[melike]

I need some female characters for my strip but cant really seem to find many besides various types of jungle girls. Does anyone have any recommendations or perferences. PD is a must.

[OtherEric]

The first to come to mind is Phantom Lady, but given how tightly DC is holding on to the trademark right now it may not be usable by you.  There's really not that many out there but I'm sure I'll think of some more right after I post this. 

[MadMikeyD]

For some classic Golden Age characters:

http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Miss_Masque
http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Woman_in_Red
http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Lightning_Girl
http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Venus
http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Spider_Queen

Or from the '70s, there's:

http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Octobriana

Or if you want to go with the modern "open source" type:

http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Jenny_Everywhere

Of course, those last two could throw off the awesome Golden Age vibe you have going on...

[narfstar]

I believe Phantom Lady is completely trademark free. The other Quality characters DC owns trademark on but PL was passed around before DC got her. Bill Black uses her prominently named on his covers.
Wildfire is pretty cool looking female character. Tomboy backup of Captain Flash is OK. Sidekicks like Catman's Kitten, MiniMidget's Rinty and Golden Lad's Golden Girl. Pat Parker War Nurse may be available but not one of my favorites. Marina might be able to fit in somewhere.

[Ed Love]

Black uses her through his reprints though, a loophole exists in those regards. Keep in mind, that since it is trademarks, there's nothing really preventing use of Phantom Lady IN the story other than over-zealous lawyers.

Others: Super Ann I, Magician from Mars, Blue Lady (those 3 from Centaur), Black Angel, Amazona, Golden Girl, Madame Strange, Magga, Will o'the Wisp, Kitty Kelly, Yankee Girl, Wondergirl (Brad Spencer Wonderman's partner who sometimes put on an identical costume).

Quality's Wildfire, USA, Miss America (again, trademark issues).

[MadMikeyD]

As for Phantom Lady, or other characters with trademarked names, as long as you're not changing the title of your strip to "Phantom Lady Comics", "Daredevil Comics" or whatever, you should be in the clear using their names within the strip itself.

[John C]

Right.  Trademark infringement is settled by one, simple question:  When you use the trademark, would it look (to a reasonable consumer) as if the trademark holder is involved with your product?  More to the point, does the use of the trademark tie their reputation to yours?  Or in the specific Phantom Lady question, "does your use of Phantom Lady benefit from DC's use of the property or harm their ability to exploit it in the future?"

If the answer is "no" to those questions, then you're safe.  The extent of the danger if "yes" is a matter of how prominent the trademark is in your work--if it's a selling point, that's bad, but incidental use of a trademark is almost always fine.

And, by the way, disclaimers also affect that.  "Phantom Lady is a [registered?] trademark of DC Comics, Inc. and is used without permission," for example, makes it clear that you don't mean to imply that DC supports your work or that your work should reflect on DC.

[Yoc]

Phantom Lady (Fox version) immediately jumps to mind.  As does Harvey's Black Cat but she's a bit fuzzy on PD status.
Two of her last books were renewed and Marvel has taken the name and run with it much like they did with the Daredevil name.

Other very SEXY options - Black Angel (from Air Boy in Hillman) and Miss Fury (Tarpe Mills not on site).

Lady Luck (Spirit Section on our site as well as Smash 42-on) has a great visual look with the green hat and veil.

Miss Victory (Holyoke) is used all the time by Bill Black.  Stars and Stripes theme costume.  Mini bio here.

Doll Girl (in Doll Man, Quality) is another though her costume is pretty bland.

I think a Jungle Girl in the strip might open up the idea of different genre's in OOP.  GA heroes weren't all Mystery Men.
In fact for a long time they were more like 'Mandrake', 'The Shadow' or 'Doc Savage.'  'Tarzan' was huge for a time so Jungle books with their good girl art were very popular as well.  Having Sheena (Fiction House) in the strip could be fun and she's by far the best known of the jungle girl characters that is P.D.

And of course there is my personal favourite oddball - Madam Fatal who is really a man dressed as an old lady from Quality's Crack Comics #1-22.  But he's not really a 'she' so perhaps that's not what you are after.

