eRemember the epic lawsuit filed by Comicsgate founding father Richard C. Meyer against comic book writer Mark Waid for defamation and tortious interference? Yeah, about that. Meyer dropped the lawsuit. What started with much fanfare ended with a mostly silent whimper.
I’m subscribed to Meyer’s YouTube channel. He stopped asking for donations to his lawsuit against Waid after December 17. Videos published after 17 December did not have a link to his lawsuit donation page.
The two men released a joint statement announcing the dismissal. Meyer published the joint statement on his Patreon page on 22 December, but you cannot read it unless you donate at least $1.
Waid published the joint statement on his GoFundMe page. Unlike Meyer, you don’t have to pay Waid any money to read it.
The Richard C. Meyer and Mark Waid joint statement
Here is the joint statement:
On September 19, 2018, plaintiff Richard Meyer filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas against defendant Mark Waid that asserted claims of tortious interference with contract and defamation arising out of the intended publication of a comic book by Antarctic Press entitled Jawbreakers.’ Following jurisdictional discovery and motions practice, a First Amended Complaint was filed on July 24, 2019.
Since the filing of the lawsuit, Jawbreakers’ has been successfully published and COVID-19 has significantly impacted the world around us. Upon consideration of all the circumstances, the parties have jointly decided that it is in the best interests of all concerned, and the comic book community at large, for this litigation to end and Mr. Meyer has decided to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit. Neither party has admitted any liability or responsibility, can claim to have achieved any victory and both have agreed to assume their own fees and costs.
With the dismissal of the lawsuit, the parties have executed a confidential agreement and have no interest in continuing this dispute in the public arena or anywhere else.
I thought Richard C. Meyer had a GoFundMe page, too. It appears he doesn’t. He has a Patreon page.
I thought the lawsuit had merit in that Mark Waid attempted to torpedo Meyer’s deal with Antarctic Press. Antarctic Press decided not to publish Meyer’s book. Whether Waid’s attempt was what caused Antarctic Press to terminate the contract with Meyer was for a judge to decide. Until it wasn’t.
What were Richard C. Meyer’s damages?
The problem with the lawsuit, as I saw it, was determining damages. Richard C. Meyer had no damages. Far from it. Not publishing his book with Antarctic Press turned out to be a huge economic windfall for Meyer. He self-published the comic and sold it directly to consumers on Indiegogo at a much higher price than he could have commanded by publishing it through Antarctic Press. It grossed over $400,000 on Indiegogo and kicked off a lucrative self-publishing career on the platform.
Richard Meyer should thank both Antarctic Press and Waid for doing what they did. He should send Waid a gift basket every Christmas containing fancy soaps and lotions, not sue him.
I wish Mark Waid would try to sabotage my career.