But see, that's the thing: how can he tell for sure that they used his? There are several textures out there for Spider Man, all pretty much exact since, after all, they're all following the same model. The bandwidth issue? Sorry, given the end user in this, that doesnt make a whole lot of sense. What could he have at his site that this place could possibly steal for re-direct?

And I find it a little confounding that the site linked up above seems to have the right to use the Marvel characters, just as it does for the other properties like Dora et al, so the company in question does have the right to use the character for profit. Getting permission from Sharby at this point seems, well, a little disingenuous -- yes, it might be his work, but it's Marvel's property. Any permissions needed would be strictly between Marvel and this site. That may seem a little cold, but that's how it goes: Sharby has no real standing in the relationship.

Further, I'm not sure how anyone can say that this company is "under the scrutiny of Marvel". If they're using Marvel's work without permission, there wouldnt be any scrutiny. They'd be forced to shut down, end of story. Marvel, like Disney, is pretty ruthless when it comes to this stuff -- especially when it comes to flagship properties like Spiderman --  and considering there's also Disney and Hallmark trademarks on that site, this place, in theory, should be gone in a heartbeat. Instead, as I noted earlier, they seem to be following all the rules as far as trademark presentation goes.

And granted, it's hard to tell from the snapshots at the site, but that doesnt look like Poser work at all. It appears to be hand-drawn and -painted... so how does a Poser texture figure into something like this?

Sorry, there really are just a few too many questions here to simply say, "Oh look, they ripped him off!" I'm not saying Sharby is wrong or that the site didnt steal from him -- it's just that, if they did, they used the texture -- or anything else from his site, for that matter -- in such a way that it's pretty damn subtle.

docandraider.com -- the collected cartoons of Doc and Raider