-Yoc

[crimsoncrusader]

Looking under the female characters category on the wiki is a great start.
http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Female_Characters

I'm also going to suggest Owl Girl and Flame Girl since you have already featured their male counterparts.

[Ed Love]

Actually, Doll Girl is NOT public domain. Almost all of the stories in which she appeared were renewed by DC Comics save for the last two issues of the comic unless you wish to argue the point that DC did not have legal right to renew the copyrights on Doll Man Quarterly as there is no record of a transferal of copyrights to them from Quality. Have to be careful with the Quality books, many of the titles that lasted past 1951 did get renewed, mostly by Arnold's widow, but also by DC.

The Black Cat is interesting in that the only issues renewed were reprints of earlier stories which means the original stories are still PD.

Not sure about Miss Fury. My next trip to DC (which could be in a couple of weeks if nothing opens up on the job front) I'd like to do some research into the newspaper characters, but that requires a little more research on the front end. Her adventures were reprinted in the comics, but the original strips could have been renewed either by the syndicate or Miss Mills herself.

And, don't forget her cross-dressing hero the Cat-Man who dressed up as an old lady to get close to criminals so that his cat with specially treated claws could poison them. Centaur also had the Headless Horseman that was in reality a woman.

[John C]

Phantom Lady (Fox version) immediately jumps to mind.  As does Harvey's Black Cat but she's a bit fuzzy on PD status.
Two of her last books were renewed and Marvel has taken the name and run with it much like they did with the Daredevil name.

I'd argue that Black Cat is safe.  Ed points out the copyright reasons.  But there's also the trademark aspect, where (a) Marvel is using an entirely different character, so only the name is of potential conflict, and (b) the name is so utterly generic (and traditional) that I can't imagine a court ever suggesting that Marvel be the only company wherein an entity may be known as the Black Cat.

The exception to that would be a character like the Flash, by the way.  In that case, DC has done such a good job at making the Flash franchise important to its corporate identity and associating it with speed and lightning bolt logos that it's protectable despite being an everyday word.)

[Rajah]

Whether or not Phantom Lady is PD, I wouldn't risk it. From what I understand, AC Comics tried to use Phantom Lady back in the 80s and was challenged by DC. AC altered their version of the character into the Femforce member Nightveil so as not to anger DC's lawyers. AC frequently reprints PD Quality Comics stories, including Phantom Lady, but they are not allowed (or not brave enough to tempt fate) to use her in new stories.

It's best to err on the side of caution so I'd steer clear of Quality heroines, except maybe the more obscure ones that DC doesn't use like Lady Luck, USA, or Spider Widow. I think there's also Margo the Magician who, from what I understand, was a female variation on the Mandrake/Zatara-style stage magician crime fighter (Am I right? Anyone familiar with her?).

I second Narfstar's idea of using Ritty from Centaur's Minimidget strip. It might be fun to have a miniature character in your series. She could be the brunt of a lot of short jokes or could complain that no one notices her at the support group meetings ("Oh, are you here, Ritty? How long have you been standing there?" "The whole time, you big lummox!!!!").

[John C]

Whether or not Phantom Lady is PD, I wouldn't risk it. From what I understand, AC Comics tried to use Phantom Lady back in the 80s and was challenged by DC. AC altered their version of the character into the Femforce member Nightveil so as not to anger DC's lawyers. AC frequently reprints PD Quality Comics stories, including Phantom Lady, but they are not allowed (or not brave enough to tempt fate) to use her in new stories.

Actually, Black has since made a point of explaining that he only buckled because he didn't really know the law at the time (he had just started publishing, as I recall) and that he never reverted to Phantom Lady because he prefers his adapted character after going to the trouble of creating her.

DC might send a Cease and Desist order over Phantom Lady, but they really know better, these days, I think.  I mean, politely asking them to prove they own the copyrights and/or to explain specifically where they believe their trademarks are being attacked should make them go away, because they'll realize that they have no case.

I'd be more worried about someone like Lady Luck, strictly speaking.  The Eisner estate, being much smaller, may not be as familiar with what they own, and the recent Spirit movie could make them more aggressive.

[melike]

Wow! Thorough guys! Thanks! Lemme digest this and i'll reply to these when i get a chance!