Public Domain Super Heroes

  is a collaborative website about comic book characters in the Public Domain. The wiki format allows anyone to create or edit any article, so we can all work together to create the site. Check out the Help FAQ to help you get started! We now have articles. We want to reach 750 articles.

For info on what constitutes "public domain", check out the Public Domain FAQ.

After Action Comics #1 gave the world Superman in 1938, there was an explosion of costumed heroes in comics. New publishers and characters sprang up everywhere. After World War II, these type of characters fell out of favor with readers. This caused many publishers to go out of business and many characters were lost. Those comics and their stars have since fallen into the public domain. This enables anyone to use those characters and those classic stories any way they wish. Over the years many publishers have taken advantage of this, including AC Comics (FemForce, Men of Mystery), Malibu (The Protectors), America's Best (Terra Obscura), and - most recently - Dynamite (Project Superpowers), and Image Comics (Next Issue Project) among others.

This is intended to be an online encyclopedia of these characters, providing pertinent information to fans who want to learn about their history, as well as creators who may want to use them. Unless otherwise noted, all images and information are believed to be in the Public Domain. The information and images presented are intended to give a brief overview of the characters and provide a visual reference.

Enjoy.

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 * If you are adding to the Wiki, please try to keep the information restricted to what is Public Domain for now. That would be mainly Golden Age information. We might add things like The Protectors, Terra Obscura and Project Superpowers in the future, but for now we want to be primarily a Public Domain resource. Our intent is to provide information on public domain characters that creators could use in their works. As such, we want to avoid including characters with uncertain copyright status. Therefore we choose not to include characters like Plastic Man, Captain Marvel, the Blackhawks, the Sheild and the MLJ/Archie heroes, among others. While these characters have comics and stories that are public domain, the characters' status remains questionable.


 * Thank you to all of our research sources such as International Hero, Toonopedia, Golden Age Comic Downloads, Cash Gorman's, Pure Excitement, Golden Years Comic Library, Grand Comic Database, Golden Age Heroes Blog, "My Opinion Does Not Matter" Blog, and Nedor-A-Day. Be sure to visit these sites in our Other Links/ Research Sources links to them and thank those sites creators for their great work. If you add a page to the wiki please link your sources if you used any of these or other websites and thank them for any image contributions.







Collaboration of The Week
The collaboration of the week is Dr. Nemesis.

Featured article


The first original costumed crime fighter to appear in American comic books, the Clock could be considered the “missing link” between pulp and comic book heroes. His secret identity is that of Brian O'Brien, a wealthy member of high society.... (See Clock)

NEW WEBCOMIC!
If you like Golden Age Super Heroes you might want to check out "Out Of Print" - the support group for Public Domain Super Heroes.

(NOTE: OOP Comics is copyrighted to Michael Parkinson, 2009.)

LIVE ACTION FILM!
Independent filmmaker Brett Kelly is putting the finishing touches on his superhero film, The Scarab. The film features several re-imagined Public Domain Heroes, including The Scarab, Black Terror, The Woman in Red, and Daredevil (renamed DoubleDare). Here's a look at the trailer.

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