Monday, February 13, 2012

Some Final Thoughts from Gail Simone...

http://www.606studios.com/bendisboard/showthread.php?194906-Rick-Olney-Still-does-not-pay-freelancers-or-anyone-else/page593

"A Final Word About Rick Olney And Industry Predators In General

In 2003, I was invited to a convention in Herkimer, New York, called the Mighty Mini-Con, by a man named Rick Olney.

The convention was not a success by any standard, it was extremely poorly attended and it was clear that the organizer had no idea what he was doing. He was unfortunately lacking in every aspect a convention organizer needs to be proficient in to make an event work.

I had been a guest at the Second Genesis Con in Portland, and at the massive SDCC event in San Diego previously, and had been treated very well, despite my relative newcomer status. Everything they promised, they delivered, with professionalism and integrity. So I was trusting, despite a couple friends warning me of Rick's instability and difficulties with the truth.

Rick invited me, and when it came time to buy the tickets, he convinced me to buy them and he would reimburse me for my ticket immediately. (my husband was coming as well, and I did not ask for Rick to buy his ticket at any point). That was a lie. Then he said he would get the money to me before I left, that was a lie. Then he told me the money would be given to me at the con, that was a lie. Then he told me the money would 'beat me home,' and that, too, was a lie. He continued to withhold reimbursement for my ticket for many weeks...occasionally telling me the check was 'in the mail,' or some other excuse. He became increasingly paranoid and bizarre and threatening as I continued to ask for this money to be returned.

During this time, Rick several times tried to float the idea that I would be given some kind of bonus, "for the inconvenience." I did not ask for these, and of course, they never arrived, either. My mother was in the hospital, and I simply needed him to keep his word. It wasn't until much later that I learned this is Rick's pattern for deception, but more about that in a minute.

Weeks later, I received a check from Rick. It did not cover my entire airfare, let alone any of the 'bonuses,' he was going to include. I stress again, these 'bonuses' were his idea...he was going to send a hundred dollars to cover the money still owed from my ticket and for expenses we incurred because his credit card was declined after the convention...they hadn't booked us a hotel, and could not afford to buy a dinner we didn't even want at that point. He also claimed he was going to pay my husband's airfare, something I never asked for. When I make an agreement, I hold up my end. I didn't want 'bonuses,' I wanted him to hold up HIS end.

TWO YEARS LATER, he still hadn't paid the remainder of my airfare. I have posted the emails here, a dozen times he told me it was coming, or it was in the mail, or that he had to 'get money from a special account.' After TWO YEARS, I told him to stuff the remaining money, and I simply never wanted to hear from him again. Because I told him to keep that money, RICK OLNEY DOES NOT OWE ME A DIME. I keep my word. I told him to keep his money. I would not accept it now if he grew a sense of decency and paid it.

For three years after the con, I said nothing in public about Rick or the convention. I found his online behavior to be revolting...he was kicked off many of the industry's message boards for racism, tantrums, hostility and actual physical threats. Anyone questioning him became an enemy. At the comicon.com board, his very NAME is banned...you literally can't post his name there anymore.

Then he started a publishing imprint for comics, mostly featuring his own characters. And he immediately began running it the same way he ran his convention...with no knowledge, experience, talent, funding, or integrity. And very shortly, none of the people working for this imaginary vanity project were paid. A dozen creators have come forward, all telling the same story, that they did the work and were never paid. That in fact, they were insulted, bullied, threatened, and otherwise abused.

At that point, I had had enough, and I started a thread warning people to stay away from this man. When professionals like Chuck Dixon and Val Staples are being called 'unprofessional' by a serial deadbeat with no idea what he's doing, it rankles. Several pros asked me for help, as they had put aside work with legitimate companies to work for Rick, and now it was clear he never had any intention of paying any of them, nor did he have the knowledge or funding to actually print the books.

