Didn't Alex Ross sweep up all the public domain guys? Same with Green Hornet & Lone Ranger?
@4donkeyjohnson: Though I think since they are in the Public Domain they are still free for use.
Erik Larsen intro'd a bunch of them in Savage Dragon also. However, "public domain" means there is no copyright, and that they are free for the public to use, without paying any royalties. Take Daredevil for instance (used by both Ross in Project: Superpowers, and Larsen in Savage Dragon)- if I wanted to, I could have my own version of Daredevil running around in my story universe, as long as my version isn't like Ross' or Larsen's. We start with the same root, so we would share the same secret identity and costumed identity, but after that, there need to be differences.
Ross made it that when DD and the others came out of this magic urn they had been trapped in, their personalities were somehow changed. He basically took recognizable public domain characters (PDC), used their names and looks, and nothing else.
Larsen took his DD, reprinted the original origin (which he can do, because it's public domain [just like publishers do with classic literature]), and evolved the characters from there. He made it that Solar Man had trapped the PDC in a device (basically the same as Ross' urn, but it was technological rather than magical) that somehow drained them and increased his own power. Dragon and company finally managed to destroy the device, which released the PDC into the present day, and made them available for his own use. So far, he has only used DD. DD has lost one of the Lil Wiseguys (killed by Dart), gotten laid (Dart again; also Angel Dragon at one point), and been superheroing all over Chicago.
If I wanted my own DD, I could find my own way to transport the original to the present day, just rewrite his origin for the present day, or say there's been generations of them, sort of riffing on The Phantom. As long as my version isn't like anyone else's, I can use every PDC available.
Technically, Superman is public domain, but a) DC's lawyers are going to be very vigilant about protecting their copyrights, b) they'll say only certain elements are public domain (the elements that were originally part of Superman's story), c) the other elements are NOT public domain, and d) this is why we keep seeing alternate universe versions of Supes- DC will always do this in order to tie up as many versions of Supes as possible.
But guys like Daredevil and the Black Terror? Completely available. :)
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