Rick Olney: Still does not pay freelancers or anyone else.

[HamsterRage]

Well to be fair Rick did get one thing right:

It's too bad Rick has decided that in spite of judgments against him and cease and decist order from Lucasfilm he's chosen to never do the right thing.

STILL HAS NOT HAPPENED. NO WORD FROM LUCASFILM YET. BUT WHEN,AND IF IT EVER COMES ... I SHALL CERTAINLY SHARE IT.

Pretty telling huh?

[HamsterRage]

I know this isn't really relevant, but I find it hysterically funny.

You know that phrase about what happens when cousins marry?


Well, what DO you get when cousins marry?


A grandson named Rick, apparently.

Turns out Rick's grandfather's last name was Olney.

And his grandmother's maiden name?

ALSO Olney.

They were first or second cousins.


Sorry, but it would explain a lot, wouldn't it?

What? Seriously? that's really gross.

[Outsider]

Screen caps:

http://imgur.com/a/T0uKH

[JTPencils]

Just a quick observation on the FB page. It's already straying beyond the "just the facts" policy I was expecting with back-and-forth comments on some posts. Might want to look into that.

This sort of "straying from the intent" is why I suggested leaving this (or any similar thread) open. This way the FB page can stay (thank you Jack Webb) "Just the facts"... and the comments and asides have SOME sort of outlet. Or else it will creep into the FB page... and destroy the original intent of the page.

Just saying.

[bert]

Only (not Olney), but ONLY. . because this is making me crazy.

I *know* folks brains want to auto correct and note them as Dwarves.

but the pic he used, are the 7 "Dwarfs" from the Disney classic.

that's the way Disney spells it.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51CD4DYVKKL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
http://www.coverdude.com/covers/snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs-1937-fs-2disc-r1-front-cover-34560.jpg
http://celebritymodeldvds.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Snow.White_.And_.The_.Seven_.Dwarfs.1937.1080p.Blu Ray-00037-450x450.jpg

(so Ricky is still wrong. . but, me (Disneyphile that I am), just HAD to correct the spelling here) :)

no, it doesn't make Ricky's comparison any less idiotic. .they are Dwarfs, not Trolls. . .but it makes me feel better!

[JTPencils]

So.... he can't find contact names and addresses... he's "lost" most anything he's ever claimed to have as proof of damn near anything he's ever said... but he's still got a NAPKIN agreement somewhere?


That's just hilarious in the most bizarre fashion.

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

What? Seriously? that's really gross.
While Gail is right that this is not relevant, here is what she was talking about to show we are factual and not just making up things about Rick.


Yes, that is my family. I notice many missing entries and no listing of my generation or of the current generation.
My grandmother and grandfather were either first or second cousins, and according to family lore that was acceptable back then.
http://genforum.genealogy.com/olney/messages/679.html

[HamsterRage]

ugh... weird. I grant though that it was a different time and all but it sure managed to produce a terrible human being.

Has Rick tried image Googling himself lately... the results are hilarious.

[Flamebird]

I know this isn't really relevant, but I find it hysterically funny.

You know that phrase about what happens when cousins marry?


Well, what DO you get when cousins marry?


A grandson named Rick, apparently.

Turns out Rick's grandfather's last name was Olney.

And his grandmother's maiden name?

ALSO Olney.

They were first or second cousins.


Sorry, but it would explain a lot, wouldn't it?

Great. Now I hear banjo music.

"Curse You Tamra-ryn Scooby writer person!!!"
:doom:

[Outsider]

I seem to remember seeing it recently, as in the last month or so. It'll be in one of his many rants about how wonderful he was to ORCA. I think it was in the one where he shows both the cover of Marvel Visions and the article itself.

I went through the last few weeks' posts that he still has up, and it's either been edited out, or it was in an older post.

I went through everything back through August 2011, and couldn't find this. Sorry.

[CutterMike]

Well, if this thread does go on hiatus, I just want to say "Thanks, rICK, for the minutes of amusement!"

...Not "Hours of..." -- he's really no that interesting, and doubtless not interesting enough for me to sign up onto MyTwitBook, or whatever it's called just for the dubious pleasure of following his latest inanity.

But, before we go, I *DO* have one more thing that probably deserves being pointed out:

IT IS TRUE.. "The trouble with people is not that they don't know but that they know so much that ain't so." ~Josh Billings
rICK, since we know how much you despise people who "hide behind pseudonyms", you may want to put that name into quotes... "Josh Billings' " real name was Henry Wheeler Shaw.

I'm just sayin', is all...

Buh-BYE, rICK!

[HamsterRage]

Rick's continuing to blather on... adding more misogyny:

Rick Olney referring to Gail:
Typical woman... bitch. Bitch. Bitch. Hahahaha!!

[Coppervale Studio]

Just wondering: has anyone, at any time in the last several years, anywhere, openly admitted to being a member of Rick's ORCA? Or to receiving a newsletter?

You'd think SOMEONE would be willing to say SOMETHING on his behalf. Anything nice about him. One person, somewhere?

Yeah. I didn't think so.

[Artful Angie]

Rick Olney Feb 3, 2012 10:51 PM

I'll be answering you idiots in caps from here on out. Far as you issuing me some sort of challenge to come find you at Ithacon... no thanks. If you think I'm afraid of you, you're wrong. I'm just smarter than you. Bullies always had behind phony names and not their real names. Idiots try to goad 57yr old men with cancer, a heart condition and other small problems into thinking there might be a fight. You're a pussy plain and simple, Martin. An idiot by default, and in sorry need of hanging out with Queer Duck and Assful Angie. Why would I want to ruin your fun? Have a good time in Ithaca and hope you have a safe trip home to CT. Idiot. LOL

Hey folks! Just got back from Ithaca, where a superb time was had by all. Know how I know? Because Rick's name wasn't mentioned at all, and his smell did not permeate the building. I have to find his comment laughable. Isn't he the one who stated that Matt was welcome to come to his house and when he did he'd be ganged up on by Rick and his family?? So what does the pussy do when he's invited to a public place, filled with people who know his reputation? He shows the same moral fiber that he used as the REMF he was as a Mail Room Marine. He pussies out.

But you can't blame him. He'd have to "cobble" together Three Whole Dollars, and get his son or Barbara to drive him to a place where he'd have to face the truth. He's a liar. He's a cheater. He's a coward and a blowhard who couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag. Just like when he was a self-propelled sandbag in the Corps. Good thing he was in so he could take up an unimportant position so real Marines could go off and do the things that required honor, duty, and sacrifice.

Matt, Left, and I had a great time, and Left will be posting a picture of the three of us on the Facebook page sometime today or tomorrow. Going to go rst up and hang with the family for a bit. Saturdays are too important in the Artful household to waste on Rick Olney.

Talk to you soon.

PS: That picture of Rick? Saved and going up on the FB page bright and early tomorrow. :-)

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

Today on his blog, Rick posted this drawing.

http://i.imgur.com/5Hj1q.jpg

A month ago on his Sequential Soul blog he posted the same drawing with this comment.


Oh, by way -- The above art was created by Donald Krick aka Donkey Richard and a few other names.
http://sequentialsoul.blogspot.com/2012/01/cold-day-in-hell.html

Seems to me like someone has all the evidence they need to make a complaint to Blogger and have the post taken down.

[Matt Doc Martin]

So just got back from Ithacon. A few notes:

There was a shocking amount of people there that knew Rick Olney and all of them have a great distaste for him. I thought maybe he would avoid teh show becuase he knew I was going...turns out NO ONE wanted him there.

The show was small, but well formed. Guests seemed happy, and the volunteers were pleasant to a fault.

And now that I have met Artful Angie, I am SHOCKED Rick does not know who he actually is!! All I can say is, Rick is fucking with the wrong guy. And watching him take repeated stabs at guessing the identity is cracking me up even more now. I wonder how it feels for him to not know?

Though we had a great laugh over how now Rick Olney will spend $1000 to track Angie down. Yeah...sure. Once your leaggle team sorts through all your complaints on any one that ever posted in any thread about you? How soon you forget your years of empty threats...

Rick Olney, you moron.

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

Also speaking of copyright complaints. Look what Rick did.


Google Form: copyright (https://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512/notice.cgi?NoticeID=140303&print=yes#FAQID131052) DMCA Complaint of alleged copyright infringement1. Complainant's Information
Name:
Company name:
Full legal name of the copyright holder: Rick Olney
Country of residence: US
2. Your copyrighted work
Location of copyrighted work (where your authorized work is located):
http://torrentialspirit.blogspot.com/
Description of the copyrighted work:
My name is my copyright. This blog is a mirror spam blog that uses a very poor example of parody, which isn't parody at all, to harass me outside of Google/Blogger TOS.
3. Allegedly Infringing Material:
URL of the allegedly infringing material in our search results:
(1.) http://torrentialspirit.blogspot.com/
Sworn Statements
I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above as allegedly infringing is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law. [checked]
I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed. [checked]
Signed on this date of:
2011-9-29
Signature

[Private]

https://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512/notice.cgi?NoticeID=140303&print=yes

Well the Torrential Spirit blog is still up. I guess Rick loses again.

[Gail Simone]

Weird, I always just assumed Torrential Spirit was one of Rick's friends and he knew all about it.

[HamsterRage]

All I know is via Chumbly... Rick has a new number 1 video on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/dSIMEQwonEM

[leftwingnutcase]

The 2012 Cabin Fever Comic Book Show the best convention of The Comic Book Club of Ithaca I have ever worked on!!! We had a great headliner (Jg Hertzler) plus 20 something other creators! Vendors were selling almost more than they could handle! We had OVER 200 ATTENDEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And what's amazing is that if Rick had actually put ANY effort into the MMC, he could have felt as proud and honored as I feel right now!!!

Thank you Angie and Matt Doc, my new friends, for lending your support!

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/400059_2886277110232_1059279060_2892731_328814371_ n.jpg
Matt Doc Martin, LeftWingNutCase, and Artful Angie

[Matt Doc Martin]

all i know is rick has a new number 1 video on youtube:

http://youtu.be/dsimeqwonem

bwahahahahaha!

[Gail Simone]

I'm glad Ithicon went well...it's great that some cons are repairing the damage Rick has done to comics fandom in that area.


As for his loony rant today, I hqven't got a clue what he's on about. What column is he talking about? What does Beau Smith have to do with anything?

As always, Rick is so stupid and such a lousy writer even his insults don't connect.

And Rick, the reason I still talk about what a shitty con you put on is because you keep trying to put a party dress on a bowl of slop.
You fucked the event up from the word go, you had no idea what you were doing, you avoided work at every possible opportunity and you left unpaid debts in every direction.

It's worth reminding everyone of that when you try to convince people how successful it was.

Also, Heidi did NOT get another room.

[HamsterRage]

Here in Chicago there's a young guy (17 or so) we (the Drink N Draw group) are all buddies with and he's a great networker and planner and he's putting together a convention.

Here's a VERY ROUGH mockup I did in SketchBook Pro to get an idea of the composition for the poster (he wanted Spider-Man, Cassie Hack and my character Roosevelt):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/brianjcrowley/badidea2.jpg

I bet even thought he's a teenager he'll be more successful than Olney's FailCon.

[MacQuarrie]

Description of the copyrighted work:
My name is my copyright. This blog is a mirror spam blog that uses a very poor example of parody, which isn't parody at all, to harass me outside of Google/Blogger TOS.
Rick, you moron.

From The US Copyright Office (http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html#title): Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases. In some cases, these things may be protected as trademarks. Contact the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, 800-786-9199, for further information. However, copyright protection may be available for logo artwork that contains sufficient authorship. In some circumstances, an artistic logo may also be protected as a trademark.

[MacQuarrie]

I bet even thought he's a teenager he'll be more successful than Olney's FailCon.

One of the best sci-fi cons I ever attended was Phantasmacon '79, at the Bonaventure Hotel (seen in TV's Buck Rogers and other shows) in downtown LA. The whole thing was organized by a 19-year-old kid whose mom had to co-sign for everything. It was a great show and very successful. Age is only an indicator, not a limiter.

[SarahBeach]

Gail, I don't have the time right this minute to read the whole of Rick's latest, but he's going on about Beau Smith because he has (in yet another act of illegal copyright infringement) posted the entirety of an old column of Beau's from OVERSTREET. In which column, Beau discusses pros who treat fans badly, and he calls some of those particular pros "bullies".

Rick has taken Beau's statements about the bullying pros who are nasty and curt with fans at cons, and he is trying to apply this to ... well, anyone, particularly anyone who criticizes him, and specifically to you. It is WAY out of context, not something Beau has said recently. In fact, he told me, after checking out Rick's blog when I told him of the post, that he hadn't seen that particular column in years.

Rick's complaint to Google is hilarious, because he can't copyright his name. And if he claims defamation, they have a whole separate page that says under the terms of service, they aren't liable for anything and basically "Cookie you're on your own with that one."

[Gail Simone]

Here in Chicago there's a young guy (17 or so) we (the Drink N Draw group) are all buddies with and he's a great networker and planner and he's putting together a convention.

Here's a VERY ROUGH mockup I did in SketchBook Pro to get an idea of the composition for the poster (he wanted Spider-Man, Cassie Hack and my character Roosevelt):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/brianjcrowley/badidea2.jpg

I bet even thought he's a teenager he'll be more successful than Olney's FailCon.


I wish him luck!

Remind him to own up to any mistakes and everyone will respect him and wish him well!

[Gail Simone]

Gail, I don't have the time right this minute to read the whole of Rick's latest, but he's going on about Beau Smith because he has (in yet another act of illegal copyright infringement) posted the entirety of an old column of Beau's from OVERSTREET. In which column, Beau discusses pros who treat fans badly, and he calls some of those particular pros "bullies".

Rick has taken Beau's statements about the bullying pros who are nasty and curt with fans at cons, and he is trying to apply this to ... well, anyone, particularly anyone who criticizes him, and specifically to you. It is WAY out of context, not something Beau has said recently. In fact, he told me, after checking out Rick's blog when I told him of the post, that he hadn't seen that particular column in years.

Rick's complaint to Google is hilarious, because he can't copyright his name. And if he claims defamation, they have a whole separate page that says under the terms of service, they aren't liable for anything and basically "Cookie you're on your own with that one."



Ah.

Well, pros who are jerks to fans deserve all the scorn in the world. Pros who point out when a convention organizer and fake publisher is a serial liar and deadbeat are doing the industry a necessary service.

AND he picked the wrong guy, as Beau Smith is a good friend, he's my amigo, and he knows full well how I treat readers (hint: it's good).

[Don Krick]

Today on his blog, Rick posted this drawing.

http://i.imgur.com/5Hj1q.jpg

A month ago on his Sequential Soul blog he posted the same drawing with this comment.


http://sequentialsoul.blogspot.com/2012/01/cold-day-in-hell.html

Seems to me like someone has all the evidence they need to make a complaint to Blogger and have the post taken down.

I have no idea where that came from but I sure didn't draw it. My drawing ability peaked at stick figures.

[Gail Simone]

Okay, was gonna close the thread tomorrow but have some interesting stuff to share from NEW people who have had more terrible experiences with Rick. Is anyone surprised?

Anyway, here's what I'd like to ask...Once we close the thread, the stuff at the end will be the stuff people see pretty much forever. So if we could repost, or summarize the
various allegations of debt, insults, or rotten behavior, that would be great. If you have a personal story with Rick, you can tell your side for posterity, or if you have seen
a story from another person who has posted here that you think should be remembered, that would be great.

Thanks!

Other posts are fine, too, just want people to remember the sheer MULTITUDE of people Rick has taken advantage of.

[Gail Simone]

Timothy Tuohy wrote me, very nice, very smart and decent guy. That story Rick tells about being asked to run Marvel's (non-existent) "Official Fan Club" is total and complete BS, and Timothy did the double-checking to make sure.

Just another Olney fabrication. Can you imagine living that way, where your only accomplishments are things you made up that everyone knows aren't true?

Ick.

[KJ!]

This was his post in the 'Introduce Yourself' thread we had on the old CBR YABS board.

================================================== ==
I am Rick Olney, founder and director of Organized Readers of Comics Associated(ORCA) www.orcafresh.net and host, promoter, and owner of the Mighty Mini-Con each first weekend in June and The Spooky each third weekend in October in Syracuse, New York. www.thespookyny.com

I'm a 6yr Vet of the USMC with an honorable discharge. I also served a year in the National Guard. I'm an NRA member. So I like to hunt, fish, and hike in the outdoors and up in the Adirondack Mountains.

I read and collect ALL KINDS of comic books, having a collection that is 46years old with many multiple issues bought during the Silver Age and to present. I also have around 400 golden age books. My Marvel comics collection is complete except 14 issues, 9 of them tougher to find and afford these days. My entire collection numbers over 100 longboxes and 60-some-odd short boxes.

ORCA's give aways have been boosted over the years from infusions from my personal collection. Along with the generosity of gifted donations by retailers and fans alike beliving in ORCA's efforts to influence change. Don't think so? Look around!

During my 11 years at the helm of ORCA, I've guided the giving away of over 700, 000 free comic books to schools, libraries, and to the general public starting as far back as 1994. I am the concept originator of the "Comics in the Classroom" educational effort that CrossGen parlayed into their BRIDGES program. I am also the namesake for the "Ric Olie" Star Wars: Episode One starship pilot responsible for giving young Anakin Skywalker (the Future Darth Vader) his first starship flying lesson. It was an honor I shall never forget.

I host two conventions each year via my small entertainment company, TightLip Entertainment. The Mighty Mini-Con is held every first weekend in June in upstate New York. And I have a horror convention during the third weekend in October. Again, both cons are held in Syracuse, New York.

You can view coverage and news on ORCA at: www.orcafresh.net
You can view coverage and news on the MMC at: www.mightyminicon.com
You can view coverage and news on THE SPOOKY (soon) at: www.thespookyny.com

I had Mr. & Mrs. Gail Simone at my last MMC too!
================================================== =======


It speaks for itself.

700 000 comics is just not true.

No honourable discharge. PROVEN FALSE.

No Star Wars.

And that's just to BEGIN...

[MacQuarrie]

One thing I never understood about ORCA... This makes absolutely no sense to me, maybe somebody can explain it.

It's a verified fact that ORCA, or at least Olney, acting as representative of ORCA, did give away some comics to new members. We have accounts of people joining and receiving comics shortly thereafter.

Here's what I don't get: in the accounts we've got, in every case, Olney asks what comics the person likes, then sends those comics. A guy says he reads Astro City, he gets a few copies of Astro City in the mail. Why? Why give people comics they already have? Why not find a similar comic they might not have seen and send that? Like maybe an Astro City reader might like something else by Kurt Busiek and/or Brent Anderson; why not send Arrowsmith or Shockrockets or Somerset Holmes?

Is there some part of this that I'm just not getting?

[Glenn Barbis Jr.]

One thing I never understood about ORCA... This makes absolutely no sense to me, maybe somebody can explain it.

It's a verified fact that ORCA, or at least Olney, acting as representative of ORCA, did give away some comics to new members. We have accounts of people joining and receiving comics shortly thereafter.

Here's what I don't get: in the accounts we've got, in every case, Olney asks what comics the person likes, then sends those comics. A guy says he reads Astro City, he gets a few copies of Astro City in the mail. Why? Why give people comics they already have? Why not find a similar comic they might not have seen and send that? Like maybe an Astro City reader might like something else by Kurt Busiek and/or Brent Anderson; why not send Arrowsmith or Shockrockets or Somerset Holmes?

Is there some part of this that I'm just not getting?

That was brought up long ago on Comicon.com when Rick first started posting there. He was also asked that if he really wanted to grow the hobby, why didn't he get comics to people who didn't already read them, instead of "preaching to the choir" so to speak. He then went into his now-patented rants about those who question him just want to bring him down, or hurt the comic industry.

*Edited to add...He never gave a real answer. He just skirted the issue, or called people names for nlot believing in his vision.

[MacQuarrie]

That was brought up long ago on Comicon.com when Rick first started posting there. He was also asked that if he really wanted to grow the hobby, why didn't he get comics to people who didn't already read them, instead of "preaching to the choir" so to speak. He then went into his now-patented rants about those who question him just want to bring him down, or hurt the comic industry.
Thanks. I was starting to wonder whether I'm crazy or just overthinking it or what.

[Glenn Barbis Jr.]

Gail asks that all stories be put here...so here's mine again...


Around the late 90's, probably about 1999 or so, I had first 'known' Rick on the Comicon boards. After his meltdowns there, I had met him at Pittsburgh Comicon and another in Buffalo NY, and he gave me the "I'm just having fun stirring up trouble" and "They don't really know the real me" lines. I was still new to the whole 'internet/message board thing' having only gotten online around 97/98, and but even with all that went on at Comicon.com, I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. I never considered him a close friend, but we would talk via phone or email frequently, and he gave me the impression of being a bit "different" but harmless. Because I had recently closed my comic shop, I had mentioned to him I had alot of overstock that I was taking to flea markets and shows to unload, and he said he would be interested in purchasing some for ORCA, especially the signed books, since I had a ton of them (signed books were my specialty then). We agreed on a price, and I said I would only ship the books when the were paid. We agreed I would sent the COD, he gave me the address to send them to, and I sent them. And waited. A few weeks went by with no notification from the post office, and Rick wasn't returning my emails. After 2 months, I contacted the post office directly, and they said multiple attempts were made to collect and deliver, but nobody was ever able/available to pay the cost. After a few days, Rick finally contacted me, and said I had shipped them to the wrong address. I said it was the one he gave me, and he said he would have to make a drive to that different PO to get it, but he would do it that week. I contacted the PO again and said it was going to be picked up. Another two weeks went by, and nothing yet. Rick then stated he couldn't get there, and gave me some other excuses like they tried to deliver it to the worn house, he wasn't home that day, etc..., but promised they would be picked up. I notified the PO (& Rick) again, and said if it wasn't picked up that week, to sed it back. A week and a half later, I get it back, along with every receipt of attempted delivery (over 2 dozen). Rick then emails me an angry missive that he went to pick them up, but they were already sent back, and it really pissed him off. He also posted on the Figma boards to me about it, and then started saying that he didn't accept the books because they were crappy books, in poor condition, etc...

Needless to say, at the time, I didn't expect Rick to try and rip me off, since there was never anything that led me to believe he would, still believing his online "persona" was as he said, an act. And lucky for me, I do all my business above board to prevent myself from getting ripped off, or I would count myself as an "Olney Orphan" now.

And in that time frame of my story, he also commissioned some "nude female superhero" art from a friend of mine, who did the work, but wouldn't send it until he was paid. Rick gave him excuses that they art was for a "friend" who he was having trouble contacting, and if my friend would just send it, Rick would cover it. He stuck by the "pay me before I send it" and needless to say, wound up selling the art on eBay and at conventions, since he never got a penny from Rick.

A short time later, Rick had his ORCA boards up, and posted a rant against Marvel because they never sent him free stuff anymore, and he was going to support CrossGen because they had. I had posted to another board (Figma) a joke about Mark Alessi, and Rick took it the wrong way, and started trashing me for it. I called him on his bullshit about only supporting CG because of his "what have you done for me lately" comments, and he then went on a rant on the ORCA boards about it too. I posted a reply to him there, and he started flaming me, banned me from his board, and then went and edited my posts to make it look like I started the fight. Then on the Figma boards, he again was bullying me and others, until he was kicked off of there. So he started emailing the board owner with threats of lawsuits and he was given a second chance, which he quickly wasted in starting up right where he left off. When he was booted a second time, he went ballistic with the threats again, but nobody caved and eventually his ORCA board became defunct.

When I joined the SPA boards, and Rick started attacking me, and someone (I can't remember who) notified me privately that Rick had complained about me, and I should not start any flame wars on their board. I replied that if they looked, they would see I had not commented to/about Rick on anything, and in my email, pointed them to Comicon.com, Comics Journal, Figma, and Sequential Tarts, where they could see how Rick had acted in the past. After a few emails between us, I could see they were siding with Rick, and I never went back or participated with SPA again.

Rick has also threatened me with beating me up, and even sent me an email in which he threatened my wife and children. He said he would "love to see (my) face when (I) look at the charred bodies of (my wife) and the kids." This email was sent to my lawyer and verified with the proper authorities, and to this day, is sealed and notarized. I have warned him several times over the years, that I can and will enforce any action I could if he even approaches my family, and I would be legally able to do it, because of his reported threats.


And here are some links to some great Olney retro-rants, lies, and general looneyness...

Rick says McFarlane named a Spawn character because of ORCA... http://www.comicon.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=284614#Post284614

Rick's enemy posts his 2000 Pittsburgh Comicon report about ORCA's panel... http://www.comicon.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=450050#Post450050

The infamous "ORCA is Tax Deductible" meltdowns... http://www.emeraldcity.comicon.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=453058&page=1
**And in these threads, Rick started using the name "Random" & "Orin" & "MagnusII" & the infamous "zintestud."**

[KJ!]

One thing I never understood about ORCA... This makes absolutely no sense to me, maybe somebody can explain it.

It's a verified fact that ORCA, or at least Olney, acting as representative of ORCA, did give away some comics to new members. We have accounts of people joining and receiving comics shortly thereafter.

Here's what I don't get: in the accounts we've got, in every case, Olney asks what comics the person likes, then sends those comics. A guy says he reads Astro City, he gets a few copies of Astro City in the mail. Why? Why give people comics they already have? Why not find a similar comic they might not have seen and send that? Like maybe an Astro City reader might like something else by Kurt Busiek and/or Brent Anderson; why not send Arrowsmith or Shockrockets or Somerset Holmes?

Is there some part of this that I'm just not getting?

I've never understood that either.

[HamsterRage]

This is also because his definition of "comics" is narrowed to old Marvel Comics.

That's it. Little mention of DC, virtually no mention of indie comics, web comics, modern comics or manga.

No Hellboy, Scott Pilgrim, Love and Rockets, Optic Nerve, Maus, Blankets, Chew, Savage Dragon, Cerebus, Bone, etc.

He's not a fan of the medium... He's a fan of Marvel Comics from when he was a kid and that's it.

Shutting this thread and leaving him stuck inside his own head is like locking him into the phantom zone... It's a good move.

[Artful Angie]

I notice how proud he is to say he had both Mr. and Mrs. Gail Simone come to the con. Boy, no one expected that to bite him in the ass, did they?

As far as his blegh posts:

1) Wasn't he supposed to be answering us from now on in capital letters? I guess even Rick is starting to get tired of following his own bullshit ideas.

2) Who is this "Noonan" I'm supposed to be now? This is a new name, but saw someone comment on it?

3) Does the picture from Ithacon make me look fat? And I need a haircut, don't I?

4) That picture is more Benny Leal than Don Krick. But it even looks too professional to be Leal. So I might even suggest a Google search for that image to see where he SWIPED this one from.

5) That picture of Rick, with the look that says he just realized what a ignorant dumbfuck he is? Yeah, that's been added as the Facebook page picture.

6) If it took that long for Rick to get word back that his Google complaint wasn't going anywhere, I wonder how long it'll be until Facebook shoots him down on whatever complaint he's filed there?

7) Only Rick would take pride in "OUSTING!" someone from a local comic book club, especially the man who created it in the first place, just because they didn't agree with Rick and he wanted to grab all the power for himself.

8 ) Rick always misses out on the important part of that letter he bandies about: former member. If he was so excited when Rick tried, and failed, to set up ORCA again, then maybe third time's the charm for Michael?

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

This is also because his definition of "comics" is narrowed to old Marvel Comics.

That's it. Little mention of DC, virtually no mention of indie comics, web comics, modern comics or manga.

No Hellboy, Scott Pilgrim, Love and Rockets, Optic Nerve, Maus, Blankets, Chew, Savage Dragon, Cerebus, Bone, etc.

