An ashcan comic is a form of the American comic book created solely to establish trademarks on potential titles and not intended for sale. The practice was common in the 1930s and 1940s when the comic book industry was in its infancy, but was phased out after updates to US trademark law. The term was revived in the 1980s by Bob Burden, who applied it to prototypes of his self-published comic book. Since the 1990s, the term has been used to describe promotional materials produced in large print runs and made available for mass consumption. In the film and television industries, the term "ashcan copy" has been adopted for low-grade material created to preserve a claim to licensed property rights.
Original use
The modern comic book was created in the 1930s, and grew rapidly in popularity. In the competition to secure trademarks on titles intended to sound thrilling, publishers including All-American Publications and Fawcett Comics developed the ashcan edition, which was the same size as regular comics and usually had a black and white cover. Interior artwork ranged from previously published material in full color Some ashcans were only covers with no interior pages. Not all the titles secured through ashcan editions were actually used for regular publications.
The purpose of the ashcan editions was to fool the US Patent & Trademark Office into believing the book had actually been published. Since the ashcans had no other use, publishers printed as few as two copies; one was sent to the Trademark Office, the other was kept for their files. Occasionally, publishers would send copies to distributors or wholesalers by registered mail to further establish publication dates,
Later use
In 1984, Golden Age comic book collector and dealer Bob Burden created Flaming Carrot Comics, published by Aardvark-Vanaheim. For each issue, Burden had magazine-sized prototype editions printed and shared them with friends and people who assisted with production. Typical print run for Image ashcans was between 500 and 5,000. Soon, other publishers began releasing ashcans in a variety of sizes and formats.
Following the collapse of the speculation market in comics in the mid-1990s, the term has been used by publishers to describe booklets promoting upcoming comics. Established publishers such as Dark Horse Comics, IDW Publishing, and DC Comics continue to use ashcan copies as part of their marketing plans for new titles. Aspiring creators also apply the term to hand-stapled photocopied books they use to demonstrate their abilities to hiring editors at comic book conventions or as part of a submissions package.
Film and television
The term has been appropriated by the film and television industries to refer to low-quality material made specifically to preserve rights to a licensed character, which often expire if unused for a set period of time. One of the earliest examples of this practice is the 1967 animated adaptation of The Hobbit. Other prominent examples include the unreleased Fantastic Four film from 1994, the 2004 direct-to-video film My Name is Modesty, the low-budget sequels Porky's Pimpin' Pee Wee (2009) and Hellraiser: Revelations (2011), and a TV pilot adaptation of The Wheel of Time (2015).