Dark Horse to reprint Defiant Comics?

[firestarter]

If the rights to all Defiant and Broadway titles (except War Dancer) are owned by the same people who are reprinting the Dell/Gold Key Magnus stories - well, that would be Dark Horse, surely?

They're reprinting all the original Magnus and Doctor Solar comics, so if they have the rights to Defiant and Broadway titles, couldn't they reprint those too?

With their recent comics, the 'big guns' are really disappointing me at the moment. Wouldn't it be great to see a Dark Horse universe? Reprints of the original Defiant stuff in handy TPBs, unreleased issues seeing print, Schism and even cross-overs with Broadway characters, Hellboy, Madman, Nexus etc.

Getting some of the great talent back on board such as Jim Shooter, David Lapham, J G Jones, Len Wein, Alan Weiss (with permissions for his War Dancer) etc. along with the greats who've worked at Dark Horse such as Mike Allred, Mike Mignola, Steve Rude etc.

With the way the industry is at the moment, I think they could become a major super-hero company and would scare the heck out of the 'big two'.

I wan't to see a big Alex Ross poster of Michael Alexander, Lorca, Glory, Chasm, Mule, Raven Madd etc. alongside Madman, Hellboy & Nexus in comic shop soon!

Who do I need to beg to make this happen?

[Defiant1]

Dark Horse does not own the rights to Magnus & Solar. They are paying for the rights to use them. The comics industry is hurting so badly that top quality creators like Jim Shooter are probably overpriced. In other words the comics won't earn enough money to pay his standard rate of pay. I would not be interested in reading these characters if Jim Shooter was not involved somehow. Too many other creators are out there using the same formulas and it is the formulas being sold on the stands today that I am tired of seeing. I have no interest in the upcoming revamp of Magnus for the same reason.

Mike Richardson at Dark Horse and Jim Shooter are evidently on good terms. Defiant was watching Dark Horse closely in the 90's trying to mimic their leap from comic books to feature film. I have a copy of an Internal Defiant Comics video that is solely Dark Horse related content. Will it happen today.... I doubt it. I think it would create a stir. I'd like to see a publisher start with the Fatale meets Michael Alexander storyline and expand from there.

Defiant1

[firestarter]

To whom are Dark Horse paying these rights then?

Who actually owns Defiant/Broadway/Dell/Gold Key/Western etc.?

I take your point about the industry being in a mess. I don't know if anyone agrees with me but I don't have any loyallty for the characters of current comics anymore, I'm more interested in the writer first, artist second and concept third. I'm not going to buy a book just because it's got Superman in it.

I think if this company could get the really popular writers on board it would sell regardless. People like Grant Morrison, Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar, Alan Moore, Brian K Vaughan, Warren Ellis, Howard Chaykin and Jeph Loeb would guarantee sales.

..and with Jim Shooter as editior/writer for the line - Wow!

[architect]

Classic Media actually has the rights to license Broadway. I spoke with a gentleman on the phone last week from Classic Media about this.

-justin

[blacjack]

Back in the day when Valiant was going strong, i worked with a guy who has been friends with Shooter for.....ever. From the bits and pieces I got from the 2 of them, Valiant only licensed Magnus, Dr. Solar & Turok and anything that appeared in their original books. They could do basically anything they wanted with them and reprint anything they wanted, but they where still owned by whoever owns all the old Gold Key trademarks/copyrights. They also had the option to license future Gold Key characters, which never happened.

[Defiant1]

blacjack said:

Back in the day when Valiant was going strong, i worked with a guy who has been friends with Shooter for.....ever. From the bits and pieces I got from the 2 of them, Valiant only licensed Magnus, Dr. Solar & Turok and anything that appeared in their original books. They could do basically anything they wanted with them and reprint anything they wanted, but they where still owned by whoever owns all the old Gold Key trademarks/copyrights. They also had the option to license future Gold Key characters, which never happened.

The deal was supposedly a handshake deal arranged with Shooter, so that's probably why Valiant never licensed any other characters. Quite a bit has changed since then.

Defiant1