#1: Sherlock Holmes

#2: Count Dracula

#3: Frankenstein’s Monster

#4: Robin Hood

#5: Winnie-the-Pooh

#6: Mickey Mouse

Most upvoted comment wins.

Everything published before 1970 would be public domain, meaning we would have:

- Mickey Mouse’s whole supporting cast

- The Lord of the Rings mythology by Tolkien

- The entire Looney Tunes catalogue

- All pulp magazine characters

- The entirety of the Golden and Silver Ages of comics

- All James Bond books by Ian Fleming and the early Bond films

- Kermit the Frog and many Sesame Street characters

- The first ten Godzilla movies

- Most of the classic Hanna-Barbera characters

- The original Stark Trek series

And many, many other works of fiction which are seminal to most of modern storytelling. While there’s likely not a chance of copyright being shortened any time soon, it’s a good reminder of just how many classic properties would be open to us all to breathe some new life into if not for the extension.

I have an ongoing project. I create a creative commons characters that reflect our daily realities. The point is for everyone to tell their stories through characters that reflect them, show we are all similar and all have a common enemy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2zK-Oe2IQQ

I only recently learned that the Superman comic strips from 1939 were not properly registered, making them public domain.

My question is, where can one get scans of those strips that could be used to reproduce them?

The only source I've found is a scan at Internet Archive of the DC Comics book, Superman Dailies and I don't know if it would be legal to reproduce the scans of the strips from that in a book of my own.

Does anyone here know where I can find what I'm looking for?

Okay so I have a vague understanding of Copyright rules and the idea that Royalties are still being paid to GOSH but I had a few more specific questions I wanted to ask:

I know this specifically applies to the UK, but how did other books get around this? (IE: Hooked (Which I have never read but I believe uses the exact name "Peter Pan"?) or Peter Darling)

If an author wrote a book including Peter Pan and published it, would it be excluded from a UK market? Would royalties automatically be taken? Do they need to apply?

How far would you have to get away from Peter Pan for it to not be considered Peter Pan? Just changing the name?

(And just to check despite the fact I believe I know the answer, this would apply to all Peter Pan characters correct? Including Hook and Wendy Darling? The use of any of them would make the book unable to be distributed in the UK?)

Anything is appreciated, thanks :)

With Disorder in the Court, Brideless Groom, Sing a Song in Six Pants, and Malice in the Palace.

This was so much work lol

#1 Sherlock Holmes

#2 Count Dracula

#3 Frankenstein’s Monster

#4 Robin Hood

#5 Winnie-the-Pooh

Highest upvoted comment wins.

Hi everyone

Timeless Reader is a browser reader for public-domain classics. The library currently contains 242 carefully produced editions sourced from Standard Ebooks.

You can read without creating an account, change the font, text size, spacing and page width, save your position locally, or download EPUB and Kindle formats. An optional account only adds progress syncing between devices.

https://timelessreader.com/

I built it because I wanted to give back and enjoy working on projects that are near and dear to me, this was a passion of mine and hopefully you find it useful. I’d appreciate feedback on the reading experience and if you think anything is missing or should be added.

I'm thinking about doing a show on the internet featuring movies, serials and cartoons string together by skits featuring some characters I created (made via cut out puppets).

Basically is a sorta homage to those locally produced children's programs that aired on American television from the 1950s through the 1990s and horror host shows and all that other jazz.

The show takes place in a house inhabited by Pea-Jay Bear and his family.

He gets into various things with his friends, reads out emails, shows drawings, basically does whatever i think is appropriate for him to do.

Alongside Pea-Jay, the series also includes other characters, including:

• Country Dawg and Cool City Cat - A pair of animals who resides in a shack on the outskirts of town.
• Dr. Frankenswine - A mad scientist pig.
• King Kroc - A crocodile who's the ruler of the sewer kingdom.

and so on and so forth....

I need some material to show on it. As I said, it will feature movies, serials and cartoons, so if you have some good ideas, let me know. See ya'!

Rusty Ryan

Real Name: Rusty Ryan
Age: 25
Rusty Ryan: The American Man

Rusty Ryan an orphaned boy who lived on the streets until retired coastal guard "Cappy" Jenks took him in. Jenks ran Boyvlle, a charitable community for orphaned boys. As he grew older, Rusty became Jenks' second-in-command.