He's not a fan of the medium... He's a fan of Marvel Comics from when he was a kid and that's it.
This is what I was going to say, albeit I'd have gone on and on with far too much information as I tend to do. Rick would give Astro City to someone who said they liked Astro City because he has no clue what is similar to it. He read comics as a kid, comics he often stole as he's mentioned many times. He has no clue about modern comics. Besides a Spider-Man here or a Superman there, I doubt he's read many comics at all that were made past 1985 and that might even be generous of me.

[SarahBeach]

Regarding Rick's reading habits... it hadn't occured to me, but it's true. Even in his touting of CrossGen books, I can't think of him mentioning a single one of their titles. Interesting.

Edit to add: Oh, and if someone could explain to me something that has puzzled me -- why the heck does he have things set to repost a link to a new post on his blog on that very blog? I mean, sure... set it to post the link to your Facebook, or to a different one of your blogs. But why the very blog you originally posted it on? That I've never understood!

Sorry... I know it's not really important, but it still preplexes me.

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

Rick always misses out on the important part of that letter he bandies about: former member. If he was so excited when Rick tried, and failed, to set up ORCA again, then maybe third time's the charm for Michael?
Rick also misses this part.


The goal here is not to smear or besmirch those individuals. ORCA has a proud history of providing everything it has promoted as stated. To support that assertion, you'll be introduced here to former ORCA roster members via their opinions of their experiences. We'll also showcase, as time allows, current members of the *new* Organized Readers of Comics Association.
That post from Michael Peek is going on 2.5 years old now. He's never been heard of since. I think Rick may have posted one other former members words but that might not even be right. I know for sure that no current member experiences were ever shared. Of course to Rick, that one guy 2.5 years ago talking about what ORCA was like in the 90's proves it is still around.

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

Edit to add: Oh, and if someone could explain to me something that has puzzled me -- why the heck does he have things set to repost a link to a new post on his blog on that very blog? I mean, sure... set it to post the link to your Facebook, or to a different one of your blogs. But why the very blog you originally posted it on? That I've never understood!

Sorry... I know it's not really important, but it still preplexes me.
When his Twitter feed was not friends locked, he'd post links on it to his blogs. He would click the "share to Twitter" option on his posts. He'd post that link to Twitter and for some reason, on his blog. I think he was just too dumb to realize he didn't need to. If you notice not every post has the double link only some. So I imagine the ones that have two links are ones he has shared on Twitter or at his Facebook.

[SarahBeach]

Thanks! That makes sense if there's a feed back to the blog from Twitter -- it goes there and because of the cross feeding it comes back. Okay. (Bad management of his social networking, but what can one expect?)

[Gail Simone]

Does anyone have Darediva's account of how Rick tried to cheat her?

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

Not off hand but I can find it likely. That was regarding I believe it was something she made with Daredevil? Nevermind, found this. More detail to come when I can put links in order.


Ok, Rick. Now you have even pissed ME off. I have not even told people what you did and did not do *for* me. You wanted me to make an art quilt for you. You weren't satisfied to just have the small ones I normally do, you kept insisting that you wanted a bed sized Spider-Man quilt. I asked you for what I normally ask of clients: 50% down for material fees for a custom order. How many times did you tell me "two weeks", next month, whatever? I lost count. The way *I* look at this is there was no obligation on MY part to make anything for you since YOU never came up with your end of the deal.

Oh, did I mention how you PROMISED me an "all expenses paid" trip to the 2004 MMC, and when I kept pressing you for when were you going to send me the airline tickets, you were suddenly incommunicado. See, Rick here contacted me after he saw me posting on the Gene Colan board, and looked up my pictures of the Daredevil art quilts I had done. He gave me the promise that he would fly me to NY state, pay for the hotel, pay for meals, just so he could "showcase" my artwork.


Do you want me to quote you on that Rick? I still have the emails. I am not the bad guy here, buddy boy. Don't act like I am.
http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=4237358&postcount=7085

[MacQuarrie]

AND THAT IS THE BIGGEST LIE. THERE IS NO LEGAL BASIS FOR A LAWSUIT AGAINST MY WIFE. THIS IS JUST ANOTHER LIE AND TACTIC TO TRY AND INFLICT MALICE & PERSECUTION AGAINST A PERSON THAT HAS NEVER HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF THESE MATTERS -- OR -- ANY OF THE PEOPLE INVOLVED, LEAST OF ALL, ANYONE THINKING THAT POSTING MESSAGE BOARD THREADS (AS INDICATED ABOVE) ACTUALLY PROVE ANYTHING. THEY DO NOT! THEY ARE THE CREATIONS OF IGNORANT AND CHILDISH DELUSIONAL INDIVIDUALS.
Again, it is a verifiable fact that for several years, including during the period in which most of Olney's scams occurred, his wife, Barbara Olney, was officially listed in New York state documents as co-owner of TightLip Entertainment. When this fact was mentioned on the old YABS thread, Olney went immediately to his local government office and dissolved the business, refiling shortly thereafter under only his own name. This in no way relieves Barbara Olney of her legal responsibility for the debts incurred by TightLip during the time she was co-owner. Since the business was not incorporated, the owners are personally responsible for the actions of the company.

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

Darediva also posted numerous emails between her and Rick. They are very long so for now I'll just put the links to those posts. Perhaps someone else can write a summary of the emails here to go with them?

Links to Darediva's posts containing the emails between her and Rick regarding a commissioned Daredevil quilt.

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=7737437&postcount=47494


http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=7737574&postcount=47497


http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=7737833&postcount=47499


http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=7737836&postcount=47500

[Artful Angie]

That's why I think it's amusing of him to try and say ORCA still has a Non-Profit Status in New York.

Here's a handy link I've been using to set up the new ORCA: http://www.citmedialaw.org/legal-guide/forming-nonprofit-corporation-new-york

Maybe we should start a pool to see who correctly guesses at what point in this process Rick decided to quit and just say he had done it all?

I've got $5.00 on "Looked at the info, shrugged, and just decided to fake it."

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

I thought this was appropriate to add here, especially considering some of the people mentioned. Rick in his own words:


Welcome to my imaginary world. I am the major part of TIGHT LIP Comics and you have just entered my dream.I grew up in a traditional valued family of Mom, Dad and five sisters. Somebody up there loved me because I was allowed to be born first giving me full reign over my own bedroom, baths by myself and toys nobody else in the family dared to touch.

I loved reading comics at a very early age thanks to my Uncle Bill. He gave me my first batch of free comics. If you can imagine what it was like getting a copy of FANTASTIC FOUR #2 as part of your "batch" ... you'll understand how precious those memories are for me. As a kid, I'd beg my parents for spare change to buy comics from the corner drug store. When change wasn't there or if I "just HAD to have THAT issue" ... I'd take it. Yup, you read it here first. Rick Olney admits he stole comics as a kid. I'm not proud of that. It was a childish act and while I was never caught, I regret every single instance. it was weakness and I was raised with fairly good moral values. But then again, so were you too? Right? Well, in retrospect ... if there had been a club like ORCA back then. Maybe I wouldn't have needed to steal comics. I didn't steal THAT many. But I stole them all the same.


I've been a victim at times during my life. I used to hold the door for elderly people until I got tired of being ignored or got that look that made me think it was MY JOB. I hope to share some of my comic book stories with you over the coming months in this edition of BALL OF FIRE. If I'm doing it right, over time, you'll know more about me then I truly know about myself, until putting it into printed word. If I'm REALLY GOOD at it - I'll die just in time, avoiding the ABC Movie of the Week version of my life. You are the only person that matters to me right now because you're reading this, my epitaph.
I decided to call this written space BALL OF FIRE because that's what I am. Every place I've been has either felt the heat of criticism or the warmth of kindness. I don't consider myself very important in the framework of the comic book industry or fandom in general. I do think however, that I set a good example as a person. At least if I have faults, they're the kind that are specific to me as a person. Gee, ... pretty deep stuff to think about huh?


Rob Upton is a very creative man. I've enjoyed his stuff because its original and because its jam packed full of the stuff that makes the genre of Super Hero comics great to read. His art is easy on the eyes and he cares about something that I'm curious to learn more about.


Mike Noonan, is without a doubt in my mind - A treasure chest of talent. If you enjoy artists like Mike Allred, Peter Bagge or Jeff Smith? You'll love Mike's pencils. Mike, if you're reading this? Take that original style of yours and bring your work to life. You've got the magic my friend.


Mike Malott is a pretty good hearted person, if you take the time to get to know him. I've needed his help before and gotten it any time I asked.


So there you have it! The FIRST installment of BOF. I hope that you each enjoy the remaining pages of my zine. I've taken considerable effort to make it original and unlike any of my other zine efforts. Certainly, it's not intended to be a FROM THE TOP or A WHALE OF A TALE. But I hope you enjoy it.


Lastly, Great job on ORCOMIX # 1! We all owe Dave, Steve and John a big round of applause. Keep up the good work guys! Look for more from TLC next month.
http://reocities.com/area51/dunes/7867/BoF1_1.html

[Matt Doc Martin]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v91/docmartin72/SP32-20070512-230604.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v91/docmartin72/olneycharity.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v91/docmartin72/SP32-20070111-162218.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v91/docmartin72/SP32-20061228-230701.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v91/docmartin72/SP32-20070104-192933.jpg

[Kal El]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v91/docmartin72/SP32-20061228-230701.jpg

For a guy who claims he doesn't threaten people, he sure does threaten a lot of people.

[HamsterRage]

I feel I should mention that over the last two years my friend (and former co-worker) Tim Seeley paid off 30k in creator owed debt that wasn't created by him but by Josh Blaylock and Devil's Due.

Tim took out a loan and made sure to get everyone paid... Because that's what good honest people do.

I had an issue where I realized I wouldn't be able to afford coloring Hamster Rage pages so I started coloring them myself while I've been going to school and busting my ass to make my situation better.

This is what adults do.

You don't put other people out in service of yourself.

[Gail Simone]

I feel I should mention that over the last two years my friend (and former co-worker) Tim Seeley paid off 30k in creator owed debt that wasn't created by him but by Josh Blaylock and Devil's Due.

Tim took out a loan and made sure to get everyone paid... Because that's what good honest people do.

I had an issue where I realized I wouldn't be able to afford coloring Hamster Rage pages so I started coloring them myself while I've been going to school and busting my ass to make my situation better.

This is what adults do.

You don't put other people out in service of yourself.



Absolutely, and while we're at it, BECAUSE Tim was honest and had integrity, he didn't make himself unavailable for months, he didn't dodge emails and phone calls, he didn't insult and threaten people who worked for him in good faith.

And for those reasons, when he asked the comics community to help, we did, and donated scripts and art for the benefit book that was created to help pay those debts. I donated a script myself, it was an honor. That's what happens when someone has integrity, people are understanding and helpful.

[JTPencils]

Anyway, here's what I'd like to ask...Once we close the thread, the stuff at the end will be the stuff people see pretty much forever. So if we could repost, or summarize the
various allegations of debt, insults, or rotten behavior, that would be great. If you have a personal story with Rick, you can tell your side for posterity, or if you have seen
a story from another person who has posted here that you think should be remembered, that would be great.

Thanks!


It's basically a cut and paste of my post over at YABS... but figured I'd leave it here for posterity sake.

"As one of the original "screwee's" that Rick took advantage of, I find it amazing, no... ironic that he continues his ways. The man's a total loon. He professes and demands loyalty, and responsiveness.. and then does the exact opposite when confronted about things... such as paying.

I, along with a fellow creator, saw thru his endless promises of nothing, and opted out of the whole project. Sadly, not before producing a nice little cache of work for him, that (yes) still hasn't been paid for. In fact, as I look at it now, if he DOES produce one single book (or even page) of work, then by his own contract... and he's probably revised it a few times since my tenure... he'd have to pay. So I think in his demented mind, he figures, if he just collects the work, and never actually prints it... it's all free!!

My one consolation at the time of my leaving, was that I was told my departure had caused him chest pains. I'm not one to wish or inflict pain or hurt on anyone, but in this case, I felt justified at chuckling at the thought. Obviously it wasn't enough of a life altering event for him to alter his ways... so.. I don't mind bringing it up here whatsoever.

As for Kurt's generous offer in regards to some sort of legal retribution on Olney, Gail, I'd need some info so I can sent Kurt a more detailed listing of what happened, or at least what my bill is with Tricky Ricky. If you could send that along, I'd be most grateful.

To Rick I say, SUE ME!! Then at least you'd have to actually show up and face a person. And if you bring along your "laughing lawyer" (I swear, he kept telling me that his lawyer would laugh at our complaints at not being paid)... we'll have to see how much he'll enjoy working for you for free as well!!

Since then, I've gone on to be connected with reputable (paying) self publishers, and was about to chalk up the Tightjerk...oops... Lip (yet loose brained) experience to "lesson learned". But seeing how he continues to embarass himself with this same exact scenario over and over again, I would like to be included... or at least kept up to date as to what's going on!

Thanks "

Further proof that Olney is a liar, and a poor con man...

"I was just contacted by the original PR person (also a CBR member) Richard Sullivan about my short tenure at TLE... I hope Richard doesn't mind that I'm including the message here...

"I don't know if you remember me, but I was the PR person while you were with
TLE. And btween you and I. I remember Rick whining about you wanting to get
paid. Claiming you weren’t due payment until F3 was published and how you
couldn’t read your contract. But, I did tell him to pay you and continue with
the book. Well, you know where that got me.

Anyway, Rick once told me that the creators owned half the characters. (It was
in the contract, I believe). This was all fifty-fifty and even if you left TLE
you could still use the characters you created. I don’t know if this is true or
not, but you may own or half-own F3. You’d have to ask someone wiser than me.
Not sure if you'd want it, but that is what I was told.

I also urged him to pay Dash. Dash kept the faith for so long. And Rick kept
telling Dash he would send payment. I don’t think Rick ever did.

Oh, BTW, after you left, Rick claimed he was going to change the contracts where
everybody would get paid for every five pages completed. He can’t pay you
because he claimed you’re not due payment because of the contract, but after you
leave he changes it? This didn’t make sense to me. Well, enough of this
depressing diatribe.

Take care"

I just wanted to let Richard know personally, and here on the board, I hold no one (other then the slime in charge) responsible for the problems that TLE has, and will have, for it's mishandling of talent. I want to thank Richard publicly for contacting me."

Olney owes me money, but nothing on the level of others... he's a coward, a cheat, and quite frankly, a waste of oxygen... but he is an EXCEPTIONAL example of "what not to do" to ruin one's standing in the comics community!

[Gail Simone]

Glenn, that thing about your family's charred bodies is one of the most fucked up things I have ever heard. I am so sorry you ever crossed paths with that disgusting excuse for a human being.

[HamsterRage]

Yeah that's really grotesque...

He seems to have no problem going for people's families and loved ones. He posts pictures of Tom's family and of all of us with friends and loved ones as means of intimidation.

If you recall he even decide to deface a picture of his own mother as a way to try and set us all on even ground... In spite of the fact that we don't ever go there.

[Matt Doc Martin]

If you recall he even decide to deface a picture of his own mother as a way to try and set us all on even ground... In spite of the fact that we don't ever go there.


What was that about?!?

[Coppervale Studio]

My first encounter with Rick Olney was at Comicon.com (before even his name was banned from use there), where he asked if I'd donate some copies of my STARCHILD comics to ORCA. I sent him a box - but instead of thanking me, he berated me for not sending MORE. I was also among those who questioned his legal charity status (to account for our donations to ORCA), which he could never prove. He gradually became so offensive and abusive that I stopped going to Comicon.com entirely.

I casually watched his various rants and meltdowns for the next several years, but never interacted with him until the thread Gail started over at CBR, where he started threatening one of the posters with utter ruin, saying he would sue him for slander until his life was destroyed. I stepped in to back the poster (Josh Pantalleresco) saying my attorney would cover whatever representation he needed - at which point it was discovered that Rick HAD NO ATTORNEY AT ALL, and simply used that threat to try to intimidate anyone who pointed out his scams. I and other friends like Mark Waid and Tony Isabella began showing support for other victims of Rick's, and he started threatening us directly. He stated in an email that he could "change your life whenever I want to", but to date, this threat has proven to be toothless and impotent.

Around the same time, he tried scamming another artist of my acquaintance by offering him a contract with page rates exceeding Marvel and DC rates. When the artist posted proof of the offer, Rick started sending threats to him as well.

Everything else I know about him comes from his own words, posts, emails... Where over and over, he belittles, berates, insults, and threatens everyone he comes in contact with. He uses people's personal tragedies to manipulate them, and then threatens them when his lies are eventually exposed.

He will never, ever, ever be welcome in any professional or amateur venue in the comics industry, because he has used and abused so many people that no one will ever trust him, and no one will vouch for him. He has blown every chance he has ever been given - and he won't get another.

[Tom Stillwell]

The basic facts are these:

Rick Olney is a spoiled brat that was never disciplined properly by his parents. He never learned to respect other people, to be true to his word, work hard to achieve his goals, be generous and kind because those are the right things to do and not because there's a reward attached. He's never learned to admit his mistakes and learn from them.

Rick Olney is not a whole person. He's just a child playing at what he wrongly thinks being a man means. He's coward, a bully and an attention seeker. He's vain and ego-centric. He's cruel and petty.

He is toxic and best avoided. Nothing good comes from interaction with his person.

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

What was that about?!?
Did the research for you.

On July 31, 2008 Rick made a post to his Sequential Soul blog showing a picture a picture of his mother with insults on it. A screen cap was taken and posted at the CBR board. This is the link to the CBR post: http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=7289213&postcount=43218

Screen cap: http://betterlate.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/olney-073108a1.jpg

On August 1, 2008, Rick made further posts. He stated the photo was sent to Dennis via email. It was a Yahoo account and the person used the name Gene Dean.

There is a copy and paste of Rick's blog here: http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=7293922&postcount=43307

There are a bunch of posts saying if someone did send the picture they crossed a line and should admit it. Most people feel no one sent it and Rick defaced the photo himself.

MacQuarrie posted this August 15 2008.

I can't give details, but it has been confirmed for me that somebody did in fact email the defaced photo of Mrs. Olney to Dennis, and he did forward it to Olney. If (as is most likely) Olney faked the whole thing, he did it without Dennis' cooperation. As far as I'm concerned, Dennis is an unwilling pawn in this particular incident.

And I'll leave it at that.

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=7386713&postcount=44503

There is lots more but as I'm watching the Super Bowl I don't have time to post every detail. If you follow any of the links you can get more information.

[Gail Simone]

Who knows, whoever did such a thing is gross.

But here's something...there's a poster on the Facebook page with ANOTHER remarkably similar story of Rick Olney pledging to donate to a charity, in this case, $500 to a leukemia charity.

To the surprise of no one, he didn't follow through.

Surprise, surprise.

[HamsterRage]

Did the research for you.

On July 31, 2008 Rick made a post to his Sequential Soul blog showing a picture a picture of his mother with insults on it. A screen cap was taken and posted at the CBR board. This is the link to the CBR post: http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=7289213&postcount=43218

Screen cap: http://betterlate.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/olney-073108a1.jpg

On August 1, 2008, Rick made further posts. He stated the photo was sent to Dennis via email. It was a Yahoo account and the person used the name Gene Dean.

There is a copy and paste of Rick's blog here: http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=7293922&postcount=43307

There are a bunch of posts saying if someone did send the picture they crossed a line and should admit it. Most people feel no one sent it and Rick defaced the photo himself.

MacQuarrie posted this August 15 2008.
http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=7386713&postcount=44503

There is lots more but as I'm watching the Super Bowl I don't have time to post every detail. If you follow any of the links you can get more information.

It's sooooo obviously Rick. From the amateur MS Paint job to the lazy fake name "Gene Dean"

[Gail Simone]

Just posting some of Rick's greatest deadbeat moments.

Here, a Tightlip artist posts about Rick's incompetence, tantrums, dishonesty and deadbeatism (not the use of the same excuses he used with everyone else).

"Chris - UncannyThings <chris@uncannythings.com>
...
View Card
To: Dash Martin <dashmartin@comcast.net>; cheelee65@yahoo.com
Cc: picturecar@aol.com
I wanted to let you know directly that I am quitting. I am tired of how Rick talks to me, tired of Rick's lies, and just simply don't want to be involved with this anymore. After my last post on the forums, I have been giving everything a lot of thought, and decided that this is not something I want to be doing. I personally feel that when push comes to shove, Rick will back out on the printing of the books, because he will actually have to put his money where his mouth is. He has not followed through on pretty much everything he has said. We didn't do the Pitt con because he had not got his end done (writing, scripting, merchandising), so we had nothing to show, so he backed out. You guys did not get bonuses at the end of March ( I knew I wasn't going to get one) supposedly because he is too busy investigating merchandising. Notice how he doesn't even bother to post updates on that anymore, and has deleted the threads on it from the forums? I think it's pretty ridiculous to be looking at new merchandising when the creative teams aren't even totally solid, and there isn't even a finished book yet, not to mention he has merchandising he has started but not finished yet (meaning, yes, he has still never paid to have our clock deal finished, all he paid was reimbursement for the $$ I already spent to buy the physical clocks). He has Rich doing promotions, but there's not even a completed website up yet. Last he had said anything, he did not have a printer lined up, and was not selling advertising. I personally feel the books are pretty sucky, and unoriginal. MS has the potential to do better than F3, but his writing is shallow and clichéd, so I feel even if he does somehow print the books, and pay for distribution, the books would only sell on the strength of the art. And is it just me, or is the 'TightLip' name and logo really lame?
I am also really tired of his disrespect and unprofessionalism not only specifically towards me, but towards everyone as a whole. Dash, I certainly don't have a problem with you having a different payment arrangement that anyone else, but I think it's terribly unprofessional of Rick to have offered that to you publicly - to me it infers that everyone else is less worthy because he's not revising everyone else's contracts. It also struck me as kind of funny - after all, if he had offered that to JT, I'm sure he would have stuck around, as one of JT's biggest issues seemed to have been that Rick wasn't following through and JT wasn't seeing any $$.
It also really bothers me that Rick expects all of us to act as professionals, and treat this as professional work, when he himself doesn't treat this as being more than a hobby - IE, no real deadlines, him not following through and doing the work as a writer / publisher he is supposed to do, etc, etc.
I've been in Tightlip for just shy of 6 months. In that time, what have we done? Some character sheets, a couple poster type images, 6 'homage' (AKA rip-off) covers, and...what else? A handful of pages just in the past month or so? This is Rick's fault for not having the writing done, and not setting firm deadlines on things. I am sure Rick will be just as professional with my leaving as he was with everyone else leaving, IE he'll talk shit behind my back with me gone, just as he has Jeff, Dave, JT and Sarah, and I am sure he will blame me for shit I've had nothing to do with, just as he has Jeff.
I am also really tired of Rick's flat out lies. Rick claims the issues with my clock reimbursement was because of a bad bookkeeper, whom he fired. He invented this story about halfway through the fiasco. His original emails to me, he said my payment was mailed by either him, his wife, or some unspecified person who has access to or works in his home office. He then changed his story to the outside bookkeeper was supposed to have mailed it but evidently did not. I do have the emails to prove this, if anyone really cares (doubtful, hehe).
Also, just so you guys are aware, my uncle is Austin, TX is a divorce attorney, and has been for about 20 years now. He is not a contract lawyer, however he assures me that the NDA only covers the intellectual properties, IE the characters, books, storylines, images of characters, all that good stuff. Meaning Rick is once again lying when he threatens people with lawsuits if they discuss what goes on with TightLip that doesn't directly involve the intellectual properties - not that I personally would be worried about a lawsuit anyhow, that would require Rick to actually spend money. Also interesting that Rick feels he needs to threaten people to keep their mouths shut about his business practices.
I'm sending this email directly to the 3 of you, because I do feel bad for leaving you 3 in any kind of lurch, although given the current status on the books, I don't feel I am leaving anyone in the lurch. It's not like presses are about to roll and I'm holding everything up.
I did want to let you know directly, and apologize for my end of whatever messes have occurred. I also wanted to let you know directly, as I didn't feel like getting into yet another pissing match with Rick on the forums, which he would delete in a couple days anyhow. I also wanted to make sure that you guys had my email in case you wanted to ask me any questions directly. I'd be happy to work with any of you again in a minute.
Cesar and Jimmy, I'll see you guys on the inkwell and Tom Nguyen's groups. Dash, I'm sure I'll see you at cons at some point. I think all 3 of you have the talent and the skills to do much better than Tightlip, and Dash has 3 times as much a chance (simply because he colors inks, and pencils, and does all 3 really well). I do hope everything goes well for all 3 of you.
Rick has been sent a separate and different (and much shorter, heh) notice of my quitting.
Best of luck and best wishes to you guys.
Chris"

[Gail Simone]

More:

"From:
Chris - UncannyThings <chris@uncannythings.com>
...
View Card
To: Dash Martin <dashmartin@comcast.net>; cheelee65@yahoo.com
Cc: picturecar@aol.com
hey ya'all
I posted up a big long reply to Rick. If he pulls it down before anyone gets to see it, feel free to tell me and I'll be happy to send it to you - I archive everything between Rick and I.

Also, if he does decide to bring suit against me, I'll be filing counter-suit, and part of my counter-suit will include
*damages for not having the books produced in a timely manner resulting in books not getting done or anyone being paid (this is on Rick for not having much of a plot and no script for many months after he had full creative teams, promising initially that books would be starting in January, and that us work-for-hire people would start seeing money from Tightlip by end of Jan.)
*damages for requiring commitments for Pitt con and then Rick backing out without even a comment as to restitution for our time...I know many people requested time from work and made plans for this, myself included, which were messed up by Rick's cancelling
*damages for promising a bonus and then not following through....sure, no amount was specified, and sure, he did leave it vague as to whom was getting the bonus, to lead us around like a carrot on a stick, however he did have a specified deadline, which he did not follow through on

and whatever else I can think of, plus whatever my uncle the lawyer can come up with, heh. These are things that could be sued as a group, there will be more that will apply either to just me, or myself, Dave, and JT (slander, defamation of character). I have already sent an email off to Jeff about this too. I do not have either JT's email, or Dave Rothe's email, and I'd bet my Giant Size X-Men #1 that both of them would love to be informed about a lawsuit against Rick, so if anyone has their emails and wants to pass them on to me, I'd appreciate it.

Sorry this is such a bad soap opera, guys.
Chris"

[Gail Simone]

Here's another, from the gifted and gracious Cesar Feliciano, one of the kindest and most forgiving people I've ever met. For HIM to think badly of someone, they have to be AWFUL.

""Hello,

My name is Cesar Feliciano and I am part of that dubious list of Rick Olney's work for hire artist. I have been waiting for almost two years to recieive my fist penny from Mr. olney and I thank God that I did not hold my breath for that (I'd be one dead artist by this time). I have been wieghing my options and am thankful that there is comraderie and commonality that we all share. I look forward to posting more info and friendly post as I get to know more and more people on this site.

While working with Rick Olney and his now defunct TightLip Entertainment comics company, I was responsible for the pencils on Monster Squad and did many pin-ups and character designs for Mr. Olney.

I to like many here was made many promises and assurances that were never met or followed through with. This has left me with a bad taste in my mouth and a certain level of displeasure with this man.

Throughout my whole experience with Mr. Olney I was told how important and vital I was to the project that I was working on and how there were many great plans that included me. I bought into many of these stories only to be left with nothing but empty and vain words.

I gave up much while I was working with Mr. Olney and really felt that this would be my opportunity to finally see my dream of making it in the comics business come to fruition. I lost my job during the time that I was working with Rick Olney and TightLip Entertainment.

To give you an example of what this man does and is about let me share this story with you. When I lost my job I was down to a few dollars in my bank account. I told Mr. olney about my situation and he told me that he would like to help me out. I wanted to thank him because I have 5 kids and I needed to buy them some groceries so that they could eat.

He proposed that I do a couple of pin-ups for him and told me that he would pay me a cetain amount for them. I was thankful for this opportunity and told him that I would get right on it. I proceeded to get 2 fully penciled and inked done, foregoing sleep to get these to him so that I could get the money for my families needs. Needless to say I did the work and was assured that payment was sent out. Three days go by and still no check.

i called him and he told me that his bookeeper never wrote the check but that he would get it taken care of post haste. Another three days goes by and when I asked him about the money he told me that he had to get rid of the bookeeper and hire a new one, keep in mind that I still had no work and no income and our food was running out quickly.

