There appears to be a steel-cage match raging over at at Mr. Byrne's discussion board -- http://www.acc.umu.se/~alpha/byrne/start.html -- the structure of which makes it difficult to backtrack to the dispute's origin. Also complicating the situation are Mr. Byrne's vociferous supporters and Mr. Barbis' apparent predilection for multitudinous pseudonyms (i.e., sock puppets).

So, does anyone know -- what's the dealio?

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"Thanks, Otto. Your fool-sensor seems okay to me!"
-- Superlative Stuart Moore, former DC and current Marvel Knights editor,
to popular Otto Chelman, 26 September 2001

[This message has been edited by Otto Chelman (edited 11-13-2001).]

First I'll say to Otto, by the end of this, you'll be saying..."Why did I bother?!? SHEESH!!!" [img]/resources/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

And second, I hope that Rick V. will monitor this so it doesn't get as out of hand as on the Byrne board...

Now then...Otto...here's the 411...(tho' I'm sure the Byrne board will tell it MUCH differently, as they have now on a few occasions)...

In September, I did one of my (in)famous Taking Five with...interviews with Bill Jemas, in which he stated Byrne could always work for Marvel emptying wastebaskets. If anyone has read my interviews, they will see that they are strictly for fun, and if they know of Jemas, they will know he likes to poke.

So...my T5w got posted there, I tried to defend myself, but the rabid fans flamed me and I did get a little bent and was banned.

So now, a few weeks ago, i get word that Marvel is considering sending Byrne a cease and desist on his FF Mid-Ohio Con print. The hold up is they don't know the deal with his "all profits go to" point, and are going to ask about the other monies.

Since I've changed IP's, I have new numbers, so I post there, but as an anagram named "Ben Binglars" to get the deal.

I ask if he's mended fences with Marvel, since he is using copyrighted characters.

He says he doesn't need permission. (My Marvel source tells me he does).

I also get word from my source, the ad on Marvel.com for the print was removed until further clarification.

I post again, asking where the rest of the money is going to. I make a (bad) joke about him skimming, to which his only reply is for me to "Go fuck (my)self. And not in a good way." Okay...that's fine, since the joke was taken wrong. But I still ask what's what.

After continued flaming of me, Byrne finally posts the deal, and I back off.

In the meantime, someone "investigates" Ben and starts blaming someone else the board doesn't like, for the posts.

So, the fervor died down for a day, until someone saw the news item on my board, and posted to the Byrne board they thought that was were "Ben" got his info. Then someone else figured out the anagram. I posted (as Glenn) they were correct, and my reasons, but they would have none of it, and I understand that. Still the flames raged.

I then got word that Marvel had okayed the print, but added a warning to ask next time.

Byrne posted that he had never even heard from Marvel, and I fabricated the whole thing as a scheme to get him riled up.

Then, in a complete 180, mere minutes after posting his denials, he posts he is pulling the print and it's because of me using it to get him, and the fact that Marvel cannot be trusted to keep their word on anything, and it is the same as the X-Men: Hidden Years problems he had.

Now this is where I questioned him, stating that he said Marvel never contacted him, so why is he using them as a reason to pull the print. I also said I was of the opinion he was upset over the warning, and that he was using me as a scapegoat…since Marvel did okay it, he can't talk bad of them, so he labels me a liar and shit-stirrer, since I'm a nobody. I posted the problems, he didn't like, he uses me as the excuse.

Byrne then posts he received only one letter from Marvel, dated the day before he pulled the print, but never said what was in the letter. And it should be noted that I also posted that my source had told me Marvel Legal sent him something on the 6th, but I did not know what. I was told though, that he wouldn't like it!

So now I have been getting threats against my family, have others using anagrams of my name to post there, they are taking pictures from my site and defacing them, and basically slamming me every which way to Sunday, saying I think I'm a martyr and a crusader…when all I did was ask some questions.

I have also been told it was none of my business to report the items, let alone go to the John Byrne Fansite and ask him of them.

I apologized for the bad joke. I won't apologize for trying to get info on a story.
Considering that I have been threatened, slandered, accused of things I didn't do, had my picture defaced, and my parenting skills questioned…I think they tend to go way over the limit of fanboy zeal, when their idol is questioned....

And the many times I tried to quit the board, I did return to either defend myself from false accusations, while they continued to bait me (of which some worked [img]/resources/ubb/frown.gif[/img]) just to continue it for their amusement in flaming me more.

Please expect many follow-ups to this from Byrne board members. I am sure that they will use their idols tendancies for revisionism to full use, as they have been doing now for a few days, by stating events out of order, misquoting my posts, and using other's false postings as mine.

For a complete run-down of the events, you can visit my mess-board and look at "Historical Overview" in 4 parts HERE



[This message has been edited by Glenn Barbis (edited 11-13-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Glenn Barbis (edited 11-13-2001).]

