Comic Bookstore “Illustrates” Grievances in Third Amended Complaint

Criss-A-Less, Inc. v. ASDN Houston, LLC
The 151^st District Court
Cause No. 2021-11255
Filed: June 23, 2021

Criss-A-Less, Inc., operates the Third Planet Sci-Fi and Fantasy Superstore (“Third Planet”), in Houston, Texas, next door to a large hotel, the Crowne Plaza River Oaks (“Crowne”). Third Planet sells comic books, figurines, posters, and so on and fancies itself to be one of the longest running comic bookstores in the nation.

Third Planet filed a lawsuit against Crowne for negligence, trespass, and nuisance, alleging that Crowne had allowed their patrons to throw objects off of the hotel’s balconies onto Third Planet’s roof, causing massive damage. Third Planet alleges it communicated with Crowne that this was happening, but nothing changed. The objects thrown at Third Planet have allegedly caused serious roof damage, two fires, and danger to patrons. The target practice, the complaint says, has escalated to numerous fire extinguishers being thrown from the balconies, causing serious structural damage. Third Planet had to amend its complaint several times, and the third amended complaint from Third Planet included something peculiar, an Origin Story.

Potentially an attempt to color its complaint or illustrate the ridiculousness of it all, 13 pages of Third Planet’s complaint feature comic-style pages telling their side of the story. These pages use much of the same language as the written parts of the complaint, and potentially add some comic relief to a usually and otherwise dry legal document.

In Third Planet’s own words, this lawsuit is “to be continued…!” While not an IP case, we will monitor and post updates if there are colorful reasons to do so.