Public Domain

Shouldn't Wimpy still have two more years before he becomes public? And I don't see how Charlie Brown could possibly have entered public domain already. Even as wikis go, this all sounds pretty questionable.

The dozen Atlas-Marvel monsters have been my favorite discoveries of 2025. I'll happily tinker with them. Surprising that some of the magic bag felix era characters are PD in anycase on account of the pilot and a few subsequent episodes of the Oriolo series having lapsed.

Dreamworks bought the remaining rights to the character from Oriolo Jr. Thus they're permitted access to the Felix name trademark and hence use that power to shill merchandise and nothing else. Its basically what Universal does with all of their legacy toon IP from Harveytoons to Woody Woodpecker.

If the Oriolo pilot is in the pilot episode, doesnt that make it public domain by default?

In anycase I much prefer golden age Felix.

also, apparently the first two Blue Beetles count too?

Why wouldnt they? FOX and Holyoke have been defunct for a century, and Charlton was terrible at maintaining their copyrights

Charlie's earliest appearances in Li'l Fellas were not renewed, hence he is public domain. It's like the Steamboat Willie or Buck Rogers situation. The roughest and rawest version of a big name character is free to use, but not the more recognizable later version.

That's what we thought at first, but someone did some digging and couldn't find any evidence the episode that the magic bag was introduced in got renewed

I'd still wait it out a little longer to be sure that's true though

Joined the PD sub-plebbit to share my art

plebbitors are actually insufferable communists like everyone said for the last 20 years

christ

Gwandanaland Comics discovered they were PD a few years ago and did a volume collecting them, but not many people noticed even though they did a post saying so.

They also discovered the first appearance of Turok wasn't copyright renewed

Shouldn't Wimpy still have two more years before he becomes public?

In theory, yes. But just as someone discovered that the comic strip where Popeye saying he eats spinach to get strong wasn't copyright renewed, someone else did a little digging and found out that Wimpy, Bluto, and others' first appearances might not have gotten copyright renewed either. Remember that up until the late 70s people needed to renew their copyrights within 28 years or it fell into the public domain.

I'd still wait it out a little bit till there's a full confirmation though

Its a shit hole, as bad as Anon Babble can get I think this is honestly a better place for almost any discussion. Almost.

Gwandanaland Comics is a real MVP even if his reprints are kind of overpriced ass. I really wish someone would make more PD reprints in the vein of what's been done with the Fletcher Hanks and Basil Wolverton compendiums. Outside of those examples only the IDW Miss Fury, Briefer Frankenstein, and Darkhorse Silver Streak comic collections stand up to that level of quality.

spoiler

HORRY SHIIEETTT

Unironically true. Everytime I've tried to migrate platforms there's always some obstacle in the way that makes me turn back here. Even the alternative chans have their own failings. Thus far X has been the best of the social media platforms Ive tried but there are still lunatics lingering in the wings on that site too.

Do you guys have any irons in the fire? Im constantly juggling ideas these days.

Twitter always remain a shit hole, the piss might have been filthered from the turds but your still going to be left with piss. Bluesky is just as bad, the only difference being that instead of sjw and pol bullshit the sjw bullshit is the majority.

That looks fucking epic.

Truer words have never been spoken. Feels like the algorithim on there is trained to show you shit that pisses you off just to keep you engaged aswell. It's not a fun experience in the least. We're getting to a point where I lament ever leaving deviantart as a middle schooler in the late aughts.
Thanks anon I appreciate it. I was hoping more anons would share their works. PD threads should encourage more people to do that. If this thread doesnt pick up I'll share more work.

Thank god for King Features incompetence. I don't think I could wait 3 years just to use Bluto, Wimpy, or any of the other Thimble Theatre characters. It's kinda ironic that almost every member of the cast was public domain for years except for Popeye.

Also, Dennis is free to.

And then Oriolo Jr decided to make it harder for Dreamworks to even do anything with his fathers version of the Felix universe if they actually felt like doing something by taking Poindexter away and trying to turn him into a standalone character.

Well it turns out Poindexter has been PD for years now, so if they really wanted to, they very well could use him.

The Bluto situation was honestly kind of fun since it meant you had to rely on all his derivatives. Im really attached to his Sinbad incarnation so it worked out well for me.

Just waiting for Superman honestly. I've been researching those early Action Comics and the Fleischer shorts.

did you miss the Jor-L and Lora news?

It was both surprising and unsurprising. It’s surprising because, out of all the public domain strips, the odds of Bluto appearing in one was unlikely. But it becomes less surprising when you remember that, for years, King Features thought Paramount had created and owned Bluto. Showing that they didn't have a good handle on their IPs. So it’s not shocking that some, including Bluto’s strip, slipped through the copyright cracks.

Wasn't there a point in time when King Features actually thought they didn't hold Popeye's IP?

I don't know how to feel about this.

That is interesting, but not helpful right now. It is good to know that at least some of his Kryptonian background will be fair game.

I think you can mix and match different public domain assets. For example, you could use Max Fleischer's Superman with the comic strip version of his parents. Or at least, that’s how I think it works.

No one actually cares about Public Domain characters unless they can make some subversive/edgy/horror reimagining.

My favorite will always be Jim Tyer's run.
youtu.be/yJAFn3ZYwk8
youtu.be/iysw0X-5Xcs

Is this why the Felix Dreamworks cartoon from around 2020 was cancelled?

Hard to say in all honesty. After all Disney is abput to make a Mickey Mouse cinemaric universe right now. While I dont think the public domain is the mark of death most consider it to be, I could see a Universal thinking it isnt worth investing in.

Says you. We've gotten plenty of great stories with PD characters over the years.