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Michael Anthony Moore, alleging he is co-creator of The Walking Dead comic on which the hit AMC series is based, has filed suit against his onetime partner Robert Kirkman, accusing him of promissory fraud, breach of written contract and other charges. Moore claims that Kirkman persuaded him to assign his rights on Walking Dead and other properties to a limited liability corporation controlled by Kirkman, who allegedly hasn’t shared any royalty or other payments for Walking Dead or any of the other works.
Reached by telephone for comment on the suit, Kirkman’s attorney Allen B. Grodsky told Deadline, “It’s pretty ridiculous. Mr. Moore is owed absolutely nothing. There is no fraud. No money owed. No credit.” He suggested that “when all is said and done Mr. Moore is going to end up paying Mr. Kirkman’s attorneys fees.” Additionally, Kirkman’s camp contends that Moore’s credit contractually and in the first six issues of the comic is listed as: penciler, inker, gray tones.
Moore asserts that in September 2005 he and Kirkman entered into the agreement which assigned Moore 60% of comic publishing net proceeds for The Walking Dead and another title Brit, 20% of all motion picture net proceeds for Walking Dead and Brit and 50% of all motion picture net proceeds in connection with another title Battle Pope. Moore says in the suit he was reluctant to enter into the agreement. But he claims Kirkman informed him that if he didn’t assign his rights as specified it would kill the “large television deal on the table” and no one would receive any money. Kirkman allegedly promised to pay Moore royalties and provide regular, accurate accountings. Moore claims that Kirkman has never paid any royalties or provided an accounting of profit or loss.
Moore seeks damages in association with his purported share of any money Kirkman has already received plus his any share of any money outstanding. He’s asking for a court order for Kirkman to provide complete and timely accounting as well as payment of accrued interest and court costs. You can read the lawsuit here.
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Woah. This will only get uglier.
Hollywood friends, the best kind.
Going to get interesting!
S
Moore quit after 12 issues and was replaced by Charlie Adlard who has drawn about 75 issues after that.
Actually, Moore was fired by Kirkman after 6 issues because he couldn’t deliver the work on time. They were already 6 weeks behind schedule by issue 6 (Moore’s last), and Kirkman couldn’t justify keeping him on — the series has never been that far behind in all the time Adlard has been drawing (issue 7 through present). And Moore was NOT a co-creator, he was a work-for-hire artist — and from what I hear from multiple sources, a lazy, second-rate one. Sad but not surprising that he’s trying to cash in on Kirkman’s success.
That you, Kirkman.
Nope, but I’ve worked with him. Truth hurts — right, Mr. Moore?
A ‘second rate’ artist? Are you kidding?? Have you actually SEEN the difference in quality between Moore’s work and Adlard’s? – ie: With the Moore issues I can actually tell the difference between the characters? Whatever else anyones opinions are on what is going on here (and most likely none of us will ever know – it’s just sad to see a friendship go down the gurgler over the almighty dollar – and a pretty damn creative one at that) I think you can hardly say Moore is a second rate artist
. as for people saying that an artist of a book, particularly in its opening stages, isnt a ‘creator’…well, who do you think gave us those iconic images of main characters that have translated into the show? Rick in his silly cop’s get up? Riding that horse into the ravaged city (OFTEN used in promos for the series…its on the cover of the DVD’s for chrissakes!!) I find it quite strange that people always give the artist half the credit of the writer…comics are VISUAL medium people…without the artists…you have a novel. go pick one of those up and create how the characters look in your own brain if you prefer…but in this case, I think it fair to say that, if you are the guy who comes up with the look of the main characters in the first issue, you have a claim to being a co-creator.
Not to diminish Adlard’s work, but Moore established the look of the comic. Directors who do a pilot of a TV show get a residual for every ensuing episode, because they established the style of the show. Whether or not Moore signed his rights away, I don’t know.
Why would you assign your rights to Kirkman if he’s threatening to blow up a big TV deal. Call his bluff. He doesn’t get anything unless he has a clean chain of title and without your signing off, he doesn’t have it. That said, Kirkman is not a straight shooter.
