Results tagged “comics” from Uncivil Society

Kissing a piece of paper for charity seems to have replaced the traditional kissing booth, which would today be seen less as a fun fundraiser than a hub for spreading the flu.

If the above vintage ad's strategy of prescribing carb-filled crackers to lose weight seems goofily retro (not to mention sexist), check out this new research on carbs as the dietary key to personal happiness.

Im no Superman, originally uploaded by torii_eliizabeth.

I'm immersed in other writing, so my sites are admittedly a bit slow right now, but over at Newsarama there's a brief update on the Siegel-Superman/Superboy litigation. A lot more could be said about the nature of justice relative to the administration of a case, but we'll leave that for another time.

(More on the subjunctive here!)

The reaction to the latest Siegel case news has been interesting, to say the least. Perhaps the most intriguing reaction has been one site's decision to censor its own publisher's response to a news item expressing sympathy with the Siegels' effort to regain the Superman copyright.

The original response appears to be available on Google cache. For the sake of the historical record, here's the offending post, after the jump:

OR NOT!

Earlier today, I re-posted a censored critique of the Siegels' attempt to reclaim the Superman copyright. I've just received a request from the author to withdraw it on the grounds that he holds the copyright in that material. Of course, I am happy to honor that request . . .

but not without a brief reflection.

The censored post was a lengthy screed about an alleged attempt to use power to smash the author's opinion that creative endeavors should be "the property of the commons." As far as I'm concerned the author should be free to voice that opinion--may a thousand flowers bloom and all that. Yet now that very author cites copyright to deny the public access to a writing that he himself has created.

The author no doubt feels there are legitimate, even necessary reasons for doing so, and again, I respect that. But I hope he and others of the same opinion can recognize that those who belong to "the cult of the creator" have equally legitimate reasons for supporting creators & heirs in attempts to secure an interest in work in which they have a legally viable stake.

A 1950 PSA teaches children to eat right and exercise. The fourth panel, in which the boy encounters breakfast cereal for the first time, is a snapshot from cereal's postwar transition from an adult health food to a nutrition delivery vehicle for children.

Diva, "the UK's leading lesbian lifestyle magazine," takes Superwoman out of the closet with this recent S-shield cover.

A dadaistic image of animal experimentation in 1939.

Comic books are modern morality plays, and today on a break I re-read a classic Superboy story from 1960: Claire Kent, Alias Super-Sister.  In a nutshell, Superboy realizes that his dual identity is just a metaphor for the woman within. He goes to the Fortress of Solitude for a once-in-a-lifetime Kryptonian sex change, but it's all a bit too progressive for Smallville, forcing the new Super-Sister to pretend to be an out-of-town relative. Unfortunately, when Claire Kent rejects Luthor's invitation to the prom, the spurned teen mad scientist reverses the operation.

Nah, that's not what happened. The real story--not a hoax, not an imaginary tale, not a dream (well, sorta not a dream)--is a different kind of study in gender dynamics. Superboy insults an alien woman's driving ability, so she decides to teach him a valuable lesson: it sucks to be a girl in a patriarchal society.

As the last panel shows, it's an ambiguous lesson at best--Superboy learns that he's been a real pig in the way he has treated the women in his life, but when it's all over he's glad that he's a guy--and not in a "I'm glad that I now have the insight and power to make a difference," way, but "Sheesh, I'm glad that's over, wink wink." Ah well. For a more reflective study of the social significance of superheroines & their positive effect on girls' sense of self, check out Peggy Orenstein's upcoming Sunday times essay, Wonder Girl:

In the end, that is the true drama of the superhero: the ordinary Joe who discovers that he has a marvelous gift, something that sets him apart from everyone else, simultaneously elevating and at least potentially isolating him, forcing a series of moral choices about the nature of might and goodness. It's a story writ large about coming to grips with power: accepting it, demanding it, wielding it wisely. Those themes are rarely explored in the fantasy culture of little girls, yet given how problematic power remains for adult women -- in both fact and fiction -- perhaps they should be.

Fortunately, that moment seems to have passed!

Re-reading an essay of Mike Sekowsky helped. Always liked his stuff--dynamic and iconic, like blending Ramos and Warhol. Shoulda ditched comics & put worked in oils or silkscreen!

