Pick of the Brown BagSeptember 15, 2026byRay Tate
Public Domain Super-Heroes. You've probably heard the description, but what are they exactly? Copyrights and Trademarks lose propriety over time and fall into the hands of...well...everybody. Sherlock Holmes, for example, emphasized through court adjudication, belongs to all of us.
Previously you had to ask permission from the last survivors of the Arthur Conan Doyle legacy to use the character. Now, you don't. That means you can create a mystery where everybody is baffled and have Sherlock Holmes just show up out of nowhere and solve it. If you're lucky and have the skill, you can get paid for it.
The same goes for public domain super-heroes. These are characters such as the 1940s Black Terror who were owned by a comic book or magazine company that went defunct. So did the rights. We all own the Black Terror.
Pulp thief/hero Domino Lady is another good example of a public domain super hero. In fact we don't know who created her. We all own the Domino Lady.
The Shadow and Doc Savage on the other hand are owned by Condé Nast who continue to faithfully renew their trademarks. Condé Nast also license Doc and the Shadow out for new adventures elsewhere. Partially to further strengthen their holds through current usage. Don't try to sell a Shadow story unless you want to be sued. Feel free to write fan-fiction though. Just don't expect to be paid.
Why use public domain characters instead of creating fresh characters that belong solely to you? There are arguments for both sides of the coin. I think the strongest argument for using Public Domain Super Heroes is that you want to write something for fans of these characters because you're a fan as well. You're writing something they and fans of these types of characters may enjoy. You also want paid for it.
For example, say you're a freelance writer, and you've got a bang-up story ready for Batman lost in time and encountering Robin Hood. Though DC once published a version of Robin Hood, Robin is a folk hero. He has always been a public domain character from the very beginning. You would only need DC's permission to write the story since it involves Batman, and your pitch might include the fact that Robin Hood has a huge following. On the flip-side, try to use Disney's fox Robin Hood and prepare to lose your shirt. Disney owns the fox version of Robin Hood. However, everybody owns Robin Hood and can write and sell whatever they want about he and his Merry Men.
Some years back, Dynamite Publishing got together with Alex Ross, yes, that Alex Ross, and put together a massive epic story involving multiple 1940s public domain super-heroes such as Miss Masque, the aforementioned Black Terror, the Green Lama, Catman as well as any costume you can think of not owned either by DC nor Marvel. They called this creative effort Project Superpowers. For the most part, it rocked. I'm in fact surprised there isn't a kickstarter for collecting and reprinting the series and its spinoffs, in sequence, in a larger-sized hardback.
Dynamite still owns the rights to Project Superpowers, but they don't own the heroes themselves. They own their versions of the heroes.
These characters as well as Miss Fury, another public domain 1940s character Dynamite doesn't actually own but created their own version of, return in Die!Namite Blood Red.
Blood Red is a mostly under the radar series by Fred Van Lente, whose work I've enjoyed before. Blood Red exemplifies the whole purpose of public domain.
Copyrights and trademarks merely preclude somebody else making money off an existing character or object that's owned by somebody else. In other words, Marvel cannot publish and make coin from a Batgirl book without DC's permission. They can however make a Lady Luck book without anybody's say-so. Everybody owns Lady Luck.
Copyrights and trademarks have time limits. The idea is to release existing works into new creative hands; even if it takes a while to get there. This theme has resulted in some very surprising moments in cultural history.
For instance, the Metropolitan Police do not own the rights to the Police Box. Those rights undisputedly now belong to Doctor Who. The people behind Doctor Who argued in court justly that Metropolitan through disuse no longer can claim ownership nor complain about the use of a Police Box as the shape of the TARDIS on Doctor Who. Metropolitan furthermore never registered a trademark, and they had umpteen years to try that out. So, Doctor Who owns the trademarked image of the TARDIS and the Police Box.
Die! Namite Blood Red casts all the female characters Dynamite owns outright, with those the company licensed added to the public domain super-heroes Dynamite stewards.
Dynamite owns Vampirella and Red Sonja lock, stock and barrel as well as their supporting cast of characters such as Pantha.
Keep in mind the actual appearance of characters can vary quite a bit so long as they meet their original definitions. Batman is still Batman regardless of the detestable short ears an artist forces on the reading public or a bat-symbol depicted without the moon.