We were astounded by how many people came forward once people started comparing notes. Comic stores, vendors, artists, writers, Rick's own PR people, former members of his club, and convention guests all were telling the same story. That Rick has lied to them, bullied them when they talked about it, and threatened them physically or legally to get them to stay quiet. We never found a SINGLE creator who came forward and said that they had been paid on time, in full, by Rick Olney. Most were paid nothing, and never will be. He has repeatedly boasted joyfully that he will never be forced to do the right thing, even when, as is the case with writer Scott Reed, he is taken to court and loses.

If you go back about twenty pages or so on this thread, you will see just a few of the emails and posts from creators and others who have unfortunately crossed this man's path. They all regret it. Rick has a backpack full of excuses for every one, none of which match the recollection of the witnesses and most of which is disproved in his own words by email. But the bottom line is, Rick never, ever paid most of these people.

So for several years, we had a thread going, to warn people to avoid any and all of Rick's fanboy delusional projects. The idea was always to prevent people from getting shafted. When it became hard for Rick to wrangle savvy pros in his own country, he started talking with unpublished creators who didn't have any experience, then pros from other countries who might not be aware of his history, and eventually, I kid you not, convicted felons still incarcerated, to try to keep his fanboy dream going.

Eight years later, none of the things he's roped these poor people in on have come to pass--No Mohawk Valley Comic Club, no haunted house attraction, no comic books, no conventions, no nothing.
I kept this thread going for one reason--to try to make sure more unsuspecting pros are aware of Rick's long history of terrible behavior towards people in the industry. But for me, it's time to move on. There are many, many other people who have now spoken out about Rick's behavior, and there are many websites keeping records of all the people he's cheated. And at this point, if someone googles Rick's name, sees all the evidence, all the testimonials from people he has cheated, and they are STILL foolish enough to get involved with them, no amount of talking from me or anyone else is going to make a difference.
The evidence is out there.

Just a few posts ago, a poster posted a bunch of excellent links from various news sites that have reported Olney's broken promises in detail.

Comics legend Tony Isabella warns everyone here:
http://www.comicscommunity.com/boards/tony/?frames=n;read=243580&expand=1
For a detailed run-down of a few of Rick's abuses of people who trusted him, J.R. LeMar has an excellent set of links:
http://iblogalot.com/tag/rick-olney-2/

I thank all the people who have kept accurate histories of Rick's abuses, victims, and constantly changing bag of excuses. I particularly want to thank the many, many people who came forward with their own stories, despite physical and legal threats to keep quiet about his practices. A lot of positive things came from this thread, but the best possible outcome is that some people ended up NOT getting ripped off, lied to, abused and threatened. This was a case where the internet allowed people to compare notes, and find a long-time pattern, and hopefully warn others to avoid a similar fate.

I am doing one more post, and then this thread will be shut down. There are many other sites that are keeping an eye on this man, and others like him, and they are probably more helpful to the potential victim than this one, as they present the facts without the conversation, distractions and occasional jocularity that sometimes took this thread over. I met some wonderful people here, so that's another unexpected and pleasant side effect. And I was reminded again and again that MOST people in the industry DO have integrity and ethics.

One rotten example only makes the rest shine better in comparison.

So thank you, everyone, and good night (after one last post!). "

Some last thoughts from Gail Simone...

"How To Spot Rick Olney When He Approaches You

I thought it would be worthwhile to post the exact approach Rick uses to get what he wants without paying.
If you somehow manage to disbelieve the dozens of firsthand testimonials of industry people regarding this man,
if you choose to ignore their warnings, take a look at this list and see if it matches his behavior with you.

Say you have something of use or value to Rick. It could be comics, it could be talent, it could be anything.

STEP ONE: He flatters you beyond all reason. He proclaims himself to be your biggest fan. And he's going to be
your benefactor...he's going to do everything in his power to make you get the recognition, money, or
credentials you want. He finds what you want, and tells you he will supply it. But first, flattery, flattery, flattery.
He uses this technique every time, and it is especially effective on people just breaking into the industry, or those
who are aspiring to do so.

