Comics UK

In this "Turok son of stone" comic there is this "Statement of ownership" page, which I have always been curious about. Can anyone explain anything about this? Thanks.

During that period all American comicbooks had to include a standard 'Statement of Ownership' once every year for legal reasons. Some of the information presented in these could be quite interesting.

- Phil R.

http://www.comichron.com/faq.html
Apparently it's not mandatory any more, but most companies, except for DC Comics, still do print the SoO.

Incidentally, the upper part of that page features work by the prolific Alberto Giolitti who - with the assistance of a large studio based in Italy - drew US comicbooks such as Star Trek and Turok while simultaneously supplying art for British titles such as Lion, Look & Learn, Princess Tina and Tammy.

- Phil Rushton

Thanks for the replies and that link Digi.

Wasn't it also mandatory for US comics to have at least one page of text? Perhaps the statement of ownership fit that bill.

In the past, things in the US were not copyrighted unless they explicitly said so (one of the reasons Night of the Living Dead was so popular was because they forgot to copyright it, so anybody could make copies and give them to friends). I have British and Japanese comics with "Copyright in the United States" notices, though I doubt they sold very many copies there!

According to http://www.comichron.com/faq.html the Statement Of Ownership "...has been required of publishers who ship Second Class since the 19th Century..." ie it was needed to get cheap postgae rates for subscription copies.

I think this was also why comic books needed two pages of text, and a back-up strip featuring characters not in the main feature, so that they could be classified as magazines, and so elligible for cheap postage.

If anyone's intyerested, just click on the link above for more information.