Public Domain
A new Change Log comic about "celebrity" endorsements... and a rant.
If you haven’t heard, Mickey Mouse from the original Steamboat Willie cartoon is now in the public domain. This means you can use the characters in your own stories without the big D coming after you for copyright infringement.
As someone who has created a lot of characters, I kinda hate this. Similarly, Winnie the Pooh recently entered the public domain and someone created a horror movie with the characters. This is why I don’t like it. It’s not like Disney is hurting for money. Well, I guess they’ve been losing a ton of cash lately but that’s a different matter entirely… self-inflicted wounds. I mean, how do you lose money on Marvel and Star Wars properties unless you’re a complete moron… but I’m getting off topic.
So a lot of people are excited for characters to enter the public domain because they want to tell their own Superman, or Batman, or Mickey Mouse stories. My problem with all of this is… why? What can you do with Superman that hasn’t been done a thousand times in the past 80 years? Aside from completely bastardizing the character… hence the horror story starring “Winnie the Pooh”.
When characters are created, they have certain traits that make them who they are. This is why character sheets and story bibles are created… to make sure characters act in a consistent way. The whole point of a story is to take the characters on a journey and show how they are changed by the things that happen to them. But they’re still the same characters. If you take Mickey Mouse and make him a serial killer, that’s not Mickey Mouse. So what are you doing? You’re just using a popular character’s name to sell your stupid story. It’s lazy.
So, no, I will not be telling my version of “Mickey Mouse”. When Batman enters public domain, I will not be telling my version of “Batman”. Mickey appeared in this Change Log comic as a gag to make fun of the whole concept. And if you see some weird bastardized version of Mickey in the near future, just remember it’s not really Mickey. It’s some hack version that someone thought would be edgy or controversial. It’s not fun. It’s lazy and and disrespectful to Walt Disney.
Create your own characters.
Sorry for the rant… I have strong opinions on this. If you disagree, feel free to tell me where I’m wrong. Leave a comment here or you can find me on X (twitter) and we can argue about it there if you like… after all, that’s what X is for, right :)
Also… I’m available for hire as an illustrator! If you haven’t seen the announcement, I started a new service called Sketch Foundry! You can read more about it here:
If you or anyone you know is a content creator that needs illustration, I’d be thrilled if you check it out.
Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great week!
-Brad