He told me that the check was sent out. four days go by and still no check. I called him again and he told me he apologized and said he would write the check from his own checking account, I was very wary at this time but told myself that I did what he asked and he would pay me.

Big, big, and wrong assumption. After a week I called him back and he told me that had not yet mailed that check. I reminded him that HE had offered to help me and my family out. HE was the one that requested these images from me. also that HE was the one was had not kept the agreement. He said that he was sorry and that HE would make it up to me.

There is a little more to this story but you get the point. This is NOT a nice man. He has shown that he is cold hearted and uncaring and not someone that can be trusted. I thank God that my family pitched in and helped out with my need.

Here are the images prepared for Mr. Olney:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/167/4...4013267f_b.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/102/2...2f39bd0c_o.jpg


Needless to say I am not pleased with Mr. Olney or his practices and I know that people like him get what they deserve in the end. This man is nothing but a wrecker of dreams and a scourge to the honest hard working people involved in this industry who do things above board and desire to make comics because they LOVE it.

My name is Cesar Feliciano and this is one of my stories.""

[Gail Simone]

Here's the first post I posted about Rick, note that my story has not changed one iota, while Rick's has changed dozens of times.

"Some of you might be aware that the ONLY bad experience I've ever had at a convention, or with a publisher, either, was with Rick Olney, of 'Tightlip' entertainment.

Rick's got a LOOOOOOONG history of meltdowns on the internet. People have some hilarious stories about him, and I doubt none of them. The guy is, to be kind, odd as hell.

He's one of those guys that talk about honor and integrity as if he were the only one that has those qualities, despite regularly being in the middle of serious ethical problems such as repeatedly not paying people when promised.

He talked me into paying my own way to his 'convention (which was a nightmare, but I felt bad for him at the time), to be reimbursed before I actually left home.

That was a lie.

Then I was to be paid when I got there.

That was a lie.

Then I was to be paid immediately after (the check would 'beat me home,' he said.

That was a lie.

You get the picture. My mom was in the hospital and I needed to be reimbursed. Rick's defenses got angrier and more bizarre, but I tried to work with him and be polite for a long time. Finally I got the bulk of the payment, months after being promised. But the remainder, a hundred dollars by his account, he continued to lie about, 'til after TWO YEARS (I kid you not), I finally told him to keep it, I didn't want it anymore and I never wanted to deal with his bizarre excuses again.

Lesson learned, right? Now I get lots of references from people I trust for every small con I attend, and have never had another problem, not one. Every other con I've gone to has been well-run and extremely honest in their dealings with me.

Anyway, Rick, who fancies himself a huge wheel in comics (for reasons that are beyond me even though he spent hours talking about himself after the con), decided to start a comics company called Tightlip Entertainment. Predictably, he isn't paying people when promised. They were supposed to be paid in fifteen days, but haven't been paid yet and it's months later. Pros with sterling reputations for honesty and professionalism have not only not been paid, but are being threatened with lawsuits by Rick Olney for having the 'disloyalty' to speak out, so other creators won't be taken in.

A more repulsive display of unprofessionalism I can't imagine.

Anyway, there's more, a lot more. I've spoken out, and Rick has repeatedly threatened to sue me. Hilariously, I have saved every email he ever sent me (once I realized he wasn't trustworthy), and in his own words, he lies to me over and over again.

I was willing to let the matter die. It was worth it to be rid of him. But I am furious that he has not only not paid these hard-working professionals whose only crime is trusting Olney, but that he's threatening them all with lawsuits when HE is the one who broke the agreement and acted in bad faith.

He's got a Myspace page, mostly about how great he is. It had some hilarious stuff on it, but he's mostly deleted that. Still, check out his blog at

myspace.com/orcafresh

I keep getting email from other people who have been stiffed by him, and now he's lost Ronee Burgois, one of the kindest and most generous people I've ever met, and Rick's former PR manager. The reason? Surprise surprise, he hasn't paid her in seven months.


Anyway, there's this kind of funny thing...he posts these rants about how everyone's out to get him, poor thing, and this one woman, who may be perfectly nice, for all I know, says over and over, "People suck!"

Anyway, here's the response he won't put up on his blog, from me.

"Lying deadbeats suck, I'll agree with that.

People like Rick prey on people's good intentions and honesty and then they cry 'victim' when people speak up. Boo hoo.

You keep calling me a liar, Rick. Where have I lied? Show me one place. What I said was you lied to me about paying me, which you did and you damn well know it, many, many times. Why continue lying about something we both know to be the truth? Where in the world do you come off not keeping your word AND pretending to be a victim?

What I've said was you lied to me repeatedly about payment, and you're doing much worse now, and now you've betrayed poor Ronee, one of your last few defenders. You gonna threaten to sue her, too?

I keep saying, bring it on. I can prove everything I say with your own words. YOU lied, YOU stiffed all those people and you're still doing it. Bring. It. On. You threaten all the people you've betrayed and mistreated...maybe if you kept your word once in a while people wouldn't HAVE such a low opinion of you.

This lady who keeps saying 'people suck' is wrong. MOST of them are honest and decent. It's YOU who are the exception.

And yes, I have a pen name. I'm sorry that seems to baffle and confuse you. It takes a complete lack of understanding of publishing history to be so ASTONISHED by something so banal, but as you're so desperately trying to blame others for your repeated failures, I understand you don't have much to work with. Here's something for free...I also wear corrective lenses sometimes. OH, MY GOODNESS!

Pay Chuck. Pay Val. Pay Ronee. Pay the other people who are afraid to speak in public (and quit using them as examples of happy employees--trust me, they ain't happy with you at all). Quit threatening them. Quit trying to blame THEM for your poor business practices and dishonest responses to their legitimate complaints.

Then you'll have a chance to talk again about your 'honor.' Right now, that is a devalued commodity around your company.


Gail"


IMPORTANT ADDITION:

Please note that Rick Olney was allowed to post here for quite a long time, and managed to not only never answer any accusations, but used the space only to post racist and homophobic insults against those he'd cheated and his other accusers, as well as some really vile anti-woman insults directed at nearly every woman who had ever been a guest at his fake, crappy 'convention.'

Then, because he is at heart an utter coward, he went through and deleted most of his posts, as he's done throughout the internet to the best of his ability. If we occasionally appear to be arguing with no one, it is most likely because Rick "I Always Stand By My Words" Olney deleted the crucial posts.

HOWEVER, since he's had this pattern for at least ten years (leave racist, homophobic, anti-woman slurs and threats of violence), we saw it coming and saved all of it, at www.unscrewed.com

If you'd like to see what kind of 'man' Rick is, check out Unscrewed.com.

This is not a person who keeps his word, as a decade long history of utter deceit and untrustworthiness show. He has NO ONE who supports him except for his professional toady, Dennis Kininger. Fortunately, the industry now has tools to spread the word about people like Rick Olney, and hopefully potential victims of his tricks will see how he has handled his obligations in the past, which is to say, he ignores them.

Gail "

[Gail Simone]

From Ronee, who was Tightlip's PR manager, for a bit.

"I have now been told that because he neglected to secure a contract or NDA from me (said we didnt need one) that he cannot pay me.

Of course this is after he sent me checks that got lost in the mail... (more than once) "


Now, long-timers will remember she agreed to sign one if he sent one, which made him wet himself, so he didn't send one (of course).

It's weird how all Rick's checks get lost in the mail. What an odd coincidence.

Also, how many pretend bookkeepers has he fired for not sending those darn checks when he told them to?

[Gail Simone]

From DocAbsurd

"I've kept my mouth shut about all this. I stuck beside Rick when it seemed like his life was going to hell without the advantage of a handbasket. I remained his friend during all his losses. We've talked on a regular basis for years now, and I've tried desperately to get him to calm down. I remained a sounding board for his half of the story. But, just like Ronee said, it's pointless defending someone who's carrying sticks of dynamite across his chest with a defective timer for a fuse.

I wrote toy reviews for his Mighty MiniCon site, including many that never saw print because of the same reason: non-payment. I was promised -- on more than one occasion -- payment for all of them, plus re-imbursement for the toys reviewed. On more than one occasion, I was promised toys in recompense from auctions he was specifically bidding on for that purpose. It's been 2 years since my first review. At this point I don't even remember how much I'm owed.

He approached me earlier this year to form a group that all small press creators could partake in, a chance for them to team-up with other creators on projects that would do nothing but help them promote their work (check out the Independent Creators Coalition link on his MySpace, that's all my ideas contained therein). Due to my own personal circumstances (divorce, sole custody of 2, hunting down the ex for child support, finding permanent employment, etc), I've had to put off igniting any projects despite many requests from many creators. In retrospect I'm glad it happened this way; I honestly have no idea how he'd fund any of the projects I have in mind. And you have no clue how many people said they'd have no involvement if Rick was even marginally involved.

This week was the final straw.

Why he mentioned me specifically in his last rant to Mr Johnston is beyond me. I was never consulted, never asked, and certainly not the notoriety I'd hope for. Granted, there's no love lost between Mr Shires and myself, but that's way back in the past. I have neither need nor desire to re-live any of that.

But that doesn't seem to be part of Rick's concern. While everyone simply must forgive him his transgressions because of his extenuating circumstances, he doesn't feel the need to do the same. I'm very sick right now; even as I'm writing this I'm in excruciating pain which is only going to be made worse when I have to re-visit the ER tomorrow for the follow-up from my visit yesterday. I may even have to miss my daughter's birthday along with both the jobs I'm working on Monday, depending on how painful the procedure is. Yet he had no qualms dragging me into this little tirade.

I'm done now. I'll take my ideas for the ICC elsewhere, work in conjunction with someone who might be able to fund the ideas reliably, and fight like hell to get the money he owes me."

[Gail Simone]

Anyone have Danny Donovan's story of being cheated by Rick?

[Gail Simone]

Post from Eddie about what a big huge load of bull Orca was...

"Friday, January 26, 2007
Eddie-torial Anecdote: When Eddie Met Rick
Call this one “Eddie’s Brush with Stuff That Other Bloggers Are Linking to or Writing About.”

There’s been a lot of buzz about Rick Olney of Tightlip Entertainment the past couple of weeks. week. If you need to get up to speed with the whole deal, start here with Comics Worth Reading and follow the links.

Now that you’ve read about the experiences others have had with Mr. Olney, I’m going to tell you mine, which admittedly is pretty minor compared to not getting paid for work you’ve done. I’m basically jumping on the bandwagon here because it’s just so strange to me that something that happened in my life several years ago even slightly mirrors something making waves like this in the comics world today. If nothing else, it just shows that Olney’s history of inappropriate interactions and bizarre behavior goes back further than people may realize.

I’ll warn you that my memory is pretty inexact at times and some of the details are fuzzy. This all happened through snail mail, and I didn’t save any copies of anything. At the time, I just chalked it up to a weird, somewhat disturbing, happening in my life and went on. I certainly wasn’t expecting to sit down and write about it several years later. I may have gotten the contents of some of the letters confused, but I think my recollections are pretty accurate. Consider this your caveat lector.

As best I can recall, based on where I was working at the time, it was maybe 1997-ish or so. Olney had a club called ORCA (Organized Readers of Comics Associated), and ORCA had a listing in Comics Buyers’ Guide. I used to take these spells back when I was a CBG reader where I would sit down and send away for anything free or cheap that was advertised. I had started my journey away from mainstream comics a couple of years prior, and was on the hunt for new stuff to read, like some of the small press and self-published stuff advertised in the CBG classifieds. (Yes, a lot of stuff I got was really lame, but that's also how I discovered Elizabeth Watasin. And it was kind of fun.)

I think you could get ORCA info for free with a SASE, so I wrote a nice letter asking for some more information about the group and sent it away with my very own SASE. In reply, I got a very nice letter from Olney, who explained that ORCA was a chance for folks who loved and read comics to get to know each other. Membership was something like five bucks and among the benefits was a bimonthly newsletter. (I’m pretty sure it was bi-monthly, it might have been quarterly. However, it was supposed to have a regular publishing schedule.) There was also a list of questions about me and my interests in comics that I was to answer and send back to help other members get to know me better.

I decided to take the plunge and sent my five bucks in, along with my answers to the questions. If nothing else, I thought it would be good for some mail. I’ve always loved getting mail, especially in those days before the Internet took over the world and email all but wiped out snail mail (except for bills, unfortnately).

A little while later, I got a package from ORCA with another letter from Olney, some ORCA promo stuff, and the first five or six issues of Astro City, a title I had listed as one of my favorites on the questionnaire. In his letter, Olney welcomed me to ORCA and responded to some of my responses on the questionnaire. I listed writing as an interest, so he wanted to know if I would write for the newsletter. He noted some comic interests we had in common. I had mentioned my growing interest in anime and manga (which had yet to really take off in this country), and he said that was something he’d like to know more about. Then he proceeded to trash one of my favorite creators, Donna Barr, whose name I had mentioned in my responses.

Seems that Barr had made some comment about “fanboys” in an interview somewhere and Olney took issue with the term, which he felt was derogatory. He ripped into Barr, including making a really nasty, inappropriate comment about not wanting to see her in a bikini. He said he hoped that I wasn’t “like her” and kind of implied that, maybe, I shouldn’t really like her work after all.

Looking back, this should have been some kind of red flag to me. That's awfully extreme behavior to display to someone you are in the process of meeting. It wasn't even that Barr had insulted him. it was that he percieved that she had, so he was going to take offense at me for liking her comics. Still, at the time, I thought it was something we could work past. Besides, if he got to know someone who liked her work, and could explain its appeal, maybe he would try it himself.

So in my reply, I thanked him for the comics and offered to write about the anime convention in Atlanta I was getting ready to attend (Anime Weekend Atlanta) for the newsletter, if he wanted. I also told him that I hadn’t seen the Barr comment that had him so incensed, but maybe he was taking it a little too personally. I also pointed out that I thought some of his remarks were way out of line.

At some point in time, it may hve been this letter, I also started asking questions about ORCA. How many members did it have? How spread out were they? Were they going to be getting online, since they weren't at the time? (I don't even think Olney had email at this point, hence the snail mail. I know I had given him my email already.) I also wanted to know why Olney called himself something like "Executive Director" which seemed to be an odd title for the president of a pretty informal comics club. Were there other officers? What did they do? It was more curiosity than anything else. I wanted to get to know more about the group than Olney and his letters.

In his reply, Olney accepted my offer to write the article, then proceeded to insult me for daring to defend Barr and her attitude. Maybe I was “just like” her. Maybe I was “snobby.” Maybe I put people down too. And how would he like it if he referred to me as “alterna-boy” based on my taste in comics? And on and on. He also didn’t answer any of my questions about ORCA or his title.

At this point, I should have just dropped the whole thing and moved on. The only “face” that I was seeing for this group was, well, a little unstable, or at least, highly sensitive. I thought I might have an outlet to write about comics, though, so I decided to not bring the topic up any more and focus on areas where we agreed. I went to AWA and, a couple weeks later, sent in an article about it, including places where people who were interested in anime or manga could find more information.

I got an email reply this time, from someone else in ORCA, with a title like “vice president” or something similar, who thanked me for the contribution and said they’d see if they could use it in the upcoming next issue of the newsletter. He also said that Rick was busy with some personal stuff, so he wouldn't be writing for a while. This was in the fall.

In the spring of the next year, the first issue of the “bi-monthly” newsletter that I received showed up, without my article. “Oh well,” I thought. At the point they published it, my story wasn't timely any more, so they must have just decided not to use it. I wasn't faulting them for that or the erratic schedule, since they were all just fans doing this in their spare time, like me.

And I didn’t hear from ORCA or Olney again for sometime, way more than a year, I believe. No more newsletters. None of the fun contact with other members emerged. Nothing. But at least there were no letters from Olney! In the meantime, I had sold all the Astro City comics Olney sent me and made my five bucks back, and then some. I chalked ORCA up as a minor mistake on my part and went on with my life.

Finally, another newsletter showed up. I knew better than to look for an article I wrote about a convention that happened well over a year before, but I was surprised to see a reminder that I needed to renew my dues. It was apparently way past time to send them another five dollars. So, I took stock. Two “bi-monthly” newsletters in a couple of years or so, combined with a bunch of questions I never got answers to, plus a “director” who had been pretty rude to me in our second or third encounter all added up to “no more money from Eddie.” Besides, the newsletter wasn’t even that good or worthwhile.

Also, I had taken a job at the time with an hour commute out of town. I was part of a van pool that left at 6 in the morning, so I was getting up at 4:30 every day. I was tired all the time and looking to cut some distractions out of my life.

I dropped a short note in the mail that said I didn’t want to be a part of ORCA any more and asked them to please take my address of their mailing list. I didn't go into detail because there really wasn't any sense going into everything. I just made a simple, and I should note, polite request. I figured that would be the end of that.

And I was wrong. I got a letter back from Olney wanting to know why I wasn’t renewing. Didn’t he send me all those great Astro City comics? Wasn't I enjoying being in ORCA? (Uhm, no.) They'd been so good to me. Why didn't I appreciate them? They had all these great plans in the works. If I left now, I'd miss all the fun. Why didn't I like them any more? Olney said they weren’t going to drop me. They’d keep sending me the newsletter so I could see all the fun I was missing. That way, I could re-join whenever I wanted, and Olney was sure I'd do that, just as soon as I saw what a mistake I was making. (Honestly, it was like trying to break things off with some kind of clingy ex-lover.)

I guess I could have let it go, since, despite all the promises, there didn't seem to be anything to ORCA. However, I was starting to feel like I really didn't want my name associated with anything Olney was a part of. His response to my request to be dropped was definitely odd.

I wrote back and repeated my request, stating that I really had no desire to receive anything from ORCA. I didn’t want to be a part of the group. I said I didn’t feel ripped off, since I made my five bucks back selling the Astro City issues, but I was disinclined to send Olney any more money for a group that didn’t seem to be worth it. I pointed out that I had asked questions that were never answered, that the newsletter really wasn’t what it promised to be and reminded him that he had insulted me for liking a creator that he didn’t. In short, I hadn’t had a good experience with them and wanted to end my association.

The next letter from Olney moved beyond odd to freaky. He was very rude, calling me names again for liking Donna Barr. (Sheesh!) He didn't like my attittude. He didn't like me. I was an ingrate and a snob. Then he said he wasn’t going to drop me from the membership, instead he was going to print my letter and address in the next newsletter and encourage “the membership” to laugh at me and send me letters telling me how ridiculous I was.

Up to that point, the whole thing had been a little annoying, but this was almost scary. On the one hand, as near as I could tell, “the membership” was Olney and a couple of friends, but on the other, I was starting to see an escalation in bizarre, antagonistic behavior every time Olney didn’t approve of something I said. Here he was, basically saying that he was going to encourage other people to harass me! The situation was turning really wacko, and I definitely wanted no part of anything he was at all connected with after that.

I wrote back, pointing out that I felt like things were starting to unnecessarily escalate. I told him that his response felt like a threat to me and that I would take appropriate action if he did indeed run my letter without permission and encourage others to harass me. I repeated my request to be removed from the ORCA roster. I put the letter in the mail, totally unsure about what to expect next.

To my surprise, Olney’s next later said that he had talked it over with others (who?), rethought everything, and would honor my request. And that was the last heard from him. This would have been in 1999 or maybe 2000. I know it was before I took my current job, which was in January, 2001. I never heard from him or ORCA again.

In the years since, I would sometimes see a post from Olney in a comment thread or some mention of him or ORCA somewhere online and I would just shake my head. Everytime there was some kind of big announcement about something he was working on, I'd kind of roll my eyes a bit, and feel a little sorry for anyone who ended up working with him.

And then, the disturbing behavior I saw years ago starting becoming very public and growing in scope and character. Meltdowns on boards. Insulting belittling posts. Excessive victim language. Big promises with nothing to back them up. Ignoring requests for details. Looking back I think you cansee the seeds for all this behavior in his interactions with me. Except that the internet gave him a forum and broad exposure for his antics. And, worst of all, he moved from just harrassing and insulting nobody fans like me to defrauding professionals trying to make their livelihoods in comics.

What happened to me back in the day is basically kind of a weird footnote to my life. It’s not necessarily something I would care to repeat, mind you, but it’s small potatoes compared to what others have had to deal with when it comes to Olney. I’m thankful that all of our communications were low tech enough that there was kind of a built in limit to how far things could escalate. When I see him lashing out online, I’m aware of what our interactions could have turned into, given the chance. I'm also glad I never got more involved in anything he was involved in. I 'm also glad that there were no serious financial trasnactions between us.

And there you have it. My Rick Olney story. Not as dramatic or critical as some of the others, but there it is. My thoughts are with those people who are now having to prepare to go to court to get him to honor his commitments. That shouldn't happen to anyone. "

[Gail Simone]

Also, Chuck Dixon's story of Rick's deadbeatism would be welcome...do you have that, Sarah?

[Gail Simone]

Another person Rick tried to destroy, the lovely and talented Joanne Mutch (she has a different last name now, which I'm not posting to avoid Rick's repulsive attacks against her).

"I'm here I'm here!!
Oh GOD! Rick Olney! Boy is that a name I hoped to never hear again. Doc and Ian, please feel free to post any and all info on my issues with Rick as many of the minor details escape me. (and I miss you two as well ) All I know is that the end result was that I was afraid to go to the Pittsburgh comic-con by myself as Rick had hinted that he would "see me there". I was so nervous that I told a few of my fellow small pressers in the area that if they heard me yell, to come running.

Rick is sick and unbalanced. He went from promoting my book for his show to trying to convince everyone I was a no talent bitch from Canada who obviously had a stash of cash that enabled me to travel around to conventions at my leisure. (if you looked at my bank account, you'd know how FAR from the truth THAT is! lol)

He said terrible things about my husband, about my friends, and turned several online pals into enemies. I NEVER had enemies until I met Rick.

I think his hatred for me began when he posted a scathing comment about the Wizard World convention and stated that any small press or Indy creator who goes there is an idiot.
I was a mod at the time over at the SPA and I either deleted his whole comment or edited it, I can't remember, then I pmed him and said he can't say things like that he was insulting a whole community that was dedicated to promoting small press and Indy creators. And it went from there

Again, I don't remember details, but it was bad, so bad my husband and I talked about getting off the convention circuit for a while until things with Rick cooled down.

How sad is that?!

I'm sad to see how many people his warped mind has affected, but the one good thing is that this thread will alert a whole bunch of people about this man. I hope he never works in comics again, gets some serious medical attention and lives a long and happy life in his own house where he's not allowed to get on the internet.
Idiot.

Good for you Gail for getting this started. "

[AIPman1]

Another person Rick tried to destroy, the lovely and talented Joanne Mutch (she has a different last name now, which I'm not posting to avoid Rick's repulsive attacks against her).

"I'm here I'm here!!
Oh GOD! Rick Olney! Boy is that a name I hoped to never hear again. Doc and Ian, please feel free to post any and all info on my issues with Rick as many of the minor details escape me. (and I miss you two as well ) All I know is that the end result was that I was afraid to go to the Pittsburgh comic-con by myself as Rick had hinted that he would "see me there". I was so nervous that I told a few of my fellow small pressers in the area that if they heard me yell, to come running.

Rick is sick and unbalanced. He went from promoting my book for his show to trying to convince everyone I was a no talent bitch from Canada who obviously had a stash of cash that enabled me to travel around to conventions at my leisure. (if you looked at my bank account, you'd know how FAR from the truth THAT is! lol)

He said terrible things about my husband, about my friends, and turned several online pals into enemies. I NEVER had enemies until I met Rick.

I think his hatred for me began when he posted a scathing comment about the Wizard World convention and stated that any small press or Indy creator who goes there is an idiot.
I was a mod at the time over at the SPA and I either deleted his whole comment or edited it, I can't remember, then I pmed him and said he can't say things like that he was insulting a whole community that was dedicated to promoting small press and Indy creators. And it went from there

Again, I don't remember details, but it was bad, so bad my husband and I talked about getting off the convention circuit for a while until things with Rick cooled down.

How sad is that?!

I'm sad to see how many people his warped mind has affected, but the one good thing is that this thread will alert a whole bunch of people about this man. I hope he never works in comics again, gets some serious medical attention and lives a long and happy life in his own house where he's not allowed to get on the internet.
Idiot.

Good for you Gail for getting this started. "

All this reminding of how it got started, makes me wish it wasnt getting turned off...but then, I do think the Facebook spot will do well to keep things current, as long as we keep it firmly in the fabebook TOS.

[Gail Simone]

This is from DangerDiabolik, yet ANOTHER person cheated by Rick.

"WOW

So I had to throw my hat into this mess...stew....sludge...whatever we want to call it.

I too have been/am being burned by Ric. I waited and hoped but its been about 4 months ( maybe more ) ...and at this point I realize I'm being screwed....

I was asked to flat 6 pages for a whopping grand total of 90 dollars.

Let me repeat that.....90 bucks.

The colorist made sure Ric was cool with it, and he was ( I have the e-mails ) ...and I have the e-mail where Ric guarantees me payment. No contracts, no NDA's nothing...So.....I flatted, invoiced Ric on 08.09.06, and waited....

And waited....

And waited....

And waited....

And waited....

THEN contact after months of nothing.....He FINALLY responds.... I have the e-mail from November 12th that says nobodies gonna' screw me out of money and that I'll be paid my measily 90 bucks before December....

And now.....its gonna be a whole new year.....and STILL....this guy cant/wont pay me ....my 90 bucks.

Its not even enough to buy an absolute edition....lol.

I havent said anything online because I was hoping I might get paid....but ....that sure dosent seem to be happening. I have no idea why this guy is being like this...but that I could vent here is AWESOME.

I felt the need to share, just so people understand that this guy isnt just screwing people out of serious money, money that will pay rent and bills....but hes also screwing someone like me out of 90 bucks....lol...So petty, and so sad.

So Ric if you read this...please pay me....I want that Absolute Kingdom Come....in fact we can call it even if you buy me one....you can get one on Amazon for 50 bucks used....I'll even take that !

Well that felt good :)

P.S. If anyone needs flats ( or anything else for that matter I'm available :) )"

[Gail Simone]

All this reminding of how it got started, makes me wish it wasnt getting turned off...but then, I do think the Facebook spot will do well to keep things current, as long as we keep it firmly in the fabebook TOS.


Truthfully, if someone else wants to host the thread somewhere else, that's fine. I just feel that the important stuff is getting so buried that it's hard to keep up.

[AIPman1]

I'm giving it consideration for the new SP! Magazine site....But I've always had this fairly direct rule about no flame wars, which...I dunno...perhaps if I made a section specifically for this sort of truth-based rebuttal posting as this thread has been, and stay on top of the sort of rules you have kept...

what do you think folks? Should SP! Magazine take this on?

[Gail Simone]

I think if you make it clear that one thread is the exception, generally people get that easily enough.

Here's a comment from Mike Bullock, the brilliant creator behind LIONS, TIGERS AND BEARS. Three MORE people Rick's cheated:

"In the interests of getting my artists, Paul "Gutz" Gutierrez and Bob Pedroza, paid for their work on this project, I'll gladly donate the money Rick Olney owes me personally towards the legal fees involved in forcing Rick to be a stand up guy. "

[Gail Simone]

Another person cheated by Rick Olney, Chuck Dixon.

"“I never signed a non-disclosure agreement and I can attest that I haven’t been paid for my work for Tightlip and know of more than a half dozen others who haven’t received Dime One. Rick has offered excuses in lieu of payment going on to five months now. I wouldn’t be saying anything to you but his new round of defences are demonstrably false

“No payment issues that haven’t ‘been worked out to the mutual satisfaction of both parties’ – this is simply not the case. We were told we’d be paid and we haven’t been. About as mutually satisfying as a cannibal buffet.

