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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Open Source Jerry Cornelius?

Imaginary Mongoose Solutions

00:26 / 01.10.02

Hey, I found myself writing a sotry which I suddenly realized was in fact a Cornelius story. Not wanting to churn out fanfic right now I almost put the breaks on.

However, I seem to recall something about Cornelius, like Octobrianna being a sort of Open Source character. Then I recall the issues that Grant Morrison apparently had with Morcock re Gideon Stargrave/JC. So doea anyone have any more info on the intellectual property status of JC?

I figure this is pretty relavent since there is a new Cornelius book out shortly.

09:24 / 01.10.02

Pretty sure that Jerry Cornelius is NOT public domain. Many people have done Jerry Cornilius like characters (among them Bryan Talbot's Luther Arkwright) - so the wise move would seem to change the name and appearence and some of the focus of the character (this worked for Talbot who notes that moorcock thinks of Arkwright and Cornelius as seperate creations).

10:01 / 01.10.02

Cornelius was *definitely* originally intended as an open source character. In the introductions to some editions of the books, Moorcock talks about how (when editor of New Worlds) he encouraged loads of writers to do Cornelius stories, and even acknowledges that some of the ideas and characters in his own books were stolen from other people's stories. He seemed to want a sort of constantly evolving copyright free mythos similar to HP Lovecraft's..

..but sadly he seems to have turned into a bit of a grumpy old bugger these days and doesn't like people messing with his characters - hense the whole tussle with Grant Morrison over Gideon Stargrave..

I figure this is pretty relavent since there is a new Cornelius book out shortly.

Really? Any info?

Rollo Kim, on location

15:10 / 01.10.02

Wasn't it more a case of people writing JC stories AFTER they'd asked MM if it was OK? As opposed to Mr Morrison just DOING it?

Imaginary Mongoose Solutions

18:48 / 01.10.02

"Any Info?"

It is supposed to be out this month.

In the 1960s Jerry Cornelius was the coolest assassin on the Ladbroke Grove block.

By the 1970s the Condition of Muzak had won the Guardian Fiction Prize and the Final Programme was a feature film starring Jon Finch, Jenny Runacre, Hugh Griffiths and Sterling Hayden.

In the 1980s the world's first cyberpunk continued to inspire a generation of writers including William Gibson, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and bands like The Human League.

By the 1990s he was up and running towards the guns again in stories like 'The Spencer Inheritance', 'The Camus Connection' and 'Cheering For The Rockets', which dealt with the ikons and key events of the day.

Now, in Firing The Cathedral, he responds to the attacks on America of September 2001 and their consequences, to the realities of global warming and global terrorism and, once again, the apocalypse has never seemed more terrifying, never been more fun. Cooler, sharper, his fingers firmly on the pulse of the 21st century, Jerry Cornelius is back, counting names and taking heads. And modern life will never feel the same to you again.

Introduction by Alan Moore.

20:48 / 01.10.02

Can't wait!

I have physical evidence of the pitfalls of open sourcing a literary
character (well, Jerry Cornelius anyway). "Distant Suns," a pulp one-off
from 1975, credited to Michael Moorcock and Phillip James, is a
really space adventure I couldn't even finish reading.

Norman Spinrad borrowing your character is one thing; J. random Fanboy
doing so is another.

On the other hand, Walt Disney treated Felix the Cat well, featuring
"Julius" in the 1928 short "Alice Lays An Egg" (also featuring
nefarious labor agitator Little Red Henski.

20:48 / 01.10.02

Uh, that should have read "Really awful space adventure."

07:57 / 02.10.02

That sounds pretty incredible - I've only read the original "quadrilogy" and this is so suffused with the swinging 60's turning to the concrete 70's - i can't imagine JC in the new millenia. Getting old and selling out might be the only option for such a morally ambivelant character. Whaddya think - is he a member of New Labour now?
I soooooo much hope I'm wrong!

ps re the "open source" thingy - there's a big complilation of all these in a book called (I think) "THe New Nature of the Catastophe"
- got it, not read it yet.

10:59 / 02.10.02

That new book sounds pretty rad. Definitely on the "must read" list..

"In the 1980s the world's first cyberpunk continued to inspire a generation of writers including William Gibson, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and bands like The Human League."

?!

Dare I even ask?

12:39 / 02.10.02

The Human League were the first band to merge (live) different songs by other artistes in the embryonic days of sampling; curiously, they were on TOTP2 yesterday performing an odd hybrid of Gary Glitter's Rock and Roll part two, Bowie's Nightclubbing, and their own little jingle. Yes, bizarrely, Phil Oakey was once 'cutting edge'...

There's an interesting article on Alan Moore's usage of open source characters here: http://newsarama.com/public.html

...which might be better off in 'Comics'. The more I read the LOEG volume 2, the more it becomes clear that Moore is performing a vast magickal experiment designed to eradicate the heirarchical oversphere of copyright and turn fiction into reality. Possibly.

gravity's rainbow

06:32 / 14.10.02

speaking of music and moorcock, everyone's heard Hawkwind and moorcock, right?
very interesting if you're into period experimental rock pieces with a heavy scifi binge on
otherwise, maybe just overblown early seventies prog rock

15:43 / 14.10.02

Norman Spinrad borrowing your character is one thing; J. random Fanboy doing so is another.

Well, I just got my next fanfic pseudonym.