I think it ironically shows the victory of Copyright Holders that the characters we keep talking about looking forward to entering the Public Domain soon every January are the ones who are currently being constantly milked by their IP holders.
Popeye The Sailor and Buck Rogers from 1929 should enter the Public Domain next year (though some of their core supporting cast will take a few more years with Bluto not appearing till 1932), and then in 2026 Betty Poop and Bimbo from 1930 as well as Pulp Hero The Shadow, and then in 2027 Dick Tracey from 1931.
These are characters who are just as important to the Early History of Comics and Animation as any Disney and WB owned characters and at the time just a much household names. But because the owners of their Copyrights have been for various reasons unable or unwilling to do much if anything with them for several decades their Stars have diminished.
Popeye, Betty Boop and Bimbo should be important to Otaku like me because they were the initial main stars of Fleischer Studios. Anime as I've said before has it's origins in various ways in how Japan was westernized during the Early to Mid 20th Centuries. And part of what set dominant animation trends in Japan apart from what could have been was how people like Osamu Tezuka were more inspired by the work of Fliescher Studios then Disney or Warner. If Tezuka is the Grandfather of Anime then they are Great Grandparents.
Anime is a diverse industry with countless distinct styles within it. But when you break down the timeline and observe how indeed most of the dominant ones evolved at least in part from the style of Osamu Tezuka, you can also go back further and equally see his debt to the Flieschers, and see how in a lot of ways Betty Boop is the first Anime Girl (even an Idol given how she's often specifically a musical entertainer) and Popeye the first Battle Shonen.
Once the ability to use these characters is no longer limited I would really like to see Anime Fans and Creators on both sides of the Pacific take advantage of the opportunity. I want to see a Mahou Shoujo Betty Boop with Bimbo as her animal mascot. And I wanna see Popeye entered into some Tournament Arcs.
Thing is the falling into obscurity caused by what I've talked about causes a lack of awareness that prevents their Public Domain Status from being taken advantage of as rapidly and speedily as we saw these last few weeks with Steamboat Willy. Another character Fliescher Studios used a lot was Koko The Clown from 1919 and I haven't seen anything done with him yet.
Likewise Charlie Chan from 1925 should be in the Public Domain now. Charlie Chan is a prominent example on the "Mexicans love Speedy Gonzales" TVTropes page making him a complicated relic of 20as and 30s American Pop Culture. But in my view he could easily be fully reclaimed if it was Asian Americans themselves who reimagined the character for the 21st Century. I would also hope there is an Asian Trans Woman among them to help prevent them from repeating the common Transphobic mistakes of the Detective Genre.
So let's start thinking about these important yet semi-obscure characters more when we think about taking advantage of the Public Domain.
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