Dark Angel1

Thanks to Jason Ebner for forwarding this scan of a piece from back in the mid-1990’s, which, I believe I did for one of those goth small press books. The quality of the scan is not so good, so I hope I can get the art back for a better look. I am sure most people have not seen this, and if you did, it was very, very heavily colored in early computer color Photoshop, and was almost unrecognizable in print.

I think this appeared in a comic by Hart Fisher, but I can’t recall details. It’s not included on my list of published works, either. I completely forgot about it!

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Posted under Misc Comics and Graphic Novels, Colleen's Art, Comics, Books

Senate Hotlines Orphan Works Bill0

Senate Orphan Works Act S.2913

More Info

Contact your Senators about the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008 now!

Dear Guild Members and Colleagues: In my last message, I told you that Orphan Works legislation moves like a tortoise, but some in the Senate have transformed the bill into a hare by “hotlining” S. 2913 for quick approval. We need your help now.

A hotlined bill can be approved without debate or even a full vote. The Graphic Artists Guild opposes this bill because it lacks sufficient protection for artists. Most importantly, it lacks a Notice of Use clause that requires art users to file a statement with the Copyright Office prior to using works believed to be orphaned. For more than three years, the Guild has negotiated for that and other provisions to improve the legislation in a manner similar to the House bill.

Please go to our Capwiz site to register your opposition with your Senator to the passage of S. 2913, The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008. It’s important to only notify your own Senators in the US Congress, because your state legislators are not dealing with this Federal legislation. You may customize your letter as you wish, but there is limited value in doing so, because Senate staffers generally count letters as being either for or against a measure. The link below will open our Capwiz portal:

WRITE NOW!

Your Senators will be home during the August legislative break. Please make a point to speak with your Senators personally. The message is simple. “Please don’t vote for The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008. It’s bad for our profession.”

To stay informed about the facts of this legislation, please visit our blog at orphanworksnews.com for regular updates and to make your statement about the issue.

Till next time,

John P. Schmelzer Guild President

Posted under Creator Rights, Finance, Education

Narcissism Posing As Humility: Open Thread.38

Bumped from 2007, because sometimes we all need a friendly reminder…

For whatever reason, no matter how hideous people have been to you in the past, no matter whether or not they ripped you off in business or treated you abominably in ways they should be very grateful weren’t captured on film, they always come back.

I don’t get it.

When I am done with someone, I am done. I do not seek them out again.

Eight, ten, or fifteen years later, I am really not interested in pursuing a relationship with someone who was unpleasant company, and frankly, I am very relieved to be rid of them.

However, I have had a few very weird experiences with people who simply would Not Go Away. One was with a friend who decided he wanted to be a pro cartoonist.

When I first started self publishing, he asked if I would also publish his work. I was very candid with him. I said I could barely afford to publish my own work much less anyone else’s, and if I had the resources to properly publish and promote the work of a beginner, then I would also have the financial resources to publish someone who had a much bigger name and reputation and make a better return on my financial investment. Therefore, publishing a beginner would be a financial risk I could not take. No, I would not do it.

He had a bad reaction, and several months later, deliberately humiliated me with a nasty public tantrum, among other delights. It was completely unexpected, and completely uncalled for and designed to cause me maximum pain.

I got over it and moved on. I don’t even think I mentioned it on my blogs before, because frankly, the whole thing rates pretty low on my interesting-life-o-meter.

Naturally, he did not go away, though.

Years later, I was at a convention during the height of the self publishing boom and my signing line was about two hours long.

Ah, Those were the days!

I looked up, and there he was. He had stood in that long line just so he could brightly declare “Hi! Great to see you! When’s the next issue coming out?” I looked at him coolly, asked him how he wanted his book signed, and then moved immediately to the next person.

OK, I took a jab. I asked him how to spell his name.

His face fell a bit. What did he expect, a hug?

Well, yeah.

About three months later, I got a long letter from him in the mail.

He was very sorry. He had hurt me out of pride. He had always felt bad about it. He was very sad. He had come all the way to Philadelphia just to see me and say he was sorry. Yadda yadda.

I just didn’t buy it. I still don’t buy it.

