Alert: Brent Anderson’s artwork has been stolen

5 Comments POSTED ON Jul 28 2011 AT 3:30 pm BY The Beat

We heard of a couple of car break-ins at Comic-Con, and one of the worst was artist Brent Anderson's : "Brent Anderson had a lot of art stolen in San Diego. His car was broken into at the San Diego Zoo and the following original art was stolen: 50 pages from Astro City Vols. 1 & 2 & Local Heroes; AC: Dark Age Books 1 (#s 1-4), 2 (#s 1-4) & 3 (#s 1-4) (50 pages). Green Lantern and Rising Stars artwork was stolen as well. Please share this to as many venues as possible, to get the thief caught and the art returned."

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TMZ: Archie Comics co-CEO Nancy Silberkleit liked to yell out words for genitalia

24 Comments POSTED ON Jul 08 2011 AT 3:16 pm BY The Beat

Oi. Think Archie Comics is a place where no one ever says a bad word? Think again. As revealed by TMZ, Archie Comics has filed papers alleging that co-CEO Nancy Silberkleit has been harassing employees and should not represent the company at San Diego Comic-Con:

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Crime watch: Batman and Smurfs

3 Comments POSTED ON Jul 05 2011 AT 7:15 am BY The Beat

Two crimes peripherally involved with comics characters team up for one blog post!

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The Legal View: From Superman to Supergods with Grant Morrison

8 Comments POSTED ON Jul 01 2011 AT 3:33 pm BY The Beat

By Jeff Trexler-- In March 2008, Grant Morrison's homage to Siegel and Shuster appeared in comic shops on the very same day that the Siegel heirs recaptured half the original Superman copyright.  Now Morrison is set to work his shaman's magic once again in the September relaunch of Action #1--and this time, the Siegels could lose everything. Morrison's upcoming Supergods holds the key to understanding why. For an explanation and a sneak preview of Morrison’s new book, click below. A mysterious appeal, Joe Shuster’s super-swastika and the final crisis of the legal multiverse--this one has it all.

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Adam Sandler wins legal battle against comic book

4 Comments POSTED ON Jun 29 2011 AT 12:51 pm BY The Beat

A comics writer who sued Adam Sandler, his production company, Judd Apatow and Sony Pictures has had his case dismissed after a judge found that using a hair dryer as a weapon was not infrangible

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Kibbles ‘n’ Bits — 6/27/11

7 Comments POSTED ON Jun 27 2011 AT 7:12 am BY The Beat

This is practically all kibbles and legal bits, but that seems to be where things are going.

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The Legal View: The Once and Future Superman

44 Comments POSTED ON Jun 24 2011 AT 5:48 pm BY The Beat

DC has cited its changes and additions to the Super-verse as grounds for reducing the Siegel heirs’s share of Superman material produced since 1999. A recent Variety article takes this even further, reporting thatNeil Gaiman’s success in winning co-ownership of Medieval Spawn provides legal precedent for giving DC complete ownership of the contemporary Superman, limiting the Siegels’ interest to the far less lucrative 1938 version of the character. Does DC have strong legal grounds for splitting Superman between The Man of Tomorrow and The Man of Yesterday? Click below to see if Gaiman v. McFarlane is legal kryptonite for creators' rights--or whether that's just another misconceived retcon.

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CBLDF takes on new case: American traveler arrested in Canada for computer contents

34 Comments POSTED ON Jun 24 2011 AT 2:55 pm BY The Beat

Imagine traveling to another country and having your comic books and electronic devices seized. Then, you're arrested because of the books you read. This may seem like a horror story, but for one comics reader, it's come true.-- Thus begins the story of one traveler. We make a lot of jokes about the US/Canadian border but as tales of the comics that were seized on the way to TCAF make clear, Canadaisn take their ideological border security seriously.

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THE LEGAL VIEW: Super-style and the DCU Relaunch

78 Comments POSTED ON Jun 17 2011 AT 5:54 pm BY The Beat

Judging from the images released so far, it would appear that the relaunched versions of Superman and Superboy will be different from previous versions. Superman will no longer be wearing red shorts over his blue tights, and his belt, boots and S-symbol have also undergone notable alterations. Somewhat more dramatically, Superboy is sporting a black shirt and pants, a black-and-white S-shield mini-cape attached to his back, and a stylized red S-shield tattoo. It also appears that both characters will have significant changes in their continuity, most notably Superman’s age and his relationship with Lois Lane. This changes in the Superman costume are in themselves not likely to provide a solid foundation for erasing the Siegel heirs' ownership interest. However, the costume changes and other shifts in continuity are consistent with DC's arguments for limiting what the Siegels now own.  

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iBooks vs ibooks: Colby suing Apple over term

2 Comments POSTED ON Jun 16 2011 AT 10:26 am BY The Beat

The owner of a book imprint called ibooks is suing Apple over the trademark.

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THE LEGAL VIEW: A Superman Copyright Multiversity

6 Comments POSTED ON Jun 10 2011 AT 3:00 pm BY The Beat

Perhaps it's only fitting that double identity has been a central issue in the never-ending battle over the Superman copyright. As longtime readers of my posts may recall, the relation between the original and contemporary versions of Superman has been central to the Siegel lawsuits from the beginning. To set the stage for the posts that follow, let's take a quick review of how the multiple versions of Superman have played a role in the Siegel lawsuits.

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THE LEGAL VIEW: The DCU Relaunch and the Superman Copyright

29 Comments POSTED ON Jun 09 2011 AT 6:00 pm BY The Beat

By Jeff Trexler-- The September relaunch of the DC universe has raised a number of questions about the future of current continuity and the comic marketplace. But does it have legal implications as well?

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Batman police arrested in Michigan was a repeat costumed crusader

10 Comments POSTED ON May 12 2011 AT 11:22 am BY The Beat

In these end times, we'll likely see more of this kind of thing; a lone vigilante, striking out for justice, armed with a baton, a can of chemical irritant Freeze Plus P, and lead-lined gloves, until suffocating government interference shut him down. It all went down in Petoskey, MI where Mark Wayne Williams, 31, was peacefully minding his own business, climbing a building dressed as The Batman.

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Cartoonist Justiniano charged with possession of child pornography

30 Comments POSTED ON May 10 2011 AT 4:51 pm BY The Beat

Some stories you just don't want to write up. Connecticut-based cartoonist Josue Rivera, who works under the pen name Justiniano, has been arrested and charged with first degree possession of child pornography after a thumb drive he supplied to a funeral home was found to have images of child porn on it.

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BLACK EYE and YOUNG LIONS seized at Canadian border

14 Comments POSTED ON May 09 2011 AT 7:05 am BY The Beat

Canadians seem like a peaceful, tolerant folk, but they have a record of seizing a lot of material at the border, including, this week, several copies of the comics anthology BLACK EYE. Editor Ryan Standfest has a complete account in the link. Basically cartoonist Tom Neely was carrying five copies of the book across the border, when the books were seized. Neely writes:

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