STEP TWO: He tells you a huge sack of nonsense about his credentials, claims so ridiculous (and completely bull*&^%),
that they somehow seem credible because no sane person would make them up. He tells you credentials he doesn't
have...he's friends with Stan Lee, he invented the idea of comics in the classroom, his comic club had 1800 members
and gave away 700000 comics, George Lucas named a character and toy after him in Phantom Menace, the film
Iron Man II has a cameo character that is supposed to be him, half a dozen characters in comics are based on him
or his club mascot, on and on and on...it's endless. And most people do not have the resources or inclination
to check these claims. So it SOUNDS like he actually is in the industry in some capacity. He isn't (and the claims
are all false).

STEP THREE: He promises you extravagant treatment. He will fly you out to his cons, pay for everything,
you will be treated like royalty, paid an appearance fee, ride in town cars...or, if he's trying to get you to work
for free, he will offer you a high page rate and lots of exposure. He has no capacity to do any of these things,
ever. But he will promise them.

STEP FOUR: He will lay out a long, long conspiracy theory where a few internet trolls are trying to ruin his good name.
He will play the sympathy card here...you will feel sorry for him. Until the moment you read dozens of firsthand
accounts of people who have been told this same line of nonsense. Does it REALLY sound right to you that
dozens of people have come forward, all telling the same story, and none were paid, and yet somehow,
the response is all to try to crush some weird little man in upstate New York? Use your reason,
read the testimonials. Look past the flattery and the promise of money you will NEVER receive.

STEP FIVE: He will issue you a boilerplate contract that he got off the internet that has nothing
to do with the industry and makes little sense in this context. An NDA will be included.

STEP SIX: He will immediately begin breaking promises. Immediately. Pay dates will be missed. These
will be blamed on a non-existent bookkeeper. He will have to 'draw from a special account.' He will
tell you the check is in the mail. We all heard all those excuses. Sometimes he would forget which
excuse he used last time and try it again weeks later with the same person. You will NOT be paid.
His answer will always be for you to keep working. You've come this far, right? You are going
to risk everything over a small amount of money? Keep working. He will have endless excuses,
which will hinge on your human decency--he will have deaths in the family, illnesses, and other
catastrophic problems. They won't stop him from having internet tantrums or telling people the
check is in the mail when it isn't, all they seem to prevent is him keeping his word.

STEP SEVEN: As it becomes clear that you are not getting paid, and you are yet another of his
victims, he will start to show his true colors. He will start to threaten you, mildly at first. Threats
to your career, legal threats. At this point, he is trying to bully you into work he hasn't
paid for. He will use things he learned against you that you told him in confidence.

STEP EIGHT: He will try stretching you along. This happens with everyone he abuses in this manner...
he will offer some sort of bonus you didn't ask for, 'for the inconvenience.' Everything from
t-shirts, to bonuses, to merchandise, to comics...he's going to be a magnanimous guy and
even though you are being SO MEAN by not trusting him, just because he's broken every promise,
he's going to be the bigger guy and give you this bonus. When he pays you. Which he never will.
These bonuses never appear. But he will still tell people he gave them to you. For months,
he told people he paid my husband's airfare to his con, when he hadn't even fully paid MY airfare.
Then one day, he just admitted he hadn't, and tried out a new lie, that I had demanded he pay
my husband's airfare. Just like that, like a switch was thrown, the old lie was discarded and a
new one put in place. It's weird as hell. Don't fall for it.

STEP NINE: Here, he will begin inventing hoops for you to jump through, additional steps to
do before you will get paid. If you don't do them, you won't be paid. If you DO do them, you
won't be paid, you'll just get more hoops. New paperwork he needs, he'll 'lose your email and
contact info,' receipts he never asked for will need to be produced, additional fixes to the work,
on and on. All delaying tactics. He told his former PR person, in public, that she just needed
to sign an NDA to get paid. She said fine, I'll sign it. He immediately changed his mind, the NDA
was worthless and she wouldn't be paid. Hoops, hoops, hoops. I don't know if he just likes
sticking the knife in, or it's a delaying tactic. But it makes zero difference, you won't be paid.

