Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Issue #2
http://www.PublicDomainTreasureHunter.com
and
The author and publisher of this magazine and any accompanying materials have
used their best efforts in preparing it. The author and publisher make no
representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or
completeness of the contents of this magazine. They disclaim any warranties
(expressed or implied), merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. The
author and the publisher shall in no event be held liable for any loss or other
damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other
damages. As always, the advice of a competent legal, tax, accounting or other
professional should be sought. The author and publisher do not warrant the
performance, effectiveness, or applicability of any sites listed in this magazine.
All links are for information purposes only and are not warranted for content,
accuracy or any other implied or explicit purpose.
The material in this magazine does not constitute legal advice, only the author’s
interpretation of the laws involved as he understands them. As always, legal
advice should be obtained from a competent legal professional in any business
venture.
Page 2
Introduction
Dear Reader,
Page 3
Now, I have a confession to make – I love comic books! Always have, always will. They’re
embedded in my heart and soul. I don’t actively read them anymore but they provide fond
memories of childhood and I’ll never forget some of my favorite titles.
I remember when I was a little boy growing up in Miami I would get up early every
Saturday morning and peddle my bicycle down the highway picking up pop bottles on the
way to the store so I could collect the deposits and scrape up enough change to buy comic
books! I’d buy as many comic books as I could and then peddle like mad back home so that
I could sit on the front porch and devour every issue. I couldn’t wait to read about the latest
exploits of my favorite comic book heroes!
Yeah, I was a geek. Still am really. But that’s O.K., you don’t have to be a geek to make out
like a bandit stealing material from old public domain comic books – and that’s what this
month’s issue is all about.
In this issue, I’m going to show you 11 different creative ways to cash in on “golden age”
public domain comic books, some of which you may have never even considered.
So come along with me my friend and let’s so back to a simpler time when men were men
and women were women and a comic book would only set you back 10 cents.
Oh, and don’t forget your cape and tights – you may just need them.
In the words of the legendary long-time Marvel Editor-in-Chief Stan Lee, “‘Nuff Said”.
Logan Andrew
Editor & Contributor,
“Public Domain Treasure Hunter Magazine”
Page 4
The “Golden Age” of U.S. comic books (as coined by fans) is a duration in comic book
history marked by the arrival of “Superman” in 1938 and lasting into the early 1950’s. If
you would like to learn more about the various “ages” in comic book history Click Here.
These golden age comics were extremely popular in the U.S. and are most notable for
introducing the concept of the “superhero” into our imaginations – ordinary people with
extraordinary abilities, outrageous costumes, and the seemingly never-ending capacity for
grand larger-than-life adventures. You’ll find a lot more than just superhero stories in these
comics though. These comics spread across all kinds of genres – western, science fiction,
horror, mystery, fantasy, adventure, crime, and war just to name a few.
There were lots of comic book publishers that contributed to the golden age of comics, the
two most recognized of which are D.C. comics (Detective Comics) and Marvel comics
(known as Timely comics at that time). Being the two most prominent players in the comic
book field with each enjoying measures of success that have allowed them to stay in
business even until today, you can bet that they never let the copyright protection on any of
their comics lapse so you won’t find anything by D.C. or Marvel in the public domain.
But here’s the fascinating part – many of the other smaller publishers of the golden age,
many of which produced titles that were just as successful at the time as titles held by D.C.
and Marvel did let copyright protection lapse by not renewing in the 28th year after
publication as required by U.S. copyright law for works produced between 1923 and 1963.
What this means for us as re-publishers is that there are now potentially thousands of great
high-quality (and some not so high-quality) golden age comic books in the public domain
that we can do whatever we want with.
Page 5
Now, while you will not find any Superman comics (probably the most famous superhero of
all) in the public domain (although there are some early cartoons), you will find tons of
great comics from publishers such as Ace Comics, Charlton Comics, Fawcett Comics,
Quality Comics, and others with such great titles like “Exciting Comics”,
“Amazing Adventures”, “Amazing Ghost Stories” and such colorful and dynamic
superheroes as The Black Terror, Bulletman, The American Eagle, Daredevil, The
Blue Beetle, The Black Hood, and many, many more.
