By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Tony Moore, the man who pencilled the first six issues of The Walking Dead, and did the covers for the first 24 issues, is now suing series writer Robert Kirkman for as much as half the proceeds spawned from the franchise.

According to the law suit, filed February 9 in the Los Angeles Superior Court, Moore claims he was duped into signing over his interest in the content to Kirkman. Moore says he signed over his rights to The Walking Dead in 2005, when Kirkman claimed a major TV deal was on the table, but wouldn’t be able to be completed without Moore surrendering his interest. Believing the deal would fall through, Moore apparently signed over his right. Since then, Moore says he has been given very little compensation from his work on The Walking Dead, and has had no access to profit statements.

The suit reads: “Each of these works was prepared by [Moore] and Kirkman with the intention that their contributions be merged into inseparable or independent parts of a unitary whole. [Moore] and Kirkman were thus joint authors and co-owners of the copyrights in these works.”

Kirkman’s attorney calls the suit “totally frivolous. Mr. Moore is owed no money at all. And Mr. Moore’s contract has an attorneys’ fees clause in it so we will be going after him to collect attorneys’ fees. We are taking this matter very seriously.”

Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Image from AMCTV.com.