Popeye Will Enter the Public Domain on January 1

(Popeye t-shirt on sale at our NeatoShop)

The Internet Archive tells us about some of the more interesting works of intellectual property that will become public domain in the United States at the beginning of the new year. They include the original drawn Popeye cartoon, which first appeared in publication on January 17, 1929. The artist, E.C. Segar passed away in 1938, but his legacy continued with animated cartoons, comic books, and the underappreciated 1980 film starring Robin Williams.

People will also be free to republish and adapt Dashiell Hammett's film The Maltese Falcon, Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, and William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury.