DC Comics Lose Another Piece of Superman

[Logan Westbrook]

DC Comics Lose Another Piece of Superman

A judge has handed a part of the Superman copyright back to the descendents of its original creator.

The debate over who owns Superman has raged for some years now, with DC Comics and its parent company Time Warner trying desperately to hang on to the copyright, and the estate of writer Jerry Siegel trying to take control of the character that he created along with artist Joe Shuster.

A court decision last year awarded the Siegel estate with rights to some of the elements of the Superman canon, namely those that features in Action Comics #1, the comic that Superman first appeared in, with everything after that belonging to DC Comics. This week, a judge increased that ruling to include the first few weeks of Superman material, meaning that DC now no longer own any rights to the character's original story.

The copyright for Superman will revert to the Siegels in 2013, although some well-established elements of the character, like Kryptonite, Jimmy Olsen and perennial antagonist Lex Luthor still belong to DC. Might we see Superman joining the Avengers? Perhaps, but it won't be the same Superman that is loved by so many.

Source: Slashfilm [http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/08/13/warner-bros-has-lost-krypton-will-lose-superman-in-2013/]



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[Jaebird]

I'm a bit confused about that last bit about "Superman joining the Avengers".

 

[sk0lltap]

I'm a bit confused about that last bit about "Superman joining the Avengers".

Yeah it is almost as if....as if Marvel has taken him.

 

[Rayjay06]

I'm a bit confused about that last bit about "Superman joining the Avengers".

Since the Siegel estate will own the character, they will have the right to sell to anyone they choose to. However, I doubt Marvel would option him, as that would just end badly. In all likelihood, DC will make a deal with the Siegel estate to retain the publication rights of the character.

 

[NotMePleaseIgnore]

This week, a judge increased that ruling to include the first few weeks of Superman material, meaning that DC now no longer own any rights to the character's original story.

Can't they just make up some new stories, like you think that they would be doing anyway.

It sounds like they got off pretty easy to me.

 

[Jaebird]

Seems to me the only people who will suffer are the fans:

[Christopher Dennis, Confessions of a Superhero]

 

[man-man]

Is it just me, or does this whole story reek of "Copyright fucking stuff up again"? That the story of a character as big as Superman can be cut up into chunks and then the rights to the chunks be owned independent of each other. Seems like the inevitable conclusion is one where no-one can do anything interesting with the character because the don't own the rights to enough elements of the classic material.

Imagine a Superman story/film without Kryptonite, or something involving Lex Luthor using Kryptonite to defeat "Ultraman"... it would suck. Would it really be so horrible if the whole thing was open to be used by anyone with an idea for it?

 

[Simriel]

The article talks about movies, but how is this gonna affect the comics? Superman is an integral part of the DC Multiverse.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

I don't exactly get what this means. Does this mean DC won't be allowed to mention Superman's origin anymore or something?

If this only means the descendents can sell the rights, I doubt this will effect anyone in many ways.

 

[darthzew]

I was expecting this to be about how they lost has leg or something.

But I'm at a loss here... So, they can't reference his original story? Or... what?

 

[DND Judgement]

i never liked superman anyways....

 

[Haydyn]

I'm wondering why we have to keep marketing super heroes from decades ago. Unoriginality will always exist, I guess.

 

[Haydyn]

Yes, this means that DC can no longer reference superman's original origin story without paying the Siegel estate, since it has been determined that that was Siegel's invention entirely. After that, it's been deemed to be a work-for-hire, and so is owned by DC -- until 2013, at which point all the rights revert to the Siegel estate. So Lex Luthor and Kryptonite are DC's until 2013. Krypton, Kal-L, Jor-L etc, are Siegel's.

I'm wondering why we have to keep marketing super heroes from decades ago. Unoriginality will always exist, I guess.

Yeah, and why on earth do we keep going over that Jason and Argonauts stuff, and the whole Illyiad thing, and good lord, don't even get started on that whole Bible thing, why can't those Christians write up something new?

Without sarcasm, some characters and some stories are iconic. Just because something has been around for a while isn't any reason to throw it out -- especially if it remains popular and relevant to people.

That's just it. Super heroes are already way more popular that ancient greek mythology, and I'm sure there are more games and movies based on super heroes than the Bible. What about all the other books and movies that have WAY better stories than super heroes that have faded into unexistence? I don't see remake after remake of the Oddessy.

 

[Jackpot]

when does superman enter public domain?

 

[Virgil]

Is it just me, or does this whole story reek of "Copyright fucking stuff up again"?

No, this is actually doing exactly what copyright is supposed to do - protect the rights of the creator from being overrun. Siegel and Shuster really got the short end of the stick when they went up against DC to try to claim the rights of the character they created. They sold one story featuring the character for $130 and inadvertently handed over everything, and spent a fair part of their later lives trying to get it back.

when does superman enter public domain?

Assuming copyright isn't extended again, and hopefully it isn't, 2033.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Is it just me, or does this whole story reek of "Copyright fucking stuff up again"?

No, this is actually doing exactly what copyright is supposed to do - protect the rights of the creator from being overrun. Siegel and Shuster really got the short end of the stick when they went up against DC to try to claim the rights of the character they created. They sold one story featuring the character for $130 and inadvertently handed over everything, and spent a fair part of their later lives trying to get it back.

when does superman enter public domain?

Assuming copyright isn't extended again, and hopefully it isn't, 2033.

Seigel and Shuster got F**Ked. It's a travesty it's taken this long for their families to see ANY money from this. It's like, if Stan Lee invented Spiderman, then Marvel just took it away from him and did whatever they wanted to do with him.

As for being uninteresting, Superman could be very interesting if you considered the real ramifications of his powers (which are effectivly tactile telekenesis) and the fact he literally doesn't age:

Curtis Knox, M.D.: Your powers might be far beyond those of mortal men, but you've met your match.
Clark Kent: I won't let you kill anyone else.
Curtis Knox, M.D.: I'd kill a thousand more to never have to be alone. You don't know the pain of living centuries watching the women you love grow old and turn to dust!
Clark Kent: You and I are more alike than you think.

It's been toyed with from time to time, Superman just saying "F*CK it" and retreating to the fortress of solitude to brood. He could be such a very interesting character, but nobody wants that.

 

[whaleswiththumbs]

I'm a bit confused about that last bit about "Superman joining the Avengers".

Since the Siegel estate will own the character, they will have the right to sell to anyone they choose to. However, I doubt Marvel would option him, as that would just end badly. In all likelihood, DC will make a deal with the Siegel estate to retain the publication rights of the character.

Yeah, like this comic guy I get my books from says and I agree with, DC makes better deeper stories Marvel makes better deeper characters. So I could imagine some kind of parallel universe crossover thing that would be mega hyped then fail, then the Seigel estate would take the rights back from Marvel, and then DC would try to get it in some over-priced bidding, things would go back to normal, well a normalitly with no fighting over rights, Marvel might be upset though.

How do you own rights to Kryptonite? isn't that like owning Adaman... dammit.

EDIT: What's with the picture for this article Superman is fighting a hooker?

 

[The Great JT]

I'm a little leery about the whole "Superman with the Avengers" thing. I know it's speculation, but still. Superman's nothing like Iron Man and Captain America. A Superman/X-Men team-up though, that'd be awesome.