Liefeld prank at Wizard World - Page 3

What he did was, however, earthshatteringly bad. Even worse, he plagiarized it.

I'm sorry but this couldn't be farther from the truth. When you draw characters off model, it is in fact "wrong". Or when you draw them covered with cross-hatched lines in all the wrong places, or draw extra appendages on something that shouldn't have them.

Trying to excuse something like this with a phrase like 'it's his style' will get you laughed out of town.

(For the record, what Yellow Hat Guy did was shitty. I'm not trying to defend him by pointing out Liefeld's many flaws.)

So it would be acceptable to rip on them HERE, and then - upon meeting them - be really cool to them because they're so nice?

I'm just saying that if you're in the public eye - shit like this is gonna' happen. Especially if you're in the public eye and you're not very good at what you do. And you're in an industry that caters to...people who have a strangely-developed sense of the world around them (like they get pissed off when they find out Snake Eyes has a mouth). If you suck, you're gonna' get heckled. Fuck - if you're good, you might get heckled. And yes, some of it is jealousy - but some of it comes from seeing the good stuff go unheralded while hackery thrives. How many commentaries have you written about that very thing since you've been writing for the site?

As for politicians - that's a terribly true statement. It transcends this discussion and cuts straight to the heart of all of this goofy fandom.

You can buy the product at the grocery store...buy the box to put it in...and spend the money to ship it to the network exec in the hopes he won't cancel your favorite shitty low-rated sci-fi show - but you can't help a child eat? You can't hit a town hall meeting and put some pressure on the man? You can't become politically aware?

A-Pathetic wrote:

"But there's a difference between criticism and vitriol, which seems to be lost on a lot of people."

This is very true - but in the face of insane, overwrought geekery - this Yellow Chapeau Chap comes off like Oscar Fucking Wilde by comparison to many of the complete fucking weirdos I saw whilst roaming that convention floor. Based on the poorly-socialized dementia on display, I'm shocked the guy didn't fly a Tourette's-inspired mission on Rob's table, culminating in an attempt to shit on a piece of bristol board.

You can argue against this being a valid form of criticism, but shit like this has been going on forever. Yes - this was an act that's pretty behind-the-times (I've not really been into comics for about fifteen years, but haven't we found another how-not-to-draw poster boy by now?) - but it's a kinda' Marcel Duchamp move (not that this guy knows who that is). In another arena, people would be freaking out over this impish art-star prankster.

My point being - I don't think this is any really big deal. Liefeld's still got his cash and his cache...and the nerd kid will be forgetten - like most people with venom and a video camera. In other news, some woman hit La Gioconda with a cup o' tea eariler this month - I'mma go out on a limb and say that's a touch more insane.

It took me a while to sort my thoughts on this, but I think that what it boils down to is this: yeah, as soon as you get into the public eye you're fair game for criticism, constructive or otherwise, and straight-up juvenile name calling and dumb jokes, too, but seeking someone out for that is still pretty fucked up.

It's perfectly normal to make fun of Liefeld in a general comics forum, for instance - but if you go troll a Rob Liefeld forum, well, that's a dick move. If Liefeld had gotten angry over someone expressing these (rather tame, it has to be said) viewpoints in a review or in a podcast, it's his own fault for seeking the criticism out, but the idea of feeling you have to confront him with it is wrong, too. There's a certain amount of live and let live that should just be respected, you know?

And lord knows a lot of puerile bullshit behaviour was justified by "Modernism"* in the first few decades of the 20th century, but I'd like to think that, in our Yellow Peril's situation, Duchamp would have at least chosen a harder, more important target - Dan Didio or someone.

* tho of course historical context is key here - the modernists sprang from a society which in many ways suffered due to an excessive fixation on social rules of civility and politeness - which I think we can safely say have been overcome by now.

On this I totally agree. But in public - it seems like all bets are off. In the (as you mentioned) uncultured culture in which we live, someone's gonna' do a variation on "YOU SUCK, PAL!" if they know who you are. This is not limited to convention floors. I'd not do it - nor am I condoning it - I'm just saying that it happens, and that - with regard to this specific instance - I'm amazed it wasn't worse. Like sporting events, cons are a breeding/stomping ground for the emotionally unheathy. And I've been around some emotionally unhealthy people at them. It's sorta' frightening, and I always say I'll never go to another - but then they announce a Fango show within driving distance...

Sooo funny!

Yes, Jason, it's called courtesy and being an adult.

But I think we see that not everyone can pull that off, Devin.

As I mentioned previously - I was at the convention, and the strange thing about this is that it wasn't even a blip - so that's something, I guess.

To me the biggest reasons to shit on the Yellow Hat Guy are the stupidity of asking someone to apologize for making something that you payed to read and the general pussy assness of giving him the book in a bag and then running away to watch him open it from a safe distance.

A comic book isn't like a film in that you can at least take a cursory glance at the entire thing before you buy it. In the case of most Rob Liefeld books you can actually read the entire book before you buy it because there aren't all that many words to get through. I always understood that Liefeld was a terrible artist even at the age of eleven when he was at his height. There is no why someone could be "tricked" into being a fan of Rob Liefeld. To me his work has an ironic value that cannot be measured and thus I count myself as a fan and supporter.

More than this is the pussy assness of the prank. The thing to do would have been to wrap the book like a gift, stand there with a great big shit eating grin while he opened it and if need be explain why you gave it to him, then laugh. Now Rob is such a nice guy in person he would probably laugh right along with you.

Now I certainly don't think it would be cool to do what I just described but it I believe if you are going to be an asshole you might as well be a goddamn motherfucking cocksucking asshole so that the person you are being shitty to has the opportunity to punch you in the face for being such a sub-human fuckhead.

Ah, but he's a fan of Captain America, not Liefeld! Loyal fandom to characters, no matter who's writing/drawing their book, is one of the sadder facets of comic book fandom.

A better alternative for these type of people: If you don't like someone's work, don't walk up to them in the first fucking place. Go find someone you do like and get a sketch from them. Share your appreciation for their work, which I'm sure they would love to hear. Queueing up to feably attack artists like Liefeld wastes your time, his time and the time of anyone stood behind you who actually does want to get the guys signature.

If you buy a comic based on what character is in it no matter who the creative team is then you are a fucking moron and have no right to complain if it is shit.

Or you're 12 years old. I can remember loving certain characters so much that I would buy anything they were in when I was that age. I let it go when I was 14. I guess Yellow Hat Dude is still in his manchild phase. Well, even more so that the rest of us 30-somethings that are still into comics :P

I won't fault someone with a favorite character for at least trying a few issues from a creative team they're not crazy about or familiar with. But if they don't like it and keep buying it out of loyalty to the character? Yeah, that's just throwing money away.

I think by "ironic", you meant to say "awesome". Anyone who can capture the very essence of the Ultimate Warrior like this deserves our admiration:

I honestly have no idea what that's supposed to be. I mean, I get that it's the Ultimate Warrior but what is it?

Awesome. It's simply awesome. Combined with what he's been up to in his crazy later years, there is a comic series here waiting to unfold.

http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/warrior-xmas/

Enjoy Ludwig, enjoy.

Thank you so much for this. I am at a loss for words...

You are not alone, trust me.

Did Rob forget to draw pants on that guy and have the colorist bail him out?

Look at those! They just melt into his flesh!