After roughly a three year absence, Dynamite is returning to the Project Superpowers universe with the July debut of The Owl. The title will be written by J.T. Krul, currently writing Superman Beyond for DC and Jirni for Aspen. Heubert Khan Michael, recently drawing Vampirella, will be the artist.
Project Superpowers ran primarily from 2008-2010, with a few spin-offs like Black Terror. It was driven by Alex Ross and Jim Krueger, reviving a number of 1940s characters. The Owl was originally a Dell character from 1940-43. Ross, a co-plotter on the original P.S. material is only listed as a cover artist here. Dynamite is describing this as “a bridge series for more to come.” This isn’t totally surprising, since they’ve previously mentioned another run with the property at conventions.
This is also a return to Dynamite for Krul, who wrote a Highlander mini-series for them and an issue of Red Sonja back in the 2006-08 period.
Official PR follows:
J.T. KRUL! ALEX ROSS! THE OWL! DYNAMITE!
SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON LAUNCH FOR DYNAMITE’S HIGH FLYING HERO!
April 3, 2013, Mt. Laurel, NJ -The Owl returns to comics in his own limited series. Written by the critically acclaimed , J.T. Krul, with art by Heubert Khan Michael, and covers by Alex Ross and special Subscription Only Exclusive Covery Ardian Syaf, The Owl #1 hits stores this coming July!
In issue #1, lost for 50 years in an ethereal limbo, the Owl has come back to find a violent and desperate world of strangers. The woman he loved is gone, but he remains determined to continue his fight for justice. Can the Owl withstand the challenges awaiting him… or will this new reality crush his body and spirit?
“With a character like the Owl, I get to explore the heart of a true hero whose greatest threat seems to be the soul of the entire world around him,” says writer J.T. Krul. “Nick Terry used to live in a golden age it seemed, but he now finds himself in our present day – and a world filled with greed, apathy, and utter desperation at every turn. It’s the mark of a true hero, staying true to one’s ideals when there is little hope to be found. In this story, he’ll see what his mission and legacy has become and it will scare him more than anything else.”
“We at Dynamite extremely excited to work with J.T. again, hot off his DC Comics Exclusive,” adds Dynamite CEO / Publisher Nick Barrucci. “We hope that this is the first of many more projects with J.T. and we are all in such anticipation for The Owl to ‘take flight’! The Owl is a bridge series for more to come from Dynamite, and we couldn’t be happier.”
Hot damn! About time! Really looking forward to more of the Project Superpowers universe.
If this is the Dell/Western character then it is still in copyright by whatever company now owns the Dell/Western copyrights.
Dell/Western published “The Owl” comic in 1967 for two issues. This would have effectively renewed the copyright from 1940. However, I would have expected Dell/Western when relaunching the title would have renewed the copyrights formally, which would still have been in effect at the time. The copyright would then have lasted to 1995.
While the assumption would that the copyright would have expired in 1995, the law changed in 1976 so that anything copyright at that time converted to the new law (70 years for corporate copyright). The 1976 law was amended now changed corporate copyright to 95 years (this was pushed by the Disney Company). Therefore, for Dell/Western’s original 1940 copyright now expires in 2035.
Another major change occurred in copyright law in January 2012 when the US Supreme Court ruled (in Golan v. Holder) if a work previously considered in the public domain would be under copyright if the new rules (1976 law and amended rules), then the work was back under copyright.
The Wikipedia article on the Golan v. Holder http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golan_v._Holder references a few items such as the movie Metropolis (1927) is back under copyright.
Another example is Edgar Rice Burroughs early work (Tarzan, John Carter, etc.) should be in public domain. However, because Burroughs work was under copyright renewal when the 1976 law went into effect, all of the work falls under the new copyright rules.
Tarzan, John Carter, etc., copyrights are now the life of the author plus 70 years. Burroughs died in 1950. So all his work is under copyright until 2020. After that, all work goes into the public domain (unless the law is changed again).
The various law changes would also apply to most of the Superpowers Project characters.
Although one issue for copyright is someone has to defend the copyright and send that “cease and desist letter”. If no one defends the copyright, then the copyright holder has abandoned the copyright.
However, there is an escape clause for the copyright holder. If they are unaware of the infringement, they do not lose the copyright. However, once they become aware of the infringement, they have to take action within a reasonable time.
Alex Ross does such good job with the Dynamite covers but the interior art just doesn’t do anything for me.
“Dell/Western published “The Owl” comic in 1967 for two issues.
This would have effectively renewed the copyright from 1940.”
Err…no.
The copyrights on the original material published in the 1940s had to be renewed at the 28-year point or those stories fell into the public domain…which is exactly what happened.
All the Golden Age Owl material is PD.
“Another major change occurred in copyright law in January 2012 when the US Supreme Court ruled (in Golan v. Holder) if a work previously considered in the public domain would be under copyright if the new rules (1976 law and amended rules), then the work was back under copyright.”
“The Wikipedia article on the Golan v. Holder http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golan_v._Holder references a few items such as the movie Metropolis (1927) is back under copyright.”
Doesn’t this only apply to international copyrights as opposed to domestic? It wouldn’t apply to Dell Comics since it wasn’t operating outside the U.S., unless I’m mistaken on that.
“It wouldn’t apply to Dell Comics since it wasn’t operating outside the U.S., unless I’m mistaken on that.”
Correct.
It applies to creative works first copyrighted outside the USA, then copyrighted in the US.
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