And of course, you’ll find more adventure, horror, western, true crime, and war themed
comics than you can shake a proverbial stick at! Explore and have fun and I know you’ll
uncover lots of wonderful hidden treasures and of course, this issue of “Pirates” will give
you lots of ideas that you can use to profit from this material.
Oh, and just a word of warning – a good deal of these golden age comics are very politically
incorrect. You have to realize we’re dealing with 40’s and 50’s mindsets here. For instance,
EVERYBODY smokes cigarettes, even the heroes. In comics published in the years leading
up to and during World War II there’s a lot of German and Japanese bashing going on
(especially in the super-hero and war comics). A good many of the male heroes from this
timeframe seem to harbor rather sexist views of women. Most of this stuff was produced
before the there was such a thing as the Comics Code Authority to step in and clean
things up. But all in all, these comic books were just about having good, clean fun.
Well, now you know a little about the history of the old public domain comics. Now let’s
learn about how we can use them to put a little extra money in our pockets! On with the
show….
Page 6
Page 7
Here are some ways that you can republish public domain comics “as-is” in a format you
can demand top dollar for:
2. Monthly Printed Magazine - How about collecting public domain comic books and
using them as content for a monthly magazine that you could charge a monthly
subscription for? Each magazine could feature 3 to 4 public domain comics. You
could even easily "niche" this out and have several different monthly magazines
covering different themes like horror, science fiction, etc. Don't be surprised if many
of your customer's are subscribed to several of your magazines at the same time!
Page 8
make them non-downloadable yet still viewable. This would cut down on the number
of people that just sign-up every six months, download everything and then cancel
their membership. You could completely control the distribution of your comics.
Membership sites are a fantastic way of generating recurring revenue and just think
- if you can convince just 1000 comic book lovers to pay you $10.00 per month for
access to the site, then you’re making $10,000 a month easy! You could also
implement features like a forum, where your members could have discussions about
all of their favorite comics and other "sticky" features that promote long-term
memberlretention.
Page 9
This method will work for any public domain book and it will work especially well for public
domain comic books. Using graphic editing software like Adobe Photoshop, you could
easily take your comics (once you've digitized them) and import each of the page images.
Then you could "white out" the cartoon dialogue bubbles, replacing the text in English with
the same text in another language. You'll need to purchase a "comic-book" style font.
ComicBookFonts.com is one of many great places to find killer comic book style fonts.
This is a great method to use especially if live in a country where English is not the primary
language or if you plan on marketing the books in a country where English is not the
primary language. Of course, having a mastery of the language you intend on translating
your comic books dialogue into is a must unless you plan on hiring someone to translate the
comics for you.
Just think, by translating your public domain comic books into other languages you could
tap into a whole world of otherwise neglected international markets and introduce these
long-lost treasures to a whole new demographic of readers!
Before you dismiss the potential of this method consider these facts:
There are currently over 6 billion people living on this rock we call Urth and of those 6
billion:
• Overl1lbillionlpeoplelspeaklMandarin
• 508lmillionlpeoplelspeaklEnglish
• 497lmillionlpeoplelspeaklHindustani
• 392lmillionlpeoplelspeaklSpanish
Page 10
• 277lmillionlpeoplelspeaklRussian
• 246lmillionlpeoplelspeaklArabic
• 211lmillionlpeoplelspeaklBengali
• 191lmillionlpeoplelspeaklPortuguese
• 159lmillionlpeoplelspeaklMalay-Indonesian
And that's just the top ten languages spoken in the world. You've still got German, Italian,
Japanese, and a whole slew of others as well! Granted, all of these people are not going to
be comic book readers but, you get my point. The market could be huge. SOURCE
Page 11
Remember way back in Public Domain Treasure Hunter Issue #1 when we talked about
“reimagineering” old public domain movies by wiping the soundtrack clean and adding
fresh humorous and deliriously corny dialogue? Well, guess what – you can do that with
comic books even quicker and easier!
