Just Freaking Great(thanks Mr. Kurtz!)

[Joel Fagin]

I'm with ND, I'm afraid. Bad call.

- Joel Fagin

[Xmung]

yeah - it can be harsh, but that's the real world for you. i worked with this company that made educational comics for streetkids (it was way cool by the way, not preachy or overbearing). we'd been commissioned to do a comics about hepatitis c for injecting drug users - 8 pages, full colour... we researched and wrote it - no problems; drafted it and got feedback on it - no problems; i drew the line art and got approval - no problems; i coloured it - no problems; sent it off to the printers, got hmmmm 2000 copies (can't remember) - and the plug got pulled by a government department one step up from the commissioning organisation! you can't even begin to believe the degree of frustration involved. three months work seemingly down the shithole! but you know - over the next THREE years, with much dialogue and discussion they still managed to get it approved and distributed as intended.
so pockybot - i can understand (boy can i understand) - but shit happens and you have the right to post the unused pic wherever ya want to (more power to you), but i agree with some of the above... if you ever had a chance of kurtz getting back to you with a "hey sorry about the mix-up dude, let's work it out and get your art into pvp" it may have been a bit diminished by your initial post... (as if he ever would, i have no idea)...
but yeah - i get your point... bummer!

[Faub]

Okay, before this thread becomes another "Kill Scott Kurtz" flamewar, this needs to stop.

First, why was this posted here? If you have a beef with Scott Kurtz, this should be on his forum. Better yet, why wasn't that sent to him via email? Scott doesn't check this forum. All you can do here is create a flame war against someone who can't do anything to protect himself. It's ultimately pointless because it doesn't solve anything. Nobody really cares and you're making my day suck.

Second,

I want people to see the comic THAT SHOUL DHAVE BEEN ON THERE but isnt.

Even if Scott requested, even begged, you to draw that strip, he has final say when and if it gets posted. Yes, it's his fault that he didn't explain why he didn't post it. You had not reason to expect that it would ever get posted. It's possible he is saving your strip for a later date. It's possible he hated what you did and will never post your strip. It's possible he requested strips from 100 people and received 1000. It's possible that one guy gave him 7 great strips that he liked so much he had to toss the others aside. You have no right to demand linkage. In fact, demanding will only ensure that Scott Kurtz never links you. On the other hand, if you had asked politely, he might have told you "give it a month and I'll run another guest week."

The comic that "should have been there" is the one Scott Kurtz posted. If you don't like that, take it up with him and stop posting Scott Kurtz threads.

[McBean]

Yeah yeah, he the right to post whatever he wants, but I am also miffed because he didn't run my guest strip that I sent him. This was his chance to help the little guys catch a break! And now it's gone! BUT FOR WHY?

[Phalanx]

Bah.

Are we all such a bunch of lemmings that the moment someone posts a thread denouncing Scott Kurtz people have to join in without even bothering to... you know, THINK?

One reason Scott cut short guest week was because the guest strips were being mistaken for PvP by the newspaper cartoonists visiting his site (some apparantly do not read properly before jumping the gun). It was causing a lot of confusion, so cutting it short was probably the best solution. I highly doubt you'd want Scott taking credit for YOUR work, and I highly doubt Scott would like taking credit for stuff that ain't his either.

Guys, I understand your frustration about all that wasted work, but as I have previously stated, please sort this out with Scott Kurtz first before rushing to air dirty laundry in this forum.

You could, you know... request another friggin guest week some time later after all his controversy dies down. If he gets enough letters from the hurt guest strip contributors he's more likely to listen. Contrary to popular belief, Scott Kurtz is a human being too, you know. Not some super demi-god. Not some evil demon-king. HUMAN.

Be reasonable and do something about it. Pockybot, McBean, write him a letter about how hurt you are that he requested a strip from you and didn't post it. Explain how it's not fair to you and those of your who worked so hard to do something for him. If you handle this like a reasonably mature adult and not some 15 year old kid whining "Kurtz! F*CK you! You trickssss usss! My precious guest strip!!! Gollum!!! Gollum!!! Gollum!!!" he'll listen.

There are more producive ways to get something done other than bitching about it in a forum. As I always say: Private Messages and Emails FIRST!

Note: The excessive use of the phrease 'you know' in this post is due to the excessive bad vibes and level of irritability I'm getting from this thread.

[Jackhass]

Well, while I can understand your frustration...it's not like Scott Kurtz owes you a damn thing guy. So I don't see where you get off being angry he ended up not posting your comic. Getting mad like this because somebody neglected to do you a giant favor is just childish.

Stick it on your own comic's website somewhere...maybe some PVP fans will come to see it.

[Vorticus]

Note: The excessive use of the phrease 'you know' in this post is due to the excessive bad vibes and level of irritability I'm getting from this thread.

So when Ping gets upset she talks like a Minnesotan?

[Ratbert]

You know what's funny about PvP?

Nothing.

[Phalanx]

You know what's funny about PvP?

Nothing.

My sense of humour must be overly-developed then.

Hot damn! I should start that humour comic about that hamster that I've always wanted to do!

