Larry Stroman in hot water... 0

[Dr. Balls]

The Facebook ORIGINAL COMIC ART COLLECTORS page has a couple of guys calling out Larry Stroman for not following through on commissions and ghosting them, I think three different guys over the past 24 hours. And a lot of people chiming in about their previous experiences. Larry's new art rep dropped in with a hilariously condescending "Let's keep it civil" comment - so I'm likely to have some interesting stuff to read by tomorrow.

Anyone here have a commission with Stroman?

[Will_K]

Not sure who is Larry Stroman's rep currently.  But a while back, on ComicArtLive, Bill did an interview with Ken Carson (4C Comics).  I think this is the one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LrKSej6pK8

I think he said he was trying to clean up Stroman's backlog of commissions.  One explanation given for the backlog was that Stroman didn't drive and therefore couldn't make it to the US Post Office to send out commissions.   And here's an older Stroman topic:

 

[Dr. Balls]

On 7/12/2023 at 6:57 PM, Will_K said:

Not sure who is Larry Stroman's rep currently.  But a while back, on ComicArtLive, Bill did an interview with Ken Carson (4C Comics).  I think this is the one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LrKSej6pK8

I think he said he was trying to clean up Stroman's backlog of commissions.  One explanation given for the backlog was that Stroman didn't drive and therefore couldn't make it to the US Post Office to send out commissions.   And here's an older Stroman topic:

 

 

On 7/12/2023 at 6:20 PM, Bill C said:

did that post get deleted?

One of them is still there at:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/originalcomicartcollectors/permalink/1863923257338977/?mibextid=W9rl1R

I’ll have to look for the other one when I get to work. It sounds like this is an ongoing thing with Stroman - I don’t have firsthand knowledge, but there’s a lot of people out there that do, which is unfortunate.

[Michael Browning]

They’re both still there.

[Cman429]

His last rep (that I know of) was a guy named Mike A on FB. A couple months back, Mike posted sketch opportunities on some groups and swiftly had them deleted by mods bc Larry is a well known rip off in the sketch community. I personally dealt with Mike on other artists and found him an honest, good guy so I believe he truly wanted to help Larry. If there’s now another person claiming to be his rep then I guess it didn’t work out. 

I don’t mean to be harsh or “blame the victim” but Stroman is among the most notorious flakes in the commission world. I remember hearing horror stories about him back 4-5 years ago. Why anyone would send a F&F payment to an artist without doing a little research baffles me 

[Dr. Balls]

On 7/13/2023 at 8:44 AM, Cman429 said:

His last rep (that I know of) was a guy named Mike A on FB. A couple months back, Mike posted sketch opportunities on some groups and swiftly had them deleted by mods bc Larry is a well known rip off in the sketch community. I personally dealt with Mike on other artists and found him an honest, good guy so I believe he truly wanted to help Larry. If there’s now another person claiming to be his rep then I guess it didn’t work out. 

I don’t mean to be harsh or “blame the victim” but Stroman is among the most notorious flakes in the commission world. I remember hearing horror stories about him back 4-5 years ago. Why anyone would send a F&F payment to an artist without doing a little research baffles me 

I think the new rep is also named Mike. He is addressing people in those links, not sure if it’s the same guy.

As far as paying F&F, if someone wants it like that, I’ll offer to pay the $15-$20 to not send it that way. I don’t think I’d ever send F&F to anyone I wasn’t 100% sure wouldn’t screw me. Which is only about 10 people, all of whom reside here on the boards. I’ve heard too many horror stories to blindly send F&F.

Edited July 13, 2023 by Dr. Balls

[Michael Browning]

On 7/13/2023 at 12:44 PM, Dr. Balls said:

I think the new rep is also named Mike. He is addressing people in those links, not sure if it’s the same guy.

Mike Alderman is his newest rep. I thought it was Ken Carson that was trying to get everything cleaned up with Larry and then gave up.

[RBerman]

Larry comes up regularly in the "Comic Art Buyer Beware" Facebook group:

November 2021 https://www.facebook.com/groups/1037885522982765/posts/4118853961552557/

March 2022 https://www.facebook.com/groups/1037885522982765/posts/4523666754404607/

May 2018 https://www.facebook.com/groups/1037885522982765/posts/1432680053503308/

May 2022 https://www.facebook.com/groups/1037885522982765/posts/1432680053503308/

August 2019 https://www.facebook.com/groups/1037885522982765/posts/1432680053503308/

June 2019 https://www.facebook.com/groups/1037885522982765/posts/1432680053503308/

 

[Dr. Balls]

On 7/13/2023 at 10:48 AM, Michael Browning said:

Mike Alderman is his newest rep. I thought it was Ken Carson that was trying to get everything cleaned up with Larry and then gave up.

