What do you think will happen when these guys become public domain?

For a moment I thought "Wait, what if the Joker became Public Domain?". Then I realized it couldn't possibly be worse than what DC and WB are doing with the character.

Attached: Joker Cosplay.jpg (632x628, 64K)

They won't be public domain in the way most people know for a lot of decades to come still.

It would be interesting to have someone start up a Superman and then gradually introduce things to the story as they enter public domain.

No.

I find that hard to believe, seeing as The Joker appeared in Batman #1 in 1940. That makes him roughly 1 year after Batman's first appearance.

Isn't Superman a Trademark for DC, like Mickey is for Disney? Because those don't expire. Eventually, Action Comics #1 will pass into public domain, and everybody will be able to use the elements that were introduced there, but rather than that leading to a sudden free-for-all of people being able to use the recognizable Superman elements, they'll actually have to wait for those. Krypton was introduced in 1939. Kryptonite was introduced in a 1943 radio serial. Superman first flew in 1941 (Due to an artist mistake, LOL). Basically, Superman will be like Sherlock Holmes is now, where anyone can put him in a movie, but you have to be very careful you don't accidentally use something that's still copyrighted, or face serious legal problems.

They might also start introducing their own original elements and basically create a version they have the copyright to, like Disney did with their public domain fairy tales. You know a version of Frankenstein is actually copyrighted. Anyone can make a Frankenstein movie of course, but Universal owns the version of the character with the flat top, neck bolts, scar across head, etc. That's why when Lionsgate and Lakeshore made "I, Frankenstein", the monster looked nothing like that.

Go back and read through a lot of it. You'd be surprised.

Superman's early years was mostly him taking on gangsters, corrupt officials, mine owners, and so on. His first villain was Ultra-Humanite in 1939. Luthor debuted in 1940. After that the most significant villains in the 40's other than Luthor were Mxyzptlk, Prankster, and Toyman, maybe a few others but not that much. There's a Metallo that was introduced in the 1940's but he has nothing to do with the version who was powered by Kryptonite.

You don't get to use Braniac, Zod, or Darkseid because they were introduced in the 50's, 60's, and 70's.
>Krypton was introduced in 1939.

It was, but the Superman comic strip gave the name Krypton before it was published in the comic book, and a lot of the Superman comic strip forgot to print copyright notices, so those might actually be public domain. Or at least the Comic Strip origin is.

This. DC honestly has nothing to worry about for the time being because Superman and his supporting cast now is vastly different from how it was in the 30's and 40's.

The smart move for DC would be to keep using Jon Kent and Damian Wayne since they were created in the last two decades (or four if you count the original version of Damian from Son of the Demon), they wouldn't go PD for a long time.

>and a lot of the Superman comic strip forgot to print copyright notices, so those might actually be public domain.
Old copyright law is even weirder to me than the modern version. The idea that you can just "Oops! I messed up the paperwork and now my work is available for everybody!" is nuts.

Yeah, it used to be "you'd better fucking register or we don't count it!" Then you had to make sure you renewed on the 28th year since publication otherwise it goes PD (which is how the Fleischer Superman cartoons went PD, the cartoons got transferred to multiple fly-by-night places that were sloppy, and by the time DC or whoever had to track down who was the current holder the copyright expired.) The 70's and 80's changed the law so that the renewal was automatic and you'd have copyright instantly at the start of publication, I think.

>Yeah, it used to be "you'd better fucking register or we don't count it!"
Should say, "you'd better fucking have the notice and fucking register or we don't count it!"

I think we'll be too preoccupied with the heat death of the universe to care.

Kryptonite didn't get introduced until the radio show in 1943.
Alfred didn't get introduced in 1943, and even then he was different, he was a fat bumbler and named Alfred Beagle. Thin Alfred was 1944, and "Pennyworth" didn't get used till 1969.
Ra's Al Ghul was introduced in 1971.

Huh.

>The idea that you can just "Oops! I messed up the paperwork and now my work is available for everybody!" is nuts.
This is how the original Night of the Living Dead was public domain upon release since they forgot to put the copyright info in the credits.