AT LAW

David Allen Green

Superheroes in comics and on screen can have immense powers. But there seems to be one thing even stronger from which they cannot break free: the law of intellectual property. These characters are big business, and among the most valu- able commercial assets in the world.

For a genre dominated by extraordi- nary exploits, vivid illustrations and spe- cial effects, the mundane reality is that superhero worlds are often defined not by the imagination of writers, artists and filmmakers, but by copyright and trade marks. The Marvel cinematic universe—a success- ful sequence of films and now television programmes—has been shaped largely by which characters the producers have access to, and which they do not.

To understand the comics industry today—and indeed the derived films, television and video game spin-offs—perhaps requires an understanding of the law more than anything else. What can be done with characters and storylines is strictly regulated by an intricate and lucrative system of permissions and licences. This dominance of law is not new; legal issues have dominated from the very beginning of superhero comics in the 1930s, because of the very nature of the creative and commercial process. On one hand, you had the jobbing artists and writers who created the characters and storylines; on the other, the publishers capable of producing and distributing comics at scale.