Pirate Website raided by FBI UPDATED
on May 5th, 2010A large comics pirate website based in Florida was raided by the Feds, with all servers confiscated.
“…The FBI’s Tampa Field Office headed the investigation leading to the warrant. The consortium of publishers cooperating with law enforcement include Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Bongo Comics, Archie Comics, Conan Properties Int’l LLC, Mirage Studios Inc., and United Media.”
The website was run by a man with a long and unusual history of run-ins with the police, including this epic weirdness in which he used his computer company to send SPAM messages attacking a policeman who arrested him, claiming to all that the cop was a gay pedophile. He then proceeded to set up a gay porn website in the cop’s name.
UPDATED 5-12-10: The link at the Tampa website to Mr. Pirate’s criminal records seems to have expired. This is the correct link. Birthdate and all other pertinent info are a match.
UPDATE 12/07/2010: Score another one for Gregory S Hart. New arrest for “corruption by threat against public official.” For the record, I received a number of demands by Mr Hart to remove this post, threatening lawsuits and criminal action. I ignored them. Two years after the original post, he has not taken further action.
Mr. Pirate also claims to be a good Christian. Many websites have epic odd posts from this dude.
The comments thread at the above link is particularly interesting. This man has issues.
One of his issues is with me.
When I very politely asked him to remove my comics from his website, he sent me a belligerent letter and threatened to lawyer me into oblivion:
“…we’ll see you in court and we’ll be the ones cashing your compensatory damages check.”
He bragged about how much he loved battling with lawyers…and about how much money he had.
After I again firmly but politely asked him to remove my work, he complied. However, larger publishers who also made the request were rudely rebuffed. Others were offered a deal: he wanted to become their online publisher.
No takers.
Well, we’ll see if he enjoys battling with lawyers now.
UPDATE: Because I can’t turn away from this train wreck.
The guy who claimed he had a legal team of lawyers, who threatened me with same, who claimed his site was not only legal but the big companies like Marvel were OK with it, the guy who was just doing this as a public service and didn’t even need the money can be seen over here at FINDLAW back in March, trying to get free legal advice about his “online library.”
In it he completely contradicts everything he wrote to me (and on various message board websites,) and admits that his ultimate goal with his website is to make it really popular, collect royalties by getting publishers to agree to let him do what he does for a cut of the take, and then to sell the site for big bucks.
His lack of understanding of copyright law is unique in its bizarro-world way, especially in light of the arrogant way he mansplained it all to me.
One more quote from his missive to me:
We recoupe [sic] money in very large amounts for compensatory damages for legal costs expended in defending ourselves against a matter that has been decided many, many times over in the course of US history, hence gets deemed as a “frivolous” case.
I’m in awe.
For someone who claims to respect books so much, he sure has a tin ear for language.
Somewhere around here, I even have a document in which he claims Google itself hired him (or got the idea from him, or something) to set up the Google Book Search scheme. Of which I am NO FAN.
Trying to impress me with that cred (which, BTW, is a lie) was another bad call.
FYI: an earlier post on Federal Copyright Violation.
My goodness, aren’t I the prescient one.
And BTW, CLICK HOME to read my webcomic, which is right here on my advertiser-supported website, free for you to read before you buy.
And remember kids, pirates hurt creators like me by drawing traffic away from advertiser-supported online comics.
If you are reading them over there, the pirate gets paid.
If you are reading it here, I get paid. When I get paid, I can do more comics. If I don’t get paid, I stop doing comics.
Simple.
Wow. Wonder how many issues he stored. What’s the penalty per issue hosted? Does the server keep track of each download? Will the rats on this pirate ship be traced and fined?
Well, I guess we will soon find out exactly how much he had stored on those servers.
As for the penalties for felony copyright violation, here’s a bit of news for those who think copyright violation is some sort of lark:
The Electronic Theft Act.
Jail terms and big fat fines.
Enjoy:
http://adistantsoil.com/2009/03/20/felony-copyright-violation/
I would have been happy to see this dude get his comeuppance for what he did to that policeman, but jail for felony copyright violation will be OK by me.
