Invincible artist sues Robert Kirkman for allegedly duping him out of profits

Invincible, an animated series about the son of the world’s strongest and most famous superhero, has become a hit for Amazon. The first season was a ton of fun, and there’s already more on the way.

But there’s some legal trouble when it comes to the original Invincible comic book, which was created by The Walking Dead author Robert Kirkman. William Crabtree, who served as the colorist on the first 50 issues of the comic, is suing Kirkman for allegedly defrauding him out of profits from the Amazon series, per The Hollywood Reporter.

According to the complaint, Kirkman and Crabtree had an oral agreement that granted Crabtree 20 percent of single sale proceeds of Invincible and 10 percent of any revenue generated from “other film or television commercial exploitation of the Work together with any derivative projects based on the Work and any allied or ancillary rights in the Work.” In other words, Crabtree is supposed to get 10% of any TV shows or movies based on the comic.

But when it came to putting the agreement in writing, Crabtree says that Kirkman induced him to sign over his rights via a “Certificate of Authorship” that characterized all of Crabtree’s contributions as having been done on a “work-for-hire” basis. Kirkman’s argument, according to the complaint, was that painting Invincible as having been created by a single person would make it easier to sell to TV studios, but that Crabtree’s financial interests would remain unchanged.

And indeed, after Crabtree signed the document, Kirkman continued to pay him for comic sales and in connection with motion comic produced by MTV and a television and film option picked up by Paramount Pictures. But when the Amazon series came along, Kirkman told Crabtree that he had signed away his ownership interests in the series and wasn’t entitled to any profits. When Crabtree pointed out that he’d been paid in accordance with the original oral agreement for the MTV and Paramount deals, Kirkman called those payments “bonuses” that he paid out of the goodness of his heart.

If Kirkman paid Crabtree parts of the profits from the comics and other screen projects before denying him the same thing for the Amazon show, it could be a problem for him at court. Crabtree wants a judgment that he is a joint author of Invincible, an accounting of what he’s owed and punitive damages.

William Crabtree is the second comics artist to sue Robert Kirkman like this

This isn’t the first time Kirkman has been caught up in this kind of legal thicket. Back in 2012, artist Tony Moore sued Kirkman for allegedly tricking him out of an ownership interest in The Walking Dead comic. That suit was settled on undisclosed terms.

In fact, the same lawyer who represented Moore in that case — Devin McRae — is representing Crabtree now. He’s kind of making a specialty of this. “Fraud and deceit has become a standard business practice for Kirkman and is apparently where his true creative aptitude lies,” the complaint reads.

We’ll see if this suit ends any differently than the last one. In the meantime, Amazon has ordered two more seasons of Invincible, although we don’t know when we’ll see more episodes.

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