Todd McFarlane Sues Al Simmons For Saying He Inspired Al Simmons

Surprise, surprise, Spawn has spawned another lawsuit. Lawsuits seem to be the only thing Spawn is spawning these days — the book’s days of generating sales and reader interest being long since gone.

So, back before he went to hell and whatnot, Spawn was a black dude named Al Simmons. Turns out around the time of creating Spawn, Todd McFarlane was friends with a black dude named Al Simmons. McFarlane has never hid the fact he used his friend’s name for Spawn’s alter ego, and for years employed the real-life Simmons and turned a blind eye to his habit of dressing up like Spawn and signing autographs at conventions.

The Todd-ster even gave his blessing to a book by Simmons, “The Art of Being Spawn”. Well, apparently Simmons went too far for McFarlane’s comfort in the book, claiming he didn’t just inspire comic book Al Simmons’ name, but his character as well.

Frankly, this story is just kind of sad. Come on Todd, forget the lawsuit — nothing’s more valuable than friendship. Well, that’s not true, but friendship’s certainly more valuable than Spawn is these days.

via ComicsAlliance