[BlaqueSaber]

Hi
Admittedly I haven't posted here very much (I'm new) but I'll let you know I'm a participator (I usually carve out time on Sunday's to hit the forums I'm a member of).  I have a question for all of you:

Which Protagonists do you feel had a lot more potential and could have starred in many more comics?  Now, the discussion is open to any/all characters (I want to learn) but I do have an anterior motive: We're going to run a serialized prose story over at Flashback Universe and I want to make sure I pick a quality character.  I've heard that fans of the GA don't particularly care for their characters being completely rebooted and remade (and I can't say that I blame you - I'm going through that right now with Dick Grayson) so we want to show the character respect while putting out quality content.

We'd like a character with some name recognition but that's not necessarily a deal breaker.

I was thinking of LADY LUCK
Smash Comics #42-85
"Nobody suspected that Lady Luck was actually Brenda Banks, a "debutante crime buster bored with social life" who decided to become a "modern lady Robin Hood." Her costume was not that of a traditional comic book vigilante; it looked like something that a Will Eisner femme fatale would wear. It was an emerald green gown, a green hat, and a green silk veil that hung over her face to disguise her identity. She solved blackmail cases, spy cases, kidnappings, and any other cases that came her way. As Brenda Banks, she was in love with Police Chief Hardy Moore; ironically, Moore's job was to bring in Lady Luck."
http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Lady_Luck

But I'm open and welcome suggestions...

[boox909]

Can you use Lady Luck? 

I thought the character was already tied up by Eisner's estate.

It would be nice to see new material featuring her! 

B.

[narfstar]

Zippo has become very popular around here.
Yellowjacket, Green Turtle and Black Dwarf are also good choices

[KnightRandom]

The character I'd most like to see explored more is the Simon/Kirby-era Blue Bolt, from the first 10 or so issues of that series.  (#2 was the first ever collaboration between Simon and Kirby.) Blue Bolt started out as a Flash Gordon kind of hero who crashlanded in an underground world and was given electrical powers by a mad scientist called Dr. Bertoff.  Bertoff's kingdom is at war with the Green Sorceress, cruel and beautiful green bikini-clad ruler of an evil empire.  The Blue Bolt, of course, falls in love with the Green Sorceress.  They then go through a whole series of plots and counterplots, my favorite of which is #5's "War in the Fourth Dimension."  The Green Sorceress seeks mystic aid from the demonic-looking Unholy One, who even she fears (his face is never shown).  She gains the knowledge to build a portal to the fourth dimension and uses it to invade the Blue Bolt's city.  THe Blue Bolt has to fight them in the other dimension, leading to a whole series of bizarre psychedelic visuals and, if I recall correctly, one of the first instances (if not THE first) of Kirby dots!  #6, with its proto-MODOK-ish villain Marto, is another great story.  Unfortunately we don't have that whole run and much of what we have is in ugly fiche scans, but we have a good sampling of it.  I think Titan Books is going to reprint the whole thing in the near future.

After Simon and Kirby left, Blue Bolt left the underground world to join the war effort and turned into a more typical superhero, then into a non-powered adventurer who was still called "Blue Bolt" for some reason.  The underground world was never brought back ever again.  So there's a whole lot of unused storytelling potential there. Of course, doing Kirby is always tough for anyone who doesn't share his unique imagination (IE, anyone other than Walt Simonson and Grant Morrison on his good days), but it might be worth a try.

[narfstar]

Has the whole arc been reprinted in the Complete Kirby? I have the first issue or two of Complete Kirby and saw some there

[KnightRandom]

Yes I believe it has, minus the first story which was just Joe Simon.  It was also reprinted in an odd, poorly restored edition published by Glenn Danzig of all people.  (That was where I first read them.)

[BlaqueSaber]

Can you use Lady Luck? 

I thought the character was already tied up by Eisner's estate.

It would be nice to see new material featuring her! 

B.

I kind of thought that anything up here on this site was fair game.  Is that not the case?

