Winters' Tale

Johnny and Edgar Winter, albino brothers of Texas rock legend, are going ahead with their lawsuit against DC comics. At issue: "the Autumn Brothers," half-human, half-worm villains in DC's 1995 comic Jonah Hex: Riders of the Worm and Such. The Autumn Brothers' look is closely based on the Winters, who claim that the appropriation is not protected by copyright parody provisions. In the book, Jonah Hex eventually kills the loathesome Autumn brothers. The Winters are less easily deterred, and their case was resurrected and held up on appeal after a Los Angeles court initially threw it out; a decision is expected soon. Supporting the suit is the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation. The Winters' lawyers note that DC used the Winters' names in promotional materials. "Were they just ripping off two celebrities to sell a comic book?" asks Winter lawyer Vincent Chieffo. Clearly, when Edgar urged us all to "Come on and take a free ride," he didn't mean it literally.