Some older fancied characters turn over up again and again and again : Count Dracula and his foe , Victor Frankenstein , Dorothy Gale and the denizens of Oz . But Western literature ’s public domain is filled with excellent lineament , many who merit a snatch more limelight .
Top image : Fantomah , girl of the Pharaohs , viaPappy ’s Golden Age Comics Blogzine .
Some of these characters are in the public orbit due to the age of their stories or the engagement of their creators ’ decease ; others are plow as de facto public orbit because their original publishers are no longer around to impose their copyright . ( Edit : I should clear up that these part are abandoned because there is no one around to sue for possession ; if an right of first publication holder want to litigate for copyright on a character whose news report were last publish 60 year ago , they certainly could . A character that you own does not lessen into the public domain because you do n’t implement your right of first publication . ) I It ’s also important to note that a character may be regard in the public field in some regions , but not others , which can make thing a piece complicated .
https://gizmodo.com/what-does-it-mean-now-that-james-bonds-in-canadas-publi-1678191830
1. Fantomah
Let ’s get down with a weird one , shall we?Fantomah is often bill as the first superpowered distaff comic strip hero sandwich , making her debut in Jungle Comics in February 1940 , more than a year before Wonder Woman leave Paradise Island . The original embodiment of Fantomah , created by Fletcher Hanks , is bunglesome to say the least . After all , she accommodate flawlessly in the white savior trope . Hanks ’ Fantomah was a light-haired - haired , white - looking ( like many “ jungle missy ” in Golden Age funnies ) goddess who lived in the jungle of Africa , protect the villager from evil . But her face turned into a skull when she punished evildoers , which is pretty badass :
https://gizmodo.com/a-disturbing-statue-commemorating-golden-age-comics-sc-1514929459
You canread one of Hanks ’ Fantomah strip here .
Now , it might be possible to domesticise Hanks ’ weird , outsider art case in a less racist , “ clean lady save us all ” sort of way — or perhaps even in a parody of it . ( After all , there are some modern cartoonists who have play with the high-minded strangeness of Hanks ’ part Stardust the Super Wizard . ) There was a 2d , less racially - charge version of Fantomah , however , who may be better suited for reinterpretation ( but with fewer light-haired people ? Please ? ) . Jungle Comics # 29 introducedFantomah , Daughter of the Pharaohs(with a young artist ) , a girl ruler of an Egyptian city who combat evil mummies with the help of her black catamount comrade . It ’s sad that she drop off her skull face , though . Someone demand to take that matter back .
If you ’re curious about Hanks ’ comic Holy Writ insanity , his comics are collected in the booksI Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets!andYou Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation !
2. Arsène Lupin
If you ’re familiar with the name Arsène Lupin , it ’s likely thanks to Monkey Punch ’s manga ( and Hayao Miyazaki picture show ) Lupin III . Arsène Lupin III is the grandson of Arsène Lupin , the gentleman stealer from Maurice Leblanc ’s novels and stories . A gentlemen thief in the style of Pierre Alexis Ponson du Terrail ’s roguish Rocambole , Lupin was a generally safe fellow who function on the incorrect side of the legal philosophy with great flair . He even bested Sherlock Holmes ( who is also now in the public domain in some jurisdictions ) , though he tended to have more antic dangerous undertaking , ask plot devices like radioactive stone that turn people into mutant and the Fountain of Youth .
https://gizmodo.com/us-judge-rules-sherlock-holmes-and-watson-are-in-the-pu-1490854362
Technically , Lupin is n’t so much overdue for a reboot ( especially since Lupin III is a comic pastiches ) as he is just due . The stories of late fall into the public domain , and there is some rich stuff to mine . And some creators are already hopping aboard the Lupin gear . Gundam artist Takashi Morita recently take away on the valet thief in a manga series .
If you ’re more into sadism in your criminal characters , you may always go with Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre ’s masked villain Fantômas .
3. Carnacki the Ghost-Finder
Thomas Carnacki is the occult result to Sherlock Holmes . William Hope Hodgson ’s conception was also a consulting detective , but he apply magic trick and science to inquire incidents of haunting . His key excogitation : the “ electric pentacle , ” a twist made from wire and vacuum tubes that preclude the user from sinful ghosts . In other words , Carnacki was a bit of a steampunk Ghostbuster .
An interesting chemical element of Carnacki ’s stories is that the supposed hauntings were n’t always enacted by real ghostwriter . Sometimes , there was a perfectly noetic explanation for what was going on . In other fount , though , Carnacki had to employ some early 20th - hundred spiritualism .
4. Ann Radcliffe
This one ’s a little odd because Ann Radcliffe was in reality a real person . Born Ann Ward in 1764 , Radcliffe became one of the pioneers of the Gothic novel . Her works tended to follow a certain pattern : an evidently supernatural issue would occur , but , ultimately , there would be a intellectual account for the phenomenon . She was a warm counsel of womanhood ’s right wing and the powerfulness of reason .
But in Paul Féval ’s 1867 novelLa Ville Vampire , Radcliffe is puke as a proto - Buffy the Vampire slayer . Far from subsist in a humankind govern by gross reason , the fictional Radcliffe dwell in a world full of lamia — and she ’s an adept lamia Orion . Féval ’s novel has Radcliffe attempting to save her friends from the villainous Otto Goetzi by travel to Selene , the vampire city . Take that , intellectual explanation for supernatural phenomenon !
This was barely Féval ’s only vampire novel . He also drop a line Le Chevalier Ténèbre and La Vampire , the latter introducing the unworthy and charismatic Countess Addhema .
