The Dos and Don'ts of Using Public Domain Characters

Hello Star Tugs, Trammers...um... you know, maybe I'll just let my readers give themselves a nickname. 
Provided I became popular enough for that. Which I'm not counting on. 😛

Now to more serious discussion. First off, I wish to quickly address Article 13 of the European Union. I'm 
deeply concerned regarding this, and how it might affect people who do work online. I will try to keep this blog
as available to everyone as possible.

Now, in one of my earlier posts, I discussed the history of Lady Luck, the Golden Age superhero now in the 
public domain. I'd like to consider myself a semi-expert on public domain characters, I know a few, but still have
a fair bit to learn. For anyone like myself, writers who love Golden Age superheroes and maybe want to use 
them, I wanted to offer some suggestions (based on my own observations) of Dos and Don'ts.

Do:

Use Public Domain Characters. This might be obvious, but it's worth saying. There's a lot of story potential with
these characters. And everyone's free to use them! Well... with most.

Check the Copyrights. Now I've put this in bold and italic because I want to emphasize this. You need to be 
careful about the copyrights. Some characters which may seem to be in the public domain aren't. For example, 
the original Captain Marvel, created by Fawcett Comics and now owned by DC, is technically in the public 
domain. I say technically because DC still owns a lot of the copyrights on the comics, and several trademarks. 
You could, theoretically, use Captain Marvel in a story. But... DC will have your ass. I.E. They will sue you, and 
will likely win. So be careful what characters you use. Confused about where to start?

Consult the Public Domain Superheros Wiki. This' a great source for characters in the public domain, there is also
a page offering help on how to use characters. I'll leave the link to their home page here:

https://pdsh.fandom.com/wiki/Public_Domain_Super_Heroes

Change stuff Up. Don't be afraid to make changes to characters, settings, or...well just about anything really. 
You're not stuck with a status quo, go wild! Want to use the character Amazing Man in space? Go for it! The 
possibilities are endless.

Also, with this, be sure to make your version unique. You can change aspects of the characters, such as their hair
color, costume, sexuality, etc. Also, when using Public Domain characters, don't steal from others who make 
differences to characters, that's not cool. And probably illegal.

If you're curious about this character, feel free to look into him more on the Public Domain Superheros Wiki.

Create your own Team. With so many characters in the Public Domain, there's an endless (unless you calculate it,
but we're about English on this blog, not Math!)

Now, let us move onto the Don'ts.

Don't:

Write Characters with Accents. An example of this is Peecolo from Lady Luck, whose written with a cliche' 
Italian accent. I'll link the Fury Comics' page of Lady Luck comics so you can see what I mean. Portraying 
characters in this way is a dated element from the Golden Age, and won't sit well with readers.

http://furycomics.com/viewer/4/Lady_Luck/

Keep a Racist Design. Another one I wish to highlight. Heh heh, see what I did there? The Golden Age of 
Comics was in a time of... look, it was a racist era, and it showed in comics, let's not sugar-coat it. Case in point,
Ebony from Will Eisner's The Spirit. Ebony....

The Cover for The Spirit #1, (C) Public Domain

Oh... oh Ebony.

Let me just say first off I'm not sure if The Spirit (as a character) is in the Public Domain. His comics are
available for free on Comic Book Plus.com, which you can read here https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=1324, and
they state they do NOT pirate comics. The following images will be taken from The Spirit #1.

Also, before we go any further I wish to say that I don't hold anything against Will Eisner. He's basically the 
Godfather of Comics, up there with Stan Lee. Eisner I'm sure was a good man, who lived in a very different time. 
It is still wrong by today's standards.

So, back to Ebony. He's drawn in a very racist style, which shouldn't be used anymore. It's unacceptable. Am I 
saying don't use the character? No! Just...redesign him, and any other African American, Chinese, Japanese, any 
ethnicity that's drawn poorly accurately.

Objectify Women. This' a given but needs to be stated. Take in point, Ellen Dolan from The Spirit.

Okay, the hips do lie here! Nobody moves like this!

That's not how shadows work!

