Having Rick Olney on? Really? The guy who is hated by everyone in the comic book industry and owes thousands and thousands of dollars? Great guest! Maybe next you can have Rob Granito on or Josh Hoopes?

http://iblogalot.com/category/rick-olney/

First post! Rick is a real stand up guy. Too bad Scott and Fabian didn’t aim their streams at him.

Telling the truth about Rick Olney isn’t a view or an opinion. Fact: he has cheated many, many people. Fact: he has been threatening lawsuits (not to mention physical violence) for years. Fact: he has made many homophobic, racist, and misogynistic posts which are still available for inspection. Fact: he hasn’t held an event of any kind since 2003 (he announces, then cancels them), and ORCA hasn’t been active for years. You gave this guy a platform and made him sound legitimate, which is what he desperately wants. The last person who took a “well, he hasn’t cheated me so far” attitude was Matt Busch, and look what happened to him.

Dang, really? Rick? I would confirmation on this collaboration of his with Mort Todd And Joe Rubinstein. It’s nice to have folks with different opinions on your show but having someone who has cheated and stolen form so many people as RO has done, does not do Comic Fandom justice.. Oh and Dante, it’s whether not weather..check your spelling.

You know how you can tell someone is lying? He says “I’ve never lied”.

Dudes, you do not want to associate yourselves with this guy. Just take a look at http://www.unscrewedcomic.com/letter/index.php and ask yourselves how much you like being subpoenaed before you start promoting him and his scams.

Has Matt Busch received the remaining Indiana Jones maps or not? Simple and easy to prove. And has the DAV received (and cancelled) the check Rick sent for the maps he unlawfully sold? Again, easy to prove.

Whoever’s right, the proof is relatively easy to show.

And Gail Simone has her final advice about Rick Olney too:

How To Spot Rick Olney When He Approaches You

I thought it would be worthwhile to post the exact approach Rick uses to get what he wants without paying.If you somehow manage to disbelieve the dozens of firsthand testimonials of industry people regarding this man,if you choose to ignore their warnings, take a look at this list and see if it matches his behavior with you.

Say you have something of use or value to Rick. It could be comics, it could be talent, it could be anything.
STEP ONE: He flatters you beyond all reason. He proclaims himself to be your biggest fan. And he’s going to beyour benefactor…he’s going to do everything in his power to make you get the recognition, money, orcredentials you want. He finds what you want, and tells you he will supply it. But first, flattery, flattery, flattery.He uses this technique every time, and it is especially effective on people just breaking into the industry, or thosewho are aspiring to do so.

STEP TWO: He tells you a huge sack of nonsense about his credentials, claims so ridiculous (and completely bull*&^%),that they somehow seem credible because no sane person would make them up. He tells you credentials he doesn’thave…he’s friends with Stan Lee, he invented the idea of comics in the classroom, his comic club had 1800 membersand gave away 700000 comics, George Lucas named a character and toy after him in Phantom Menace, the filmIron Man II has a cameo character that is supposed to be him, half a dozen characters in comics are based on himor his club mascot, on and on and on…it’s endless. And most people do not have the resources or inclinationto check these claims. So it SOUNDS like he actually is in the industry in some capacity. He isn’t (and the claimsare all false).
STEP THREE: He promises you extravagant treatment. He will fly you out to his cons, pay for everything,you will be treated like royalty, paid an appearance fee, ride in town cars…or, if he’s trying to get you to workfor free, he will offer you a high page rate and lots of exposure. He has no capacity to do any of these things,ever. But he will promise them.
STEP FOUR: He will lay out a long, long conspiracy theory where a few internet trolls are trying to ruin his good name.He will play the sympathy card here…you will feel sorry for him. Until the moment you read dozens of firsthandaccounts of people who have been told this same line of nonsense. Does it REALLY sound right to you thatdozens of people have come forward, all telling the same story, and none were paid, and yet somehow,the response is all to try to crush some weird little man in upstate New York? Use your reason,read the testimonials. Look past the flattery and the promise of money you will NEVER receive.

STEP FIVE: He will issue you a boilerplate contract that he got off the internet that has nothingto do with the industry and makes little sense in this context. An NDA will be included.