“Olney cited production delays due to business and personal reasons, but that no one contacted about this has expressed problems – no problems expressed beyond, ‘Where the hell’s my money?’ No response to this beyond a kind of ‘You’re harshin’ my buzz’ reply.”"

[Gail Simone]

Val Staples, another person cheated by Rick Olney.

"

Dec. 4 2006

The latest TightLip creator to publicly speak out about payment is Val Staples. Val, who used to run the MVC Studios is no stranger to non-payment – the collapse of CrossGen left him owed thousands and with many other creators to pay. Nevertheless, Val’s openness and honesty with people he owed money saw them repay him with understanding and Staples took up considerable personal projects to earn enough to pay back everyone. As a result, I’ve never heard anyone badmouthing Staples, for this or for anything else.

Staples seems to have has less of a positive experience with Rick Olney of TightLip Entertainment. He e-mailed me to tell me “Rick Olney of TightLip Entertainment is now 90 days past due in his payment to me. Most recently, he told me that I would be paid by the end of November. Unfortunately, that never happened and he is no longer responding to my e-mails. As a result, he has broken contractual and personal agreements, and I no longer feel bound by his Non Disclosure Agreement. It’s such a shame, as I honestly believe that he means what he keeps promising, but it never comes to pass. When I found myself in a similar situation after CrossGen went bankrupt, I kept artists that my studio owed informed continuously. I then went out of my way, with the help of fans and retailers, to earn enough to pay back the artists despite still being owed that money from CrossGen. By comparison, all I’ve received from Rick are empty promises and reminders about my non disclosure contract. It’s not enough. I hope Rick will do the right thing and work to redeem himself by paying artists in full in the very near future rather than threatening hard-working creators with legal action.”"

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

Rick's in the midst of a meltdown again. He tries to point out an error to Gail.

Gail, Tim spells his last name T-U-O-H-E-Y.

Oh really?
http://i.imgur.com/rgwlC.jpg

Wrong again Rick.

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

Also from Ricky tonight.


Now, I need to make a plea to you -- PLEASE DO NOT shut your hatred thread of me down. It is actually working for me and you'll really, finally, realize the error of your ways if it stays active awhile longer. Thank you for considering my strange request.

[Gail Simone]

Yawn.

Not even interested enough to read it anymore. That battery is dead, at least for me.

Unbelievable how many people are STILL coming forward with stories of Rick's lies and deadbeatism. WOW!

Also, Rick's wishes on this thread have never once entered into it. What he wants could not possibly matter less.

[Gail Simone]

[QUOTE=MyNameIsNotLarry;8317035]Rick's in the midst of a meltdown again. He tries to point out an error to Gail.


Oh really?
http://i.imgur.com/rgwlC.jpg


Yeah, had a nice chat with Timothy, who is absolutely AMAZED at all the bs Rick has spun about a simple tour that they used to give ANYONE WHO CALLED AND ASKED.

Somehow, to Rick, that equals a job offer for a fan club they didn't even have.
Tim checked with the man who would know for certain, just to double check.

And as funny as it is to be corrected (wrongly), about spelling by one of the dumbest abusers of the English language I've ever met, like I say, it's old news, now.

Like Rick himself.

[Gail Simone]

Please do me a favor, guys. If you find more of the posts from people specifically talking about Rick's abuse and deadbeatism, please post them here. I'm going to post them in a clump right before shutting the thread down so they won't be buried in other stuff, and the first thing anyone sees when looking for Rick will be posts from actual people he's cheated. Your help is appreciated!

[Gail Simone]

Also, the best recap of some of Rick's greatest Deadbeat hits is here on the great J.R. LeMar's site (which also has lots of excellent articles, so it is AGAIN in contrast to Rick's awkward stumbling).

J.R. has done the best job putting together the pertinent info on some of Rick's grossest moves, always worth looking at.

http://iblogalot.com/category/rick-olney/

[Haunted Brandon]

Gail, here is your post on the old Yabs board regarding the Mighty Mini Con in 2003. I know this has been recounted here already but it's relevent enough to go into the clump:

Olney had posted:


She doesn't even remember that night. Doesn't know how she got back to the airport and lied about what she spent that evening and next morning on meals for herself and her dead-below-the neck husband.

To which Gail responded:


Scott, of course, is an actual man, so it's no wonder Rick is so jealous.

And I absolutely DO remember. I'm not the one who conveniently has memory losses over every single person I've ever promised money to.

Let's see, shall we?

We split into two cars, one driven by Rick and one by Dennis. One had myself and my husband, the other had Marvel cover artist Greg Horn, who was even more disgusted than we were that Rick and Dennis had not made hotel arrangements for our last night. Greg was having some serious problems because of some sort of unspecified problem with not getting a proper dinner (as I said, we had to sit and listen to Rick's stories of his non-fame for two hours while waiting for a ride out of that shit-hole convention). I don't know if it was a low blood sugar thing or simply that he was famished, but he was experiencing some genuine discomfort.

We went to three hotels before finding one that had rooms available. This is the level of their planning that guests didn't even have a place to stay or a restaurant to eat at. When we finally found a hotel with rooms, and it WAS a nice enough hotel, a nice change after the disgusting pitstain of the first night, their credit card was declined. So after a day of promises, they couldn't afford to put us up AND feed us despite all their fantastic, clockwork planning. My husband just wanted to get away from these idiots as quickly as possible. We talked with Greg about the entire experience, but I won't repeat what he said without his permission.

Rick came to the car window and told us that they'd been able to get us rooms (he didn't say how he paid, and to this day, I still don't know) but that that left them without money to pay for dinner (which, I'll be honest, we both IMMEDIATELY thought, "Thank god, we won't have t sit and listen to this guy any more).

We were thrilled to see those guys leave, listening to Rick bragging about his huge list of non-accomplishments has just become unbearable, and anyone who has known him for five minutes knows exactly what I'm talking about. He actually told the 'I'm a Star Wars figure!' lie TWICE, he liked it so much. My husband hates blowhards and already had a low opinion of Rick from the way he treated those poor young girls who brought their costumes to Rick's non-existant costume contest. He couldn't wait to be away from those two.

Because it was so late, every restaurant nearby was closed. There were several that looked nice enough, including a barbecue place the hotel recommended, but they were all closed. The only thing open was a Denny's, which is not exactly our favorite. But it was the only choice.

It was weirdly packed, considering the hour, but the worst thing was that the entire section we sat in STANK of cigarettes. In Oregon, you can't smoke in restaurants at all any more, so having smokers all around was really gross, and I am allergic, so that was unpleasant.

The funny thing here is, the bill was almost nothing. It was Denny's. That was the only expense we had. Rick says, "she lied about what she spent that evening and the next morning," and once again, we see he's both a) stupid, and b) an habitual liar.

First off, Rick, you genius with photographic memory, I NEVER claimed to spend anywhere NEAR $100. We had a cheap, rotten dinner at Denny's, thanks to your broke ass and shitty planning (and the two hours you wasted for us all telling us how great you are while volunteers did all the actual WORK of breaking down your rotten 'convention.'), and that was IT. You claim I tried to expense you for breakfast?

Bullshit. We SKIPPED breakfast, because, due again to your planning, we had a flight so early that there was no time. We got two hours of sleep as it was. The hotel had a continental breakfast, but it didn't start for another two hours. Nevertheless, THEY were nice enough to offer to make us little to-go breakfast bags for the plane. We didn't have time to take them up on their nice offer, but they did give us a couple muffins to go...they were actually incredibly nice and a nice reminder that some people are actually good at their jobs.

So that was it. My total expenses were two crappy meals at Denny's. Everything you said is a complete lie. And again, I say for the fifty millionth time, YOU came up with the $100 figure above my airfare, not me. I have some sympathy, because if I were a lying deadbeat who cheated everyone I ever met, I'd probably have a hard time keeping my story straight as well.

Sorry, Rick. I actually DO remember that night. But I can certainly understand why you would like to pretend it didn't exist. I can go on in much greater detail, but I think the point is made.

Gail

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=156451&page=2715

[Haunted Brandon]

And here is Gail's account of Olney's non-existant costume contest:


Okay, one of the big events at the Shitty Mini Con was supposed to be a costume contest. It was supposed to have fabulous prizes.

But like everything, Rick wouldn't get off his ass to even have the contest, and of course Dennis was too busy looking for more goofy-ass moccasin boots to make him look even less masculine.

These two young girls, who had clearly come to the convention only for the costume contest, were directed to come talk to Rick, who had been sitting on his ass at a table on the school's outer deck (I think he knew no one wanted him joining in on the friendly game of football that was taking place on the lawn below). Because where he was sitting was behind where my table was, I saw him there for quite some time, openly SIGHING dramatically about how exhausted he was, even though I never saw him do a lick of work the whole time (unless you count nearly passing out after carrying a box of comics up a slight incline).

Now, again, I know he has heart troubles...but the fact that he was always missing when someone needed to be paid or when there was work to be done, I think that shows pretty clearly what kind of man his is.

So these girls come up to him, my husband and I were sitting at the table (this was probably when the famous picture of my husband looking at Rick like he's a pile of vomit took place...that was the area where it happened, anyway).

They'd been waiting all day for this contest, the only reason they'd come at all, and they asked him when it was going to be held.

He said, "oh, that's canceled."

And the girls just looked crestfallen. I mean, really heartbroken. But Rick, one of the biggest jerks I've ever met, didn't even turn to look at them, but instead turned right back to us, to continue telling his story about how wonderful he was, AGAIN. This wasn't the two hour talk about that subject that happened later, it was just another in a series of bullshit stories about what a huge influence he'd been on comics.

I stress, he didn't even turn to look at them.

I was mad, but my husband was just appalled. He said, wait, wait, they came all this way...and he asked the girls if they had their costumes with them. They said yes, and I said, well, at LEAST let's let them show them!

Like I said, I thought it was rude and obnoxious, but my husband was just beside himself. He can't stand bullies and cads, and this was his breaking point with the deadbeat. So he and I made a big deal of the two girls showing their costumes, and they were pretty happy, even though attendance was nothing to start with and by this point almost no one was left.

Rick suddenly realizes the people at the table are looking at him like he's the world's biggest scuzzball, suddenly musters up the effort to agree, yeah, sure, go get the costumes.

My husband went in, because he's incredibly gallant, and got some of the other creators, people he already knew were nice, kind folks, to come out and at least see these girls in their hand-made costumes, so it wasn't just two people and a huge jerk. If you know my husband, you know what kind of guy he is. People like Rick make him want to throw up.

So there's a tiny group, but at least there are people there to see, since by this point, we knew Rick wouldn't lift a finger to make the con run better, or to make it nice for two young women. He was too busy acting exhausted drama-queen style and talking about how wonderful he was.

One of the two girls had made an INCREDIBLY cool Jack Skellington outfit that she wore like a puppet...it was seriously maybe eight feet tall, and one of the coolest costumes I'd ever seen. So we all applauded and made a huge fuss over them both. And it made the girls smile and it made ME smile because the comics creators that came to see were unfailingly polite and supportive. They instantly got that these girls had worked hard on these costumes.

So Rick, who barely even musters the energy to look at these poor girls, waves his hand and says, honest to god (because there was supposed to be prizes for the contest), "eh, I'll get you some gift certificates or something."

And turned right back away from them, to get right back to the only topic he gave a shit about the whole con, himself.

To this DAY, whenever someone is being a complete douche, we say to each other, with a weary wave of a dismissive hand, "eh, I'll get you some gift certificates or something."

That was when we decided we wanted out, and FAST.

But Rick kept us captive for TWO HOURS telling about his brushes with greatness in comics, until of course, no hotels were available, and when we FOUND one, their credit card was declined.

It still makes me mad. I can't imagine a real MAN ever treating two very sweet, earnest girls like that.


Sidenote: It's interesting that Rick now claims he has a letter from ILM saying they were making a figure based on him (though we know it's a lie, as the designer himself has said). Because that day, at the con, he ABSOLUTELY SAID he had no way to prove it, but it certainly was an 'odd coincidence.'

Like all his lies, eventually he believes them himself.

[Gail Simone]

Well, look at that, my story hasn't changed a single bit, while Rick has had to try out half a dozen new excuses ALONG with lying that he paid my husband's airfare before finally being forced to admit he lied about it.

I take it back. I do now know that Dennis paid for the hotel when Rick's credit card was declined, I did not know that at the time...and isn't it just like Rick not to give Dennis credit for saving the day at the time?

Olney in a nutshell.

[Gail Simone]

I have some pretty good info about the breakdown of FRESH from someone who knows, waiting to hear back for their permission to post it. Unsurprisingly, it's gross.

[Glenn Barbis Jr.]

Glenn, that thing about your family's charred bodies is one of the most fucked up things I have ever heard. I am so sorry you ever crossed paths with that disgusting excuse for a human being.

Thanks Gail! I was never scared of his threats, having witnessed his ceaseless litany of them over the first few years I knew him, but I wasn't going to just sit by and take them. Now if it ever comes to it, I have legal means to ensure he won't bother my family or I, if Rick ever crosses our paths. I have copies of the emails and the legal documents, and I am not afraid to use them if I have to.

[Gail Simone]

Here's Chuck Satterlee, and the group of people Rick screwed with his "No, I won't tell you when I'm cancelling a con, all that matters is me" policy:

I have been reluctant to speak about him publically. But...

My name is Chuck Satterlee. I am currently a small press writer with a few series out there. I am also an employee of Markosia Enterprises.

My history goes back a couple years with Rick.

When I had two series at Speakeasy, one of those series...(Of Bitter Souls) was drawn by Norm Breyfogle. For those of you who remember, Norm is a legend (at least in my opinion) and had one of the greatest runs on Detective and Batman ever. Norm is also one of the nicest and most generous people in comics. Back then, Rick had contacted Norm and invited him to go to his Mighty Mini-Con. Rick was supposed to pay for the trip, hotel, and give him a $100 per diem. I remember that Norm and I had the opportunity to sign together at a bigger convention but Norm, who NEVER breaks his word, had already said yes to Rick. The days drew closer to the show...and no word about his plane ticket or accomidations. Then the day came...and no word and Norm was blown off. When Norm spoke about this on the Speakeasy boards, Rick went into what can only be described as the mother of all rants. He had a ton of excuses why his behavior was not unprofessional.

Then time passed.

Norm, being the forgiving guy he is, agreed the following year to try it again.

Same result.

Then, because I guess I am an idiot...I fell for it as well.

Rick invited a bunch of Markosia creators to the MIghty Mini-Con. Same promises...

The list included:

Freddie E. Williams II who is a very good friend of mine.
Tom Hall and Daniel Bradford who are doing a book for Markosia.
Me
Brian Augustyn
Chris Dibari
JOse Torres
Sal Cipriano

Freddie...who is exclusive at DC now, and my other friends waited and waited for the travel arrangements and such.

Nothing...

Repeated e-mails asking for clarification...

Nothing...

Then, he told us he had some family problems and deaths...

He siad that is why he did not contact anybody.

Poor Ronee kept trying to get word to us but she knew nothing during that time either.

Now, we're just small press, but we all scheduled that time and believe me, every show counts when you're small press. We all gave up other shows to do this.

Then...and it starts to get weird here...

He started contacting me and asking if I had been talking poorly of him. I really hadn;t. I had kept this to myself and so did ALL of my firends.

I am no angel. I have had my share of public internet fights. But man...this was crazy. He kept quizzing me on who might be talking about him. I tried just to forget the problems and he kept contacting me through myspace. I just don;t get him. Let sleeping dogs lie or some shit like that. Why keep dragging this on with people?

Apparently, Norm and my friends and I were lucky, we were only inconvienienced and not out the money.

This story keeps getting more and more odd. It seems like just about everyone has had a run-in with him at one time or another.

I am sure I am next to get sued now. But hey...if I only said it twenty times, I am small press, I could use a good court case to get some publicity. :)

[Gail Simone]

Again, keep them coming, guys. If you have posts of people who have directly experienced Rick's lies and deadbeatism, please post them here, OR if you have yourself experienced those things with Rick, again, post it here.

[SarahBeach]

Sorry for the delay in responding to your inquiry about Chuck, Gail.

What you posted (which was his response to an inquiry from Rich Johnston for "Lying in the Gutters" was pretty much the first time I ever heard of Rick Olney. Prior to Rich's running the story, he had signed up on Dixonverse to make sure that the email he'd gotten was indeed from Chuck. The statement you quoted ran on Rich's column, and shortly thereafter, Rick showed up on Dixonverse to "defend his good name."

Chuck didn't care, so we let him post. But within three days, Rick had gotten so obnoxious, Chuck wanted to boot and ban him (something we rarely did). However, Gail had joined the postings and had started unfolding small bits of her bad experience of him. She did not at that time go into detail, and she said nothing on Dixonverse about the MMC itself. But Rick laid into her with some of the vilest posts it had been my displeasure to deal with. The Dixonverse was maintained as a family-friendly board (we'd had regular posters as young as 11 in the past - very smart kid), so his posts were a big problem to me as moderator. At the time, because Gail's postings had encouraged a couple of other people to speak up, I was the one that urged Chuck to allow Rick to continue posting on Dixonverse a bit longer. At that time there was a high lurkership, much higher than the number of regular posters. I argued that if we allowed Rick to continue posting, his own behavior and statements would expose him to a far wider number of people than he was aware of. "Let him hang himself" was my attitude.

The board was a branched thread board, with email notifications. This could create problems, because people tended to respond by way of the email, and not return to the board itself. Thus, a Moderator's ruling on one branch thread would not reach the combatants if they were fighting elsewhere. It was a nightmare to moderate. By the time Rick went so far as to post suggesting that Gail's success was achieved by turning tricks, I'd had enough. We banned him, I deleted a lot of stuff (including that particular insult), and then had one of my assistant mods copy all his remaining posts. That file still exists (though I don't think I have a copy of it on my computer - I can ask around, but we've all seen enough of his bile to know the type of garbage it contains).

I then composed a long email letter to him going point by point over one of his last self-justifying posts or emails. But after 8 pages, I'd had enough. Instead I made a PDF of the document, emailed it to certain others who knew of our decisions behind the scenes, and then posted it on my website without making it a prominent thing. I posted the link in the CBR thread, the link is on Unscrewed, and once again I'll post it here.

http://scribblerworks.us/news/Dixonverse%20PDF.htm -- that link goes to the introductory page on my website and the PDF link itself is on the bottom of that page.

I think we put up with him for about three weeks and then we kicked him out. It was after that, that Gail opened the CBR thread, achieving much more effectively what I was hoping for when I suggested letting him continue to post on Dixonverse.

Rick was and has always been a very negligible matter in my interests in comics. Happlily, I had little to do with him. He irritated the heck out of me with his pretensions and attempts to condescend to me (trust me, when you have been fortunate to establish on your own a relationship with comics pros like Denny O'Neil, the condescension of someone like Rick Olney pulling a "Aw, little girl, maybe you too will become a Big Wheel in comics like I am" is beyond laughable). And because of Gail's threads here and on CBR, I have been very pleased to add to my circle of friends, gaining several that have become very dear to me. But that's the extent of the effect of Olney on my life.

As for Chuck -- once Rick was gone from Dixonverser, Chuck didn't care. He was angry that his artists were cheated, and I believe in the end Chuck paid them for the work himself. I haven't asked directly, and he doesn't go around publicizing his business arrangements. We have plenty of other, more interesting, things to talk about. From all I can tell of Chuck's behavior, Olney is a gob of dust that was shaken off and left behind long ago.

I continued to stick around because I came to care about those that were cheated. Good folks who deserved far better, and who had had their self-esteem poisoned by Olney's bile. If I have played a part in giving them a boost and getting back on track artisticly, I'm happy about my participation.

[Artful Angie]

Gail, it's been so long since it happened that I can't remember the details, but didn't Rick accuse somebody at the crappy-con of actually getting hands-on with Rick over his failure to pay that guest?

Ian, I wanted to say thanks for signing up on your own to the FAcebook page, and to say I hope it stays within the FB TOS. To that end, would you consider being added as an Admin to assure it stays on the straight and narrow? I don't really post or log in to it much, I was just the idea guy, and LeftWing is the only other Admin. And then if you do the other thread, you can add a link to it.



I never stated anywhere, at any time, that anyone at Marvel asked me to consider taking over where their WHAMM group/club failed.

False. I clearly remember seeing that in one of his ORCA rants. It may not have been a recent one, but it was one of those dribblings of his where he YET AGAIN and for the billionth time included that lame ass phot of him and the article from Visions. An article which was written by Tim T-O-U-H-Y I believe. And we all see what he had to say about Rick lately.

Maybe Rick is mis-spelling the name on purpose, so he can truly believe in his reality that they are two totally different people? Then his Tim is the good guy at Marvel who he swears offered him a job, and the other Tim is just a lying troll.... who used to work at Marvel and can't stand Rick at all.


Not sure where you came up with this lie about me taking over Marvel's fan group efforts back in the 1990s, but it is not the truth. If that were to had been even considered back then -- Terry Stewart would have needed to take the idea to Stan (and a couple others, as well as Marvel's Legal Dept.) for consideration.

Funny how Don remembered you saying it before, Rick. And it jogged in a few people's memory after reading it again here. But exactly how would your BFF "Stan Lee" A.K.A. Stanley Martin Lieber have to be involved? You understand he doesn't own Marvel Comics. Right? He's more of an Emeritus position in the comics and PR side, and they don't have to ask his opinion on who runs their fan club. Especially since, at the time, there wasn't a fan club! So how exactly would they have run a non-existent position past the legal department??


Gail, it is actually spelled Ithacon, I believe. Yeah, the boys had fun. Posted a picture of themselves and all. Matt and Martin look like they're related and as usual, Awful Angie's wrist is, well, just so muscular. Its obvious the exercises that wrist does to stay in such great shape.

Actually, I'm ambidextrous. But if I'm "such a direct threat to the Olney Family", don't you think you'd want to watch out for those muscles, Rick? After all, some of us work out with more muscles than our mouths and fat asses like you. And some of us weren't hiding out during our military service in the supply room like you.


@Angie -- You're such a coward. But yeah, I'll be dishin' out a grand to have an investigator find out who you are and you're not going to believe this, but I'm still fairly sure I actually know. Yeah, it will surprise a few people in my personal circle...but you won't ever be as intimidating as you think you are.

Even if you had a thousand dollars Rick you'd only go blow it at Teaser's and V.J's like you normally do, hoping you'd get to talk to a real girl without her running away from the smell. You certainly aren't spending it on personal hygiene products. But you go ahead and pretend you have a lawyer who'll throw a net over me and drag me downtown. I'll order my ACME net-hole-cutting-scissors at the same time from the same place you get you private dick and your lawyer. Although if you ask me, it wouldn't be the first time Rick has spent a lot of money on some private dick. "Methinks he doth protest too much".

As far as your personal circle go, having to bribe some of them to be your friends isn't saying much. You know what I'm talking about, Ricky. The question is, how would I know what I'm talking about? Really, how King Lear are you going to get with your "friends" to figure out who I am? You clueless dolt! "hahahahahahahaha"*


Gail, that event back on May 10, 2003 was your crowning glory. You'll never outdistance it. Believe me. Meanwhile, Organized Readers of Comics Association will host another one day and we all will have learned from any mistakes that we REALLY made or may make in the future. As I recall, Heidi did get a replacement room...but Kininger is really the only one that would know the answer to that quandary that day.

Yeah, Gail! No matter how many times you're invited to San Diego, New York, and Wizard World, you'll never be able to outshine your trip to Crappy-Con.

Oh, wait. I'm sorry. I thought he said "Shinola" as in "Rick doesn't know shit from shinola". Never mind, Gail. It's all good.

Yeah, Rick. Why don't you ask Dennis about that. Oh, drat! I forgot. Dennis thinks you're a fucking moron. There seems to be a lot of that going on. Here. Whitesboro. The New ORCA. Marvel Comics. "Stan Lee" A.K.A. Stanley Martin Lieber. Facebook. Maybe it's the first stage of that worldwide zombie virus everybody talks about? Stage one is the victim thinks you don't know your ass from a hole in the ground! Oooh! I know I'm infected with it! "hahahahahahaha"*


*- Quoted From Rick Olney.

[HamsterRage]

If anyone wants any of Rick's disgusting quotes from his past blogs just subscribe to them via Google Reader... They're all cached there. I have them all logged.

[Gail Simone]

Yeah, gee, being Guest of Honor at conventions like San Diego, New York, Singapore, London, Leeds, Chicago, and dozens of other REAL conventions will never live up to a dumpy frumpy convention no one attended in the middle of Nowhere, USA. Well played, Rick!

Truth is, EVERY convention I've attended was better in every way. EVERY appearance. Even some small comic shops managed far better organization, integrity and turnout. There's no comparison,the MMC was dead last by a LOOOOONG shot.
But the other cons are run by people who care about more than just attention for themselves, of course.

[Gail Simone]

If anyone wants any of Rick's disgusting quotes from his past blogs just subscribe to them via Google Reader... They're all cached there. I have them all logged.

Thanks, Hamster, that will come in handy!

[leftwingnutcase]

WHO THE FUCK ARE "MATT AND MARTIN???"

At the 2012 Cabin Fever Comic Book Show, there were a dozen nearly sold-out vendors, two dozen creators, including Roger-FUCKING-Stern, John Hertzler, a.k.a. Klingon High Chancellor Martok, for Earth's sakes, AND OVER TWO-HUNDRED PAYING ATTENDEES!!!!!

There was also one Matt "Doc" Martin, WHO DROVE FROM CONNECTICUT just to see the Evil and Preposterous Zinestud himself...or is that Magnus? Or Orin? Or any of the other "queer sounding screen-names" Richard Lee Olney II uses.

Rick, "go take a flying fuck off a powdered doughnut!"

Asshat.

[MacQuarrie]

HOWEVER, since he's had this pattern for at least ten years (leave racist, homophobic, anti-woman slurs and threats of violence), we saw it coming and saved all of it, at www.unscrewed.com

If you'd like to see what kind of 'man' Rick is, check out Unscrewed.com.
Quick note: the URL is www.unscrewedcomic.com

[Artful Angie]

And to Matthew Martin, I did serve and set foot in those foreign countries I've previously mentioned. I can prove that also, but I don't think I need to. You and your fellow troublemakers have long thought that you had me on a public trial of sorts. You're mistaken and you lied about a lot of things. I don't want to ever meet you in person because you're scummy and lack character. I'm also, frankly, protecting you from possible bodily harm.

Look there! Another report of threats made on his blog. Please screencap before he makes it go away? Thanks.


You don't mean shit to me. You don't scare or intimidate me in the least. You're more like an overgrown kid, and I wonder how you hold down as responsible a job as you do. But that is all your business...not mine.

That's right, Matt! It's not in his business to hold down a responsible job!


Now, the matter of the UA on my military record...its also explainable. There was NO court martial.

Duuuhh! Didn't we say there was no court-martial? What we said was they decided it was cheaper to just boot your ass out with your planned outprocessing rather than court-martial you and have to pay for your ass stinking up a stockade for longer than you'd have been still in the Corps.


It was a simple meeting between my commanding officer and myself, where we both walked away with smiles on our faces.

Only Rick could write something like that, not see the double meaning, and think he was being smart. But we do believe you gave him a smile to his face, Rick if that's what you want to say about it. HAHAHA!


I DID get spat upon coming back into America in 1973 at LAX. I can prove that too!

Since he never bathes, you didn't expect him to do laundry either did you? He still has the unwashed uniform with the spit in his closet! And his leagle beagle eagles will use that DNA to sue the guy who did it!


I was NEVER a "mailroom" Marine.

The mailroom guys were tougher, because they had to go out and face things while delivering the mail. It was easier for Rick to hide in the supply room. He made a fort out of cans of Spam.


Lastly, I received two Meritorious Mast recognitions while serving.

He made sure the base commander got all the prime grub while the crappy C-rations never touched his galley. I believe the award was for "sucking up above and beyond the call of ass-kissing".


Now, nobody need apologize publicly

Show of hands of anybody who had planned to do that? Nope? Anyone? Anyone at all? Bueller?? Bueller??