People wonder why I don’t take these nutters seriously when they say they’re actually “helping” the publishers by making the work available. Looks like he’ll be on the receiving end of some righteous fury; that’s what he gets for going up against you!
seriously, WTF Florida and comics? Actually just WTF Florida. But also WTF comics and Florida. Yeesh.
In addition to the obvious insanity and inanity of the dude, it needs to be pointed out (yet again) that most pedophiles aren’t gay. But I suppose tact and accuracy are not in the vocabulary of such dudes as this.
@ bodefan
And how.
This guy was a perfect storm of distasteful.
A hypocritical religious man.
A man who makes unwarranted attacks on police (I guess he doesn’t know how many cops are in my family).
A homophobe.
A man who bears false witness against his fellow man.
A copyright infringer.
A man who responds to a polite business request with mansplaining threats.
My ability to create more A Distant Soil depends on my ability to sell my backlist. I make my backlist available on my advertiser supported website for free to fans. He takes that income stream away from me.
What a guy.
@ Jeremy: I’d love to take credit for bringing down He Who Loves to Battle With Lawyers, but the Legion of Super Adjudicators got him first.
And BTW, this didn’t all just happen, you know. The federal investigation has been going on for quite some time. I was asked not to say anything publicly.
And I didn’t.
But now it’s done and done.
wow, the comments on the Robot6 article are so full of fail and clueless. “I loved that site and wouldn’t have bought XYZ book if I hadn’t seen it for free first!” Yeah, and if every creator got their royalty every time some yob claimed that, the creator would actually make a living — instead of having their income stream stolen and then being told “be grateful I bought your book after I stole it you ingrate”
:-/
This dude is also clueless as a webdeveloper, he used javascript to ‘protect the pages from being downloaded’. There are so many things wrong with that, one being that this becomes useless the moment you shut off javascript. Secondly, he stored the images i plain folders, and a quick look in ‘view source’ points directly to where the files where stored, and then anyone could go there directly and download as usual. Thirdly, this is someone being payed to develop databases – which in light of the above, is pretty incredible. Who the heck would pay for a solution this crude anyway, even if he had made it work?
Schädenfreude. It’s the best!
@ Arlnee: yeah I see a lot of people saying they would never have bought yadda yadda if they hadn’t seen it online.
There is no data comparison to show how many people will now NOT buy it because they got to read it for free.
For my part, I routinely get books for free online at Project Gutenberg and ebooktakeaway.com. All of these books are in the public domain.
Once I have the digital book, 9 times out of 10, I no longer have any incentive to see out a hard copy. In the past, I would have moved heaven and Earth to get that book.
I even gave away my Shakespeare volumes, and the Sherlock Holmes collection to a library in Ghana sponsored by my parent’s church. If I want to read Shakespeare, I can get it any time I want on computer.
I think it is rather lame to suggest that if people read something online, they are more likely to buy it.
I believe unless the person is a collector, or simply must have a good edition of the book, they are LESS likely to buy. They’ve had the experience of reading that book for the first time. That experience can never be repeated.
The sell-through on even the most popular webcomics is something like 2 % – Girl Genius, for example. 98 % of the online readers don’t buy the books.
For my part here, I know I haven’t monetized my work as well as I should, and when I have the ability, yes, I will make digital copies available for sale.
But I KNOW that the number of people who have read it online will be much higher than the number of people who will then buy something.
I hope to make enough money via ancillary sales and advertising to compensate.
Anyone who comes to read my book here online at my official website helps me simply by raising my hit count, which raises money from my advertisers. I am grateful for every person who takes the time to read it here. It may not be as easy as taking my work from a bit torrent, but it helps to pay for the site and for future work.
I think that’s a pretty fair deal.
That said, I am less likely to read digital comics online because of the bandwidth and speed. I’m on satellite. I have a subscription at Marvel.com and rarely use it. I still prefer to read the comic pamphlet.