You know, that would have been a pretty funny story if it hadn't turned so nasty.

But honestly, Jem-ass just can't help himself, can he? What an arrogant, disrespectful prick. We'll see who's emptying waste baskets in 6 months time...

Ordinarily, I'd agree with you, but Bill Jemas never took what little good was left in Spider-Man comics, wiped his ass with it, and flusehd it down the toilet.

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Don't argue with me. I'm a college student. I know everything.

One thing to remember...and this is what started the problems on the Byrne board the first time between us....if you read the interview, you will see it is played strictly for laughs and to get a rise out of people.

All my interviews are done in the spirit of fun. Just read the archived ones of Quesada, Bendis vs. Beau Smith, or any of the others. And there are running themes thru them, especially the Marvel people, like Quesada working naked, and Beau Smith being Jewish! [img]/resources/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

And yeah...Jemas does like to stir things up, but if you read the interview, you will see the line of questioning and his responses, and why everything he says should be taken with a sense of humor and a grain of salt (As I even state in the intro).

But the Byrne board saw it as me setting up John Byrne, and me being a yellow journalist, and me leading Jemas to comment on Byrne specifically. I never asked for any specific names.

I didn't read the thread, just your accounting of it, and it seems to me you are in the wrong.

It sounds like you did something to "get a rise out of people" and then got "a little bent" (I can only imagine how) and were banned. So rather than respecting the fact that you succeeded in getting people riled up and leaving the people you riled up alone, you then came back under a different name.

You then yenta-ed your way into a topic about him using characters illegally and then make a joke that he is skimming. He rightly tells you to go fuck yourself.

Then they figure out you were the very person who was asked not to come back and the person who tried to rile people up in the first place. And then you explain your reasons, and you are wondering why the "flames" didn't die down? Or why they don't believe you?

Did it ever occur to you that maybe they didn't believe you because your prior actions indicated someone who wanted to be a busybody or a troublemaker for a board filled with people minding their own business and a comic artist who never did anything to you and yet you ran an interview saying he should sweep up or clean toilets, or whatever?

Then you go on about the picture being pulled because he thought it was being used to annoy him (which it seems to have been) and that you feel he is using you as a scapegoat and calling you a "shit-stirrer". But isn't that exactly what you did, go to this board to cause a fight and accuse him of things based on your "source" who you didn't name and won't even tell you exactly what was in the alleged letter from the 6th of some month?

You say you have tried to quit his message board but they won't let you. But honestly, can't you just never go back there and let them talk about it until a new subject comes along? Didn't you bring some of this on yourself by accusing him of skimming, posting under anagramed names, doing whatever it is that constitutes getting a little bent, admittedly trying to get a rise out of people, and basically preying on a comics pro and his devoted followers whose sole crime is they are devoted to a person with an obnoxious online persona whose best work seems to be behind him?

I don't know you, and my experience with John Byrne from AOL is he is a putz who is a bit of a creep, but it sounds like you went looking for trouble, and now are complaining about being "threatened" by Byrne followers--as if that demographic is known for being a threatening group.

Why don't people just leave him and his board alone, and allow him to pontificate on every subject and allow his followers to believe what he says? It doesn't harm anybody, and they seem to stick to their own little website, so why not cut them all a break and let them discuss topics in peace?

And to be honest, I am not sure why they cancelled his X book. I didn't read it, but he is a competent artist and a so-so writer when it comes to retro stuff, and the excuse about chopping down the X line seems to not be the case since they added 45 new titles and minis anyway. Maybe he has a right to be pissed at Marvel over this book. The fact he wrote some bad books doesn't make him automatically wrong on every subject after all.

Got bored and read this whole thread.

4 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

Nyah, I skipped Ken's post! Only 2 minutes wasted.

I;m not going to get into it with Ken, since it's been hashed to death.

I will say to him though, that I only went there seeking a few answers to a news item I had. I never intended to start trouble.

I asked a few questions, made the admitted mistake of the joke, apologized, then followed up on Byrne's answers, all the while defending myself from attacks until it got to the point that the emails started coming.

I never said I was an innocent victim...but I do feel I was used by JB when Marvel lowered the boom, since I was a convenient "little guy" that was already not liked there.

You are entitled to your opinions...as I am entitled to disagree with them. And I'll leave it at that.

Hey, no argument here about the quality of Spider-Man:Chapter One. But it was a story that Marvel approved at the time and let run. And it doesn't justify Dum-ass's insult.



Yep, appreciate that fact. But under the circumstances, where Byrne's recently had a book canned from under him and he's left the company forever (again [img]/resources/ubb/wink.gif[/img] ), I find it in the poorest taste that the president of Marvel Comics could say such a ridiculously insulting and disgraceful thing about him. About anyone, in fact.

But I don't find it surprising.