Judge Posner channels Roald Dahl

In 2004, Neil Gaiman sued Todd McFarlane for a declaration that he was co-author of a set of characters from the Spawn series. Judge Posner wrote the opinion, in what ends up being a fairly conversational fashion. The details of copyright ownership analysis are technical, but the tone of the opinion sounds a bit like he's explaining the outcome to you over a beer.*

One of the issues in the case is whether a particular character can be copyrighted at all. Some characters are generic; others are described in detail with immediately identifiable attributes (Harry Potter's scar); and most fall somewhere in between. One of the characters in dispute was known as "Medieval Spawn," a fairly generic term; that might have been an issue, but Judge Posner points out that the Lone Ranger's name wasn't widely known (it's John Reid!), but he's a recognizable character. Most amusing is the Judge's discussion of the difference between characters in books and characters presented in visual form (comics, movies, TV, etc.). After a long passage on page 661 from The Maltese Falcon describing the detective character Sam Spade, Judge Posner says:

Even after all this, one hardly knows what Sam Spade looked like. But everyone knows what Humphrey Bogart looked like. A reader of unillustrated fiction completes the work in his mind; the reader of a comic book or the viewer of a movie is passive. That is why kids lose a lot when they don't read fiction, even when the movies and television that they watch are aesthetically superior.

Apparently the actual published opinion (not the one on Google Scholar) has a picture of each character attached, each in its own appendix. I guess they were copied with permission of both parties, or their inclusion is considered fair use.

* I'm not sure if Judge Posner drinks beer or not. It's just an expression.