Robert Kirkman has released a statement responding to the lawsuit brought by his former collaborator Tony Moore (see “Kirkman Sued By Longtime Collaborator”) calling the suit “ridiculous” and noting that Moore, who was a childhood friend of Kirkman's as well as the original artist on The Walking Dead comic book, had legal representation when he signed away his interest in The Walking Dead property back in 2005.

Kirkman released the following statement to The Hollywood Reporter: “The lawsuit is ridiculous, we each had legal representation seven years ago and now he is violating the same contract he initiated and approved and he wants to misrepresent the fees he was paid and continues to be paid for the work he was hired to do.  Tony regularly receives payment for the work he did as penciler, inker and for gray tones on the first six issues of The Walking Dead comic series and he receives royalties for the TV show, to assert otherwise is simply incorrect.”

Unfortunately another statement from Kirkman could come back and haunt him a bit if this case continues.  According to TheWrap, just nine months before Moore filed his lawsuit Kirkman was asked during a podcast how an aspiring comic book writer could find an artist to illustrate his or her works, and answered “Trickery and deceit,” a clever self-deprecating quip that is liable to be misconstrued considerably in the coming months.