Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Worst Title For a Series EVER?!?

From the July Marvel solicits:

So what's her name? PATSY WALKER. What's her hero identity? HELLCAT. What's her job? AGENT OF THE INITIATIVE. Well, I guess that covers everything, eh?PATSY WALKER: HELLCAT, AGENT OF THE INITIATIVE #1 (of 5)

Written by KATHRYN IMMONEN
Penciled by DAVID LAFUENTE
Cover by STUART IMMONEN
Patsy Walker, S.H.I.E.L.D. wants YOU to join the Initiative…and protect the frozen north. You heard me right, sister. The Klondike. Seward’s Folly. Alaska. So pack some long johns and prepare for trouble. GUEST-STARRING: IRON MAN!
32 PGS./Rated A …$2.99


Patsy Walker: Hellcat, Agent of the Initiative?!? Really?? I can't wait to see the font they use to fit that on the cover...

Seriously, are there enough readers out there who have ANY memory of Patsy Walker from pre-Hellcat days to justify calling it PW: Hellcat instead of the Hellcat?? Does Marvel think we won't buy it unless we're certain that its Patsy Walker (for the ghost who walks??) who's in the costume?? Is this a deliberate parody on some of the ridiculously long titles for DC's Countdown crossovers?? I'm mystified...maybe Marvel's getting paid by the punctuation mark...

6 comments:

Unknown said...

The Initiative is the crossover that will never, ever end. Guest-starring Iron Man!

My money will be guest-starring... anything but Marvel.

Siskoid said...

Marvel should just publish Copyright Retention Cavalcade or something.

snell said...

Interestingly, Marvel just published a multi-part Hellcat story in Marvel Comics Presents...one would think that would have been enough for copyright protection, but then again, I ain't no lawyer. And, after the way they lost the Champions, well, I guess they can't be too careful.

Siskoid said...

No no no... not Hellcat's copyright... PATSY WALKER'S!

(Why they need to keep that is another question entirely.)

snell said...

Maybe I'm showing my lack of understanding of copyright law again...but they wouldn't need to publish a book with the actual name Patsy Walker in the title to retain the copyright to Patsy Walker, would they? Anymore than you need to, say, publish one titled "Hal Jordan: Green Lantern, Agent of Oa" to retain the rights to Hal Jordan...Just publishing a mag featuring him would be enough, without calling him out in the cover title, right? Because there's an awful lot of characters who've never been called out in the title, and I can't believe they're all going public domain on us...

Someone out there must know...please correct me if I'm wrong...

Siskoid said...

I have no idea either. Maybe the difference between copyright and trademark is at work here. Patsy Walker was a title, so they need to republish it to re-register the trademark. Something like that.

Again, if there's a legal reason, why WOULD YOU want to retain such a copyright. Are romance comics making a big comeback?