Angela could not have existed without Spawn. She was not created in a
vacuum-- she was an evil twin--an angel to Spawn's devil. Conceptually,
she was a Spawn rip-off and she was designed by Todd-- yet this was a
Neil Gaiman "creation?" Alan Moore established the concept of there
having been Spawns throughout the ages--Neil uses that concept and
writes a story about a Spawn in medieval times, which, again, Todd
designs and suddenly Neil is the creator of "Medieval Spawn" even
though he never called him "Medieval Spawn" and that strikes you as fair?
Would you think it was fair for Alan Moore to sue Neil for mining his
script to come up with the concept of "Medieval Spawn?"

***********

SER: I'm a bit surprised by this POV. Why -- by this logic -- did the Image founders leave Marvel? What could they have "created" at Marvel that wasn't an extension of what Lee, Kirby, and Ditko had built?

Venom is listed as being "created by" David Micheline and Todd McFarlane. However, someone else established the concept of the alien costume, and Peter David was the author of the stories that formed the "motivation" for the character. Kyle Rayner is listed as being created by Ron Marz and Darryl Banks, though the concept of multiple Green Lanterns was long since established and one could argue that Rayner was a rip-off of previous Green Lanterns.

I don't necessarily see Angela as being any different from thsi.

If Neil Gaiman didn't "create" Angela, then Todd didn't "create" Venom.

Even though according to him he did.

So--you'd be the guy who fired Frank Miller, Brain Bolland, Mark Millar,
Adam Hughes, Jim Lee, Joe Madureira, Brian Hitch, Jeff Smith and a dozen
other of the top names in the field?

****************

Sure, then I'd hire JB, Romita Jr., Mark Bagley and any myriad others who have proven they could put out a monthly book. You know.....professionals who actually give a shit about the fans.

Angela could not have existed without Spawn. She was not created in a
vacuum-- she was an evil twin--an angel to Spawn's devil. Conceptually,
she was a Spawn rip-off and she was designed by Todd-- yet this was a
Neil Gaiman "creation?"

--

According to several federal judges, including one who is widely recognized as one of, if not the, smartest judge on the bench, yes. 

---

How some fans can look at this situation and see Neil as an
innocent duped out of his creations is beyond me.

----

Maybe because Todd told him he was not operating under work for hire because Image was different than the "other guys"?

Do artists* get paid when they turn in their work or do they get paid in advance?  How do some guys earn a living with the delays between projects?

*I use artist in prejorative sense -- I guess it could be anyone in the comic book making process, writer, penciller, inker etc.