Daniel Best digs up the bankruptcy court proceedings for Todd McFarlane Inc. and notes that the $2.2 million settlement includes $1.1 million set aside for the “Gaiman Settlement (Class 4).” As Best notes, this is not necessarily the amount of money that Neil Gaiman received, since lawyers fees were to come out of the money.
You’ll recall that in this gigantic, epoch-spanning battle, the settlement amount was based on monies owed Gaiman for creating the characters Angela and Medieval Spawn…and for the profits from derivative characters, including Dark Ages Spawn, Domina, and Tiffany. The details of the actual settlement were private, but this one blanket number on a separate legal matter could indicate any number of things.
However, Best suggests that the one thing it does mean is that…it’s over.
In summary, the Reorganized Debtor has substantially consummated the Plan, and has met all conditions to closing this chapter 11 case. Accordingly, the Reorganized Debtor respectfully submits that a final decree should be entered in this chapter 11 case.” The court has accepted that and, on the 24th of April, duly closed the Chapter 11 case once and for all.
I’ve updated my Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane: The Story So Far (March 1993 – May 2012) post, hopefully for the very last time. There is one *tiny* little thing that needs to be clarified, but I’m sure that it’ll never come to anything – those Miracleman trademark filings that McFarlane did on the 11th of July 2010, which were pending some sort of final resolution of the rights to the name. But they can’t have got this far without clearing that one up, can they? I’m presuming not, and that this really really is the end.
Love Todd amcFarlane. Spawn was the first comic I ever read when I was in middle school, but the man shouldn’t have tried to cheat Gaiman out of royalties. The lawsuits just weren’t worth it.
Settlement $1.1 million
less lawyer fees of 1,099,998.75
Well, wait, if this came up during a bankruptcy filing, does this mean Gaiman might never get the money because MacFarlane doesn’t have it?
Nope, this is the payments that are being made *after* Todd comes out of bankruptcy, and includes a payment of $1,1000,000 that has been made to Neil Gaiman. So it’s now done and over with, it seems, after a very long history.
Well, “over” if you trust McFarlane to be honest in accounting for royalties in the future. Show of hands anyone who would put money on McFarlane’s future honesty?