STEP TEN A: At this point you have the choice of either giving up and forgetting about it, in which
case, you will never be paid, or going public about it, in which case, you will never be paid.
If you don't go public, he will come up with an excuse not to pay you. He won't answer your
emails or phone calls. You won't be paid.

STEP TEN B: If you DO go public, he will use that as an excuse not to pay you. The NDA, which
offers NO protection for a deadbeat employer who broke the contract, will be the excuse. But what
if, like, say, Chuck Dixon, you were never given an NDA, you didn't sign an NDA, and the work was
completed and accepted? You STILL will NOT be paid.

STEP ELEVEN: Once you are on Olney's never-ending enemies list, there is no level he won't stoop
to. He will insult, harass, threaten...he will use racist, homophobic and misogynistic language. He will
issue physical and legal threats. Just last month he posted a smug mocking taunt to a woman who
had stood up to him, over the DEATH OF HER HUSBAND AND CHILD. This is a man who will tell
you endlessly what an honorable Christian man he is. He delighted in telling an artist who trusted
him that he would never be paid, while that man's angelic baby daughter was in the hospital near
the very end of her too-short life. He will try to embarrass and hurt you for daring to speak out
about his non-payment and bad behavior.

And you will never, ever, ever be paid.


If anyone, not just Rick, but ANYONE in the comics industry treats you like this, WALK AWAY.

They are poison. They can't help your career, and you aren't doing them any favors. They are not
well-intended goofs.

MOST people in comics are great. I have been fortunate enough to be involved in probably close to
a hundred conventions and appearances and haven't had a single bad experience or dishonest
promoter in the batch, EXCEPT for the Mighty-Mini Con, which I wish to God I had never agreed to
attend.

MOST are great. Don't let one person make you think it's all bad.

But BE AWARE. The internet allows you to communicate, to make sure a publisher or con organizer is on
the level. Take that ten minutes, be wary of false flattery and promises, and you will save
yourself endless misery later.

Thanks, and good day"
http://www.606studios.com/bendisboard/showthread.php?194906-Rick-Olney-Still-does-not-pay-freelancers-or-anyone-else/page593

Friday, February 10, 2012

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Some more links about Rick L. Olney II...

Thanks to "MyNameIsNotLarry" & "Hamster Rage" for these...

http://iblogalot.com/?s=rick+olney

http://rickolney.blogspot.com/

http://rickolney.tumblr.com/

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

http://isitfactorisitfiction.blogspot.com/

https://twitter.com/#!/RickOlney

https://twitter.com/#!/RecklessRicOlie

https://twitter.com/#!/OlneyTheLonely

http://cribbins3.blogspot.com/

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

You can also check out sites like Bleeding Cool & The Beat for more articles about Rick L. Olney II.

Just thinking....

...of what I will use this for. Mostly as a place to archive all that Rick Olney II from
Mohawk, NY has done to screw people over in the comic-book industry.

Below are some places to get more info on Rick Olney II, Tightlip Ent., ORCA, Mighty Mini Con, and many of the other things Olney has attempted, as well as lots of his rants, ravings, and replies.


Dear Comics Professional,

If you are approached by an individual named Rick Olney or a representative of this man, if you are approached by Olney or anyone else representing entities known as The Mighty Mini-Con, TightLip Entertainment, or ORCA, we strongly urge you to run in the other direction.

There is a very long, very well-documented history of non-payment, deceit, emotional manipulation, and fraud in connection with this man and his projects. Despite searching and publicly requesting evidence for over three months, nobody has been able to produce any evidence of any artist ever having been paid in full for their work for TightLip. Many attending professionals to his conventions were promised reimbursement of their expenses, but while some were provided with lodging, none are known to have received full compensation for travel and meal costs, and many have been the subject of vicious personal attacks as a result of having inquired about the promised reimbursement. In addition, Mr. Olney has a considerable history of erratic and unprofessional behavior on many message forums and mailing lists on the internet, several of which have banned him due to his frequently racist, sexist, and homophobic rants, as well as his willingness to hurl vicious insults in response to legitimate questions about his business practices.
As far as we can tell, nearly everyone who has ever had any professional contact with TightLip, the Mighty Mini-Con, or Rick Olney, has a "war story" to tell about being misled, cheated, and used.

