Legal Matters

The FBI has amassed a 7,526 page file on cartoonist/essayist Molly Crabapple, as she tweeted the other day. Crabapple's lawyer has filed to see the papers under the Freedom of Information Act, and the FBI will reviews them 750 pages a month and pass along ones they deem fit for Crabapple to see.

What has Crabapple done to merit such attention?

On Friday New York City Mayor Bill deBlasio met with protestors to discuss their demands for police reform after the shocking death of Eric Garner and the controversial grand jury decision that followed. The...

The federal government is suing NYC over the treatment of teen-aged inmates at the legendary—and not in a good way— Riker's Island detention facility. The federal government plans to file a lawsuit against New York City...

Rat Queens co-creator Kurtis J. Wiebe has posted a statement regarding his co-creator Roc Upchurch's recent arrest for domestic violence after attacking his ex-wife. The upshot: Upchurch is off the book.

I've long been awaiting Jeff Trexler's analysis of the Marvel/Kirby Settlement, and he starts a two-part piece with Should the Kirby Family Have Settled? In case it hasn't been explicitly stated enough, it was Trexler's exploration of the potentially ground breaking work for hire aspects of the case that Kirby family attorney Marc Toberoff seems to have used to get the Supreme Court to even look at the case. To allow it to go to decision would have established an important precedent—but it was extremely risky for the Kirby heirs:

A graphic novel has become Exhibit A in the latest Obamacare controversy. Clear, simple, understandable, useful - those are just a few of the words that recurred in reviews of Health Care Reform: What It...

Some people are drug addicts. Others are food addicts. Some, plastic surgery addicts. Ed Kramer, co-founder of Dragon Con and convicted sex offender, is a lawsuit addict. After more than a decade of legal wrangling that kept him from standing child on molestation charges; and dozens of jailhouse law suits involving his health and religion that made keeping him incarcerated insanely expensive, he's back with a new law suit claiming that his conviction on child molestation charges last December should be overturned.

It looks like the results of last month's settlement in the Jacky Kirby lawsuit against Marvel has yielded swift results: Kirby and Stan Lee are now being given co-credit in books including Fantastic Four,...

Here's one of those matters where there are really no winners. The Wallace Wood Estate, which is administered by J. David Spurlock, the publisher of Vanguard Publishing, is suing Wood's ex-wife Tatjana Wood, for the possession some of 150-200 pages of Wood art. According to the complaint, the pages are worth between $2000-25,000 each.

Once again, Stan Lee Media, the shell company that does nothing but line the pockets os lawyers with frivolous lawsuits, has been dealt a blow in their attempt to take over the world. The 9th Court of Appeals ruled that no, Stan Lee Media doesn't not own Spider-Man.

While the harassment problems seems to have been put under control, by and large, there are a rather alarming number of reports of theft from the show, including this one, about a hand painted "Dunny" statue worth $2000 being stolen from a booth. The culprit was caught on tape taking the items at 7:25 after the show closed and fled on foot. I also saw tweets indicating that writer Amy Chu's laptop was stolen, and there's a report of an artist having some pages stolen as well. Thievery doesn't invite the same kind of "they were asking for it" response as other kinds of claims, but unfortunately, these incidents are a reminder that leaving valuable things lying around is not a good idea at a crowded con. It's also a sad comment on an otherwise peaceful crowd.

Attendees at this year's New York Comic Con are accustomed to giant-sized announcements for the latest entertainment, but this year a new sign greets visitors as they wander around the hype-encrusted Javits Center: branded...