STEP SIX: He will immediately begin breaking promises. Immediately. Pay dates will be missed. Thesewill be blamed on a non-existent bookkeeper. He will have to ‘draw from a special account.’ He willtell you the check is in the mail. We all heard all those excuses. Sometimes he would forget whichexcuse he used last time and try it again weeks later with the same person. You will NOT be paid.His answer will always be for you to keep working. You’ve come this far, right? You are goingto risk everything over a small amount of money? Keep working. He will have endless excuses,which will hinge on your human decency–he will have deaths in the family, illnesses, and othercatastrophic problems. They won’t stop him from having internet tantrums or telling people thecheck is in the mail when it isn’t, all they seem to prevent is him keeping his word.

STEP SEVEN: As it becomes clear that you are not getting paid, and you are yet another of hisvictims, he will start to show his true colors. He will start to threaten you, mildly at first. Threatsto your career, legal threats. At this point, he is trying to bully you into work he hasn’tpaid for. He will use things he learned against you that you told him in confidence.

STEP EIGHT: He will try stretching you along. This happens with everyone he abuses in this manner…he will offer some sort of bonus you didn’t ask for, ‘for the inconvenience.’ Everything fromt-shirts, to bonuses, to merchandise, to comics…he’s going to be a magnanimous guy andeven though you are being SO MEAN by not trusting him, just because he’s broken every promise,he’s going to be the bigger guy and give you this bonus. When he pays you. Which he never will.These bonuses never appear. But he will still tell people he gave them to you. For months,he told people he paid my husband’s airfare to his con, when he hadn’t even fully paid MY airfare.Then one day, he just admitted he hadn’t, and tried out a new lie, that I had demanded he paymy husband’s airfare. Just like that, like a switch was thrown, the old lie was discarded and anew one put in place. It’s weird as hell. Don’t fall for it.

STEP NINE: Here, he will begin inventing hoops for you to jump through, additional steps todo before you will get paid. If you don’t do them, you won’t be paid. If you DO do them, youwon’t be paid, you’ll just get more hoops. New paperwork he needs, he’ll ‘lose your email andcontact info,’ receipts he never asked for will need to be produced, additional fixes to the work,on and on. All delaying tactics. He told his former PR person, in public, that she just neededto sign an NDA to get paid. She said fine, I’ll sign it. He immediately changed his mind, the NDAwas worthless and she wouldn’t be paid. Hoops, hoops, hoops. I don’t know if he just likessticking the knife in, or it’s a delaying tactic. But it makes zero difference, you won’t be paid.

STEP TEN A: At this point you have the choice of either giving up and forgetting about it, in whichcase, you will never be paid, or going public about it, in which case, you will never be paid.If you don’t go public, he will come up with an excuse not to pay you. He won’t answer youremails or phone calls. You won’t be paid.

STEP TEN B: If you DO go public, he will use that as an excuse not to pay you. The NDA, whichoffers NO protection for a deadbeat employer who broke the contract, will be the excuse. But whatif, like, say, Chuck Dixon, you were never given an NDA, you didn’t sign an NDA, and the work wascompleted and accepted? You STILL will NOT be paid.

STEP ELEVEN: Once you are on Olney’s never-ending enemies list, there is no level he won’t stoopto. He will insult, harass, threaten…he will use racist, homophobic and misogynistic language. He willissue physical and legal threats. Just last month he posted a smug mocking taunt to a woman whohad stood up to him, over the DEATH OF HER HUSBAND AND CHILD. This is a man who will tellyou endlessly what an honorable Christian man he is. He delighted in telling an artist who trustedhim that he would never be paid, while that man’s angelic baby daughter was in the hospital nearthe very end of her too-short life. He will try to embarrass and hurt you for daring to speak outabout his non-payment and bad behavior.

And you will never, ever, ever be paid.
If anyone, not just Rick, but ANYONE in the comics industry treats you like this, WALK AWAY.
They are poison. They can’t help your career, and you aren’t doing them any favors. They are notwell-intended goofs.

MOST people in comics are great. I have been fortunate enough to be involved in probably close toa hundred conventions and appearances and haven’t had a single bad experience or dishonestpromoter in the batch, EXCEPT for the Mighty-Mini Con, which I wish to God I had never agreed toattend.

MOST are great. Don’t let one person make you think it’s all bad.

But BE AWARE. The internet allows you to communicate, to make sure a publisher or con organizer is onthe level. Take that ten minutes, be wary of false flattery and promises, and you will saveyourself endless misery later.

Thanks, and good day!