You can find more details here:

http://www.unscrewedcomic.com/

Please, do not attempt to do business with Olney. In fact, please pass along this warning to any comics professionals, aspiring comics professionals, retailers, exhibitors, media guests, and fans you know.

Do business with Olney at your own risk.

We would prefer to not do this in such a public manner, but, with Olney again advertising a convention and claiming that he is still planning to publish comic books, the greater good demands we speak out.

Check out the website.

Thank you for your attention,
the Undersigned

Shelly Kennedy, Webmaster Unscrewed!
Danny Donovan, Various independent Comics, 911 Emergency Relief by Alternative Comics, Radio Free Comicks
Dave Rothe, Ant #'s 6-9 from Image Comics
Tom Stillwell, Writer/Creator of The Honor Brigade from Spinner Rack Comics
Kurt Busiek, Astro City, Superman
Paul D. Storrie, Revisionary, Gotham Girls, Robin Hood
Scott Reed, Web's Best Comics
Tony Isabella, Black Lightning, Tony's Tips
Chuck Dixon, DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Bongo, Wildstorm
Joanne Ellen Mutch, Rummblestrips, Potlatch, LOTR sketch card artist,
Kevin Huxford, ShotgunReviews.com/Newsarama Contributor
Timothy J Tobolski, UNSCREWED! editor-in-chief
Jim Taylor, The Wraith
Mike Bullock, Lions Tigers & Bears, The Phantom
Blake M. Petit, Comixtreme.com
Scott Shaw!, CAPTAIN CARROT, THE SIMPSONS, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG
Jeff Austin, AC Comics
James Ritchey III, Green Lama, Team Defiant!
Danielle Sylvie Taylor, Hollow
Colin McMahon, New Dimension Comics-McMurray
Wil Radcliffe, Noggle Stones
Larime Taylor, Writer/Creator of HOLLOW, Archaia Studios Press
Mercedes R Lackey, Valdemar Series, DAW Books
Larry Dixon, DAW, Baen Books
Jim MacQuarrie, MonkeySpit.net
Alice Woodside, The Daredevil Anniversary Art Quilt Project
Sean McKeever, writer
Steven D. Forbes, Writer of Bullet Time, Co-Writer of Fallen Justice, EiC of Paper Dragonz
Koben Kelly, Newsarama.com, Best Shots, ShotgunReviews.com
Sarah Beach, editor, writer - Shooting Star Comics Anthology #1, Unscrewed! anthology
Lance Boucher, Inter-Fan Productions
Colleen Doran, A Distant Soil
Nat Gertler, About Comics
Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading
Joe Zierman, artist - Big Bang Comics
Martin R. Oakley, formerly of Bloodstained Productions, writer/artist
Kneon Transitt, Gemstone Publishing
Gail Simone, Birds of Prey, Villains United, Gen13, Welcome to Tranquility, Atom
Frank Dirscherl, The Wraith
James A. Owen, Starchild, Mythworld, and Here, There Be Dragons
Richard Neal, Eisner winner Zeus Comics
Brian Pate, Comic Book Conventions.com
Cully Hamner, BLUE BEETLE, DC Comics
Erik Burnham, Shooting Star Comics
Scott McCullar, Shooting Star Comics, DC Comics, West End Games
Butch Guice, Marvel Artist
Brian J. Crowley, Graphic Designer DDP
Gerry Alanguilan, Superman: Birthright, Batman/Danger Girl, Silent Dragon (Wildstorm)
Michael Netzer, DC & Marvel artist

This is the infamous Rick Olney II....



 Richard "Rick" L. Olney II still owes at least $35,502.76 to people who worked for him,
and may have been involved in various charity frauds over the last 10 years.


Remember, do research on anyone contacting you about any
work for hire or convention appearances.
A few minutes using Google could save you lots of time & money.
Especially where Rick Olney II is concerned.

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