IF you and your troublesome friends thought it was a hoax and simple bragging by me -- WHY would you create something like the above image with my face and actual name on it? Seems a bit largely hypocritical to me.

I've got a better question. If it WAS true, why didn't George Lucas just have you play the part?? The guy had, what? Three lines?? Are you saying you're best bud felt you couldn't play YOU, and decided it was easier to give homage to you by having someone else do it??

So you heard it here folks: Rick Olney says he wasn't good enough for George Lucas to have Rick Olney play Rick Olney! Thanks for playing, Rick.

On your smartest day, Rick, you'll never be more clever than any of us on our dumbest day. YOU proved that when you said I was two people half your age, and yet more clever than you.

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

For future artists and writers that Rick tries to hire, remember this.


Zac Atkinson: Owed $1800. No payment.
Mike Bullock: Owed $475. No payment.
"DocAbsurd": Owed $600. No payment.
Danny Donovan: Owed $500. No payment.
Cesar Feliciano: Owed $2700. No payment.
Greg Horn: Owed $200. No payment.
Dave Lanphear: Owed $10, 500 minimum. Contracted at $1500 a month times about 7 months. No payment.
Gary Martin: Owed $2000. No payment.
Martin Oakley: Owed $200. No payment.
Scott Reed: Owed $2,612.26. Payment of $100 through collection agency.
Val Staples: Owed $1200. No payment.
Jim Taylor: Owed $1300. No payment.
Jim Tournas: Owed $1,120.56. No payment.
Greg Van Camp, retailer of Comic Zone: $498 minimum. No payment.
http://isitfactorisitfiction.blogspot.com/2009/10/who-is-owed-what.html

This list is by no means complete and there are many others who are also owed money.

[Gail Simone]

For the life of me, I do not get why people keep talking about his military service. It is not relevant. And I don't care if he fought in Vietnam or made soup stateside. Serving your country is serving your country.

It is not relevant.

[Gail Simone]

There's more than just those people. He also admitted cheating Greg Horn and Mike Kaluta.

And he's pissed off horror guests and Star Wars guests by cancelling cons with no notice, so three actual con genres hate his guts.

[AlexNess]

But Gail, remember, pRick said that Kaluta was able to drive there himself and of course Gasoline is free.


There's more than just those people. He also admitted cheating Greg Horn and Mike Kaluta.

And he's pissed off horror guests and Star Wars guests by cancelling cons with no notice, so three actual con genres hate his guts.

[Matt Doc Martin]

For future artists and writers that Rick tries to hire, remember this.


http://isitfactorisitfiction.blogspot.com/2009/10/who-is-owed-what.html

This list is by no means complete and there are many others who are also owed money.
Ronee was owed $800 as well.

[Artful Angie]

A few of those names have now joined both Facebook pages. I just approved Martin Oakley's request tonight.

[THE_DAREDIVA]

Darediva also posted numerous emails between her and Rick. They are very long so for now I'll just put the links to those posts. Perhaps someone else can write a summary of the emails here to go with them?

Links to Darediva's posts containing the emails between her and Rick regarding a commissioned Daredevil quilt.

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=7737437&postcount=47494


http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=7737574&postcount=47497


http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=7737833&postcount=47499


http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=7737836&postcount=47500

Thanks. I have many other things on the table besides recounting what involvement I've had with Rick Olney. I am ashamed to even admit that he managed to flatter me into believing that he would pay for a trip to NY state so I could be a guest of his con. At least I did not get skunked out of all my time and effort to make that commission that he so desperately wanted (the Spider-Man quilt). He would not sign a contract with me (MY contract to him, for the commission) because he assured me that it would not be necessary, and he gave his word as a Marine that he would pay me. In two weeks. Then two more weeks, ad infinitum. He even sent me a Christmas card one year, asking if I was finished with his quilt. Which he had never paid for the materials up front, as I had asked. So, no, I never even started it.

As you have seen in recent days, Rick has threatened me because I dared to contact the Disabled American Veterans headquarters to see if he (or anyone else) was authorized to raise funds in the DAV name concerning the Matt Busch Indiana Jones maps. He can get his drawers in a wad all he wants about this. The important thing to me was making sure no one bought one of the maps thinking the money went to the DAV, and then the DAV got no benefit at all. He might have almost cheated me, but he is not going to cheat an organization that is important to me.

In the immortal words of Forrest Gump, that's all I have to say about that.

[KJ!]

<<<Playing catch-up

Hold the thread-doors, please!

*pants*

Cheers.

I've been emailing Matt, and I'll have something from him in the next day or so hopefully, seeing the thread will be closing.

It's not going to really be much, if anything, new or unknown, but it'll be in his exact words, about this experience.

[KJ!]

Val Staples, another person cheated by Rick Olney.

"

Dec. 4 2006

The latest TightLip creator to publicly speak out about payment is Val Staples. Val, who used to run the MVC Studios is no stranger to non-payment – the collapse of CrossGen left him owed thousands and with many other creators to pay. Nevertheless, Val’s openness and honesty with people he owed money saw them repay him with understanding and Staples took up considerable personal projects to earn enough to pay back everyone. As a result, I’ve never heard anyone badmouthing Staples, for this or for anything else.

Staples seems to have has less of a positive experience with Rick Olney of TightLip Entertainment. He e-mailed me to tell me “Rick Olney of TightLip Entertainment is now 90 days past due in his payment to me. Most recently, he told me that I would be paid by the end of November. Unfortunately, that never happened and he is no longer responding to my e-mails. As a result, he has broken contractual and personal agreements, and I no longer feel bound by his Non Disclosure Agreement. It’s such a shame, as I honestly believe that he means what he keeps promising, but it never comes to pass. When I found myself in a similar situation after CrossGen went bankrupt, I kept artists that my studio owed informed continuously. I then went out of my way, with the help of fans and retailers, to earn enough to pay back the artists despite still being owed that money from CrossGen. By comparison, all I’ve received from Rick are empty promises and reminders about my non disclosure contract. It’s not enough. I hope Rick will do the right thing and work to redeem himself by paying artists in full in the very near future rather than threatening hard-working creators with legal action.”"

I can personally attest to Val being one of the deadset nicest, most honest and good-hearted people around.

I can't remember when this was exactly, but it was years ago. This was after they'd lost the MOTU license. They'd had hardcovers printed up of one of the story arcs. Now, I had all the comics anyway (difficult to get here, but I managed. Wasn't cheap), but I'm an absolute whore for hardcovers.

I contacted Val directly. These hadn't been released, or hadn't had many released, not sure which. This was because they were REALLY dodgy. Badly bound.

I knew this, but he made sure to explicitly warn me multiple times about the quality of them. I still wanted one, and hey, it also meant he'd have that little bit of cash, right? Win win situation.


Well, around this time, I was incredibly busy. I was working full-time, studying part-time, and this was right when my health suddenly went to crap, and I was having to take a lot of new medications and an absolute barrage of tests. I received the book in the mail, and thought all was great.

It wasn't until a couple of weeks later when I was going through my paperwork that I suddenly noticed something unusual.

I couldn't find the payment to Val.

It wasn't on my account, it wasn't on my Paypal.

I HADN'T SENT THE PAYMENT!!

I immediately emailed Val, and apologised profusely. I honestly thought I'd paid upfront, but obviously, that hadn't been the case!

I sent the payment immediately, and included extra, as my apology for my screw-up. This was totally on me. An honest mistake, but my mistake nonetheless.

Val REFUSED to accept even one cent over the actual cost, and refunded me the extra amount I'd sent.

THAT is Val Staples.

[AIPman1]

GailIan, I wanted to say thanks for signing up on your own to the FAcebook page, and to say I hope it stays within the FB TOS. To that end, would you consider being added as an Admin to assure it stays on the straight and narrow? I don't really post or log in to it much, I was just the idea guy, and LeftWing is the only other Admin. And then if you do the other thread, you can add a link to it.

Well, I gave it some thought, and I'm going to decline. I dont really have time to actively watchdog another facebook group. And I also dont think I'll be starting up an Olney thread. Gave that some more thought...and the REASON this thread is closing, is the same one that I wont be starting up a new one. We need to stop feeding the animal. As in...constantly hanging on every word he says, replying to it, etc, round and round, does nothing. I think I can do more good in SP! by promoting Unscrewed as THE PLACE to report on ANY deadbeats. And leave the watchdog group to do the work.

So, I'll just be keeping my eyes open and tabs on the situation, as needed.

[Artful Angie]

It'll be much appreciated, Ian. Thanks.

Darediva, I always meant to ask: If (and we're talking parallel earth where this might actually have a chance of happening if!) Rick had managed to get his con off the ground and raised some actual money; The minute he did to The DAV what he did to St Jude's and claimed he made a donation when none was made, would The DAV had gone after him in Federal court for that? And what sort of time would he had received based on past similar events?

[Outsider]

Screenshots:

http://imgur.com/a/aWaaw

[KJ!]

Here's a screenshot from 2008 (It's long and mostly the usual Olney tough talk.)

Relevant part is this: ''I have never SCREWED anyone associated or affiliated with ORCA. Never.''

That does not appear to be the case, Rickie.

http://betterlate.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/olney-080108b.png

[Gail Simone]

<<<Playing catch-up

Hold the thread-doors, please!

*pants*

Cheers.

I've been emailing Matt, and I'll have something from him in the next day or so hopefully, seeing the thread will be closing.

It's not going to really be much, if anything, new or unknown, but it'll be in his exact words, about this experience.

Well, okay,but please ask him to hurry, I really want to shut the thing down.

[KJ!]

I hope Sarah doesn't mind me posting this. If I shouldn't have, please feel free to delete this post.

http://www.scribblerworks.us/news/Response%20to%20Olney.pdf

This is from 2006, concerning his banning from Chuck Dixon's board.

So going on 7 years, multiple leaggle threats, all amounting to..........'Oh 2012 is SO the year I'm getting you guys...seriously....'

[KJ!]

Well, okay,but please ask him to hurry, I really want to shut the thing down.

I was about to head to bed. So I won't be back online for at least a half day, I'd imagine.

I do have something, but it's going to be revised.

What's the best way for me to privately send you something, Gail? As in very shortly, as I'm hoping you're still around now?

[Gail Simone]

I was about to head to bed. So I won't be back online for at least a half day, I'd imagine.

I do have something, but it's going to be revised.

What's the best way for me to privately send you something, Gail? As in very shortly, as I'm hoping you're still around now?

Just click on my name and I will get the pm!

[Gail Simone]

Keep them coming, guys...all the posts from people explaining how Rick has cheated or abused them...want to have them here reported in full right before the end so that it follows him forever every time he tries to cheat someone.

[KJ!]

Just click on my name and I will get the pm!

Ah, fantastic.

Sent. :)

[HamsterRage]

If you want to do that the best bet is to post links. The more links the better.

[Outsider]

I have screen shots going back to August. Should I repost them in albums?

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

I think that is for the best Outsider yes.

Personally speaking if I was a person coming here for Rick Olney information, links to albums of screen shots be be most helpful. Wall to wall text is great for some but at a point it just becomes tldr. Links a person can click and see it in not only Rick's words but from his blogs would make for an easier read.

[Artful Angie]

Outsider, if you could either add a link on the Facebook pages for those screencaps, or upload them in the docs section? I'm loathe to have all those ramblings and threats on the pages, but it's in his own words, so what is Rick going to do? Complain to Facebook that there are borderline violations to the TOS, and those violations are his own publicly made statements?

On the subject, Mike Mallott suggested on Facebook that everyone who's been threatened by Rick on his blog make a police report. I might go one further and suggest, given his thinly veiled threat at Matt on his recent post, that everyone hit the "Report Abuse" button and report him under the heading "Hate And Violence". Perhaps if enough people report him, he'll get yet another blog taken away from him like Nothing Tingling Below The Belt was.

Rick is no stranger to this tactic. It's how he got the first two threads on Topix removed about him. He's probably working on the third as we speak.

[Gail Simone]

Links are okay, but not perfect. I went back and some of the old links that led to some of the most damaging stuff are now broken. Please post the post AND. A link, where possible.

And Outsider, albums would be a huge help, thank you!

[Outsider]

Links are okay, but not perfect. I went back and some of the old links that led to some of the most damaging stuff are now broken. Please post the post AND. A link, where possible.

And Outsider, albums would be a huge help, thank you!

I'm on it.

[HamsterRage]

http://rickolney.blogspot.com/

http://rickolney.tumblr.com/

http://rickolney.typepad.com/blog/

http://isitfactorisitfiction.blogspot.com/

http://torrentialspirit.blogspot.com/

https://twitter.com/#!/RickOlney (https://twitter.com/#%21/RickOlney)

https://twitter.com/#!/RecklessRicOlie (https://twitter.com/#%21/RecklessRicOlie)

https://twitter.com/#!/OlneyTheLonely (https://twitter.com/#%21/OlneyTheLonely)
http://www.bleedingcool.com/?s=rick+olney



http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/tag/person:+rick+olney

Code to put in signature, if we all do this we insure the links about Rick stay at the top:

Rick (http://iblogalot.com/2011/12/01/a-warning-to-comics-professionals-about-rick-olney/) Olney (http://www.606studios.com/bendisboard/showthread.php?194906-Rick-Olney-Still-does-not-pay-freelancers-or-anyone-else) has (http://https://twitter.com/#%21/OlneyTheLonely) stolen (http://rickolney.blogspot.com/) maps (http://http://isitfactorisitfiction.blogspot.com/) from (http://http://torrentialspirit.blogspot.com/) Matt (http://http://www.bleedingcool.com/?s=rick+olney) Busch (http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/tag/person:+rick+olney) and cheated (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=156451)many artists (http://www.bleedingcool.com/2009/10/06/exclusive-rick-olney-pays-back-100-35502-76-to-go/)

[Outsider]

August 2011 Screenshots (Adirondack ComicFest & Sequential Soul; 32 images)
http://imgur.com/a/ScUc6


September 2011 Screenshots (Topix: Seeking Rick Olney, Sequential Soul, Smart Alex Says & Something's Tingling; 31 images)
http://imgur.com/a/YzTKZ


October 2011 Screenshots (Sequential Soul & Something's Tingling; 34 images)
http://imgur.com/a/oGxtX


(Through November 2011, Rick Olney's Blogs were locked to public view)


December 2011 Screenshots (Sequential Soul, OrcaMX-APA & Something's Tingling; 6 images)
http://imgur.com/a/MuYX6


January 2012 Screenshots (Sequential Soul & Something's Tingling; 40 images)
http://imgur.com/a/IxqY0


February 2012 Screenshots (Sequential Soul; 1 image)
http://imgur.com/a/9lzBb


(I apologize in advance for any duplicates or mistakes in organization, etc.)

[Gail Simone]

Scott Reed's successful lawsuit against Rick "I Am A Massive Deadbeat" Olney?:

"Just letting everyone know that I have won a lawsuit this morning that was filed against Rick Olney dba Tightlip Entertainment. Olney did not heed the court summons that was delivered to him by the Herkimer Sheriffs dept on January 11, 2007, resulting in a win today by default of his no-show in court.

For those unaware of my case, I sued Rick for 2 unpaid invoices totaling over $2,400.00. Rick acknowledged and then attempted to avoid responsibility to these debts. I made every attempt to settle the matter with him outside of court, to no avail. He paid my efforts with insults, public defamation of character, lies, accusations and threats.

I won't be publicly responding here about this, beyond this post. The reason for this is that I have already invested quite a few hours over the last several months in dealing with him via email, and monitoring his online activity in this and other forums. The stress this has caused me and my family cannot be understated. I simply want to move forward at this point and pursue collecting the debt now that the trial is over.

Filing a lawsuit in small claims court is easy. For those who are in a similar situation, but hesitate to take action, just call your local county clerks office and ask for the forms needed to file a small claims lawsuit. Some places even have online forms. You won't need legal representation. The filing fee was $155.00 in my case, but it will likely vary state by state, and according to the amount you are suing for. In the state of Florida, I was able to file the lawsuit here, because this is the state where the services were rendered. I then had the Herkimer County Sheriffs office deliver the summons to Olney, which cost $25.00.

The only challenging aspect of this was in preparing evidence for the judge. I had several months worth of evidence, in the form of emails which had to be organized and printed out, (and the work itself, in the form of original art and digital files) and then quite a lot of work was involved in preparing my case. I also had to print out and organize all of the original art created for Olney, along with printed copies of the site design and associated graphics.

Without Mark Waid's generosity, it would have likely taken me far longer to actually file the lawsuit. Although I had my paperwork ready, I was still scrambling to make up for the loss of income, and each time I was sure I was ready to file, some bill would take precedence. I am a full-time freelancer, so when a client doesn't pay for a big project, I'm suddenly in a lot of trouble, because I had to turn down other paying work in order to meet his deadlines.

If you were Olney'd, and have more questions about the filing process, please PM me. I'm happy to help out however I can.

Lastly, thanks to Matt Martin and Papergirl, for driving up to show their support this morning."

[Tony Isabella]

I have left the "Rick Olney is a..." Facebook group, but no one should read anything into that other than there are demands on my time and energy that have me limiting my online habits to some extent.

There are friends standing by to let me know whenever there is creditable evidence (i.e., not Olney's delusional postings) that the Vile One is again attempting to cheat fans or professionals. When that happens, I will be there to shut him down in each and every venue available to me.

Thanks for your friendship and for fighting the good fight.

Tony Isabella

[Gail Simone]

Not really an example of deadbeatism, but yet another show of how deluded Rick is about Orca's importance. At this highly publicized convention, Orca had a panel.

And one guy showed up in the audience.

And Rick decided to pontificate the whole time anyway.

"Hi, Glen, long time no read! I miss the old trivia games!

Ah, yes, it was back in '99 or '00 (or someyear around there) when the wife and I and faithful Siberian Husky Nadja made a leisurely and lovely RV trip from the cornfields of Indiana into the wilds of Pennsylvania, ending up at that year's PittCon. Guests such as Al Williamson, Denis Kitchen, Mike Kaluta, Evan Dorkin, and others were the lure for our attending, but another aspect was that Rick Olney, with whom I'd had a myriad of cyber-altercations at Comicon.com and had become intrigued as to just how nuts this putz was, had announced that there would be an O.R.C.A. panel at the convention. Color us there!

Despite a dearth of information available at their rarely-attended-to table (never saw Olney there on my few passes by) and, as I recall, no edification in the con program, I managed to locate the correct room as the previous panel was letting out. Oddly, as I wandered to the back of the room to get a much-needed glass of water, I realized that no one else was coming in. At the front of the room (one, by the way, about the size of a small classroom) stood, as I was soon to discover, Rick Olney, his sidekick Dennis Kiniger, and a few others in the O.R.C.A. "brain" trust. I sat about halfway back, not wanting to get too intimate (though still blissfully unaware of his hygenic issues), took a drink from my glass and wished it was Scotch.

The next twenty or thirty minutes were interminably boring, with Olney pontificating to me directly about the wonders of O.R.C.A., blah blah blah; no one else said a flippin' word. When he got to the part about signing up and contributions, I politely declined and got the hell out of there.

The rest of the con and our trip was great, and when I got home I wrote a long essay (much longer than this - you should be thanking me for sparing you that account) which I posted at Comicon.com's messageboards. There I found Olney attempting to spin the panel as a triumphant success. That hot-air balloon got burst damned quick.

Anyway, the observations by Scott Shaw and others regarding Olney's posting patterns are spot on. I don't believe he was drunk during this last meltdown, either...I've seen it played out on at least a dozen occasions. Every time it's been incredibly amusing to watch this pantload self-immolate. But even though it's not been very funny this time, there is the very gratifying possibility that this will be the last time.

Here's hoping."

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

Rick let one of his friends comment on his blog today. For fairness sake I figured it should be posted here. However in my opinion... So yeah, let's hope they aren't a writer, artist or have any skill or talent that Rick could rip off because they've bought his spiel hook, line and sinker.


Kay Feb 6, 2012 07:10 AM

I have never met Rick Olney, But from what I read here on these blogs sure gives me a feeling that some of you people are trying to destroy him and his love for the comic work he does. I have read a lot of these blogs with so much malice toward him and not one time has he replyed with as much mean words as all of you have.And it seems to me that it is all over one night that someone didn't get paid for their Room,Eats, Smelly Rooms, or whatever. But as he has stated in reply after reply he had nothing to do about booking the rooms or whatever else you have printed about him.

Seems to me he has a truthful answer to all of your complaints. I understand this has been going on for a very long time. Even attacking his career as a Marine which has nothing to do with his comic work.I don't know anything about comics but I do know a little about how you should treat people. All this hate stuff should end and let all this go. To me when I read this I see so much hate for someone that was once your friend!
http://sheddinglightonlies.blogspot.com/2012/02/on-road-with-gail-simone-beau-smith.html#comment-form

[Gail Simone]

"*pops in from sporadic lurking*

Oh Jesus tapdancing Christ. My girlfriend and I were once in talks to sell an illustrated sci-fi series to this guy, when he was claiming to start up some kind of publishing company. We knew someone who'd worked with him and was, surprise surprise, still expecting money but didn't know half of this crap about him. So after stopping us two seconds into our pitch with 'sounds great, we'll do it', he was then unable to tell us:

1) how he was going to advertise it and where
2) who he would market it towards
3) who he would get to illustrate it and under what grounds although he claimed to have people in mind
4) anything regarding the state of his pending company or plans for the books at all

under the guise of 'trade secrets', while pretty much ignoring any statement we made or other question we asked. (I mean, I don't know what the official policies are of a place like Del Ray Books or something, where I normally wouldn't ask questions like that, but this was a beginning 'small press' and we were talking about this through a freaking message board.)

When we started going 'uhhhh' he blew up at us and decided to put us on a deadline for a decision to force our hands, at which point we finally thought to do a Google search on his name and promptly never even spoke to him again. (He reacted to this by threatening to sue our friend for slander. Charming.)

It was very, very special. The thread makes me gape but doesn't surprise me a bit, although I'm cracking up through my disgust at the homophobia because we stated about a zillion times that the novels had predominantly GLBT characters and were extremely poly-friendly."

[Gail Simone]

Rick let one of his friends comment on his blog today. For fairness sake I figured it should be posted here. However in my opinion... So yeah, let's hope they aren't a writer, artist or have any skill or talent that Rick could rip off because they've bought his spiel hook, line and sinker.


http://sheddinglightonlies.blogspot.com/2012/02/on-road-with-gail-simone-beau-smith.html#comment-form


No offense to whomever this person is, but that's the problem. Most of us were never Rick's friends.

We were involved in business, and he cheated, lied to, and threatened us.

If this person is honest, and reads the last few pages here, and STILL thinks Rick is an innocent victim, instead of a racist, misogynist, homophobic and abusive deadbeat, well, unfortunately, there's nothing else to say. Some people will believe anything.

[Gail Simone]

Yet ANOTHER story of a bunch of people screwed over by Rick. Holy cats, it's unending...never saw them lined up like this before, it's just endless!

This is from Rich Carlin, another person Rick cheated.

"It's good to know that Rick Olney is finally getting his just desserts.

He approached me in 2004 and asked me to appear at his convention. He was branching out and trying a Horror Movie convention, and since I run two very popular horror related websites and several celebrity forums, he asked me to exhibit my sites at his convention, "The Spooky". At first I thought it was too good to be true, and declined. He got back in touch for a second time, and I became more interested, but stated I couldn't afford the airfare to Syracuse NY, being based in Scotland UK. He said he'd pay my airfare and per diem. So after checking out his Mighty Mini Con site, I accepted...

To cut a long story as short as I can, I developed the convention website for Rick, as a thank-you for him offering to fly me out to his show. I also set up a forum on my website and heavily promoted the show online. My partner on the sites booked a slew of horror guests and the whole time Olney said the show was 110% a green light. Alot of these guests are personal friends of ours, some are not.

About 3 weeks before the show Rick Olney told me the convention was cancelled. This was after he assured me to purchase my flights and he would pay me back. This was after he said the venue was booked up. This was after he said he had the money to pay for all the guest's airfare e.t.c. He actually told me to book my flights... then turned around and said the show was cancelled.

My then girlfriend, now fiancee, and my brother, also purchased flights just to accompany me on the trip. We lost over $1200 combined. I knew I'd never see my money again even though Rick Olney promised a hundred times that he'd reimburse me. Another fan from the UK also purchased flights to the show and had to cancel obviously. Eventually Olney resorted to threatening to sue me if I ever spoke out against him and how he ripped me off and disappointed alot of people. Suffice to say that it was a huge learning curve for me. Only 21 years old and offered something like that, by somebody who at first glance, seemed like the real deal. Too good to be true. This taught me never to trust anybody unless I know I can.

All said and done, I did learn something. And now the money loss doesn't hurt as much. But it really is refreshing to see that Olney has been found out and that people are actually taking action against him. It's about time...

Although what he done hurt the reputations of my websites, and of me, we are now going stronger than ever and set to do our own horror convention in Texas this March. So it feels good that we have prevailed and persevered through bad times in Oct 2004 and now Rick, after threatening to sue me a hundred times, has been caught out.

Best of luck to you all. All the best.
-Rich "

[Gail Simone]

I'm thinking it might be a good idea to put all these posts from people he's cheated together in one place, so that when he's looking for fresh victims, it will still be there.

[Erica J Heflin]

Gail, could you add the names/SNs of the posters to the last couple of quotes to keep it clear?

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

Rick has started a Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Organized-Readers-of-Comics-Association-ORCA/377606582255514

[AIPman1]

Rick has started a Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Organized-Readers-of-Comics-Association-ORCA/377606582255514

at least he's predictable

[JKCarrier]

I originally posted this in the old CBR thread (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=7232647&postcount=42527). It's pretty minor as far as Olney shenanigans go, but it does show that he was the same ol' crackpot as far back as 1997:

--

I've been meaning to dig up the info about Olney's brief run-in with the Small Press Syndicate, way back in 1997. The SPS was (and still is) a club and support group for small press publishers. Olney joined the club somewhere around August 1997. The club newsletter printed a letter from Olney addressed to club Chairman Alan Groening:


It's my honor to belong to such a fine group as the SPS. My two goals for 1998 are to make more small press friends, and expose our club members to another form of the comic book.
In the same issue, I wrote a column where I mentioned getting my fan art published in an issue of A Distant Soil, and being interviewed at the Chicago Con by a guy named Mike Rizzo for his cable tv show, "COMX-TV". Olney sent me a letter in response, dated 9/15/97. A couple of interesting excerpts:


I have not seen A Distant Soil in such a long time. Believe it or not, I used to buy and read it until I tried to contact Colleen cocerning ORCA. When she never replied I no longer wasted my time with either. What's more American than "You wash my back, I'll wash yours"? Does it matter if ADS is a topic of discussion within ORCA? No, but then again - we'll never know.
I'm sure Colleen is still kicking herself for missing the opportunity to wash Rick's back. :rolleyes:


I hope you weren't too swept up in the fame and glamour that Mike Rizzo from COMX-TV spread around your area. I know Rizzo and his crew from a dealing that we had here in Utica at our first ORCon, held May 96. Those guys are all smoke & mirrors. You mentioned their cable TV show being shown in New York state. Hate to burst your bubble - Their "cable" show is actually "public access" and is only seen in the greater Buffalo area of New York state. I know this because after they tried to stick it to us on our contract to have them film our first ORCon - I made strong efforts to determine who, what, why and where in their area, by going after, and enlisting over 18 new members formerly familiar with their show. And NO - they didn't screw us on our contract. It took the threat of a lawsuit but they fulfilled their end of the deal.
Anyone know anything about this incident? I don't recall offhand if Rizzo's name has come up before. Sure would be interesting to hear his side.

