Alex Ross' new series Superpowers

[Earth 2 Chris]

I'm a huge fan of Alex Ross but looking at the artwork I'm starting to notice that most of his male characters have a similar facial structure. For example, the guy in flames looks like Superman from Justice, only in a different costume.

That's because Ross uses essentially the same models for every project. But it does seem it's getting more obvious to spot the same model from project to project. I think he used to alter their faces more or something. He used most of the same models for Marvels and Kingdom Come, but I didn't notice such blaring similarities.


Chris

[aquatroy]

Who is the Fire-guy to the left and the Blue Moth looking guy (kind of looks like the offspring of The Tick and his sidekick Arthur!).

The yellow cat in flames is ... The Flame. He's another Fox character. I'm guessing that the blue armored "moth" looking character is a new take on the Blue Beetle. BB is one of those characters with really screwed up copyright histories.

I can't identify the purple guy in the upper right hand corner. Could he be the Black Owl or The Fantom of the Fair?

[StrangeVisitor]

I'm guessing that the blue armored "moth" looking character is a new take on the Blue Beetle. BB is one of those characters with really screwed up copyright histories.

He might be, Ross used the armor design for BB in some sketches for Kingdom Come (or a proposed sequel, can't recall). He could also be a redesign of Better comics the Scarab. I'm not sure of this because Ross seems to be sticking fairly close to the charcter's original costume design.

I can't identify the purple guy in the upper right hand corner. Could he be the Black Owl or The Fantom of the Fair?

My guess is Dell comics - the Owl. The guy between him and the Green Lama is The Face by Columbia comics. Beside Samson is The Arrow - by Centaur comics.

[The Toyroom]

When does this debut? How many issues is it?

[thunderbolt]

AC had something planned with some of the same characters Moore used. If AC would take advantage of stuff like this and print some nice COLOR collections of the original books, maybe they would make some money. The black and white and ever shrinking in size while growing in price AC books turned me off a while ago.
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The yellow cat in flames is ... The Flame. He's another Fox character. I'm guessing that the blue armored "moth" looking character is a new take on the Blue Beetle. BB is one of those characters with really screwed up copyright histories.

I can't identify the purple guy in the upper right hand corner. Could he be the Black Owl or The Fantom of the Fair?

On the beetle looking guy, Nedor/Better hd a character named the Scarab, could be a rework of him.

[Captain]

As some of you have surmised, AC --who have legally owned the trademarks to most of these characters since the early eighties--are not happy!...nuff said for now.

I do agree with you on the color bit too TBolt. Seeing this artwork really makes one think of what AC could do with these characters.

The flying blue guy in the top corner is definately the Owl---check out his chest logo---dont know where his plane is though? Shiny Blue fellar does appear to be a rework of the Scarab, who was a very close rip off of the Blue Beetle anyways...or did Beetle rip him off....either way, they are the same flavor of soda in slightly different cans.

[thunderbolt]

^^^ AC could really benefit from this if they were smart, but their marketing doesn't seem to want to take adavantage of these sort of opportunities. Sure, its expensive to do color, but it would be worth the risk, and I really think there is a market for non DC/Marvel Archive type material.

[samurainoir]

So an example of a trademark would be like Marvel owning the trademark to the title Captain Marvel, which does not stop DC from publishing a comic book featuring the Original Captain Marvel under Shazam, only the use of the CM title?

So Miss Masque being in the public domain, AC owns the trademark to the Miss Masque comic book title since they last published that title, which does not prevent Dynamite from publishing a comic featuring the public domain Miss Masque character as long as it's not under the a comic book titled Miss Masque?

Does this mean MacFarlane owns the trademark to the title Black Terror in the Eclipse buyout?

As some of you have surmised, AC --who have legally owned the trademarks to most of these characters since the early eighties--are not happy!...nuff said for now.

I do agree with you on the color bit too TBolt. Seeing this artwork really makes one think of what AC could do with these characters.

The flying blue guy in the top corner is definately the Owl---check out his chest logo---dont know where his plane is though? Shiny Blue fellar does appear to be a rework of the Scarab, who was a very close rip off of the Blue Beetle anyways...or did Beetle rip him off....either way, they are the same flavor of soda in slightly different cans.

[brineb]

Alex Ross could make Foilman look beautiful. I have been out of the details of comics for the most part - how is it that other companies besides AC can use the characters? Did they lapse into public domain, and that's how AC got them in this first place?

