Fables #104 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (writer), Mark Buckingham (penciller), Steve Leialoha & Andrew Pepoy (inkers), Lee Loughridge (colorist)

The Story: It’s up to one team of super Fables to defeat the dastardly Mister Dark—provided Boy Blue doesn’t come back to life and do it himself.

The Review: Jumping onto an ongoing title can be quite daunting, especially with one such an immensely packed history and cast as Fables.  The best way to handle the plunge is simply to roll with whatever the jump-on issue gives you, use a liberal amount of Wikipedia, and try to absorb as much as possible the most important points of the current running plot.  As an English major, I always wanted to give Fables a read, and this issue just happened to be my pick to start.

Of course, a strong, careful writer like Willingham can make things easier simply by delivering the story and characters as clearly as possible, which he does very well.  The first few pages quickly introduce you to the heroes of the moment, the band of warrior Fables known as the F-Men, and their foe in question, the formidable—scratch that—all-powerful Mister Dark.

This issue emphasizes just how dire the situation is for the fairy tale citizens, as every one of them works with the expectation that failure is the likeliest outcome.  Willingham underscores this point with both the F-Men, who become increasingly portrayed like the Fables’ Suicide Squad, and Brock Blueheart’s insistent preaching of Boy Blue’s resurrection as their savior in need.  These are characters that are facing their doom the only way we know how: struggling to the last for survival, and praying for miracles.

Trademarks in Comic Books – A Primer

Intellectual property is an important part of comic books and is central to many a raging message board war over items like “creator-owned” versus company-owned and legal disputes such as those between Marvel and Jack Kirby’s heirs or DC and Alan Moore.  In my last article on this subject we explored the world of copyright in comic books. In this article, we will explore the related, yet very different realm of trademarks.

Before we begin, it is important to remember that I am not your attorney.  In fact, I’m not an attorney at all, although I do work professionally in the intellectual property field.  Intellectual property issues are complex and are subject to change due to new laws or new judicial rulings.  Always be sure to consult an attorney before doing anything substantial with your own intellectual property.

Trademarks

We see trademarks every day.  Coca Cola, Toyota, Nike, The Uncanny X-Men’s logo, the Nike swoosh, sayings like “The heartbeat of America” for Chevy trucks…those are all trademarks.  A trademark can cover any sort of identifying name, logo or phrase that is associated with a product or service and there are many, many, MANY trademarks in comic books.  In fact, this is the type of intellectual property that is probably most powerful in protecting a comic book creator or publisher from his/her/its work being knocked off.

Examples would be obvious things like the name “Batman” or the team name “Fantastic Four”, but other examples would be the actual Batman logo or the stylized font of the Uncanny X-Men.  In fact, in many cases, there could be more than one trademark in play: one for the mere words “Fantastic Four” and another for the stylized font that Marvel uses on the cover.  An iconic drawing could be a trademark.  A good example of a drawing as a trademark would be the silhouette of Jerry West in the NBA’s logo or the iconic image of a leaping Batman with lighting in the background from The Dark Knight Returns.

Trademarks can be registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, but it is not required.  The symbol “TM” next to an object in a comic indicates that the publisher considers that word/object to be a trademark.  That “TM” is the equivalent of a “No Trespassing” sign where the publisher is saying, “This is our mark and you infringe upon it at your peril!”