[BlaqueSaber]

Zippo has become very popular around here.
Yellowjacket, Green Turtle and Black Dwarf are also good choices

I've heard of Yellow Jacket, have to give that a try

[BlaqueSaber]

The character I'd most like to see explored more is the Simon/Kirby-era Blue Bolt, from the first 10 or so issues of that series.  (#2 was the first ever collaboration between Simon and Kirby.) Blue Bolt started out as a Flash Gordon kind of hero who crashlanded in an underground world and was given electrical powers by a mad scientist called Dr. Bertoff.  Bertoff's kingdom is at war with the Green Sorceress, cruel and beautiful green bikini-clad ruler of an evil empire.  The Blue Bolt, of course, falls in love with the Green Sorceress.  They then go through a whole series of plots and counterplots, my favorite of which is #5's "War in the Fourth Dimension."  The Green Sorceress seeks mystic aid from the demonic-looking Unholy One, who even she fears (his face is never shown).  She gains the knowledge to build a portal to the fourth dimension and uses it to invade the Blue Bolt's city.  THe Blue Bolt has to fight them in the other dimension, leading to a whole series of bizarre psychedelic visuals and, if I recall correctly, one of the first instances (if not THE first) of Kirby  dots!  #6, with its proto-MODOK-ish villain Marto, is another great story.  Unfortunately we don't have that whole run and much of what we have isin ugly fiche scans, but we have a good sampling of it.  I think Titan Books is going to reprint the whole thing in the near future.

After Simon and Kirby left, Blue Bolt left the underground world to join the war effort and turned into a more typical superhero, then into a non-powered adventurer who was still called "Blue Bolt" for some reason.  The underground world was never brought back ever again.  So there's a whole lot of unused storytelling potential there. Of course, doing Kirby is always tough for anyone who doesn't share his unique imagination (IE, anyone other than Walt Simonson and Grant Morrison on his good days), but it might be worth a try.

I'll check into it, thank you for participating

[boox909]

I kind of thought that anything up here on this site was fair game.  Is that not the case?

Not so -- one should not think of "anything up here on this site" as fair game. What if I decided to publish a new comic book using Quality's Plastic Man -- I might even go as far as titling the book Plastic-Man. DC will sue me out of existence.

Okay, I might be a bit burnt around the edges, but I then decide to use a lesser known character; introducing Black Condor!!!  DC will sue me out of existence. 

Growing smarter from my mistakes, I return to the market with Captain Marvel!!!  DC & Marvel sue me out of existence.

The rub is not in a public domain comic book -- and I am talking public domain comic book, not public domain comic book character -- the rub is in the public domain comic book that contains a comic book character on which someone else maintains a trademark.

You could start a new Duke of Darkness title, but you had better not start a new Marvel Family title.

Take a look at how AC Comics addresses such issues, or Erik Larsen's Next Project. You will note that even Superpowers ::spit:: has sought trademark protection for their own unique version of well known public domain characters. I can put out a book called "Red Old Nick"* and feature my own version of Lev Gleason's Daredevil, and there would be little that could be done about it because the base character is in the public domain; my version would be different than Superpowers' :::spit::  version, Erik Larsen's version, and AC Comics' version.

B.



*'Red Old Nick' is TM & (c) 2010 Boox909, All Rights Reserved.
'Bloody Old Nick' is TM & (c) 2010 Boox909, All Rights Reserved.
'Scarlet Old Nick' is TM & (c) 2010 Boox909, All Rights Reserved; also!  All mine!! ::buwahahha:: 

[skybandit]

  You COULD photoshop old Plastic Man adventures and make him a hispanic in a purple suit, call him "Spastic Sam," and get away with it.   Wouldn't be the same, though.

[DennyWilson]

  You COULD photoshop old Plastic Man adventures and make him a hispanic in a purple suit, call him "Spastic Sam," and get away with it.   Wouldn't be the same, though.

Well, BIG BANG comics did create their own version called "Protoplasman" who appears in "Policeman Comics"

[narfstar]

sky you can use Plastic Man all you want as long as he only contains the charactersitics from the pd version. The problem is not copyright it is trademark. Plas and the others are public domain stories but trademarked characters. You can not use them to promote your product although they an appear all you want on the inside.

[skybandit]

   Same for Daredevil and others whose names have been usurped.  As long as the customer can't POSSIBLY confuse your product for something from DC or Marvel, you're OK.  Slap the words "Lev Gleason's" in front of "Daredevil," and CYA!

[arghhh]

  You COULD photoshop old Plastic Man adventures and make him a hispanic in a purple suit, call him "Spastic Sam," and get away with it.

This needs to be done just for the hell of it. Also, his gangster name could be El Diablo.

[skybandit]

  "Eel" Ortega.  Called that because he's sickly and always "feeling eel!"

[BlaqueSaber]

sky you can use Plastic Man all you want as long as he only contains the charactersitics from the pd version. The problem is not copyright it is trademark. Plas and the others are public domain stories but trademarked characters. You can not use them to promote your product although they an appear all you want on the inside.

This is how I understood things as well.  As long as you stick to the elements of the character that are in the public domain (never telling stories about the character using elements that are still being used by another company) you're ok.  Of course, you'd probably want to make SURE that it's not like what's being currently published in any way.

