Arthur Suydam

[Pirate]

comicbookconventions.com

9/26/06

 

Hi everyone - effective immediately, Arthur Suydam has officially dismissed the representation services of Renee Witterstaetter of Eva Ink, and does not endorse her use of his name, likeness or work in any way shape or form. All inquiries for Arthur Suydam from this date forward should be directed to nyccreativegroup@earthlink.net or via Arthur's website, www.arthursuydam.com.

 

We are under deadline and don't have the time or resources to spread the word properly. Please help us if you can. We also know that Ms. Witterstaetter will use Any Means Necessary to discredit Arthur Suydam. Good, bad, or ugly, please forward any posts you may know about to us so we can deal with them.

 

Thank you for your help on this one.

All our best,

The Suydam Studios Team.

 

Maybe we will be able to get signatures without buying a sketchbook.

[Kevin Boyd]

Thank you for changing your post Anthony.

 

Kevin

[SignatureSelect]

Actually Kevin, Anthony is right. Arthur will sign for free but Renee always made you purchase an item for every 10 items signed. I mean neal adams charges but usually that is after the first 2 or 3 and that is acceptible because he is still greeting his fans and signing a few items for them as a momento. Plus You have to purchase a 20 dollar item when you are dealing with renee or artist in her stable. I resent being forced to purchase an item I don't want for an over priced amount in order to recieve a few autographs. She is real particular about this. I tried one time to pay mr. suydam 2 dollars per autograph because I only had 3 items to get signed and already purchased many of mr suydams prints and calanders and renee wouldn't have it.

[Kevin Boyd]

Actually Kris...

 

I stand by my original statement which related to the original version of Anthony's post, which he changed - thank you Anthony.

 

It's not appropriate to call people names, especially professionals and their representatives.

 

My point WAS that you should criticize the policy, not the person. I've met Renee many times and she is a nice person, and she's only looking out for the creators she represents. Whether or not Arthur continues the policy without her is his choice - maybe it was his idea in the first place.... I don't know... or care either way until I have books for him to sign.

 

While I may not agree with the policy personally, that's the way it is if I want a signature for myself or for a client.

 

As an individual I have the choice to buy (and get the autograph) or not buy (and not get the autograph). If I don't want to support the policy, I won't buy. It's not appropriate for me to go online and call the person enforcing that policy names.

 

If I'm representing a client, I have to tell the client in advance about the policy and let them decide.

 

End of story.

 

I agree that Adams has a policy that works.

[Kevin Boyd]

I have no complaints about the $20 Batman print I bought to get Arthur to sign my 8 comic books, or the donations I made to the Hero Initiative for Mr. Lee's autograph and Mr. Romita's autographs in San Diego. That $300 investment ended up becoming a much larger return.

[Darrell F]

Where was Pirate out of line on this? If the statement that he quoted was really from The Suydam Studios Team then he said nothing bad about Renee. All he said is that now there is a chance to get a signature without having to buy something first. This was about the policy instead of the person.

[Kevin Boyd]

Because he went back and changed his post - thank you Anthony. The original was more about the person than the policy - hence the criticism.

 

Darrell, perhaps Jon could fill you in on why the first version was not appropriate.

 

[Darrell F]

I never read the first version so that is fine. I only saw this version and couldn't understand the fuss.

[SignatureSelect]

I never mind giving hero formally ACTOR a donation to get autographs and sketches from many of the great creators they bring in because I believe in the cost. I never mind paying neal adams to sign more than 3 books. I never mind paying the CBLDF a nice donation to have jim lee or frank miller or neil gaiman sign multiple books for me. I don't agree with a policy that states a fan has to buy a 20 dollar item they don't want in order to recieve autographs. I never said renee was a bad person or represented mr suydam in a poor manner. I don't agree with this policy.

[Pirate]

Case in point.

 

Heroescon. Guy was in front of me with at least 80 of the cap zombie posters and Arthur signed each one even though he was getting aggitated. I was waiting next in line patiently for 15 mins with 3 books. The lady standing with Arthur kept feeding him the free prints to sign. After he was done, she rudely told me I had to buy something and the cheapest thing was $15 if I wanted my book signed and which item did i want. I politely passed as i believed buying 500 different marvel zombies variants to support Arthur would at least get me an autograph. Heck they weren't even sig series, just a couple of books i already had signed by Kirkman.

 

I apologize if she's a friend of yours Kevin, but the customer service was bad and as a result have stopped getting anything Suydam up to this point. I will just have to see if the policy is different at Mid-Ohio. The Suydam team post above said worse things about Renee then I would ever dream of.

[Kevin Boyd]

It's not that she's a friend of mine, it's just that I don't think it's appropriate for YOU or ME as reps to go out on message boards and start calling people names because you don't like the way they do business.

 

The fact of the matter is that we do have to do business with these people - whether we like it or not - because people want autographs from the creators they represent. So all I can say is, if you plan to work for people - you make it clear to your clients what the policy is or isn't and decide whether to incorporate the fee or not into your charges.

 

My other point is that she represents other clients too. You may have to deal with her if you want autographs from someone else she represents down the line, and while I think it's fair to say "I don't like that policy", I don't think it's right for our witnesses to call people names.... which was what you originally did.

 

The Suydam-Witterstaetter split is obviously not a pleasant one, and I don't want to get involved publicly in the why behind it happened.

[Pirate]

You have a right to your opinion and I respect it.

[Kevin Boyd]

Thanks. We're trying to build a place for Signature Series in the community... we're relationship building.

