Who holds the rights to Defiant and Broadway?

[The Dirt Gang]

I believe this has been discussed before but who holds the rights to Defiant and Broadway characters. At one point, I thought I read they were tied to the VEI stuff, however, I think also read they weren't. Anyone know who has them?

[BugsySig]

Broadway Video (the parrent of Broadway Comics) was bought out by Golden Books, which was then purchased by Random House (publishing) and Classic Media (film and TV). Thats the same deal that included the Gold Key characters. Dreamworks now ownes Classic Media.

I think Shooter had posession of the Defiant rights and was going to make them part of Broadway, but that never happened before they went belly up. So best guess is Shooter owns the rights to Defiant still.

Someone here probably knows better than me, though.

[StarBrand]

Classic Media owns the Defiant properties.

[John Pannozzi]

I hate to bump an old thread, but I want to clarify that the Defiant comic Wardancer is owned by Alan Weiss.

[StarBrand]

I hate to bump an old thread, but I want to clarify that the Defiant comic Wardancer is owned by Alan Weiss.

Good point. I'd read that before, but forgotten that he retained War Dancer.

[Cyberstrike]

I hate to bump an old thread, but I want to clarify that the Defiant comic Wardancer is owned by Alan Weiss.

Good point. I'd read that before, but forgotten that he retained War Dancer.

I thought he only owned part of it and has never been able to bring War Dancer back because no one wanted to deal with a potential legal mess.

[omega_override]

Broadway Video (the parrent of Broadway Comics) was bought out by Golden Books, which was then purchased by Random House (publishing) and Classic Media (film and TV). Thats the same deal that included the Gold Key characters. Dreamworks now ownes Classic Media.

It would be interesting to see Dreamworks actually do something with the license, but I very much doubt that they will

[possumgrease]

I may be in the minority here, but I actually liked Defiant more than Valiant. I think. As a kid I did, but haven't read those stories since they came out.

[omega_override]

I may be in the minority here, but I actually liked Defiant more than Valiant. I think. As a kid I did, but haven't read those stories since they came out.

I'd be nice if Shooter would give Dinesh and co the rights to the characters

[Cyberstrike]

Broadway Video (the parrent of Broadway Comics) was bought out by Golden Books, which was then purchased by Random House (publishing) and Classic Media (film and TV). Thats the same deal that included the Gold Key characters. Dreamworks now ownes Classic Media.

It would be interesting to see Dreamworks actually do something with the license, but I very much doubt that they will

Honestly I would be surprised if the head honchos of Dreamworks even knew they owned the rights to Defiant and Broadway characters and given that Hasbro actually briefly thought of buying them for about 100 million probably (which spare change in those kind of deals) says a lot of what corporate Hollywood thinks of Dreamworks' real value money wise. Supposedly Hasbro were talked out of and/or threatened by Disney who owns Marvel and Star Wars two of the biggest franchises on the freaking planet and Hasbro has the toy licenses to both of them, which Hasbro did a day or two after they announced they were considering buying them.


I do think that Splatterball as a "hard" PG-13 (ie like a lot of the recent DC animated films) CGI film might be cool though.

[vikingspawn]

I wonder if Lorne Michaels has any type of stake left in the Broadway characters.

[The Dirt Gang]

I may be in the minority here, but I actually liked Defiant more than Valiant. I think. As a kid I did, but haven't read those stories since they came out.

I agree somewhat. At the time Defiant was coming out, I liked it better than Valiant but still not quite as much as I liked the Shooter days of Valiant. But the Defiant stuff was definitely better than the post-Shooter Valiant.

The Broadway stuff was surprisingly good as well or at least I thought so at the time I read it many years ago.

Shooter seemed to be so full of ideas and was a good storyteller. It surprised me that I really didn't care for his work on the Gold Key characters at Dark Horse.

I'd love to see the Defiant characters again in some format. Plasm just seemed like such an out there different idea at the time.

[Cyberstrike]

Universal bought Dreamworks so chances are if these characters ever return to comics it might be under Dynamite since they seem to have to get Universal properties like Xena: Warrior Princess and Battlestar Galactica before they get bored with them after 6 months and reboot them and then run them into ground.

I could see a companies like IDW, Boom, and Titan reprinting the original series but they don't seem like their interested in publishing an entire line of superhero comics.

[The Dirt Gang]

I wonder what amount of money it would take just to pry away the Defiant and Broadway properties. They hold such a niche market that I can't see someone like Universal/DreamWorks or the like ever doing something with them. It's a really shame that they are tied in with the Gold Key characters.

[BugsySig]

I wonder what amount of money it would take just to pry away the Defiant and Broadway properties. They hold such a niche market that I can't see someone like Universal/DreamWorks or the like ever doing something with them. It's a really shame that they are tied in with the Gold Key characters.

