It’s been a long time since I’ve written a listicle! In the mid-aughts, listicles were how I earned a meager living as a writer. I would get hired by a website to be their internet culture guy, where I’d compile quickie, witty lists of memes and videos with titles like “10 Biggest Slip ‘n Slide Wipeouts” or “31 Pieces of Toast That Kind of Resemble Macklemore” for $10-$25 an article. All of this work is now collecting digital dust in the least viewed corners of the Internet Archive. Listicles helped me build my joke writing speed, because the faster I could turn around articles laced with little sarcastic quips, the more likely I was to have eating money that month.
I’m no longer writing articles for the web, but I sure read a lot of them. Google News knows I enjoy reading about public domain characters, the kind written to inspire writers and creators. “Did you know anyone can use Dracula and Peter Pan in their work?” Yeah, I know, articles, but everyone uses Dracula and Peter Pan. Every couple of years, a film producer says, “What if Peter Pan was dark… but also… edgy?!”
They’re constantly remaking Sherlock Holmes and Wizard of Oz, but there are plenty of other public domain stories with characters who I think would be interesting to see reimagined and don’t get as much love. So, as I hurriedly put the finishing touches on my Marx Brothers game for the public domain jam, here are a few lesser-thought-of free-to-use characters who intrigue me, and might inspire you…

Mr. Toad
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame was published in 1908 and is a classic of British literature, but in America, it’s best known today as the book that spawned the only Disney ride that takes you to Hell!
Thanks to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, the property has a bit of “juice” in my opinion, but there aren’t many notable modern adaptations. Mr. Toad of Toad Hall is a rich, gregarious, motor-car obsessed danger to his community. I think this archetype is incredibly relatable today. Just change “motor-car” to “social media” and Mr. Toad becomes a prominent, current danger to our community. I fear the billionaires of the world are going to wreak more havoc in the years to come. Mr. Toad would be a good vehicle to satirically expose them as the slimeballs they are.

Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde
Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman are the top-tier Universal Monsters. They’re all in the public domain, but there’s no shortage of adaptations of those three. They’re the belles of the Monster Mash. Technically, though, Dr. Jekyll is the FIRST Universal Monster (1913’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). So where was his mash invite? Sadly, Bobby “Boris” Pickett snubbed him, but despite that party foul, Dr. Jekyll’s story is very well known.
There are a lot of adaptations Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886). The character was in both Van Helsing and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. But because he’s upstaged by other A-List monsters, I think there’s room for more takes on the story. The case of a chemist who involuntarily transforms into a freakish killer? It’s basically true crime meets The Substance.

Little Orphan Annie
Little Orphan Annie is a comic strip about a girl who becomes suddenly rich. That’s the American dream! One day, you’re a poor girl wandering the streets, the next day you’re the beloved celebrity who said “hawk tuah!” (Or in Annie’s case, “leapin’ lizards!” I like both catchphrases about the same, honestly.)
I’m surprised that Harold Gray’s Little Orphan Annie (which debuted in 1924) hasn’t been adapted more in modern day. Yes, there’s the famous 1977 musical, and the subsequent revivals of that musical, but Annie doesn’t have to be a musical. She has a memorable look with her trademark curly red hair and red dress. She’s plucky, self-reliant, and enjoys running circles around the overbearing adults in her life. I think she’d be a fun choice for a mascot platformer, where she has to leap through NYC to escape the cruel Miss Asthma and make her way to Daddy Warbucks’ mansion.
Daddy Warbucks! Another opportunity to make fun of billionaires…

Little Nemo
I love stories about people exploring the world of dreams. There was a Saturday morning cartoon called Midnight Patrol in the 80s where a group of friends meet up in dreamland to have adventures. It really captured my imagination as a kid. I recently re-watched a Christmas episode and it’s very Hanna-Barbera-y, but still enjoyable.
While Midnight Patrol’s art might’ve been run-of-the-mill Saturday morning, Little Nemo in Slumberland by Windsor McKay (which debuted in 1905) has absolutely incredible art and a similar premise. The comics pages are surreal works of art with a playful sense of physics, color, and composition. Slumberland is a rich world full of possibilities for new adventures. Nemo has only been sporadically adapted throughout the last hundred years or so. (Apparently there was a 2022 movie based on the comic that I “slept” on.) I think a new Nemo project would be absolutely dreamy.

Raggedy Ann
I was reading the new Creepshow graphic novel – featuring a wrestling horror story by comics writer and Equip Story commenter Henry Barajas – and there’s a story about a young girl with toys in her yard. Sure enough, there was a Raggedy Ann amongst the balls and shovels. The 1915 rag doll created by Johnny Gruelle is one of those iconic, timeless toys, like Rubik’s Cube and Barnyard Commandos. (Okay, I hear you, maybe not Rubik’s Cube.) The dolls and books have sold millions of copies. Raggedy Ann and her brother Andy were separately inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame.
The super trippy Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure, directed by Richard Williams (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?), is forever seared into my brain, particularly the bonkers “Sweetheart” sequence. There were regular adaptations of Raggedy Ann into the 90s. In a world where Toy Story 5 is scheduled for release in 2026 (whyyyy, oh right money), I don’t see why Raggedy Ann couldn’t ride her camel with the wrinkled knees again.

Mr. Peanut
Mr. Peanut is the monocled, urbane mascot for Planters. He was created by Antonio Gentile and debuted in 1916. (And was voiced by both Robert Downey Jr. and Bill Hader? Thanks, Wikipedia!) The character is widely recognizable, definitely in the public domain, and as far as I can tell, has never been adapted in any meaningful way beyond TV commercials. Speaking of mascot platformers, a lot of food mascots got them in the 80s and 90s, but Mr. Peanut did not. I think it would’ve been fun to whack enemies with that cane, or use it like a pogo stick a la Scrooge McDuck in the Duck Tales game. As long as you made it super clear your new work is not associated with Planters in any way, I think you’d be in the clear. That said, I am not a lawyer, so don’t take my legal advice or construe anything I say to be legal advice. Compared to lawyers, I make peanuts!
[Sidebar: In 2020, Planters spent millions of dollars to kill Mr. Peanut and bring him back as a baby? Did that happen? Am I remembering that right? Or was it all a COVID-induced hallucination?]

The Tramp
On the opposite end of the socioeconomic ladder from Mr. Peanut – there’s a sentence I never thought I’d write – we have The Tramp. Charlie Chaplin created one of the greatest and most recognizable film characters of all-time. Greatest hits for The Tramp include City Lights, Modern Times, and Guy on Hollywood Blvd Sneering at Bootleg Elmo. The Tramp has a carefree attitude, hates cops, and wears comfortably baggy clothes. A millennial hero! Yeah, sure, he’s got a Hitler mustache, but with the bowler hat and cane, nobody’s thinking dictator. (Maybe they’ll think of The Great Dictator, which was a legendary satire of nazism! Yay!)
Most of The Tramp’s films are in the public domain, but not all. There are well over 50 films featuring the funny walking rapscallion, so there’s lots of potential inspiration to draw from… I dunno, a mascot platformer? He does have a funny walk cycle. Okay, yes, if you take nothing else away from this article, we should make less public domain horror and more public domain Mario.
🎲 Your Turn: Would you want to make a creative work starring one of these characters? What would it be like? Is there another less-thought-of public domain character you think deserves a place on the list? Reply to this email with your thoughts, or tell the whole world by hitting the orange button below.
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