Preston Poulter obtains provisional trademark for the word ‘Comicsgate’

Independent comics publisher and prominent anti-Comicsgate YouTuber Preston Poulter registered the word “Comicgate” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Furthermore, Poulter is seeking a certification trademark. It will allow him to certify who gets to call their comic book “Comicsgate.” Those he deems worthy will get a unique logo to put on their book. It will notify the consumer that the book was certified “Comicsgate.”

Here is the logo:

The logo shows a blue-haired woman destroying a mailbox with a sledgehammer while a frog leaps to safety.

• The blue-haired woman represents Renfamous, an anti-Comicsgate Twitter activist.
• The mailbox represents ThatUmbrellaGuy’s mailbox, a notable Comicsgate YouTube personality.
• The frog represents Cyberfrog, Ethan Van Sciver’s comic book character.

Why would Preston Poulter do this?

I cannot help but think this whole scheme is just a troll operation on the part of Poulter. It reeks of a troll operation. From the library book on trademark law to the ugly, poorly made logo representing Comicsgate certification, this whole thing doesn’t seem like something an average person would do. It lacks both professionalism and legitimacy. If someone wanted to troll the Comicsgate community, this would be a great way of doing it.

I can’t imagine any comic book creator who cares about the aesthetics of their book wanting this awful looking logo anywhere near their book. Besides, not even actual Comicsgate creators put the word “Comicsgate” on their books.

Preston Poulter wanted to be apart of Comicsgate until he was against it

Ethan Van Sciver often tells the story of how Poulter repeatedly sent him message after message after message asking to appear on his YouTube channel, ComicArtistPro Secrets. Van Sciver failed to get back to Poulter, resulting in Poulter quickly becoming a champion of anti-Comicsgate.

My opinion

Poulter spends too much of his time focused on Comicgate. It’s a real shame. He cornered the market on non-fiction World War II female Soviet fighter pilot comics. Instead of focusing on Comicsgate, he should focus on that.

He should make videos going over his source material. Poulter should try to educate American consumers on the World War II Soviet Air Force. If he did this, he could attract a whole different audience to his channel.

Poulter could market his comic books to people who watch his videos about the old Soviet Air Force. He could make his books the first comic books many of them have ever read.

In conclusion

Selling comic books to non-comic book fans is something all independent comic publishers should try to do. It’s something many Comicsgate creators do. Many of them have been very good at it. Poulter really ought to give that a try. What’s he got to lose?

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