The dead may walk but the living will always sue.
The dead may never rise but the living will always sue. If only it were the other way around…
The living may never rise but the dead will always sue? Wtf?
If the allegations are even remotely true, there is a very large check that will be changing hands in a very short amount of time.
Fun Fact: Kirkman has acknowledged openly that he originally was just going to call the series NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, as it is a pretty straight up sequel to George Romero’s classic film. He changed it for the same reason he considered using that title in the first place- there’s no copyright protection because the film is now public domain.
I’m pretty sure NO ONE involved with THE WALKING DEAD has ever considered cutting a check to Romero- or ever will.
Tony Moore is a fantastic artist, and I think his work on the first year of the book helped the book find the audience it did (even though another great artist, Charlie Adlard, has drawn the majority of the issues). It’s sad to see a great success story for three independent comic creators turn into this.
Hey cst, I’m no defender of Kirkman’s character… But Romero has publicly acknowledged ripping of I Am Legend when he wrote Night Of The Living Dead. I think Kirkman really ripped off Zach Snyder’s remake of Dawn Of The Dead.
S
The comic came out in 2003. Snyder’s remake came out in 2004.
Yeah, I was gonna say… yer an idiot, chopper! I mean, isn’t that what remakes are anyway? Glorified rip-offs?! haha
Of course, NOW that the series is popular, everyone wants a piece of the pie… If Moore was really owed anything, he would’ve piped up sooner about royalties: like right after the first episode aired.
Exactly what I was thinking.
You never know. Maybe he tried to settle out of court and got shut out.
To make things sadder, Moore and Kirkman were best friends in high school and started working on comics together when they were 15.
That’s life in tinsel town: Best friends until one gets thrown under the bus.
Doesn’t this all come down to what the LLC’s Operating Agreement says? I’m assumming Kirkman’s people drew it up with terms favorable to their client. But did Moore have a lawyer review it before he signed? If so, did the lawyer know what he/she was doing or was he/she a complete idiot?
If what Moore’s saying is true, I feel for the guy. It’s S.O.P. to bully artists into giving away their rights with the whole “if you don’t sign now we’ll both lose everything!” argument. Sadly, that line is often uttered by a collaborator or friend.
Hope justice is done here. If the courts don’t work, there’s always trial by combat…
It depends. Operating agreements are for companies. Sometimes the operating agreement specifies the work of the company such as producing the film X. However, most operating agreements are more general and specify who the members are, whether there is a managing member or not, who can bind the company legally, how decisions are made and stuff like that.
How do you know? Are your “sources” other comic fanboys or did you actually work alongside them? Even if you did, unless you heard their conversations relating directly to this issue then you don’t know shit. It’s one man’s word against another’s. If blown deadlines were a crime then nearly all of Image comics’ creators/owners would be locked up. Back in the 90′s they were the biggest names and (some of them) talent in the business and they had months (and in some
cases years) between issues. I will concede that he was a fool to trust him and sign the agreement if he was in fact entitled to a co-creator title and owner share.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but Moore’s work was vastly superior to Adlards. His characters more expressive and distinct, his zombies were some of the best every drawn. I almost quit the book when Adlard came on board, I thought the change was that bad. It was no wonder Adlard could get it done faster because he literally was putting half the ink and detail on the page that Moore did.
The few times I seen Kirkman in interviews he has kind of struck me as a prick.
Speak for yourself. I think Aldard’s art is much better. It’s more gritty and atmospheric while Moore’s art comes across as “cartoonish.” I’ll acknowledge that his zombies looked amazing though.
You are a bonafide imbecile if you think Adlard’s artwork is much better than Moore. While I continue to purchase the comics on a regular basis, I still cringe at the artwork because, compared to Moore’s, it is a load of garbage. Moore’s artwork is what got me into the series in the first place.
