Conan the Barbarian is in the public domain in the UK but not yet in the United States for a handful more years. The rights to the character are held by Heroic Signatures and Conan has bounced around so many publishers (with or without their support) that it boggles the mind. You've had Conan at Marvel, Dark Horse, those Abalze comics that carefully walk the line of not infringing on copyright, and now the rights have been given to Titan, although Marvel can still use Conan for some time in titles such as the fantastic, "Savage Avengers." It is incredibly messy and once we hit January 1st, 2028 (I think it is then) all the original stories and the basic likeness of Conan will be available for anyone to use in America too. Till then, we gotta squeeze every last dollar out of the rights that we can, I guess!
Imagine if Robert E. Howard could see the corrupt and reprehensible exploitation of his century old character, still kept from the public domain where Conan belongs by the insectile capitalists with no rights to his work whatsoever.
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