Fritz Lang's Metropolis To Be A Comic, But What About The Copyright?

Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, kickstarter

Fritz Lang’s movie Metropolis entered the the public domain in the USA, on the 1st of January 2023. And now being adapted into a comic book.

It’s at this point that I remembered Fritz Lang’s movie Metropolis was in the public domain in the USA, from the 1st of January 2023; the U.S. copyright limit for films of its age is 95 years from publication per the Copyright Term Extension Act. Which is why it is now being adapted into a comic book.

The sci-fi film from 1927, co-written with Thea von Harbou and based on von Harbou’s original novel, is considered a major milestone in the creation of movies. And now Fritz Lang’s Metropolis will also appear as a flip book with the latest volume of GHOST Agents from Rocko Jerome and become part of their storytelling universe.

They might want to be careful who they sell it to, however, as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis will remain under copyright in the UK and the European Union until the end of 2046, 70 years after Fritz Lang’s death. I wonder how many Kickstarter donations they have taken from outside the USA so far?

Hot on the heels of the news that Fritz Lang’s futuristic art-deco masterpiece, Metropolis, has entered the public domain, Rocko Jerome and his team have found a clever way to adapt the cult classic to the comic book page while sowing potential links to the expansive GHOST Agents universe at the same time.

“I’ve always been a fan of Fritz Lang’s visionary work,” says writer, creator and producer, Rocko Jerome, “and the subject matter feels eerily prescient at a time when ‘artificial intelligence’ poses a real threat to our world as we know it. Being able to draw on that inspiration and share its influential themes with a new generation of readers, as we weave it into the wider tapestry of GHOST Agents, is an absolute dream come true.”

Published by Cosmic Lion Productions, GHOST Agents is an art-forward anthology series made up of short, self-contained pieces; where every story exists in the same world, and characters reoccur throughout the centuries spanning narrative. If you read it all, a rich overarching storyline will emerge, but you aren’t required to do that, and readers are encouraged to dip in as they please.

As with previous releases, this latest volume comes in the iconic treasury-sized format on newsprint paper – measuring a whopping 8.7 x 13.3 inches! Fans who are new to the series can pick up the earlier volumes (Apocalyptico and Crimson Reckoning) as add-ons to the campaign, in addition to exploring a whole host of new tiers and unique offerings that will suit all tastes and budgets.

“One of the most exciting things about this new campaign – other than the introduction of Metropolis – is the debut of our very first GHOST Agents action figure in collaboration with Super Joe,” adds Jerome. “This 9-inch depiction of Max Almond: Agent X-44 explodes onto the scene with wild, fully poseable energy. Will he battle your other toys… or seduce them? YOU DECIDE!”

At no extra cost, this campaign also contains two additional pieces of lore from the GHOST Agents archive: the previously out-of-print original versions of Lost In The Nowhere Zone, the Barry Tan story that first introduced May Zero and Jack Infinity; and Acid Reign, where Ben Perkins went full maximalistic.

An ever-constant place to find up-and-coming artists, this instalment of GHOST Agents also features Mark Maddox, Harry Hickle, Sean Luke, Caspar Schumans, Miguel Galindo, Sam J. Royale, Chris Anderson, Adam Lemnah, Jerome Cabanatan, Robert Norton, Eli Schwab, Renel Roque, Michael Fitzgerald Troy, Jamie H Lee, Dave Praetorius, Ben Perkins, Dave Howlett, Raymar Brunson, Chris Fason, Danny Nicholas, Sean McMillan, Groucho P. Trout, Timothy Aymar, Edmund Kearsley,Gilbert Leiker, Christopher Nolen, Anton William Blake, Rick Lopez, and Craig CK, all from stories by Rocko Jerome.

GHOST Agents/Metropolis launches its Kickstarter campaign yesterday, with fulfilment planned for the first quarter of 2024. Interested donors (and copyright lawyers) can find them here.