The Four Color Media Monitor

Remember Stephanie Cooke, the Canadian would-be comic writer who was accused of embezzling $10,000 from Bill Willingham in 2015? Well, as little as I care for a product like Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, it would seem she's stirring a hornet's nest over Boom Studios' use of crowdfunding on Kickstarter for new comics they're publishing based on the mid-90s television program:

Power Rangers has a net worth of $522 million. YOU DO NOT NEED KICKSTARTER. pic.twitter.com/Nw7FO8VmIy

— Stephanie Cooke 🏺⚡️🏹 Oh My Gods! is OUT NOW! (@hellocookie) January 16, 2021

I’m sure this has already made the rounds and I know Boom took heat for the Keanu Reeves comic too but I only just saw that they’re doing this now with Power Rangers and I’m so mad.

— Stephanie Cooke 🏺⚡️🏹 Oh My Gods! is OUT NOW! (@hellocookie) January 16, 2021

NO ONE is saying that more Power Rangers content shouldn’t exist.

What is being said is that a multi-million dollar franchise & a publisher with has Disney/Fox stakeholders shouldn’t be using a crowdfunding platform where they OVERSHADOW indie creators using it to make a living.

— Stephanie Cooke 🏺⚡️🏹 Oh My Gods! is OUT NOW! (@hellocookie) January 17, 2021

Be that as it may that Boom was criticized for crowdfunding Reeves' comic built on jarring violence, Cooke has no business whatsoever criticizing the publisher's approach based on her own criminal offense in Minnesota. If the companies in charge of the Power Rangers franchise today wouldn't give them any backing (and logic suggests Boom is the one who had to pay to retain a license for writing and drawing these comics), that's just why they must've felt a crowdfunding campaign would be best for recouping the costs it'd take for this project. Cooke even has the laughable gall to tell everybody:

The comics industry is forever finding new ways to be predatory.

— Stephanie Cooke 🏺⚡️🏹 Oh My Gods! is OUT NOW! (@hellocookie) January 16, 2021

And just how was she being any better when she committed embezzlement? Her ideological beliefs aren't even much different from those of the industry and corporate bigwigs she speaks of. She also wrote:

Well, I’m basing my information off of working in comics for over a decade, running page rate surveys directly based on creator data, and running an entire web site dedicated to discussing industry practices in comics but okay, tell me about Boom. https://t.co/KMzsurWIT3

— Stephanie Cooke 🏺⚡️🏹 Oh My Gods! is OUT NOW! (@hellocookie) January 16, 2021

Yes, somebody like this surely has blame to shoulder for injecting more extreme ideologies into the business in past years. And then, she posted the following laughter inducer:

Some of y’all really just want to blindly go to bat for corporations that don’t give a crap about you.

— Stephanie Cooke 🏺⚡️🏹 Oh My Gods! is OUT NOW! (@hellocookie) January 17, 2021

I haven't heard people like her say it was a horrible mistake for Marvel and DC to produce atrocities like Avengers: Disassembled, Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, Sins Past in Spider-Man, or even One More Day. So she'd do well to just quit blabbering. Oh, and look who replied to her thread on Power Rangers:

This is absolutely unacceptable behavior by BOOM. If you're a company putting out a licensed book, you have absolutely no business crowdfunding for it, and thereby pushing the risk of publishing onto fans. https://t.co/bcs68DfDrN

— Asher Elbein (@asher_elbein) January 16, 2021

Far-leftist Elbein makes very little sense himself. Besides, if Disney Corp. granted permission to crowdfund, then you can't argue about whether Boom should take the path if the licensor's okay with it. For now, if Cooke's not paying back the dough she embezzled, then there's certainly no need to fund or buy the GN she's promoting. Such an absolute disgrace.

Labels: indie publishers, licensed products, moonbat writers, technology