Tag: 1930s Debut

Ōgon Bat

Image of a man with a skull head and deep sunken eyes, brownish and white colors for the outline and off-white, with only a few teeth, he has a big puffed out color and is wearing a buttoned up suit, french-style. he's holding a rapier and has a red cape

One of the earliest superheroes in Japanese media, originating in Kamishibai or paper theaters around Japan in the 1930s. Ogon is an ancient warrior who awakened from slumber to defeat the evil Dr. Naizo. He has a red cape and a rapier sword.

Often called Japan’s first superhero he possesses super strength and can fly. He lives in a castle in the mountains of Japan’s northern region.

Ogon bat has been adapted to manga, anime, live shows and more and has had a great influence on pop culture in Japan with modern versions still appearing from time to time to this day such as the manga in Champion RED magazine serialized from February 2023 to August 2024, so its relevance is still felt today.

Notes

  • Later appearances such as the manga and subsequent anime adaptations are not public domain, only the paper theater version.

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Jor-L

Black and white drawing of a man concentrating while writing with a pen on paper, wearing a buttoned shirt. He's using a geometry compass to measure something

Jor-L is the father of Superman and was a scientist on the planet Krypton discovering the upcoming catastrophe that led to the destruction of it early enough to send his infant son to a different planet.

While his son remains copyrighted for another decade or so, Jor-L the father of Superman is public domain because the first appearances of him and his wife Lora in the 1939 Superman newspaper comic strips did not have proper copyright notice on them at a time that was a requirement.

This also extends to their home planet Krypton.

Notes

You’ll notice I’m not using the later spellings of Jor-El and Lara as those are trademarked as is the term Krypton. But Jor-L is not trademarked.

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Dumbo

drawing of a grey elephant holding a brown feather, the elephant has green eyes and large ears

Dumbo is based on a book that was made and illustrated by Helen Aberson-Mayer, Harold Pearl before the now famous movie came out. This book, published by Roll-A-Book Publishing is actually considered lost media since it was made as something akin to a prototype for an interactive toy where you’d scroll through the story with a lever.

Dumbo is an elephant with big ears and can fly, at first seemingly due to a magic feather but then he finds out he was able to fly by himself.

Notes

  • The original book prototype did get registered for a copyright in 1939 but was not renewed therefore making its copyright expire after 28 years. Its record number is AA 296948.
  • The Disney film and any subsequent appearances and designs are not in the public domain and Dumbo is a registered trademark owned by Disney.
  • The image used on this page was drawn by Tinyel and has been released into the public domain.
  • The original book is now considered lost media.

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Hakaba Kitaro

image of a young boy with a disheveled hair, one bulging eye and one eye partially shut. his hands are claw like and he's wearing tattered clothing. he's in a cemetery in front of an officer with a sword. the image is in black and white

Kitaro originates from 1930s kamishibai, which were a kind of paper theaters where traveling storytellers would mix oral storytelling with illustrations.

Kitaro was born in a cemetery after his parents died and is an adaptation of earlier yokai folklore Kosodate Yūrei or “the candy-buying ghost” about a woman who appears for seven days and buys candy, turns out to be dead and when the shopkeeper digs up her grave she has a live baby in her arms.

This folklore is similar and most certainly inspired by the Chinese story of “the woman who buys rice cakes” which first appeared in print in 1198 in Yijian Zhi, a compilation of Chinese stories put together by Hong Mai of the Southern Song dynasty.

These days Kitaro is known primarily because of the manga and anime GeGeGe no Kitarō and also its crossover with Yokai Watch where he appears as a character in some games and other media.

Notes

Kamishibai stories were not registered for copyright at the time due to that just not being really a priority or due to the medium. Therefore they fall outside the parameter of the Uruguay Round Agreement Act of 1996 and are therefore public domain in the United States and everywhere else.

Any appearance outside of the initial Kamishibai appearance are still under copyright, such as the manga and anime.

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