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THE ETHEREAL WAR part III
By Steven BovéWith the third installment of the Ethereal War I receive some harsh criticism of my views on scanning and posting. But in 2003 this issue was truly building up a great deal of steam! The recording industry seemed to have daily attacks on Napster.com and the film industry became aware of piracy of their products through the Internet as well. It was getting messy to say the least. In all of this I expected the Majors to step in and join the fray… Of course the views expressed are my own and I would like to thank Michael Netzer and Flaming Sword Productions for the opportunity to publish this series of articles. SB The Ethereal War Part III This edition of the Ethereal War deals with responses from both fans and publishers and their reactions to the scanners and posters of comic book material. I also have some thoughts on the exit of Whyld Goose and the existence of ‘The Curator’ and his now defunct (?) museum of erotic comic book art. I’ve received both negative and positive emails on this subject. The negative group of emails stands firm that they’re not doing anything wrong. Then there is the positive email from person’s who have had dealings with members of the newsgroup,
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.cartoons (ABPEC), and have their own feelings about certain individuals. These emails provided me with information on the cast of characters and their postings. These people may not be fans of my work (certainly not anymore) but they are fans of the industry and understand the dynamics involved in the scanning and posting of art, as you will see. I’ll be taking sections from various emails and answering them accordingly. Every effort has been made not to take a statement out of context. I have made edits in the name of clarity. Email: Your attitude in the matter of the scanning and posting of comics has made it clear that you don’t appreciate the fans. I will be boycotting any comics with your name on it in the future.SB: My attitude is a reaction to the theft of the work that I own. This was stated in the previous articles. While I ran the Eros Hawk web site, back in the late nineties, I had my share of fan emails and there was always a fair exchange of views. Some fans received art or comics without any cost involved. You would find that many of my colleges are equally as generous if addressed properly. I appreciate any fans I have. What I don’t appreciate is anyone who tries to attach his or her self to my work in any manner. It is your right to boycott any work you wish. As a society we do this everyday. It’s called freedom of choice and it is a privilege that’s often taken for granted. Email: There are two sides to this issue. You have to see the side that says these postings may actually be helping to keep your work alive. SB: The comics industry cannot allow the fans to dictate how our work will be presented in any form. Comics are still a tactile experience that is not only universal but also necessary for the medium to survive. However the format must evolve. Have you ever wondered why comics have remained essentially the same size for all these years? Don’t kid yourself into thinking that it’s the most profitable form available. What’s left of the comics buying community has dictated to the publishers that this is the only form they will accept! For that reason alone comic companies have been slow to react to the persistent change in technology, media, and consumer preferences outside of the comics’ universe. Comics in the USA are finally making serious strides to advance and reach a greater audience than they do in the vanishing comic shops across the country. Comics are still burdened by the existing format and distribution system that impedes the process. When you add into the equation the scanning and posting of the content on the Internet the problem escalates dramatically. The most important fact about this is that the industry, from the creators to the retailers, makes no income from this action and actually loses potential customers! If a person has the scans to my work would that person be interested in buying a collected edition of the series even with the never published fifth issue? Not to mention the fact that if it were published would it be scanned and posted upon publication? My attitude is simply not to bother until measures are created to safeguard the contents. Email: Because of the postings I have sought out and purchased many books I may never have seen because of low to nonexistent distribution of the material. SB: And there’s the problem comics have faced since the dawn of the comic shop. I would have agreed (reluctantly) with you in the past but because of the commercial aspects and advancements in consumer purchasing on the Internet I have to think that you can visit any one of the many comic shop web sites available. From these sites you can view covers and read synopses with ease from anywhere in the world. The Internet is the best place to purchase adult material these self-conscious days. In your case you decided that having scans wasn’t enough but what about the others who decided that the scans are all they need? Email: What are your views on adult parody art and it’s postings on the Internet? SB: Since Eros Hawk was essentially a parody I do have some experience in the matter. While researching the web for violators of my rights I came across various sexually explicit works concerning DC, Marvel, Disney, and Hanna-Barbara characters. Much of it was like the nonsense all artists do in their teens. Some of it was extremely well drawn! Some of it led to pay-sites, which is unconscionable. This is where a company has to make very hard decisions on how their property is