[Ami_GFX]

I was just looking at your silver age section and noticed the Tower Comics Section. I have a few of the Tower super hero comics from the 60s in my collection and there is some Wally Wood art in them. I haven't read them since I was 14 or so but I went though my collection last winter and they were still there. If the site adminstrators think they are truly in the public domain, I would be happy to start scanning and uploading them.

I didn't think there was anything old enough in my collection for this site, but I will be happy to scan anything that is in the public domain and upload it.

Cheers

[narfstar]

Thank you so much for the offer but all the Thunder Agent character books were copyrighted (in some strange way) by Carbonno. Looks like he missed Undersea Agent and he missed the Tippy characters. We could use more of the Tippy books if you have any of those.

[Ami_GFX]

I think it is mostly Thunder Agents and Dynamo. I will look but I don't think I have anything that would be public domain. I mostly collected by artists and I bought them for the Wally Wood art.

[Roygbiv666]

According to http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/T.H.U.N.D.E.R._Agents :

Tower Comics never registered its titles with the US copyright office, nor did it include a correct copyright notice on their books. The copyright notice on the first issue was not in the proper location of the book which under copyright law at the time of it's publication had to be "either upon the title page or upon the first page of text of each separate number or under the title heading." Secondly, it was hidden in the artwork, which goes against the part of the law that stipulates that "The notice should be permanently legible to an ordinary user of the work under normal conditions of use and should not be concealed from view upon reasonable examination." According to US copyright law, all works published between 1923-1977 that did not comply with copyright law became public domain upon publication. So, because the first issue had an incorrect notice, the characters fell into the public domain.

Only the Tower Comics version of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents is in the public domain. All subsequent versions published by DC Comics, JC Comics, Deluxe Comics, etc. are NOT. Also the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents are curretly trademarked by John Carbonaro's estate (Carbonaro himself died in Febuaury 25, 2009).

[narfstar]

Notice my notation concerning Carbonno's holding the copyright. No it may not really be legal but a judge ruled in his favor so it became so. Can we say judicial activism.

[Ami_GFX]

Ok, I've looked through the box of comics that contains my Tower Comics and they are all Thunder Agents. I did find a few other books that I could scan. I have Charltons Space Adventures 40 and 42 and 2 issues of a Dell beatnik humor comic from 1961 called Yak Yak that is done by Jack Davis.

[Ami_GFX]

I was just perusing your silver age Charlton section and another thing I have in my collection that could be PD is Charltons Hercules. I think I have a complete run of this comic. If they are in the public domain and you need them, I could scan and upload them.

[Menticide]

I was just perusing your silver age Charlton section and another thing I have in my collection that could be PD is Charltons Hercules. I think I have a complete run of this comic. If they are in the public domain and you need them, I could scan and upload them.

Are the ones that Denny O'Neil wrote among the issues that you have? I don't know if they are public domain, but I'd really like to read those.

[narfstar]

Check the indicia. If it does not have the works or little circled c and the date then it is not copyright. Usually through 1967 so issue two might be OK. Looks like in 1968 they started getting it together so check three.

[Ami_GFX]

They are the ones Denny O'Neil wrote under the pseudonym of Sergius O’Shaugnessy. I have all of them so I will check the notices.

And I also have Blue Beetle 5 and Mysterious Suspense 1 with Ditko's Qustion and the copyright notice in them is totally strange--I will look at them and give you the details--they were esentially one shots that came out a year after Charlton canceled it's Action Hero Line.

There is also rampant rumor around that a lot of Charltons 70s comics might be in the Public domain due to the fact that they never sold or  properly transfered a lot of their copyrights when they went under in 1985. The Canadian who bought a lot of the original art claims to have also bought the copyrights but he has never produced a legal document of copyright transfer. John Byrne himself seems to think that his Rog 2000 which was a brilliant backup feature in the last Charlton issues of E-Man could be in the public domain.

And any opinion the PD status of Dell's Yak Yak? This is a really cool comic by Jack Davis that reflects a certain mood and feel of it's times and I would love to share this one.

[narfstar]

I believe there has a been a post by the last Charlton editor that stated that Boughton was correct in his assertion that he bought all rights to the remaining Charlton features. My estimation is that it was "understood" by both parties that this was the case. That being said it may be more a verbal than written contract. Between parties verbal contracts are legal but not sure how that affects the copyright registration.
Since anything after 1962 did not need formal renewal my guess is they are not PD. Janus has asked for a PD checker to step up and become a VIP. If someone would check there may be many Dell's that were not renewed.

[Menticide]

With the Dell stuff, I do have my doubts when it comes to the Gene Autry comics, because the Autry estate is rather notorious for snatching up the rights to just about anything with his name or image on it. The William Boyd estate is exactly the same way when it comes anything Hopalong Cassidy related. If the Autry's didn't get the rights to the comics, I'd be very surprised.

