A lot of people don’t realize the value in comic books. Not so much for their acadmic or cultural value, but the sheer volume of business they do. And because of that, the copyrights in those works are very valuable as well.
Take for example the on-going fight between Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane. Who are they you ask? Gaiman is a famous science fiction writer and McFarlane is a comic book artist known for his work on Spiderman and Spawn. The heart of the dispute is three minor characters in the Spawn comic book series, as well as a valuation of three other characters that McFarlane admits is Gaiman’s.
Remember, this case has been on-going since 2002.
The lesson to be learned is to make sure anything that you have that might be copyrightable you get taken care of on the front end. Trying to negociate dollars after everything is said and done is very time consuming and wasteful.
Joel McTague's Blog 