edwest

December 9, 2010 6:15 pm

I can't see why perpetual copyright would be alarming. I mean, who's being deprived?

Most of my friends are artists and writers and I have never, ever heard one complain that because something was not in the public domain it was hurting his own creativity. I just don't get that. I know people at Marvel and DC and they are happy to be working on characters that have been around for a long time.

December 8, 2010 4:13 pm So Rob, if anybody can take from the public domain, why aren't they as big as Disney? Walt Disney created a lot of different characters. I love that stuff. And why should they give anything back? Anybody can create the next Superman, but instead, some people insist that they can do a better job than DC. Who is coming up with these fantastic stories? Amateurs? First timers? I doubt it. Anyone can create the next big thing right now but doing comic books is a craft that you can't learn overnight. And the Public Domain is not the wellspring of creativity. And it's not a guarantee that whoever uses it will do a good job.

Marvel and DC are still more profitable than everybody else, and if it was so easy to be profitable than sme other comic book company should be number one or at least number two.

December 8, 2010 2:54 pm Very strange. Do you hand a football to a guy walking down the street and tell him to play in the NFL that night? Amateurs are not professionals by definition. And piracy is stealing by definition. It doesn't matter if the word stealing is replaced by file sharing. Anybody who thinks piracy is just something we have to live with is just ignoring the problem, and there are legitimate losses. The nonsense that piracy spreads your work around is just that, nonsense. If someone sent me a song he liked, why would I go out and buy a copy? I already have it.

The media company I work for regularly contacts "file sharing" sites to ask them to take down our books which are there without our permission. People seem to forget that google was sued for copyright infringement.

Finally, if everyone is running around looking for some sort of creative freedom, why does Marvel and DC still have most of the market share? The public can get their comics in digital format now, including indie titles. I think a lot of creators are fooling themselves by saying the Big Two are doing something wrong while they are doing it right. So, where are your sales?

And why are people so upset about how long a copyright lasts? Create your own Superman and Mickey Mouse. They make it sound so easy. Once again, why aren't these indie creators being embraced by the masses? I think the idea of cutting back on copyright is more about a lack of creativity by some. They want to play with someone else's creation like kids playing in a professional comics studio. I want to pay real money for real professional work. Producing comic books for the mass market means understanding what works in the mass market. Sure, experiment all you want, just don't be surprised when the masses aren't interested. You just can't hand a hammer and chisel to just anybody and say, "I want you to make me a sculpture." It takes years to learn how to do it right.