They are in public domain, but AC has been using them for years. I know it's 100% legal to do this, but I just feel bad for small publishers. Bill Black really loves the characters, that is his motivation, he really isn't getting rich off of it.

[Captain]

Some of these characters, AC just publishes reprints of (and they pop up in the odd story here and there). Others, like Black Terror, Fighting Yank, Green Lama, and Miss Masque were legally trademarked by AC back in the eighties.

I'm not 100% sure just how that all works in the USA, as it seems everybody and their dog has just decided to run all over the trademark laws and publish the characters anyways?

On another front, I understand DC may be just as unhappy about the swiping of their Superpowers copyright. AC is a small, almost literally, mom and pop organization....a small threat to Dynamite. DC is massive, and could wipe the floor with Dynamite before the Dynamite folks know what hit them!

This book may get toasted before it sees the light of day!

[saildog]

I've started and stopped on many new titles. I kinda gave up and decided to settle on just collecting Bronze Age Comics. However, I will give this a try. Thanks for the heads up, it looks like it has a lot of promise!

[The Toyroom]

On another front, I understand DC may be just as unhappy about the swiping of their Superpowers copyright. AC is a small, almost literally, mom and pop organization....a small threat to Dynamite. DC is massive, and could wipe the floor with Dynamite before the Dynamite folks know what hit them!

This book may get toasted before it sees the light of day!

I was wondering myself how the title was going to fly by DC unnoticed... I think the phrases "super powers" and "super-heroes" are so closely identified with DC (and Marvel) that I'm a little surprised that Ross wouldn't have come up with some thing else. Since these are Golden Age characters I think "Mystery Men" or something along those lines would have been more appropriate. To tell the truth, when I saw the title of this post I assumed that Ross was tackling the old Super Powers mini-series done by Jack Kirby!

[samurainoir]

Some of these characters, AC just publishes reprints of (and they pop up in the odd story here and there). Others, like Black Terror, Fighting Yank, Green Lama, and Miss Masque were legally trademarked by AC back in the eighties.

I'm not 100% sure just how that all works in the USA, as it seems everybody and their dog has just decided to run all over the trademark laws and publish the characters anyways?

On another front, I understand DC may be just as unhappy about the swiping of their Superpowers copyright. AC is a small, almost literally, mom and pop organization....a small threat to Dynamite. DC is massive, and could wipe the floor with Dynamite before the Dynamite folks know what hit them!

This book may get toasted before it sees the light of day!

Just seeing where you are getting your information on Trademark and Copyright (these are different things from my understanding). I'm assuming that it's speculation on your part that "DC isn't happy", or do you have a source?

If Black Terror was trademarked by AC back in the eighties, how did Eclipse publish this one...


Did AC ever publish a Comic Book actually entitled "Black Terror" to establish a Trademark or were the reprints in another title? Americomics?

My understanding is that "SuperPowers" can't be copyrighted... it exists as a trademark. If that trademark isn't used or defended within a set time-frame, then that trade-mark is lapsed and up for grabs. Which is the situation when Marvel recently found themselves in when they tried to revive The Champions as a tittle... the trademark had gone over to someone else when Marvel did not bother to defend it, so the title announced as The Champions has become The Order.





When was the last time SuperPowers was used as a comic book? The eighties? How long does it take for a trademark to lapse?
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Since these are Golden Age characters I think "Mystery Men" or something along those lines would have been more appropriate.

Bob Burden has the Mystery Men trademark sewn up doesn't he? Particularly since it jumped over to a movie property?




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Let's look at it this way, Wizard of Oz is public domain.

ANYBODY can publish their version of Wizard of Oz and pretty much the only thing you are able to retain the rights for if you publish the original text is your own unique book design.

So just because you reprint public domain superheroes like Black Terror, Miss Masque etc, shouldn't mean you've gained the trademark. In theory anyone can reprint those exact same stories. "Love" does not give you any more right to it than anyone else. And who is to say that Alex Ross et al don't "Love" these characters as much as the owners of AC Comics? How do you even measure that?

[thunderbolt]

I'd have to think that a company like Dynamite, that is very used to copyrights due to all the liscensed stuff they publish, would have made sure this project was ok legally before going ahead with it.

[The Toyroom]

Interesting about Marvel's Champions...didn't know that.

As for "Mystery Men" I forgot about the Bob Burden characters. But I still think it's closer in description to the characters Ross is using rather than "Superpowers". Too bad DC already published under the title "The Golden Age"...that would have been appropriate here as well.