When Spawn #9 came out in early 1993, it sported a cover price of $1.95. Right now at Mile High Comics, you can order a near mint copy for only a little bit more than that. But clearly, the contents of that installment are much more valuable than the physical comic itself.

That issue, guest written by Neil Gaiman, introduced Angela and Medieval Spawn, and induced a years-long maelstrom of legal battles between Gaiman and Spawn creator Todd McFarlane over the question of ownership. Back in 2002, a jury found that Gaiman was co-owner of Angela and Medieval Spawn — the Associated Press wrote a tidy recap of the situation, if you can get past that intro.

The latest development came late last week, as Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that McFarlane owes Gaiman for profits from Dark Ages Spawn, Tiffany and Domina — three characters ruled to be “derivative” of Gaiman’s creations. The ruling, available in PDF form over at The Beat, is surprisingly colorful, and shows that Crabb really dove into the legal back issue bin in rendering her decision:

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Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz’s run on Spider-Girl ends with August’s Spider-Girl: The End, but that’s not the last of their Marvel Comics work. DeFalco has been alluding to another project in the works with the publisher, and it looks like it’ll be a Thunderstrike limited series, starring the character DeFalco and Frenz created back in 1988 during their run on Thor.

The news comes from an unlikely source: a press release from New York Comic Con, on their initial crop of Artist Alley attendees. Of DeFalco, it reads: “He is currently writing a new Thunderstrike limited series with co-creator Ron Frenz.”

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