New ROM and Mircronauts comics from IDW

[samurainoir]

http://www.theouthousers.com/index.php/news/132401-sdcc-is-idw-about-to-announce-micronauts-and-rom-spaceknight-miniseries.html?utm_content=bufferb0b97&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

as folks were predicting, given that Hasbro owns these properties now, and IDW already has the Transformers and GI Joe licenses.



It will be interesting to see how this plays out with Marvel... the Microverse is being introduced as a concept in the Ant Man film, and Venom is becoming a Space Knight.

http://io9.com/ant-man-will-introduce-a-weird-new-reality-from-marvels-1716416267

[hedrap]

Are we sure it's the microverse? Feige used to talk about Strange's Magic having a quantum bent to it, aka Thor's science-magic.

EDIT: yeah, the quote in the article says it was "called" the microverse, but they call it the quantum realm in the movie. That means it's like the GI Joe deal. Where whatever Marvel came up with, Hasbro owned.

[monitor_ep]

Well this sucks. I really wanted a Marvel Space Knight figure.

[hedrap]

I think Marvel must be ****y about this. Look at the titling for Rom "The Space Knight" and "Venom: Spaceknight". That's SOP for trademark knife-fighting.

[cjefferys]

That means it's like the GI Joe deal. Where whatever Marvel came up with, Hasbro owned.

No, for Marvel's Micronauts comic, they still own everything that Mego didn't copyright as a toy or name. They've used their own created characters like Bug for example in recent comics. I'm pretty sure that Marvel coined "Microverse", not Mego, so they should be able to use the name and concept freely in their films, and if they wanted to throw Bug, Marionette or Commander Rann (without any "Space Glider" references) into a film, they could do so.

[samurainoir]

Hasbro asserted Rom Space Knight in toy form last year with this SDCC exclusive Mugg.



Last time they asserted comic book rights for Micronauts was 2011. Prior to the Hasbro buyout, the Micronauts comic book by Devils Due/Image wasn't able to use Commander Rann, Mari, Huntarr etc.


Marvel asserted "Spaceknights" back in 2001 (and an appearance in Annihilation, 2007... which wasn't a titular "Space Knight", and thus doesn't constitute a trademark)



Bug #1 in 1997. and he joined the Guardians of the Galaxy along with Starlord, Groot, Rocket et al during the second Annihilation series. Also a half dozen appearances with the other "Microns" (Huntarr, Mari, Rann, Acroyear sans costume) in various Marvel U comics in the past twenty years.





Although Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn has gone on record saying that he wanted to use both Bug and ROM, but that they didn't have clear ownership. I'd assume rather than risk any kind of legal grey area with so much money on the line... why even chance the risk of a lawsuit that could put the potential franchise at risk?

"There was a really good chance Bug was going to show up in the first movie but we do not own him... but, anyway, that was going to happen, perhaps. Listen, I really love Rom: Spaceknight, as everyone at Marvel knows because they've given me Rom stuff... but we don't own Rom. I would love for Rom: Spaceknight to show up because I love his story, I love the way he looks, I love everything about him…"

[samurainoir]

[cjefferys]

Love it!

OK, I get that Marvel certainly doesn't have clear ownership of ROM, but Gunn says the same about Bug? I don't get that since Marvel has used him a bunch of times in recent years. Man, I would have lost my s**t if Bug had shown up in the Guardians of the Galaxy film!

[hedrap]

OK. Abrams killed the Marvel license in '97, so the Bug comic and whatnot was attempt to reclaim IP on non-toy based characters. Spaceknights looks to fall into the same wheelhouse.

EDIT: Marvel has no rights outside publishing for characters they created. I'm guessing Hasbro/Abrams could claim Marvel needs to give them a "Inspired By" credit, which is certainly true.

This is a main reason Marvel tries to steer clear of material pre-1980's for film/TV development. It all goes back to the Ghost Rider legal headache.

[Starroid Raiders Dagon]

In for both of these!

[samurainoir]

Love it!

OK, I get that Marvel certainly doesn't have clear ownership of ROM, but Gunn says the same about Bug? I don't get that since Marvel has used him a bunch of times in recent years. Man, I would have lost my s**t if Bug had shown up in the Guardians of the Galaxy film!

I'm sure it's enough of a grey area and even the potential of a legal fight over rights was deemed too risky for a movie that had so much $$$ riding on it. I'd guess Marvel Legal told them not to risk it. As with the Malibu properties, and now Fantastic Four and X-Men, why should Marvel/Disney "invest" so much time and effort and money into a character that they might not reap 100% profit on? Make business sense, if not any sense to us fanboys who would love Bug et al in Guardians.

It is all a little confusing... I guess it depends on the individual contracts, and I'd bet those licensing contracts back in the day were full of holes and grey areas, BEFORE it became big money rather than licensing out toys for comics (likely at little cost) to promote the brand as a form of marketing.

In the case of Star Wars... Lucasfilm seems to have full rights lock/stock. Dark Horse reprinted that run unchallenged.

Ditto Transformers... since they purposely debuted the Marvel UK character Death's Head in a separate comic prior to his (originally slated first) appearance in Transformers... vs Circuit Breaker who is likely Hasbro property now (it was reprinted IIRC by IDW?) even though no one probably cares about this character.

At some point it was determined that Red Sonja did not belong to Marvel. Although Marvel seems to "share" Kulan Gath?

Red Ronin debuted in Godzilla right? Marvel claimed him.
Doctor Demonicus made his debut in Shogun Warriors, but Marvel also seems to have ownership over this character.
Marvel also seems to claim the Dire Wraiths from ROM.

[samurainoir]

Maybe Acroray has some insight into this...
(although we haven't seen him on the boards in a while)

an official Rann variant released as some kind of exclusive by Palisades right?

[thunderbolt]

Dr. Demonicus was in Godzilla 4 and 5 before he showed up in Shogun Warriors.

[VintageMike]

MY small hope here is that since IDW has published some collections for Marvel they can work out a deal. Micronauts sans the Marvels properties was tried and didn't do well. Rom has enough of a mystique people may try the first issue, but if only has the Rom name/armor I'm afraid it would suffer the same fate.

[samurainoir]

Here's the other shoe... looks like Marvel is going to be publishing a ROM-less Spaceknights comic?

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/06/29/marvel-to-publish-a-rom-less-space-knights-series/