Comics and the Law: Home

In this retelling of the early career of The Man Without Fear, the Eisner Award-winning team of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale have taken an inspiring action adventure story and blended it with a romantic comedy. The result is the heartwarming and heartbreaking story of two young people in love--Matthew Murdock and Karen Page.

Frank Miller and John Romita Jr. retell the origin story of Daredevil in this classic. Matt Murdock's life is changed dramatically after he is blinded by radioactive material while saving the life of an old man and develops super-senses.

Writer Charles Soule brings his legal expertise to Jennifer Walters, attorney-at-law - A.K.A. the sensational She-Hulk! With a solo law practice, a new paralegal who is far more than she seems, and a mounting number of personal enemies, Jen might have bitten off more than she can chew! Especially with clients like Kristoff Vernard, son of Doctor Doom - and Captain America himself! Meanwhile, She-Hulk and Hellcat must uncover the deeply buried conspiracy found in the mysterious Blue File! And when someone important to Jen is killed, she won't let it stand - but who can she trust? Giant-Man lends a big hand - and Jennifer Walters takes on Matt Murdock in the Marvel trial of the century! Plus: Titania! Deadpool! And will She-Hulk's holiday party spell the end of her practice? COLLECTING: SHE-HULK (2014) 1-12, WOLVERINES 13, MATERIAL FROM GWENPOOL SPECIAL 1

A hit HBO original series, Watchmen the groundbreaking series from award-winning author Alan Moore presents a world where the mere presence of American superheroes changed history, the U.S. won the Vietnam War, Nixon is still president, and the Cold War is in full effect. Considered the greatest graphic novel in the history of the medium, the Hugo Award-winning story chronicles the fall from grace of a group of superheroes plagued by all-too-human failings. Along the way, the concept of the superhero is dissected as an unknown assassin stalks the erstwhile heroes. This edition of Watchmen, the groundbreaking series from Alan Moore, the award-winning writer of V For Vendetta and Batman: The Killing Joke, and features art from industry legend Dave Gibbons, with high-quality, recolored pages found in Watchmen: Abslolute Edtion as well as, never-before-seen extra bonus materials and an introduction by Dave Gibbons.

An intriguing and entertaining look at how America's legal system would work using the world of comic books. The dynamic duo behind the popular website LawAndTheMultiverse.com breaks down even the most advanced legal concepts for every self-proclaimed nerd. James Daily and Ryan Davidson--attorneys by day and comic enthusiasts all of the time--have clearly found their vocation, exploring the hypothetical legal ramifications of comic book tropes, characters, and powers down to the most deliciously trivial detail. The Law of Superheroes asks and answers crucial speculative questions about everything from constitutional law and criminal procedure to taxation, intellectual property, and torts, including: Could Superman sue if someone exposed his true identity as Clark Kent? Are members of the Legion of Doom vulnerable to prosecution under RICO? Do the heirs of a superhero who comes back from the dead get to keep their inherited property after their loved one is resurrected? Does it constitute "cruel and unusual punishment" to sentence an immortal like Apocalypse to life in prison without the possibility of parole?

Superman, Batman, Daredevil, and Wonder Woman are iconic cultural figures that embody values of order, fairness, justice, and retribution. Comic Book Crime digs deep into these and other celebrated characters, providing a comprehensive understanding of crime and justice in contemporary American comic books. This is a world where justice is delivered, where heroes save ordinary citizens from certain doom, where evil is easily identified and thwarted by powers far greater than mere mortals could possess. Nickie Phillips and Staci Strobl explore these representations and show that comic books, as a historically important American cultural medium, participate in both reflecting and shaping an American ideological identity that is often focused on ideas of the apocalypse, utopia, retribution, and nationalism.

The intersections of law and contemporary culture are vital for comprehending the meaning and significance of law in today's world. Far from being unsophisticated mass entertainment, comics and graphic fiction both imbue our contemporary culture, and are themselves imbued, with the concerns of law and justice. Accordingly, and spanning a wide variety of approaches and topics from an international array of contributors, Graphic Justice draws comics and graphic fiction into the range of critical resources available to the academic study of law. The first book to do this, Graphic Justice broadens our understanding of law and justice as part of our human world--a world that is inhabited not simply by legal concepts and institutions alone, but also by narratives, stories, fantasies, images, and other cultural articulations of human meaning. Engaging with key legal issues (including copyright, education, legal ethics, biomedical regulation, and legal personhood) and exploring critical issues in criminal justice and perspectives on international rights, law and justice--all through engagement with comics and graphic fiction--the collection showcases the vast breadth of potential that the medium holds.

