Rick Olney Dead at 58

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2013/01/rick-olney-passes-away/

I'll not speak ill of the man, but of his behavior.

This...man...wasted a lot of people's time (mostly spent keeping artists away from him), and screwed me and several friends out of time, money and reputation (with several successful lawsuits against him as proof). The article seems vindictively neutral towards those of us who were on the Gail Simone/YABS thread, but the comments section give a more accurate portrayal, even if TOO polite. There are still people out there hiring people, promising them money, then not delivering, but he is BY FAR the worst I've ever seen. I never fell victim, seeing several warning signs before signing anything, but he did some shit that negatively affected my 'career'--Green Lama was put off from publication for 3 YEARS because of his behavior--because Bill Black thought I was shopping it around, because of shit Rick said on several threads.

Last count (as people kept coming out of the woodwork for years) was around $40,000.00--just owed to creators.

The world lost another bigot, thief and liar.

You did a really bad job not speaking ill of him

Sorry for the move.

The main reason we stared this place was trolls mucking up a Joe Kubert memorial thread at the Comicon boards with unsubstantiated bile. Many of us were on record there arguing that a memorial announcement was a space for people to mourn, and criticism should be posted elsewhere out of respect .

Not that what James posted wasn't completely valid and accurate and not that there are many offended people rushing to honor the Mr. Olney's memory. I just thought it would be more consistent with our policies to relocate the thread to "news & announcements," where it would still be considered a valid discussion. And anyone who might be inclined to post a memorial thread could do so as well. Not that I'm expecting anyone to do so. Mr. Olney has made quite a career of making enemies, and making an ass of himself.

I didn't mean to end or stop any discussion, just trying to avoid even the appearance of being hypocritical. Please feel free to contact me if you have an questions or concerns.

Mr. Ness has written a lovely obituary for Mr. Olney that will be published on The League blog later this week, I just have to find a nice graphic to accompany it. Please email me with any suggestions.

A fascinating glimpse into the twisted mind of a sociopath...

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/04/29/rick-olney-interviewed-by-artful-angie/

Posted the blog with the eulogy by Mr. Ness, today...

http://lxng.blogspot.com/2013/01/de-mortuis-and-all-that.html

James Ritchey, thanks for sharing that story, although it hurts to hear it. It seems that Olney had the weird ability to do damage to people far beyond what you would expect, knowing that he was a penniless nobody living in the sticks with no real industry connections.

And Alex, great obituary, far kinder than he deserved. Good point that there is plenty of chicanery in the tiny comics biz, and Olney was far from the worst, although he may have been one of the loudest.

Forgiveness is hard! Heck, I still feel resentment toward the man, and he never did anything to me, I never even heard of him until he was already banned from most of the internet. Just the stories of what he did and said to people, they had a way of getting under your skin. But yes, for our own good, we do need to try to forgive, even if we can't forget.

So rest in peace, Rick Olney, and my condolences to your loved ones.

JamesCarter wrote:

You did a really bad job not speaking ill of him

Yup. Quite possibly a 'textbook' example of the bile, the rage this man generated. He hurt my friends. He hurt whole families--one an underemployed artist with 5 kids. I literally couldn't stop myself.

Admin wrote:

Sorry for the move.

The main reason we stared this place was trolls mucking up a Joe Kubert memorial thread at the Comicon boards with unsubstantiated bile. Many of us were on record there arguing that a memorial announcement was a space for people to mourn, and criticism should be posted elsewhere out of respect .

Not that what James posted wasn't completely valid and accurate and not that there are many offended people rushing to honor the Mr. Olney's memory. I just thought it would be more consistent with our policies to relocate the thread to "news & announcements," where it would still be considered a valid discussion. And anyone who might be inclined to post a memorial thread could do so as well. Not that I'm expecting anyone to do so. Mr. Olney has made quite a career of making enemies, and making an ass of himself.

I didn't mean to end or stop any discussion, just trying to avoid even the appearance of being hypocritical. Please feel free to contact me if you have an questions or concerns.

I understand your POV without reservation now, considering the nature of the Obit. section, and the situation you just described. I was rather STUPID about not reading the description, and for that I apologize. I'll NEVER deliberately make your job hard--but PLEASE, PM me if there's ever even a slight problem with anything I post. Didn't know you'd moved it--thought you deleted it, and I didn't understand the background of the forum.

Alex, whut Peter said--good job.

James Ritchey III wrote:

...but PLEASE, PM me if there's ever even a slight problem with anything I post. Didn't know you'd moved it--thought you deleted it, and I didn't understand the background of the forum.

Sorry about that, when I first moved the file the admin panel gave me an option to leave a link in the memorial section, leading to the thread in the new location. I thought that would care of it. But it seems to not have remained in place very long, I'm sure I didn't set it up right. I'm still learning the bugs here. Either way it would have been the right thing to do, sending you a heads up, sorry about that.

People are so nice here, even when talking about someone so vile. I warms the heart.