Popeye can punch without permission and Tintin can roam freely starting in 2025. The two classic comic characters who first appeared in 1929 are among the intellectual properties becoming public domain in the United States on Jan. 1. That means they can be used and repurposed without permission or payment to copyright holders.
This year’s crop of newly public artistic creations lacks the landmark vibes of last year’s entrance of Mickey Mouse into the public domain. But they include a deep well of canonical works whose 95-year copyright maximums will expire. And the Disney icon's public domain presence expands.
“It’s a trove! There are a dozen new Mickey cartoons — he speaks for the first time and dons the familiar white gloves,” said Jennifer Jenkins, director of Duke’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain. “There are masterpieces from Faulkner and Hemingway, the first sound films from Alfred Hitchcock, Cecil B. DeMille, and John Ford, and amazing music from Fats Waller, Cole Porter, and George Gershwin. Pretty exciting!”
Here’s a closer look at this year’s crop.
Popeye the Sailor, with his bulging forearms, mealy-mouthed speech, and propensity for fistfights, was created by E.C. Segar and made his first appearance in the newspaper strip “Thimble Theater” in 1929, speaking his first words, “’Ja think I’m a cowboy?” when asked if he was a sailor. What was supposed to be a one-off appearance became permanent, and the strip would be renamed ”Popeye.”
But as with Mickey Mouse last year and Winnie the Pooh in 2022, only the earliest version is free for reuse. The spinach that gave the sailor his super-strength was not there from the start, and is the kind of character element that could spawn legal disputes. And the animated shorts featuring his distinctive mumbly voice didn’t begin until 1933 and remain under copyright. As does director Robert Altman’s 1980 film, starring Robin Williams as Popeye and Shelley Duvall as his oft-fought-over sweetheart Olive Oyl.
That movie was tepidly received initially. So was director Steven Spielberg’s “Adventures of Tintin” in 2011. But the comics about the boy reporter that inspired it, the creation of Belgian artist Hergé, were among the most popular in Europe for much of the 20th century.
The simply drawn teen with dots for eyes and bangs like an ocean wave first appeared in a supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle, and became a weekly feature.
The comic also first appeared in the U.S. in 1929. Its signature bright colors — including Tintin’s red hair — didn’t appear until years later, and could, like Popeye’s spinach, be the subject of legal disputes.
And in much of the world, Tintin won’t become public property until 70 years after the 1983 death of his creator.
The books becoming public this year read like the syllabus for an American literature seminar.
“The Sound and the Fury,” arguably William Faulkner’s quintessential novel with its modernist stream-of-consciousness style, was a sensation after its publication despite being famously difficult for readers. It uses multiple non-linear narratives to tell the story of a prominent family’s ruin in the author’s native Mississippi, and would help lead to Faulkner’s Nobel Prize.
And Ernest Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms” joins his earlier “The Sun Also Rises” in the public domain. The partly autobiographical story of an ambulance driver in Italy during the First World War cemented Hemingway’s status in the American literary canon. It has been frequently adapted for film, TV and radio, which can now be done without permission.
John Steinbeck’s first novel, “A Cup of Gold,” from 1929, will also enter the public domain.
The British novelist Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own,” an extended essay that would become a landmark in feminism from the modernist literary luminary, is also on the list. Her novel “Mrs. Dalloway” is already in the U.S. public domain.
While a host of truly major movies will become public in the coming decade, for now early works by major figures from the not-always-stellar early sound era will have to suffice.
A decade before he would move to Hollywood and make films like “Psycho,” and “Vertigo,” Alfred Hitchcock made “Blackmail” in Britain. The film was begun as a silent but shifted to sound during production, resulting in two different versions, one of them the UK’s — and Hitchcock’s — first sound film.
John Ford, whose later Westerns would put him among film’s most vaunted directors, also made his first foray into sound with 1929’s “The Black Watch,” an adventure epic that includes Ford’s future chief collaborator John Wayne as a young extra.
Cecil B. DeMille, already a Hollywood bigwig through silents, made his first talkie with the melodrama “Dynamite.”