5. Frank Reade
Frank Reade was steampunk before it was coolheaded . Actually , he was steampunk back when masses imagined we might someday have steam - powered automaton pulling our wagons . ( Science fiction critic John Clute coined the term “ Edisonade ” to delineate such write up . ) Imitating Edward S. Ellis ’ 1868 dime novel The Steam Man of the Prairies ( which feature an inventor mention , quite appropriately , Johnny Brainerd ) , Harry Enton wrote Frank Reade and His Steam Man of the Plains , which was serialize in Boys of New York , sparking a musical style of discoverer heroes . There were three more Frank Reade story , and then a series of jejune novel by Luis P. Senarens featuring Frank ’s son , Frank Reade Jr. Apparently , Junior inherited his pappa ’s ability to assemble mechanical bits together into tall machines . You want your dirigible - building , robot - tinkering steampunk hero ? The Reades are at your armed service — perchance with a bit less colonialism this time around .
Frank Reade and his familyenjoyed a bit of a revivalinFrank Reade : adventure in the Age of Inventionby Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett ( of Boilerplate fame ) .
https://gizmodo.com/the-strange-afterlife-of-pulp-hero-franke-reade-5882202
Incidentally , Thomas Edison did actually turn up in at least one Edisonade of his own . He leads a group of scientist in the wake of a Martian invasion in Garrett P. Serviss 1898 novel Edison ’s Conquest of Mars .
6. Dr. Nikola
Guy Boothby ’s Dr. Nikola is the prototypical supervillain , complete with henchmen . Before Fu Manchu or Dr. Moriarty , Venice - bear mad mavin was portrayed as a master of skill and the occult ( although his abilities in the latter section may be more psychological than magical ) , who is financed by his huge deplorable operations and seeks mysterious power and immortality with the help of his ruthlessness and his good luck charm . He ’s pursued by more heroic figures , namely Richard Hatteras , who narrates the Dr. Nikola books , but after Boothby ’s 1895 novelA Bid for Fortune : or , Dr Nikola ’s Vendetta , stake in the train , unscrupulous antihero was what breathe in Boothby to write four more Dr. Nikola books .
Nikola is also a progenitor of the trope of the criminal genius who always travels with a cat . Dr. Nikola ’s is a black hombre name Apollyon who always sits on his shoulder joint . Even the likes of Dr. Claw and Dr. Evil owe a debt to Dr. Nikola .
7. Nyctalope
Jean de La Hire ’s superhero Leo Saint - Clair , a.k.a . Nyctalope , first appeared in the 1911 novelLe Mystère des XV , long before the likes of Superman and Doc Savage appeared on the scene . Nyctalope even had a few power , let in Nox visual sense and hypnotic ability — plus he had an artificial nub . In his earliest adventures , Nyctalope frustrate a Martian encroachment and battle the vicious mesmerizer Baron Glô von Warteck , who seeks to rule the human race by blackmailing Europe ’s leaders . Think of Saint - Clair as Captain France .
The sitePublic Domain Super Heroesincludes this note about Nyctalope ’s copyright condition :
While Nyctalope report published before 1923 are public orbit in the United States , these stories may technically be under copyright throughout Europe until 2027 .
8. Coppelius
Along with Victor Frankenstein , Coppelius , who appears in E. T. A. Hoffmann ’s 1816 short story“Der Sandmann,”is the prototypical sick scientist . He ’s an alchemical experimenter and maker of automata , most notably his “ daughter , ” the clockwork wench Olimpia . His experiment are so foreign and unnerving that they end up drive the report ’s protagonist to madness .
Hoffmann ’s best - known story to English - speaking audiences is credibly “ The Nutcracker and the Mouse King , ” thanks to the famous Nutcracker ballet . But his taradiddle are downright terrifying and well worth a read if you have n’t take on Hoffmann ’s works before .
9. Jill Trent, Science Sleuth
There are in reality quite a few female comic heroes from the Golden Age who could stand a reboot , and not all of them are as kooky as Fantomah . ( I extremely recommend Mike Madrid ’s bookDivas , Dames & Daredevils : Lost Heroines of Golden Age Comics , which catalogue many of those forgotten fictional peeress . ) We ’re rather partial to Jill Trent , Science Sleuth , who turned up in Fighting Yank and Wonder Comics in the 1940s . I mean , just look at that name . Jill Trent is a scientific genius who is move around down by various police force enforcement agency and decides to fight crime using her innovation — durable cloth , ten - ray glass , gas demodulator , and the like .
Even better , Jill Trent is part of a female crime - agitate duo . She has an assistant , Daisy , who is a martial arts expert . And here are their sleeping arrangements :
Please , someone do something with this .
10. Doctor Omega
MD Who may not be in the public domain , but space traveller Doctor Omega is . Arnould Galopin ’s character from Aventures Fantastiques de Trois Français dans la Planète Mars travels to the Red Planet with two of his fellow Frenchmen and has many fantastic escapade there ( as the title suggests ) . A lot of folks have mark that illustrations of Doctor Omega often bear a passing resemblance to the First Doctor , depict by William Hartnell . ( The image at the left field add up from a 1906 variant , illustrate by E. Bouard . )
Be warned , though : you might have an easier time writing your own Doctor Omega report if you read French . The books are pronto useable in French , but the English adaptation you ’ll chance have often been interpolate to moderate careful references to Doctor Who .
characters
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , science , and acculturation newsworthiness in your inbox day by day .
News from the future , delivered to your nowadays .
You May Also Like
