The Yellowjacket (1944)

By J.A.Patterson
Posted on: May 12th 2008 at 1:36 PM

Replies: 5

This character did receive some action in reprint form in the last few decades, as two publishers reprinted his exploits!

The first publisher was Roger Broughton, who reprinted his first appearance in 1990's 'Hot 'n Clod Heroes' #1. The 1940's Yellowjacket was different from most other Charlton heroes in that he lapsed into the public domain in the early 1970s, so that he is available for any publisher to reprint for their publications!

The more prominent publisher to reprint his tales was AC Comics, whose mission was to see that no comic book hero was left behind. AC reprinted several of his tales in their 'Men of Mystery' anthology title recently, and will probably do more in the future!

I hope that will clear some issues!

J.A.P.

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Comments:

Posted by: Don Markstein

Posted on: 2008-05-13 at 08:48:27 AM

Thanks. I didn't know that. Reprints of an obscuro like Yellowjacket aren't the sort of thing you expect to run across.

I've heard this business about Yellowjacket having fallen into the public domain, but dismissed it as unfounded rumor. After all, there are people who really, truly believe that most of the Quality Comics superheroes had gone out of copyright by the time DC bought properties from them in 1956. In fact, some have gotten fairly rude about commenting on my not "knowing" that. But Quality Comics didn't last long enough for any of its copyrights to expire before DC became able to renew them.

If Charlton owned Yellowjacket by 1972 (when a 1944 copyright would be up for renewal), which does appear to be the case, does anybody explain why he, alone among their properties, didn't get renewed routinely. Obviously, there's scope for much research here, if anybody has the informational and legal resources, and much more important, the inclination, to do so. I played it safe and put their copyright notice on it.

Quack, Don

Posted by: J.A.Patterson

Posted on: 2008-05-16 at 02:23:44 PM

Here are a pair of web pages that will help clear out the situation:

[link:en.wikipedia.org]

www.majorspoilers.com/archives.3982.htm/

J.A.P.

Posted by: Don Markstein

Posted on: 2008-05-17 at 05:18:04 AM

Wikipedia is what I was talking about when I said I'd heard this business about him being in the public domain, but didn't necessarily buy it. I find Wikipedia fairly useful, especially when dealing with things that a lot of people know about. In that case, the fact that they can correct one another tends to make their articles get more correct over time.

But when dealing with obscure knowledge, I don't find it so trustworthy. I'm especially leery of acting on anything it says about copyrights -- that's one of the info sources that will tell you the Quality characters fell into the public domain before DC bought them, which simply doesn't hold water/

The other link doesn't work, but I suspect that one got its copyright info from Wikipedia, making it unreliable.

But thanks for posting them. I did check them out.

Quack, Don

Posted by: J.A.Patterson

Posted on: 2008-05-17 at 04:24:40 PM

I mistyped the Major Spoilers page wrong.

The correct typing is:

www.majorspoilers.com/archives/3982.htm/

I hope it will clear things up!

J.A.P.

Posted by: Don Markstein

Posted on: 2008-05-18 at 09:28:01 AM

Thanks. Interesting reading, including a few origin details I didn't know. (I read the actual origin before writing the article, but not the later stories where it was revised.) But the only real bone of contention here, I think, is whether or not the copyright was renewed. (Roger Broughton having reprinted him is no indicator -- he owns the majority of Charlton's characters anyway.)

In the absence of definite knowledge, I'll stay on the safe road and include the copyright info. If I'm wrong, no big deal. If I say it's in the public domain, and am wrong, that could endanger a valid copyright. No readon to take a chance on that.

Quack, Don