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Little Ike 02
Robb_K:
Comment made at: Little Ike 02
I'm guessing that St. Johns' "Little Audrey 11" is NOT in The PD, given that CB+ has uploaded that series through #10, but not #s 11-24(whose copyrights must still be active). But, I don't think that THAT fact automatically means that "Little Joe" is still under copyright. Only the "Little Joe" story printed in that book would be. IF that one story was reprinted in "Little Joe 1", I believe it could be left out, and the remainder of the book uploaded, (unless the rights to the character name, "Little Joe" are still under copyright, related to the name change from St. Johns' "Little Joe" to "Little Ike" after Issue #1). I'd like to find out which comic book publisher held the rights to that character name in early 1953. Could it have been Western Publishing for the "Little Joe" (Cowboy Chicago Tribune comic strip comic book adaptations in their Four Color series 10-12 years earlier)? Or could it have been Fawcett, for their "Little Joe" character in their "Dennis The Menace" series? St. Johns' "Little Joe" stayed with St. John, when Paramount's "Little Audrey" moved to Harvey, and became a filler feature and background character in St. John's "Little Eva Comics", until #22 in 1956. The question is whether or not a new publisher currently holds St. John's formerly-owned rights to "Little Joe". Clearly, Harvey never owned them.
Robb_K:
Comment made at: Little Ike 02
Thanks for your comments, Irek. Unfortunately, we only have St. John's "Little Audrey" #s 2-10, The Front Cover of "Little Joe 1", and all 3 of St. John's"Little Ike"; and we don't know exactly why that series' title was changed from "Little Joe" to "Little Ike". So, we only have GCD's entries for the books they have indexed. According to GCD, in "Little Audrey Comics' " #s 11-24, Little Joe was a secondary character in 4 5 to 7-page "Little Audrey Comics' " stories, and 2 of her 1-Page gags. And Little Joe was the primary character (titled character) in one 5-Page and one 2-Page story, and three 1-Page gags in Audrey's books. Unfortunately, GCD lists no secondary characters in the stories featuring him. In her books #2-10, her neighbour, (best friend) Patches (a boy her age), was the only secondary child character. GCD Lists only Patches (in most of her stories) Little Joe (only in 2 of her stories and 2 gag pages), and Herbert, in one story. But, I fear that GCD doesn't list all her child secondary characters. She seems not to have had a "regular gang" or circle of friends. We don't know which secondary characters appeared in the one "Little Joe" book. In the 3 "Little Ike" books, Bobby, Tommy, Cindy, Little Eva, Nipper Nuggin(Eva's best boy friend, from "Little Eva Comics"). nipper is from Little Eva's gang(circle of friends(which also include Little Joe/Ike, Nipper, Beanpole, Slugger, Tommy, and Bobby. So, it seems that Little Joe was "created" by St. John's editors, in 1950 (2 years after St. John started that series, to be a secondary support character for Paramount character "Little Audrey" Comic books), who was, in 1952, included as a semi-regular character in St. John's startup of their "Little Eva" series. And being a St. John copyrighted character, his copyrights were not sent along to Harvey, when Paramount shifted their cartoon character franchise over to that publisher. So we need to find out if any individual or firm currently owns an active copyright on St. John's "Little Joe" character.
St. John's "Little Joe" was clearly NOT patterned after Ed Leffingwell's or Harold Gray's newspaper strip's "Little Joe", because Leffingwell's character was much taller, larger, and about 12 years old, adventurous, and interested in learning about The World, and with a high moral code, wanting "right" to prevail over "wrong, - while St. John's "Little Joe" character was only about 6 or 7 years old, half his size, and a very bland character, interested in more babyish pursuits.
lrek:
Comment made at: Little Ike 02
My best guess is that Paramount owned all the SJ-produced LA material, including the supporting characters. [Indicia for LA Issue 20: "Entire contents copyrighted 1951 by Paramount Picture Corporation."] ... So maybe, and God knows why, a year after they lost the license to LA, SJ decided to spin off a relatively unknown LA character (with a few changes to the design -- the hair color and hat). Little Joe was dated Apr 1953, and Little Ike Jun-Oct 1953, so SJ apparently had a number of issues stockpiled. But, after the first issue, Paramount told them it was a no-no. Rather than fight a lawsuit, SJ changed the character's name and Bob's your uncle. ... But whatever happened to Patches and Sarge? ... Anyway, if my speculation is right, then Paramount owns ALL the SJ-produced LA material.
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