wasting his cash on junk like baseballs, or Twist, who is a whiny conceited fuckup ?

 

[number386]

The only person who hates barry bonds more than mark maguire is probably todd mcfarlane :lol

 

[thefit]

Spawn sucked it an its new over exagerated art direction influence on comics suck.

 

[belgurdo]

Spawn sucked it an its new over exagerated art direction influence on comics suck.

thanks for sharing

 

[teepo]

is this the same company that makes the action figures?

 

[MASB]

lol. I came in here thinking it was Neil Gaiman winning his lawsuit against Todd that make have contributed to this. Todd is so.... whatever.

 

[Mermandala]

Who to hate? McFarlane, for wasting his cash on junk like baseballs, or Twist, who is a whiny conceited fuckup ?

exsmacktly.

very easy to "hate" Mcfarlane - but this lawsuit - Spawn, thanks to Mutual of Omaha, is always associated with salmon porn. but we don't need to pay the fish.

 

[evil ways]

is this the same company that makes the action figures?

Todd McFarlane Productions owns McFarlane Toys.

I'm not surprised he's broke, he spent all that money on some baseballs while the comic has been shit for quite some time now and the McFarlane Toys Sports line is literally gathering dust at every bargain bin or shelf that carries them.

They have about 7 different toy lines and 4 of those have been near failures for a while now. The only thing they can sell are the Spawn toys and a few of the more popular Movie Maniacs characters.

 

[shantyman]

Are you serious? The sports lines are great sellers over all.

 

[shuri]

What the fuck is the link between a baseball player who's last name seems to be Twist and some sort of comic book character named Tony Twist for Tony Twistelly. Unless of course, Tony Twists used a baseball bat as his trademark weapon.

The next moviemonster line is going to be YET ANOTHER PREDATOR VS ALIENS series. They needed to stop that shit. The latest collection was shit too

 

[belgurdo]

What the fuck is the link between a baseball player who's last name seems to be Twist and some sort of comic book character named Tony Twist for Tony Twistelly. Unless of course, Tony Twists used a baseball bat as his trademark weapon.

The next moviemonster line is going to be YET ANOTHER PREDATOR VS ALIENS series. They needed to stop that shit. The latest collection was shit too

*somethingawful grinning educated smiley thing* Twist is a hockey player

 

[Rorschach]

When I read the title I thought to myself "'bout time" but 15 million dollars for this shitty lawsuit? What. The. Fuck. I thought that shit was dropped years ago? Did they re-open the case? This is utter bullshit.

 

[The Shadow]

Neil Gaiman saiz F U Todd!!!

 

[Manabanana]

McFarlane is a hack. I can't believe his shitty character design made it into Soul Calibur. I'm sure this filing for chapter 11 won't mean too much, but I hope it's just the beginning of his way out.

 

[nomoment]

Here's a list of unsecured creditors...

Angel Medina, artist, $3,960.00
Brian Haberlin, artist, $13,600.00
Brian Holgiun, artist, $8,800.00
Comicraft, letterers, $2,200.00
Danny Miki, artist, $4,070.00
Greg Capullo, artist, $18,250.00
Greg Scott, artist, $1,750.00
Jay Fotos, artist, $5,600.00
McFarlane Toys (intercompany debt), $683,901.55
Neil Gaiman, litigation claim, unknown
Tom Orzechowski, artist, $2,200.00
Tony Twist, litigation claim, disputed, $15,000,000.00

Hmm... Neil Gaiman, huh?

 

[ShadowRed]

You gotta be fucking kidding me. So if I name a character Samuel "Sammy" Davis and he's a mob guy not a dancer/singer, I can get sued for that. You gotta be kidding me, there must be more to it than that. Did Todd model the physical characteristics of Twist after the real guy?

 

[SKluck]

As long as this doesn't put the toy company in danger, I don't care.

 

[Ramirez]

I needs my sports toys!

 

[Belfast]

Creative bankruptcy, am i rite?

 

[jett]

Spawned.

 

[Mainline]

I still can't belive that Tony Twist won his lawsuit, the names are sort of similar, EXCEPT THEY ARE DIFFERENT.

 

[G4life98]

I wonder if he is gonna be forced to sell spawn

 

[thefit]

Creative bankruptcy, am i rite?

:lol

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

Todd McFarlane. Nowadays his artwork looks very average. This may be due to the fact that for a good 5 or 6 year period, every other comic penciler copied his style.