presented to the general audience. Parody is a great form of artistic expression and sometimes very original. Should it be so visible on the web? That seems to be one of the biggest issues at the moment. There are no easy solutions but we all know that as the laws change the Internet will see greater restructuring and greater restrictions. Email: The ABPEC has a restricted artists list. This is a list of artists who have requested that their works not be posted. You are on it. SB: At what point was the group going to inform me of this? Once again your group makes decisions based on work that doesn’t belong to them. You can talk amongst yourselves all you want but since you fail to include the person or persons responsible for the work in question it seems ridiculous. Let’s look at your own APBEC FAQ’s (www.abpec.com). Take special note of http://www.abpec.com/page8.html. Statement 2 says, “Post copyrighted material only with express permission of the copyright holder, subject to his/her restrictions. This should also be safe, and is used by several of ABPEC's major contributors”. No one from your group did that in my case. Of course I know why you don’t communicate with creators. A majority of us would say LEAVE OUR WORK ALONE! A large part of the problem of scanning and posting stems from the lack of seriousness towards the adult genre (and all forms of comics in general), even from within the industry! In America the attitude is that the adult market is of little value. Cable television, video and the Internet would prove this idea invalid. I have used the adult comics genre as an example only because Eros Hawk was of adult content but the scanning and posting of comics is not exclusive to this. The other comics companies seem oblivious to the scanning and posting of their material. This led me to my conversations with two very prestigious publishers of comics. Publisher number one said that he hadn’t researched the subject enough to form an opinion. He worried about the man-hours needed to search the Internet for violators. He considers an approach where the company might issue out a notice for posters to just scan a few pages as a teaser as opposed to posting complete books. I informed the publisher that Amazon.com does this on their web site with great results and suggested he might do the same on his site. Would he call his various creators and let them know of the posting of their works? He wouldn’t say. Did he believe that most if not all of his titles had been scanned and posted at one time or another? Definitely. Publisher number 2 was livid over the realization that Whyld Goose’s final (?) post was of his product. He let me know he would call the creator of the series and inform them. Publisher number two didn’t get publisher number one’s thought process on the issue. He thought there should be wide media coverage within the community to stop the distribution of scans altogether. After my conversations with these publishers I spent two days emailing many of my colleges and sending them copies of the previous Ethereal War articles. I received NO responses. For some this may seem like a victory to continue scanning and posting comics. Even I have to admit to my disappointment in not hearing from anyone in the industry. The truth is many of my colleges are afraid to confront the dwindling fan base of comic’s buyers. I really can’t blame them as I know how hard it is to make a buck in creating comics. Certainly it would seem that the people in the comics industry who have the biggest mouths on the issue of copyright have nothing to say on the subject when it concerns adult material! I’ve come to the conclusion that I must let publishers and authors fight their own battles. I will however let you in on something. Sooner or latter a cartoonist with a good deal more clout and power in the industry than I have will appear on the scene and once they see what’s going on they will lead the way to the eventual disbandment of the ABPEC…unless the newsgroup heeds the following suggestion. Maybe try and be a little more discrete about your activities. Looking back to your ABPEC FAQ’s you will find right there at www.abpec.com/page3.html it say the following, “ABPEC is devoted to erotic graphic art in a wide (but not unlimited) variety of styles, ranging from simple sketches, to Sunday-comics style cartoons, detailed line art, or photorealistic paintings. The artwork may consist of single images or comic-book style series. It may be original work, or scanned images from various sources -- but please be aware that posting such scans may violate the copyright of the artist and publisher.” With that statement none of you in the group have an excuse for your behavior or actions, not when your own FAQ’s warn you of copyright infringement. The ABPEC FAQ is a good source of information and should be adhered to. When one of your members considered he was above the law and thought he could flagrantly post works anywhere and everywhere (and take credit for it) he brought undue attention to your group. Instead of praising him you should all be insulted by his arrogance not only towards the creators he violated but yourselves. Thanks to Whyld Goose your activities are now known and the spotlight is on you. Remember how it got there. On the subject of Whyld Goose an interested party has told me of his departure from the comics posting world. I read his goodbye statement and the responses by his followers. Some of you complimented Whyld Goose on all his hard work. Shame on you. Some of you see Whyld Goose as the victim and that I’m using him as a scapegoat. Far from it, I’m using him as an EXAMPLE and I’m not done yet. Sooner or later I will track him down or even one of your own members will end up giving me his real name (That did