Claims
1) All claims are made in the Monthly Claim Thread (MCT). The availability of characters can be checked in the Masters Claim List (MCL). All claims must be made prior to your first issue being posted as they will be frozen until you are eligible for new claims.
2) New solo titles are given 17 claims.
New team titles are given 20 claims.
Spinoffs due to their ties to other titles have less claims you have 10 for a solo spinoff and 15 for a team spinoff.
3) After you’ve published two issues of your title you will be given two monthly claims. These claims can only be used for titles over the two issue mark.
4) If you write two or more titles you are granted one additional claim. All claiming rules still apply to this claim.
• Note: A co-written title does not count towards additional claims if it is your second title as two (or more) people can contribute claims to it.
5) Reclaims only count for one-half of a claim.
6) An additional claim can be earned once a month by reading and reviewing other writers works. To earn this claim, you have to either review one-half of the titles released before the 21st of the month or reviewing seven total issues including current month or back issues. Reviews must be of substance meaning you need to contribute more then I liked it or I didn’t like it.
7) You can only make claims when all of your titles (not counting co-written titles) are updated for the month. Co-written titles are a subject onto themselves. They need only be updated to make a claim towards it.
8) Check the monthly claims thread for information on claims formatting.
9) All series that are claimed must be of an ongoing nature. If you wish to do a miniseries you can, but you can only utilize characters you have claimed or that other writers have granted you permission to use from their claim list.
10) Sidekicks, legacy characters, major villains, and closely associated characters are not eligible to be claimed, except with the permission by the main character’s writer. (i.e Robins cannot be claimed for other titles without the permission of the Batman writer.)
Note: This essentially gives writers of certain mythos limited rights on connected characters. However, these rights are not indefinite and the writer is expected to claim the character in a reasonable time frame. This time frame will vary from case to case but will normally be within two months of being eligible for additional claims.11) Almost any character can be claimed in any role for any title, but some characters are required to function in a hero or villain role rather than support. Furthermore, some characters and teams are expected to carry their own title.
12) Another instance characters might not be available to claim is when they are considered a board wide claim, which is a rare instance, these characters are not eligible to be claimed by individuals but can be used with permission.
13) Claims are expected to be used in a timely manner. Hero and support characters must appear in your title within the first 8 issues after being claimed. Villains have to appear within the first 12 issues after they were claimed. If characters fail to appear and haven’t been reclaimed by the respective issues they will be returned to the unclaimed character pool.
14) Some groups and organizations have few significant members and they can be claimed using only one slot (i.e H.I.V.E and the Royal Flush Gang). For other groups, you will need to claim two members of the group and the group itself and this will grant you access to the remainder of the group (i.e The Great Ten or GCPD). Still, more may be set up so that you can gain a few minor named members (i.e. League of Assassins, Brotherhood of Evil). When in doubt, ask.
15) You may post claims for properties outside of the DC Universe, but they will require pitches and approval by the admins. Some creator owned work will be taken off the table entirely.