We're all about meaning & community here, but because of massive work commitments I wasn't able to make it to the San Diego Comic Con, where costumes are a standard way of expressing one's identity.

Though let's face it--posting pictures of cosplay is pretty much a convention cliche. Fortunately that's not the only way it's done in the community, so to mark the occasion here are several notable comic & cartoon tombstones!

Richard Morrissey, legendary comics historian & letter column denizen (thanks Michael!):

Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny (among countless others!):

Alfred Harvey, founder of Harvey Comics, publisher of Casper the Friendly Ghost:

Heroclix prototype model of the Joker at Robin II's grave:

Mark Gruenwald, comic book writer, who was cremated & had his ashes mixed in the ink for the first edition of his collected series Squadron Supreme--a copy of which was a standard part of my law school classes on corporate life & personal identity!

"Miracleman: The Silver Age", originally uploaded by The Voice of Eye.

Marvel made comics history today by announcing that it had secured the rights to Mick Anglo's Marvelman, the character that formed the basis of the landmark MiracleMan series that has long been caught in a legal thicket.

I don't have time to write more on this right now, but here are my thoughts in a nutshell:

Fawcett stopped publishing Captain Marvel because the character allegedly infringed on the Superman copyright.

The Marvelman created and owned by Mick Anglo was arguably just a transparent knockoff of Captain Marvel, with a few surface details changed but still a visibly derivative work.

Theoretically, DC could claim that Marvel's Marvelman infringes both the Superman & Captain Marvel copyrights.

For that matter, so could the heirs of Superman's co-creator Jerry Siegel, who now own 50% of the copyright in the Superman material in Action Comics #1.

Just sayin'.

UPDATE:  I've been thinking about this from two perspectives--a viable claim vs. one that would be a lock to win.  As we've seen plenty of times, you don't need the latter to take something off the market.

This has been a rather interesting hypothetical to kick around, especially given the extra complication that the vast majority of Fawcett Captain Marvel comics don't appear to have had their copyright renewed--at least they don't seem to show up in a quick search of Stanford's online renewal database. 

What could that mean?  Well, were a court to conclude that the comics are in the public domain and that Captain Marvel doesn't infringe on Superman, a lawsuit by DC or the Siegels would fail--at least in regard to Superman. 

Things would also get interesting in regard to DC's Captain Marvel properties, whose copyright protection would arguably extend only to new material added to what was in the public domain.  Besides limiting any potential claims re Marvelman, there's also an argument here that DC's reported purchase of the Captain Marvel character from Fawcett is worth as much as, say, licensing Hamlet from the Globe Theater--i.e., nothin'. 

If--and again, I haven't gone to the Copyright Office personally to confirm, so it's a big if--Captain Marvel & the Marvel Family are indeed in the public domain, it's arguably legal for anyone to create derivative works so long as they don't infringe on registered trademarks & viable copyrights owned by DC & Marvel.

On the other hand, judging on the case record, there is an argument to be made that Captain Marvel infringes on the DC/Siegel Superman copyright, so all the public domain issue may be moot. 

Here's where the estoppel principles applied in the recent Siegel cases could get rather interesting, despite their arcane technicality.  Y'see, back in the original Superman/Captain Marvel lawsuit, the federal appeals court agreed with the district court that Captain Marvel copied Superman material--the question left unresolved was the precise scope of the infringing material.  Were DC to sue over Marvelman--and again, there's no  indication they will; this is just a hypothetical--DC could argue that the core court findings re copying & infringement remain valid.

Submitted for the record, here the key passages from the court opinions:

National v. Fawcett, 198 F.2d 927 (2nd Cir., 1952):

We did mean to say that "Fawcett" infringed some of the strips which the plaintiff put in suit, assuming that these had been lawfully copyrighted and the copyright had not been forfeited. This we held because "Fawcett" had argued that none of its strips infringed any of the plaintiff's; and it was a necessary finding, if we were to proceed to the other questions, which without any such finding would have become moot.

