This question started gears turning in my head. You know, there probably is not a picture of Big Ethel on the web. Do you know why that is? Lawyers, copyright protection, and software pirates. This is a sad state of life!
Let me tell you a story.... Way back when in about 1994 the web was wild and untamed. Anything put on the web was new and unique. Mozilla and Gopher ruled. Graphics were the exception. The Usenet was cool. But I digress...
Why isn't there a picture of Big Ethel on the Web???!!! No Scooby Doo pictures! No Flintstones! No Mickey Mouse! No old Spider-Man. No Batman pictures . You can't get it!! Why???
Only pictures from authorized corporations are permitted! If you want a picture of a character today, you must go to the corporate web site. Then if the character does appear, you have to beg strung-out overworked and underpaid web workers for a copy of the character. The web workers, who have very possibly have no authority to do anything without management approval (and don't even get me started about export control...)! What a sad state of affairs.
And to some degree, the corporate concern is warranted. The Asian market (and other black markets) routinely pirates and resells music and computer software.
So have the lawyers taken over the internet? Yes, to some degree. (Hey, enough of them just got put out of work with the completion of this Bush vs.Gore silliness! See the KDS Comics page at http://gnc.net/~kds/kdsform.htm for a rendition of "How the Go-rinch Almost Stole Christmas").
All right, election jokes aside, it is a big concern. You have to be careful in putting up a web site on your favorite character characters. I suggest scanning in original pictures with the artist's permission, and lots of fan art. On the other hand, you are just going to have to shell out a few dollars to buy a copy of Archie comics! Hey, this is what the publishers wanted you to do from the beginning!!!!
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For my next rant, with express written permission and appropriate accreditation, I am reprinting a short article on "Auction Hype" from ODYSSEY PUBLICATIONS e-ZINE at http://www.odysseygroup.com Odyssey deals with all kinds of collectibles, not just comic books! However, the same story holds true for comics.
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