Just like with Method #3 above, you could easily import each of your page images into
Adobe Photoshop and “white out” the cartoon dialogue bubbles. Then you could replace
the existing dialogue with zany off-the-wall one liners and just plain silliness. Just like those
old public domain movies some of these comics are so campy they’re just begging to be fun
of.lRememberlMadlMovies?lHowl’boutlMadlComics?
Just have fun with it and let your imagination run wild! You could republish whole issues
using this method but I’ll tell you something else this method works really well for as well –
advertising! Using a simple short panel layout like the one above works remarkably well.
There’s something about a comic strip panel that just absolutely will not let you glance by it
without stopping to read it first! C’mon, admit it – you read the panel above as soon as you
placed your eyes on it didn’t you? You couldn’t help it! Using a panel like the one above
works great in advertising because it takes people’s guard down immediately and gets them
to read your ad without even realizing they are reading an ad! And if you can make ‘em
laugh that’s even better! You could use this method with banner ads on the internet as well.
Page 12
Many of these comic books were authored by some true masters of storytelling and
illustrated by some of the greatest sketch artists to ever hold a pencil. Most of them
eventually went on to create comic books for the big boys like Marvel Comics and D.C.
Comics.
Imagine all of the material that public domain comic books could provide you with in the
creation of film scripts, animated cartoons, and even novels. Stuck on a plot idea for your
next novel? Beating your head in trying to think up a fresh idea for a movie script? Want to
create a new cartoon series but short on original character ideas?
Look no further than that stack of old public domain comic books. It would take you years
to exhaust all of the possible ideas that you could extract from them!
Page 13
I would bet that the same crowd that's into that stuff would really dig clothes decorated
with golden age comic book art. You could use images from public domain comic books to
create all sorts of nifty apparel. Check out some of the stylin' threads I created at Zazzle in
just a few minutes using public domain comic book covers...
Page 14
The covers of these golden age comics are usually brilliantly colored, bright and vibrant.
Sometimes, they’re dark and moody depending on the theme, but nevertheless they're
almost always beautifully and skillfully drawn. Comic art is an art all to itself and even
people that don't read comic books can appreciate it. Vintage pop-art is hot!
You can use this to your advantage by using comic cover art to create posters and framed
prints like these groovy framed prints I created on CafePress in less than five minutes…
When creating posters and framed prints, image quality counts so make sure that you are
scanning in the covers at as high a resolution as possible and then use a graphics editing
program like Adobe Photoshop to clean up any imperfections and tweak the brightness.
Page 15
“Retro” and “Vintage Look” graphics enjoy brisk sales online (see RetroClipArt.com for
some examples) and you could easily put together a collection for sale on CD by clipping
them from public domain comic books.
Public domain comics are an absolute treasure chest of high-quality images especially when
it comes to human facial expressions. In any given single issue of a public domain comic
you could probably find facial expressions that cover the whole range of human emotions.
Start clippin’ and snippin’ cause you’ll find a virtually unlimited supply of great clip-art in
public domain comics for people to use as graphic images on their websites, in their
advertising, in their documents – whatever!
Page 16
Here's how you do it - You can really bring an old comic to life by using a screen capture
recording application like Camtasia Studio to "record" your comic book. If you arrange the
panels from the pages in your comic book and then play them back in a slide show
presentation, you can record the slide show on your computer screen to produce the visual
elements of your video.
Then add your own soundtrack to produce the audio elements. You could narrate the
dialogue (using different voices for each character of course), and add your own sound
effects (BAM! WACK! CRASH!), and even add your own music soundtrack for dramatic effect
(public domain music of course).
