Unexpectedly, Vertigo have today explained through MTV Geek that Simon Oliver and Robbi Rodriguez’s (excellent) new series Collider is due to change its title. After one issue of being called Collider, the series will now be called ‘FBP: Federal Bureau of Physics’ for issue #2.

fbp

Why the name change? In the interview, Oliver says that it’s due to a claim that there’s already a book called ‘Collider’ out there:

Unfortunately at the eleventh hour someone else seemed to believe they had the name “Collider” staked out and had planted a flag in it before we did. To be honest I haven’t gotten that involved, I don’t know who they are, what their book is about, but I wish them well with it.

So this looks like a case similar to Mark Millar/Frank Quitely having to change their Image series from ‘Jupiter’s Children’ to ‘Jupiter’s Legacy’ because a band claimed they already had the name locked down. I have to be honest – I’ve had a look to see if I could find this rival ‘Collider’, but came up short.*

At any rate, Collider will now be called ‘The Federal Bureau of Physics’. And actually? That could well be a stronger title for the book. It sums up the premise of the series clearly, and has a certain ring to it, no?

Issue #2 is out on 28th August.

 

*UPDATE: I’ve been informed that the claim may well come from the original graphic novel Collider, which is due for release as a movie.

11 COMMENTS

  1. It would be interesting to learn the backstory, given that DC filed for the trademark for the series over a year ago. Perhaps there were threats to make allegations that went beyond the simple title, since it’s clear there’s no way anyone else in the English-speaking world could have come up with an idea for fiction inspired by the Hadron Collider.

    At any rate, it could be that at some point you just decide it’s easier to change the title than go through the legal hassle. I’m not sure how damaging the change will be–perhaps it’s even better, since the new title is actually attention-getting and the collider meme is kind of 2012 anyway.

  2. Collider is genuinely a really cool and punchy name for a sci fi book as well. FBP lacks a lot of mystery and makes it sound a bit generic.

  3. I prefer the new title; it tells me more about the premise of the series and its tone, whereas the old title could have been for any genre, any type of book. I would read Federal Bureau of Physics, but I wouldn’t think twice about Collider.

  4. Searching the USPTO:

    Serial Number 85688111
    Filing Date July 26, 2012
    DC Comics.

    Searching GCD:
    http://www.comics.org/brand/2996/
    which leads to Marc Guggenheim’s Collider Entertainment. Launched in 2010 at CCI. The same MC who is the EXECUTIVE PRODUCER of “Arrow”.

  5. Googled “collider graphic novel” and top result was Amazon.com listing for Collider graphic novel ebook with 5/27/2012 publication date and authored by Mike Garley. That the other book?

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