Dynamite licenses Dejah Thoris, who is, believe it or not, still owned by the Edgar Rice Burroughs Corporation. Burroughs was very proud and protective of his characters, and it only surprises me a little that he made arrangements for holding rights beyond his death.
Dynamite do not own any of the public domain superheroes they played with in Project Superpowers. They do own the versions introduced and written about in the series. Hope that's clear.
Blood Red is set in an alternate universe struck from the Project Superpowers book. Anybody who has seen a zombie movie produced after the 1950s will be familiar with the plot. A virus turns most of the men of earth into zombies.
These consequences create a new status quo. Dynamite bought the Chaos Comics line of characters. So, they own a character called Purgatori.
You might remember her from the nineties as a low-tier "bad girl" back when bad girls were really popular and coming out of the woodwork. She's a red-skinned bisexual succubus with little clothing. Though wearing more now in this mini-series than then.
Fred Van Lente sets up Purgatori as the crime boss whose territory encompasses Sunset City. Purgatori controls all the access to the few untainted men and holds zombie games to entertain all the women.
Money apparently still has a use in the apocalypse, or perhaps being a succubus, Purgatori is getting something more existential out of the arrangements.
Purgatori as well recruited several public domain superheroes and Vampirella Magazine character Pantha to keep the peace and corral untainted men.
They also protect the women who the zombies prefer as a nighttime snack.
Now, here's where we get the first departure. Heroes working for the crime boss. The corruption may upset some fans, but I think it exemplifies the creative freedom that is the spirit of public domain.
The Woman in Red predates Wonder Woman. She possessed no powers but fought crime. Never in her original adventures did she mount a war-wagon with a fixed Gattling Gun to mow down zombies. If you dig that scene, and I certainly did, you can thank Fred Van Lente and the Public Domain.
Although working for Purgatori, I'm sure the Woman in Red maintains her own agenda. Everybody does in Blood Red. This makes the book so very entertaining and quite whacky.
Vampirella smoothly segues into the role of private investigator. Purgatori loathes the wild card do-gooder but finds her useful on occasion. When Deja Thoris arrives spectacularly in Sunset City with the promise of a cure, Vampirella's alien nature comes to the fore.
I was delighted by that scene. I don't think I've seen something like it before...anywhere. I can't speak Klingon, but do you speak Ferengi? Brilliant.
Purgatori doesn't want to rely on Vampirella. She can't control her. Vampirella is at least as powerful as Purgatori. She expects given half a chance Vampirella will kill her. Good bet there, but in this single instance, she finds a use for Vampirella.
Even more surprising, Miss Fury's ambivalence toward the first heroic vampire in literature and her ultimate decision toward our favorite blood-drinker at the end of the series.
Instinct tells you these two should be in harmony. Not so in Fred Van Lente's tale.
In fact Red Sonja is the only hero who stays loyal to Vampirella. She however is not the Red Sonja you're familiar with.
Van Lente explains Red Sonja's presence because it's a fun reshape. He doesn't reason out the clash of time zones. He leaves the rationalization for the longevity of the 1940s female superhero contingent to the reader. Because it really doesn't matter. Maybe they arose in modern times via Project Superpowers. Maybe they're the descendants. Maybe they simply arose during modern times independently. Maybe they drank from Fountain of Youth. Doesn't matter.
Van Lente instead takes advantage of the public domain credo to wield enormous liberty. Rocket Girl was a couple-based supeheroine. She fought crime with her husband Rocket Man as a Bullet Man and Bullet Girl "inspired" duo.
In Blood Red she's a happy-go-lucky lesbian pilot. There may not have been a Rocket Man.
A stickler may have cried objection! The canonical Rocket Girl was straight. Maybe so, but that doesn't matter with a public domain super hero. The canon is only a guideline. It would be different if you wrote a story where Thundra swung both ways.
Even better. Not all of the 1940s super heroes will survive by the end of the story, and one will die in a most unexpected manner. Thus, this book follows the Joe Bob Briggs rule for greatness in a horror film: "anybody can die at any time."
The story continues to go straight off the rails with a massive wtf at every turn. If you like your stories unpredictable, this baby is for you.
If you have too much of an attachment to the 1940s super heroines that doesn't brook schismatic changes, you may want to pass this series up. However, despite being a big Miss Fury fan, I really enjoyed Van Lente's morally questionable version of the kitty.
Die! Namite Blood Red is likely still available at your local comic book store in back issues, a mere five. The trade paperback will be available in November of this year, ISBN # 9781524129293.