Groucho, Harpo and the other Marx Brothers had their first starring movie roles in 1929’s “The Cocoanuts,” a forerunner to future classics like “Animal Crackers” and “Duck Soup.”
“The Broadway Melody,” the first sound film and the second film ever to win the Oscar for best picture — known as “outstanding production” at the time — will also become public, though it’s often ranked among the worst of best picture winners.
And after “Steamboat Willie” made the earliest Mickey Mouse public, a dozen more of his animations will get the same status, including “The Karnival Kid,” where he spoke for the first time.
Songs from the last year of the Roaring Twenties are also about to become public property.
Cole Porter’s compositions “What Is This Thing Called Love?” and “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” are among the highlights, as is the jazz classic “Ain’t Misbehavin’, written by Fats Waller and Harry Brooks.
“Singin’ in the Rain,” which would later forever be associated with the 1952 Gene Kelly film, made its debut in the 1929 movie “The Hollywood Revue” and will now be public domain.
Different laws regulate sound recordings, and those newly in the public domain date to 1924. They include a recording of “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen” from future star and civil rights icon Marian Anderson, and “Rhapsody in Blue” performed by its composer George Gershwin.
FILE - A helium-filled Popeye balloon appears in the 33rd Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York on Nov. 26, 1959. (AP Photo/File)
This combination of photos show authors Ernest Hemingway in 1950, left, William Faulkner in 1950, center, and John Steinbeck in 1962. (AP Photo)
Ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad says he had no plans to leave the country after the fall of Damascus a week ago but the Russian military evacuated him from their base in western Syria after it came under attack.
“I did not leave the country as part of a plan as it was reported earlier,” Assad said. The comments posted to his Facebook on Monday are the first by Assad since he was overthrown on Dec. 8 by jihadi-led Syrian rebels, who are now working to establish security and start a political transition.
Israel has been pounding what it says are military sites in Syria after the dramatic collapse of Assad’s rule, wiping out air defenses and most of the arsenal of the Syrian army. Israeli troops have also seized a border buffer zone, sparking condemnation, with critics accusing Israel of violating the 1974 ceasefire and possibly exploiting the chaos in Syria for a land grab.
Here is the latest:
LONDON — The British government says it is sending a delegation to Syria to meet with the rebels who toppled President Bashar Assad, as well as to meet civil society groups.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy told reporters that the U.K. would support an “inclusive transitional political process that is Syrian-led and Syrian-owned.”
Britain, along with the U.S. and other countries, classifies Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — the main rebel group and a former al-Qaida affiliate — as a terrorist organization. U.K. officials have suggested they may reconsider that designation, but have not given a timeline. They say British officials can still talk to HST in the meantime.
The U.K. said Sunday pledged 50 million pounds ($63 million) in funding to provide food, shelter, medical care and other emergency services for vulnerable Syrians as part of efforts to stabilize the country.
WASHINGTON — U.S. forces conducted another round of airstrikes against Islamic State group targets in Syria on Monday, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters.
The strikes targeted IS camps and operatives in Syria, killing 12 people, U.S. Central Command said in a statement posted to X.
The strikes are aimed at “preventing the terrorist group from conducting external operations and to ensure that ISIS does not seek opportunities to reconstitute in central Syria,” Central Command said.
The U.S. has kept troops in Syria for the last decade, and Syrian government's unexpected collapse after a rebel offensive has raised fears of an IS resurgence.
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump said Monday that he “had a very good talk” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I gave warning that if these hostages aren’t home by that date all hell’s going to break out,” Trump said, repeating his threat on social media about releasing the Israeli captives in Gaza by the time he takes office next month.
Appearing before the news media at his Florida estate on Monday, Trump deflected a question about conversations he may have had with Russia Vladimir Putin since winning the election in November. Instead, he said he would talk about Netanyahu.
“It was a recap call more than anything else,” Trump added. He did not say when he spoke with Netanyahu.
DAMASCUS — The U.N. envoy to Syria was in Damascus on Monday, holding meetings with the country’s new rebel leaders and meeting with families whose loved ones disappeared into an notorious prison during the rule of ousted President Bashar Assad.
Geir Pedersen reaffirmed the U.N.’s commitment to supporting the Syrian people in the wake of Assad’s sudden overthrow by jihadi-led rebels.
