Names and faces

A producer won a British court victory Friday over Monty Python for a bigger share of royalties from the stage musical Spamalot. Mark Forstater filed a High Court lawsuit against the anarchic comedians over the show, which is based on the 1975 movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Forstater produced the film, and his lawyers claimed it was agreed that he would be “treated as the seventh Python” financially, entitled to the same share of Holy Grail merchandising and spinoff income as the other members. That amounts to one-seventh of the first 50 percent of income from Spamalot, but lawyers for the Python troupe said he was entitled only to one-fourteenth. Judge Alastair Norris ruled in favor of Forstater in his suit against the five surviving Pythons: Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, John Cleese and Terry Gilliam. The sixth member of the troupe, Graham Chapman, died in 1989. Forstater, 69, said he was happy with the judgment and estimated he was entitled to more than the equivalent of about $300,000. The exact amount will be decided at future hearings. Members of the Python troupe were not in court for Friday’s judgment. There was no word on whether they would appeal.

It is the comic book cover that captured the grim visage of an older, wiser - and meaner - Batman. Now, the 1986 pen-and-ink creation - drawn by writer/artist Frank Miller - that is the cover to The Dark Knight Returns No. 2 will be sold next month in Dallas by Heritage Auctions. It’s the first cover from DC Comics’ 1986 four-issue Dark Knight miniseries to be sold and is expected to go for more than $500,000. Miller’s story “radically altered the direction of comics,” said Todd Hignite, Heritage’s vice president. “For fans of modern comics, this drawing is where everything really begins,” he said. “This moment defines Miller’s Dark Knight, and the modern-day perception of Batman, like no other drawing.” The only cover Hignite says might come close is the next in the series - with Batman and Robin - that was auctioned two years ago for nearly $450,000. Also up for sale is a 9.2-graded copy of Batman No. 1 from 1940 that shows Batman and Robin swinging in front of a Gotham City skyline. It’s being auctioned on behalf of Tadano America Corp. A similar copy sold for $850,000 in 2012.

Front Section, Pages 2 on 07/06/2013

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