Ditto…think ive said it earlier on, but Adlards work better than Moores? Not to get into a mud slinging comp (good art IS in the eye of the beholder and each to their own)…but….c’mon!! you can’t even tell who’s who sometimes!!! Plastering the page with ink to cover up the bits you cant be bothered/find too difficult to draw doesnt impress me either
I continue to buy it coz i’m hooked into the story now…but if Adlard hadve started on pencils I can honestly say I doubt I wouldve taken the time to become hooked. Again, each to their own I guess haha….
Given these claimed agreements were for Moore to receive net proceeds, he would still end up with doodly squat, zip, zilch and nada. Which also just happens to be the name of a law firm in Fresno. Maybe.
Kirkman strikes me as one of those Mark Millar-style writers that are cropping up more and more now that comics can make creators big bucks … good with ideas and self-promotion, poor at writing (he even hired a ghost writer for a novel spin-off of The Walking Dead), not hesistant to trample on people when they see an opportunity to make money.
These are just the impressions I get from reading his work and his interviews. Only he and Tony Moore known exactly how much each of them is entitled to when it came to creating The Walking Dead. I’m sure Kirkman has his bases well-covered, though.
Tony Moore is a great artist in my opinion, but if you look at his work history there’s some major screw ups going on. He’s been replaced on TWD, Ghostrider, Punisher, and Venom. Either this guy is an extremely slow drawer or just a lazy self-destructive a-hole. He’s going to get himself blackballed for this lawsuit. Stupid. What a waste of talent.
shit. I just began to read the comics and was very disappointed when I saw that the artist changed. Moore’s work was way superior to the paintings since issue #7. Like one person before, I thought about quitting first. imo Adlard’s style is very… huh… average.
Image comics changed a lot! They used to hold the line that artists were creators in their own rights. I really doubt Tony Moore was work for hire. Indeed he shouldn’t have signed and reverse the threat, “you assign me rights or your TV deal falls through anyway”
The lawyer saying Moore isn’t owed anything is ridiculous. Will the Image partners ask Kirkman to resign over this scandal?
Everything depends on what the contract says and there are four valid elements to a contract: offer/acceptance, consideration, legality of purpose and having the mental capacity to enter into one. Further, this agreement pertains to copyrighted work so it really depends on the contract because Copyright Law is very specific about “work made for hire.”
If what Moore is saying is not written in a contract/agreement, he’s just plain out of luck. Business Law 101 is very explicit about oral contracts over a certain dollar amount. Of course, if what he’s claiming is in a contract, he’ll be collecting a check instead of paying for lawyer’s fees and court costs.
Net profit deals seldom pan out, why they should be avoided.
What a net-profit contract actually does is put you at the very end of the chow line, where you must wait for your dollop of gruel while watching everyone else eat. And anyone can cut in — step to the front, even — and take what’s contractually yours — some of it, or all, all your portion if the unit accountants are instructed to allow it by the executive producers). Happens all the time … .
That’s why you get your money up-front, or — if your agent can swing it — as a series of guaranteed payouts over a period of time, leaving nothing contingent. If your agent can’t negotiate that kind of arrangement it means you haven’t got the juice. It means they probably don’t think they’ll need you again; in which case, the rule is simple: “take the money and run”.
Moore a co-creator? Because he created the “look”? For six issues? And what did he create that from — Kirkman’s words on a page.
Which he read, and drew.
You know what other words on the page he should have read?
His contract.
To paraphrase Bendis: no one told him to sign the thing.
Do people ever go: “Wow, this script/toy/business idea really took off. I’m making out like a bandit. I’m going to give my friend who helped me/business partner a big chunk as a thank you for helping me get here”? Why is it always, “I’m going to forget you exist until you sue me then I’ll hire a lawyer to completely destroy you or else drag out this thing until Ragnarok so you get zilch”?
It’s not like he can ask for more than the contract says he agreed to take. How does he suddenly not deserve anything? Even if there was no contract for any of it, what kind of person just dismisses another artist’s contribution to their success however small they deem it?
If the comic was released in 2003, and the battle pope got a crappy little TV deal in 2008… Why only now to we hear anything about this artist? Seems like a long time wait for a lawsuit, also seems a bit desperate.