Thursday News: SCOTUS denies cert in Superman case, interview with Zane, Black women in British history exhibit, and Gif enhanced manuscripts

JanetPublishing Newsblack women / Britain / copyright / DC-Comics / Erotic-Romance / film adaptation / History / manuscripts / parody / racism / Superman / Zane2 Comments

The estate of Superman co-creator Joseph Shuster can’t leap the high court to grab back rights from DC Comics – In 1992, Jean Peavy, sister of Superman co-creator Joseph Shuster, made an agreement with Warner Brothers related to her brother’s estate expenses. So when the estate attempted to get back rights to Superman, the courts held that the early agreement ended up extinguishing any other claim she might make against DC Comics or its parent company Warner Brothers. After the 9th Circuit refused to extinguish Warner Brother’s rights in the character, the estate petitioned the US Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case. It’s actually kind of an interesting case, because of the way the initial contract terminating Shuster’s rights was set against the 1976 Copyright Act’s termination provisions.

That agreement was executed in the aftermath of Shuster’s death, when Peavy wrote to Warner subsidiary DC and asked the company to pay her brother’s final debts and expenses. DC agreed and also increased survivor benefits, but the company’s executive vp at the time, Paul Levitz, admonished, “This agreement would represent the author/heir’s last and final deal with DC and would fully resolve any past, present or future claims against DC.” –Hollywood Reporter

Zane Spills the Juicy Details About Her New Movie, Addicted – With all of the news stories about Zane’s bankruptcy filing, I was happy to see this interview with the author about the imminent release of Addicted, based on the novel she self-publlished 14 years ago (it was her first book). In the interview, Zane talks about the process of adapting the book to film, and about the way in which black women writers are not given the same kind or level of mainstream media support as white writers. When talking about 50 Shades, she notes that she has had many books published and a number of television shows and films, but she never got the mainstream television coverage that, say, E.L. James got. She also talks about female sexuality and about the importance of representing desire: 

TR: Addicted pushed a lot of boundaries in its exploration of black women’s sexuality when it was released. How do you think the perception of black women’s sexuality has changed since Addicted came out?

Zane: I think women are more open about their feelings; they feel more liberated. I’ve had many women in their 40s and 50s tell me that they had never had an orgasm. Reading my books has made them open up enough to say what [they] want. If you really want someone to fall in love with you, the real you, you have to be transparent about who you are. And that includes your sexuality. There is nothing wrong with having desires—everybody has fantasies. –The Root

Black women in Britain – from the Romans to the Windrush – And speaking of representation, check out this story on a new London exhibition, Re-imagine: Black Women in Britain, and the way it is challenging and revising common perceptions about the presence and roles of Black women in Britain for nearly 20 centuries. As London South Bank University reader Suzanne Scafe said, the exhibit is intended to make viewers “think about other stories,” and to understand that British society has always been more diverse than many people believe. Has anyone seen this show yet? How was it?

Now the organisers of an exhibition at the recently opened Black Cultural Archives (in Windrush Square in Brixton, south London) are hoping to skewer some myths regarding black life in the British Isles. The archives’ inaugural exhibition, Re-imagine: Black Women in Britain, has brought together a number of black women who made the country their home over the centuries. The stories of these women and their contributions to British life are a necessary corrective to the idea that we are somehow “new” to Britain. Consider Mary Prince, an enslaved woman from Bermuda – whose personal account of slavery was published in 1831, and was the first account of the life of a black woman in Britain. “I have been a slave myself,” she wrote. “The man that says slaves be quite happy in slavery – that they don’t want to be free – that man is either ignorant or a lying person. I never heard a slave say so.” She eventually lived and worked at the home of the Scottish writer Thomas Pringle, secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society. –The Guardian

600-Year-Old Manuscripts Look So Much Better As Gifs – Monty Python meets South Park. All I can say is enjoy.–i09

Janet

isn't sure if she's an average Romance reader, or even an average reader, but a reader she is, enjoying everything from literary fiction to philosophy to history to poetry. Historical Romance was her first love within the genre, but she's fickle and easily seduced by the promise of a good read. She approaches every book with the same hope: that she will be filled from the inside out with something awesome that she didnʼt know, didnʼt think about, or didnʼt feel until that moment. And she's always looking for the next mind-blowing read, so feel free to share any suggestions!

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