The Letters Page

POSTED BY Alex Zalben, 04 December 2007

As we've mentioned before, there's way too much mail for us to answer in the shows, so we'll be answering some of it right here on the blog. As always, thanks for sending in your questions, and please keep shooting them over to tips@pulpsecret.com, call them in to 888-841-7549, or post a video response on YouTube!

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Lawgeek wants to know:

Love the show. Great recommendations and reviews. Out of curiosity, what are your day jobs? Do they have anything to do with comics?

We're all garbage-men. Kidding. For the most part, this IS our day jobs, reading and reviewing comics books, blogging, talking to fancy comic book professionals, etc. When we're not geeking out for a living, we also (separately) perform sketch and improv comedy around NYC and the rest of the country with our respective groups. Pete is on a house improv team at The Peoples Improv Theater called Fancy Dragon. Justin performs and writes with three sketch outfits: Tybrus, Sidecar, and Cubicle. And I perform, write, direct, etc. with my sketch comedy group, Elephant Larry. And yet, it is the siren call of comic books that keeps calling us back...

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Jost suggest:

Really love your show - any chance of you to talk about Globalcomicjam.com? It certainly has a fair bit of participation with some great artists. Would love to hear from you guys.

Consider it mentioned! And for those of you not in the know, GlobalComicJam is a site dedicated to what is "an entire site dedicated to online multiartist web-comic-jams." So, you know, it's pretty cool.

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Alex demands:

Where is Miracleman? I want a good answer.

Okay, so there's a couple of answers to your question. The first is, if this has to do with a plot point, I don't know. Miracleman trades currently go for hundred of dollars, so I've never been able to splurge on the collections. And I'd wiki the plot, but I'd rather actually read the story at some point. You know, if someone wants to send me their trades for free... Anyway, the second answer to the question ties into the first answer. The trades are available on eBay for hundreds of dollars. I recently talked to Rick Veitch about a possible reprinting, and his answer was essentially "I don't know." There's occasionally talk of re-collecting the series so that, you know, people could actually read it. But so far, no official news. So maybe not a good answer, but a true one, at least.

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Pat queries:

Could you guys help me understand the laws with Public Domain characters? In the recent issue of Wizard(#193) an article appears giving us a quick look at Alex Ross' interpretations of old heroes (Daredevil, Samson, the Black Terror etc). The articles states that the characters were created in the 30's and 40's and are now "public domain". Does this imply characters like Superman, Batman and Mickey Mouse are now public domain? What about characters like Allan Quatermain and Mr. Hyde seen in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? What gives?

That's a great, really, really complicated question. I'm going to try to boil it down without getting into too much legalese, so that I can properly answer your question. If you're interested further, I'd suggest literally putting about a week aside to do nothing but understand the intricacies of copyright law. Essentially, once you register a copyright for a written work, there is a period of time before it lapses into the public domain. Once the creation is in public domain, anyone can own the character. Copyrights, depending on the law for the period they were registered in, can be extended, renewed, etc, by either the creator or the holder of the estate. Copyright law also varies in almost every country, and changes constantly. Now, to talk about the characters you're asking about: Alex Ross' Superheroes series uses characters who copyright's have clearly lapsed. Since Ross is re-interpreting them, though, he (or his company) will actually own the copyright to these new versions of the characters, while the original characters remain in the public domain. Meaning, someone else could also make their own variations at the same time. Confusing, right? As for Superman, Batman, and Mickey Mouse, eventually, technically speaking, they should lapse into public domain. However, the corporations who own them have enough money and power to keep lobbying Congress to continually change copyright law to let them own the copyrights for decades. As for the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen characters, Moore used them specifically because they were public domain characters. Hope that helps clear it up a little...

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Julian laments:

So I recently read about Marvels choice to bring back the shield and colors in issue 34 of what has become my favorite book(next to All Star Superman) which I think is a big mistake. That aside my friends and I had been discussing possible heros to fill the unfillable shoes. The popular pick has always been Bucky, but I strongly disagree, Bucky is now his own man, and in a very Batman Nightwing esque way I think hes more than ready to be his own man. My pick would have to be Barton, who is already looking for a fresh start and cant be Ronin forever. If Marvel is hell bent on the return they better do it right, I'd love to see Iron Man try bring is some SHIELD agent or one of his countless butt pirates only to have the new guy rightiously defeated and stripped of the shield and mantle, only to have it worn by one of the new avengers. I'd really like to hear your guys input on this issue and perhaps you could even make it more interesting by placing some kind of bet based on your various picks for the new Cap.

Actually, I would have completely gone along with the "no way it's Bucky" theory, up until the last issue. Brubaker is keeping his story and cast super-tight. It boils down to, on the good guys side: Falcon, Black Widow, Bucky, and Sharon Carter. I don't think he'd bring in a random other character to flesh out the cast, and that includes Clint Barton, who has yet to appear in the series. In the last issue, I think Bucky finally started acting like a hero, and my bet is that he's going to put on the Cap-Armor, at least until Steve Rogers returns (which I also think is going to happen). If I'm wrong, I'm happy to eat my words, but that's my guess... It's starting to feel like an earned promotion.

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Rich from Athens, GA aks:

I'm a fan of irreverent, snarky, and hilarious comics like Warren Ellis's NEXTWAVE and Garth Ennis' Hitman, and often (but not always) enjoy Deadpool's exploits. Based on that nugget of information are there particular books in the same genre, particularly from indie publishers, that you'd recommend I check out?

The first thing that comes to mind is Iron & The Maiden, which at least for the first issue, was a fun, snarky romp. Also, not necessarily a merc with a mouth, but Hack/Slash is enjoyably snarky and gory. Black Summer also kicks arse, has a good sense of humor, and is disgustingly violent every issue. Any other recs, readers?

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