How odd that this person seemed to think they needed to seek me out to right this wrong in a private letter when their meltdown had been a public event. He had been standing right in front of me in a line before hundreds of people at that convention and had an opportunity to address the matter both there and in the years previous. I guess the public meltdown he had before hundreds of people was one thing, but a public apology before hundreds of people was just too much to bear.

He had not come to me to apologize, because there is no apology when someone fails to make reparations. The hideous whisper campaigns, little slanders, and public meltdowns are always something that makes them feel bad for awhile. How sad for them. Maybe they later even reveal they are suffering from mental illness because that’s always a great excuse that somehow makes other people feel guilty (and besides, it’s so much more modern than claiming the devil made you do it), or maybe they will try to convince you that they feel genuinely sorry.

I call bullshit.

The damage was done and irreparable.

This is on my mind for two reasons: a good buddy of mine, a gay man, had been the subject of a hideous campaign of abuse when he was in school in Australia. A friend found out he was gay, and after being sworn to secrecy, had publicly and maliciously revealed the secret anyway. The damage was immeasurable. There were bashings, he was ostracized, he was treated brutally. Even moving to another school did not stop the abuse. This poor dude was so badly treated, he thought his life was over.

Twenty years later, he runs into the guy who had hurt him in a shop, and the next thing you know, basher dude is saying he’s sorry, sending a couple of guilt ridden emails to boot.

My Aussie friend and I talked it over. He thought his old buddy felt bad.

I thought his old buddy was full of crap.

Would someone please explain to me why it takes twenty freaking years to realize you have almost ruined someone’s life? That you did something to someone which caused them so much pain that it almost killed them? That your behavior caused someone to be beaten and publicly ostracized? That you contributed to the hatred and abuse of people based on their sexual orientation and you needed 20 years to figure out that might be a bad thing?

And you think you can make it all better with a letter?

What?

This man has no business feeling any guilt, because guilt is for people who do not clean up their mess. This man ought to be feeling shame.

If he did feel so bad about his gay bashing activity as a young, stupid man, why isn’t he out there working for Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays so that the things he did don’t happen to others? Why is he telling the story in private where it will do the least good? Why did he allow his childhood friend to suffer such hideous pain for so many years while he got on with his life doing absolutely NOTHING to take away the pain that HE HIMSELF caused?

Why does he think waiting twenty years - AFTER the damage is done AFTER the pain is caused - to write a letter saying “Gee, I feel bad!” is going to do a damned bit of good for anyone?

After a few rounds, my Aussie friend and I were in agreement. The gay bashing yutz was doing this NOT to make reparations, but for the sole purpose of MAKING HIMSELF FEEL BETTER.

Cheap spirituality teaches people that feeling bad and saying “I’m sorry!” is all it’s about, but it’s not. Genuine repentance means making reparations to the people you have harmed in addition to being sorry for what you have done. There would be no need for guilt if you were genuinely ashamed, because you can wash away guilt with reparations, which is part and parcel of genuine repentance.

No one seems to remember that part because reparations require genuine effort.

I’ve got this on my mind because of yet another person from my checkered past who has decided they were not responsible for anything they have done because they were mentally ill. Well, that won’t hold up in a court of law, and I don’t buy it, either.

I’d appreciate it, however, if they continued to stay far away from me.

I don’t wish them any harm, I don’t wish them anything, but I don’t want them in my life.

Is that too much to ask?

It’s not? OK.

“Don’t come back. PLEASE. Yes, I mean YOU.”

Amy Player, she of the multiple personalities (just call her Jordan Wood or Mister Frodo) and Lord of the Rings fan scams has also come back with another sob story about how she didn’t mean to harm anyone, and it’s all a big misunderstanding, and by the way, she’s mentally ill, and for someone who did not mean to hurt anyone, she managed to succeed brilliantly. And she’s still lying through her teeth, of course. Maybe I will get around to addressing some of her gaffes since we grew up in the same neighborhoods, went to the same schools, the same university, and even worked the same summer job. So, when she tries to explain what life was like in that town, please don’t believe her. She’s full of crap. I already wrote a rather terse letter to whistle blower Jeanine Renne that addressed a few of Amy’s more ridiculous comments, but I don’t have time to go over the biggest whoppers just now.

