My experience with Mike Dringenberg

[Nexus]

I wanted to post this in the other thread, but it is now locked. So, a new one here.

 

I posted a few times already in the other thread, but I know not everyone is going to read a 73 page thread in its entirety. But they're in there. I initiated a fix for this on Monday, when I got back from ECCC, well before any Bleeding Cool story. I got in contact with Mike's art rep (who doesn't handle anything except for Mike's art). He was immediately willing to try to figure out a solution and make this right. I put him in touch with BeerThirty since BT saw what had happened firsthand, and also knew all the parties involved.

 

The rep's primary motivation for wanting to help is that he's ALSO A FAN. He doesn't do SS (doesn't know much about CGC), but he has waited in lines himself to get autographs and meet favorite creators. So he gets it. He was not helping because of an impending Bleeding Cool story. No one knew anything about that yet.

 

I know it's easy to be cynical about all this, but the rep does not depend on the artists to make his living-- he has a full-time job. He simply enjoys working with artists and fans. So he was less concerned about "damage control" than making this right for a fellow fan. Frankly, I'm not sure what happened here has any impact on the Dringenberg art market, anyway. So let's give the rep some credit for extending himself here.

 

Again, I'm not defending what Mike did with Sean's book. Not cool at all. I've said that from the beginning. However, I wanted to at least be fair to the guy and say that otherwise, he was extremely gracious and accomodating with his fans. He had lines of fans throughout the show and I saw him sign book after book with no problem. Also, I've been getting sketches/commissions for years. They're hit-and-miss. Every one of Mike's was a home run. He was going to charge a pittance for them, but his rep make him raise his rates. And they were STILL a bargain!

 

I know it's been cathartic to slam the guy, especially since everyone knows Sean and feels badly for him. But there's always another side. It appears that Mike's issue is the commoditization of his signature. He would not be the only artist I know who feels this way. He handled this poorly. But he's not a bad guy. Anyhow, wanted to speak up for Mike. My two cents, as always.

[comix4fun]

And thank you for your intervention to try and correct the situation. It seems it was a rush to make a judgment about motivations and real fan got caught in the gears.

 

Well done stepping in and helping out.

[seanfingh]

 

Sadfan is nonplussed.

[Menace]

What about his mistreatment of my wife?

[LloydJBailey]

What happened Jake?

[comicdonna]

What about his mistreatment of my wife?

If he did that to my wife, there's no way I would forgive him. That was totally uncalled for.

[worldsbestcomics]

What about his mistreatment of my wife?

 

Beth deserves an apology.

 

Starting a new thread to defend Dringenberg after the last thread got locked was probably premature. Nobody is angry at the art rep. And the art rep hasn't even talked to Dringenberg so statements about an amicable resolution are pure peculation at this point.

[.Troy]

Edit : I'm still obviously upset about this, so I don't want to talk about it. Removing my post until I can speak with a more level head. I don't want to deal with the endless PM's about this.

 

[Ryan.]

So you handed Mike a book or two to sign and he went into a rant about how terrible of a person you are? I'm not doubting this happened but so far there's been minimal detail elucidating Dringenberg's fury. Dagnabbit, I want details!

[Nexus]

What about his mistreatment of my wife?

 

Beth deserves an apology.

 

Starting a new thread to defend Dringenberg after the last thread got locked was probably premature. Nobody is angry at the art rep. And the art rep hasn't even talked to Dringenberg so statements about an amicable resolution are pure peculation at this point.

 

One of the last posts in the thread was questioning the art rep's motives. If that poster had read any of my earlier posts, he wouldn't have thought that way. But, again, I know not everyone will read the entire thread. So I wanted to reiterate that the rep was already working to correct this before any Bleeding Cool story.

 

During the show, a man and woman approached me and asked if I was Dringenberg's rep. Not sure where they got that idea, but I let them know that I wasn't. They then told me that they had had a bad experience over sigs...was that Menace's wife?

 

I'm not defending Dringenberg over what happened with Sean or Menace's wife. I wasn't there. But I *was* there during other signings where there was no problem whatsoever. The picture being painted is that Dringenberg is a monster. That's as wrong as assuming anyone getting SS is a flipper/speculator/profiteer/exploiter. Just part of the time for both. (I keed, I keed!)

