Okay, so this is entertaining, ...

...in a weird, borderline creepy, sort of way…

Two posts ago, I mentioned that I was fascinated with the continuing dramedy that is the YABS ("You'll All Be Sorry") forums on the Comic Book Resources website – specifically this one.

When I first mentioned the site, I only named the forum’s moderator – Gail Simone, a comics writer whose work I happen to enjoy. I figured that, if either of my readers were interested in the details of the controversy and the impetus for same, they could follow the link and decide for themselves whether there was any steak in amongst the sizzle.

Here’s where it gets interesting: I have this blog listed in my profile at the CBR forums, and have referenced my posts when the thread has veered into the realms of pop music, art and design, etc., since these were subjects on which I have posted here in the past. I have made no effort to separate my identities; my name is freely available in both places and, let’s face it – “CutterMike” and “The Yankee Clipper” are pretty well-worn jokes among my friends and not exactly world-class aliases.

So yesterday, one of the regulars on the YABS thread posts that Rick Olney (the inspiration for the thread - and whose name I had not, until now, mentioned here) had posted an item on his MySpace page: a story about how he had received an anonymous phone call from a Mysterious Stranger who, disturbed at how vindictive the “Rick Olney: Fibber or Mega-Giganta-Fibber…?” thread (which, again, I had not named in this blog until this moment) had gotten, supposedly pointed him to my post on the subject as an example of how bad things were.

Upon coming here, Rick Olney, or "Orcafresh" (one of his online names), was apparently shocked – SHOCKED, I tell you – at how vituperative my comments apparently were, because he posted a long response here (mostly cribbed from Wikipedia) on the subject of “hate groups”. He then followed up by copying my full post - making sure to include both “Mike Moyle” and “Cutter Mike” in his framing sequence - and his full response on his MySpace blog.

The curious and fascinating fact is that, rather than use my rather low-key – almost Joe Friday-ish – post regarding the YABS thread (the one to which he responded here), he actually copied my more recent post – the screedlet on SUVs and walkie-talkies – and gave the impression* that THAT was the post to which he was responding, and that the tone of that post – the patented Merkin/Moyle Rent-A-Rant was somehow typical of the sort of burden that he had to bear.

* This is another habit that I’ve seen him use on the YABS thread – he has tried to imply something in a post then, when called on it, say “I never SAID that!”

Oh… And just for giggles, I went to his blog to see whether HE allows readers to post comments on HIS entries. Was I surprised to find that I was unable to post a rebuttal there?

Not really.

Based on others’ comments on the RO:FoM-G-F, and on his OWN posts there, this is not unusual – he has even gone so far as to delete his own posts when someone has tripped him up on his posts contradicting one another.

For those who don’t feel like wading through 20,000+ posts on the thread, the gist of it is that a number of freelance comics creators and ex-employees/business associates started comparing notes, regarding non-payment of bills for work done for Mr. Olney and his company “TightLip Entertainment”, and supposedly found that the sums total to over $60,000. (Some posters have claimed that it might reach $100K, but the most commonly-accepted number is in the $60K+ range. Note that I have these numbers at second-hand; these are just the figures used on the thread.)

As far as I have been able to make out, at least part of his argument for why he doesn’t need to pay these people appears to be that, by going public with the fact that he hasn’t paid them (some, I believe, for as much as a year or two), they have broken their Non-Disclosure Agreements and voided their contracts.

(This is the moment at which most people will take a deep breath and raise one finger as if about to make a point, then sit there with their mouths open while a cricket chirps in the background…)

Thus far he has apparently lost two civil judgments (one for $4500 or so, plus costs, IIRC), through the simple expedient of not responding to the summonses. This is, according to Mr. Olney, because his attorney told him not to even bother responding, since it will be easy enough to have them overturned on appeal. (If your eyes are crossing and glazing over at this – and a second cricket has joined the first - you’re not alone; professional lawyers have gotten the same look, when asked about this legal theory…!) Reports also seem to indicate that he is a “person of interest” to the New York Attorney General’s office regarding a charity auction that he held at a convention a few years ago. The auction, you see, was supposedly held to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Which appears to have surprised the folks at St. Jude when they were asked about it a month or two ago, since – according to the report – that was the first that they claimed to have heard of it!

That’s the Cliff’s Notes version of the story to which I alluded in my previous post.

The one good thing about all of this is that many of the unpaid creatives, and MANY others have joined forces to form UNSCREWED COMICS, a resource site and support group whose goal is to... welll... help keep comics creatives from getting screwed!

I had, in fact, planned to leave the story as it was, and let any curious reader follow the link and look the story up for hirself but, since I was denied the courtesy of responding TO Mr. Olney’s blog ON Mr. Olney’s blog – a privilege that I allow here – I felt that I was within my rights to respond on MY forum.

If Mr. Olney feels the need to respond here again, I would hope that he would at least have the decency and courtesy to allow me equal time on his blog, rather than setting me up there as a straw man for his own purposes.
--------------------

…A-a-a-a-a-and, just to complete the story…

Before posting this, I went to Mr. Olney’s MySpace page to make sure that his …borrowing… of my post was still up there.

Again: Was I surprised to find that he had taken it down…?

Nope. As noted above – it’s what he seems to do whenever someone catches him out.

Fortunately, it was quoted in full by the original (re)poster on YABS. If anyone is curious, it can be found here. (And before anyone blames Danny, it's not his fault - Rick Olney really DID originally post it with all of the text center-justified. Makes it a bear to read, doesn't it!)

Based on this… pathology is the only word that seems to fit… can both of my readers see where the fascination for this whole thing comes in for me?

I mean, I will admit that I’m far from perfect, and I will admit that, by most of Middle-America’s standards, I am decidedly not normal… but the more I read this guy’s OWN WORDS, the more I feel that, by comparison, I‘m ready to become a church Deacon and join the Rotary Club!

-No 30-