[narfstar]

I believe these were checked. That is why only the first 30 issues of Gene A are on the site because they are pd. Not sure about Hoppy but I believe these were checked by the original staff.

[Menticide]

I believe these were checked. That is why only the first 30 issues of Gene A are on the site because they are pd. Not sure about Hoppy but I believe these were checked by the original staff.

That reminds me, I haven't read any of the Hoppy comics yet. Well, I guess I know what tonight's reading material will be.

[Ami_GFX]

Are the ones that Denny O'Neil wrote among the issues that you have? I don't know if they are public domain, but I'd really like to read those.

Ok, I found them and I was wrong about Denny O'Neil. The Hercules stories are written by Joe Gill and the Thane of Bagarth is written by Steve Skeates. And issue 2 is the only one missing from the collection which is still in the box I put it in when I was about 13 or 14. Issue 3 does have a proper copyright notice. It's been ages since I've even looked at these and most were just in the box unbagged which means I probably bought them for 5 or 10 cents from unsorted comics boxes of one our local comics dealers. I bought a lot of Charlton comics at the time--1974-1975 because they had good art and were dirt cheap. The only ones I had to pay real money for--in teenage 1970s terms--were Ditkos Blue Beetle and Captain Atom.

Blue Beetle 5 and Mysterious Suspense 1 with the question have no copyright notice whatsoever. Both came out a year after Dick Giordano left Charlton for DC and Ditko pretty much had a free for all in them without much editorial control. He's definitely moving strongly in the direction of his Mister A and his other indepently published comics in these 2 comics.

[josemas]

With the Dell stuff, I do have my doubts when it comes to the Gene Autry comics, because the Autry estate is rather notorious for snatching up the rights to just about anything with his name or image on it. The William Boyd estate is exactly the same way when it comes anything Hopalong Cassidy related. If the Autry's didn't get the rights to the comics, I'd be very surprised.

I know that quite a number of the Autry and Boyd films were allowed to slip into the PD status so it's equally possible that comics (generally considered worth less than film rights) may have done the same.

Joe M

[Menticide]

With the Dell stuff, I do have my doubts when it comes to the Gene Autry comics, because the Autry estate is rather notorious for snatching up the rights to just about anything with his name or image on it. The William Boyd estate is exactly the same way when it comes anything Hopalong Cassidy related. If the Autry's didn't get the rights to the comics, I'd be very surprised.

I know that quite a number of the Autry and Boyd films were allowed to slip into the PD status so it's equally possible that comics (generally considered worth less than film rights) may have done the same.

Joe M

Partly true, this is the interesting thing though, the Autry estate has gone back, remastered, and re-issued a lot of the old movies. These remastered versions are not public domain and they are not the same versions that you'll get on those cheap DVD collections that you might have seen floating around. These official releases are considerably more expensive and honestly much better in quality. Now, that doesn't apply to the comics, but I wouldn't be surprised if the family wouldn't try to figure out some way of doing something along those lines with them too.

In the case of William Boyd, the estate officially owns the rights to the name Hopalong Cassidy, and they are in the process of doing the same thing with those movies that was already done with the Autry movies.

[narfstar]

Probably not much interest in the comics because there is currently not much money in comics. Even the top sellers sell less than moderate silver age comics. I do not see a boom time for comics in the future. Other than making movies, comics are not worth the fight except to us die hard fans. Gene and Hoppy already have their movies so have little need for the comics. If anything the comics are just a little more advertising. Wonder if someone contacted the Autry estate they would allow us to carry the later comics?

[Menticide]

Probably not much interest in the comics because there is currently not much money in comics. Even the top sellers sell less than moderate silver age comics. I do not see a boom time for comics in the future. Other than making movies, comics are not worth the fight except to us die hard fans. Gene and Hoppy already have their movies so have little need for the comics. If anything the comics are just a little more advertising. Wonder if someone contacted the Autry estate they would allow us to carry the later comics?

Well, I guess I could give it a try. I don't know what would come from it, but considering the fact that I'm a pretty big fan, and I'm supposed to be doing more to help this site. This seems like something I should definitely attempt to do.

[Menticide]

By the way, perhaps I should apologize, but I've now got the ball rolling. I've taken it upon myself to contact the Autry Estate. If it works, thank me, if not, I'm sorry. But, I thought I would give it a try, and I will do all that I can to make this possible. Trust me, I have my own reasons for wanting to do this, and I'd rather not explain why now, but I do believe that this can only help the estate, and it needs to be done.

[narfstar]

Great Ment. I tried contacting Street and Smith about carrying their books as good advertisement for them but got no response