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When DC Sued Fox for Copying Batman #1 in Mystery Men #14, at Auction

Published Mon, 13 Jun 2022 00:03:11 -0500

by Mark Seifert

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Detective Comics v Bruns Publications is one of the defining historical moments of modern American comic books. In a judgment handed down April 2, 1939, Judge Learned Hand of United States District Court, Southern District of New York, ruled that Victor Fox's Wonderman character in Wonder Comics infringed on DC's Superman copyrights. In a lesser-known but also important historical moment, DC Comics went on the offensive against Victor Fox again just three months later, this time over Batman and Robin. In a decision finally filed in 1942, Judge John Bright of SDNY wrote, "A comparison of the cartoons of The Lynx with Blackie the Mystery Boy published by the defendant Fox Publications, Inc., in its magazine Mystery Men Comics, and distributed by the defendant Colonial News Company, Inc., with the cartoons of The Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder, published by the plaintiff in its magazines Detective Comics and The Batman, convinces me there has been a deliberate copying by the defendant of drawings and cartoons of the Batman and his companion Robin…" One of the issues involved in the lawsuit is Mystery Men Comics #14 featuring the Lynx and Blackie the Mystery Boy, and there's a Mystery Men Comics #14 (Fox, 1940) Condition: GD+ up for auction in the 2022 June 12-13 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122224 from Heritage Auctions.

Judge Bright went on to clarify the issues of each publisher's comic books in question as "The issues of Detective Comics of April, 1940 (on the newsstands March 6, 1940), of May, 1940 (on the newsstands April 5, 1940), of June and July, 1940 (on the stands respectively on May 3 and June 5, 1940); and in the spring issue of "The Batman" on the stands April 24, 1940. These publications were all duly copyrighted by the plaintiff. The infringing publications by the defendants were contained in the "Mystery Men Comics" August and September, 1940, issues."

This corresponds to Detective Comics #38-41 and Batman #1 from DC Comics and Mystery Men Comics #14, #15 from Fox Feature Syndicate. While there's only a very general resemblance between Batman & Robin and Lynx & Blackie, there seems to be a focus on layouts and story sequences in the language of Judge Bright's decision. For example, a glance through the issues in question reveals a panel in Mystery Men Comics #13 that's similar to the cover of Batman #1, and a sequence in Mystery Men Comics #14 that's similar to a sequence near the end of the first Joker story in Batman #1, among other similarities between the issues cited. A Fox Feature Syndicate comic book with vastly underappreciated historical significance, there's a Mystery Men Comics #14 (Fox, 1940) Condition: GD+ up for auction in the 2022 June 12-13 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122224 from Heritage Auctions. If you've never bid at Heritage Auctions before, you can get further information, you can check out their FAQ on the bidding process and related matters.