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Public Domain Superheroes?

Posted by michael on from the stretch-dude-and-clobber-girl dept.

SerpicoWasTaken writes "Here is an interesting article about a group of comic book heroes from the golden age that are in the public domain. Apparently, a bunch of golden age heroes were never copyrighted and just faded into obscurity. The article also contains a long discussion of copyright and the public domain. It is an interesting read for all those interested in the public domain." Update: 09/25 17:51 GMT by M : Link removed at the request of the site maintainers because it's killing their server. Update: 09/25 19:02 GMT by M : They've put the document on a static page instead of a cgi script. :)

9 of 237 comments (clear)

  1. "Never copyrighted"? I don't think so. by 3583+Bytes+Free · · Score: 0, Interesting
    Apparently, a bunch of golden age heroes were never copyrighted and just faded into obscurity

    If they were created, they were copyrighted. Perhaps the copyrights were not registered, but that doesn't make them public domain. Perhaps the copyright owners are dead or defunct, or just don't care. Perhaps no one knows for sure who had the copyrights. And perhaps the copyright has expired.

    Just don't say "they were never copyrighted" because that's just not true.

  2. Shazam! by ch-chuck · · Score: 2, Interesting

    One of my faves Captain Marvel - and his firesign friends, The Caped Madman, Rocket Jock, Spy Swatter, Sleeve Coat, and Spike in J-Men Forever!

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  3. You do not have to explicitely copyright something by xmda · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Apparently, a bunch of golden age heroes were never copyrighted and just faded into obscurity.

    At least today, you do not need to explicitely say that you have copyright to something, you get this automatically. Of course it helps if you type down your name and stuff to be easier to enforce.

  4. Re:This raises an interesting question.. by Kierthos · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You do realize that for many years, the Batman comic was incredibly campy as well, right? I mean, Batman, for quite some time, time-traveled quite extensively, fought villians in lairs that were filled with giant props ("Holy giant typewriter, Batman!"), etc.

    It was really only after years of that crap that he became serious again (in the early issues of Detective Comics, Batman was incredibly serious, and casually killed criminals).

    But it was during the campy years in the comics that the Adam West TV series was done.

    Kierthos

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  5. obscurity by mkanoap · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Any discussion of obscure comic characters make me think of my favorate, "Arm fall off boy". I originally read about him in a reprint digest of Legion of Superhero classics. In the introduction, the editor related how they often got suggestions for new heros from fans. He mentioned the idea of "arm fall off boy" who could detatch his arm and hit people with it.

    I was tickled by the idea of the worst super hero that never lived. Then I went looking for a link to post with this, and discovered that DC went ahead and used the character in 1996! I don't know whether to be horrified or pleased.

    http://www.ian-rowland.com/Vault/FunAFOB.htm

  6. Captain Good vs. Doctor Evil by John+Biggabooty · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Did you ever notice how many heros are called "captain," and how many villains are called "doctor?" What does that say about our ideals? Why do we value brawn over brain so much? Is stupid but strong the ideal we strive for? Is there something wrong with being smart? Why not Doctor Good and Captain Evil? Is the military all good and science all evil?

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    1. Re:Captain Good vs. Doctor Evil by Noren · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Well, in the story cited, the heroes used were
      Pyroman, Miss Masque, The American Crusader, The Black Terror, the Fighting Yank, and Doc Strange
      No Captains, and one heroic doctor- in direct opposition to your naming rule claim.

      There are good and evil characters with each title. See a list of characters named "Doctor" here. Ignoring multiple characters with the same name, good superheroes called "Doctor" or "Doc" of note include Strange, Fate, and Savage all of whom have had their own series; for evil "Doctor"s the only ones of similar stature are Doom and Octopus. (I'm not including the more obscure villians Destiny, Psychlo, or Alchemy; heroes of similar notability include Samson, "Doc" in the DCU, Light, and Midnight.) "Doctor" heroes actually slightly outnumber villians in my opinion.

      Notable "Captain" villians are fewer but ones I'd heard of include "Captain"s Boomerang, Cold, and Nazi; they're similar in notability to the second group above, while there are three very well known hero "Captain"s who have had their own series (America, Marvel, Britain)... So I can agree that there's a correlation of good characters and the "Captain" name, but dispute the above absolute statement if "military all good".

  7. How long... by Nomad7674 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    The heroes are slated to get a return engagement in 2003 when Peter Hogan pens a Terra Obscura miniseries for ABC [with art by Yanique Paquette and Karl Story], utilizing the same characters on the same world. Ideally, interest will be high enough, according to Hogan, in the miniseries that ABC will launch the heroes of Terra Obscura in their own ongoing monthly
    So how long until ABC sues someone who uses these "public domain" superheroes in their own work, for violation of copyright, trademark, or something else? I don't imagine it will take some lawyer long to try and argue that once the characters have appeared in an ABC miniseries that they "belong" to ABC and that allowing other people to use the characters will cause damage to ABC's unique use of them.
  8. Re:copyright vs trademarks by Monkey+Angst · · Score: 2, Interesting
    in the USA you must actively defend them (TrademarkMan to the rescue!) or you lose them.

    I'm kind of unclear how this works. The way I understand it is this: I create a superhero, and I call him PublicDomainMan. I make it clear that he's not actually IN the public domain, but is trademarked, but I will allow anyone to use him if not for anything horribly offensive.

    So someone comes out with "PublicDomanMan Saves a Puppy" and I don't sue for infringement, because I don't WANT to.

    Then, someone else comes out with "PublicDomainMan rapes a puppy while helping Adolf Hitler gas Jews" and I feel that's in poor taste and I would like to sue. Is it true that I can't sue, just because I didn't sue the first guy?

    If this is the case, it's no wonder so many companies are rat bastards, if the only way to keep ownership of your property is to BE a rat bastard...

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