Copyright & Fair Use Comic Books

Looking for awesome resources to help learn and teach about copyright in a fun easy to understand way? Check out these free Copyright comics! The first and third are full-length graphic novels and are available under Creative Commons Licenses.

Tales from the Public Domain: BOUND BY LAW?

James Boyle, Jennifer Jenkins and Keith Aoki

“Bound by Law translates law into plain English and abstract ideas into ‘visual metaphors.’ So the comic’s heroine, Akiko, brandishes a laser gun as she fends off a cyclopean ‘Rights Monster’ – all the while learning copyright law basics, including the line between fair use and copyright infringement.” -Brandt Goldstein, The Wall Street Journal online

The Origin of U.S. Fair Use

Kyle K. Courtney and Sarah W. Searle, authors, and Jackie Roche, illustrator and author

Theft! A History of Music

James Boyle, Jennifer Jenkins and Keith Aoki

This comic lays out 2000 years of musical history. A neglected part of musical history. Again and again there have been attempts to police music; to restrict borrowing and cultural cross-fertilization. But music builds on itself. To those who think that mash-ups and sampling started with YouTube or the DJ’s turntables, it might be shocking to find that musicians have been borrowing—extensively borrowing—from each other since music began. Then why try to stop that process? The reasons varied. Philosophy, religion, politics, race—again and again, race—and law. And because music affects us so deeply, those struggles were passionate ones. They still are.