In any event, Rick's membership was short-lived. In October of 1997, SPS Viceroy (2nd in command) Daniel Nauenburg sent out a letter to all the members, announcing that Rick Olney had been expelled from the club for making insulting and threatening statements in the column he submitted for the newsletter. Daniel attached a copy of Rick's column, titled "Not Yer Whippin' Boy", and it's Olney in the full-blown meltdown mode that we've all become familiar with. Over the course of four pages, he rants about how certain members are conspiring against him (never mind that 99% of the club had never heard of the guy before) and that anyone who made fun of superhero comics or fanboys was a "biggott". I could quote the whole thing if anyone's really interested, but the last couple of paragraphs should give you a good idea of how little our pal from ORCA has changed over the years:


A CLOSING TASTE OF UNADULTERATED EXPRESSION

I've got one last thing to say. It's only aimed at a very few of you. I don't want new enemies - I want new friends. Please understand that in building ORCA I've been "pushed around" a little. Making myself known in certain circles, meeting friends like Todd McFarlane. Laugh all you like. I enjoy the business of comic books. I'm a nice guy to a point but nothing upsets me personally more than ignorance. It takes very little of it to ruin a friendship. If you were black I wouldn't call you nigger. If you were jewish I wouldn't call you kike. If you were white I wouldn't call you cracker. So please, don't call me fanboy. If there is any one of you that want to talk about me behind my back. That makes you a hypocrite. Calling anyone a derogatory name makes you a biggott and ignorant. I spent four years in the USMC a long time ago. I learned to respect another persons space. I also learned what to do when someone was intent on playing an old Marine game called "FUCK ME, FUCK YOU" with me.

JUST REMEMBER THIS PLEASE: After you're all done fucking me over. And you're all tired out, you're feeling satisfied and too tired to look up and notice me behind you. GUESS WHAT? THEN it will be my turn to fuck you! But only if you engage that most primal reaction from me. Think it over huh? I joined the SPS to make friends, not enemies. I hope I never have to write a column like this again. I'm already regretful of being made to feel that I have to justify my membership. Anybody out there got a legitimate bitch? Put it in print!
Same old name-dropping, same old empty threats. Nice to know that in an ever-changing world, there are still a few constants. Actually, reading this stuff over, it's a little better-written than what he's crapping out these days. I mean, it's still not gonna win any literary awards, but it's at least semi-coherent, without as much of the tortured syntax and laughable attempts to sound "intellectual". I suppose a decade of public lying and private self-delusion will take a toll on the old gray matter.

[Artful Angie]

Rick has started a Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Organized-Readers-of-Comics-Association-ORCA/377606582255514

Saw that. Should I report him for swiping my idea?

He doesn't even have any members, just 3 people who "liked" the page. He's block any non-friend from reading the page. Kay Burkhead, his one and only follower of his bleghs and twittings, commented on the page, but it's unreadable. Also curious is on her FB page she doesn't allow anyone to send her a message or post on her wall. So it's obvious she's had a keg of the Olney Kool-Aid, otherwise why stop anyone from speaking in opposition?

It's also obvious it was Kay as "whoever" who posted such a one-sided view of Rick just to puff up his ego.

Let's see how many members Rick has in his little club at the end of the week. And remember Rick. No... how did you put it... "Adding members against their will"!

[Glenn Barbis Jr.]

I reported it as "Spam or Scam."

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

Rick will eventually allow everyone to see his Facebook page, especially when this thread is closed. He wants an audience, he craves it, he can't function without it.

It's important to keep an eye on it but I don't think there's any reason to do anything now. He'll have a meltdown on his own there soon enough and then he'll just be a few reports to Facebook away from another deleted place he can no longer spew.

[J.R. LeMar]

Also, the best recap of some of Rick's greatest Deadbeat hits is here on the great J.R. LeMar's site (which also has lots of excellent articles, so it is AGAIN in contrast to Rick's awkward stumbling).

J.R. has done the best job putting together the pertinent info on some of Rick's grossest moves, always worth looking at.

http://iblogalot.com/category/rick-olney/

Aw shucks, I feel compelled to pop in to say THANK YOU VERY MUCH, Gail Simone, for the compliment.:cool:

And, since I believe my frustration with the direction of this thread in the past several months has been apparent, I assume it's no surprise that I think it's a good thing this thread will be locked (maybe now I'll have time to put together those "Rick Olney Vs. Tim Tobolski/Zac Atkinson/Tony Isabella" posts I've had in mind). I haven't joined the Rick Olney Is A fb group yet, because I'll confess to being a tad wary of how it will progress. While I have complete faith in @ least Leftwingnutcase's motives for moderating the group, and his desire to keep it on track, I also know how these things can sometimes develop a mind of their own, so to speak. I mean, I already see that Sarah added a long post a couple of days ago, addressing point by point each of Olney's claims about Unscrewed. This isn't a criticism of her, I understand why she probably felt the need to do that, but in a way it's also how this sort of thing starts to get out of hand. We know he's going to continue to say outrageous stuff, as he always does, but if people start feeling the need to answer all of it, even if it's just to "keep the facts straight", well it's just going to end up where this thread is gone, with some people quoting and responding to every single thing he posts. So, please, be careful with what you feel is necessary to respond to.

To that end, I have a few other last things to say. First, regarding all those other various blogs that have popped up, with multiple links, including mine, those are good because they seem to cover every major site. So if you have a Google account, +1 the blogspot posts, if you're on Tumblr or Posterous, reblog those posts, you can also reblog posts on Wordpress now, and Typepad too, so do those, if you can. Or post the links on Twitter. That's the best we can all do, is get the word out, the more hits and links these all get, the more likely they'll show up in internet searches, and the more people can see and make up their own minds.

But, as well, it's also important to understand, as I think Gail has pointed out before, some people will still make the wrong decision, no matter what they read. Heck, we saw even with the most recent Adirondack thing, several people, actual professionals who should have known better, signed contracts to appear without even looking up Rick Olney's history. It wasn't until Rich Johnston contacted guys like Dave Hoover and Dave Ryan, and told them about Olney's past did they decide to back out. Tony Isabella has said that several people have thanked him for warning them about Olney. And I just think, really? In this day and age, people don't even bother checking out someone's business history before signing a contract with them?!? It sounds a little crazy to me. But, apparently, it's more common than I thought.

But, even worse, there are those who do check him out, and side with him anyway. Or purposely don't bother checking him out. I know almost everyone here is determined to give Matt Busch the benefit of the doubt and feel sorry for him now (& I was one of them), but let's not forget his initial reaction when contacted about Rick. He flat out said, more than once, that he didn't know and didn't care, what Olney may or may not have done to any other artists, as long as Olney was professional with him (& then he blamed this forum when Olney's lie about DAV was revealed). That inker guy, from Heroes Fallen, (I don't want to say his name, but NOT Michael Keller, obviously) said basically the same when I contacted him: Yeah, he's got a "checkered past" but I feel this will be beneficial to me. And, of course, there was the writer, who I also won't bother naming, that sent bizarre messages to Gail, and wrote a blog saying she saw all the professional names who signed an open letter about Olney, and even got Olney to admit to her that he'd lost multiple court cases, but he assured her they were a "misunderstanding" and that he would "deal with it", and apparently that was enough for her to sign with him. Go figure.

So, yeah, no matter what, accept the fact that the longer he tries, he WILL find some people who will take his word over others. They'll see all the multiple links about him, and just assume it must be a part of a large "witchhunt" (as Matt Busch initially called it). I see he's got some post about his Honorable Discharge up, saying "See, if they'll lie about this, then it proves they're willing to lie about everything they say about me!" And some people will see that and think, yep, he must be right (all the more reason why to try to stay off of irrelevant topics like that). So there's nothing we can do about that, he'll continue to find new victims, we can just put the truth out there, and hope they don't learn too painful of a lesson in the end.

And, finally, I'll add myself to the folks who said they think trying to buy the rights to the ORCA name, and start using it, is a bad idea, even though I understand the desire behind it. I have a couple of short horror stories that I wasn't sure what to do with, and I briefly thought of self-publishing them in a book called Tales Of The Spooky, just to be like see, it's not that hard to get a TOTS book published, if you work hard enough. But I didn't because 1/It's actually a pretty stupid-sounding name and 2/Why would I would want something I did to show up in connection to his name on a google search? And I worry that a revived and active ORCA group, even just as a website, could confuse some folks if they do try to check out Olney. They could could look up his name and ORCA, see the new group and briefly look around and see it's positive, and just assume he did something with it, and there ya go, they think he's legitimate. So I'd advise against it. And, yes, I know if you back down now, he'll start bragging that he got it stopped, with his massive legal team, and that will be annoying, but just ignore it.

Just my opinion. That's all. As-salaam-alaikum.

[Artful Angie]

I originally posted this in the old CBR thread (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=7232647&postcount=42527). It's pretty minor as far as Olney shenanigans go, but it does show that he was the same ol' crackpot as far back as 1997:

--

I've been meaning to dig up the info about Olney's brief run-in with the Small Press Syndicate, way back in 1997. The SPS was (and still is) a club and support group for small press publishers. Olney joined the club somewhere around August 1997. The club newsletter printed a letter from Olney addressed to club Chairman Alan Groening:


In the same issue, I wrote a column where I mentioned getting my fan art published in an issue of A Distant Soil, and being interviewed at the Chicago Con by a guy named Mike Rizzo for his cable tv show, "COMX-TV". Olney sent me a letter in response, dated 9/15/97. A couple of interesting excerpts:


I'm sure Colleen is still kicking herself for missing the opportunity to wash Rick's back. :rolleyes:


Anyone know anything about this incident? I don't recall offhand if Rizzo's name has come up before. Sure would be interesting to hear his side.

In any event, Rick's membership was short-lived. In October of 1997, SPS Viceroy (2nd in command) Daniel Nauenburg sent out a letter to all the members, announcing that Rick Olney had been expelled from the club for making insulting and threatening statements in the column he submitted for the newsletter. Daniel attached a copy of Rick's column, titled "Not Yer Whippin' Boy", and it's Olney in the full-blown meltdown mode that we've all become familiar with. Over the course of four pages, he rants about how certain members are conspiring against him (never mind that 99% of the club had never heard of the guy before) and that anyone who made fun of superhero comics or fanboys was a "biggott". I could quote the whole thing if anyone's really interested, but the last couple of paragraphs should give you a good idea of how little our pal from ORCA has changed over the years:


Same old name-dropping, same old empty threats. Nice to know that in an ever-changing world, there are still a few constants. Actually, reading this stuff over, it's a little better-written than what he's crapping out these days. I mean, it's still not gonna win any literary awards, but it's at least semi-coherent, without as much of the tortured syntax and laughable attempts to sound "intellectual". I suppose a decade of public lying and private self-delusion will take a toll on the old gray matter.

Well, at least he got his wish. He never wrote a column in SPS like that again.


And you're all tired out, you're feeling satisfied and too tired to look up and notice me behind you. GUESS WHAT? THEN it will be my turn to fuck you!

A visual only Rick would smile about, again without realizing the double meaning.

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

Just my opinion. That's all. As-salaam-alaikum.
Always good to see you J.R.

Thanks for the words and your blogs.

[Gail Simone]

Holy Jesus, did I actually just read that?

"If you were black I wouldn't call you nigger. If you were jewish I wouldn't call you kike. If you were white I wouldn't call you cracker. So please, don't call me fanboy. If there is any one of you that want to talk about me behind my back. That makes you a hypocrite. Calling anyone a derogatory name makes you a biggott and ignorant. I spent four years in the USMC a long time ago. I learned to respect another persons space. I also learned what to do when someone was intent on playing an old Marine game called "FUCK ME, FUCK YOU" with me."


Rick Olney, who has stated INNUMERABLE racist statements, is trying to compare RACISM and ANTI-SEMITISM to fannish name-calling?

That is so profoundly ignorant I am aghast.

Again, just when you think you've seen his lowest and/or stupidest words ever...HE TOTALLY TOPS HIMSELF.

[Gail Simone]

He's just trying to squat the Orca name, is all. No one wants anything to do with him and most are thrilled to be away from him (or he would have more than one half-assed endorsement from one member out of the THOUSANDS he keeps claiming he had).

Nice to see you back, J.R.!

[Artful Angie]

Yup. He is also claiming he has 60 members to his ORCA just in the past 24 hours that he set it up. But only 3 Likes on the pages, and of course, he has it private so "we can't bother any of his super secret members".

http://sheddinglightonlies.blogspot.com/2012/02/quick-report-on-truth.html


Quick Report on the Truth

Remember this photo?

I was reading the daily crap-shoot over on the Bendis/Gail Simone liars thread earlier today and literally can't fathom how those involved can stand the stink they're standing in.

File Under O Positive:

The new Facebook Organized Readers of Comics Association group is doing fairly well. We're approaching 60 members and once the ads run online, I'm sure that number will increase. Meanwhile -- the new Organized Readers of Comics Association blog is getting a bit of attention. Press releases are now set-up and we'll begin promoting the business aspect of ORCA in the Moahwk Valley very soon.

File Under Infection:

Meanwhile, locally, we're discovering the L-I-A-R-S for what they are. It appears that the limp wristed "Artful Angie" may be actual Mike Malott, as suspected all along with Don Krick supporting the ruse. For Malott's sake, I hope that isn't so. As a youngster, he was odd at times. As an adult, this all fits him.

Krick is everything that anyone ever knowing him has said of him when it comes to talking about how sloven he is. Well, it is true. Such a waste of humanity.

It wasn't that long ago that Krick was crowing about having a *new* girlfriend named Katherine (pictured above, although no doubt it has since been edited and removed from the thread involved.) from some foreign country that he had paid to bring her to West Utica in America to stay with him. It was supposedly L-O-V-E. It was all a lie.

Well, it appears that the photo used that time was lifted from a Facebook profile of Joy Tadefa . The information on this has been forwarded to Facebook and to Joy Tadefa.

For starters, what the heck is the "O-Positive reference supposed to mean? Is this another of his incoherent ramblings that Rick thinks people say in the real world?

Rick sure seems to be spending a lot of money lately. Ads online for his FB page and blog. Ads in the Mohawk Valley for his FB page and blog. You know, the Pennysaver charges a lot for ads. Looking forward to seeing the flyer up at Ravenswood. Oh, darn. Still banned from there, aren't ya Ricky?

And, of course, there's the matter of the thousand dollars to hire his Private Dick to find out who I am. Because you're still WRONG!!! I really can't stop enjoying how wrong you are on that Rick. Funny you failed to comment on what I said about your "inner council". You go ahead keep trying to say I'm somebody else and continue to make a fool of yourself, Wicky. It's like watching one of those amusing YouTube videos of children bumping into things and falling down. Watching you run into a wall at full speed never gets old.

I love how he scoured Don's FB looking for the person who's picture matched up with the one Don posted. And then Rick, once finding it, exclaimed "Aha! Her name isn't what Don said! Don has spoken a mistruth!". Well, duh, dumbwit! I've been telling you my name is Angie for years, dimbulb! Do you think anybody's going to tell you the truth when it comes to their personal info? Just the fact that Rick spent so much time doing that really makes me laugh.

Someone once asked Rick exactly why he seems obsessed with the term "fresh" when it came to ORCA and comics. She pointed out to him that "fresh" has nothing to do with whales, and whales had nothing to do with comics. So while she could almost understand having a mascot like a whale for a club called ORCA, as long as he had a comic in his hand or something, she was totally perplexed as to why he wanted to use the word "fresh" in everything? Rick yelled at her so loudly that everybody at the meeting suddenly turned and looked. And at least two kids got scared of Rick, and (to my knowledge) never attended another meeting.

Well, it looks like Rick enjoys beating a dead whale, because it's definitely not "fresh":

http://orca-fresh.blogspot.com/


From the Top by Rick Olney, President of Organized Readers of Comics Associated

As member renewals come in and as ORCA embarks on its yearly Spring open-membership drive, several random thoughts cross my mind. In all instances, the following was first and foremost:


"We exist to promote the reading, care, and collecting of comic books, to make new friends and help others discover "America's favorite pastime...comic books."

Looking back, the 2011 roster is mostly aware of the personal troubles I've have had to deal with since shortly after 2003. There have been several times since then when I had given serious thought to resigning. But I did not. This column is to inform you each of where we are as a group and where we think we're headed.

As some of you are already aware, besides embarking on our yearly Officer Elections this Spring, we're also launching the new website and several new benefits that come with membership in ORCA. These are not *new* benefits; we've tackled these areas in years past and I'm thankful for the volunteer to help offers we have received since the Christmas holiday season. Rewinding the clock back to an earlier time when we migrated as a club from www.orcafresh.net to the message board forum at www.mightyminicon.com -- those were two unavoidable steps. I also regret taking ORCA, as I referred to it back then, into deep water, because it set us back a little further than I had anticipated. In case you don't know, being involved in the comic book entertainment industry doesn't take long to become last week's news...when a identity is lost. Yes, we've lost some connections and certainly members, but a recent threat to WHO we are and WHAT we're about simply bares our repeating our existence and mission statement more often.

As already communicated to your 2011 officers, I'm human and make mistakes. Life has not been easy for me since shortly after ORCA's Mighty Minicon in May 2003. In 2004, my parents had to move in with my family and their circumstances cost me a lot of money. In 2005, I was adjusting and settling in to trying to produce and publish a few comics. A string of family deaths that began with the unexpected loss of my Mom in July of 2006 was the next thing to plague me. Her death was hard enough on me, but being unable to grieve properly compounded with dealing with the failing of my business only distanced me more from ORCA. We lost a couple of good officers and Fresh suffered publishing set backs until reverting to a quarterly publishing schedule in 2008. Thankfully, that has held its ground with little difficulties and I thank those of you contributing to it during that time again. But even then, the membership roster continued to shrink and well, people lost interest in the hobby of comics. You can follow ORCA via its blog.

Of course, the 'fun' didn't stop there. The ORCOMX-APA then had difficulties with its Central Mailer and he was removed from his position. The APA went on a brief hiatus and I then stepped up to assume the CM's responsibilities. Today, the APA is chuggin' along, but like all things we're always hungry for anyone wanting to join, being creative and simply wanting to talk about comics and related subjects. You can look in on that at its blog.

2009 brought news of my cancer to the ranks, and the personal local meetings again came to a halt. I can share with the roster (here, as well as in next month's Fresh) that after going on chemo in January of 2010, my last two CT scans have come back clear showing no more internal 'spots' indicating possible cancer to my organs. My weight and blood are both where they should be, and my heart appears to be able to hang in there until after my 60th birthday in June of 2014 (and you're all invited)! Don't be alarmed, but shortly thereafter, I expect to then undergo surgery to repair a genetic mitochondrial valve prolapse. From then on, who knows what the future holds for me. As some of my closest friends know, I placed my life in God's hands back in 2010 due to the cancer and regardless of the state of America and the rest of the world, I plan on living to be a ripe old age someday.

But enough of the last few years! Let's stay optimistic and show the new members coming onto our roster what our Organized Readers of Comics Association can do in following our mission statement!
Today I can share with you each reading this that we look to be setting and publicizing our 2012 local meeting schedule after wrapping up the membership push and website launch. In June, I'll be taking 7 to 10 days in California. I have a business meeting set-up to meet with a couple people and I also have ORCA business in sending back a sizable gift of comics from a retailer long time friendly to our group. The ORCA give-away inventory can use the shot in its arm! So expect to see a thank you card circulating for your signature at our first new local meeting, okay? Remember: Look for Fresh in your mail box before March 15th, otherwise contact Jimmy J. through the ORCA email box. Simply put his name in the subject box.

We appreciate each and everyone of you. Your continued input to Fresh and at the newly-to-begin local meetings shall be something the officers will like. Your personal input to Fresh and views on how we can improve this hobby and business of comic books is what helps make ORCA special. We've got the spring hooded sweat shirts and summer t-shirts on order and orders will be accepted from March 15th until May 15th this year. Watch Fresh for drop dead new swag also!

Under other business: I still have plenty of Indiana Jones Commemorative maps for sale to benefit the Veterans charity that I previously shared in last falls issue of Fresh. The cost is $59.95 and that includes secure shipping costs. I am accepting NO FOREIGN ORDERS. Payment is allowed by personal check to ORCA members, as long as I know you. All others will need to pay by (USPS) Postal Money Order. No other types of money orders shall be accepted. There is NO LIMIT to the number of maps which can be ordered. Quicker these are sold, the quicker I can get that dead monkey from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK off my back. Got any questions? Feel free to hit me back at: rick.olney@gmail.com

In closing, thank you for your continued friendship, support and in joining the rest of us in continuing to enjoy the hobby of reading and collecting comic books and related materials. Be shoutin' at you all again sometime later!

Sincerely,

Rick Olney
President / Owner
Organized Readers of Comics Association

Resigning from what?? ORCA's been as dead as Rick's creativity and imagination for years.

Let's hope he has all the correct paperwork for his Non-Profit Status. One of the things that Rick needs to do when he files those papers himself is list who's on ORCA's board of directors. That should be an interesting pool of talent.

[Artful Angie]

Holy Jesus, did I actually just read that?

"If you were black I wouldn't call you nigger. If you were jewish I wouldn't call you kike. If you were white I wouldn't call you cracker. So please, don't call me fanboy. If there is any one of you that want to talk about me behind my back. That makes you a hypocrite. Calling anyone a derogatory name makes you a biggott and ignorant. I spent four years in the USMC a long time ago. I learned to respect another persons space. I also learned what to do when someone was intent on playing an old Marine game called "FUCK ME, FUCK YOU" with me."


Rick Olney, who has stated INNUMERABLE racist statements, is trying to compare RACISM and ANTI-SEMITISM to fannish name-calling?

That is so profoundly ignorant I am aghast.

Again, just when you think you've seen his lowest and/or stupidest words ever...HE TOTALLY TOPS HIMSELF.

And don't forget, Gail, we are the bad guys because I once compared dealing with his BS to kicking a legless Nazi. Sure you feel good for humanity's sake, but is he really any physical threat? He then reposted that as proof we were bullying him and using hate tactics to call him a Nazi.

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

Obviously Don can answer better but Rick all on his own came up with her name being Katherine. Don posted her photo here with no name. Rick then wrote an insulting post on his blog calling her Katherine. Don quoted that blog entry and said he had no idea why Rick thinks her name is Katherine because it was not. It's all still in this thread and unedited from January 12-14. I sure hope Rick wasn't lying and he did forward it to Facebook and to Joy. That sure seems like harassment on his part to bother her and if he knowingly lied to Facebook with a complaint? Yeah, Rick is going to hang himself and be kicked off Facebook before long.

[THE_DAREDIVA]

It'll be much appreciated, Ian. Thanks.

Darediva, I always meant to ask: If (and we're talking parallel earth where this might actually have a chance of happening if!) Rick had managed to get his con off the ground and raised some actual money; The minute he did to The DAV what he did to St Jude's and claimed he made a donation when none was made, would The DAV had gone after him in Federal court for that? And what sort of time would he had received based on past similar events?

Honestly, I have no idea, but the DAV does not mess around when it comes to people raising funds in their name without their permission. It took less than 48 hours from the time I first called them until they had the email out to Rick to cease and desist. I'd say they don't let much grass grow under their feet in this regard.

[Artful Angie]

Thanks, Dare_Diva.

And NotLarry, I did actually know that when I wrote that post about the name. I was trying to see if I could walk Rick into him tripping over his own words. It's not hard to do, actually. LOL

I also forgot to post his new "mission statement" for Stale Whale:


About Fresh

If you enjoy your membership in Organized Readers of Comics Association (ORCA), the way Fresh has changed, the free stuff we send you, then tell people. We all benefit the hobby and industry when we stick together.

We have exciting plans for ORCA in the months ahead - from reporting on comicons to a revised membership booklet to a drawing/writing contest for high school art and English classes to unveiling a new comic book literacy curriculum for teachers. And there is also more we'll share in Fresh with you!

I hope you'll be with us for the fun of it all.

Update your comic book interests by emailing us at orcafresh@gmail.com Submit your 2012 Fresh cover art submissions, if you're an artist and let us know what you're presently reading. We're always looking for shared opinions and column writers for both hard copy Fresh and our new website premiering very soon.

Thanks!

[KJ!]

In lieu of an update from Matt, I'd like to post links to his story. These are all the BC links, but this thread also contains Matt's own story, and his experiences to date.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/10/03/rick-olney-sells-indiana-jones-world-wap-without-matt-busch-or-lucasfilms-permission/

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/10/07/lucasfilm-tells-rick-olney-to-cease-and-desist-over-indiana-jones-world-map/

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/11/26/rick-olney-demands-apology-before-hell-hand-over-charity-maps-and-donations/

THIS is Rick Olney.

A disgusting liar and criminal, too rude to be mentioned in good company.

Stealing a man's hard work, stealing his selfless ambitions to aid charity, stealing his desire to do good in the future, and lastly: stealing his faith in his fellow man.

Olney is the lowest of the low. This thread stands as testimony to that, and much of it is in Olney's own words.

We don't need commentary, his own words convict him.

May people do better in the future, avoid this man, and never lose faith in the good people that are out there.


Sincerely,

Craig P

[MacQuarrie]

Same old same old. Big announcements about what he's going to do, never a word about anything that is actually happening right now.

Why not give the details about all these new programs? Because they don't exist. He hasn't gotten past the concept stage yet, and they never will unless he can convince somebody else to do the work for him.

[Outsider]

Something I've noticed on every page I've looked about Orca and Fresh- they're always directed toward people who are already members, but I've never seen info on how to become a member.

[Outsider]

I know that the entire post has been shown by Artful Angie previously, but this part was not mentioned:

Under other business: I still have plenty of Indiana Jones Commemorative maps for sale to benefit the Veterans charity that I previously shared in last falls issue of Fresh. The cost is $59.95 and that includes secure shipping costs. I am accepting NO FOREIGN ORDERS. Payment is allowed by personal check to ORCA members, as long as I know you. All others will need to pay by (USPS) Postal Money Order. No other types of money orders shall be accepted. There is NO LIMIT to the number of maps which can be ordered. Quicker these are sold, the quicker I can get that dead monkey from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK off my back. Got any questions? Feel free to hit me back at: rick.olney@gmail.com

http://i.imgur.com/B7wu1s.jpg (http://imgur.com/B7wu1)

[Gaelforce]

Something I've noticed on every page I've looked about Orca and Fresh- they're always directed toward people who are already members, but I've never seen info on how to become a member.

And for an organization that's supposedly about people meeting other people who read comics, I don't think I've ever seen a roster listed anywhere.

[Gail Simone]

It's all bullshit, he wet his pants again when Angie mentioned starting a new club with the name Orca, so he's in his sandbox pretending he hasn't admitted a dozen times that Orca is dead. If it wasn't, why did he CONSTANTLY repeat how he was going to, "start Orca up again" along with all his other failed fanboy delusions?

Orca was never what he said it was, it never did what he said it did, and it's more of Rick doing the only thing in the industry he knows how to do, pretending to be a big wheel and getting chumps to fall for it.

[Gail Simone]

I think the best thing that can be done right now is to spread links to the pages that have listed Rick's many acts of deadbeatism and abuse.

He could well be trying to cheat more people just to try desperately to appear as if he has a function in life without this thread. Without enemies, all his failures are clearly
his own fault and we all know Rick is too weak a person to live with that.

http://somethingistingling.blogspot.com/2012/01/just-thinking.html

http://iblogalot.com/category/rick-olney/


If those links get posted everywhere, it reminds people what kind of person Rick Olney is, and how he handles people who trusted him.

That's all that needs to be said.

[Gail Simone]

Here's where the facts are.

NO ONE has ever, and I mean EVER, verified any of Rick's lunatic claims about Orca. Never. The MOST Dennis Kininger was able to muster in response to Rick's claims that Orca had given away 108,000 comics (which he magically changed to a ridiculous 700,000 comics recently), was that they had given away 'a lot' of comics.

That's the number two guy in Orca, unwilling to lie to support Rick's bullshit. 'A lot.' Couldn't verify the number, he said. But it was, 'a lot.'

Then we have Orca's membership...funny how Rick went from saying it was 300 to 'over a thousand' to 1800 to 3800. ALL AFTER the club had been shut down, due to Rick's incompetence, laziness and egomania.

Never a single bit of verification from anyone, EVER.