happen). It’s inevitable. Do I think he’s done scanning and posting? No, I believe Whyld Goose will return under a new name and a new personality. From the stories I’ve read he’s quit and come back a number of times. I have seen him make efforts on the Internet to remove his name from other sites. He knows exactly where all of this is headed and he’s done the smart thing…for the time being. For some of you this is a cause much like the bootlegging of recordings and films. You have the technology so you feel rebellious and think you’re fighting the system. There’s a difference between home use and mass marketing. In the final analysis the manufactures, Apple, Microsoft, etc., won’t be the liable parties because they created the technology. No, it will be the actual violators of the stolen material. The end result is you end up hurting not only the creators but also the consumers that miss out on a quality product. Now on to Ed Macman (another member of the ABPEC). This so-called ‘curator’ of an erotic comics museum on the Internet. He expressed to me that I “get a life”. Sorry Ed but you don’t have the right to say that to me or any creator. My work is my life and I will hunt down anyone who violates my rights! That you existed as long as you did on the web is a credit to your security and secrecy. That is all over now. I have informed many parties of the existence of the museum that you claim no longer is in operation. If that were true why would you tell Whyld Goose to, in your response to his goodbye note, “drop by the museum sometime”? Maybe you should drop by your old http://museum.web1000.com site. There’s enough information there to infuriate any creator or publisher. I enjoyed your memos with ‘Brian’ and have added those to my file for my lawyer to review. I especially liked the thoughts on generating income from the site. And while you’re at it go by http://groups.yahoo.com/group/acomicxbookmuseum. You won’t be getting anymore ‘donations’ from that source (He did manage later to create another group on Yahoo, even after repeated phone calls to them!). That is the power of ONE artist. You are now on my radar and I will be hunting you as well as other names that have been given to me by the few who think my cause is just. Do not email me again with your sarcasm and childishness. It’s hard to believe that we are approximately the same age and you haven’t figured out that when you steal you will eventually be caught. You, much like Whyld Goose, hide behind an Internet alias and would never face anyone who challenges you. In this case the fight is legal and that scares you more than you’ll admit. Follow Whyld Goose’s lead and just disappear. It would appear that www.abpec.news2cum.com has been shut down. This should convince many of you of the seriousness of the problem. I may have had little to do with it though. When providers hear from owners of copyrights and get a hint that there might be some sort of impropriety they will often just terminate web sites without much resistance. The threat of a lawsuit is enough to make anyone in this economy think twice. Here is a list of those who have posted my work. I offer this to my colleges who might be curious to know if their works are available without their knowledge. All ask for a fee. 1) www.abpec.com - Believe-it-or-not, a guideline on posting OUR WORK! 2) www.otacomics.com - This site seems to be suspended. 3) www.usenetix.com - Check out the posts of comic book covers and the posters themselves. 4) www.guba.com - Check out the posts of comic book covers and the posters themselves. 5) www.hentalianime.com - This site seems to be suspended. 6) www.hentaitoonami.com - Still in business. 7) www.cartoonheaven.com - This site seems to be suspended. 8) www.hentai-gold.com - Still in business. 9) www.abpec.new2cum.com - Shut down. 10) www.adult-comix.com - This site seems to be suspended. 11) www.dirtyfantasies.com - Still in business. 12) www.hentaiglobal.com - This site seems to be suspended. 13) www.erocomics.com - Very accommodating people. If you don’t want your work posted they’ll drop it. And if they like your work they’ll offer you money to post it! 14) www.adulthentaireactor.com - Is Eros Comix paying attention? 15) www.comixerotica.com - Still in business. 16) www.dwarfshentaigames.com - Still in business. Are all web sites dealing in comic’s evil? Actually www.erocomics.com was very decent about receiving my copyright notice and said that they don’t have my material posted and inquired about seeing works from me that they could license. That is how it should be done! Where we go from here is totally up to the scanners and posters. Some of you suggest posting my work elsewhere for revenge. All of you must wake up and stop this pathetic cry for attention. Most of you are frustrated creators and I encourage you to please create works of your own. Know what it’s like to draw endless pages of comics for years on end. Know what its like to pay your dues in the real world. Know what it’s like to search out publishers to print your work and then realize how it feels to have that work stolen from you. For many creators much of their material is out of their control. Those of us who do have control have a responsibility to maintain the integrity of the law and pounce on those who would violate it. Some may think my cause is foolish. Some may think the material doesn’t warrant the expense or effort. That’s not for anyone other than myself to consider. I accepted my responsibility for Eros Hawk (or Battle Bug’s Brigade for that matter) the day I had the idea. This is why I fight and continue to fight. The war rages on. Steven Bové • NY 2003 The Ethereal War is Copyright © 2003 by Steven Bové
Permalink Posted: 12:24 PM EST
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