Comments on: Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #132

By: skyline

skyline — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 23:52:44 +0000

well, I still believe that Rogue was raped. Why? Because that is what would happen in real life

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Tue, 31 May 2011 19:52:19 +0000

Did that (even as an off-hand joke that planted the seed) have anything to do with the eventual creation of the “Marvel Zombies” comics?

Yeah, that is why the comic is named that.

By: TJCoolguy

TJCoolguy — Tue, 31 May 2011 19:51:20 +0000

This reminded me of something I’ve wondered about for a while:

Back in the ’80′s (and maybe before, I just remember from when I was a kid), Marvel would often refer to their fans in letters columns and such as “Marvel Zombies”. Did that (even as an off-hand joke that planted the seed) have anything to do with the eventual creation of the “Marvel Zombies” comics?

I also wonder if it had anything to do with that copyright claim mentioned in the article.

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[...] up this time of year. The ever-interesting Brian Cronin did a thing on that a few years back, so check that out if you’ve never heard that [...]

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By: Apodaca

Apodaca — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 00:09:28 +0000

Boy, THAT’S a surprise.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:43:23 +0000

Okay, then, I’m sorry, but you can’t comment here anymore.

By: Ted Watson

Ted Watson — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 21:40:48 +0000

Brian, before I can consider posting an apology for being a jerk here, you’ll have to explain how I was one. Telling somebody I THINK they are wrong and giving good reason as to why I do, even if it turns out they are right, is not being a jerk. It’s having a debate. My record is not bad just because most times nobody admits to the reality of the situation, and the same thing doesn’t make yours good. Example: the “JONAH HEX becoming HEX” item in CBUL #122; you had that one dead wrong, I proved it, nobody disputed me, but nobody said I was right, either. That situation had, in fact, been previously dealt with elsewhere (and resolved the same way with express statements of acceptance from some posters there) on this site; I tried during the discussion on #122 to find that and couldn’t, so it must not have been an entry in a regular feature but a stand-alone piece. I am not going to admit to and apologize for something I do not have any reason to believe I am guilty of just because you are threatening my posting privileges. That’s blackmail, and if you don’t either make an effort to back up the charge or expressly withdraw it, that would make YOU a jerk. I DO apologize for being wrong about , whether its what you want to hear from me or not. Note also, that in my first posting to this thread (#41) I asked you, “Did you see the actual legal papers…?” If the info you have posted in #49, a direct answer to that question, had been included in your first response to me, #43, the part of my #48 addressing you would not, could not, have happened. As I see it, YOU owe me an apology for #49.

By: Bill Angus

Bill Angus — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:51:28 +0000

the problem is, i’ve read Groo- i’ve read DNAgents- i’ve read stuff i liked. there are just some personal things i don’t like, stuff that is documented, going back to the 80s’ and 90s’ and a basic additude- but it’s right, this isn’t the forum for my personal opinions on someone. it’s just kinda easy to diss Stan Lee, i don’t get it.

but i meant my apology- to Brian and everyone else here. Brian puts alot of effort into this column and i’m one of the ones who enjoys it. so, i’m sorry.

and i do get a little riled up at innane posts by people like CitizenX- because it’s a shame, that he is sincere in the crap he thinks! it annoys me to no end that noone is more serious about comic book history. where AyersFan is/was concerned, it was obvious he was taking the piss out of CitizenX’s posts- a guy who, no doubt, got into comics during the spectactor era.

By: Rohan Williams

Rohan Williams — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:20:19 +0000

Nicely done there, Brian. Incidentally, Bill, if you’re still around and you still think Evanier hasn’t contributed anything to comics- which is kinda understandable, if you’re basing that assumption off, say, his New Gods run- just go read a few issues of Groo. Seriously, you’ll enjoy it, regardless of the discussion here.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 22:22:59 +0000

Good man, Bill.

By: Bill Angus

Bill Angus — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 22:12:54 +0000

Alright Brian, I apoligize.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 21:23:20 +0000

And Bill, you went from “I think he put down Stan Lee” to “Arenâ€™t there more convention panels for this guy to sit on, so he can pretend heâ€™s contributed something to comics, and stop exploiting the few years he worked as Jack Kirbyâ€™s assistant, in Jackâ€™s golden years?”

See the problem there?

If you had stuck to just expressing your displeasure at what you felt to be negative treatment of Lee by Evanier, then I doubt anyone would even have really cared.