The only reports we have of Orca from other sources than Rick, an admitted liar, tell a far different and much more unpleasant story.

A comic book club is a lovely thing and a fine idea.

Rick being anywhere near any project is a guarantee of its failure.

[Guapo Mendez]

I know that the entire post has been shown by Artful Angie previously, but this part was not mentioned:

Under other business: I still have plenty of Indiana Jones Commemorative maps for sale to benefit the Veterans charity that I previously shared in last falls issue of Fresh. The cost is $59.95 and that includes secure shipping costs. I am accepting NO FOREIGN ORDERS. Payment is allowed by personal check to ORCA members, as long as I know you. All others will need to pay by (USPS) Postal Money Order. No other types of money orders shall be accepted. There is NO LIMIT to the number of maps which can be ordered. Quicker these are sold, the quicker I can get that dead monkey from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK off my back. Got any questions? Feel free to hit me back at: rick.olney@gmail.com

http://i.imgur.com/B7wu1s.jpg (http://imgur.com/B7wu1)

Only an utter failure like Rick would mess up selling one-of-a-kind Indiana Jones maps. He's been hawking them since when? September? And still has "plenty" of maps left? If I had been in charge of selling them, I would be bugging LucasFilm to give me another 5,000 to cover pre-orders.

It's amazing how Rick did it.
First: he made them unavailable to the rest of the world.
Second: make them unpayable by pretty much every right-thinking online buyer.
Third: he is selling them through his online newsletter, which is not know for its mass-market appeal. I'm sure he has give 5-6 away to pay creditors and can't even give away the rest.

[Don Krick]

Obviously Don can answer better but Rick all on his own came up with her name being Katherine. Don posted her photo here with no name. Rick then wrote an insulting post on his blog calling her Katherine. Don quoted that blog entry and said he had no idea why Rick thinks her name is Katherine because it was not. It's all still in this thread and unedited from January 12-14. I sure hope Rick wasn't lying and he did forward it to Facebook and to Joy. That sure seems like harassment on his part to bother her and if he knowingly lied to Facebook with a complaint? Yeah, Rick is going to hang himself and be kicked off Facebook before long.

You are absolutely correct, NotLarry: I never mentioned any name, and her name is certainly not Katherine. The guy is a complete idiot. So he found the picture on Facebook. Of course you did, Rick you moron. She put it there. She also gave me permission to post it here. I will be speaking to Joy in a little bit, and I will ask her to report you to Facebook for harassment. She is a sweet woman and doesn't need to have some stinky, sweaty moron bothering her with bullshit. DO NOT involve yourself any further with my private life. That is the only warning you will get.

[Gail Simone]

Only an utter failure like Rick would mess up selling one-of-a-kind Indiana Jones maps. He's been hawking them since when? September? And still has "plenty" of maps left? If I had been in charge of selling them, I would be bugging LucasFilm to give me another 5,000 to cover pre-orders.

It's amazing how Rick did it.
First: he made them unavailable to the rest of the world.
Second: make them unpayable by pretty much every right-thinking online buyer.
Third: he is selling them through his online newsletter, which is not know for its mass-market appeal. I'm sure he has give 5-6 away to pay creditors and can't even give away the rest.


I am very glad to see you again, Guapo!

Hey, aren't you one of the people Rick was going to see destroyed through his awesome powers?

[Gail Simone]

You are absolutely correct, NotLarry: I never mentioned any name, and her name is certainly not Katherine. The guy is a complete idiot. So he found the picture on Facebook. Of course you did, Rick you moron. She put it there. She also gave me permission to post it here. I will be speaking to Joy in a little bit, and I will ask her to report you to Facebook for harassment. She is a sweet woman and doesn't need to have some stinky, sweaty moron bothering her with bullshit. DO NOT involve yourself any further with my private life. That is the only warning you will get.



Jesus, I feel bad for anyone who even reads his NAME, anymore.

1) Rick: This woman is Katherine!
2) Everyone: No, it isn't. You are an idiot.
3) Rick: Through my amazing detective work and looking at her facebook page, I have determined that this woman's name is NOT Katherine! Go, ME! I are a genius detective!

Holy shit, he gets stupider every day.

[Guapo Mendez]

I am very glad to see you again, Guapo!

Hey, aren't you one of the people Rick was going to see destroyed through his awesome powers?

Yep. Something abour Homeland Security or some crap.
His awesome powers didn't keep me from going to New York six weeks ago.

[Gail Simone]

Yeah, I remember some of his ultra-classy racist statements about you swimming back to Mexico.

You must have gone back to your ridiculously handsome self, your model-gorgeous wife, and your wonderful career COMPLETELY DEPRESSED. :)

[Guapo Mendez]

Yeah, but such is life. So many crosses to bear and so many sorrows to drown.
:)

[MacQuarrie]

Yeah, I remember some of his ultra-classy racist statements about you swimming back to Mexico.

You must have gone back to your ridiculously handsome self, your model-gorgeous wife, and your wonderful career COMPLETELY DEPRESSED. :)

Don't forget the lovely home and beautiful children. Not to mention the sterling character, international popularity, and peace that comes from knowing you deal honestly with people.

It's a wonder you haven't jumped off a bridge, Guapo! If only you could have a life like Rick's.

[Guapo Mendez]

Don't forget the lovely home and beautiful children. Not to mention the sterling character, international popularity, and peace that comes from knowing you deal honestly with people.

It's a wonder you haven't jumped off a bridge, Guapo! If only you could have a life like Rick's.

Thank you, MacQ.

I do must say that there are no rivers around here and thus, no bridges. I'll have to settle with an overpass.

[Gail Simone]

Thank you, MacQ.

I do must say that there are no rivers around here and thus, no bridges. I'll have to settle with an overpass.


Well, as we all know (and Rick says constantly), anyone who objects to his deadbeatism, complete lack of moral character, racism, misogyny, hombophobia and stupidity is CLEARLY only doing so because they are jealous.

Or some dumb shit thing he came up with.

;)

[Gail Simone]

Interestingly, I had yet another agent from a major publishing house ask me if I wanted to come write novels for them yesterday. She could not have been more complimentary.

[Don Krick]

Jesus, I feel bad for anyone who even reads his NAME, anymore.

1) Rick: This woman is Katherine!
2) Everyone: No, it isn't. You are an idiot.
3) Rick: Through my amazing detective work and looking at her facebook page, I have determined that this woman's name is NOT Katherine! Go, ME! I are a genius detective!

Holy shit, he gets stupider every day.

I have to agree. I thought that he had plumbed the depths of stupidity, but it seems he has discovered new levels. Perhaps that is what he will be known for: Reaching here-to-fore unknown depths of stupidity.

[Gail Simone]

This is from the great Ken Lashley just TODAY.

" l got my money for my flight after the first check bounced....l guess l'm a lucky guy....he hit me up on facebook then insulted me and deleted himself....if l ever see him face to face...l will wear him like a belt."

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

Ken is a great guy, so funny to talk with. He was one of, if not the first pro I ever talked with when I went to my first comic convention in Toronto.

[Gail Simone]

Ken is the BEST. I LOVE that guy.

[Gail Simone]

Here’s the experiences of a small press publisher (Al Luchidor) who says this is just a FRACTION of the crap and lies Olney perpetrated. And again, it shows he’s been doing this for at LEAST ten years, using his fake ‘credentials’ in the comics industry to pull this sort of thing.

“Well, I first encountered Rick Olney after being interviewed at a small comicon in Utica, NY in 1997 (I think). It was my first con pushing my Luchador imprint and we were approached by this comic club. They interviewed me and my artist, and we exchanged info. At the time they were meeting at this new lcs that had opened up. I attended the next month’s meeting and I was amazed. Here was a forum for all types of comic readers to interact. It was like a message board in real life. The only drawback was the odor.

Rick approached me and my artist after the meeting and told us how great our comics were and that we were the next best thing since sliced bread. Rick asked if we could sell him 25 copies of each of our 4 titles (I was an ambitious small presser to start). I was flattered and offered him a wholesale price for the 100 books and he agreed to it. I believe the price was somewhere around 100 bucks. At the next monthly orca meeting my artist and I did a little presentation about imagination (as Rick requested). After the meeting he gave me partial payment on the books and said I’d get the balance at the next meeting. . . I had no previous dealings with Rick so I didn’t think anything about it. I thought that getting my books in the hands of readers was more important than the money. Little did I know.

I was duped into believing Rick’s mantra about ORCA. I even took some of my pals to the meetings and fronted their memberships. To this day, they have never received anything from ORCA, not even a newsletter.

In the weeks following the orca meeting where we did the little dog and pony show (we made little “exclusive “ pin up gallery books to give out . . .) my phone rang one night. It was Rick. He blew some smoke in my direction. How great me and my artist were . . . and to that end, he was going to be our benefactor. He invited us to go down to the Pittsburgh comicon that April. Rick was going to let us have half his booth and we would sell books like hot cakes. Oh, the connections we’d make. . . .We only had about a month to prepare so I busily went about printing 100 copies of each book we had at the time. Since I was kinda new to the con scene I called down to Renee George to ask her some questions about what I could or couldn’t bring as far as displays went. She was kind of shocked when I mentioned Rick Olney and ORCA. She said that they didn’t have a booth. I was shocked. I asked about getting my own small press booth. Unfortunately, they were all sold out. I was screwed with all these books I printed with no where to sell them. (side note: the next year I got my own booth and we went down and did well. I met a great number of pros and made a lot of friends and Pittsburgh comicon is a show I now do every year.)

Now, I know I should have learned my lesson. But I’m a nice guy and ORCA was local so I thought that going to the meetings would further my local sales. Somewhere around 98-99 I was asked by Rick and the Stronachs (the people who designed and maintained orcafresh.net) to help them re-organize ORCA and apply for 501(c) status. I attended a number of meetings and the 501(c) status was never achieved. Nor was any re-organization. Rick would not let go of control. It was pretty much his way or the hiway. I specifically brought up his spending habits. He blasted me and told me that it was not my concern. . . . even though his reputation reflected back on ORCA. I stopped attending meetings shortly there after.

Around the same time these reorganization meetings were going on there were two other projects I was privy to . . . the first was the comics in the class room project. I was there to see the rough drafts and some of the editing . . . most of which was done by Bob and Mary Stronach. I think their input far outweighed Rick’s and they made that project come to life.

The second project that came to fruition (in spite of Rick) was a trip to NYC to tour Marvel comics. Rick was promoting the trip and collecting money. I can’t remember how much he was charging . . . it wasn’t a lot but it was more than 20 bucks. Somewhere along the line, I got him to agree that my artist and I could go based on what he owed me. So, a couple weeks before the trip is supposed to happen I learned that he had not secured a bus and that it wasn’t likely to happen. Me being me, I knew he had collected money from kids and they were excited, I put him in touch with a friend of mine who owned a limo/transportation company. The bus cost either 650 or 750. the tour at marvel was free. The only cost ol’ Rick had was the bus and the bus was filled so covering that should have been no problemo . . .

For months after the trip I fielded calls from my pal about the bus payment. I looked like the idiot for Rick’s non payment and I apologized to my friend immensely.

Since I’m being honest, I’ll also tell you that I did moderate the orcafresh.net small press forum. That was a lot like refereeing a Harlem Globetrotter game. Rick could say what he wanted and everybody else was curtailed. His vision of moderation also included recruitment. That was a hard sell. Eventually, I let the moderating happen by itself.

Like I said, ORCA and Rick are local so there’s a lot I’m privy to. Such as the mini con at the college you attended. What a cluster fuck. But you know that. . . what you probably don’t know is that one of my good friends (who I had drinks with last night) was the director of extra curricular activities at HCCC said that the bill for the venue is still open as far as he knows.

Further minicon info: the website and character logos were designed by another friend of mine. He was warned about keeping Rick on a short leash payment wise. But he still got screwed. Rick owed him approx $500 and chips arranged to collect it from him at one of the mini cons. Chris came to Utica from Rochester and I bought him lunch and took him to the mini con to collect. . . . Rick paid him in vintage comics and a Fred Hembeck original art page.

I was also a member of the figma.com message board community and I can verify Glen Barbis’s comments as well as Rich “showman” Stahnke’s exchange about a commission for a naked Invisible Woman sketch.

I really want to post this stuff and more that would probably come up on the YABS message board, but, I really don’t need Olney’s bullshit in my life. But, I want to corroborate other’s stories so we can hopefully keep Rick from preying on the comic book community.”

[Glenn Barbis Jr.]

Gail, the above is actually from Al Dorantes of Luchador Ent.. I do some work for Al, and we do Pittsburgh Con together for over 10 years now. Al is one of the nicest, trustworthy, and all around honest people I have the pleasure to call friend. He goes out of his way to help anyone he can. It's a shame Rick took advantage of Al like he did. But then, we all know that's standard operating procedure for Rick.

[AIPman1]

Rick paid him in vintage comics and a Fred Hembeck original art page.

Does anyone have any knowledge of things that were donated for the CHARITY AUCTION for that show, and if those items were...REDIRECTED?

[Artful Angie]

Does anyone have any knowledge of things that were donated for the CHARITY AUCTION for that show, and if those items were...REDIRECTED?

Probably redirected to the back of Rick's closet.

Gosh, I just got done approving 14 requests to join ORCA. Not added 14 people against their will, but approved requests other people made to join a group dedicated to sharing their love of comics. That's the biggest one-day addition to the group so far! Thanks to all who wanted to join.

I might have gotten soomeone added today in person, possibly one and a half! LOL While sitting in Friendly's at Sangertown Mall for lunch, this single mom was having some trouble keeping a precocious 5-year-old occupied. So I pulled out my Kindle Fire and let him watch a few minutes of an episode of "Super Friends: The Lost Season". Really, who doesn't love Aquaman? I told her about the new ORCA and we swapped info. When we have our first organizational meeting I'll let her know and see if she shows up.

Speaking of which, I was thinking of where I should have that meeting. Someplace large enough for a get-together out of the way. Someplace where we'll have to be quiet. Someplace with a small meeting room, and connections to literacy. Someplace on Main Street in Whitesboro. Anybody got a suggestion?

[leftwingnutcase]

Probably redirected to the back of Rick's closet.

Gosh, I just got done approving 14 requests to join ORCA. Not added 14 people against their will, but approved requests other people made to join a group dedicated to sharing their love of comics. That's the biggest one-day addition to the group so far! Thanks to all who wanted to join.

I might have gotten soomeone added today in person, possibly one and a half! LOL While sitting in Friendly's at Sangertown Mall for lunch, this single mom was having some trouble keeping a precocious 5-year-old occupied. So I pulled out my Kindle Fire and let him watch a few minutes of an episode of "Super Friends: The Lost Season". Really, who doesn't love Aquaman? I told her about the new ORCA and we swapped info. When we have our first organizational meeting I'll let her know and see if she shows up.

Speaking of which, I was thinking of where I should have that meeting. Someplace large enough for a get-together out of the way. Someplace where we'll have to be quiet. Someplace with a small meeting room, and connections to literacy. Someplace on Main Street in Whitesboro. Anybody got a suggestion?

Angie, how goes getting our little endeavor incorporated?

[AIPman1]

Probably redirected to the back of Rick's closet.
I meant: if someone knows WHAT was donated to the auction, were any of those items, given to AL. Here is a case that if someone remembers donating, say, a Fred Hembeck page, expecting the proceeds to go to charity...we now have proof it was NOT used for that. Does hinge on finding out where it came from, or other items that were given to AL.

[Glenn Barbis Jr.]

More screencaps needed, as he's in melt-down again.

I love him saying he's never used fake names online, when he himself admitted to me he used them during his Comicon.com phase. Add to that he was outed on there many times, most by his User IP and vocabulary.

zinestud, Magnus II, Orion, Stephen Harris, ESQ., etc.....

[AIPman1]

his attachment to reality is clearly lost. Complete free fall. "We NEVER meant the DAV" didnt they CHANGE the chairty TO that when the spelling error was pointed out, THEN delete it after the C+D?

[Flamebird]

his attachment to reality is clearly lost. Complete free fall. "We NEVER meant the DAV" didnt they CHANGE the chairty TO that when the spelling error was pointed out, THEN delete it after the C+D?

It still says ADV on Matts site.
Granted, it says he's sold out.

[Gail Simone]

Yeah, I think he's just trying to throw up some bullshit excuses for people who weren't there, and didn't see him lie about all this stuff.

Unfortunately for Rick, the Internet has records of those lies, his endless racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments, all the failed projects he dropped, and all the many, many people he's cheated.

He can blame me, he can blame Ian, he can blame Chuck Dixon, he can blame Angie.

But most of these people, all of whom he cheated or TRIED to cheat, all with the same lies and tricks and dishonesty, most of them have never even MET each other. They just found each other because others had had the exact same kinds of rotten, dishonest experiences with Rick Olney.

How weird that dozens of people, most of whom have never met, many of whom aren't even reading comics any more, all have had Rick lie to them, or try to take their work, or cheat them of money.

He can blame me, but how does that explain all the people who were cheated before I'd even MET Rick?
What about all the Tightlip people he cheated when I had not yet spoken out about his chronic dishonesty?
And why is it that, while many, MANY pros have reported bad things about Rick, I have never, ever, had even a cross word with another convention or appearance organizer, and in fact am routinely invited back to those same events?



That's interesting, what Al said, tht none of the people he signed up to Orca ever got a single newsletter. That matches closely with what other former members have said, that it was mostly hot air and promises.

[Gail Simone]

Matt Busch is still sorry he ever heard the name of Rick Olney. Like almost everyone in comics who ever met him.

[JTPencils]

Interestingly, I had yet another agent from a major publishing house ask me if I wanted to come write novels for them yesterday. She could not have been more complimentary.

Obviously, another fatal move in your pseudo career as a writer. You can't possibly succeed... you really should go back to hair styling.... you... you.... you failure you!!

Take that!

[Don Krick]

I see the assclown still has Joy's picture up, as well as the one he says isn't me. Or is it? I can never keep his lies straight. Listen up ASSCLOWN: Joy and I have a lawyer who is working on the paperwork for the Visa. I informed Joy about the picture and she is informing the lawyer. Since she clearly has nothing to do with comics and is a private person, she feels violated by your insanity and will be seeking redress. Hasta la vista, Sir Scamsalot.

[Gail Simone]

Well, as you know, the barely literate "creator" of Freedom 3, and Devil Bug says I suck at writing.

I can hardly hold back my tears! :)

[JTPencils]

Gail, spoke to Cesar the other day, and he related to me that you two met at a con... and said you were ever so gracious. Made me wish I had attended with him.


(hands Gail box of tissues... for her obvious disappointment and near complete deluge of tears)

[Gail Simone]

Obviously, another fatal move in your pseudo career as a writer. You can't possibly succeed... you really should go back to hair styling.... you... you.... you failure you!!

Take that!

So HURTFUL! :)


Man, I can never figure out how anyone was ever intimidated by this gooey lump of suet. He never seems to have a clue what he's talking about, and his writing is so poor it barely registers as English.

Fortunately, he's going back to being zero soon.

We do need caps of his recent nonsense please.

[SarahBeach]

Okay, he's attacking Darediva's actions in protecting the DAV's reputation, and he's claiming that he still has not decided what veteran's charity to give the money to? Like this is an honorable point that justifies him somehow?

Me, if I saw a statement of someone claiming they were selling something to raise money for a charity, and months later that person still had not designated the specific charity that would get the money, I would definitely not be keen to give that person any money at all.

And he's a terrible sales person. On the one hand he says he had lots of the maps to sell. But on the other hand, he wants to get rid of them quickly to get "that dead monkey from the Indiana Jones movie" off his back. Really appealling image there. If he was so set on getting rid of the "monkey on his back" - why not just return the maps to Matt because LucasFilm has authorized Matt to have them and be done with it? He doesn't even have to say anything. Just mail them back to Matt.

Sorry, I let myself get distracted. Point being that even at this late date, well after he by his own contract was supposed to return any unsold maps, he has not designated any charity to be the recipient of the funds raised.

Pathetic.

[HamsterRage]

So HURTFUL! :)

Man, I can never figure out how anyone was ever intimidated by this gooey lump of suet. He never seems to have a clue what he's talking about, and his writing is so poor it barely registers as English.

Fortunately, he's going back to being zero soon.

We do need caps of his recent nonsense please.

Aren't you jealous Gail? After all you've never had the pleasure of working with convicted murderers...

They work for cartons of ciggarettes... Well I mean they would but Ricky never pays them.

Here's hoping the never get out on probation, could be a rough day in the Olney household that day.

[Artful Angie]

And of course, it's a flat-out lie that we responded to Matt's "American Disabled Veterans" comment. Rick put it on the Craparondithon blog first and clearly used "Disabled American Veterans".

And please screencap his comments to Mike Mallott about driving out to Oriskany to "visit" his mother. That's clearly intimidation and stalking, and Mike needs that for another police report.

[Glenn Barbis Jr.]

He's really on a roll tonight! Now he's attacking Ken Lashley.

[Guapo Mendez]

Re: Ric Olie.

When George Lucas said that Stewjon was the name of Obi-Wan's planet, within an hour Wookiepedia had been edited and the name entered into the highest level of canon. The name is a tuckerization of Jon Stewart's name and it obliterated the previous origin story of Obi-Wan being born and raised in Coruscant.

Now, Rick. Heh. He claims that his story is true and that he is the namesake of Ric Olie. Since we cannot control Lucasfilm (and he can't claim we intimidate it), why isn't his name part of the tuckerization (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Tuckerization) examples? There's Sean Connery, Orson Wells, Warwick Davies, Ray Ramirez, Wayne Poe...but no Rick Olney.

Surely there must be someone at Lucasfilm that can confirm your story.

[Don Krick]

"And in closing the farce of Don Krick's imaginary girlfriend -- I'll sit back and expect "Joy" to next respond on the 606 Studios Bendis Gail Simone forum to defend her professed love for the walking scab needing oxygen and a bottle of beer in search of his magical little blue pills. LMAO! "

Jesus Tapdancing Christ (sorry, couldn't resist stealing that Gail :) ) Rick, you are delusional. Joy will not come to this forum because she doesn't want to be exposed to you. And there was a reason that I didn't use her name when I posted that picture. Did you even see it Rick? What living, breathing male wouldn't want to know her? I didn't want her to be stalked by the likes of you. I was trying to protect her. And my threat to you... I said it was your only warning. It was a legal threat, not a physical one. Joy says she has received no message from you and if she does, she will refer it to both Facebook and our lawyer. A real lawyer, assclown. Not one of those phony made up lawyers you keep talking about.

I think you really need to step back Rick. You are only digging your hole deeper and deeper every time you sit at your keyboard. From the very beginning of all of this you have been totally wrong, and out of line. If you have any sense of decency left, leave innocent people out of your insane rants. Your mental illness should just "go quietly into that good night." Now go away and stop bothering good people, assclown.

[Outsider]

Screencaps:

http://imgur.com/a/OnLV6

[leftwingnutcase]

Screen grabs of ROs threats against Michael Malott and his family?

[Outsider]

NOBODY was raising funds in the name of the DAVE, Alice. The people you contacted reacted to what you told them. And WHAT you told them was neither truthful, complete, or warranting such a response from you in your efforts.

This screenshot of the Adirondack Comic Fest blog says otherwise:

http://i.imgur.com/pUfr5s.jpg (http://imgur.com/pUfr5)

[Glenn Barbis Jr.]

NOBODY was raising funds in the name of the DAVE, Alice. The people you contacted reacted to what you told them. And WHAT you told them was neither truthful, complete, or warranting such a response from you in your efforts.

This screenshot of the Adirondack Comic Fest blog says otherwise:

http://i.imgur.com/pUfr5s.jpg (http://imgur.com/pUfr5)

Yep! And Rick even backs it up in his comments there! Nice try Rick.

[bert]

ah, the "I'm not a racist, I have a black friend" defense.

an oldie but a goodie.

[Outsider]

I have never hid behind a screen name, AAA. So I may well be wrong. I'm fine with that until I'm told otherwise. And on that day, you'll realize that you can no longer play the role of a coward. You'll need to stand up for all you've stated. Not to forget mentioning that then YOU will be well known locally by the roster and their parents and family members. 'Course, you do live in Oriskany. Is your mom still alive? Maybe I can drop a sweatshirt off to her.

He is speaking to Artful Angie here, although he seems to have not decided if Artful Angie is Mike Malott or Mike Noonan. However, in a previous post he said this:

I believe Mike [Malott] and his Mom lived in Oriskany, NY at that time. They later moved, taking a place in Whitesboro, NY.

http://i.imgur.com/fonF1s.png (http://imgur.com/fonF1)

[Gail Simone]

I don't even want to read what the deadbeat says about Ken Lashley, one of the best and most talented artists in the business.

[AlexNess]

There are rare occasions in which I find myself feeling pity for Rick Olney. He wanted to be loved, adored, and believed and trusted, but has never seemed to do the things required to achieve that. And then I read his blog, and think, Pity? Fuck that, the guy is mentally unstable.

[Gail Simone]

Hey, guys. If you have something to say, let's get it in...the plan at this point is to close it up tomorrow.

Then all the posts from his many, many former friends he's cheated will be left up with nothing to bury them.

[Gail Simone]

Yep! And Rick even backs it up in his comments there! Nice try Rick.

Again, can you imagine what it must be like to lie so much you don't remember what lie you told last?

What a disgusting existence.

[J.R. LeMar]

I think the final post should just be something like posting the links from here: http://rickolney.blogspot.com and telling people to please do their research before considering doing business with him, and perhaps a link to the FB page, in case they want to learn more.

You should probably also consider going back to beginning of the thread, and adding a post if you can, or just editing the original post from HamsterRage, to also include those links, and a note about how this thread has progressed, and why it was eventually locked. That way, if someone new comes across the thread, whether they first click on the beginning or the end of it, they'll get all the info they need.

[Gail Simone]

Got a plan in mind, J..R., I promise.


Rick tried to call Ken Lashley a liar, then Rick pretended he wasn't a massive gutless sack of goo by saying how he could beat up Ken. If you had seen them both, you would immediately get how hilarious that is.

Here's what Ken said on Facebook, after telling the story of Rick trying to deadbeat Ken,


Ken Lashley: "oh no...Ricky called me a liar....if anyone else called me that..l might be offended but when Ricky calls you a liar you must take notice..its a subject he knows very well...if being a liar was a artform he would be Jack Kirby..Alan Moore...and dave gibbons rolled into one..."

[Gail Simone]

I think what I find funniest about Rick's attempt to pretend Orca has been going along all these years...notice the people who ARE NOT joining?

[SarahBeach]

His frequent mention of "membership drives" always amuses me.

[leftwingnutcase]

Mike Malot PMed me earlier today. He is taking a break from Facebook for a while because of Rick's threats. He asks all of us that if he is threatened again during his absence, we should call the Oriskany Police. They have a file on Rick.

[THE_DAREDIVA]

NOBODY was raising funds in the name of the DAVE, Alice. The people you contacted reacted to what you told them. And WHAT you told them was neither truthful, complete, or warranting such a response from you in your efforts.

This screenshot of the Adirondack Comic Fest blog says otherwise:

http://i.imgur.com/pUfr5s.jpg (http://imgur.com/pUfr5)


Exactly. He never remembers what he said. Thank goodness for diligent screencappers.

I've already posted the email directly from the Executive Director of the DAV to Rick, with the permission of the DAV. It's all out there for everyone to see. If Rick does not consider this to be a cease and desist, then so be it.

His title of that blog post is intended to be a slap at me, since that's a common misogynistic term in the military. How unexpected.

[AIPman1]

Exactly. He never remembers what he said. Thank goodness for diligent screencappers.

I've already posted the email directly from the Executive Director of the DAV to Rick, with the permission of the DAV. It's all out there for everyone to see. If Rick does not consider this to be a cease and desist, then so be it.

His title of that blog post is intended to be a slap at me, since that's a common misogynistic term in the military. How unexpected.