[Waf]

I think the only real case Pocky has is Mr. Kurtz specifically called him out to make a guest comic for him. Of course instead of paying him in cash for the commision he would pay him in hits by putting his comic up for the world to see.

Pocky did his part of the deal but Kurtz backed out at the last second. So Pocky's work became charity.

I can see him frustration with the situation seeing as this was an outstanding chance to get noticed, and judging by his style that strip was not easy to create.

Personally I agree with most of the people here. All the cards are in Kurtz's hands at the moment, So if you want it to show up on his site you'll probably have to play the suck up game.

[Liriel]

Damn shame Cory... damn shame.

[off topic] .... now I'm kinda glad bCx is down so I don't have to experience this in two forums... [/off topic]

~Liriel

[JexKerome]

Frankly, I think Pockybot tries too hard. And I wonder if he's actually having fun with his comic, or do the Recognition Blues keep him down all the time...

[X space coyote X]

That does suck, but all I can say is, never count too much on other sites to bring recognition to your work. Especially through a guest strip. Yeah, you'll get lots of hits, but so did my comic when it was a featured link on the front page at MegaTokyo. So many hits, my comic became the #2 or #3 comic on Keenspace for a month... BUT, once the link went off the front page, things went back down to normal.

Also, commissions should ALWAYS come before a guest strip for some comic. These people are paying you to draw for them, so they are your customers. And customers always come first.

[Bekka]

It is all well what ends well!

From pvponline:

Change of plans
Posted on Wednesday, August 4, 2004

I announced earlier that I was going to end my guest strips early and not finish the week because of all the new readers and the confusion the guest strips were causing.

Then I got some upset emails from the two guys who's strips were going to run tomorrow and Friday. Two guys who have been patiently waiting for their strips to appear are now pretty upset that their work won't be seen by my readers.

And I guess it was hasty and wrong for me to forget that, and forget what it meeant to them to be asked in the first place.

So new PvP strips on Saturday. Tomorrow and Friday, the end of Guest Strips 2004!

There you go, pockybot

[Psiogen]

GROUP HUG TIME!

[Rudeboy]

He probably just asks as many people as possible and makes sure he's got his stuff sorted. Even if he does ask to many people... meaning not all are gonna be shown... Stock up before you get into trouble so to speak...

Just be happy he appriciates your stuff, means he's a fan of your work and will probably ask/use your comic in another stage if he doesn't use it now.

And if he does use it now then grats
It is a nice lookin' page...

[Pockybot]

The power of an articulate heartfelt email folks! Scott is referring to both me and Tim Buckley of CAD in that newsrant...just goes to show ya what a nicely written email will do...and that folks, is the message of this thread! This thread has also been brought to you by the lestters 7, ?, and the elemental table value of lemon hot cakes.

It truly is an honor, having read PvP off an on since 2000 to be featured on there.

[Phalanx]

The power of an articulate heartfelt email folks! Scott is referring to both me and Tim Buckley of CAD in that newsrant...just goes to show ya what a nicely written email will do...and that folks, is the message of this thread! This thread has also been brought to you by the lestters 7, ?, and the elemental table value of lemon hot cakes.

*grin*

...

*big grin*

Suddenly, I'm the happiest I've been all day. Can't wait to see the missing guest strips going up.

It truly is an honor, having read PvP off an on since 2000 to be featured on there

I can imagine. PvP was the first comic I ever read. Even back in... hell, was it 1999? Well, back when Jade was ugly, and Francis had floocey hair. Yeah. THAT long ago.

[Not damonk]

The power of an articulate heartfelt email folks! Scott is referring to both me and Tim Buckley of CAD in that newsrant...just goes to show ya what a nicely written email will do...and that folks, is the message of this thread! This thread has also been brought to you by the lestters 7, ?, and the elemental table value of lemon hot cakes.

It truly is an honor, having read PvP off an on since 2000 to be featured on there.

You're kidding, right?

You're not even going to apologize for all the other things you call him earlier in this thread, or admit that you may have originally been a little hasty with your judgement? All of a sudden, because things go you way and Kurtz does prove that he's a nice guy, you switch your tune like you did nothing wrong here???

*sigh*

Dude, I'm relieved that there was a happy ending with the strips (and not that surprised), but I'm disappointed that you don't seem the least bit guilty about your premature actions here, man.

I can only hope for you that he doesn't stumble on a thread like this after the fact, PBot. If I were you, I'd be writing a letter to him thanking him greatly for his generosity, and I'd be apologizing for being hot under the collar intially, before he stumbles on something like this.

At least you were smart enough to remove your rant from your site before he saw that, too.

[Warren]

That's a little more eloquent than I'd have put it.

Do you enjoy your comic, PBot? You said you'd been doing it for about a year now, so I decided to pay your site a visit.

You have a thriving forum. You have vocal fans. You've done more to get traffic in a year than I have in four.

True, you put more into your strip than I have time to. So you probably deserve whatever fanbase you've attracted. But if you're also trying to get commissions, you need to keep the anger a little more in check.

You have the potential to go far in graphic arts. The chance is yours to lose, though.

Good luck.