DomRand

Ok guys for all those that want in on this please contact me as arranging dates with Charlie very soon.

This is a post on a friends facebook page, judge for yourself. 

Here is the email i sent to the wife of Jake Mackessy

hello Beth....
I have been trying to contact Jake, He is ignoring my emails. I have paid Jake directly for a commission, this was over 3 years ago, the commission has still not been delivered and Jake is ignoring my emails. I need this matter resolved, if not I will take this matter public and take legal action. The fact I am being ignored is disgraceful and the situation I am advised is classed as theft (having taken my money and now ignoring me) hopefully you will talk to Jake about this and
I look forward to hearing from Jake shortly
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After ignoring my emails he quickly responded once i emailed his wife, here is his response
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jake
Yo my wife just said you messaged her what the dude I don't check Facebook I'm working a diff job. Far as I'm concerned I don't have mess to do I don't know why you think you can talk to me like this or who the I am.

Take this mess to (the artist concerned). You know he blocked me last time.

Dean
I paid you for a commission.... it is up to you to refund me or get the commission..its that simple.... do not ignore me

Jake
Don't bother my wife
That's some up mess

Dean
no it is not..if you ignore me
its simple really... refund me or get the commisiion
you have a legal obligation to me
i paid the commission price plus paypal fees
i have downloaded my paypal statement which shows 20th jan 2014 and 21st jan 2014 $1040 payment to Jake Mackessy. i am happy to send this, but you already know i paid you, so my legal contract is with you. please refund me the payment as a gift. Then this matter is at a close. Thank you my paypal is dean2k@hotmail.co.uk
in addition to your earlier comments, i too have a full time job and dont have time for this, but if i take someones money i fulfill my obligation to them. if i did not, then i would have left myself open to being chased. that i am afraid is the reality of the situation. i know its not a great situation but t cant help that.

Jake
You received one of the commissions individual_without_enough_empathy
Do you want money back for it go yourself
Please take this public please make a problem I wonder what people think about you harassing someone's wife
I told you years ago I would deal with (artist name) and you told me you didn't want him to rush your commissi
I wash my hands of it you can yourself don't message me but guess what I don't block people say what the ever you want threaten me what are you trying to do legal action clown

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To quickly sum up in Jan 2014 Jake touted art groups to buy a commission from an artist he was bringing over to a show, i opted for 2 pieces one at $300 and one at $700 , after 1 year the $300 commission was delivered. Jake asked me to email the artist directly to try and speed things up. so i obliged. Now jake claims that my dealing is with the artist not him. I PAID Jake. he took my money. so he owes me $700 plus fees ($730) he runs a small art studio with his wife and runs a comic con PAC Palouse.......all i can say is beware and make your own judgement if you want to deal with him
any advice on how to pursue him for the money would be helpful UK vs US citizen
I dont like matters going public and never have made things public, but i was left with little choice after Jakes post.
Thank you for your support

51 minutes ago, Kevlar said:

Twin Cities Comics will be involved in this.

 

Unless Dom doesn't like me anymore.

 

By the way Dom...haven't seen you in a while. Do you still have the beard or did you choose not to join Isis?

No beard all gone clean shaven.

2 hours ago, Transplant said:

I think there's a lot of good discussion here.  Lots of folks weighing in on best practices.  I think these kinds of open public discussions are good for SS.  In no small measure, I believe they ultimately led to the downfall of a pretty bad facilitator, which was a positive for the SS community. 

That said, I am still very interested in people's thoughts on all of the exclusive deals for talent.  I know recently one major artist/writer came to market who'd been away for a long time.  This person came back immediately as an exclusive to one facilitator.  The positive is that they're back and signing again.  The negative is that the initial prices were Gwen Stefani crazy.  That is, the shiznit was B-A-N-A-N-A-S.  Prices did go down, but not before many folks threw a lot of money that way. 

