Holy crap. DC loses the rights to Krypton.

[Gremlin]

http://www.comicvine.com/news/dc-loses-supermans-krypton-origins/139134/

Jerry Siegel, has [acquired] rights to additional works, including the first two weeks of the daily Superman newspaper comic-strips, as well as portions of early Action Comics and Superman comic-books.
This means the Siegels -- repped by Marc Toberoff of Toberoff & Associates -- now control depictions of Superman's origins from the planet Krypton, his parents Jor-El and Lora, Superman as the infant Kal-El, the launching of the infant Superman into space by his parents as Krypton explodes and his landing on Earth in a fiery crash.

[Glitch Girl]

I suspect that DC will be cutting a deal with the Siegel heirs sometime in the near future.  Considering he's one of their most recognized characters, that's too much to lose usage of completely. 

[BlueBard]

'Kay...

We hereby decree that Klar-Ek, a toddler from another dimension, was teleported to Earth by his supergenius parents just before Argo City of the planet Argon was destroyed by General Zod.  He was found in a field in Littleton, Kansas by Pa and Ma King, adopted, and raised to believe in God and Country, Life and Liberty.  Lex Luthor, their older foster child, grew up jealous of little Clark King and would later become his greatest enemy.  Years later, Clark would become a newspaper reporter for the Weekly Globe and fall in love with his childhood sweetheart, Lana Lang (also a reporter).

[BlueBard]

Oh, and his superhero name is Super-Man, with a hyphen.  He loses the red trunks and boots and instead wears royal blue pants tucked into dark blue boots.  He gets to keep the S shield because it doesn't look a darn thing like that other Superman fella from the 40's had on his chest.

[bat1987]

This cant be good.

[thanoson]

It's called a shake up. I'm all for them once in awhile. Been due one for a bit. I say Supes comes to Marvel. It is a completely different game over here.

Superman- "And who are you supposed to be? A ball and chain? Buddy, that won't even phase me."
Absorbing Man- "Names Crusher Creel. Most folks call me the Absorbing Man." Starts to swing ball and chain.

[Talavar]

Superman's not going anywhere.  The Seigels want to make money, DC wants to make money, so DC pays the Siegels so they both get to keep making money. 

Because really, the version of Superman that the Siegels will own when the legal dust settles is a drastically different animal than the one people know today: different symbol, no vision powers, no flight, missing a number of supporting cast elements, and missing kryptonite.  Seriously, kryptonite.  The radio show made it up, so DC gets to keep it.

[thalaw2]

Wow!  Maybe the Seigles were upset at the handling of the movie Superman Returns...

Anyway, since they can eventually move movie rights to another studio things could get interesting on the big screen.

[AfghanAnt]

I agree Superman isn't leavin DCU any time soon because DC parent company, Time-Warner, isn't going to let the most recognized fictional character go anywhere.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

To me this whole thing is ridiculous.  They made the character for DC, or whatever it was called at the time.  While, I agree the two fellows could have been treated better at first, they later were given a stipend and other things in recognition of what they did.  Still, all law and precedent says that the copyright isn't theirs.  They made the character for DC.

Their families are just trying to make money off the backs of their long deceased relatives, and it sickens me.

[steamteck]

To me this whole thing is ridiculous.  They made the character for DC, or whatever it was called at the time.  While, I agree the two fellows could have been treated better at first, they later were given a stipend and other things in recognition of what they did.  Still, all law and precedent says that the copyright isn't theirs.  They made the character for DC.

Their families are just trying to make money off the backs of their long deceased relatives, and it sickens me.

Yep. Thats how it strikes me also.

[The_Baroness]

but what they do not get is that if they take superman from the DCU it will not be superman anymore and wont be ever as succesful...

if they manage to take hold of him and take it away is character limbo or dead...

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

They aren't trying to take Superman away, they are trying to milk money out of DC.

[Iris]

Scandals!! How dare they take the origin away.

[MJB]

I feel sorry for the writers for DC. They signed on to tell stories of the first Super-Hero and now they are saddled with all of this...

[Trelau]

catwhowalksbyhimself is right, stop imagining scenario were the heir are trying to take away superman and make their own comic books. This has nothing to do with superman, siegel or comic book. It's just a matter of money. It just mean dc/warner will have to pay the heir to keep doing what they're doing. Nothing will change. Except maybe warner won't do another superman movie, since they would have to pay rights.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Except that they wouldn't have to do the origin in the the next movie, so that remains unaffected.

[JKCarrier]

Still, all law and precedent says that the copyright isn't theirs.

The law also says that after a certain period of time, they can file for a copyright termination. Which is what they are doing:

http://www.copylaw.com/new_articles/copyterm.html

There is nothing shady or immoral about it. For decades, DC took advantage of copyright laws to reap enormous profits, without any consideration for the creators. Now the shoe is on the other foot. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

But that only applies if it was not "work made for hire", which I am pretty sure Superman was.

EDIT:  Nope, I guess I'm wrong, it was created earlier and sold.  This does completely change matters, causing me to withdraw my previous statements.

[steamteck]

Still, all law and precedent says that the copyright isn't theirs.

The law also says that after a certain period of time, they can file for a copyright termination. Which is what they are doing:

http://www.copylaw.com/new_articles/copyterm.html

There is nothing shady or immoral about it. For decades, DC took advantage of copyright laws to reap enormous profits, without any consideration for the creators. Now the shoe is on the other foot. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

Uh Huh. By endangering  and fragmenting  their ancestor's creation for future generations. ( In fact Schuster has no heirs but a least Seigal does have real heirs) I don't hold DC blameless, they should have reached some sort of agreement though. By actually  letting it get to a point where the whole character can't be presented, robbing him of his origins all parties are working to destroy something bigger than themselves. They may not be trying to take Superman away but that is exactly what they are doing piece by piece.

