A bloody smiley icon can be a licensing challenge for the comic giant
‘Every second is a gift,’ the words engraved on the back of a wristwatch that appears to be assembled, and then dismantled, and again assembled.
DC Comics had some serious reboots and stuff (Crises, origins, deaths, and secrets). And, in the last chapter of DC Rebirth #1, before the epilogue, Batman finds a bloodied smiley on the Batcave wall. The smiley and the wristwatch on Mars indicate the arrival of the ‘Watchmen’ squad into the DCU.
The four-part crossover between Batman and The Flash teased revealing Doctor Manhattan, the god-like character from Watchmen having a hand in the destiny of the entire main DC Universe. Something of this magnitude must have something extraordinary, right!?
Batman and the Flash: The Button, answers that with lenticular versions of their first issue of the arc. But there was a set of extra ‘international edition’ variants available for outside the United States because Batman #21 and The Flash #21 the ones with the smiley covers, unlike Batman #22 and the Flash #22 which didn’t have the smiley, couldn’t be printed outside the U.S. in some countries! And even Batman/The Flash: The Button TPB with a lenticular cover had the same issue.
Batman #21 covers compressing the lenticular forms:
The Flash #22 covers compressing the lenticular forms:
Batman/The Flash TPB cover compressing the lenticular forms (Lenticular covers were available only for first copies):
Batman #21 variant cover:
The Flash #21variant cover:
Batman/The Flash TPB variant cover:
What’s going on? What does this mean?
The answer is something tricky! You guessed it right, yes it has everything to do with marketing and promotions. In the U.S., the yellow smiley face is a public domain image, while outside, in over 100 nations, the Smiley Company holds trademark rights on it.
In 1972, Franklin Loufrani became the first person to trademark the “smiley face”, and since then the Smiley Company has grown at an exponential rate. In the late ‘90s, the company tried to secure the U.S. trademark and met a challenge with Walmart which was in the middle of its “Rolling Back Prices” campaign that featured Smiley heavily.
Till 2010, both companies were in dispute regarding the ownership, but for terms that are private even now. The existing state of affairs remained more or less the same with the Smiley Company failing to acquire the U.S. trademark. Since then, the smiley face has been in the public domain when in America, but using it in a country where the Smiley Company owns the trademark, requires to pay a licensing fee.
What’s the Fuss All-About!? What’s the Button?
Batman/The Flash: The Button acts as the road to the Doomsday Clock. This acts as the prelude to the epic story from Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. During the incredible event of DC Universe: Rebirth, Batman found a blood-stained smiley-faced button lodged on the wall of the Batcave. Analysis shows that this is not of this universe and Batman takes the help of the Flash. But, when the button is stolen by Reverse-Flash, the heroes realize that someone is altering their reality and it seems like the unseen force Wally West warned and this bloodied button might provide the answer they want. Collecting Batman #21-22, and the Flash #21-22, this arc creates a ripple across the DC universe.
The Smiley face-button became a major insignia to represent ‘Watchmen’ and became a symbol of murder mystery kicking off the plot of the entire story. The victim was a retired crimefighter, Comedian.
So, in short, we can say that owning a graphic novel with a smiley is amazing in one way, albeit the variant has the blood stain on the title and Mikel Janin’s art is amazing. But owning a book that rightfully owns the right to wander the streets of the U.S., and that too with a lenticular cover, which was available only on first copies is beyond awesome. I guess it’s something like… ultrasupercalifragisticexplodicious!
Batman/The Flash: The Button is available.
Pic Credits: DC Comics