Also, just... just don't have a female character's main interest be fashion. That's a dated stereotype. I mean, if it's
a part of the characters' interests, say they're a fashion designer on the side, by all means go for it. I can't exactly 
stop you. This' just my silly personal suggestion, however, please be respectful of your audience members. 
Comics aren't just for straight white men after all. Don't @ me, it's common sense. I hope you find the 
advice helpful. Bare in mind I'm not a professional, this' just my ideas, which hopefully are useful. If there's a 
character you'd like to use that's in the Public Domain, let me know.

Maybe in the future we'll see people creating unique stories of Mickey Mouse, Batman and Superman.
I mean, probably not. DC and Disney will probably lobby to keep their characters under their ownership, but that's 
a blog post for another day.

Well, that's all from me folks! As always, keep writing and I'll see you on the Tramway!

Thank you, Mr. Awdry

Hello my Star Tugs. I wasn't planning to write this blog, however, I wanted to do something quickly. So, I learned that today, March 21, is that day that Rev. Wilbert Awdry, author of The Railway Series, creator of Thomas the Tank Engine, passed away on March 21, 1991.

If you know me, then you know that Thomas & Friends was a bit part of my life. It's why I am who I am, why I like trains and why I want to be a writer.

Thank you, Mr. Awdry. Thank you for making our childhoods better. I'm sorry that we don't always act mature or learn the lessons that you want us to, especially regarding changes such as Big World Big Adventures.

I'll try and explain this in a later blog post, for now, it's getting kind of late and I have a presentation tomorrow, so that's all for now. Thanks for checking in, and as always, see you on the Tramway.

Luck is a Lady: The History of Lady Luck, the Forgotten Golden Age Superhero

12/28/2020 Update: Some of the facts on this blog post, through new research, have come to

light as incorrect. Lady Luck is ⓒ by the Eisner Estate. This blog post also does not reflect my

current writing abilities. For the sake of transparency, I will leave the rest of this blog post unedited.

Hello my Star Tugs, I hope you’re all doing well. (And if that reference confuses you, 
don’t worry, I’ll explain it in a future blog). I apologize for the lack of blog posts, I’ve been 
super busy as of late. And facing computer problems.

Unfortunately my laptop battery is dying, so I might be using it even less in the future. 

I’m not sure if I’m taking a risk using it now, it IS plugged in, but the battery refuses to charge. 
It’s at 6% and keeps jumping up and down from 9%.

No matter, I’ll survive until I buy a new battery.

Well, with that out of the way, let’s get onto the history of Lady Luck, and why I’m writing about her.
Bare in mind this might be similar to a Mr. Rogues video, so Mr. Rogues, if you see this (hello!) and 
sorry if I seem to be ripping you off, that’s not my intention. I’ll leave a link below if you want 
to check out his channel here.

Origin

Origin

Lady Luck was created by Will Eisner with art done by Chuck Mazoujian, according to  
FuryComics.com. She first appeared in 1940, according to Comic Vine, in The Spirit #1, published by 
Quality Comics, a now defunct company. I’m currently reading The Spirit #1 on ComicBookPlus.com,
and if you’re curious I’ll link the story here.

Here’s Lady Luck’s personal run, which I’ll discuss in a moment. 

Regarding her origin story, it’s bog standard for the era, except she’s a woman. Brenda Banks, aka 
Lady Luck, is tired of being wooed by men after her money, so dresses up as a superhero to fight crime.

Lady Luck would be published in a newspaper strip until 1946, during which she went through several 
different artists and writers. Dick French and Charles Mazoujian were early writers, and Nick Cardy and
Klaus Nordling would also later draw Lady Luck.

Lady Luck was dropped from the newspapers in 1946, and Quality Comics published her stories in the 
title Smash Comics, according to Comic Vine. Lady Luck would eventually have the book named after 
her, until 1950 when the title was cancelled, having five issues named after her, from Lady Luck #86 
to #90.

Nicholas Viscardi, as Nick Cardy was also known, added Peecolo, Lady Luck’s Italian Chauffeur and
sidekick. Peecolo was written with a clichė Italian accent, which can be seen in...well, any of the 
comics he appears in.