If someone cared to look into and Universal cared to sell it, one could conceivably unite Defiant, Broadway AND Gold Key properties...

[The Dirt Gang]

I wonder what amount of money it would take just to pry away the Defiant and Broadway properties. They hold such a niche market that I can't see someone like Universal/DreamWorks or the like ever doing something with them. It's a really shame that they are tied in with the Gold Key characters.

If someone cared to look into and Universal cared to sell it, one could conceivably unite Defiant, Broadway AND Gold Key properties...

I thought those 3 properties were already owned by the same group? It seems that different people keep using the Gold Key license, so there is interest there or they are using them to keep the copyright active.

Do I have that right? Isn't there some copyright law that essentially if you don't use it, you lose it? If so, I wonder how long it would be before they lost the rights to Defiant and Broadway? Or course, maybe I just made this up.

[BugsySig]

I wonder what amount of money it would take just to pry away the Defiant and Broadway properties. They hold such a niche market that I can't see someone like Universal/DreamWorks or the like ever doing something with them. It's a really shame that they are tied in with the Gold Key characters.

If someone cared to look into and Universal cared to sell it, one could conceivably unite Defiant, Broadway AND Gold Key properties...

I thought those 3 properties were already owned by the same group? It seems that different people keep using the Gold Key license, so there is interest there or they are using them to keep the copyright active.

Do I have that right? Isn't there some copyright law that essentially if you don't use it, you lose it? If so, I wonder how long it would be before they lost the rights to Defiant and Broadway? Or course, maybe I just made this up.

You are correct. I was referencing it more because it doesn't seem the owners of these properties even know they have them or care, but an industrious individual (Shooter? Dino? You?) could swoop in and purchase them in an attempt to start up a new shared universe.

I also believe there is still some debate over who owns what rights. There was at one point some confusion over publishing (Random House) vs. entertainment (Classic Media, now Dreamworks) rights for the GK characters. So I'm not certain everything is even all in one place.

And while you do have to renew copyrights for the purposes of using certain names for books, tv, movies, video games, etc, and renew TMs, I don't believe you need to renew IPs. For example, one guy owns the Atlas Comics Character IPs, but not the copyright to the name "Atlas Comics" (which is owned by Dynamite). However, they can't use those characters without licensing them (much to their chagrin, I'm sure). That is why Dino and co. were able to purchase the VALIANT IPs following Acclaim's bankruptcy.

In the past there were laws requiring renewal, which is what led to many Golden Age characters falling into the public domain.

[The Dirt Gang]

I wonder what amount of money it would take just to pry away the Defiant and Broadway properties. They hold such a niche market that I can't see someone like Universal/DreamWorks or the like ever doing something with them. It's a really shame that they are tied in with the Gold Key characters.

If someone cared to look into and Universal cared to sell it, one could conceivably unite Defiant, Broadway AND Gold Key properties...

I thought those 3 properties were already owned by the same group? It seems that different people keep using the Gold Key license, so there is interest there or they are using them to keep the copyright active.

Do I have that right? Isn't there some copyright law that essentially if you don't use it, you lose it? If so, I wonder how long it would be before they lost the rights to Defiant and Broadway? Or course, maybe I just made this up.

You are correct. I was referencing it more because it doesn't seem the owners of these properties even know they have them or care, but an industrious individual (Shooter? Dino? You?) could swoop in and purchase them in an attempt to start up a new shared universe.

I also believe there is still some debate over who owns what rights. There was at one point some confusion over publishing (Random House) vs. entertainment (Classic Media, now Dreamworks) rights for the GK characters. So I'm not certain everything is even all in one place.

And while you do have to renew copyrights for the purposes of using certain names for books, tv, movies, video games, etc, and renew TMs, I don't believe you need to renew IPs. For example, one guy owns the Atlas Comics Character IPs, but not the copyright to the name "Atlas Comics" (which is owned by Dynamite (sucks!)). However, they can't use those characters without licensing them (much to their chagrin, I'm sure). That is why Dino and co. were able to purchase the VALIANT IPs following Acclaim's bankruptcy.

In the past there were laws requiring renewal, which is what led to many Golden Age characters falling into the public domain.

Thanks for dropping some knowledge on me.

If I ever win the lotto , tracking down those IPs will be at the top of my list. For years, I've dreamt up scenarios where I could get ahold of the rights to all those properties and prior to Dino's involvement with Valiant, I used to do the same for those. I've got a mental list of who I'd try to get involved, now I just need to be as savvy as Dino and find a way to make it happen.

[BugsySig]

I wonder what amount of money it would take just to pry away the Defiant and Broadway properties. They hold such a niche market that I can't see someone like Universal/DreamWorks or the like ever doing something with them. It's a really shame that they are tied in with the Gold Key characters.