 

For all the outrage over what happened from the fan side, there has been a different reaction from the creator side. No one is excusing what happened, but folks do get tired of getting stacks and stacks of window bagged books getting placed in front of them to sign, when they know they'll get graded and sold. Bash Mike all you want...just don't be surprised if there are other ramifications for SS over this incident, beyond a fan boycott of a single artist.

 

[worldsbestcomics]

What about his mistreatment of my wife?

 

Beth deserves an apology.

 

Starting a new thread to defend Dringenberg after the last thread got locked was probably premature. Nobody is angry at the art rep. And the art rep hasn't even talked to Dringenberg so statements about an amicable resolution are pure peculation at this point.

 

One of the last posts in the thread was questioning the art rep's motives. If that poster had read any of my earlier posts, he wouldn't have thought that way. But, again, I know not everyone will read the entire thread. So I wanted to reiterate that the rep was already working to correct this before any Bleeding Cool story.

 

During the show, a man and woman approached me and asked if I was Dringenberg's rep. Not sure where they got that idea, but I let them know that I wasn't. They then told me that they had had a bad experience over sigs...was that Menace's wife?

 

I'm not defending Dringenberg over what happened with Sean or Menace's wife. I wasn't there. But I *was* there during other signings where there was no problem whatsoever. The picture being painted is that Dringenberg is a monster. That's as wrong as assuming anyone getting SS is a flipper/speculator/profiteer/exploiter. Just part of the time for both. (I keed, I keed!)

 

For all the outrage over what happened from the fan side, there has been a different reaction from the creator side. No one is excusing what happened, but folks do get tired of getting stacks and stacks of window bagged books getting placed in front of them to sign, when they know they'll get graded and sold. Bash Mike all you want...just don't be surprised if there are other ramifications for SS over this incident, beyond a fan boycott of a single artist.

 

Nobody used the term "monster" and even saying the posts are "bashing" Mike is portraying him as the victim.

 

His behaviour was rude. He owes some people an apology.

[miraclemet]

 

One of the last posts in the thread was questioning the art rep's motives. If that poster had read any of my earlier posts, he wouldn't have thought that way. But, again, I know not everyone will read the entire thread. So I wanted to reiterate that the rep was already working to correct this before any Bleeding Cool story.

 

During the show, a man and woman approached me and asked if I was Dringenberg's rep. Not sure where they got that idea, but I let them know that I wasn't. They then told me that they had had a bad experience over sigs...was that Menace's wife?

 

 

So you read my post, Beer 30s response, but not my honest apology for overstepping? Or you read it, but couldnt live without responding to a post I made and then recanted?

 

I dont think Dringenberg is a monster, I think the worse I said in the course of 75 pages was that he was being a "passive aggressive cockmonkey" regarding his perception of the intent behind the SS community (as being a bunch of flippers and not fans) specificly Sfingh and Menace's wife.

 

And as I already said, and you chose to ignore and start up a new thread, I overstepped in assuming the intent by the rep as just doing damage control. And yes I read your posts. I just based my assumptions on years of working with marketing departments, sales reps, agents, and other people who are only invested in themselves and their bottom line not the greater good. If Dringernberg's rep is above that, then bravo to them (really). Im officially out of the business of thinking one way or the other (as I said in my post, that again you chose to ignore so you could respond to the prior one).

 

I'll leave it to actions speaking for intent. We've heard about lots of actions by Dringenberg, both good and bad. I hope we see another action that makes up in some small way for the bad parts, but Sean and Menace get to decide if those acts are sufficient.

[littlebill]

[jonjesper]

I was the facilitator for this incident.

That is my photo I took and sent Sean.

 

Here are my feelings at the time and now...

 

At the time I couldn't believe something like that happened. I asked every possible question to my CAW and my co-facilitator who was also at Mike's booth. Both are nice people with above average 'people skills' which often is a rarity at cons.

I was going to talk to Mike about it and was told to not. Felix (Nexus) was going to figure it all out and it appears that he has. Felix and Ryan heard me go off about this situation and again asked me to stay out of it.

I feel for Jake and his wife, and also feel an apology is warranted...

 

But...

