03/06/2024
Coffin Comics Issues Cease and Desist on Wheeler's Parody
Coffin Comics, an authoritative figure in the indie comics sphere who has grossed over 10 million dollars on Kickstarter since 2014 serves Mike and Mindy Wheeler (that’s me) a cease and desist for our Kickstarter campaign of Star Wh**es, a Star Wars Parody. Coffin threatens copyright infringement of $150,000 per infringement, even though parody is covered under fair use. Demands to remove our parody character Lady Darth (a female parody of Lord Darth Vader) must be satisfied by June 3rd, 2024.
Since the release of the Lady Darth cover, Coffin fans have ridiculed us, claiming her look is a “blatant rip off” of Lady Death, ignoring the resemblance of Lady Death to Taarna from Heavy Metal and the carte blanche use of parody and homage by Coffin Comics and associates. This constitutes a look of hypocrisy, especially when flaunting several Darth Vader parodies themselves. Right before serving us a cease and desist, Coffin was parodying off of Mad Max’s Furiosa with “Lady Deathiosa” and My Little Pony, advertising those covers as Phoenix Fan Fusion Exclusives.
Coffin Comics and their associates have significant influence over the market, creating fear in smaller creators over backlash and legal costs if targeted by a cease and desist. Marvel and DC also have similar white-skinned, white-haired ladies in dark clothing but are no doubt, harder to intimidate (see “The Black Swans” from Marvel Comics, La Lunatica from Boom! Studios, Hepzibah from Marvel Comics, H’Lana from Maximum Press, Argent from DC Comics, Ezra from Arcana Studio, Nekra from Marvel Comics, and many more.
This flex of control hurts smaller creators, possibly preventing them from ever reaching the caliber of success Coffin and associates get to enjoy by profiting off of Star Wars and other parodies and homages themselves. This raises serious questions of Market Manipulation, Abuse of Process, and Anti-trust violations, as they.....
Read the full article online at www.comicsillustrated.com