Guide to contemporary revivals of PD characters?

[Calamity Jon]

Hey all!

Giving some thought lately to efforts over the last thirty years (or so) to revive public domain characters, and wondering if there's a definitive list somewhere? Or, if there isn't, how many can we name?

I don't count THUNDER Agents since its ownership status was pretty hotly contested, and the assorted revivals of the Archie superheroes were all licensed, as I understand it. 

Otherwise, there was Malibu's revival of the Centaur characters in THE PROTECTORS and its universe, and Dynamite's PROJECT:SUPERPOWERS, of course. FEMForce and Americomics have their catalog of soundalikes. Marvel adopted a version of Amazing Man and I believe Roy Thomas smuggled some other PD characters under the fence. Airboy's been back a couple of times, starting with Eclipse, I think.

Seems like there will be a ton, especially if we count underground comix (Mad Peck adapted Linda "Black Cat" Turner for his music criticism comics, for instance) and self-published work (e.g. Ander Sarabia's The Blackest Terror).

Right, so -- before I begin obsessively listing every revamp I can recall, let me return to my original question: Has someone already compiled this?

Thanks all!
-Jon

[Yoc]

Hi CJ,
Hopefully someone out there can provide a single list.
One site that specializes on the topic is this one - https://pdsh.fandom.com/wiki/Public_Domain_Super_Heroes
And there is this Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/PDHeroes/
There's a fair amount of fanfic and member redesigns going on there.

Your own list forgot the America's Best Comics line in the 90s with Alan Moore's Nedor adaptions.

And I know there are several 'micro' publishers like DCM member and big supporter Roy Johnson who has his Standard Universe; as well as Rik Offenberger, who is part of G-Man Comics focused on the MLJ heroes.  CB+ staffer Jim Ludwig (Narfstar) is part of InDELLable Comics.  You can easily guess where they focus.

Poking around on Facebook I see there is also Temporal Comics, Public Domain Comics and others all using PD characters.

GL,
-Yoc

[erwin-k]

Before the comic book Mystery Men ever showed their faces, the Hero Pulp characters preceded them. Zorro being one of the first, circa 1920. The majority of pulp Mystery Men ended up in the public domain. In the 2000's a number of small presses began telling new stories of the old heroes.

Search for Airship-27 and Pro Se Productions. AFAIK they are still the most prolific publishers of what is now called "New Pulp."

Below is some shameless self promotion:

In the early 1930's Ace began publishing stories of The Moon Man. Both Airship-27 and Pro Se Productions have issued new books featuring the man wearing the one-way glass helmet. So did I:
https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Man-Showdown-Plains-Sherwood/dp/B08HTM6F31/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Super Swingin' Hero 1968 Special from Mechanoid Press
Groovy, but weird Mystery Men! Remember all the crazy, and mostly short lived, characters DC Comics threw against the wall to see what stuck in the late 1960's? I wrote the origin story of Changeor - the Mutable Man.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B019M54B8A/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_tZXFwb1NEA2JY

G.T. Flemming-Roberts created The Green Ghost for the Thrilling Group. I had a great time telling a story about the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Rockefeller Center.
George Chance - The Green Ghost vol. 1 from Airship-27 Print & Kindle on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/George-Chance-Green-Ghost-1/dp/0615993303/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1622930838&sr=1-2
Now an AudioBook! https://www.audible.com/pd/George-Chance-The-Green-Ghost-Volume-1-Audiobook/B0182MFWU0?qid=1447782484&sr=1-10&ref=a_search_c4_1_10_srTtl#publisher-summary

Even created the son of an old time Mystery Man, who calls himself The Voice…
The Voice: the Man With Everybody's Face
Casebook of the Voice Print & Kindle on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JM2DZ36/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i7

Plutonium Nightmare a novel of The Voice Print & Kindle on Amazon or on CreateSpace
https://www.amazon.com/Plutonium-Nightmare-Novel-Voice-1/dp/0615861180/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=


Check out my own story and blog site: https://erwin-k-roberts.com

[Calamity Jon]

A fantastic list to start with, thanks folks! Erwin, your work looks great! I am going to concentrate on comics, tho, I'm curious about how the characters continue to resurface in their native medium...

[Calamity Jon]

I hope you won't mind if I start consolidating this information in this thread. It seems like a good place to collect everything...