I don’t know anyone that is currently using this method so I don’t have a perfect example to
show you. You’ll have to use your imagination! But you’ll get a pretty good idea of what I’m
talking about by checking out the links below…(BTW, none of these are public domain
comics)
Click Here for a trailer for the “Spiderman 3” movie made from various Spiderman comics…
Click Here to watch a trailer for the “300” movie made from the graphic novel….
Click Here to for a fun video I just wanted to add because it made me laugh…
Page 17
Page 18
#10 - Don't Forget About Those Great Full Page Ads Found In
Public Domain Comics!
And don't forget about the vintage ads! When I was a little boy I used to drool over the
goofy little one page ads that ran rampant through my comic books - Wow! 100 little green
army men and a plastic tank for $1.00! A miniature "spy" camera for just a buck? I used
bug my mother relentlessly for a dollar every time I saw one of these ads but she never
gave in. She was a wise woman. It wasn’t until years later that I found out that most of the
products in these ads were total rip-offs designed to cheat little kids out of their money but
that’s not the point. The point is these ads were just plain fun. They remind a lot of people
of their childhood days. Ahhh, smell the nostalgia!
How can you profit from these goofy ads? Well, you could publish a collectable book of
classic comic book ads called, “Mom, Gimme A Dollar!” or you could sell these ads on
eBay. Yeah, believe it or not, there’s people clipping the classic advertisements out of old
magazines and selling them on eBay – and they sell well too!
The big difference here is that, since these ads are from comic books in the public domain,
you could reproduce them in volume and sell them over and over again rather than making
a one time sale. Think about it! Here’s a few examples….
Page 19
Page 20
You could sell a softcover omnibus edition on eBay and then invite people that buy your
book to join your membership site or visit your online store stocked full of merchandise like
t-shirts, framed prints, posters and more.
You could create flash videos like we discussed in Method #8 and post them on YouTube
driving traffic back to your membership site and / or online store. You could place
downloadable PDF sample versions of your comics on document sites like Scribd and
include a link back to your website within the e-book.
There are so many possibilities! And with a market as hardcore as comic book lovers you
should do really well. Trust me, I know a few hardcore comic book fanatics. When they love
a comic they just have to own all the related merchandise as well!
• To digitize your public domain comic books, you’ll need a decent flat bed scanner
(unlesslyouldon’tlmindlremovinglpages).
• Finding old public domain comic books is easy using auction sites like eBay or by
trollinglyardlandlestatelsales.lTherelarelalsolalfewlgoodlonlinelrepositories.
• To determine the copyright status of any comic book published in the U.S., follow
U.S. Copyright Duration Law. “Golden Age” comics fall under the rules governing
all works published in the U.S. between the years of 1923 and 1963. In order to
have retained copyright protection, the comic book must have had its copyright
renewed in the 28th year after initial publication. If it was not renewed, it’s in the
public domain. For more information about understanding U.S. Copyright
Law1and1finding1andlprofitinglfromlpublicldomainlworksloflalllkinds,lvisit
PublicDomainTreasureHunter.com/kit.html.
Page 21
In Closing….
We’ll there you go – 11 creative ways to republish public domain comic books for fun and
profit. Which method will you use? In any case, I bet you’ll look at comic books in whole
new light now!
What we’ve discussed in this issue is just one of the nearly endless creative and profitable
ways to make money and have fun with public domain material. If this method appeals to
you then take it and run with. Go nuts! Create something that’ll set the internet on fire! Just
don’t forget to send me copy….
Hey, do me a favor – if you enjoyed this issue of “Public Domain Treasure Hunter
Magazine”, drop by our blog at PublicDomainTreasureHunter.com and leave a
comment for us. Let us know what you think!
If enough people leave positive feedback, we may get motivated to quit reading comic
books long enough to put together Issue #3!
Until next time, let’s go plunder the vast treasures of the public domain!
To your success,
Logan Andrew
Editor & Contributor, “Public Domain Treasure Hunter Magazine”
Page 22
Page 23