I personally have only read the comics on FuryComics.com, Lady Luck #86 to #90. However, I 
have done a little bit of research. Here’s some fun facts:

• Lady Luck was one of the earliest female superheroes, coming out in the same era as  
  Wonder Woman.
• Lady Luck appeared in 125 issues.

• Lady Luck was voted #84 in the Comics Buyer's Guide Presents: 100 Sexiest Women in Comics

• Lady Luck’s gloves in some variants have 4-leaf clovers on them.

Also, Lady Luck’s creators impressively didn’t show off her body. I mean, given it was the 1940’s 
this was pretty...

Oh good lord.

I mean, admittedly, this didn’t, as far I can tell this didn’t happen a lot, but… ugh. This’ one thing 
I hope doesn’t continue.
So since I haven’t read a lot of Lady Luck stories (I don’t even know what issue the panel above 
comes from, which shows my ignorance) I might have to update this. I can say that I think there’s 
few recurring characters, I know there’s her father Mr. Banks, Peecolo, Hardy Moore, 
a Police Chief/love interest, though he didn’t appear in her last issues, and… The Count. 

I hate The Count. He’s an annoying comedic relief character who also got a spinoff title in 
Lady Luck’s later book. Why? I don’t know. I guess even in the 1940’s/50’s writers made 
the mistake of taking a comedic character and trying to give them their own series. You can 
see this in Lady Luck #86, which admittedly while it is kind of funny, I was more interested in 
the action. So, after 1950, what happened to Lady Luck? You might ask. Well…

Free to Use by ANYONE
Because Quality Comics went under, the copyright on Lady Luck wasn’t renewed, so 

ANYONE can use her. That’s the really cool thing: unlike say Batman, Superman, or Captain America, 
she’s not stuck with a status quo of a company, she can be changed in any way.
(Update: She might technically be owned by DC).
You could set her in the Modern Day, in the future with Star Wars-esque weapons, or stick to the
time and make a gritty, noir story.

I discovered Lady Luck while scrolling through the Public Domain Superhero Wikipedia, and saw her 
as a recommended subject. I added her to my 60+ page document of characters to use (including their
photo and a few notes) then moved on. But Lady Luck stuck with me. I’m not what exactly it was, but I
fell in love with the character (not in the romantic way, you sickos, I mean I think she’s cool, 😜), and 
eventually found the comics.

Though the sad part is, because she’s Public Domain, Lady Luck and hundreds of other characters 

have been forgotten. And I hope, by writing about her, to give her some well needed spotlight. I 
encourage my fellow writers to consider looking at Lady Luck, as I did.

When I learned that Red Cents, a yearly published book on my campus, was calling for submissions, I 
submitted a short story I wrote of Lady Luck. I thought “This’ll be the first Lady Luck story published 
in 60+ years,” and began to imagine using that for a chapbook introduction, well….

DC Run

So it turns out in that DC, for their New 52 continuity, brought back the character, which legally they 
can do since she’s Public Domain. I believe it was announced in 2012, and she first appeared in 
The Phantom Stranger #6. (Update: As stated earlier, DC might technically own Lady Luck, her
ownership is unclear. 3/2/2020).

When I found this out I was initially scared and feared it would be similar to my idea. However, they 
seem to have pulled a bit from Fantomah, another early Golden Age superhero, by giving her the ability
to change her facial appearance…. and have a skull face (the skull face is from Fantomah btw).

Personally… this doesn’t sound like the Lady Luck I know and love. BUT, if it reminds more people 
that Lady Luck exists, then I’m all for it. Also, can’t judge what you haven’t read, right? I would like to
read The Phantom Stranger #6, unfortunately I’m a poor college student and can’t afford it. 
Maybe in the future.

Conclusion

Well, that’s about it for Lady Luck, and my time on my laptop for now. 
The battery’s dying and I think I better log off. Or I'll just ignore it because homework calls.
Thanks for reading, see you on the Tramway!

Sources:
"Lady Luck." Comic Vine. https://comicvine.gamespot.com/lady-luck/4005-35407/
"Lady Luck." Fury Comics. http://furycomics.com/viewer/4/Lady_Luck/