[comicisart]

How do you know if a Comic is in the Public Domain?

[Roygbiv666]

Short answer: it varies.

Longer answer, check out this page for info: http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm

This chart offers a decent (if abbreviated) guide to figuring out which properties are in public domain and which are not: http://www.bromsun.com/practices/copyright-portfolio-development/flowchart.htm

Copyright laws have change over time so the next step is to look at the Digital Copyright Slider to know which conditions that must be met for the comic to be in the public domain: http://www.librarycopyright.net/digitalslider/

If it is a matter of renewal which applies to works published between Jan. 1, 1923- Jan. 1, 1964, check  The First Copyright Renewals for Periodicals List ( http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/cce/firstperiod.html ) for works that would come up for renewal before 1977 and the Copyright Office Records ( http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First ) for those renewed after 1978. If the publication does not appear in either search it is mostly likely in the public domain, but this info is based off publicly available records and is not legal advice.