: They're not worried about the pictures, probably just money gleaned from
: them. They don't want people making money off of something
: Marathon-related when they could be getting it instead, probably. Besides,
: it's your artwork. Can't you do anything you want with it?
When dealing with legal departments, I'll err on the side of letting them tell me what they're worried about ;-)
And even though it's my artwork, the characters, settings etc. are theirs. I use the Marathon logo, the name Marathon etc., all of which are their property. I use a very original re-imagining of the character and settings, but they're all clearly drawn from and connected with that property.
For example, what if I sat down and drew an all-original Superman comic book. I change t he way Superman looks, so he doesn't really look like he does in the DC comics, but he's still obviously Superman. All of the settings and story elements are taken from the Superman canon. Even though I did all of the work, and no matter how far I stylize it, I'm still ripping off DC comics. Likewise I couldn't make my own Mickey Mouse cartoons, write a sequel to The Lord of the Rings, or re-record my favorite Clash records.
Likewise though, Bungie/MS can't use my art without my permission, even though it's based on their intellectual property. They own the subject matter, but I own this particular implementation.
Confusing huh?