But the Marvel website been great as a research tool when doing work for Marvel. I used to spend a fortune on back issues every time I did a comic, trying to get costume reference.
2% sell through??!?
(looks at GG volumes on shelf, is suddenly smug)
This guy not only was stupid/idiotic enough to be rude to you, Colleen, he was moronic enough to be rude to Harlan Ellison.
OK Jan, you MUST show me that link.
Also, something that keeps coming up: I don’t know why people think that if books are officially available online, people will stop pirating.
My book is available at my official website, and it is pirated. The last time I counted, roughly 145 websites had my works.
Also, Stuart Immonen serialized his original work on his official website.
Each day a page went up, the page was pirated elsewhere. Free webcomics are ROUTINELY pirated.
Creators and publishers making works available online EVEN FOR FREE will not stop pirating.
At all.
If someone can take your content and add it to their site to create more hits, they will do it. And many people will never bother to look for the official site.
Digital comics from DC or Marvel WON’T stop pirates any more than my official FREE website stopped my book from being pirated.
Oops, Jan, found it!
http://harlanellison.com/heboard/unca.htm
Check out the Wed, May 5 entry, folks.
I love how this crazy dude claimed he couldn’t be found.
My webfu is not that mighty. He was no will-o-the-wisp. Took me about a day to track him down.
And oh, he was using a very odd company name.
OSO IFAM Inc.
That’s mafioso spelled backwards.
What a prince.
And I didn’t see that first, Kris Simon did.
Sorry, I meant to post the link but got sidetracked.
This was posted at this website on May 1:
http://thenostalgialeague.yuku.com/topic/2387/t/HTML-Comics.html?page=1
“I just talked to the guy who runs HTML comics on the phone, and according to him, he is having some legal troubles with the site, but its not going to be down permanently; according to him it will be back in about 2-3 months.
So, its definitely a weight off my mind. At least he seems optimistic about it. “
Imagine that these people are the same ones ranting on about communism – one would imagine that they would love that whole concept, all things considering.
What happened to that pirate guy we used to have around here — or on the old message board — who was forever extolling the virtues of pirating?
Dunno. Maybe he’s found a more welcoming environment.
I am so glad I vowed to stop posting on other message boards.
Not because other people don’t have interesting things to say elsewhere, but because you could spend the rest of your life re-explaining copyright. I just read a long, very odd thread where people argued that libraries have an exception to copyright that allows libraries to loan books. I nearly peed laughing.
Some people simply aren’t equipped to understand the vagaries of law, and should, perhaps, not dabble in areas in which they have no expertise.
I don’t run to car websites and tell mechanics how to do their job. Or what the law is with regard to widgets.
Just sayin’.
Reading some of the comments elsewhere about this matter has been a maddening exercise in self control, and I think it’s time to turn off my computer, walk away, and ponder YET AGAIN in silence why anyone would feel the need to justify pirating a comic like mine which I provide FREE to readers right here.
I understand that people don’t have money.
I understand there are people reading this book in Nepal who can’t get to a comics shop (that’s true, BTW.)
But I don’t understand why anyone could possibly believe there is any justification for reading my comic anywhere else.
Read it here for free.
Don’t read it anywhere else for free.
I don’t think that’s too much to ask.
Do me a real favor, and request that your library get it. Then it can be read it analogue form by people who don’t have computers.
Re: mafioso spelled backward…
well, now, isn’t that laiceps?
I am SO GLAD I didn’t sign off before I read that! LOL!!!!!!
Wait, I simply must.
Some quick math.
For the sake of argument, let’s say there are 150 pirate sites worldwide.
If each pirate website draws from the official website only 3 new readers per week, that’s 450 people.
If 450 people 52 weeks a year glom via pirate instead of via official, that’s 23,400.
If 23,400 people sit down to read your great novel or comics or whatever (remember, that’s only 3 people per site per week), that costs you 7,020,000 annual page views at your site, assuming a 300 page book.
Just sayin’.
It doesn’t take a lot per site, but the aggregate is huge.
That number of page views would pay for an entire issue of A Distant Soil, based on the current income per page view from my advertisers.
It costs the reader NOTHING to read my comic here. It costs me when they don’t.
I have to say, in defense of men everywhere, that whatever this guy might have said to you is, technically, not mansplaining but nutcasesplaining.
OMG, I must have lost my mind. I just posted to a message board. And right after, someone who can’t even spell the capitalism he complains about wrote an hilarious post about how making art isn’t valuable, it’s not real work, and people will never value it like they value real goods and services.
Made of fail in every way, but I will restrain myself, yes, I will.
Making art is a service and a contract to make art is a personal services contract. Tangible goods are the final product.
I hurt myself, I hurt myself.
Oh, how I laugh.
Through my tears, like Pagliacci.
Yes, I’m sure that poster is happy with ugly cars, ugly shoes, bland undyed fabrics, no entertainment on his television, merely functional furniture, bland food, and utter silence around him at all times.
No value!!!!! ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!
(Okay, I’d gotten wound up on Dixonverse by a poster who felt it a waste of the FBI’s time and resources for them to go after this pirate, and who hope that they’d spent no more than a week on it, using only the most junior agents so they could “get case practice”. Oh, and he considered the piracy to be a minor crime. *Deskhead*… multiple times.
)
We live in a world where people resent and hate creatives simply for existing. It’s not real work, we don’t deserve anything but the crumbs we are thrown. And we should be grateful for them.
I have more respect for ditch diggers than these people have for us.
And since I have a working FARM and do manual labor every day – unlike some of these computer jockeys – my personal experience is that manual labor of that sort is NOT harder than creating comics.
A friendly reminder:
http://adistantsoil.com/2009/02/28/im-a-lumberjack-and-im-ok/
And even the crumbs are often a payment too far — hence the piracy.
And how.
Cheap online comics won’t stop piracy.
Free online comics won’t stop piracy.
Webcomics are routinely pirated and ANYONE can read them for FREE.
Yet people take them from the official sites, and monetize them elsewhere.
The demand for digital comics and piracy are not one and the same issues.
I know its nowhere near your level but I just found out a few days ago that someone was making money on my pdf book letting people download at a cheaper price and saying they wrote it. The only way a friend found the site was the person did not change the name of the book or the copyright information within the file.
Oh, I am so sorry. Piracy and plagiarism in one blow.
How did you handle it?
And somewhere out there a piracy apologist is doing backflips trying to justify this.
I contacted the person by the contact information on their website and after a few e-mail exchanges were it went from the person first saying they did write the book, to them then saying “What was I going to do about it, I was nobody”, to them finally admitting it and get this Asking if I want to write a book with them???? After my last email to this person or persons I went by the site to find it gone but this person had already made money on my writing, My crappy writing, and if the information on their site could be believed they sold over 200 copies of my book. I haven’t sold that many!!!! I contacted the company hosting their site also. It’s actually a local site so the person was more than likly local.
Sorry for doing another reply but I had to get off the net earlier today because people told me everything from, at least it was good PR for my book, to maybe I shouldn’t have made a PDF book in the first place because that was me setting myself up for someone taking my stuff, to why am I so upset its not like I make a living with my PDF projects…. It makes my eyeballs hurt. Not making a living? well, especially with stuff like this happening and this hurts others because I wanted to take profits from that book to hire a cover artist for my next book…..oh, and I was also told it had to help my sales because I don’t do much PR work for my books myself….sorry, no big sales spikes…Again sorry for writing so much here but it seems like no one, even those supporting me think this is theft. This is money out of my wallet, how is that not theft.
That is just awful.
Wait, the same people who want everything to go digital complained that you made a pdf book, and that is why you got robbed, you made it so easy?
So, your house gets broken into…that’s what you get for leaving it out in the open!
Can you find the name of this goober? Maybe you can sue in small claims.
And yes, I also get enraged at the dopey logic of these people who – yes – STEAL stuff and then tell us to go into business with them.
Copyright violation on a large scale is a federal offense, and that’s why they call it the Electronic THEFT Act.
MANY people who commented elsewhere about the rampant piracy I discussed in my post, did not bother for ONE SECOND to read about the background of the awful man. The FIRST suggestion out of most of their typewriters was just go into business with these pirates and share the profits!
WTF?
Go into business with people you never met, people you never heard of, people who demonstrate lousy character, and people who have already demonstrated a complete and utter lack of respect for the law.
What on Earth makes anyone believe that if we went into business with these people we would get anything out of the deal?
These online analysts of other people’s professions would be the first to line up and howl about what stupid people we are for signing bad contracts.
I love how people with absolutely no expertise in publishing act like they know how our business works.
Not every author is a paid entertainer.
I don’t tour for a living, I write and draw for a living.
YES, piracy hurts authors.
People love to flap their yap about piracy because they have noting to lose by it. They can afford to be imprudent with other people’s stuff.
I’m checking in on the small claims court thing and if it would be a good way for me to go. Tell you the true I’m still stunned this happen to me. If you were going to put someone elses stuff out there as your own, why choose someone as small league as myself?
But I do think that it is happening to people as small time as myself shows how widespread this issue is. And here I thought the sales of my book had stopped dead but in fact they were coutinuing but not into my bank account.
Brian, it is rampant, it happens to ALL creative people. If you work, you get robbed.
I am on the Graphic Artist Guild Advisory Committee, and one of our recent jobs was making suggestions to the federal government Intellectual Property Task Force. I was accustomed to cartoonist’s and author’s tales of woe, but the rampant stealing of the work of designers and illustrators left me stunned.
This unlawful taking is not only the work of pirate amateurs, but there are plenty of professional organizations and publishers who simply take what they need without paying the artist.
A very common problem is stock agencies using images for which they have no secured rights, and people taking work they did not create to resell on Etsy, Cafe Press and Zazzle.
You don’t have to be SOMEBODY, you just have to have something other people want.
And everybody is somebody.
Years ago, I knew a guy who used to do some minor assistant work for me.
I had to stop by the grocery one day, and as we walked by a bin, the guy grabbed a handful of penny candy and stuffed it in his pocket.
I barked at him for it, and his response? “Everybody does it!”
Well, hell, no. Everybody doesn’t do it and I have never shoplifted anything in my life.
Now, here is a guy who was perfectly capable of paying for, perhaps 30 cents worth of candy. He had no need for the candy, and I bet he didn’t even really want it.
He just wanted to take it because it was easy, and he got a thrill out of taking it and getting it for free.
I have little doubt a lot of people who take IP even think about the creators, care about what they have done, or what they have taken. It’s likely the vast majority would never buy what they take.
They take it because they can.
The simple fact that ADS is here for FREE on my website and STILL pirated is empirical proof that this is NOT about access. My work is RIGHT HERE. Webcomics are FREE.
This is about taking it because you can get away with it.
Another example:
Back when I was self publishing, I used to do trade shows and I gave away many thousands of free copies of A Distant Soil as samples.
With a sign saying PLEASE TAKE ONE right above the books.
This woman came up to my booth, and began to take a handful. I said, “Please take one. I want to make sure everyone at the show has an opportunity to get a copy.”
She sort of sneered at me and put most of the comics back, and I turned for a moment to talk to someone else.
Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw her open her large tote and shove a whole stack of ADS into her bag. I said, “Ma’am, I need to have enough for the show. Please leave copies for others.”
Her response?
“Fine! Keep it then!”
And then she tossed a handful of the books at me and stalked off.
You don’t have to be famous, or rich, or enviable to be robbed. And you don’t even have to have something people want.
You just have to have something other people don’t have.
They will take it.
It’s not respectable to take books without compensating the author. Period.
If these people who read our works at unofficial websites really care about being able to read our works on the cheap, then they could drop a small tip in the jar of the authors and artists whose work they read. If they think that comic is too expensive at $4, then what is holding them back from sending the author or artist $1 via Paypal?
Oh yeah, that would be hard.
I want to thank every single person who comes to my website and reads A Distant Soil. YOU honest readers help to finance this project for EVERYONE. The higher the hit count, the more we collect from advertisers.
That’s how this online thing works.
If you go to unofficial websites to read my work, only pirates get paid.
And don’t kid yourself: they don’t care about books, or comics, or art, or anything else.
They’re picking up penny candy because they can.
Brian, if this was a local incident, what about contacting local press to see if they will do a story about it?
I hope you don’t think I was making light of the issue its just my first thought was, “Me, really? Stealing my book?” And that seemed to be a thought many had in my circle when I told them about it.
Your story about giving away free books reminds me of our local comic shop gave my gf a bunch of comics to give away at her library during FCBD but they didn’t last long because people keep taking ten or more the same comic.
That’s a good idea. I think I will drop a line to the local paper.
Oh, and by the way I’m really enjoying going back and reading A Distant Soil once again. Thank you for putting it on your site.
A certain person in Lutz, Florida (well, that IP anyway) is reading this post and thread.
Logged.
@ Brian, no I didn’t think you were making light of it. I just don’t think not being famous makes you a nobody.
Colleen, reading about how that woman wanted to dash off with gobs of your book instead of just one makes me feel kind of queezy.
I try to pay for what I want. I don’t like taking advantage, because I know how much work artists and writers put into making a comic book. I even feel a little bit guilty when creator friends give me free copies of something. At one con, an artist friend had ashcan copies of his upcoming mini-series, which he was selling at the con for $1. It was a black & white copy of what was to be a color book, slightly reduced in size, but it was the whole first issue. So, it was certainly worth $1. And I was quite willing to pay that $1. He’s a friend and I like his work. But when there wasn’t anyone else at the table, he just gave me a copy of it! I don’t take that lightly!
So, just imagining someone trying to make off with all the copies (obviously not understanding your purpose!) and then being rude to you just makes me ill. That sort of behavior almost makes me want to ill-wish them — something like “many many mice nibble and dice their way through your comic collection.”
Hmph. Must think happy thoughts. I’ll go look at some Colleen art.
That type of behavior doesn’t make me queasy, it makes me irate. I would have to resist the urge to shake some sense into them. But you are right – far better to go look at some Colleen art.
And also I can bask in the Szekeres piece I won on ebay!
Fortunately, that’s the only time I can recall someone doing something like this. So considering the many thousands of fans and retailers I have met over the years, I’d say that’s a good record.
I am SO GLAD you won that art, Miki!!!
@ scribbler
I feel the same way you do. I don’t even like taking small potatoes for free, and I mean that literally.
A local farmer offered me some seed potatoes for nothing this week, and I would not take them without a purchase. Most farmers need every penny.
I bought some fresh strawberries and got the potatoes as a bonus. I didn’t even want the strawberries, but we had an unexpected treat of lovely shortcake, and in a few months, we’ll have more fresh potatoes.
And I feel better for buying them.
The woman trying to take all the freebies reminds me of a guy I ran into once at a con. I was set up in Artist Alley, selling issues of my zine, and this guy comes up and asks if I was willing to trade books. I said sure, and he picks up one of everything I have on the table, about a dozen different issues. Then he tries to hand me 12 identical copies of his ONE comic as trade. He was clearly annoyed when I told him that I really had no use for multiple copies of the same book, and that I would only trade him one-for-one. I’m sure it will surprise no one to learn that his comic wasn’t very good, either.
Come to think of it, he and your crazy lady would have been a perfect couple: “Would you like 20 copies of my comic?” “Why yes, don’t mind if I do!”
Oh, God.
Yeah, been there.
Tangentially related, but probably really off topic, though a great opportunity for me to whine about it.
Considerable lingering bad feeling arose after a certain small press dude borrowed a not inconsiderable sum from me back in the day.
He was in tears as his operation was falling apart and he could not ransom his stock from his printer to whom he owed a fat debt.
I paid his bill.
I was paid back in boxes and boxes of copies of his comic. This was not the agreement. They just showed up on my doorstep one day. Which meant I had to put them in my tiny condo, and then go rent a storage unit to hold them, lifting every single 60 lb box with my dainty hands.
And he didn’t even give me the books at wholesale – I got ‘em at retail. I would have to sell every single copy to get a return on my loan.
I did not know what to do with them, and did not know what to do in the face of such profuse groveling and thanks, so I sucked it up in hopes I could sell them.
Further bad feeling arose after I caught him bragging about how his sales were just SOARING. I knew his sales were SOARING because he had just shipped me a truckload of comics. Those comics did not go to fans or bookstores, that’s for damn sure.
It will come as no surprise to anyone to hear I was unable to sell the books.
And because I had to warehouse them – which meant paying further and losing even more money – after three years, I had no choice but to throw the stock in the trash to cut my losses.
I had multiple copies of only TWO books in my entire career that simply WOULD NOT MOVE: the other was a comic called Nestrobber, another self publishing abortion.
I was paid for my back up art and cover art in copies of this thing, and I can honestly say I never saw a dime of profit. I was unable to move 50 copies of two issues COMBINED. I have never seen a book with less shelf appeal. No one wanted it.
The comics cost me almost $200 a month to house.
I’d go to shows and not sell a single copy of either book.
Argh.
No good deed goes unpunished.
As a creator – on and off – I feel the pain. I have a ‘dayjob’, but I work just as hard – or harder – when I do creative art.
It’s like these people think the artwork just materialize itself on the paper without effort or thought.
If they were consistent, they would feel the same about custom made cars or bikes, or additions to the house, but no.
It’s a very strange way of thinking, and it feels like it’s related to stuff like racism and the like.
There’s no actual logic attached to it.
I think you may be on to something Mikael.
I remember having an interesting discussion about the definition of bigotry and finally went and looked it up. Bigotry can extend to profession. Interesting, no?
I’m sure farmers are tired of being stereotyped as stupid hicks, mechanics are tired of being stereotyped as thugs. Cops are tired of being called NAZI’s, and I know creative people are tired of being considered flakes who don’t do real work.
I have found the correct link to Gregory Steven Hart’s criminal record in Arizona:
http://www.azcorrections.gov/inmate_datasearch/results.aspx?InmateNumber=068272&LastName=HART&FNMI=G&SearchType=Search
The birth date matches and all other pertinent info matches.
Record for forgery, assault, drugs. Used several aliases.
And to think people blithely suggested I just go into business with this guy.
Oh lord, Nestrobber. I tried to find a copy, all in vain. It kind of came and went like a movie in January, buried in the dead zone between end of the year and the Oscars. Totally forgot about it till the mention here.
I was paid in copies for all three “Women In Fur” I did, which I agreed to (partly because they were just quick throwaway short stories, but also because the publisher is notorious for not paying their regular artists–some have gone for years without seeing a dime) Even so they never sent me an issue without me hounding for them and the requisite three go-rounds of “but I could have sworn we sent those out already” until they grudgingly sent them … I got five or six issues of each, sold maybe a couple of each, gave away the rest. The only one I really liked was the second one and that’s because Carla Speed McNeil illustrated it
(and of course that’s the only one I can’t find now, I think a certain someone coaxed it into his car with promises of candy or whatnot…)
There were only two issues of Nestrobber, and I did a cover for the third. I haven’t had any contact with the creator since around then. The book did very poorly. There may have been a short story from the project at Dark Horse at some point, I can’t recall.
If I can find a copy in my pile o’ stuff, I will send it along. I did back up illos for it. Six of them, I think.
I had no idea you did furry comics! And I had no idea that publisher was still around. Holy cow.
I am also guilty of the “I swore I sent that!” Usually because once I pack something, I remember it as being sent.
I can be really bad about it.