I echo dhurley's comments earlier.  If you want to lock up an offsite bulk signing, have at it.  If the creator wants to charge an exorbitant price for CGC sigs, have at it.  The market will decide on prices.  If the creator wants to limit the # of items that can be signed in public, fine.  That only doesn't work when you have facilitators trying to seed the line with multiple folks trying to get all the books they want signed.  It's happened countless times.  Maybe the solution is to work with the creator to do a private signing (that was one way to do bulk and respect the creator's wishes).  Maybe another way to police this is for CGC to limit 1 dealer's account to a certain # (consistent with a creator's public signing limit) of books to be done at one show.  I know that would be hard. 

I mention the signing limit because that's the inevitable justification for many of the exclusive deals:  "Oh, so and so just wants to spend time with fans, not dealers who load up for free and then flip books, blah, blah, blah."  But exclusive deals don't solve that problem.  Private signings do. 

Frankly, I think DWC has poisoned the well on this issue.  And if they hadn't been so terrible and gouged so hard, they might still be swimming in money with their exclusives of Lee and McFarlane. 

But let's be frank.  90+% of creators who are exclusive are now exclusive because someone promised more $$$$ and less "hassle", with most of the hassle just being poor behavior by facilitators. 

True, I do work with one artist over the UK, and because there are only two people doing SS in the UK, well only 1 as I dont do much. He had dealt with me for years and is happy to do so, I speak a lot to the other the other facilitator and we open up each other opps at cost to each other as we have different clients.

Also my artist friend also donates his sig to charity.

1 minute ago, dhurley said:

man I missed a lot this weekend! 

I have seen facilitators who follow the rules at cons and bust their asses while others do not even break a sweat and just pull CAW strings from an artist's table in their stable ... I just hope SS program doesn't suffer from the lack of respect they show.  If I was a facilitator who made my livelihood off SS/Comics the combo of not following the rules / stable talent would drive me mad! 

 

@BeachBum is not a internet troll but he is a in-person troll... I ve seen it : 

I think that a lot of creators are getting pissed at the facilitators and dealers that rock up to them with a handful of books, get the signed for free and then go off and charge their customers stupid amounts for the privilege. Hence the more private/facilitator signings. What I dont like is that as a fan you cant get your one or two comics signed meet the creator and have it CGCd.

11 minutes ago, reddwarf666222 said:

I agree they have increased tenfold because people keep paying those rates. Until people stop paying the demanding rates then sure it is going to tarnish it for some people because it is outside their price range. So that person needs to make a choice which route to go with their funds. Myself I don't buy variants because I see them nothing more than a marketing ploy. As far as cost of signatures going up so be it. That is what the market demands. In 4 years conventions as we know them will die down because the average number of times a person goes to a convention is 4 times in a 4 year span and we have hit market saturation of both conventions and films/tv shows on in this genre.

But they have no choice, I understand supply and demand. 

For new fans entering the arena and especially kids do you think that they should be made to pay these prices for signatures that creators are charging?

WE havent hit market saturation until every weekend is filled up with comic conventions.

http://www.comicconventions.co.uk/uk-comic-conventions-expos-and-popular-culture-shows-in-2017/

But thats for another debate when we have the guests like Jabba the Huts left arm and Z rated actors.

In the UK we new comic conventions springing up on a daily basis, that have nothing to do with comics.

7 minutes ago, BeachBum said:

 

You said it in two separate posts - stop back peddling. And do your research on me before you call me a troll and a dinosaur.

just the part where you are a troll and a dinosaur.

3 minutes ago, reddwarf666222 said:

Like I said it was a miswrote on my part. Par2ch cleared a misunderstanding on my part and cleared up Beach Bum's misunderstanding that Only witness with book at all times when being signed

These guys need to make a certain amount of money to make profit and make it worth their while to go to a show. So they need to lock up stuff to guarantee profits. You guys are complaining of locking stuff up. Yes you may be paying a lot for a convention exclusive cover, but that is your choice.

Yes some facilitators may charge an actor fee because the wait time can be ridiculous. In the end people are paying these rates still. Until people stop talking with their wallets then it will continue. As far as I am concerned if they can make the money so be it. 

HaHaHa

But there is no choice...if I want X creator I need to go through Y facilitator. So they could charge whatever they want for the privilege. And prices have increased tenfold in the last few years.

