Posted in: Comics | Tagged:

Today's Champions Becomes A Meta-Narrative About Trademarks (SPOILERS)

Last year we told you that Marvel Comics and Heroic Publishing has come to an agreement regarding the use of the name Champions as a comic book title. Heroic Publishing owned the trademark, even though Marvel had published a Champions title in the seventies. They hadn't for over five years, so their claim to the trademark could be challenged and Heroic, who by then had a series League Of Champions, won the argument that Marvel had abandoned it.

But, it turned out, last year Marvel really wanted a comic called Champions again for their teen superhero characters, and so a very expensive deal was done. And a Marvel comic book by needle-movers Mark Waid and Humberto Ramos was born. For the record, at Bleeding Cool I love the comic but Jude Terror thinks it's terrible. And that's probably the way it should be.

I see it as a successful attempt to do something different with the superhero idea but without breaking the mould. With characters who are also trying to do something different, be something other than what their own tropes seem to demand. Such as letting the very name of their team be public domain, to be used by others, to inspire others, to take a different approach to branding.

And what happens?

Heroic Publishing... sorry, I mean the big banks take it, register it themselves and then use it for all sorts of commercial purposes, trampling all over people's lives. As Ms Marvel is told…

So are the Freelancers being Heroic Publishing? Or are they being Disney, leading the charge on copyright and trademark protection and extension?

One way or another, Freelancers always have to know a lot about copyright and trademark these days…

Champions #6 is published today by Marvel Comics.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!