If someone cared to look into and Universal cared to sell it, one could conceivably unite Defiant, Broadway AND Gold Key properties...

I thought those 3 properties were already owned by the same group? It seems that different people keep using the Gold Key license, so there is interest there or they are using them to keep the copyright active.

Do I have that right? Isn't there some copyright law that essentially if you don't use it, you lose it? If so, I wonder how long it would be before they lost the rights to Defiant and Broadway? Or course, maybe I just made this up.

You are correct. I was referencing it more because it doesn't seem the owners of these properties even know they have them or care, but an industrious individual (Shooter? Dino? You?) could swoop in and purchase them in an attempt to start up a new shared universe.

I also believe there is still some debate over who owns what rights. There was at one point some confusion over publishing (Random House) vs. entertainment (Classic Media, now Dreamworks) rights for the GK characters. So I'm not certain everything is even all in one place.

And while you do have to renew copyrights for the purposes of using certain names for books, tv, movies, video games, etc, and renew TMs, I don't believe you need to renew IPs. For example, one guy owns the Atlas Comics Character IPs, but not the copyright to the name "Atlas Comics" (which is owned by Dynamite (sucks!) (sucks!)). However, they can't use those characters without licensing them (much to their chagrin, I'm sure). That is why Dino and co. were able to purchase the VALIANT IPs following Acclaim's bankruptcy.

In the past there were laws requiring renewal, which is what led to many Golden Age characters falling into the public domain.

Thanks for dropping some knowledge on me.

If I ever win the lotto , tracking down those IPs will be at the top of my list. For years, I've dreamt up scenarios where I could get ahold of the rights to all those properties and prior to Dino's involvement with Valiant, I used to do the same for those. I've got a mental list of who I'd try to get involved, now I just need to be as savvy as Dino and find a way to make it happen.

There’s just a ton of individually owned IPs out there too: The Spirit, Atlas Comics, Kirby-Verse (Silver Star, Captain Victory, etc.), Simon & Kirby heroes (Fighting American, etc.), Tower/Wally Wood (THUNDER Agents), Peter Cannon...Thunderbolt! (owned by the Morisi estate). These all see the light of day from time to time as people’s estates license them out, but I often think about what it would be like to gobble them all up and create a shared universe out of it all.

[The Dirt Gang]

I'd totally be down with that.

[Serpentor]

It looks like NBC Universal now owns Broadway and the Gold Key characters. Wouldn't it be great to see such an entertainment powerhouse do something with Magnus and Solar?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DreamWork ... ssic_Media_(2000%E2%80%932012" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

[apacseller]

Would be cool to see someone offer to resurrect them (not necessarily buy, but license). Those properties aren't worth anything right now, but if someone got them back into the limelight, or at least active again, they might have some value.

I loved plasm so much as a kid. I think the introspective elements of it (not to say the politics) could be very interesting, but visually, that would be one trippy movie. Tim Burton anyone!!!!???

[Zhuge1]

There’s just a ton of individually owned IPs out there too: The Spirit, Atlas Comics, Kirby-Verse (Silver Star, Captain Victory, etc.), Simon & Kirby heroes (Fighting American, etc.), Tower/Wally Wood (THUNDER Agents), Peter Cannon...Thunderbolt! (owned by the Morisi estate). These all see the light of day from time to time as people’s estates license them out, but I often think about what it would be like to gobble them all up and create a shared universe out of it all.

I thought DC bought all of the Charlton characters (including Peter Cannon). Interesting that he's individually owned.

Also, as a head's up regarding Defiant -- I noticed that someone is selling a couple of pages of original art from Warriors of Plasm on eBay if anyone is interested.

[BugsySig]

There’s just a ton of individually owned IPs out there too: The Spirit, Atlas Comics, Kirby-Verse (Silver Star, Captain Victory, etc.), Simon & Kirby heroes (Fighting American, etc.), Tower/Wally Wood (THUNDER Agents), Peter Cannon...Thunderbolt! (owned by the Morisi estate). These all see the light of day from time to time as people’s estates license them out, but I often think about what it would be like to gobble them all up and create a shared universe out of it all.

I thought DC bought all of the Charlton characters (including Peter Cannon). Interesting that he's individually owned.

Also, as a head's up regarding Defiant -- I noticed that someone is selling a couple of pages of original art from Warriors of Plasm on eBay if anyone is interested.

Morisi had some reversion rights from Charelton, so after DC purchased it they used Cannon for a period of time then he got the rights back. Dynamite most recently had the license, publishing a miniseries and including the character in Masks 2. Not sure if they still hold it or not.

[ManofTheAtom]

This is an interesting old thread.