One of the concerns for comic book creators is is protecting their rights.  In support of that, New York Comic-Con had a panel on Saturday called "Intellectual Property 101", put on by three lawyers in the entertainment business.  Thomas A. Crowell, Sheafe B. Walker, and Walter-Michael Lee, attorneys specializing in entertainment law and intellectual property, gave an overview and answered questions from the audience.

Several forms of rights are involved.  The first is copyright. Under current copyright law, a work is copyrighted automatically upon creation.  In the United States, copyrights are valid for the life of the creator plus 70 years.  In "work for hire contracts", copyrights may be for 95 or 120 years.

There is no requirement have anything special in the work such as a copyright symbol, or to register it to have a copyright.  However, registration of copyright was strongly recommended.  Copyright registration establishes a formal legal record of a copyright’s existance, dating from when registration was made, and gives you greater ability to collect damages if the copyright is infringed. The "poor man’s copyright" practice of mailing yourself a copy of your work to establish copyright was dismissed as obsolete and not doing anything useful.

Copyright registration can be handled on line by going to http://www.copyright.gov/register, or using paper forms.  The Copyright Office encourages online registration, and charges less for it.  Online registration has a $35 fee, whereas paper forms will cost $45.  You will need to provide contact information for the copyright holder, a copy of the work being copyrighted, and the fee.

In answer to a question, it was stated that you could use one copyright registration to copyright an entire series, as in a continuing comic book. There was no requirment for a sperate filing and fee for each issue. It is also possible, though rare, to get a copyright on a work in progress that is not yet completed.

Partnerships and work-for-hire agreements present special challenges. (more…)

Great, another British comics invasion, only this time it’s on television.

ABC, jazzed from its success transplanting Life On Mars, has okayed a single-camera comedy based on a British series called No Heroics about superheroes with limited powers hanging out in a bar. Jeff Greenstein (Will & Grace) wrote the pilot along with original show creator Drew Pearce. Heidi Macdonald reports:

The UK version is out on DVD for all you all-region peeps, and thanks to Mr. Pearce, we got to sample the show*, which, like many Britcoms, puts its hapless cast into worse and worse social situations where not all their powers can save them. The UK show was quite funny, and featured a zillion in-jokes for anyone who actually reads comics, as well as a dark view of the social pecking order among the long underwear set. Hopefully a Stateside version can retain both elements.

It’s an ABC Studios production. Funny how that works nowadays…

We told you this was a costume heavy convention… let us show you some of the best cosplay we saw. (Thanks to Jean Krevor and Kim Kindya for roaming the halls with me.)

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At New York Comic Con this weekend, Del Rey Manga announced the latest information on their two new manga-style retellings of Marvel Comics properties, Wolverine and The X-Men.

Both books will be all-new stories with original art — consider them a "radical re-mix" of the well-known comics characters.

Wolverine: Prodigal Son, with story by Antony Johnston and art by Wilson Tortosa, takes a shonen manga approach. It’s an American characater with a Japanese spin, and according to Associate Publisher Dallas Middaugh, to add to the international flavor, the author is British and the artist is Filipino. Due out at the beginning of April, this book will be extremely different from Marvel’s version, and does not require any prior knowlege of the Marvel continuity. 

X-Men: Misfits, with story by Dave Roman and Raina Telgemeier and art by Anzu, is also a complete re-imagining of the X-Men universe and characters, mixing shojo conventions with elements of the classic X-Men story. It focuses on Kitty Pryde as the protagonist, telling the story entirely from her perspective. In this version, Kitty is invited to attend an illustrious academy as the first girl at an all-boys’ school. Release is scheduled for May 26.

Roman’s previous works have included comics Jax Epoch and Agnes Quill, and Telgemeier worked on the Baby Sitters’ Club comics for Scholastic.

According to Roman, the student body is a collection of bishonens who represent different subcultures. Cylclops is depicted as a "emo rocker." Nightcrawler is a goth. Angel is a "preppy pretty boy." Their looks are also inspired by real-life celebrities such as Justin Timberlake (Angel) and Zac Efron (Pyro). You’ll even encounter a Tim-Gunn inspired Magneto. "We had to distance ourselves from the characters as they were," said Roman, and consider "who were these characters to us, and who else they could relate to." (more…)