And in the defense of people who want commissions - there are so many resources out there and just a cacophony of information, it’s hard to sort through - that’s why these boards are so invaluable, the topics show up in Google searches.

Thanks to @RBerman for the Buyer Beware links!

Edited July 13, 2023 by Dr. Balls

[Unstoppablejayd]

Stroman is always in hot water… I don’t really feel bad for guys that get beat by him because it takes two seconds on google to find out he can be trouble . Now I have gotten a few things from him.. but I never pay up front and I always line it up to pick up in person. You have to know what you are dealing with. 

[chrreaso]

I got ripped off by him a couple of years ago, through Instagram.  I didn't see a reason to question it because I had seen an online news story not long before that about how he was selling sketches to cover medical bills.  No clue he ws ripping people off.

[MyNameIsLegion]

I’m pretty sure that Larry’s transgressions go back a whopping 20 years on the comicart-l mailing list. I feel bad for Mike A, I think he means well but the minute I saw him announce he was his new rep a few weeks ago and what a great guy Larry was I knew he was hopelessly misinformed and way out of his depth and would do material damage to his own reputation in the process. I considered dropping the FB group he runs just for that. 

[Bird]

I tried to join group to follow discussion but was denied

DENIED!

 

[thehumantorch]

On 7/13/2023 at 5:52 PM, Bird said:

I tried to join group to follow discussion but was denied

DENIED!

 

snap, seems cruel

[JollyComics]

His name is unbeknownst to me. I don't have to deal with him.  Good luck to him to fix all current and old problems.

[MAR1979]

Criminal is as criminal does

[Dr. Balls]

On 7/13/2023 at 5:12 PM, MyNameIsLegion said:

I feel bad for Mike A, I think he means well but the minute I saw him announce he was his new rep a few weeks ago and what a great guy Larry was I knew he was hopelessly misinformed and way out of his depth and would do material damage to his own reputation in the process. I considered dropping the FB group he runs just for that. 

I spent about 15 minutes reading all of the history about Larry Stroman and my biggest takeaway is that he continues to get guys to "represent" him. I have zero clue why any person would take something like that on, as there is really no winning scenario to working with him. Your involvement as a "rep" legitimizes his behavior under the guise of "catching him up" while he continues to grift people. I'm truly amazed that this has gone on for so many years.

[Rick2you2]

On 7/14/2023 at 11:37 AM, Dr. Balls said:

I spent about 15 minutes reading all of the history about Larry Stroman and my biggest takeaway is that he continues to get guys to "represent" him. I have zero clue why any person would take something like that on, as there is really no winning scenario to working with him. Your involvement as a "rep" legitimizes his behavior under the guise of "catching him up" while he continues to grift people. I'm truly amazed that this has gone on for so many years.

That particular Facebook page is sad… almost schadenfreude in a way. Should be required reading for everyone who is thinking of commissions. 

[Dr. Balls]

On 7/14/2023 at 10:32 AM, Rick2you2 said:

That particular Facebook page is sad… almost schadenfreude in a way. Should be required reading for everyone who is thinking of commissions. 

I found that page after it was referenced on FB before I commissioned an artist last month - I was checking to make sure his name wasn't on there (it wasn't, and he kept his deadline - I'm excited to post his work and recommend him to others when I get it in the mail). But yeah, I would agree. There's a lot of sad news on there - and by people who have been incredibly patient (waiting over a year for a commission? No thanks.) The other well-known artist who name keeps popping up there is Jae Lee.

[Rick2you2]

On 7/14/2023 at 1:45 PM, Dr. Balls said:

I found that page after it was referenced on FB before I commissioned an artist last month - I was checking to make sure his name wasn't on there (it wasn't, and he kept his deadline - I'm excited to post his work and recommend him to others when I get it in the mail). But yeah, I would agree. There's a lot of sad news on there - and by people who have been incredibly patient (waiting over a year for a commission? No thanks.) The other well-known artist who name keeps popping up there is Jae Lee.

Add Ale Garza and Jim Kyle to your perpetual naughty list. Jae Lee has had some complaints and Sienkewicz apparently runs very slow, according to some people (as in years).