Comic creator Gerry Conway -- known for co-creating Killer Croc, Firestorm, Killer Frost, and Power Girl among many others -- has accused DC Entertainment of using tortured logic to deny royalty payments and credit to comic creators.

In a recent Tumblr post, Conway pointed out a catch-22 that allowed DC Comics to use "derivative" characters without giving anyone credit or paying any royalties.DC established one of the first programs to offer creators royalty payments when their creation was used in other media -- like television shows -- under a concept known as creator equity participation. However, according to Conway, what was once moderately lucrative for creators has become an infuriating process."By a rough guesstimate, I probably created over five hundred characters for DC between 1969 and 1985," Conway said. "Unless I’m willing to commit a large chunk of my life to tracking down each character and filing a separate equity request in anticipation that somehow, some day, one of these characters might end up on a TV show, I risk being cut off from any share in the fruits DC enjoys from the product of my labor. A share which DC acknowledges I’m due – but which DC refuses to assist me in receiving."He further explains what he calls "the catch-22" of the creator equity participation agreements. According to Conway, DC has the power to unilaterally decide that a creation is derivative and that no one is owed any payment for the character.For example, Conway was denied payments for Power Girl because she's a relative of Superman. "The logic here is that Superman is the original creation, so Power Girl is derived from that original creation, so in effect, Power Girl is an extension of Superman, which means, by this tortured logic, that Power Girl was more or less created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster," Conway explained.Conway also offered the example of Killer Frost -- a character whose alter ego, Caitlin Snow, is currently part of The CW's TV show The Flash . Conway co-created Killer Frost with Al Milgrom and named her Crystal Frost. The character was re-introduced to DC's New 52 as Caitlin Frost by Sterling Gates and Derlis Santacruz, but because Caitlin Snow was "derived" from Conway and Milgrom's original Killer Frost, they do not get royalties. However, because it's Caitlin Snow being used in the show, not Crystal Frost, Conway and Milgrom cannot claim their royalties, either. Therefore, according to Conway, no one is entitled to royalty payments for her use by DC."Nobody created her. Or, rather, nobody gets credit and creator equity participation for creating her," Conway said. "And that, my friends, is truly obnoxious and despicable."We reached out to DC Comics but they declined to comment.

Rachel Paxton-Gillilan is a freelance writer. You can find her on Twitter @rachpax