Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling for January 13, 2023

Next year, Mickey Mouse breaks out of Disney jail.

I’d follow this strip indefinitely just for this trope.

Not just Hercule Poirot, but Miss Marple as well…

Aren’t Hardy and Poirot trademarked?

Somehow I think Leslie McFarlane would have loved the opportunity to write this!

My money’s on the wombat.

The FIRST 1920s Hardy Boys books are crossing that line, but later books — including the 1950s rewrites boomer kids grew up with — still have to run out the clock.

Also, it’s the specific BOOKS that have entered the public domain. Characters can be registered as trademarks, and most of the commercially viable ones are (note all the little TM symbols in ads and such). Simon & Schuster owns the trademark on the Hardy Boys, so as I understand it Billy Dare will be obliged to work with Joe and Frank as specifically portrayed in one of the late 1920s titles. Note how the horror movie Winnie the Pooh is distorted enough to arguably be based on illustrations from the public domain book and not the 1960s Disney designs.

As for Sherlock Holmes, the last of the original stories has finally aged out of protection and I don’t believe anybody holds a valid trademark, so you can go wild so long as you don’t infringe on still-protected adaptations. You can unleash a horrible AI pastiche of Doyle’s stories, but you can’t commercially publish your “Sherlock” slash fiction.

Huh – Sherlock Holmes has been a major character in the Mary Russell series since 1994. First as Russell’s mentor and friend (The Beekeeper’s Apprentice), and later on as her husband! Think somebody oughtta tell Laurie R. King?

And, yeah, parodies have been around forever. I remember reading, and laughing at, Robert L. Fish’s “Schlock Homes” short stories back in the 1970s.

Early in its run, the National Lampoon did a parody Hardy Boys story “Chums in the Dark”, where the 1920s brothers naively encounter the vices of the early ‘70s. The NL didn’t worry much about copyrights, and around the same time caught flak for a brutal parody “Archie” comic.

The Hardy Boys are whiners.

Need to wait another 3 years (2026) for Nancy Drew to show up! Meantime….er,….Sausage Party!

was a Hardy Boys reader in grade school in the 60’s

Shouldn’t Poirot’s shirt say “Qui ont pété”

Sacrebleu!

Now that’s funny, R.B.!

Mein Beutelmaus ist verstopft!

I’m waiting for Cadfael to join them.

The National Lampoon did a Hardy Boys spoof in the 70’s called Chums In The Dark. It clearly made an impression on me.

Fascinating chapter number

They continued a comic from 2003 into 2023?

thanks, RB. I’m learning so much.

A double Dare week!

Anyone interested in Some Betty Boop nudes?

Hunh, the Hardy Boys are aesthetes. Precious in other ways, too, I’d bet. There’s been talk. Well, hop to it, lads, you’re only young once.

Holmes: “I have no copyright protection! Lord help me! This god-awful Will Ferrell movie shall be my doom! …However, this Miyazaki-directed anime is not bad at all, despite turning me into a canine. And being portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch certainly takes the edge off (sniffffff)”