David and John "Transformers Hall-of-Famer" Barber are joined by regular guest, Chase Marotz, for a deep dive into the wild and wonderful frontier of public domain. This is where expired copyrights mean anything goes (kind of)!

They wade through the murky rules of public domain reuse, highlight some exciting new and upcoming properties, and uncover David’s master plan to rejuvenate century-old comic book properties. Chase weighs in with wisdom derived from his extensive beer collection, and they all mourn the shrinking world of comic bookstores, one back issue bin at a time.

Timestamp Segments

• [01:21] David toots John’s horn.
• [04:08] Chase and the Tutu.
• [06:38] Stardust the 4th Most Super Wizard.
• [08:29] Public domain properties.
• [10:08] What is available now?
• [11:16] The next 10 years in comics.
• [12:50] The public domain rules.
• [19:25] Different renditions of properties.
• [26:44] The DC loophole.
• [27:48] How to make public domain properties interesting.
• [34:33] Chase’s current reading.
• [36:34] David reads pictureless comics.
• [38:08] Where to buy comics.

Notable Quotes

• “When we speak, it’s from a place of love and expertise.”
• “The level of fanfic that’s going to happen once this stuff is available is going to be insane.”
• “I suggest everybody just wait 95 years and then listen to this somewhere else.”

Books Mentioned

• Action Comics.
• All-Star Superman, by Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Jamie Grant, Neal Adams, & Travis Lanham.
• The Bat-Man: First Knight, The Bat-Man: Second Knight, by Dan Jurgens and Mike Perkins.
• Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment, by Roger Stern, Mike Mignola, & Mark Badger.
• Dracula, by Bram Stoker.
• Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Dinniman.
• Dungeons & Dragons.
• Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley.
• Ginseng Roots, by Craig Thompson.
• I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets!, by Fletcher Hanks & Paul Karasik.
• Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, by Chris Ware.
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, by Alan Moore & Kevin O’Neill.
• The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett.