The episode of Stalked: Someone’s Watching featuring interviews with me, my friend Dawn, and my family will rebroadcast tonight on Discovery: ID at 7:30 PM Eastern Time. The episode is also available for pay view. A synopsis is HERE.
The producer wrote to let me know the ratings were very high. Very surprised there was so much interest in it.
Naturally, some facts were changed to protect private information, and to condense roughly 25 years of material into a half hour. Here’s what I wrote on my FB page.
It was interesting that the show emphasized his spreading the weird rumors about my wild life sleeping with all the men in the business. Most of whom I’d never met. They did not mention the fact that he then spent years accusing me of being a lesbian. All that was the least of his weird antics. He spent many years trying to file false claims with the EEOC for discrimination, since he repeatedly tried to get me to hire him. Also, he tried to report me to the IRS, as well as the postal inspector, and a host of other government agencies. He claimed I discriminated against him because he was male, old, and Jewish.
Around 1996, he wrote a series of letters in which he came up with the brilliant idea that he and I should tour conventions together. This was after the bizarre encounter with his mother. The people they cast in the show to play him and his mother had nothing on the real thing for weirdness. Seriously. Also, his proxies repeatedly slugged me in the head from behind, yelled “Walter says Hi!” then ran off. One of them broke a blood vessel in my hand, he shook it so violently. Then he ran off, too. There was no mention of the many times he tried to give me money, and had my name added to his investments and bank accounts. That was a real mess.
The men I was accused of wrapping around my little finger included just about every notable in the business such as Chris Claremont, Jim Shooter, Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz, with particular emphasis placed on my imaginary romance with John Romita JR, whom the stalker hates with a passion. I find JR JR handsome, funny, talented and…of course it all makes sense now. Losers hate JR.
Some of you may know this already, but this is the same stalker Harlan Ellison tried to scare off for me.
Also, the worst of his harassment campaign was directed at my small press clients and my self publishing operation. He made a number of attempts to get to me via my major publishers, but most of them gave him the brush off. My small press clients were less savvy about dealing with his sort.
Self publishing A Distant Soil during this campaign was a unique problem. I never said it in public, but it was a major reason I closed up shop and went to Image Comics. The stalker spent years calling distributors and retailers trying to get my books banned. I wrote about it here. It is also the primary reason I shut down my mail order business and hired someone to handle it on consignment. He and his proxies played a series of dirty tricks, including placing large, expensive orders and then issuing charge backs on the credit cards.
He also spent some years trying to bludgeon me into hiring him. I dealt with him through my attorneys. One day I sat down and did a tally: the legal costs ran in excess of $24,000. Legal battering was a fairly common way for stalkers to get control and contact with their victims, which I didn’t know at the time.
I was also unaware there was such a thing as “proxy stalking” when all this started. The show seems to give the impression that I stopped going to conventions entirely: actually, I stopped going to conventions in the region where this guy and his friends lived. However, I had several encounters as far away as San Diego, where one of Walter’s proxies tried to crush my hand while pretending to shake it.
Further bizarreness resulted in his trying to pay me large sums of money to have a relationship. At one point he offered $30,000.
The show states that Walter was involuntarily committed to an institution, but that was years ago, and he is now out.
He attended a convention this summer.
PS: Also, very kind, supportive words from Mark Evanier.
EDIT: Thank you so much to the Producers of “Stalked” for all their hard work, and thank you to all the people who have sent their words of support. For obvious reasons, I can’t answer all your notes, but I sincerely appreciate every single one of them.
I suggest you consult many of the online resources available. The show Stalked: Someone’s Watching also has advice you can read here.
I also don’t want to give any more information than I’ve given here about the antics and identity of the man who stalked me. Obviously, “Walter Rose” is not his real name, but his true identity is a matter of public record. I just don’t want it here. The name of his proxy, Scott G., is also a matter of public record. Mr G. is a paranoid schizophrenic, and unfortunately, continues to be a bit of a problem. (Yes, apparently, he stills tells people I killed his fictional girlfriend/ex-girlfriend/fiance and/or gave Walter’s mother cancer. I do not have any of these murder credits to my name, nor do I have the power to give people cancer. For example, both Scott G. and Walter remain cancer free.) My intention is not to direct people toward these seriously ill men or to seek revenge. I only want them to leave me alone, and ensure they never hurt anyone else.
I am grateful the show brings awareness to stalking and the terrible impact it has on victims. Everyone who knows and loves someone who is stalked has to deal with this torture. We’re all victims of this crime.
Thank you for your support.
c
I hope they actually put this episode up on their website for those of us without expanded cable, or on Hulu or something.
Larry King wrote on my FB page that you can see it on Zune. He said he thinks it is on Netflix as well.
ooo thanks *goes looking*
okay, Zune wants me to buy it with something called Microsoft Points? That’s a big non starter. I prefer things to be paid in real money.
And Netflix does not seem to have it, unless I’m using the wrong search words… like the title. Too tired to keep looking tonight, will try latr.
I watched it when it originally aired (I think it’s still on my DVR). I thought I had an understanding of the tribulations you endured (via reading your past posts) but that episode made me appalled and wanting to introduce Walter to a Louisville slugger.
The only thing pros should have to be concerned about at conventions is fanboy B.O., not these loons. Makes pros feel uneasy and guarded and not enjoy connecting with fans.
Hopefully Walter and his ilk will fade away.
Thanks, Jeremy. Even some old friends contacted me to say they had no idea how bad it was and were sorry they weren’t more supportive.
I thought I was stoic about the whole thing, and was surprised when my mom said in the interview she thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. I turned to her and said “Really?” and she said “Yeah, several times.” I felt badly about that because it was also stressful on my entire family, and I didn’t want to let it show so they wouldn’t feel badly. But I guess I didn’t do a very good job.
I recorded the first airing and watched it. I cannot even begin to imagine how someone could go that far off the deep end and still be able to function in the world. About twenty years ago, my partner had to deal with someone who went off the deep end after she broke up with him. As stressful as it was, though, it was a Sunday picnic with cake and ice cream compared to what you went through. Convention security didn’t do anything to help you (such as stationing someone by your table) once the “Walter says hi” harassment started? I don’t suppose you were able to recover anything from him for the objective financial expenses he caused you, let alone the emotional damages….
I’m glad that the law has started to recognize that stalking is an assault despite the fact that there is no physical contact. I’m sorry it didn’t seem to have happened early enough to help you deal with Walter.
Nerd culture is unsympathetic toward the victim of this sort of crime.
I was physically battered repeatedly, but by Walter’s proxies, only one of whom we were able to identify, though we have the names of several people who sent letters and packages for Walter. One of them was the son of a prominent cartoonist who sent vicious letters from Walter to my mother.
Years later, the head slamming proxy tried to get me to help his career and friend me on FB. Obviously thinking I would not remember him. I did and blew up, and he whined that I was a big meanie and lied about his deeds. He claimed never to have met me or spoken to me. Yet we had envelopes (with his name, address and handwriting) that he’d used to forward mail for Walter going back to 1992. The proxy is a schizophrenic under medical care, and penniless, for those who wonder why I don’t sue for harassment.
No, I did not file lawsuits against Walter; for over a decade I didn’t even know his real name (we didn’t find that out until sometime in the 1990′s). By then, he had me in such a knot with his fake legals battles against me, I spent most of my time defending myself against his false claims. Once I paid a load of money on retainer to a legal firm out of state to transfer my assets for protection, and it turned out I’d set it all up in the state where Walter really did live. Ha Ha! Joke was on me.
The show doesn’t go into later incidents that got ugly, but shortly after he was committed.
Not one convention until about 2007 made any effort to provide security for me. In fact, when confronted with the pesky problem, they’d usually just disinvite the guest. Now shows take this problem more seriously, and I won’t attend one that doesn’t. (EDIT: My mistake. One Florida show did have security and helped me arrange police protection. When Walter showed up, the police were waiting. That was in the mid-1990′s.)
I attended a New York show in 2007, and someone got behind my table when I was on a panel and vandalized my property. This also happened at a San Diego in 2008. New York Comic Con then put both Walter and one of his proxies on a list and provided extra security for me, though we do not know if Walter or his friends were responsible. However, I know both of them go to conventions.
(I have a far less pressing problem with a woman who has been intermittently cyber bullying, with sock puppets and gleeful forays to sic others on me and my work. She’s also under treatment [for borderline personality disorder or manic depression, can't recall which,] and she’s penniless. The best way to handle her seems to be to ignore her completely, though she tried to stage a confrontation at a convention about 4 years ago. I haven’t heard directly from her since, and she seems to have settled into a life of trashing on social networks.)
Walter does have money, though he used to swing wildly between claims of wealth, and extreme poverty and homelessness – whichever he thought would appeal to my greed or sympathy at the moment. His comic collection – the one that got him sent to a mental hospital for hoarding – is, apparently, valuable. If we have any further problems, I know what I’m going for.
I am pretty sure that is why he now keeps his distance. Since being committed, he knows he can’t just do whatever he wants and get away with it. There are consequences for his behavior.
Both he and his proxies show that they can control their behavior when they are punished for it. So, they have consciousness of guilt. I will use that.
PS: Almost forgot. Walter liked to act as his own attorney. He bragged about his success getting damages and settlements. Since the whole point of his fake legal claims against me was to get attention, going into court and suing him would be the best reward he could ever hope for. Years and years with me at his beck and call in court.
“Nerd culture is unsympathetic toward the victim of this sort of crime.” – it’s frustratingly ironic that people who read stories about heroes and villains and defending others seem to not be able to translate those messages out into the real world.
I guess Walter personifies the old saying “He who represents himself, has a fool for a client”.
Hopefully some of those who watched this episode are convention-goers and re-evaluate the current (unfortunately) arrested development mentality that seems entrenched. I’m not holding my breath but it’d be great to not have the image of ComicBookGuy in people’s minds nor having to say “I read comics and enjoy the artwork, but I’m not like THAT!”
They just don’t want to address this problem.
For obvious reasons I can’t get into details, but as I wrote in the previous post on this matter, Walter had a few credits and considered himself a pro (he wasn’t). The proxies we were able to identify also had minor credits.
I have never had a problem with anyone I ever considered a real fan. Every true problem I ever had was with someone in or on the periphery of the business, trying to get famous. The avaricious bottom feeder.
Their sense of entitlement is their only super power.
Ah, the ones who think they’re the Second Coming of Kirby but just aren’t getting any assignments due to some sort of conspiracy? I’ve stood in line with far too many of those – when they’re in front of me I think “please don’t piss off the pro!”
I enjoy writing (in what little spare time I have) but I have no delusions of grandeur. I know I’d never be a pro doing it (though I write for my job, but that’s moreso in legalese) but I enjoy the works of others and meeting those whose work interests me. I’ve certainly thought “how in the world did this get published?!” but that’s not a call to action to troll the convention circuit with the attitude of “well, if THAT got published, then they’re bound to be enamored with my work!”
Likewise, imagining a friendship with a pro is absurd. I can certainly understand wanting to be on good terms with/be acknowledged by those whom one is a fan; but as some of us told a guy in line at Baltimore a few years ago (when he was saying he was going to ask a female pro for her number), “Don’t be ‘That Guy’!”
Colleen, I can’t say I’m surprised your Mom picked up on the degree of your distress during all this. I guess you could call it the “eyesight of love.” But I also think that no matter how much we try to hide distress, those who care about us know it’s there anyway.
What I think is important is that you didn’t crack. I really admire that. You didn’t let it crush your desire to do your work, you fought back as best you could, you made sure you had at least some allies. I can think of many of my friends who would have folded under that kind of pressure (and not all of them female, either). But, God willing, you’ll never have to deal with that kind of stress and harassment ever again.
This loser didn’t just imagine a friendship, he spent years insisting to people he was my boyfriend. In the show, Dawn talks about how he called her house. He called at all hours for weeks. Dawn and I don’t even live in the same state.
One night Dawn’s husband, who is in the army, threatened to beat the crap out of Walter, who then threatened to call the police on Dawn and her husband.
Afterward, I got angry letters from Walter, claiming he knew I was living with someone. He believed he called my house and spoke to my boyfriend. But he called Dawn’s house, and got her husband. He insisted she turn the phone over to me because he (Walter) claimed over and over to be my boyfriend, and boy, was I going to be angry if I didn’t speak to him! Then, he demanded again and again to speak to my mom.
I wrote of this publicly some years ago, and in true fandom fashion, got attacked on a blog for being mean to the poor mentally ill people. I kid you not.
Factions of this community are so damned unhealthy, they will enable the most hideous behavior. The misogyny, often from other women, is just disgusting. They actually seem to think there’s some sort of egoboo to be had out of being the focus of this kind of attention. It turns my stomach.
@scribbler: I did consider chucking the biz, but this would not stop Walter one bit. He went to extraordinary lengths to track me. Apparently, he got my social security number.
I noticed this: the more successful I was and the more powerful the publisher, the more he backed off. He loved the idea of me as a helpless woman who needed him, and used to write that I appeared to him in his dreams begging for aid. After several attempts to throw tantrums at my major clients, he gave up. He cut way back on his antics when I chucked self publishing and went to Image, but he had some sort of meltdown a few years later and started madly trying to get to me again. Then he got committed.
He and his proxies dreamed famous lives for themselves. They were very afraid of how I could “destroy and persecute” them. They now sit around and mumble that the mean little woman hurt their fabulous careers, which they never had in the first place. If anything, I think my entire family showed extreme restraint.
Walter and his cronies were pretty pathetic. Bunch of cowards, really.
The show interviewed a former Marvel editor, who did not appear on camera. She had an extensive history with these creeps.
Walter spent the last 25 years writing about how I had to contact him and pity him because he was dying of some disease.
He is now a senior citizen.
question: now that he’s out, do you have a restraining order on him, just in case? Or would that be giving him power?
He lives out of state, and the state he lived in required that I live in that state also to take out a restraining order (at the time, anyway, I think the law changed since then.) Stalking across state lines is a federal matter.
A state restraining order also required my address, which would make my new, private address a matter of public record. There is no public record of my new home, since it is not in my name. I have no property in my name. I would also have to file in his home state for incidents that occurred in his home state, where I have not been in over a decade.
We have not heard from Walter since 2005. We have not heard from any of Walter’s proxies since 2008.
They are well aware they will face serious consequences if they try anything again, which sets the clock ticking on their stalking history.
From the last series of letters, Walter’s most devoted proxy was terrified of public exposure for what he had done. I don’t think he’ll be back.
Despite their personality disorder issues, they both demonstrated they could control their behavior when given sufficient incentive.
BTW, restraining orders usually don’t stop anything. He did not stop when confronted by both police and federal agents. He just became enraged. The only thing that upset these goobers was the idea that their precious comic books and careers might be hurt. They didn’t care about anything else.
Makes my own experience with an online stalker look tame (of course, as someone put it, you know you’re dealing with the minor leagues when you’ve been chosen as a target due to being a Usenet “celebrity”). Condolences to you and your family and friends for having to deal with all this.
The strange part to me is that he was able to find multiple proxies; I have to wonder how such, at least pre-widespread Internet, found each other, and why such “relationships” didn’t quickly explode in interesting to a neutral observer ways.
And, since no one’s said it yet, based on what was shown, you’ve got a really kickass mother.
Tyg, I agree! Colleen’s Mom rocks!
As for weirdos finding each other… they manage to do it, no matter the technology.