Pedersen met with Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the main insurgent group, and Mohammed Bashir, Syria’s interim prime minister who previously led the government in rebel-held territory.
The post-Assad transition has been surprisingly smooth. Reports of reprisals, revenge killings and sectarian violence have been minimal. Still, Syria is home to multiple ethnic and religious communities, and many of them fear the possibility that Sunni Islamist extremists will take over.
Pedersen also toured the cold concrete halls of Saydnaya Prison, long referred to as “the slaughterhouse” under Assad's rule.
“Hopefully, what we see here is now a closed chapter in Syria’s history,” Pedersen said in a statement, after speaking with people whose relatives were detained or went missing.
Tens of thousands of people came to the prison last week looking for their family members, but only a few dozen detainees were found inside. One relative asked Pedersen on Monday if the U.N. could bring special equipment to help search for chambers hidden beneath the prison.
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not testify Tuesday in his ongoing corruption trial, after his lawyers requested his testimony be cancelled.
He testified in court Sunday and he is expected to return on Wednesday. Netanyahu took the stand for the first time in his long-running corruption trial last week, becoming the only sitting Israeli leader to take the stand as a criminal defendant.
Netanyahu will answer to charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases. Netanyahu, 75, denies wrongdoing, saying the charges are a witch hunt orchestrated by a hostile media and a biased legal system out to topple his lengthy rule.
The testimony is set to take place six hours a day, three days a week for several weeks, and will take up a significant chunk of Netanyahu’s working hours as he faces Israel's ongoing war in Gaza as well as developments in Syria and Lebanon.
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen that had triggered sirens across the Tel Aviv metropolitan area on Monday afternoon.
The missile was intercepted outside Israel’s borders, the military said. However, shrapnel fell on the roof of a home in the east Jerusalem, which the military said was likely from one of the Israeli interceptor missiles. There were no reports of casualties or major damage, according to Israel’s emergency services.
The Iranian-backed Yemeni rebels, known as the Houthis, claimed responsibility for firing a hypersonic ballistic missile toward Tel Aviv.
The Houthis have repeatedly fired drones and missiles toward Israel since the start of the war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, but nearly all of those weapons have been intercepted.
In July, an Iranian-made drone launched by the Houthis struck Tel Aviv, killing one person and wounding 10 others. Israel responded with a wave of airstrikes on Houthi-held areas of Yemen, including the port city of Hodeidah.
The Houthis have also been attacking shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden — attacks they say won't stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
DAMASCUS, Syria — Ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad says he had no plans to leave the country after the fall of Damascus a week ago but the Russian military evacuated him after their base in western Syria came under attack.
The comments are the first by Assad since he was overthrown by insurgent groups.
Assad said in a statement on his Facebook page that he left Damascus on the morning of Dec. 8, hours after insurgents stormed the capital. He said he left in coordination with Russian allies to the Russian base in the coastal province of Latakia, where he planned to keep fighting.
Assad said that after the Russian base came under attack by drones, the Russians decided to move him on the night of Dec. 8 to Russia. “I did not leave the country as part of a plan as it was reported earlier,” Assad said.
“At no point during these events did I consider stepping down or seeking refuge nor was such proposal made by any individual or party,” Assad said in the English text of his statement. “The only course of action was to continue fighting against the terrorist onslaught.”
Health officials in the Gaza Strip say the death toll from the 14-month war between Israel and Hamas militants has reached 45,028 people.
The Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. It said more than half of the fatalities were women and children. The Israeli military says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
The Health Ministry also said 106,962 have been wounded since the start of the war.
ANKARA, Turkey — A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said Monday the decision marked a “new stage in Israel’s goal of expanding its borders through occupation,” adding that Ankara was concerned that the move would harm efforts to establish peace and stability in Syria.
“The international community must show the necessary reaction to Israel and ensure that the illegal activities of (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s government come to an end,” the statement read.
Qatar also condemned the decision, calling it “a new episode in a series of Israeli aggressions on Syrian territories and a blatant violation of international law.”
The Israeli government approved Netanyahu’s plan on Sunday with the aim to encourage population growth in the area.
Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it, though the international community except for the U.S. regards it as occupied. Israeli figures show the remote territory is home to about 50,000 people, about half of them Jewish Israelis and the other half Arab Druze, many of whom still consider themselves Syrians.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — In central Gaza’s Nuseirat urban refugee camp, mourners carried Monday the body of Ahmad Baker Al-Louh, 39, a Palestinian journalist working for Al Jazeera, from the hospital through the streets. His blue bulletproof vest rested atop him.
Al-Louh was killed the day before in a strike on a point for Gaza’s civil defense agency and Al Jazeera said had been covering rescue operations of a family wounded in an earlier bombing when he was killed.
Sunday’s strike also killed three civil defense workers, including the local head of the agency, according to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. The civil defense is Gaza’s main rescue agency and operates under the Hamas-run government.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The 10 included a family of four, Palestinian medics said Monday, as the Israel-Hamas war raged on for the 14th month in the Gaza Strip.
The strike late Sunday hit a house in Gaza City’s eastern Shijaiyah neighborhood, according to the Health Ministry’s ambulance and emergency service. Rescuers recovered the bodies of 10 people from under the rubble, including those of two parents and their two children, it said.
DAMASCUS, Syria — The U.S. Embassy in Damascus advised Americans to leave Syria, saying the security situation there continues to be volatile and unpredictable with armed conflict and “terrorism throughout the country."
The embassy, which has been closed since 2012, posted a statement on X, warning U.S. citizens who were unable to leave the country to prepare “contingency plans for emergency situations.” It didn't give further details.
The statement also said that the U.S. government is unable to provide any routine or emergency consular services to U.S. citizens and those who need “emergency assistance to depart should contact the U.S. Embassy in the country they plan to enter.”
Sleeper cells of the Islamic State group have claimed responsibility for deadly attacks over the past months in different parts of Syria. Despite their defeat in March 2019, the extremists still pose a threat in the war-torn country.
DAMASCUS, Syria — The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, reported early Monday that Israeli airstrikes pounded missile warehouses and other former Syrian army sites along Syria’s coast in the “most violent strikes in the Syrian coast region since the beginning of the (Israeli) strikes in 2012.”
The Israeli military declined to comment on the strikes.
The observatory said that “violent explosions” were heard in the coastal city of Tartous “as a result of the successive strikes and the flying of ground-to-ground missiles from the warehouses.”
Palestinians, wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, receive treatment at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A Palestinian, wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, arrives at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinian youth clash with Palestinian security forces on the third day of a raid, outside the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024.(AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed).
A officer from the Palestinian Authority clutches his gun as Palestinian security forces mount a major raid against militants in the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024.(AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed).
Syrian fighters watch Russian armoured vehicles driving past near the Hmeimim Air Base, a Syrian airbase currently operated by Russia, in the town of Hmeimim, southeast of Latakia, Syria, Monday Dec. 16, 2024.(AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A Russian aircraft takes off at the Hmeimim Air Base, a Syrian airbase currently operated by Russia, located southeast of the city of Latakia in the town of Hmeimim, Syria, Monday Dec. 16, 2024.(AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Israeli bulldozers maneuver near the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from Syria, in the town of Majdal Shams, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Israeli soldiers stand on an armoured vehicle after crossing the security fence near the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from Syria, in the town of Majdal Shams, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Geir Pederson, the United Nations' special envoy to Syria, center, listens to a woman who was looking for her missing relative in the Saydnaya prison, during his visit to the infamous Saydnaya military prison, in Saydnaya north of Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Destroyed Syrian naval vessels from previous Israeli airstrikes are seen in the port of Latakia, Syria, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Syrian Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets, carry one of several bodies and human remains that were found dropped at an open field on a road that links to Damascus international airport, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
FILE - Israeli soldiers cross the security fence moving towards the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights from Syria, in the town of Majdal Shams, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File )
An Israeli bulldozer maneuvers on the buffer zone near the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from Syria, viewed from the town of Majdal Shams, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
An Israeli armoured vehicle crosses the security fence moving towards the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from Syria, in the town of Majdal Shams, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
