The comic book industry is rife with heartbreaking stories of scrappy, under-appreciated artists who barely got a pittance as their intellectual property blossomed into billion-dollar corporate assets. Joel Shuster and Jerry Siegel famously got $138 for the rights to Superman; both Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko were famously frustrated that Stan Lee stole the credit for the things they created while technically on salary; Alan Moore generally exists; more recently, Marvel Comics has been criticized for offering a $5000 pity bonus to anyone who created a character who gets featured in one of their movies—basically the equivalent of a rounding error.
This is history is the backdrop of Public Domain, a new comic written and illustrated by Chip Zdarsky (co-creator of Sex Criminals who's also done some great recent work on Daredevil and Batman). Originally launched as a Substack original comic, Public Domain tells the story of illustrator Syd Dallas and his wayward sons, Miles and David. Years ago, Syd helped create a popular comic book, Domain, which has now been turned into a billion-dollar Hollywood franchise. Of course, Syd sees none of that money, much to his family's chagrin—until his son Miles, a deeply indebted gambling addict, finds some old dusty paperwork in the basement that says that Syd might own the IP after all.
It's a perfect microcosm of the comic book industry's history of exploitation, as well as rich family drama. Like A Raisin In The Sun for Superman. It's a great setup, and Zdarsky works wonders with it. The thick inks in his realistic artwork call back to his roots as a cartoonist, but he frequently demonstrates deft attention toward character expressions. This is important because Public Domain is not a flashy superhero comic—it's a family drama with a lot of talking heads. There's definitely some cartoonish quality—both in the character expressions and the wit of Zdarsky's writing—but he's careful never to let it stray too far into parody. You can laugh with and at these characters, but their emotions and trauma are very, very real (Even the performatively gothy bastard British writer who joins the cast in the second arc and is definitely not just Zdarsky ripping on Warren Ellis and Neil Gaiman).
The first volume of Public Domain is collected and available and ends with a fun twist that sets up the currently-ongoing second volume, which digs more into both fandom and the various struggles of collaborative creative processes. It's clear that Zdarsky is writing a rich love letter to the comic book industry here—but one that doesn't pull any punches in pointing out its flaws. Certainly, he's not the first person to do this; Howard Chaykin's Hey Kids, Comics! and Alan Moore's scathing novella "What We Can Know About Thunderman" both come to mind. But there's a bitterness in those works (and perhaps rightly so!) that's absent from Public Domain—and which ultimately makes it more accessible and refreshing.
(As an added bonus, Zdarsky has also launched a new comic called Domain about the character Domain that exists within and is created by characters from Public Domain. It's a fun superhero comic book, but it's even more intriguing as a metafictional riff on something that's already fairly meta to begin with.)
Previously:
• Secret identities, pulp storytelling, and audio comic books with Alex Segura