Read this for the full, wacky story:

But what really got me thinking was this Slate article about the New Age takeover of Yoga, a particularly disturbing piece about a woman who had done a major number on a “friend” 20 years before, only to decide she needed to make amends because she felt bad. This feeling bad made better included behavior that could politely be described as stalking, as in tracking down her prey, writing letters, and making phone calls that were clearly unwelcome. The subject of her guilt did not want to be the subject of her guilt. He just wanted to get on with his life with her out of it.

But, of course, the advisors in the article are shocked, SHOCKED I say, that the unwilling subject of all this hand wringing doesn’t want to be a part of this goofy woman’s quest for spiritual development. His indifference is seen as “unforgiving”. How awful!

Yeah, like after 20 years, this woman is entitled to anything from this guy’s life. Anything at all. She’s entitled to nothing but indifference.

She wants part of the precious hours of this man’s life so she can writhe around and assuage her bad feelings at his expense, when she has already had a piece of his life at his expense. She’s not entitled to one more nanosecond.

After all of this, the advisors tell her to light candles, take a bath, and breathe deeply while thinking good thoughts, which, in the end, does nothing for anyone else (in particular the victim of her malice) but it does make her feel good.

This is, after all, the point of this cheap spirituality. It’s not about making up for what you’ve done to others, it’s about feeling good!

And for those who want to engage in some of that fake feel good at the further expense of your victims, it’s not that we’re afraid of what else you might do when you get within biting distance again. Those of us who manage to get on with our lives are often utterly indifferent to those who gnash, writhe, and grind themselves into emotional pretzels over things like Lord of the Rings actor proximity, other people’s sexual orientation, or frustrated career ambitions. We simply don’t think you are entitled to any more than you have already gotten. We’re not afraid of you. We just don’t care about you.

Well, OK. We’re afraid of one thing.

Having our time wasted.

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Posted under Art/Education/Literature, Colleen's Babble, Comics

Endless Siblings2

A convention sketch of Death and Dream for Rantz Hoseley drawn during San Diego Comic Con.

For a look at other sketches drawn for Rantz by a number of noted creators including David Mack and Becky Cloonan, as well as great snapshots from the con, click on Rantz’s flickr account.

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Posted under Sandman, DC and Vertigo Comics and Graphic Novels, Colleen's Art, Comics, Books, Comics

CBR gets Comic Book Tattoo, and other news…7

Comic Book Resources has great coverage of the Golden Apple signing for Comic Book Tattoo, with pics.

The book is a hit, like duh.

…marketing of the uniquely formatted book became difficult for Hoseley as people have become jaded to the hype in comics whereby every other title is “revolutionary” or “totally amazing.” “It was very hard for us to really try and get it across to people that this is a massively different thing,” Hoseley said. “It’s a very different kind of experience of reading comics and looking at comics then what you’re used to and there really isn’t a frame of a reference.” Now though, the word is out and “Comic Book Tattoo” has begun crossing boundaries not usually seen, even with such an ambitious project. Re-orders of the book have doubled within the first week and even bookstore chains have gotten into the act. Barnes & Noble and Borders are both featuring the title as one of their books of the month for August and it will be displayed prominently in over 700 stores nationwide.

I get royalties! The farm is saved.

Storm dropped by for a visit at San Diego Comic Con, and has been so very kind as to post some lovely, lovely things about me on a blog. And since there is also a nice convention sketch there for you to look at, please click here and peek. For some reason, the word peek makes it all sound so naughty.

The editor of Helix magazine pens a rather ill advised rejection letter that refers to Muslims as “sheet heads”, among other interesting comments. You did a good job of exploring the worm-brained mentality of those people - at the end we still don’t really understand it, but then no one from the civilized world ever can - and I was pleased to see that you didn’t engage in the typical error of trying to make this evil bastard sympathetic, or give him human qualities.

Not a good thing to write to clients. Several authors have asked to remove their work from the publication.

Now, you should go buy this.

Posted under Image Comics, Colleen's Art, Comics, Books, Comics

Edith Wharton The Mount Lecture Series0

Edith Wharton’s The Mount Lecture Series

The Mount, Lenox, MA August 11, 2008 4:00 p.m.