No doubt he had a huge influence on the evolution of Spider-Man in the early 90's, but Todd isn't all he's cracked up to be.

 

[Matlock]

Where are your worthless balls now, McFarlane?

 

[shantyman]

I am a fan of McFarlane Toys, and not him as a comic artist any more, but why do so many people hate this guy???

 

[SpoonyBard]

I hated his style already in Spider-Man.

 

[ShadowRed]

Spowned.

fixed

 

[belgurdo]

I am a fan of McFarlane Toys, and not him as a comic artist any more, but why do so many people hate this guy???

From what I gleamed from other sites, he was a cornerstone of the founding of Image Comics (whose beginning belief was in having creators that worked for them retain full rights to their characters) and after a while Todd broke this philosophy by laying claim to many writers'/artists' creations. Miracleman is apparently the apex of this hoopla

 

[ShadowRed]

From what I gleamed from other sites, he was a cornerstone of the founding of Image Comics (whose beginning belief was in having creators that worked for them retain full rights to their characters) and after a while Todd broke this philosophy by laying claim to many writers'/artists' creations. Miracleman is apparently the apex of this hoopla

Miricleman has already bee decided. Gaiman got the rights back, but he had to entire into an agreement to give a portion of the rights to Marvel, as they paid for his legal costs.

 

[Guileless]

This has nothing to do with McFarlane buying baseballs with his personal money. This is his company filing for Chapter 11 reorganization. Businesses do this all the time when there is a large tort judgement against them because it temporarily prevents all creditors and lien holders from collecting their debts. Spawn will still be published and McFarlane won't be auctioning off his baseballs.

 

[Atari2600]

What a jerk. Your company has made hundreds of millions, and to save some cash, you file. This country is a mess. That's why car insurance is so high, health insurance is so expensive - nobody is accountable for anything and everybody sues everybody. Ugh.

 

[shantyman]

Umm, a rather frivolous lawsuit filed by Tony Twist is what lead to this. Does anyone even know what chapter 11 is? It allows him to restructure while being protected from claims and lawsuits.

WHAT IS CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY?


Chapter 11 is typically used for business bankruptcies and restructuring. It is not commonly used by individual consumers since it is far more complex and expensive to pursue. It allows businesses to reorganize themselves, giving them an opportunity to restructure debt and get out from under certain burdensome leases and contracts. Typically a business is allowed to continue to operate while it is in Chapter 11, although it does so under the supervision of the Bankruptcy Court and its appointees.

 

[radioheadrule83]

REPENT.

 

[Apharmd Battler]

What the heck happened?

 

[jiggle]

From what I gleamed from other sites, he was a cornerstone of the founding of Image Comics (whose beginning belief was in having creators that worked for them retain full rights to their characters) and after a while Todd broke this philosophy by laying claim to many writers'/artists' creations. Miracleman is apparently the apex of this hoopla

Including Angela right? I think i read about that somewhere.

 

[duckroll]

This has nothing to do with McFarlane buying baseballs with his personal money. This is his company filing for Chapter 11 reorganization. Businesses do this all the time when there is a large tort judgement against them because it temporarily prevents all creditors and lien holders from collecting their debts. Spawn will still be published and McFarlane won't be auctioning off his baseballs.

What a waste.

 

[Atari2600]

Yeah, the lawsuit is rather frivolous, but it is his name, he is a celebrity, and he did tell them to stop using his name. They should have just stopped or given him a few bucks.

And yes, buying baseballs has something to do with it. I don't know what he was making from his comapanies, but obviously he was paying himself too much and not putting enough back into them. A lawsuit like that shouldn't be enough to force them into Chapter 11.

 

[FortNinety]

There is really something to be said about a person when, after working with him, even for a short bit of time, that no one can stand the man.

I know many people are quite happy with this news. Everyone's attitude is the same: karma will bite you in the ass if you deserve it.

 

[Dsal]

He always sounded like he had down's syndrome or something. Which would explain a lot.

 

[soundwave05]

I this that lawsuit was bullsh-t, $5 million in damages? Gimme a break.

What did he suffer "emotional distress" for having his name used somewhat for a comic book character?

 

[Flynn]

He's been bankrupt of talent since day one.

 

[Atari2600]

Boo yah.

 

[Fatghost]

I hope he's been putting his money into seg funds.

 

[FortNinety]

He always sounded like he had down's syndrome or something. Which would explain a lot.

Na, he's just really Canadian.

I kid! I kid!