See to Olney, because the C+D wasnt written from cut and paste leaggle sites, didnt include any direct threats of violence, and was polite and professional, that means it wasnt a C+D. They actually wanted to be his friend. Cause they didnt call him any names. That's the standard you have to meet there. If you dont call Rick a deadbeat liar who has STOLEN LICENSED MAPS by failing to return them when asked politely (In another C+D that doesnt exist because it too was polite and therefor is not ACTUALLY a C+D) then you can be a friend of his until he is done with you, when he is ready to start calling YOU names. He passes out THAT kind of "C+D being an Olney friend" all the time. THOSE, those are REAL C+Ds cause it's what HE wants. Cause what HE wants is way more important than the law, than what is good and right in the world, than in being a normal human being that doesnt turn EVERY SINGLE PERSON who dares to say hi to him into a MARK that will be sucked dry and spat out.

That's why there is no C+D without a policeman at the door to enforce it to him. A polite e-mail will NEVER qualify. We have to face it, until Lucasfilm actually gets serious and sues, and/or Matt gets permission to and follows through, those maps will continue to filter out into the marketplace to people who dont CARE what Rick does with the $$ for them. And bringing him to Justice for doing it can only be if a prosecutor decides it is worth it to actually put him in jail, cause the $$ will be long gone.

We beleive he got away with the charity fraud before, with St. Jude (cause he advertised he was doing an auction to benefit them, he had the auction, then NO ONE at St. Judes ever knew about it or got anything from Olney - that anyone at St. Judes was able to find evidence of, nor Olney was able to provide evidence of), and, unless someone actually convinces the people in a position to do something about it that this problem with the maps is going on right now, that a search warrant is needed to get these maps back into legal hands, then Olney will continue to thumb his nose at the world and screw Matt's dream to have these maps raise $$ for a charity, $59 at a time.

[KJ!]

Anyone notice he told the TRUTH for once.

Yes, it's because of a typo, but still... ;)


It's in here: ''Squat? No. I don't need to squat. You're so scummy for a female. Oh, I'm sorry. Was that a sexist remark? Tough shit.

Actually, I have a lot more collected endorsements from parents and previous members, along with several school teachers and a librarian or two. Those, along with the several endorsements from both parents and members involved and on the roster today are enough to prove that there is nothing about Organized Readers of Comics Associated (ORCA). Is that your professional opinion, Tam? That anyone interacting with ORCA, me or any of our officers are half-assed? Well... as the saying goes, "Half ass is better than no ass at all." I've read you writings, obviously, so I know that is true. ''


See this bit?

''Those, along with the several endorsements from both parents and members involved and on the roster today are enough to prove that there is nothing about Organized Readers of Comics Associated (ORCA).''


He even agrees with us that ORCA is nothing!

Oh happy day...

[Artful Angie]

I love how he says that ORCA advertises for new members.... in it's own magazine??

So he's trying to draw people back into the hobby of reading comics by promoting the club in the magazine he sends to people who already read comics. That's a brilliant business model there. No wonder TightLip failed so spectaculaly.

Oh, look! I mentioned not knowing who Mike Noonan is, and Rick just happens to post a picture of him in an post that's totally unrelated to him. That's cool.

Oh, Rick?? BUZZ!! Wrong again!!! HAHAHAHA

Should I start giving him clues, like "getter warmer" or "getting colder"?? It's really sad to see him spend so much energy and effort and be this wrong all the time. But then, isn't that his normal life, anyway??

I'll be giving the Dunham Library a call today or tomorrow to set up a meeting room for ORCA's first organizational meeting. I'd invite Rick, but he'll be too busy at his ORCA meeting with all of his club members. It'll be a welcome change for him, because usually when he's in the bathroom alone he just reads old issues of Swamp Thing. But now he's gonna have himself a meeting!

In the meantime, THE REAL ORCA is now over 50 members strong! it's really nice to see people who care more for the comics industry than feeding their own egos come together. Meanwhile, Rick notes that he "may not" file for Non-Profit status for his group, The Stale Whale. Maybe because he doesn't have to lie later about having that status? Or is it simply because he spent all his money on these mysterious ads that don't appear to be anywhere in Central New York and his Private Dick trying to break into Direct TV's Internet information to find me, and doesn't have enough Galactic Credits left for the filing fee?

[AIPman1]

I think it's really funny how his biggest selling point on being in a club with him is that he wont tell anyone that you're in the group. Cause of course no one wants to be a PROUD MEMBER of a comics group. They want to be completely anonymous. Sit in the corner, not say a word so that the leader can tell them what is important and what to do.

I'm such a fool all these years I've spent trying to get the members of the SPA - KNOWN, encouraging them to talk to each other, encouraging them to do their own projects in the group, without me being directly involved. I COULD have spent all this time trying to keep them all apart and controlling everything they do! Then the SPA could be as big and successful as Rick's group...

[THEDOC]

Did I read this right on his blog? "Again, since the late 1980s until 2011-- the West Utica Comic Book Club and then Organized Readers of Comics Association DID give away (rounded numbers) 108,000 individual comics to its membership roster." I know I know, it's RO after all.

[Gail Simone]

I think it's really funny how his biggest selling point on being in a club with him is that he wont tell anyone that you're in the group. Cause of course no one wants to be a PROUD MEMBER of a comics group. They want to be completely anonymous. Sit in the corner, not say a word so that the leader can tell them what is important and what to do.

I'm such a fool all these years I've spent trying to get the members of the SPA - KNOWN, encouraging them to talk to each other, encouraging them to do their own projects in the group, without me being directly involved. I COULD have spent all this time trying to keep them all apart and controlling everything they do! Then the SPA could be as big and successful as Rick's group...


If that's true, he didn't even keep that promise. The group's membership, many of whom are family members, was open for viewing last night.

[KJ!]

Did I read this right on his blog? "Again, since the late 1980s until 2011-- the West Utica Comic Book Club and then Organized Readers of Comics Association DID give away (rounded numbers) 108,000 individual comics to its membership roster." I know I know, it's RO after all.

I know that if I was in a group that had given me a thousand free comics, I'd remember it, and be commenting on how great it was.

And how would the $5 membership cost cover even a FRACTION of just the 108 000, let alone the supposed 'over 700k'?

It's just not possible.

It's not practical.

And to do all this, and go completely unknown?

Not gonna happen.

All we have is one report of a guy who got $5 worth of Astro City comics (that it sounds like he already had. That's just bad planning at the top level, Rick. Send people stuff they already read anyway. Great way to introduce them to....well, NOTHING.)

[AIPman1]

If that's true, he didn't even keep that promise. The group's membership, many of whom are family members, was open for viewing last night.

aaaaaaaaaaand.......he fails.

[Tom Stillwell]

Here's tip for Rick when making up numbers for things that don't exist in the future. If you're going to make up a number and lie about in continually for years and years remember what that number is and never change it.

Write it down somewhere. Hell, tattoo on the back of your hand if you have to. Just don't keep changing it. Because any shred of believability disappears when the number changes with each telling.

[Gail Simone]

Reprinting this because I always find it hilarious.

This is part of an ACTUAL editorial Rick 'wrote' for his shitty section of the Orcomx APA. Note the raging narcissism...it's completely out of control here. He is saying, in an Apa that NO ONE reads (membership at the time was almost nothing and has gone down since), that The Comics Journal, and Comicon.com, are AFRAID of Rick. Honest to God, that's what he's trying to sell here.


Okay, first he talks about how essential Orca is to, well, virtually everything. The Pittsburgh con simply can't function without his crappy booth and lack of organizational skills.

Then he talks about the event, it's unclear if he means Pittsburgh Con or Orca's unattended panel. All weird grammar and unnecessary capital lettering is his.

"Also--Comicon.com sent a reporter to cover the event for their website. Comicon and the administrators had their coverage underwritten by Marsimports.com, another website that shares a pillow with Comicon co-administrator, Rich Veitch. You should also be made aware that Comicon.com and the Comics Journal have notified Organized Readers of Comics Associated that they no longer wish to accept Press Releases from it. I believe that I've illustrated my prior complaints and problems regarding Comicon.com in the past. Folks, it isn't about Rick Olney... it is about identifying a competitor. Both of these entities regard ORCA and Fresh as a threat to their being able to do business as usual. See...we're readers. They tried working with us, keeping us in our place...but now they've seen that we have an agenda. We are producing quality driven articles and doing things that others (prior to now) wouldn't have thought to try.

Frankly, I think they feel threatened. Nobody can convince me that this is concerning me. I am just an individual. I could never intimidate people the likes of, Gary Groth, Kim Thompson, and Dirk Deppey...could I? The Comics Journal has long been the "artesy-fartsey" viewpoint of people trying to hold other works by people creating quality hero, horror, and sci-fi genre books, at arms length. In their case--ignorance was bliss. What if another online entity began to point that crowd in another direction? There is nothing more upsetting that wanting your faithful participants (like those of my friends on TCJ) to continue to enjoy your viewpoints...only to hear them issue positive points of interest on things ORCA is doing and trying to do.

"Huh? That group...that goof, Rick Only started...is doing what!?"

And what about Rick Veitch and Steve Conley-- Did they think that banning me would quiet me? I've shared my side of the story (over their treatment of me) with 100's of people since then. I know for a fact that is has effected their participatory staus on their message board. Comicon.com just isn't a "cool" place to go any longer. So people are going elsewhere. And now, they've tried to re-vamp their already failing enterprise with Matt Brady and Mike Doran's NEWSARAMA site. Shame, ain't it?"



Hahhahahahaha!

Rick Olney made a site, "cool!"

Hhahahahahah!

If you've seen this idiot redneck, trust me, you know in five seconds he never made anything "cool" in his entire backward life. The guy couldn't make ice cream cool with two freezers and a snow machine. :)





Huh. Fantagraphics, which has published many of the best comics the world has ever seen, that gave first exposure to Bill Watterson and Los Bros Hernandez, that practically INVENTED quality journalism in comics, that publishes the best work in comics and comic strips, and has unfailingly stood up for what they believed in without wavering, is afraid of a smelly tub of goo with a stained THING t-shirt in the middle of nowhere with a string of failures as long as his stubby arms (and much, much longer?)

Comicon.com, which is, sorry, Rick, STILL AROUND, even when few large message boards are still operating for comics, that is owned by one of the most insanely talented artists comics has ever had, is afraid of a deluded fanboy, who can't get a single one of his projects off the ground? Rick Veitch's nacho burps are more talented than Rick Olney at his best.

How many message boards has Rick been kicked off of since then? How many failed attempts at building his own has he had? Remember his last Orca message board, that had less than a dozen members, and SIX were spambots? That NO ONE posted at?

I'm sure TCJ and Comicon are still quaking in their boots.

[KJ!]

Hell, if I was sent TWENTY free comics, I'd be singing their praises.

Let alone the amount he's claiming!

[Gail Simone]

Did I read this right on his blog? "Again, since the late 1980s until 2011-- the West Utica Comic Book Club and then Organized Readers of Comics Association DID give away (rounded numbers) 108,000 individual comics to its membership roster." I know I know, it's RO after all.

Yeah, he's trying to float the incredible lie that Orca has been going all this time, but I didn't know he was ALSO trying to sling that bullshit with the West Utica Comic Book Club. The same club that he said he was going to reopen because it had been closed for years, but like everything else he does, abandoned when no one showed up to join (and it looked like work might be involved).

[Gail Simone]

I know that if I was in a group that had given me a thousand free comics, I'd remember it, and be commenting on how great it was.

And how would the $5 membership cost cover even a FRACTION of just the 108 000, let alone the supposed 'over 700k'?

It's just not possible.

It's not practical.

And to do all this, and go completely unknown?

Not gonna happen.

All we have is one report of a guy who got $5 worth of Astro City comics (that it sounds like he already had. That's just bad planning at the top level, Rick. Send people stuff they already read anyway. Great way to introduce them to....well, NOTHING.)

Colleen Doran did the math on this a while back, it's obvious bullshit.

[Gail Simone]

Here's tip for Rick when making up numbers for things that don't exist in the future. If you're going to make up a number and lie about in continually for years and years remember what that number is and never change it.

Write it down somewhere. Hell, tattoo on the back of your hand if you have to. Just don't keep changing it. Because any shred of believability disappears when the number changes with each telling.


Yeah, he keeps making the Senator Joe McCarthy mistake.

[Guapo Mendez]

Colleen Doran did the math on this a while back, it's obvious bullshit.

From his "given away 700,000 books" days, given the time frame, he'd have to give away 200 comics per day every day. I'd bet good money he gave away his first 20 and then decided to keep doing it in his mind.

[J.R. LeMar]

That's why there is no C+D without a policeman at the door to enforce it to him. A polite e-mail will NEVER qualify. We have to face it, until Lucasfilm actually gets serious and sues, and/or Matt gets permission to and follows through, those maps will continue to filter out into the marketplace to people who dont CARE what Rick does with the $$ for them.

So the million dollar question is, why haven't LucasFilm done anything about this? This is why I'm skeptical about parts of Busch's story. If LucasFilm were really as involved with this situation as he lead us to believe, why wouldn't they act decisively to get "their" property back, especially from a man who admitted to threatening to burn it? When Busch came here to announce that he was contacting LF about this, everyone was all "Whoa, Olney's stepped in it now!" "He better not mess with LucasFilm, they don't play around!" And yet, here we are, 4 or 5 months later, and big bad LucasFilm hasn't done anything, and Olney still has the maps. That seems odd to me. We've been told that they sent a C&D letter but, from what I understand, C&D letters usually come with a timeline. Such as "you must cease and desist by ___ or we'll take legal action against you." So unless this alleged letter just told Olney to return the maps whenever he feels like, he must have passed whatever date they set. So the next step is to file suit, even if he didn't officially "get" the letter. I'm no lawyer, but this seems like a relatively simple case to bring, especially for a company with their resources.


And how would the $5 membership cost cover even a FRACTION of just the 108 000, let alone the supposed 'over 700k'?

Remember, he claims that most of their comics were donated. Publishers and retailers just gave ORCA thousands of comics for free, because they knew ORCA was so awesome.

[Gail Simone]

Matt has updated us a little bit, J.R. I'll tell you by PM, but that story is not over. ;)

[Gail Simone]

It's funny that Rick thinks losing his mind and spewing bile like a mental patient all over his former guests, friends and 'collaborators' somehow makes him look better. His new post makes him look like the craziest fruitbat in the zoo and that's him thinking he's DEFENDING himself.

Odd that so many people, SO MANY people, respected creators, have come forward with their own nightmare stories about Rick, and he has some ridiculous bullshit excuse every time (and promises documentation that never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever shows up).

What a coincidence.

[Gail Simone]

A nice post about Rick and how he has managed to cheat new people despite his past history as a massive, serial deadbeat,from the great Colleen Doran, who knows a weasel when she sees one.

"I'm not at all surprised people gave him so many chances, and were willing to believe him no matter how much he lied.

There's a lot of "I've got mine, so screw you," out there.

If you have a terrible problem with a client, even if he's a liar, a thief, physically abusive, etc. etc, the only thing people dealing with this client care about is HOW HE TREATS THEM.

Your experience doesn't matter, only their experience - no matter how limited - matters.

How many couldn't care less about how nasty Olney was to women? As long as he didn't do it to them, right? The little women were just being oversensitive, no doubt. The creep had to come online and be a total pig right there in front of everyone, else there would have been plenty out there calling these women liars. And weepy little sensitive passive-aggressive feminazis.

I am sure there are a few people out there who met this goober and never had a problem with him. Some of them spent years defending him. Until he screwed them, too.

And since most people have had little or no contact with this liar, scammer and abuser, their only interest in any of this is for entertainment purposes. They really couldn't care less how many people he hurts.


As long as he doesn't hurt them.

There will always be people out there willing to "hear the other side of the story," make a pretense of objectivity, and go right on making excuses, over and over again.

All we can do is relate our own experiences and deal without any expectation of sympathy, understanding, or even a semblance of belief.

Even people who would sneer at giving some creep a "seventeenth chance" will doubt the word of a freelancer who had a bad experience, as long as that bad experience didn't happen to them.

Legions of enablers."

[Gail Simone]

Wow, I'm baffled by his new post about Fresh. Yes, a decade ago, the Stronachs put out a nice little fanzine. A decade ago. THEY put out a nice FANZINE.

The news in it was old before it got printed, all of Rick's few contributions were shitty. But, because the Stronachs did the design, it LOOKED nice while they were in charge.

Over a decade ago.

No one ever denied that the thing existed, just that we keep hearing from people who paid their dues and never got a copy, or a membership packet, or free comics. Rick said that these
people were in the 'unfortunate 10%.' He said they had, 'fallen through the cracks.'

To which I say, holy SHIT, 10% of the people in Orca, you ADMIT, never got ANYTHING from the club? What did you do with their money, Rick?

And why do the Stronachs, who made Fresh nice to look at, ALSO despise you, like everyone else who has ever trusted you?

[Guapo Mendez]

You gotta love his reasoning: the info he doesn't have, he wishes he had to rub our faces in it. The info he does have, he won't show to us because "it's none of our business" and "he won't give us the satisfaction".

It all translates to not having corroborating evidence to his outlandish claims.

[HamsterRage]

She's dead on about that attitude too. Too many comic artists see being cheated as a write of passage.

[Gail Simone]

10%, the number Rick himself came up with, never got anything from Orca because they had 'fallen through the cracks.' More of Olney's great organizational skills (which, 100% guaranteed, he will blame on someone else, like his imaginary bookkeeper who kept forgetting to send checks for money owed to creators).

If we believe his numbers, and I don't, that means dues, yearly, for 180 people were received with NOTHING going back out.

I wonder where that money went.

And Jesus, who would ever trust ANYONE with a 10% failure rate on simple promised return?

[Gail Simone]

You gotta love his reasoning: the info he doesn't have, he wishes he had to rub our faces in it. The info he does have, he won't show to us because "it's none of our business" and "he won't give us the satisfaction".

It all translates to not having corroborating evidence to his outlandish claims.


I have lost count of all the times Rick has sworn he had 'documented evidence' that he has never, ever produced. This from a guy who reprints his one fan letter from years ago over and over.

[Glenn Barbis Jr.]

So now he's decided to trash Big Al.

I can't say anything about what went on between them, other than what info Al gave to you, but I do know one thing...Rick says that this "member" had gotten his artwork (naked Invisible Woman) and loves it to this day. I know for a fact it was actually 3 pieces requested (naked Invisible Woman in shower with the Thing peeking, a naked Lara Croft, and a naked Wonder Woman), and I know for a fact none were delivered because they were never paid for, and Rich got the runaround for months, until he finally said the heck with it and put them up on eBay. I know Rich Stahnke (look at my avatar he did) and know we all warned him to get the money first.

Now about Al....I can say this man has gone out of his way to help me and others, has offered booth space to people when they can't get any, and yes, does buy drinks and dinner for people. Why? Because he's a nice guy. And for the past 5 years, he's used his own money to sponsor a pre-party at the Pittsburgh Comicon with open bar and free food, that has become the >must go to< party of that weekend. And thru that party, he has started a tradition that has raised over $8000 for the conventions charity of choice, Make-A-Wish. The first year of the party, after it was over, we noticed many of the artists had drawn on everything. So the next year, Al bought blank white hats and boxes of colored Sharpies and after the party, and we donated everything to the Make-A-Wish auction. The next year we did plastic collectors plates, and the last two we used ceramic tiles. The guests are not told they have to donate a piece, but most do 2-4 pieces, so are amazingly elaborate. 2011 saw Jim Starlin do 3 for the auction! Ernie Chan always does 4 or 5. And Tommy Castillo only does one or two, but he spends the entire party working on them. (And we've even had a plate signed by Rick's bestest buddy Stan Lee!) And so many of the guests do multiple items, and always tell Al how appreciative their are of what he goes thru to put this party on for them and the charity. Also, Al doesn't go around telling everyone how great he is, or after meeting someone, how they are now best friends, or does things to make himself look good. Through his selfless actions, all this has come to him, three-fold.

You see, Al is very respected, and does things not because of any "press" he might get, or to puff up his ego by hanging out with the "big-names." We invite people, and if they come, great! If they don't, that's okay, we won't trash them. But let me tell you, because of those partys and favors, Al has become a well-known and respected person...something Rick wishes he was. And that's what this is all about, really. Al getting the respect and friendship from the industry, while Rick gets reviled. And Rick could have been in Al's place, even moreso, if he would not let his ego and thirst for acceptance stand in his way. If Rick could have fostered friendships through ORCA, his convention, his online persona, etc...he could have done very well. Sure, Al isn't working for Marvel or DC (and I'm sure he would love to!), but he doesn't sit around and blame everyone. He gos out and does the best work he can, and is the best person he can be, and people respond to that.

If Rick could be half the human being Al is, he would be a lot better in life.

Here are some links to pics from Al's PittCon parties, and the items that have been done by many great and talented people, for Make-A-Wish...

PittCon 2011 (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1666218899819.2080616.1367689107&type=3)

PittCon 2010 (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1266707312279.2035466.1367689107&type=3)

PittCon 2009 (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1113547763386.2017257.1367689107&type=3)

PittCon 2008 (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1126252440995.2019028.1367689107&type=3)

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

Did I read this right on his blog? "Again, since the late 1980s until 2011-- the West Utica Comic Book Club and then Organized Readers of Comics Association DID give away (rounded numbers) 108,000 individual comics to its membership roster." I know I know, it's RO after all.
Others have answered this but it's a good place to put this link I found.

http://isitfactorisitfiction.blogspot.com/2008/09/orca-comic-book-domations.html

Here are just a few of the quotes in Rick's own words. Math sure is hard isn't it Rick?


ORCA has (to date) given away freely a combined total of 486,350 comic books to schools, libraries, and within our membership.

During my 11 years at the helm of ORCA, I've guided the giving away of over 700, 000 free comic books to schools, libraries, and to the general public starting as far back as 1994.

Since 1993, up until 2002, ORCA had given away over 600k comic books
So somehow from November 2003 to May 2004, a 6 month period, ORCA a group that no one besides Rick ever talks about gave away 213,650 comic books. Which, since math isn't hard for me is 35,608 comics per month. Man Rick, shipping costs alone must have cost a fortune.

Here's something I just thought of. Where did Rick store those comics before giving them away? I own over 15 thousand comic books. I know just how much space they take up in my basement. Where do you store a minimum of 35 thousand books a month when you are Rick Olney and have no money of your own?

Also of note according to Rick's very own words in 2005, the number of comics given away dropped from over 700k to over 600k and that ORCA stopped giving away comics in 2002.

[Gail Simone]

Rick's claim is total bullshit.

Do the math. 700000 comics is TWO THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED LONGBOXES.

That's the equivalent of many, MANY comic book stores' entire backstock. Which they get over years and years.
I spoke with people at Marvel and DC. They in NO WAY gave away anything like that amount, EVER.

Two THOUSAND three HUNDRED long boxes. It only takes around NINE boxes to stack to the average ceiling.
And not a single person, not even the number two guy in Orca, will verify anything LIKE this number.


How many comics did you give away, Dennis Kininger?
"A lot."

Was it as many as Rick says?

"We have no idea what the numbers were."

[MyNameIsNotLarry]

Yeah, comics take up a lot of space which Rick never remembers when he throws out these numbers.

I own a paltry 15,000 comics but it use to be over 20,000. I know how many boxes that is and how much of my basement space that takes up.

Here's another quote from Rick. This time from when he was on the Bleedingcool forum.


Off the top of my head, I can't tell you the exact number of comic books that actually did get given away freely by ORCA. I can tell you that we began giving away comics in 1993 and concluded those efforts to stimulate the reading of comic books and small press related materials in 2004
So before they stopped in 2002, here it is 2004 and of course his claims now that they never stopped. Also if they have been around since the late 80's as he is now claiming, why did he only start giving away comics in 2003? So hard to keep the lies straight Rick.

[Artful Angie]

You have to forgive Rick though, Gail. After all, numbers aren't his strong suit. Just look at all the "Gail Simone Blathering" posts he has. Part One, two, three, four and... four again. If he can't keep that straight on his own blegh, how do you expect him to remember things like how many comics he gave away? Or how many members of ORCA there were.

I hopped on Facebook today to find a very nice treat for both me, and I hope others. This is from the organizer of the upcoming convention in Rochester:


I was just wondering if you wanted to do a panel at the con. We can have a volunteer watch your table while you do it. 45 minutes for panels. It would be great if you have a friend to do it with as well. Please let me know asap, as I'm looking to fill up the comic book track programming and finish it off. Nice to meet you last weekend. Alicia


Wow! Isn't that nice of her to do for ORCA? Of course, I think the subject of the panel should absolutely be about what new professionals in the industry should do to protect themselves from unethical tactics and unprofessional con organizers who prey on their inexperience to screw them over. I'll use the copy of the contract Rick passes around as an example of what to avoid, as well as examples of behavior by both Rick Olney and Josh Hoopes about how not doing your research can cause damage to your reputation and financially impact you, your family, and your career.

What a great way for the REAL ORCA to get itself recognized.

[Gail Simone]

It's a gorgeous day here...a little rainy but beautiful. I've been asked to several ACTUAL conventions this week already, unfortunately had to turn most of them down due to time constraints. Am looking at art for upcoming issues of Batgirl and the secret project I'm doing with Ethan Van Sciver, working on my television script I was asked to do, and my dog is snoozing in front of the fireplace. And I don't have dozens of people I've cheated coming forward to say how I lied to them, abused their trust, and threatened them toothlessly.

A lovely day.

[Tom Stillwell]

There's just no way possible Orca gave away even a tenth of any of those numbers Rick claims. Even if by some miracle Orca was given a bunch of books free they'd still need to store them. They'd have to rent storage. They'd have to buy proper packaging and pay for shipping.

There was an organization at one time named the Hero Foundry that gave away free graphic novel libraries to schools and youth organizations. They were a great group doing a good thing. My wife's school was a beneficiary of one of their donations. They sent along just tons and tons of books. The kids loved it.

About two years ago I wanted to donate some Toy Boy and Honor Brigade books to them for their libraries. Unfortunately, I found out that they were no longer in operation. Eventually I tracked down one of the founders and he said that they shut down over money. They just couldn't afford to cover all the costs even with financial and book donations.

Rick's assertion that Orca gave away xxx,xxx amount of books is pure fantasy.

[leftwingnutcase]

You have to forgive Rick though, Gail. After all, numbers aren't his strong suit. Just look at all the "Gail Simone Blathering" posts he has. Part One, two, three, four and... four again. If he can't keep that straight on his own blegh, how do you expect him to remember things like how many comics he gave away? Or how many members of ORCA there were.

I hopped on Facebook today to find a very nice treat for both me, and I hope others. This is from the organizer of the upcoming convention in Rochester:



Wow! Isn't that nice of her to do for ORCA? Of course, I think the subject of the panel should absolutely be about what new professionals in the industry should do to protect themselves from unethical tactics and unprofessional con organizers who prey on their inexperience to screw them over. I'll use the copy of the contract Rick passes around as an example of what to avoid, as well as examples of behavior by both Rick Olney and Josh Hoopes about how not doing your research can cause damage to your reputation and financially impact you, your family, and your career.

What a great way for the REAL ORCA to get itself recognized.

Angie, I'll be at Roc-Con tabling for the Comic Book Club of Ithaca and giving my renowned panel on Gays in Comics. Mind if I do the ORCA panel with you?

Alec, a.k.a. Queer Duck

QUACK, QUACK, MOTHER FUCKER

[Gail Simone]

I think all the best ducks are queer ducks, even Daffy. Remember all those times he flirted with Bugs?

[Tom Stillwell]

Well, Bugs was always cross-dressing...

[Kal El]

Daffy and Bugs argued like an old married couple. There was definitely something going on between them.

[Gail Simone]

It's kind of amusing, here we are posting again and again about people Rick lied to and cheated, one after another, for pages at a time.

And what's his response?

"Look at this Fanzine someone else did all the work on (who hate my guts now!) that happened a decade ago that many members never even received despite paying their dues!"

Great defense there, Rick!