Wait—You Can’t Put Thor in Your Comic!

Well…yes, yes I can put Thor in my comic, and I can tell you why.

The “Not So Secret” World of Public Domain Characters

So what exactly does “Public Domain” mean?

If a creative work is in Public Domain, no person or entity claims to have Intellectual Property Rights or a Copyright to that work. In the case of Thor, we’re talking about a character with background story or an origin story attached to him. Nope, Marvel Comics doesn’t own the character, “Thor”. They own THEIR character, “Thor.” You see… Thor was around long before Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby decided to write and draw him back in 1962’s Journey into Mystery #83. As a mythological character, he predates Marvel Comics by about, ohhh… I don’t know, maybe 1900 years or so. I won’t get too much into the history of the character. If you want all of that detail, it isn’t too hard to find, but I’m pretty sure he was mentioned by someone notable earlier on in the Roman Empire. As a Norse god, he was generally referred to as the son of Odin and was prone to swinging his hammer or a “fiery axe” around as we’re used to seeing him do in the comics. However, his appearance is something that Jack Kirby came up with on his own. The costume that he wears in Marvel Comics certainly exists due to Kirby’s decisions. The old Norse god is clearly described as being a “red head” as opposed to the blonde hunk we’re used to seeing these days.

Hmmm…is that Trademark or Copyright?

Including Thor in a comic is one thing, but creating a comic titled “Thor”… now that will get you into trouble. Marvel has the Trademark on the title “Thor.” I know… this leads to questions about what the difference is between Trademark and Copyright. The best source for that definition is the United States Patent and Trademark Office website. Trademark has more to do with being labeled a brand that distinguishes you from a competitor. When you hear about Trademark disputes in the news, it generally has to do with one company alleging that another company has in some way usurped their identity to some degree and made the general consumer of their product confused about which company the goods are coming from. I made sure not to say the name of the character on the cover of my comic. Placing the word “Thor” anywhere on the cover would be a bad idea. If you want to read some interesting history about Trademark Law in reference to comic book characters, I think the story of how the name “Captain Marvel”, once a property of Fawcett Comics, became the property of Marvel Comics while the character, “Shazam!”, who used to be named “Captain Marvel” became the property of DC Comics. Wow…if you think that sentence was perplexing, look up the actual story! In closing, I feel that my Thor, the Norse god, is differentiated from the one Marvel Comics uses. I made him easily distinguishable from the character people are used to seeing. I certainly didn’t include anything that made reference to Marvel Comics mythos. I even created some of my own by the way Thor and the gang were able to defeat the Frost Giant they battled. I don’t think anyone would confuse my character with the one they see in Marvel Comics. As a matter of fact, some kids might read my story and say, “Meh, that’s not Thor.”