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A letter from Tony Isabella, posted on the Philippine Komiks Message Board by Gerry Alanguilan...

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Dear Comics Professional,

If you are approached by an individual named Rick Olney or a representative of this man, if you are approached by Olney or anyone else representing entities known as The Mighty Mini-Con, TightLip Entertainment, or ORCA, we strongly urge you to run in the other direction.

There is a very long, very well-documented history of non-payment, deceit, emotional manipulation, and fraud in connection with this man and his projects. Despite searching and publicly requesting evidence for over three months, nobody has been able to produce any evidence of any artist ever having been paid in full for their work for TightLip. Many attending professionals to his conventions were promised reimbursement of their expenses, but while some were provided with lodging, none are known to have received full compensation for travel and meal costs, and many have been the subject of vicious personal attacks as a result of having inquired about the promised reimbursement. In addition, Mr. Olney has a considerable history of erratic and unprofessional behavior on many message forums and mailing lists on the internet, several of which have banned him due to his frequently racist, sexist, and homophobic rants, as well as his willingness to hurl vicious insults in response to legitimate questions about his business practices. As far as we can tell, nearly everyone who has ever had any professional contact with TightLip, the Mighty Mini-Con, or Rick Olney, has a “war story” to tell about being misled, cheated, and used.

You can find more details here:

http://www.unscrewedcomic.com/

Please, do not attempt to do business with Olney. In fact, please pass along this warning to any comics professionals, aspiring comics professionals, retailers, exhibitors, media guests, and fans you know.

Do business with Olney at your own risk.

We would prefer to not do this in such a public manner, but, with Olney again advertising a convention and claiming that he is still planning to publish comic books, the greater good demands we speak out.

Check out the website.

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I had to delete the names of the undersigned, since it would take up so much space, but most (if not all) of them are respected comics pros. Gerry also pointed out the Rick Olney has begun dealing with artists here in the Philippines, so this should serve as a warning to my fellow Pinoy artists not to deal with this man.