The Fly. Copyright vs Public domain

[Bliten]

Query. I use the character The Fly (Kirby and Simon) as an example.
How far does copyright go? It has an estimate of years, right?
I know the rights to The fly belong to Simon. But once the person has passed away, how long can the next of kin have the rights?

If I want to make a comic of that character tomorrow, I have to pay rights, right?
Does anyone know how it works?

[Yoc]

Hi B,
Project Gutenberg has an excellent overview of US Copyright rules at this link:
https://tinyurl.com/ydhbayr7

The Fly falls under Rule 1 - Works First Published Before 95 Years Ago and Before 1978.
"For Works published prior to January 1, 1978, the maximum term of copyright protection is 95 years from the date of first publication."

I suggest you not try to use The Fly for anything you might want to publish without talking to the current copyright holders.

-Yoc