This beautifully illustrated lecture will chronicle the life of the gorgeous Norah Lindsay (1873-1948). In the years between the wars, Norah Lindsay was a major influence on the course of garden design and planting. An elegant, musical, and high-spirited socialite, Norah Lindsay entertained an intriguing circle of friends. She was a personal friend of Edith Wharton, and greatly enjoyed the long lazy days they spent together at Wharton’s French chateau. Norah Lindsay’s story is uplifting, riveting, and inspirational. For more information visit Edith Wharton.org.

Posted under Creator Rights, Finance, Education, Art/Education/Literature

Whistler Art Workshops2

Whistler Art Workshops on the Lake

Alta Lake Station House Whistler, British Columbia, August 13, 2008 - August 15, 2008 Led by instructor Grant Fuller, this workshop is intended for intermediate painters interested in watercolour. For more information visit Whistler Arts Council.

Posted under Creator Rights, Finance, Education, Art/Education/Literature

Home Office Deduction Simplification Act3

Those of us who work from home have to consider carefully when choosing to take advantage of the Home Office Deduction on our taxes. This deduction can add up to big losses when selling the home, and it is often a great way to trigger a tax audit.

This from the National Association for the Self Employed:

“Too many sole proprietors have shied away from taking the home office deduction despite being eligible for it,” said Kristie Darien, executive director of the NASE legislative office. “The option of a standard deduction would address all the barriers to utilizing the home office deduction and allow qualifying home-based businesses to employ this important tax benefit.”

At the IRS website, this byzantine list tells you who, how and what. I still don’t understand it.

This online deduction calculator helps.

The IRS can be ruthless in disallowing the deduction, as one taxpayer learned when the IRS penalized him for his deduction because he had a dog food bowl in the home office area.

Also, there are drawbacks to be considered when selling your home if you have taken the home office deduction.

This article at MSNBC.com covers a few of the tax pitfalls of this deduction, with particular regard for the drawbacks that occur when you sell your home.

But if you’ve been taking home office deductions, the percentage of your home that you used as an office doesn’t qualify for principal residence status.

The solution here is long-term planning. If you contemplate selling your home in the future, make sure that you don’t qualify and claim a home office for at least 2 of the 5 years prior to the year of sale in order to qualify for the gain exclusion.

Since I knew I was going to sell my home, I chose not to take the home office deduction because I thought I would save more money in the long run by not paying taxes on the profit from the sale. And because I feared allowing my cats to play in my office might disqualify me!

This confusing and punitive tax deduction mess is the subject of the Home Office Deduction Simplification Act, which “…Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a taxpayer who uses a residence to conduct a trade or business a standard tax deduction equal to the lesser of $1,500 or the taxpayer’s gross trade or business income derived from the business use of such residence.”

You can read the bill at Washington Watch.com

Naturally, if you are in favor of this act, write your representative and say so. Congress can’t read your mind. Your representatives need to hear from you.

This link will take you to the official website of the US Congress which will help give you your representative’s contact information.

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Posted under Creator Rights, Finance, Education

Down on the farm…again.6

One of the things I have to consider about attending Comic-Con in future is how much time it takes away from the time I have to work on the farm. In addition to losing nearly two weeks work from the drawing board, I have a lot weeding, harvesting, pickling, canning, and baking to make up for. I do wish all the conventions weren’t right in the middle of times I have to plant, weed or harvest. I may be the only person who will be pleased that New York Comic Con will be in February next year.

Also, I have more than 400 emails to catch up on, and I probably won’t be able to get back to shipping things out again until next week, so I sincerely apologize to people who have ordered commissions, especially to Brian Holst: I found a Spiderman page I forgot to mail! Ay yi. I can’t really take time to run into the city right now, and must get some pages completed and stay on top of the harvest as well, so I hope folks will forgive me if I make them wait a few more days.

As usual, we are drowning in cucumbers, and while the big tomato harvest hasn’t started yet, that isn’t far behind. I will be cooking and freezing lots of spaghetti sauce! I have already pickled nearly 30 jars of Kosher style dills. I am so angry that I did not grow enough dill for pickling: we have had to buy some! Argh!

Thanks to everyone who has requested produce from our little farm. We can’t ship food to California. They have very strict laws. And we don’t have enough tomatoes to spare yet. I will let you know when we do. This year, we will be handing over more goods to the senior care center and the Food Bank, so we may not have much to give out to others. But I have made sure to reserve a few for Elayne and Jan who asked so nicely.