15 minutes ago, Evilawd said:

I think we are still waiting for the facilitators who see you allowing witnesses to take book while they are attending to other business?

I think he said that he has seen facilitators having their customers books signed without having a witness present and then accepting it into SS.

With the exclusive deals that SS facilitators have signed up creators it has impacted on the fans in other ways.

Fan has his comic that he wants to get signed, he meets said creator at a signing gets his comic signed for free, and there happens to be a witness there who says, hey would you like that graded. NO HE CANT AS ALL CGC COMICS MUST BE AT SPECIAL SIGNINGS ONLY. So said fan cannot go a meet this creator have his comic signed and graded.

I understand the need for more private signings to deal with the dealers and bulk signings, also what happens if one facilitator doesnt like another, then you will never be able to offer your customers that particular creator.

What about personalised comics, those are for fans so why should they be lumped into the same pot as dealers/retailers/flippers.

Gone are the days of rocking up to creators and getting a free sig or sketch.

6 minutes ago, reddwarf666222 said:

I just miswrote just simply trying to point out not every facilitator is with a book when it gets signed and sometimes it is just the witness. It may be nice to have both facilitator and witness there just sometimes it is not feasible. Celestial Comics is the perfect example to where they rep artists and send witnesses out to get items signed.

Celestial Comics at most shows have a booth. They also have about 4 staff on the booth and at big shows can have 5+ witnesses going around to get the comics signed. You said that you have seen facilitators get the comics signed themselves with no witness present and we are asking who? As this undermines the whole process.

13 hours ago, reddwarf666222 said:

I'm just saying if I go to such and such show and a facilitator is there. The witness is not always attached to their hip. The facilitator may come over and watch the book get signed or they may send a witness to watch the book get signed. The facilitator may be getting books signed by such and such talent while the witness is getting other books signed by such and such talent.

I dont think you know what your talking about.

Facilitator in charge of the books and directs the witness. The witness goes and get the books witnessed, and brings back to facilitator.

Its not hard, but when more money gets involved standards slip and people become greedy, that 1 "oh go moment" turns into 2 which increases especially when you get away with it time and time again.

9 minutes ago, reddwarf666222 said:

Yep, because they are not ruining/killing the business for everyone. They have just tarnished your experience. They have 3 to 4 years left as they know it and it is over.

They are, they will be found out and kicked out as a SS facilitator, and all the books they have done will be tarnished. Its about keeping high standards and not always about the money, the money is a 2nd issue in the scheme of things. 

You get greedy your standards drop and then no more SS facilitating then no more making any money.

for the troll

 Beachbum a troll.

11 hours ago, starlord86 said:

Why will Charlie not be coming to the states for the next 4 years? Is he that busy?

Trump

No worries Doug glad you like the profile pic. 

Doug would you like any Walking Dead Comics signed then?

34 minutes ago, dhurley said:

First post and asking for $ and books to be sent

 

welcome! 

I guessed you missed the missed the part where it says CGC has authorised the signing and hold till San Diego.

Would you like me get some references for you?

Charlie Adlard Signing Op

As you may or may not be aware Charlie will not be visiting the USA in the next 4 years BUT

I can announce an exclusive Charlie Adlard signing op before San Diego 2017. (2 to 3 weeks before)

Please can any facilitators that are interested please PM me, as I will not be taking submissions from any individuals other than facilitators from the USA. Any individual that is interested please contact a facilitator of your choice.

Information

The cost per signature is $18 per comic. Paypal only.

Remarks $25

Possible sketch opp but this will be very limited.

The books will be carried over to San Diego and hand delivered to CGC for Robert to sign. If you do not want Robert then they will be still be delivered to CGC for just the one signature. This has been authorised by CGC. Payment for Robert will be to CGC and not to me. That is for you to organise.

All books must be prepped, correctly labeled with colour of sharpie and attached paperwork provided complete.

Books need to be shipped to me in the UK. Address will be provided to the facilitators.

The signing will happen within 2 to 3 weeks of San Diego. Dates to be confirmed.