Mature Star Wars Parody Comic Gets Creators Into Legal Trouble

ATTENTION: THE FOLLOWING REPORT MAY CONTAIN MATERIALS SENSITIVE TO SOME READERS. DISCRETION IS ADVISED. 

Whenever a certain franchise is popular there are bound to be references and parodies from all cross media. Star Wars is no acceptation to that rule. From movies such as Spaceballs and Thumb Wars poking fun at the scenarios to skits in Saturday Night Live there is always something to make sport of. Including in the form or materials meant for “older audiences”. 

That is what comic creators Mike and Mindy Wheeler were doing. They were/are in the process of making a comic titled “Star Whores: Episode IV – A New Hoe”. A mature themed parody comic based on Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. The couple have also produced mature parody comics in the past such as “Trip Story” (Toy Story) and “G-Busters” (Ghostbusters).



However, shortly after the project was announced and a Kickstarter page was set up, the team was unfortunately served a cease-and-desist order. Surprisingly, this order did not come from Disney or Lucasfilm. It came from Coffin Comics, the makers of the popular indie comic character Lady Death.



Lady Death, first introduced in 1991, is the half-human, half-demon daughter of Satan who battles her father in Hell, even starting a civil war between the demon factions. She is often seen as the female equivalent to characters like Spawn.

The legal action comes due to the fact that one of Lady Death’s many “homage” covers was titled “Lady Vader” and mashed the character with that of Darth Vader. The character in the Star Whores book is named “Lady Darth”, and Coffin Comics sees this as an infringement to their previous variant cover.

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The following statement is an excerpt from a lengthy post made by Mindy Wheeler herself, defending their side of the case:

“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 Whores, 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.“

It is true that Coffin Comics is known for its “homages.” In fact, they released an entire art book of their homage pieces, with one of the covers being an homage to the 1981 film Heavy Metal (with Lady Death in place of the film’s main character, Taarna).



It is difficult to say what constitutes infringement on parody material since both are parodies of Star Wars. If this eventually evolves into a full legal battle, Lucasfilm or even Disney may get involved. We will have to wait and see if these issues can be resolved.

What do you think? Let us know your thoughts. 

Source: CBR, Comics Illustrated