Popeye and Tintin have entered the public domain, so I'll just go ahead and start the countdown clock for our first Sailor Man soulslike

It's a new year, and that means a new crop of iconic characters—some more than others—entering the public domain. According to Title 17 of the United States Code, once 95 years have passed since the creation of any "anonymous work, pseudonymous work, or work made for hire," that work belongs to everyone. There's something beautiful about it: These are the people's works now, to be redistributed and rewoven into new art without the strictures of copyright.

It's the closest thing we have to a utopian ideal in copyright law—an ideal that...