Prompt Cast
Reviving Vintage Superheroes: The Story of the Green Turtle
TLDR Gene Luen Yang revives the obscure 1940s Chinese American superhero, the Green Turtle, after discovering that the character had entered the public domain, allowing him to redraw the superhero as he pleased. Vintage superheroes from the 1940s whose copyrights were not renewed are now in the public domain, inspiring creators to revive them in new projects.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
Planet Money buys a superhero and explores the story of an obscure character called the Green Turtle, created in the 1940s as a Chinese American superhero.
03:44
Chu Heng's passive-aggressive approach to drawing the Green Turtle character with obscured features led Gene Luen Yang to revive the character, discovering that the Green Turtle had entered the public domain, allowing him to redraw the superhero as he pleased.
06:46
Characters, like books and songs, can also fall into the public domain, allowing creators like Gene Luen Yang to revive vintage superheroes such as the Green Turtle for new comic projects.
09:42
Vintage superheroes from the 1940s whose copyrights were not renewed are now in the public domain, making them fair game for creators to revive in new projects.
12:30
A creator successfully revamped the Chinese American superhero Green Turtle with a new origin story in a graphic novel, inspiring hope for discovering the perfect Planet Money superhero from a list of thousands.
16:44
A superhero with a unique giant microphone face mask possesses audio powers like super hearing and voice manipulation to fight crime in a comic book from 1943.
19:57
A superhero named Microface, with a microphone for a face, waits quietly to fight evil and amplify calls for justice across all spectrums.