The United States' rate of incarceration is the highest in the world. Mauer's Race to Incarcerate is the essential text for understanding the exponential growth of the US prison system, and it has become canonical for those active in the US criminal justice reform movement. Now Sabrina Jones has collaborated with Mauer to adapt his seminal book into a vivid graphic narrative designed to reach a mainstream audience. Jones's dramatic artwork adds passion and compassion to the complex story of four decades of prison expansion and its corrosive effect on society.

A documentary is being filmed. A cell phone rings, playing the Rocky theme song. The filmmaker is told she must pay $10,000 to clear the rights to the song. Can this be true? Eyes on the Prize, the great civil rights documentary, was pulled from circulation because the filmmakers' rights to music and footage had expired. What's going on here? It's the collision of documentary filmmaking and intellectual property law, and it's the inspiration for this comic book. Follow its heroine Akiko as she films her documentary and navigates the twists and turns of intellectual property. Why do we have copyrights? What's "fair use"? Bound by Law? reaches beyond documentary film to provide a commentary on the most pressing issues facing law, art, property, and an increasingly digital world of remixed culture.

Since the creation of the comic book, there has been a lot of legal conflict and confusion where concepts such as public domain, unincorporated entities and moral rights are involved. As a result, comics creators are frequently concerned about whether they are protecting themselves. There are many questions and no single place to find the answers - that is, until now. Entertaining as it instructs, this book seeks to provide those answers, examining the legal history of comics and presenting information in a way that is understandable to everyone. While not seeking to provide legal advice, or case history this book presents the legal background in plain English, and looks at the stories behind the cases. Every lawsuit has a story and every case has lessons to be learned. As these lessons are explored, the reader will learn the importance of contracts, the precautions necessary when working with public domain characters, and the effects of censorship.

In comics, justice always prevails, but the business of comics is a lot trickier. Marc Greenberg combines the expertise of a legal scholar with the passion and insight of a long-time comics fan, untangling the morass of legal issues facing comics - and all creative enterprises - in the past, present and future. The characters and stories found in comic art play a dominant role in contemporary popular culture throughout the world. In this first-of-its-kind work, Comic Art, Creativity and the Lawexamines how law and legal doctrine shapes the creative process as applied to comic art. The book examines the impact of contract law, copyright law (including termination rights, parody and ownership of characters), tax law and obscenity law has on the creative process. It considers how these laws enhance and constrain the process of creating comic art by examining the effect their often inconsistent and incoherent application has had on the lives of creators, retailers and readers of comic art. Designed for academics, practitioners, students and fans of comic art, the book offers proposals for changes in those laws that constrain the creative process, as well as a glimpse into the future of comic art and the law.

As long as there have been fans, there has been fan fiction. There seems to be a fundamental human need to tell additional stories about the characters after the book, series, play or movie is over. But developments in information technology and copyright law have put these fan stories at risk of collision with the content owners' intellectual property rights. Fan fiction has long been a nearly invisible form of outsider art, but over the past decade it has grown exponentially in volume and in legal importance. Because of its nature, authorship, and underground status, fan fiction stands at an intersection of key issues regarding property, sexuality, and gender. In Fan Fiction and Copyright, author Aaron Schwabach examines various types of fan-created content and asks whether and to what extent they are protected from liability for copyright infringement.

Fandom is a cultural phenomenon, embraced by millions of people worldwide, and its expression is the driving force for fan conventions, websites, and other forms of expression. Fandom and the Law is a current and unique resource that looks at the sociology of fandom, as expressed in fan-created content, and how established legal doctrines affect the creation and dissemination of fan fiction, fan art, fan film, and cosplay (costume play). Author Marc H. Greenberg looks at the four main areas of creative fandom--fan fiction, fan art, fan film, and cosplay, and examines the role of fan content creators within this participatory culture, explaining the meaning of this phrase, the importance of this concept to fan content creators, and the critical element of communities of fandoms. The book next discusses the legal doctrines that affect fan-created works, providing in-depth historical and legal analysis of those aspects of U.S. law whose impact is felt through all fan-created creative works, especially copyright law that is the most relevant to the fan-content creator.