 

While I agree that some creators need to understand that not every autograph or sketch is for "the lucky eBay winner" - on the flip side, the people that are getting the autographs and sketches for "the lucky eBay winner" can't be too shocked if creators and reps are aware of what they are doing and want a piece of it. It's something I learned firsthand when I used to sell original art for a collector friend of mine, and now from doing Signature Series.

[Pirate]

i agree, they deserve a piece of the pie and I have no problem paying a creator if they are consistent across the board. My frustration was the 80 "free" sigs on posters but then a big purchase from me to get 3 sigs. If i was a creator, I would probably charge a couple of bucks for sigs after a set number and then donate it, but thats how I roll.

 

ON the other hand, the creators are supported on a monthly basis by our purchasing the books, so I can see both sides. Hopefully there will continue to be middle ground in this whole thing with neither side getting greedy enough to ruin the fun.

[SignatureSelect]

It is true. Some people want a piece of the action. But I have found that alot of the creators don't want a piece of the action. Todd Mcfarlane signed 25 autographs for me at the NY Comic-con and didn't want a dime even though I offered him money or a donation to the charity of him choice. Frank miller will only sign 2 per person he won't sign extra for money. Occasionally he will sign a small stack if it is pre-arranged with the CBLDF. Cliff chaing signed and sketched on five books for meno charge. Mark brooks will sign as many as I ask he will even sketch a few if he has time. Ethan Van Sciver doesn't charge for his autograph even if it is for charity. John Romita Signed a large stack of books for me and did 10 sketches at the same time I paid 100.00 to actor. for his time which was a steal considering he rarely sketches let alone 10 at one setting for the same person and not a dime of it went to him.

[Pirate]

I have an awesome cliff chiang sketch but for some reason his comic art is not my favorite. Super nice guy and now i'm glad to own a sketch SS book done by him.

[Kevin Boyd]

It is entirely dependant on the creator. You and I both know that for every 4-5 creators that sign for free there's one that wants you to pay them or the charity of their choice for their autograph. Why Ethan would sign for free at a charity signing is unclear to me, but that was then... not sure if that would be the case if you were to try that again.

 

It is true that most don't care, since most are only signing one or two books for people at a time anyway. But when people show up with stacks of books they are (a) monopolizing the time of the guest from other fans and/or (b) a dealer getting the books signed for profit on the secondary market. Some creators do take note of these people and charge appropriately. It's the ones that don't differentiate and charge that are definitely a concern.

 

As for Anthony and the Suydam poster situation - that was something pre-arranged with the show promoter at Heroes. I heard that the deal made was that they signed all copies of the poster for free, so if you had a poster you could have theoretically had that poster signed for free. I don't know who the person with the 80 posters was, but it could very well have been someone from Heroes Con.

[Serious9-migration]

Now you all have to know that Arthur and Renee were a couple. This was not an agent/client relationship. I know this first hand. I was there when she was so excited about their relationship and I was there when she told me she had lost their baby. Have some respect. This is the ending of an era for Suydam and Ms. Witterstaetter obviously. Not sure why Art is so....whatever he is. I have seen Renee's release and it is nice and not libelous in any way. The signing policy was Art's. He was doing it before he knew Renee in San Diego years ago. If anything, she was looking out for her man.

 

Here is the EvaInk Press release.

 

For Immediate Release:

Dear Clients and Friends--

 

It is with much sadness that after three years of a personal, private and business relationship, that I have decided to sever ties with Arthur Suydam, because of irreconcilable difference and artistic differences.

 

I will always be very proud of our work together. Starting from almost nothing, we created a market three years ago by virtue of spit and straw and glue, beginning small with reprint portfolios and reprints of comics. My plan was always to reintroduce Arthur to the market, show how great he was, and then build from there. Indeed, we forged our way into the mainstream market, someplace Arthur had never been before, finally getting Arthur notice with companies and with characters totally new to him. Culminating with the fantastically successful "Marvel Zombie" series. I hoped it would only be the beginning.

 

Arthur and I were a fantastic team. He always worked with me with great enthusiasm. So, it is with utmost sincerity that I encourage you to continue to work with him if you so desire, and I am so sorry I won't be a part of it.

 

As for me, I have just begun to rep Michael Golden, who has been back on the scenes and was one of the hits of the recent Baltimore Comic Con. Michael is currently beginning a series of covers for various companies, and will also be on the convention circuit this year. I will also be representing several other top name talents which I will announce shortly.

 

Once again, it has been a pleasure working with you all, and I look forward to it again in the very near future. Please call me if there is anything that I can do currently to clarify or make this transition easier.

 

Regards,

 

Renee Witterstaetter

[langur88]

But when people show up with stacks of books they are (a) monopolizing the time of the guest from other fans and/or (b) a dealer getting the books signed for profit on the secondary market.

 

There has to be some type of limit on the number of items that a person can get signed whether the limit is set by by the creator, agent or promoter. A lot of creators are just too nice to say no and need the buffer that an agent or friend or relative brings.

I have seen people brings huge stacks of books with them as a business enterprise at cons. Why should they make more than the creators?

Are they entrepeneurs but creators are greedy?

[Serious9-migration]

The reason for the policy from what I was told is that if the convention did a limited poster of Suydams work then yes, he would sign them all. If someone came up with a stack of comics then he would charge for a signature, by asking that someone make a purchase. Ask people like Bob Burden. This was Arthur's policy long before he met Renee. Don't kill the messenger.