What publishers have been incorporated into DC over the years?

[Roygbiv666]

Rumor has DC acquiring or trying to acquire Ned Pines' company? That's a new one on me. Granted, DC did have a connection to Moore's "Terra Nova" series, but aren't all or most of Better/Standard/Nedor/Pines characters in the public domain (Felix the Cat being the obvious except since Felix must have been a liscensed character). What is their that would need to be acquired?

This has been covered more extensively here:
http://goldenagecomics.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,1553.0.html

and more discussion here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_talk:Nedor_Comics_superheroes

[jfglade]

 DC can Trademark their own character who used the name, for example, Black Terror but they will have to come up with their own version of the character, which is to say that they can use the name but they will have to attach it to a new character. I don't see that as being the same thing as acquiring the rights to a public domain character. Lord knows there have been several bogus Black Terrors already.

[Roygbiv666]

DC can Trademark their own character who used the name, for example, Black Terror but they will have to come up with their own version of the character, which is to say that they can use the name but they will have to attach it to a new character. I don't see that as being the same thing as acquiring the rights to a public domain character. Lord knows there have been several bogus Black Terrors already.

You are correct about the trade mark sir.

What my links were talking about was maybe the characters aren't in PD after all:

"Some of the early issues of their anthology comics (including the Black Terror's origin story) were renewed as well as issue #2 of the Fighting Yank. It gets a bit byzantine after that as the company is sold, not for the comic line which they were no longer publishing but for their  paperback business to Fawcett books. Which then went to CBS, Inc who renewed some of the 1950s material only to later divest itself of Fawcett and Popular to two different companies, Ballentine and Warner Bros, respectively.

While most of those business sales can be tracked online, what cannot be is if the sales included or didn't include the comics and the copyrights. It could be a case of being orphaned works if the sales didn't include the defunct comic line as part of the umbrella. However, theoretically, this could mean that DC Comics as part of Time-Warner actually does own the early stories of the Nedor heroes."

and  "I hate to say it, folks, but the Nedor characters are NOT Public Domain (at least not entirely). Source: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/cce/firstperiod.html
This reference lists the FIRST issue of periodicals renewed between 1950 and 1977, covering the period originally covered from 1923 to @ 1951, and selected ones thereafter -- the others can be accessed through the LOC copyright renewal registrations.
Of the Nedor titles listed in the 19th Comc Book Price Guide published between between 1933 and 1943, the following books were all renewed beginning with their first issue:
Best; Thrilling; Exciting; Startling; Real Life
The following titles were renewed beginning with their second issues, the first were not renewed according to teh above reference (and I'm NOT going to the library to check these...):
America's Best; Fighting Yank
Only the following books have no record at all on the above cited list:
Black Terror; Major Hoople; Real Funnies; Funny Funnies; Goofy; Happy
And the following book, published by them later in teh '40's, is also not listed in the reference:
Wonder Comics
Any characters that debuted in the ones that were copyrighted are NOT Public Domain, even if there are many articles claiming this. Americomics was WRONG. Rights on each of these characters would have to be determined on a case-by-case basis, depending on where they first appeared."

"It is clear that Ned Pines did renew copyright on most of his characters' first appearances, despite widely reported statements to the contrary. Also, Pines sold one of his companies, Popular Library, to Fawcett Publishing, who in turn, sold it to CBS, and today, the Nedor characters would be owned by either Bertelsman AG or Warner, if the comic books they appeared in were published by Popular Library. If Ned Pines used different compaies to publish these books, they may be in public domain.
Clearly, more research needs to be completed on this topic and misinformation is widespread. 72.29.159.115 (talk) 10:45, 3 June 2008 (UTC)
And since none of the above has any citations on it, it should not be considered authoritative. -JasonAQuest (talk) 13:09, 3 June 2008 (UTC)
The citations regarding which books were renewed or not renewed may be found at the following page:
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/cce/firstperiod.html
Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1 (first appearance of Sub-Mariner) NOT-RENEWED Whiz Comics #2 (first newsstand appearance of Captain Marvel) NOT RENEWED Flash Comics (first appearance of Captain Marvel as Captain Thunder) NOT RENEWED Thrill Comics (first appearance of Captain Marvel as Captain Thunder, published concurrently with Flash) NOT RENEWED Police Comics #1 (first appearance of Plastic Man) NOT RENEWED Military Comics #1 (first appearance of Blackhawk) NOT RENEWED
This report also clearly shows Ned Pines DID renew copyright on most comics published by Nedor, including Exciting, Thrilling, Startling Comics and America's Best Comics.
The notes regarding Pines' sale of Popular Library can be referenced here:
http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?p=6339408"

It seems likely to me that either the Nedor materials are orphan works, or, if any company did acquire the rights, they neither know nor care as "they" have never taken action against.

[darwination]

Maybe a related question, maybe not.  What was the relationship between DC and ACG?  I was reading an Irwin Donenfeld interview this week that inferred that somehow Harry owned that company as well. Or did he just bankroll it for Fred Iger (who apparently married both a daughter and an ex-daughter-in-law of Donenfeld's)?  Or none of the above?  The wiki seems to infer that he had a partial ownership but only in the early 60s, and I've heard there's some murkiness here...

[jfglade]

 It does sound like a case of orphaned works, and it would be interesting to see what would happen to the multiple versions of the Black Terror and/or the Fighting Yank should the speculation be correct and one of DC's agents challenge the creation of the divergent characters.

[Roygbiv666]

Maybe a related question, maybe not.  What was the relationship between DC and ACG?  I was reading an Irwin Donenfeld interview this week that inferred that somehow Harry owned that company as well. Or did he just bankroll it for Fred Iger (who apparently married both a daughter and an ex-daughter-in-law of Donenfeld's)?  Or none of the above?  The wiki seems to infer that he had a partial ownership but only in the early 60s, and I've heard there's some murkiness here...

Alter Ego 61 has an article on ACG:
http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=389

I have a copy, I'll try to have a look.

[darwination]

Ah, thanks for the heads-up, Roy.  I went ahead and picked up a digital copy on sale for 2.65.  I have a good number of copies of Alter Ego in my boxes, but I appreciate the digital option for instant (and cheap) satisfaction.  Cutting out the shipping cost is a big deal when picking up a loose issue here or there, and 2.95 is a very reasonable price digital price point for Alter Ego. That's hard to beat.  I look forward to reading it, as I've enjoyed very much the ACG comics that I've read.  If I make any sense of my own question, I'll report back...

An aside on my opinion about a digital price point for new comics from the big 2, .99 is appropriate for 6 minutes of reading.  An issue of Alter Ego can last hours 

[narfstar]

I agree Darwin. AE is much more for your money. 99 cents is the regular price for most comics on Wowio and others. They often give the first issue away free. And it works. I have bought the rest of a series for 99 cents each. I never would have paid the $18 to $24 bucks a six issue series I was not familiar with. But they made five bucks they would not have made otherwise

[Roygbiv666]

I agree Darwin. AE is much more for your money. 99 cents is the regular price for most comics on Wowio and others. They often give the first issue away free. And it works. I have bought the rest of a series for 99 cents each. I never would have paid the $18 to $24 bucks a six issue series I was not familiar with. But they made five bucks they would not have made otherwise

Once the color e-ink devices are "perfected" ... digital comic time!

P.S. No Wowio in Canada :-(