Starting with the big ones:

TERRA OBSCURA / SMASH (2001-2006)
Publisher: America's Best Comics / Wildstorm
Roster: Exclusively Nedor/Standard/Better characters including:
American Crusader, Black Terror, Cavalier, Doc Strange, Fighting Yank, Green Ghost, Liberator, Miss Masque, Pyroman, The Scarab and The Woman in Red

THE PROTECTORS (1994-1996)
Publisher: Malibu Comics
Roster: Exclusively Centaur characters, including:
Airman, Amazing Man, Arrow, The Clock, The Eye, Fantom, Ferret, Iron Skull, Man of War, The Masked Marvel, Mighty Man and Miss Fury.

PROJECT: SUPERPOWERS (2008-2010)
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Roster: Assorted character from different publishers, including (but not limited to):
Nedor/Standard/Better: American Crusader, Black Terror, Captain Future, Grim Reaper, Fighting Yank, Miss Masque, Pyroman, Wonder Man
Fox Feature Syndicate: Blue Beetle, Dart, Flame, Samson, Skyman
Crestwood: American Eagle, Black Owl, Green Lama, Power Nelson, Yank and Doodle
Lev Gleason: Captain Battle, Daredevil, Ghost
Centaur: Airman, Arrow, 
Holyoke: Catman
Hillman: Boy King and his Giant, Conqueror
Chesler: Dynamic Man, Major Victory
Columbia: The Face
Eastern: Man O' Metal
Dell: Professor Supermind and Son
and more...

Americomics (1983-2009)
Publisher: AC Comics
Roster: Assorted character from different publishers, including but not limited to:
Ms.Victory (Helnit), Phantom Lady (Fox), Black Cat (Harvey), Kitten and Cat-Man (Holyoke), Miss Masque (Centaur), Yankee Girl, Daredevil,

[Yoc]

That's a good start.

[Calamity Jon]

The list of characters from Project:Superpowers almost made me quit (and I've still got another twenty or so to add)

[Yoc]

Here's another micro publisher I stumbled across on Facebook.
Indyplanet publishes several of these small run titles with PD characters in them.

https://is.gd/pV0HK8

[SuperScrounge]

Red 5 Comics
Moon Girl

Of course webcomics have also revived PD characters, but trying to list all those would probably be madness. 

[bchat]

A comic title "Hack/Slash" contained some Public Domain heroes in at least one story arc I saw, including Fantomah, The Heap and Nightmare.

The Protectors ran from 1992 through 1994.  Miss Fury wasn't a "Centaur" character, as she was created by Tarpe Mills for a newspaper strip, which was in turn reprinted by Timely Comics.  By 1992, Malibu had published a mini-series featuring Miss Fury prior to publishing "The Protectors".

Erik Larsen had a ton of Public Domain heroes appear in his "Savage Dragon" book, including Harvey's Captain Freedom and Lev Gleason's Daredevil.  Larsen also had his "Next Issue Project", which had characters like Stardust, Samson, The Clock, Captain Battle and Silver Streak get new adventures.

In 1993, Marvel Comics published a four-issue series for "The Invaders" that featured Strongman, Spider Queen, Volton, Dr Nemesis (renamed Dr Death), and The Human Meteor as villains.

I can't remember what issue it was, and I'm too lazy to search online right now or dig through my collection, but Roy Thomas had The Fantom of the Fair square-off against a couple members of the All-Star Squadron.  It was either towards the end of that series run or an issue of "Secret Origins".

[darkmark (RIP)]

Well, I have done a few GA revivals for Lucky.  Wrote an origin for BEETLE GIRL that started w/ the Blue Beetle's origin and went up from there.  FOXFORCE is our version of INVADERS only w/ Fox heroes and we're on the 6th issue.  BLUE BOLT, which continues from his last GA issue, has 3 of 4 issues published.  Did a short origin for BLUE FLAME and a MISS MASQUE story for Americomics.  Also we did a single issue of PRIZE COMICS for Lucky which brought together two Black Owls, Yank, Doodle, and Frankenstein, but nothing else has been done on it.  That's all.

[Crimson-Blue-Green]

I revived a couple jungle girl characters for an indie comic, along with some supporting players.  I'm no longer associated with this publisher due to some problems I had with the editor. 
https://not-another-comics-blog.blogspot.com/2019/12/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-my-story.html