But then you went to roundly insulting the guy, and that is what brought the negative reaction to your comment.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 21:19:50 +0000

Ah, Ted, your typical pleasant self, as always.

I probably should not even respond to someone being as rude as you are here, but just to show you how you manage to combine being a jerk with being absolutely wrong (then again, if we check your past record, we’ll see that that is quite often the case….boy, wasn’t that just amazingly jerkish?)…

Word Mark – ZOMBIE
Registration Number – 1025473
Filing Date - May 29, 1973
Registration Date – November 18, 1975

So there ya go.

Anyhow, tell ya what – if you don’t apologize for being a total jerk in this interaction, I just don’t want you commenting here anymore.

And please note – I don’t want a “sorry, I was totally wrong” apology, as I really don’t care about that stuff. I want an apology for you being a jerk about the interaction, as you so often are.

I’d prefer you to just stop being a jerk period, but I’ll settle for an apology in this instance.

By: Ted Watson

Ted Watson — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:50:39 +0000

Apodaca: O.K., poor phrasing on my part. My intent was to state that *I* have absolutely no doubt, and, sorry Brian, but until and unless you categorically claim to have seen the paperwork yourself, I still can’t believe that a request to trademark the simple word “zombie” by itself and nothing else would have been accepted by the government office, even back then. One on that title/logo design is perfectly plausible, and Marvel dropping it when they felt they would never use that title again—realizing that, if they should someday want to reverse themselves, they could come up with a new logo design and trademark THAT—is also quite sensible, which is more than can be said about YOUR scenario, Brian, for which I have only your assurances that you’ve got right. Check your past record. Occam’s Razor.

By: Bill Angus

Bill Angus — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:05:43 +0000

Interesting stuff going on. Nice to see pandering to any semi-comics professional who posts on a board will instantly occur. I wonder how many “fans” bought this author’s books? Well, I am only being honest about something I saw to be disrespectful.

It’s also interesting seeing so much bad comics history! Brian pointed out AyersFan is probably joking, and making fun of CitizenX- who I honestly believe from his writing is NOT joking, but is REALLY that screwed up with his comic book history. We need more people to read Les Daniels and Gerard Jones- or at least try Wikipedia!

By: Thenodrin

Thenodrin — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:01:34 +0000

Oh, and would this be an appropriate place to say that I’d love to see Mark Evanier cameo in Stan Lee’s reality show “Who Wants To Be A Superhero?”

Especially if it were a scene / challenge involving mulch in some way.

Theno

By: Thenodrin

Thenodrin — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 15:58:14 +0000

I expect that what happened (and this is conjecture) is that Marvel expected to publish multiple horror titles in the 70s, and also expected competitors to likewise publish horror titles. And, so they trademarked “Zombie” as a comic book character.

This would mean that they could print “Tales of the Zombie,” “Zombie Tales,” “Night of the Zombie,” etc. and (more importantly) other publisher’s couldn’t or else they would be in danger of creating confusion. It would be reasonable to expect that the casual reader picking up “Zombie Tales” from EC or even Dark Horse might think he was getting a comic featuring Marvel’s Zombie character (as Brian said.)

Now, I further believe that in the 70s there may have been confusion about the uniqueness of the character. Marvel doesn’t have to submit pages of explanation for their trademark, they just have to submit the trademark and prove they are using it. So, probably no one in the trademark office noticed that Zombie was, in fact a zombie. I mean, he *could* have been a comic book character with the power to create zombies, lead them, control them, shoot them out of his fingertips. Who knows?

But, by 1996, the people who were reading comic books in the 70s and 80s (and saw Zombie in TOHOTMU and realized, hey he’s nothing special just a normal zombie) have grown up and are working in the trademark office.

So, someone requests that the trademark be cancelled, and it is. Probably by people who wondered how it got approved in the first place.

Theno

By: suedenim

suedenim — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:35:58 +0000

What I’m thinking is that either:

1. “Zombie” wasn’t a well-known or generic term in 1973.
2. Even if it *was* a well-known generic term in general usage… in *comics*, it wasn’t!

I could imagine the Patent and Trademark Office doing a search, finding that “Hey, Tales of the Zombie is actually the first use of that word as a title in comic book history!

Which, if true, would have been solely due to the Comics Code restrictions, which the office might have been ignorant of.