First Wave Goodbye!

Here's some news which I just ran across here:  

"Pulp heroes The Spirit, Doc Savage and The Avenger disappeared from the DC Comics lineup more than a year ago, with Co-Publisher Dan DiDio now confirming on his Facebook page that the company’s rights to the characters have lapsed. Brian Azzarello paired the vintage characters with Batman, Black Canary, the Blackhawks and other current DC heroes in his First Wave miniseries, which launched in 2010. Heidi McDonald adds, “we’ve heard that at WB it was pointed out that DC paying good money to license old characters didn’t make much sense when they had their own catalog of little-used characters to exploit.” 
 
So I guess I can officially quit waiting on that trade paperback which was going to collect up those Doc Savage comics I let slip by. Sigh. Now I have to hit the back issue boxes to get those stories. I can't say I'm shocked that DC let Doc and Avenger slip away (soon no doubt to appear in a Dynamite Comic near you) but after so many years associated with The Spirit, and having done a masterful job getting those Eisner classics into the Archives, it is a bit of a surprise that too is gone. I frankly thought they owned the Spirit after Eisner's passing, or at least controlled it beyond a mere license. Maybe Fantagraphics will get hold of it, or IDW.

I'm glad I got the First Wave trade when I did. 

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