Good morning, all.
I was wondering what, if anything, I'd be allowed to do with a character named "Mark Lord" from the Fantomah comic series that's available on this site. If everything on DCM is public domain, and Mr. Lord was from one of the collections available here [Fantomah Archive Part 1 featuring art by Fletcher Hanks (Fiction House)], and he was a one-off villain (from what I can tell), does that make him public domain and useable?
I'm toying with the idea of one day using him in a story, but don't feel comfortable enough in my limited knowledge of copyright to feel like I have a go-ahead. I know Fantomah herself is referred to as a "public domain character" all over the Internet, but she's not one of those pre-1923 characters that I know are safe to mess with.
My thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide. Enjoy your day.
Kevin Holsinger