Stan Lee Media sues over the rights to "Conan the Barbarian": Fool's folly, by Crom!

According to an article I just read on Entertainment Weekly's website, Stan Lee Media, Inc., the company founded by comics legend Stan Lee, is filing suit over the rights to Conan The Barbarian, claiming that a former lawyer for the company betrayed them and sold the rights, leading to the movie that opened last weekend, starring relative unknown Jason Momoa. "Conan", a remake of the 1982 film that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger in the title role, took in $10 million at the box office.

What I don't understand is why SLMI has an issue. If their rights to Conan had expired, wouldn't they have reverted back to the estate of the character's creator, Robert E. Howard? The comic book rights to "Conan" now belong to Dark Horse Comics, which also has reprint rights to the Marvel Comics series which launched all the way back in 1970, which paved the way for the original movie in the first place.

The 2011 "Conan" is considered a dud, along with another remake of an 80's film, "Fright Night", lagging far behind the top two movies of the week, "The Help" & "Rise of the Planet of the Apes". The lawsuit, which for all we know may have about as much merit as a con artist at a pet cemetery, sounds like a case of kicking the movie's producers when they're down. That would actually do more to damage Lee's reputation than the "Conan" franchise. If they're smart, SLMI will drop the suit before the week's out, once they get all the facts straight. Stay tuned.