I'm developing a comic book, and I'm trying to hire an artist for concept art. Unfortunately, he lives in Germany, and I'm not sure conventional copyright laws will apply since that's where the work will be made. Should I get a US, or International Copyright to cover the art? I don't want to get an International copyright, because that has less duration than the US copyright. However, that would protect it more, and when I publish the comic I don't want anyone copying my idea in another country. What do Marvel and DC do to protect their characters?

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You need to have terms in the contract in which the artist agrees that the work is a "work made for hire" under one or more of the definitions of the term in US law, and also agree to "transfer and assign" to you all right, title and interest in and to the copyright he may own, if any, in any country in any form, in perpetuity, to your exclusive ownership and to agree to cooperate in preparing and signing any further documents that may become necessary to solidify, record and prove your sole ownership in the artwork. You might also drive the point home by having a clause that prohibits the artist from even attempting to file or otherwise claim any copyright in the work or derivative work. This may cost you more, once the artist understands that he or she can never re-use the original art, and you may be asked to provide a "license back" to them to at least have permission to privately display a copy as part of their personal portfolio, but not for any duplication, public display or distribution without your permission. As a general rule, an independent contractor owns the copyright in art he or she creates, even if there is a written contract that calls it "work for hire", if the work doesn't qualify as one of the nine statutory categories in the US definition of "work for hire" in 17 USC s. 101, regardless of the intent of the parties. The best you could hope for would be "joint ownership" of art for which you provide "creative input", even if you paid for the artist's time and materials. Once the work is created or published in the USA or any other country in the Berne Convention it automatically becomes copyrighted in all 160 countries. You want to own those copyrights.