Go, Read: Superman For Everybody

Martyn Pedler at Bookslut asks after what might happen if Superman were allowed to renounced his corporate ownership. This involves both an analysis of the copyright situation as it exists right now and a lengthy exploration of what might happen where the character to fall into the public domain.

I think the first part is more astute than the second, although the entire essay is valuable. I also think it's not as dumb or naive a question as Pedler suggests it may be. Mainstream comics publishers such as DC and their communities have ascribed a real-world moral authority to these fictional characters for years now. Why shouldn't that extend to broader ethical issues involved in their creation, publication and distribution? If Superman, Batman and Spider-Man are presented at times as moral agents capable of instructing and inspiring their readership, why wouldn't the expectations they engender apply to a situation where the press of ownership concerns has taken precedence over the greater morality represented by treating people with compassion and gratitude? It's exponentially more troubling to me that something other than a rigid definition of what rights can be won through multiple depositions and a drawn-out legal process has failed to be applied here given that there's a massive reservoir of cash involved, the resources on hand to match all desires, heal all wounds and do right by any reasonable standard.
 
posted 1:36 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Daily Blog Archives
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
 
Full Archives