Both sides need to bend on this to preserve their golden goose. Cherry picking portions of the character for each side to use is a really bad idea for all involved.

[JKCarrier]

By actually  letting it get to a point where the whole character can't be presented, robbing him of his origins all parties are working to destroy something bigger than themselves.

I think real human beings are more important than imaginary ones.

Both sides need to bend on this to preserve their golden goose.

Which I'm sure is what will happen in the end. DC will do whatever it takes to preserve their biggest cash cow.

[marhawkman]

It's called a shake up. I'm all for them once in awhile. Been due one for a bit. I say Supes comes to Marvel. It is a completely different game over here.

Superman- "And who are you supposed to be? A ball and chain? Buddy, that won't even phase me."
Absorbing Man- "Names Crusher Creel. Most folks call me the Absorbing Man." Starts to swing ball and chain.

Oddly enough that would actually work.... Crusher can duplicate the properties of ANYTHING he touches, including people. He does that with Titania all the time. And the Ball and chain is a MAGIC ball and chain, and as we all know Superman isn't invulnerable to magic. Supes would probably clean his clock anyways though.

[steamteck]

[
I think real human beings are more important than imaginary ones.

In the life or death sense of course but this is a character that everyone in the world recognizes. Its  a legacy like  Sherlock Holmes or Tarzan that has and will continue to outlast its creators. Its that legacy everyone is pissing on.
Homer as a human being may have been worth more than the fictionalized Achilles and co. but we would not know he even ever existed today if not for them.

[Talavar]

His origin hasn't been "taken away" though, it's just been ruled the intellectual property of the Siegel estate, who I'm certain will license said property back to DC.  And if their copyright termination suit is successful, I imagine they'll do the same thing.

[steamteck]

His origin hasn't been "taken away" though, it's just been ruled the intellectual property of the Siegel estate, who I'm certain will license said property back to DC.  And if their copyright termination suit is successful, I imagine they'll do the same thing.

You're probably right but modern comics and legal actions in general have both shaken my faith in a decent outcome. I do have  a lot of faith in modern writers to ruin something iconic however.

[Tomato]

His origin hasn't been "taken away" though, it's just been ruled the intellectual property of the Siegel estate, who I'm certain will license said property back to DC.  And if their copyright termination suit is successful, I imagine they'll do the same thing.

You're probably right but modern comics and legal actions in general have both shaken my faith in a decent outcome. I do have  a lot of faith in modern writers to ruin something iconic however.

You know steamteck, I have to disagree here... as much as I personally lament aspects of "modern" comics (BND, all of Marvel's crossovers, etc.), I think you're being waaay too judgemental here. I mean really, comics have NEVER been perfect... Need I bring up Spider-Clones, "Wonder Woman wasn't a founding JLA member!", Onslaught... Really, you can idealize them all you want, comics have never been 100% good OR 100% bad. The trick is to find the books that don't suck.

For my part, I'm actually liking some of DC's stuff right now... sure, BN is getting a tad old already (WAAAAAY overhyped zombie invasion book) but I also find myself waiting "patiently" (and by patiently I mean ranting about any delays they have getting them out) every month for books like "Flash Rebirth," and "Batman"(screw Morrison's B&R).

[steamteck]

You know steamteck, I have to disagree here... as much as I personally lament aspects of "modern" comics (BND, all of Marvel's crossovers, etc.), I think you're being waaay too judgemental here. I mean really, comics have NEVER been perfect... Need I bring up Spider-Clones, "Wonder Woman wasn't a founding JLA member!", Onslaught... Really, you can idealize them all you want, comics have never been 100% good OR 100% bad. The trick is to find the books that don't suck.

For my part, I'm actually liking some of DC's stuff right now... sure, BN is getting a tad old already (WAAAAAY overhyped zombie invasion book) but I also find myself waiting "patiently" (and by patiently I mean ranting about any delays they have getting them out) every month for books like "Flash Rebirth," and "Batman"(screw Morrison's B&R).

You're right I'm probably too judgmental. I've just been burned so badly so many times. Darkest night certainly seems a perfect example of what I'm talking about to me. I'm glad you like Flash but not for me. I'll shut up now. I guess the industry passed me by. ( But I love the Timverse and almost all the movies of both company's characters )

See Benton is an amateur compared to my modern age negativity

[Talavar]

90% of everything is bad.  That's true now and it was always true; most new comics are terrible and so are most old comics.  Whatever era - golden age, silver age, 70s, 80s, 90s and today - they all had bad trends, overused design and plot elements, cliches, etc.  How the bad comics have been bad has changed, but not the fact that most are bad.

More specifically on the topic at hand, out of the 70 years issues of Superman comics have been published monthly (or more), how many are actually good?  They'd be lucky if it's as high as 10%.

[Previsionary]

*agrees -- to an extent*

I think some people get so caught up on blaming new/modern writers for everything they don't like that they forget that 20+ years ago (or whatever era you read), those people were "modern" writers and were making their own mistakes. Of course now we all have the benefit of looking at things in rose-colored glasses with a sense of nostalgic value. I, myself, have a tough time reading some golden age Superman stories, and I'm generally tolerable of that era.

[BlueBard]

I will say that anyone who thinks Marvel could do a better job with Superman than DC/TW is just wishing.  The current staff over there has already managed to butcher Spider-Man and Captain America, both also iconic characters, so I wouldn't expect any better treatment.