No Letters from Disney Lawyers (yet)
Less than 10 days to pledge to the STEPPERS Kickstarter campaign
Every now and then, I become painfully aware of the fact that I’ve spent at least a year (a nontrivial percentage of one’s existence) committed to one of the biggest pieces of intellectual IP of all time, despite having mostly contempt for the holder of those copyrights.
It’s not that I didn’t grow up on Disney films like the rest of you, but at a certain point my eyes were open to the fact that Disney is a corporation, own Spiderman, Luke Skywalker and fucking Mickey Mouse. Most years at the box office, half of the top 10 for the year end up being Disney films. They are in the business of creating mass media aimed at influencing hearts and minds. Not that they particularly care who identifies with that (unless it makes them money, of course). Once you’ve developed a certain level of skepticism towards monopolies, one might understand how jaded you might get about a new Pixar film (even if it might make you cry).
I’ve talked about this in past newsletters, but this protection of their IP was largely a catalyst for the story. The army of lawyers they employ to protect against “unauthorized” uses of their characters has led to the passage of multiple copyright protection bills with Congress and countless lawsuits against much smaller creators.
That visual of Mickey being stuck in prison, a creation lacking agency against a corporate entity that sees him more as an asset than art, really drove home a lot of what we wanted to say with this book.
We’re down to 9 days left for our Kickstarter campaign. We’re at a critical point now, where we could use extra support to make this book a reality. It’s my first campaign, and it’s a polarizing book, given its politically charged themes. Some bloke on Reddit the other day tells me “better dead than red”. Okay, dude.
We’ve had some nice coverage, beyond our Kickstarter getting the “Projects We Love” badge:
Comics Beat: “When The Mouse entered the public domain, I could only imagine the kinds of wild, creative ideas people would dream up. In the hands of C. Clyde and Henry Miller, though, I have to say I’m genuinely thrilled.”
Midlife Gamer Geek: “Suffice to say that, though it uses the newly available characters in adult and very dark situations, it doesn’t do so in a way that cheapens the characters, or the concept.”
If you support what we’re doing here, now’s the time to show it! Make a pledge, give it a share, make a comment on the Kickstarter - any of these things will help us as we’re rounding the corner on the last leg of our campaign.
<3 Clyde & Henry
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