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Posted by:

AnimeFreak40K

Date:

April 9th, 2007 10:52 PM

Header:

Lowest of the Low!!!

Bulletin:

For those of you that know me pretty well, you will know that I read a lot of webcomics. For those of you who do not know me very well, you should know that I read a lot of webcomics. For those of you who do not know me from a hole in the wall…let me tell you something, I read a lot of webcomics.

You see though, this rant is not about webcomics directly though. Oh no. Not at all. This rant is about something that strikes dear to my heart AND is something that I think as many people as possible should be aware of. Information about this rant can be found here by looking at the BLOG of Scott Kurtz of PvP (http://www.pvponline.com/) on 9 April 2007 and/or the Rant section of R.K Milholland of Something Positive (http://www.somethingpositive.net/). Again, look for anything written on 9 April 2007.

For those of you who do not like reading long-winded rants and/or just want the bare-bones bits on the matter, well, here it is in the ONLY way AF40K knows how to deliver it…with a sledgehammer attached to a heavy metal explody object or something…

A guy by the name of Dave Kelly, drew a comic in 2001 called ‘Purple Pussy’ showing a cute cartoony cat with a bow on her head kneeling in front of a bed praying for the death of everybody:

Later on, another guy by the name of Todd Goldman went and made a picture at some point in time between then and now that is, frankly, not only a blatant rip off from the original work by Dave Kelly, but the man attempted to write it off as “his own original work” as a painting at a Los Angeles exhibition entitled “Golddigger”:

– heh… you have NO idea how much this amused me after finding out the name of the thief and the exhibition… it just seems so…fitting, though it is a sleight against Fred Perry and his absolutely OUTSTANDING comic…

It should be interesting to note that this is NOT the only work that Mr. Goldman has stolen. According to information by R.K. Milholland, Mr. Goldman (whom also goes by the name of Todd Goliath) has a line of T-Shirts (found here: http://www.davidandgoliathtees.com/) that sport such slogans as “Boys are dumb – throw rocks at them” and “Goodbye Kitty”. Granted, some of these shirts and such are amusing to be sure, but one must realize that “Goodbye Kitty” is a parody of “Hello Kitty” and has been floating around teh intarnetwebs since the ‘90s. I have a feeling that many of the T-Shirt designs and such are also from similar sources.

Now comes an interesting part in the rant. I have long been a combatant against Art Thievery. I hate it. Though there are some who may (or may not) read this journal whom I have been at odds with on the subject matter, people whom have accused me of favoring and/or allowing such behavior.

It is a sad fact that those people spouting such nonsense have somehow always managed to miss my point completely…though I cannot fathom how.

It may seem, at first that I am contradicting myself with prior arguments I have made, but in all actuality, I am not. My prior arguments about art theft as been basically the following: You put something in the internet, it is WILL BE taken from the internet and downloaded onto a person’s computer (whether this is by a ‘right-click’ or simply going through the Temp Files), giving the person that particular image to do with what they want.
Most people will simply keep that image on their computer or redistribute it through E-Mail, message boards, etc. They will never claim that it belongs to them other than “yeah, i found this on teh intarnetwebs and it is neat and shiney so i show it to you now!”. They don’t want to make money. They just like the nifty pictures. They don’t want to take credit for the image either… with the possible exception of claiming that they “found it at this REALLY neat site and you should check it out too!” or something to that effect.
THAT is not Art Theft. Oh, yes it could be CONSIDERED such, but in all reality and logic and all processes that actually make sense…it is not. Seriously. People that think such things are immature children who have little to no concept of how the world works. As long as they do not claim ownership and/or attempt to make money off of it without giving proper credit, it is not theft. Plain and simple.

So what is the point of this rant?

Well, this is a FINE example of what Art Theft really and truly is. Here is a side-by-side comparison between the two:

(Dave Kelly, the original artist’s work is on the left, while Todd Goldman’s “work” is on the right). Not only is this blatant art theft, but it is also Plagiarism (a criminal offense). This is also a GREAT example of what I would raise my fist in anger against and do what I could to fight it.

Not only has Todd Goldman stolen someone else’s work, but he has also made money off of the works of others! Yes, some imagery may not be credited, but the man has NO RIGHT to take credit for that work! And yet he has done exactly that!

No, this is just plain wrong!

My initial thoughts were something along the lines of forming a Lynch-Mob to drag that sorry son of a bitch naked into the streets, hang him upside down by his pinkies so people can point stones and throw fingers at him…and when we are all out of fingers, we bathe him in tar (or something equally sticky and highly flammable) and give a big heaping helping of White Phosphorous.

However, I like the suggestion of Scott Kurtz: Do not seek legal action. Instead, make it open source. Encourage webcomic and other artists to copy it, make it synonymous with plagiarism. Use it to gain attention to his OTHER works.

I humbly ask…

No… that ain’t right…

I DEMAND that this get as much publicity as possible!

Artists of all shapes, forms and fashions NEED to be aware of this! Spread the word! Get the information out there; make sure that Todd Goldman will NEVER find peace for this brazen act of theft!

End Rant…

Writer's Note: This appears in my DeviantArt Journal as well: http://animefreak40k.deviantart.com/journal/

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