3. Design Your Own Thunderbolts Character (And Cause Legal Headaches)
Savage Dragon's Create-A-Villain contest might have yielded some impressive (and foul-mouthed) results, but it's not the only time a fan creation has ended up in the pages of an actual, professional comic book. Back in the day there was a magazine called Wizard all about funnybooks they just run conventions now and they ran a similar contest with Marvel. In this case the villain in question was to appear in Thunderbolts, the comic about reformed villains trying to become superheroes, or pretending to be heroes whilst still being evil, or maybe being anti-heroes? Confusing. Anyway, as a result of this competition the Thunderbolts added hulking, flying, smoking Charcoal to their ranks. Except Wizard Forgot to establish certain legal specifics in the language of their contest rules, leaving the ownership of the character's copyright in question. It turned out to be such a legal headache writer Fabian Nicieza killed the character off. Still, that fan got to see his character in his fave book for a few issues, whoever he was!
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
