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!