Legal Matters

Ed Kramer remains a shadowy figure in the fandom community. The founder of Dragon*Con, which has morphed into an adult fantasy fair of costuming and (sometimes) more, he's also an accused sex offender, charged with molesting two teenaged boys who stayed over at his house 12 years ago. A new piece in Atlanta Magazine profiles Kramer and reveals that he's been successfully battling those charges for all 12 years by pretending to be too ill to go to trial—so successfully that he was able to go to Connecticut and get access to another 14-year-old boy:

So I've been on vacation (on and off) for the last two weeks and hadn't been paying too much attention to the internet—a wonderful activity that I highly recommend every six months or so. On the way home from a wedding I was surprised to learn that the man I call "John V." seems to have become the focus of concentrated internet outrage for a day or so—and I couldn't be more thrilled. John V., a message board poster who uses rotating IPs to avoid filters, has been haunting the comment boards of female writers for over two years. A few months ago, for whatever reason, he seems to have started using Twitter as a base for his insults and rape-obsessed ragings. As you can see from the above, about a month ago he made a series of posts aimed at me, Tom Spurgeon, DCWKA's Sue, Jill Pantozzi and a few others that shocked quite a few people. Although John V. is clearly a misogynist with a deep hatred of women, he also seemed to have a mad on for men of comics like Spurgeon.

Abusive attacks via Twitter aren't new, but have certainly increased in media visibility over the past few months. Racist and sexist comments and threats...

By Steve Morris In these dark times, it's hard to tell right from wrong anymore. Our heroes are being arrested and demasked in public, whilst...

Here's a new one for the comics-related crime blotter: A Utah teen has been arrested and charged with aggravated assault after he used replica Wolverine claws to attack a friend. No one knows why Kristofer Ryan Huff, 19, set into his 20-year-old roommate with the claws....and also a knife. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that the victim was dating Huff's mother, who was also injured in the attack.

[On Monday, US District judge Otis Wright cancelled a hearing on the case of the Joe Shuster estate's claim for his half of the copyright to Superman. This led many observers to think a decision was near. The Beat's legal expert, Jeff Trexler explains it's just not that simple.]

Well, if you wondered if tensions were going to deescalate between former collaborators and childhood friends Tony Moore and Robert Kirkman after Moore filed a suit to collect what he alleges are his fair share of the profits from the Walking Dead comics and TV show, the answer is "HELL NO." Moore has actually filed a SECOND suit claiming that he should be named joint author of THE WALKING DEAD, BATTLE POPE, BRIT, DEAD PLANET and MY NAME IS ABRAHAM. (The latter two are comics as yet unpublished but developed by the two when they were friends.)

In an interesting move, it looks like Marvel might extend 20th Century's 'Daredevil' contract... on the condition that Fox return certain Fantastic Four characters back to them.

By Jeff Trexler

-- Whatever the merits of the latest summary judgment motion in the dispute over the Superman copyright, its supporting exhibits bring together a number of important documents in two accessible filings.

By Jeff Trexler

-- Other comic news sites are reporting a bombshell development in DC's legal fight to hold onto the Superman copyright: on Monday, the company filed a court document asserting that the Shuster estate had actually sold its share of the Superman copyright back to DC in 1992 and affirmed this sale in subsequent correspondence.

The strange affair of The Oatmeal Vs. Funny Junk Vs. Funny Junk's lawyer has ended. Maybe. The suit was dismissed this week, but it's not quite as cut and dried as that. What? You were expecting simple answers in this affair?

As reported by the AP yesterday, the ugly legal battle between Archie Comics's two co-ceo's has ended with a sealed settlement. As you'll recall, Jon Goldwater and Nancy Silberkleit had been engaged in a weird battle that involved restraining orders, enforcers and penises. But...it's all legally mandated smiles now after a mediator got the two to work things out: