Forum - View topicPublic Domain Manga
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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It seems that the Internet is going crazy for things that have passed into the public domain because of age. Project Gutenberg hosts old texts, as does Google Books. The more than 100-year-old 11th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica is now in the public domain.
I've been thinking that very old manga magazines of the Meiji and Taisho eras are now starting to pass into the public domain. Naturally, these magazines never enjoyed English translation and, going back to the Meiji era some of the manga was actually drawn by foreigners. For instance, the earliest magazine I can think of was called the Japan Punch, which featured illustrators from the United Kingdom. That was somewhere in the 1860s or 1870s. Regardless, I was curious as to whether there is any resource online that hosts these very old pieces of comic book history. I would assume that because of age, anyone would have the right to distribute them. |
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Vertical_Ed
Company Representative
Posts: 278 Location: New York, NY |
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Not really. You might have to find some Japanese library database for these. I wonder if the Asahi Shinbun might have their old Ippei Okamoto comics on microfiche. You do understand that these comics are not manga in the sense that we know it. They are mostly editorial comics and comic strips as seen in newspapers or magazines like the New Yorker or in the Asahi. |
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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Ippei Okamoto's work would certainly be an interesting topic to research more on. Naturally, I was thinking along the lines of editorial cartoons. In fact, I believe that made up a majority of the Japan Punch's content before the 20th century. While political cartoons of the modern era can be quite scathing, those of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were often quite cruel. I thought it would have been an interesting exercise to look into. I have a background in historical research, so the idea fascinates me. Nevertheless, if they had microfiche, I probably could never view it since I live in the USA.
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Lokarunith
 Posts: 30 Location: Portugal |
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As posted before on ANN, Shuho Sato will abdicate of the copyrights of Say Hello to Black Jack making it public domain. Acordingly to to the blog Viñetas the next 15 of September any company can publish his work and make any changes as it pleases witout having to pay copyright or asking anything to the creator. His work is avaliable for free in his site.
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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I'm sorry that I missed this, but I'll certainly have to check that out. It sort of reminds me of Akamatsu-sensei's J-Comi project, but that is a commercial venture that's somewhat different than what you've described here. I'm sure I'll get around to reading this manga along with the few other legal links that I've recently collected. I still haven't had much luck with the Asashi, but I did look around to several other Japanese newspapers as well. The English-language Japan Times allows people to read their editorial cartoons online, but these are modern and not in the public domain. Moreover, I believe that the authors are not subjects of Japan. I guess I'll probably email the Asahi Shimbun. I'll let you guys know if I get anything more than a form letter response back.
Edit: I corrected a typographical error. |
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