When it comes to copyright laws, I actually don't have such a hard time figuring out how I feel about the issue... I think that if you've created a character or some other unique idea, that creation should belong to you for your entire life and, upon your death, should be passed to whomever you have seen fit to continue its legacy properly. All of the talk about whether someone else could "do better" with your character is irrelevant because there's just as much chance that they'll do poorly and potentially ruin everything that you have built. That's a bit radical, I know, but it is a possibility. If you have a unique idea for an existing character, I do believe that you should be heard. If your idea is accepted, that's great; if not, what's the use in getting upset about it? Like it or not, the creator knows better than you because it's his or her own character and, whether they actually have a better vision than you or not, they've earned the right to do what they think is best to preserve their own creation. So, I guess what I'm saying is, if you have an innovative idea for someone else's character or story and it doesn't work out, create your own character and then you can do whatever you want! Once you make something, it should belong to you and you alone.
To begin with, I really do like the idea of reading a comic about comics. I think it's a great idea and it's very well executed. As I was reading the first two chapters, I was surprised at how many examples there were of art in recent (and ancient, in some cases) history that are variations of "sequential visual art" and thus the foundations of modern comics. I'd never even thought about it before and it was hard to believe how many different kinds there were. I also love all the discussion about how our human brains automatically interpret certain images in a specific way, how we see others constantly but we identify ourselves when we look at cartoons, and how inanimate objects automatically becomes extensions of our bodies. The pyramid of styles was very interesting too as a way to conceptualize and almost graph or "place" a specific art style in comics. In Comic Book Nation , I enjoyed reading about the evolution of early comics from "funnies...
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