We’ve had some amusing moments lately; bats decided to make a home in our belfry. An improperly installed woodstove left a crack just large enough for the little critters to creep in. Huckleberry kitty (rest in peace, buddy) had fun times watching the critters fly around the kitchen. Mom chased the bitty bats about with a butterfly net, and each one was carefully escorted outside. She had quite a fright when one little fellow showed up in her shower. He flew around in a daze and broke his little batty neck on a window. Huckle would watch with his big eyes while the crazy humans ran around with nets, and the bats squealed in terror.

The chimney crack has been filled and we are hoping they are not building piles of guano in the chimney. I guess we won’t know until winter.

Bats are incredibly cute. I wonder why the Batman artists keep drawing vampire bats and other ugly critters in the middle of Gotham: mostly they just look like mice with wings. They are a lovely brown and as soft as down. There are many caves near here, so they swarm sometimes.

If they didn’t carry rabies, I wouldn’t be so concerned. Regardless, they are beneficial critters, and I want to install some bat houses in the yard.

Here’s a look at a far more unwelcome guest: a black widow spider!

We get a LOT of these out here, and it is foolish of me to root around in the garden without gloves. I put my hand on one, certain it could not be a black widow because it was TOO BIG. But it was, and I was lucky not to get stung. I like spiders, but naturally, we can’t show these girls any mercy. This is the best shot I could get of this girl, who was bigger than the end of my thumb. I had always heard black widows were very small, but our local ladies are fat mamas, and they are everywhere. I hate to use insecticide, but we can’t take chances. They have nested right next to the front porch.

A benefit to attending San Diego was being able to shut the house down and fumigate. We were overrun with spiders and I was covered with ugly bites. The tick problem from last year has been greatly reduced by installing the raised vegetable beds and mulch paths, but the spiders decided to infest every square inch of the house. I hardly went a day without being bitten by something that left a nasty welt.

As always, work out here may be hard, but the rewards are more than worth it. These squashes are so decorative, I would gladly grow them for the flowers alone.

The view from these parts. This is a local plantation more than 200 years old.

Lavender.

A bee visits a lavender wreath my mom is making.

We have dozens of varieties of bees out here, and despite the alarm over the hive failures of the honey bee, we don’t worry about it too much. Honey bees aren’t native to this area anyway, and we have plenty of other critters taking up the slack. And we really haven’t seen a drop in the honey bee population anyway. One of the local lavender farmers saw a hive failure last year, but this year, no worries.

Bees are mellow critters mostly, but someone stung me today. Don’t know if it was a bee or some other thing, like a wasp. All I know is I felt like my hand was on fire, and something buzzed angrily and flew away. All I was trying to do was to pick the baby lima beans, and I got a sting for my trouble. Cruel nature!

Fortunately, it wasn’t my drawing hand, so no worries.

I must remember to wear my gloves.

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Posted under PHOTOS

Linky Roundup1

Very cool video interview with Tori Amos about Comic Book Tattoo at Comic Book Resources. Nearly 13 minutes long.

An overview of the J Michael Straczynski panel at Comic Con.

At the Austinist, praise for Comic Book Tattoo:

It’s a celebration of art, and its power to terrify, stimulate, provoke, amuse, and surprise. Sometimes the dialogue is poetic, sometimes hard-edged, sometimes not there at all as the pictures speak for themselves. Every story reads like a different world, and the fearless lack of barriers between these diverse forms of expression emphasize just how unifying creativity really is. If Amos’ lyrics are a platform for this project, these contributors have chosen to fly off of it, bringing back skies that contain undiscovered planets.

Bust magazine reviews Comic Book Tattoo, and makes my day with this quote:

“Suede” is a lovely little story by Kelly Sue DeConnick, with art by Andy MacDonald and colors by Nick Filardi, adding a bit of fantasy to a turning point in a young woman’s life, and Derek McCulloch and Colleen Doran turn “Pretty Good Year” into a lush vision of a year in the life, and would be worth my money for one haunting panel of one green eye.

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Posted under Image Comics, Colleen's Art, Comics, Books, Comics