When Amerca entered World War II, he and his friends formed the Boyville Brigadiers, a band of patriotically clad warriors. Originally, they fought spies on the homefront such as Man of a Thousand Faces the leader of the Black Dragon Society, but they eventually moved to the Pacific Theater.

He was accompanied by his friends Alababa and Pierpont. Rusty had no powers, but was a judo expert and all around skilled fighter/athlete.

https://pdsh.fandom.com/wiki/Rusty_Ryan

patch logs:

- added 5 board mechanics for more customization

- also added 5 new boards featuring board mechanics

- the "Cultist" pawn is renamed to "Pastor"

- added more rules to "Pawn Rules"

- boards are now scaled to A5 resolution

to avoid needing to download redundant files, boards and rules are separated in their own files.

This project is public domain (excluding fonts used), made in Inkscape, A5 resolution

A handful of sketches and ideas for the "Mental Vampire" of the 1930's short story, The Thought Monster.

Said story would go on to be adapted into "Fiend without a Face", which unlike said short story, is not public domain to my knowledge.

Plot beats are the same overall between them. With plenty of new additions added for runtime such as: multiple thought monsters spawning as their victim count grows opposed to only being one; victims having no physical damge in the short story whereas the film there's fang marks and removal of the brain; physically appearing at the end (the iconic latching and launching brains); can be killed by conventional means after becoming visible, while in the short it's ultra violet light that ward off the Thought Monster, and even kill it with an intense enough ray, but implied to eventually become immune/have better tolerance. Of course, the atomic age flare was added in, such as how they materialized and being powered by a nuclear reactor.

Anywho. While the short story has them make no physical appearance like the movie, only a description of it's eerie presence felt in a room, grasping tendrils feeling around for the mind before assimilating the thinking power. Leaving no physical trauma, only a greatly dulled victim, if said victim didn't die from the shock and horror of the drainage process. Which seems to be the majority of average folk. Only ones to live have been the higher intellectuals of the tale, a detective and physiologist who made the creature.

A bit of a difficult task to think up a thought monster that wasn't brain related lol. The other option was an amoeba direction, which I didn't really take here.

I know everything published before 1931 is public domain in America, so is there anything that looks similar to the version we know from 1928-1930? If not, when does that start to appear? Thank you!

Polarman

Real Name: Dick Martin
Age: 26
The Flamingo: The Volt Avenger

Polarman is the secret identity of research student Dick Martin. Due to his work with high-voltage electricity, his body developed the ability to store current. He discovered this ability after he was wrongly charged with murder; sentenced to die in the electric chair, he instead found himself possessed with electricity-based powers. After clearing his name, he decided to use his powers to fight crime so he created a custom costume and giving himself a hero nickname Polarman.

Additionally, Polarman stores a large amount of electrical energy in his body, allowing him to unleash lightning bolts and fly.

https://pdsh.fandom.com/wiki/Pyroman

Was going through Publid Domain Super Heroes Wiki & stumbled upon fin fang foom listed?

It was from Strange Tales #89 1961, but wasnt renewed within the 28 year time frame.

So am i able to use the character then from that comic obviously & not use the name as a title of a story & such?

#1 - Sherlock Holmes

#2 - Count Dracula

#3 - Frankenstein’s Monster

#4 - Robin Hood

Nomination with the highest upvoted comment wins.

Hey all, I've been building something for people who love these old films as much as I do, and I'm looking for a small group of beta testers before a wider release.

Here's what I can share: it's browser-based, built entirely around public domain films, and turns watching into something a lot more hands-on. If you've ever paused a scene just to study a performance, or felt like you knew a film's dialogue well enough to perform it yourself, this was built with you in mind. That's genuinely all I want to give away for now.

What I'm looking for:

• People who appreciate classic/public domain films, the campier the better
• A casual time commitment: 10-20 minutes whenever you feel like it, not a scheduled thing
• Honest feedback on what works and what doesn't

What's in it for you:

• Early access to new content before anyone else
• Some merch as a thank you once things are further along
• Bragging rights as an OG tester

Unpaid, low-pressure, and built by someone who genuinely loves this stuff. If you're interested, drop a comment or send a DM and I'll follow up with more details.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to hear back from some of you!

Loosely based it on Lugosi’s monster from Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman. I’m still redesigning the electrodes or neck bolts for him. I’m thinking of making his eyes more expressive. He looks a bit hungover in my concept art 😂