I think the best thing that could help everyone understand what happened is to hear Mike's side of the situation. I have to think something set him off and this thread or others like it are not going to stop until he speaks up or speaks up through his art rep. A statement of some sort should be made and if something irked him to the point of what he did to books and someone's wife, then he should be man enough to explain his side.

I am thinking that maybe it isn't all on Mike an maybe just maybe there is more to the story.

[5ive]

Very interesting topic. I can see the creators side as far as you dont want people to freely profit off of you and take away from fans who genuinely want to own something from you. If your personalizing books and someone just dumps a random stack in front of you with no name to put, what do you write?

[Nexus]

 

One of the last posts in the thread was questioning the art rep's motives. If that poster had read any of my earlier posts, he wouldn't have thought that way. But, again, I know not everyone will read the entire thread. So I wanted to reiterate that the rep was already working to correct this before any Bleeding Cool story.

 

During the show, a man and woman approached me and asked if I was Dringenberg's rep. Not sure where they got that idea, but I let them know that I wasn't. They then told me that they had had a bad experience over sigs...was that Menace's wife?

 

 

So you read my post, Beer 30s response, but not my honest apology for overstepping? Or you read it, but couldnt live without responding to a post I made and then recanted?

 

I dont think Dringenberg is a monster, I think the worse I said in the course of 75 pages was that he was being a "passive aggressive cockmonkey" regarding his perception of the intent behind the SS community (as being a bunch of flippers and not fans) specificly Sfingh and Menace's wife.

 

And as I already said, and you chose to ignore and start up a new thread, I overstepped in assuming the intent by the rep as just doing damage control. And yes I read your posts. I just based my assumptions on years of working with marketing departments, sales reps, agents, and other people who are only invested in themselves and their bottom line not the greater good. If Dringernberg's rep is above that, then bravo to them (really). Im officially out of the business of thinking one way or the other (as I said in my post, that again you chose to ignore so you could respond to the prior one).

 

I'll leave it to actions speaking for intent. We've heard about lots of actions by Dringenberg, both good and bad. I hope we see another action that makes up in some small way for the bad parts, but Sean and Menace get to decide if those acts are sufficient.

 

And as I already said, not everyone is going to read every post. That's nice that you made the apology and recanted, and it's appreciated, but I still wanted to emphasize that none of your previous assumptions were accurate IN CASE anyone just read your original statement and skipped the retraction.

 

The rep was not concerned with damage control, nor was he worried about any impact on his income. He's doing this because he's a good guy. As you say, a tough concept to comprehend given your professional experience. Sorry about that, but not my concern. Just felt a responsibility to set the record straight for someone I got involved in this, apology or no apology.

 

Lastly, this past weekend was my first experience with SS, via BeerThirty. A real eye-opening experience. I had my own preconceived notions about SS, but what I saw were a lot of collectors helping each other out. That was very cool. At the same time, there's no doubt that SS exists primarily to add value to books for resale. There's no way to tell the "fan" from the flipper when presented with a window bagged book. As much as Dringenberg may be a "passive aggressive cockmonkey", you also ought to consider those who put stacks of #1 issues in front of creators to sign. Artists get jaded, too.

[Green]

 

During the show, a man and woman approached me and asked if I was Dringenberg's rep. Not sure where they got that idea, but I let them know that I wasn't. They then told me that they had had a bad experience over sigs...was that Menace's wife?

 

....or does that make at least 3

[jonjesper]

Very interesting topic. I can see the creators side as far as you dont want people to freely profit off of you and take away from fans who genuinely want to own something from you. If your personalizing books and someone just dumps a random stack in front of you with no name to put, what do you write?

 

Your name and thank them for supporting your work? Then hopefully they purchase some items off your table?

[COI]

I think the best thing that could help everyone understand what happened is to hear Mike's side of the situation.

 

He destroyed someone else's property. Pretty easy to understand.

[DrWatson]

Very interesting topic. I can see the creators side as far as you dont want people to freely profit off of you and take away from fans who genuinely want to own something from you. If your personalizing books and someone just dumps a random stack in front of you with no name to put, what do you write?

 

Your name and thank them for supporting your work? Then hopefully they purchase some items off your table?

Why would he do that? He is not a commodity in need of marketing!