What about using a character to jump start things but having the "book" (or podcast, comic or whatever) being about that character's nephew (or whatever)?  Then you've got your own character.

A.) Is this legally ok?
B.) Is this ok from the fans?  I've posted twice here and all ready someone is putting :::Spit::: in their posts .  This leads me to believe that there are those here who have STRONG feelings about these types of issues and we at Flash Back Universe want to tell quality stories while not stepping all over everyone's feelings.

What do you guy's think?

[Roygbiv666]

sky you can use Plastic Man all you want as long as he only contains the charactersitics from the pd version. The problem is not copyright it is trademark. Plas and the others are public domain stories but trademarked characters. You can not use them to promote your product although they an appear all you want on the inside.

This is how I understood things as well.  As long as you stick to the elements of the character that are in the public domain (never telling stories about the character using elements that are still being used by another company) you're ok.  Of course, you'd probably want to make SURE that it's not like what's being currently published in any way.

What about using a character to jump start things but having the "book" (or podcast, comic or whatever) being about that character's nephew (or whatever)?  Then you've got your own character.

A.) Is this legally ok?
B.) Is this ok from the fans?  I've posted twice here and all ready someone is putting :::Spit::: in their posts .  This leads me to believe that there are those here who have STRONG feelings about these types of issues and we at Flash Back Universe want to tell quality stories while not stepping all over everyone's feelings.

What do you guy's think?

As cliched as it sounds - you can't please everybody. If you try, you end up with pabulum. Some people are going to want stories that read like they were made in the Golden Age, others aren't.

From what little I know, you would legally be able to tell stories about their nephew, or dog, or cousin .. whatever you want.

[Ed Love]

I think the 1950s character Captain Flash has a lot of potential. Following him, I'd go with the Black Owl , the Owl, and Nedor's Grim Reaper.

Centaur's Amazing Man with his adversary the Great Question has loads of potential, if the company had just lasted a few more years.

[arghhh]

@BlaqueSaber

Warning!Newbie's opinion!

I see nothing wrong in making new characters.Original characters are easily accessed through this site, and since they are PD, probably from all over the net - if not now, then some day.Getting that Golden Age feel to comics is, in my opinion, more rewarding than trying to revive specific characters at all costs - no matter what you do, you will piss someone off with reboot.

[bchat]

B.) Is this ok from the fans?  I've posted twice here and all ready someone is putting :::Spit::: in their posts .  This leads me to believe that there are those here who have STRONG feelings about these types of issues and we at Flash Back Universe want to tell quality stories while not stepping all over everyone's feelings.

What do you guy's think?

I think that your main focus should be creating something which YOU can be proud of, that tells a story YOU want to tell.  Once you start thinking "is somebody else going to have a problem if I do that with this character?", then there's the possibility that you'll shy away from potentially good storylines & other creative ideas because you won't want to rock the boat and "disappoint" somebody.  You are the one putting the effort into it, so the only question you should be focusing on is "Is this the best work I'm capable of producing?"

[boox909]

sky you can use Plastic Man all you want as long as he only contains the charactersitics from the pd version. The problem is not copyright it is trademark. Plas and the others are public domain stories but trademarked characters. You can not use them to promote your product although they an appear all you want on the inside.

This is how I understood things as well.  As long as you stick to the elements of the character that are in the public domain (never telling stories about the character using elements that are still being used by another company) you're ok.  Of course, you'd probably want to make SURE that it's not like what's being currently published in any way.

What about using a character to jump start things but having the "book" (or podcast, comic or whatever) being about that character's nephew (or whatever)?  Then you've got your own character.

A.) Is this legally ok?
B.) Is this ok from the fans?  I've posted twice here and all ready someone is putting :::Spit::: in their posts .  This leads me to believe that there are those here who have STRONG feelings about these types of issues and we at Flash Back Universe want to tell quality stories while not stepping all over everyone's feelings.

What do you guy's think?

You guys could never go as far as Superpowers  ::spit::  in offending. 

[DennyWilson]

DC Comics just announced that THE SHIELD and THE WEB are ending with issue #10 of each in June.

No word what DC will do with the characters.

[boox909]

DC Comics just announced that THE SHIELD and THE WEB are ending with issue #10 of each in June.

No word what DC will do with the characters.

It is too bad that more people didn't get turned on to The Web -- it really is a great book and The Hangman backup feature is on par with the old Spectre run in the 1970s Adventure Comics.

The Shield -- good riddance to total crap.

B.

[BlaqueSaber]

DC Comics just announced that THE SHIELD and THE WEB are ending with issue #10 of each in June.

No word what DC will do with the characters.

Too bad, I wish they would put all the books into one and make a red circle quarterly and give it a bit more time.