On the other hand, we did  [**2]  not find which of the strips, which the plaintiff put in suit "Fawcett" had infringed: i.e., copied so closely as to be actionable under Detective Comics v. Bruns Publications, 2 Cir., 111 F.2d 432. That will demand a comparison of each strip put in suit by the plaintiff with "Fawcett's" strip, which the plaintiff asserts does so closely copy that particular strip. Each such comparison really involves the decision of a separate claim; there is no escape from it. The plaintiff may put in suit as many strips as it pleases, but it must prove infringement of each, or it will lose as to that strip. In saying that "Fawcett" was an "unabashed" infringer we meant no more than that there were some such instances. Whether the strips so copied were protected by a valid copyright we did not say.

The plaintiff has the burden of proving as to any strip it puts in suit that it was validly copyrighted; but we leave it open whether "Fawcett" has the burden of proving whether any copyright, once proved to have been validly obtained, was later forfeited.

Further than the foregoing we refuse to go.

National v. Fawcett, 93 F.Supp. 349 (SDNY 1950)

It would serve no useful purpose to recite in detail the conflicting testimony, for I am satisfied from all the evidence that there was actual copying.

Both 'Captain Marvel' and 'Superman' have the same athletic physique. Both have substantially the same clean-cut faces. Both wear the conventional regalia of the gymnast or circus acrobat- skin-tight uniforms, boots and a cape which is used in flying. The only real difference is in the color of their costumes, 'Superman's' being blue and 'captain Marvel's' red. The incredible feats, performed by both, such as leaping great distances, flying through the air, exhibitions of marvelous strength and speed, and imperviousness to bullets, shells, explosions, knives and poisons, are identical, and the settings in which the feats are performed are often closely similar. Substantially all of the feats performed by 'Superman' are later duplicated by 'Captain Marvel.'  [**15]  Identical phrases, expressions and dialogues are frequently found in the panels.

'Superman' is represented as a normal human being, a meek newspaper reporter wearing eye glasses (Clark Kent), who, by throwing off his regular clothes, appears in his athletic costume and becomes a superhuman being and performs superhuman feats in the interests of justice and to overthrow evil. 'Captain Marvel' is likewise represented as a normal human being, a radio reporter (Billy Batson), who, by uttering the magic word 'Shazam', is transformed  [*356]  into a superhuman being, and, in that capacity, also performs superhuman feats in the interests of justice and to overthrow evil. There are villains in both stories, mad scientists who resemble each other in appearance, and who, by similar devices and methods, attempt to dispose of the hero ('Superman' or 'Captain Marvel'), so that they can execute their plans of destruction without molestation.

The stories depicted in the respective panels are much the same, as, for example, the experiences of both Clark Kent and Billy Batson in applying for jobs as reporters, being turned down, and finally being accepted as the result of having performed the [**16]  same superhuman feat. In other instances they are different. For example, there is no romantic element in the 'Captain Marvel' stories, such as Lois Lane, the girl reporter, who is a permanent member of the 'Superman' cast; nor do the 'Superman' stories have an ever-present evil enemy of the hero, like Sivana.

The price of using Superman in your film: 50% has to go to charity.

The percentage of the money from the Superman films that will go to the family of Superman's co-creator Jerry Siegel: yet to be determined.

One of my favorite tropes in the early Superman comics is the astonished reaction to the impossible. What pops out of these scenes is the sense not just that Superman is doing an impossible feat, but that the very existence of the image itself is astonishing. At a time when CGI makes the impossible routine, it's helpful to remember that not too long ago a mere drawing of someone jumping over a wall seemed incredible.

Forget The Philanthropist. This is where I go for hard-hitting depictions of how do-gooders save the world . . . by volunteering for the local senior center to help his buddy score!

Martina Fugazzotto is the award-winning author of comics aimed at giving teens an educational & entertaining introduction to sexuality. Below: her table at this weekend's MoCCA Art Fest.

IMG_0755, originally uploaded by trexfiles23.

My name was accidentally left off the trustee list for the MoCCA Art Fest, so I said I'd be happy with just an empty badge holder. Our inspired volunteers took it one better, giving me an official green placard artfully inscribed with a question mark.

Coolest badge I've ever worn.

By Michael Linser for Our Gods Wear Spandex

Via News From Me, a 1950s game show appearance by legendary comics writer Leo Dorfman features a revealing discussion about comics + society, from their popularity among soldiers in WWII to their suitability for children just a decade later.   

Via Journalista & Scans Daily, a tender tale of a girl who fears that her family and friends may be causing global warming through their air conditioners--until they explain that air conditioners actually keep Earth's air cool!