I’m sad to report that The Avenger Archives is no more. David Kalb reports that he received a cease-and-desist e-mail from Conde Nast’s lawyers.
His is the first new site taken down since Blackmask.com about a year ago and those Web sites that received the first round of cease-and-desist letters several years ago.
An attorney for Sabin, Bermant & Gould wrote David that “you have posted, without permission, many Avenger stories and back stories from The Avenger and The Shadow magazines in .txt and .pdf formats. In addition, you have posted, without permission, the cover and interior artwork from many of these novels.”
Granted, companies such as Conde Nast (which owns the Street and Smith rights) has every right to protect their intellectual property, in this case, the artwork and short stories that were posted at The Avenger Archives. They own the material, period.
But my greatest fear for thousands of pulp stories is that they will simply disappear without someone preserving them. Take the back stories, those secondary features that filled out the magazine around the main novel. The first issue of The Avenger hit the newsstands nearly 68 years ago. It, as all the other pulp magazines, was printed on extremely cheap newsprint that was intended to last only until the next issue came out. Two-thirds of a century later, how many of those individual magazines remain? Out of the 100,000 or so printed, would the survivors number in the tens? Or, if we’re lucky, the hundreds?
We saw the entire run of The Avenger novels reprinted nearly a quarter century ago. (And they proved quite popular at the time.) But what about stories such as Arthur J. Burks’ “The Firecracker,” which was a back story in the first issue of The Avenger? Three other short stories also appeared in that issue. Will they ever be officially reprinted?
The Avenger Archive provided downloads of the back stories and illustrations from The Avenger pulps, but not the actual main novels themselves. (The Avenger short stories which appeared in other magazines after The Avenger was canceled were also available. They had not been officially reprinted since their original appearances.)
Other than David’s efforts, what is being done to preserve those stories? Or the four short stories in the next issue? Or the next issue? Or the thousands of stories that appear in the thousands of vanishing pulp magazines? What value are rights if you no longer have the content that you own the rights to?
Let’s hope that the copyright holders, including Conde Nast, are actively pursuing the preservation of the content — text and art — of their pulp magazine back issues so that future generations will be able to enjoy all of the works they own, not just the two or three most profitable ones.
Otherwise, a significant portion of America’s literary history will simply crumble to dust in the next few decades. And we’ll all be poorer for that.
– William
Has anyone tried to contact these lawyers and ask them if they object to the use of the back-stories? Did anyone ask for proof that ALL those materials are still under copyright protection? I guess everything after a certain date does not have to be renewed? Was it all copyrighted to begin with? Were all those little back-stories ever copyrighted??
I would assume that the entire contents of the pulp — lead story, artwork, back stories, etc. — would have been copyrighted, as they are today. The rule of thumb is anything copyrighted after 1923 and renewed would still be protected.
It would be pretty funny if they didn’t have the stuff, and would be amusing the lawyers when they were at the pub.
‘These guys are paying us to protect stuff they don’t even have’.
Followed by drink orders.
Websites like The Avenger Archives did more to promote the characters and the stories than Conde Nast every did or will do…it’s just sad!
It is very sad that the site came down: I loved it. And I do have the same worries: that nothing will stop the other material from the pulps from tumbling into limbo.
But, the situation does give me hope that Conde Nast will be doing more pulp reprints in the vein of The Shadow and Doc Savage. I’m up for a new series of Avenger reprints. Heck, why not reprint the lesser knowns, too, like Bill Barnes, The Skipper, and The Whisperer? I’d DEFINITELY be up for that.