HATEFUEL!! Volume 2

I'm not usually one to air my personal dirty laundry- but I want to demonstrate what a bitch it is to put one little measley product and what it takes to metamorph into a crank while putting out one. Shoving shit down collaborator's throats without a thread of remorse constantly me leaves me with delayed product and therefore always leads to poor distribution.


Two years ago, I tried to in a aimless effort to beef up production on the Deposit Man books. I have this phobia about 'winning' a space at a convention (it's a popularity contest, believe me) and having nothing new to show for it. I want to show people that I'm constantly plugging away at finishing the opus that I embarked on more than ten years ago and not slump slugging away in a fold out comfy chair with my dick waving at the DVD player. So, I wanted something brand spanking new to display at APE 2002 even it was a cheap little doodad to make at a Kinko's (which it was) - so I had Larry illustrate the first ten pages of the Deposit Man & The Last Great Gate of Mortality Act One as a pre-opt ashcan, including a essay about what it was like to be alone in the house with a dead man (my ex-roomie, Jarod Robbins had a massive heart attack at the age of 32) and Larry also contributed a few pin-ups of future characters that will be appearing in the Playgod mini-series, most notably the Caramel Princess which is my nod to Josephine Baker in the proposed Henry Miller/ Deposit Man team-up issue.

Shortly after the Deposit Man Survival Guide to the Afterlife was released, My former editor and inker SG and I were beginning to develop a communication problem somewhat of a egomanical nature. The pissing contest yielded these results: first, SG wasn't keen on the idea of me firing him as editor and bringing my roommate's sister, Rebecca to proofread and edit the next two books simply because I considered SG to be an inadequate editor after spotting a shitload of spelling errors in a few other titles he was associated with; Rebecca had a degree in teaching, so I entrusted her grammer skills to get through some errors . Secondly SG suffered from this rather strong dementia that he had somehow had a hand in the creation of the Deposit Man just because he had talked Larry Nadolsky into illustrating the first one-shot, The Deposit Man Kaleidoscopic Medicine Freak Show- when in actuality, Larry was a mutual acqaintance of both of us through a fair and reasonable guy named Jay Allen Sanford, publisher of Re-Visionary and Revolutionary Press who got the ball rolling on recommending to both Larry to both SG and I in separate communiques.

So, our egos were coming to a complete deadlock and you can slowly begin to tell through these series of e-mails that things were starting to boil to a bicker. This is only the first chapter of many entertaining and amusing cyber slung salvos. Just little hidden cheap shots here and there to help set the mood.

We open on a scene: a friend and action figure supplier to the now defunct Rookies & Allstars named Mark Caupano forged an alliance with me to toot the horn of independent comic strips on a website to feature the Deposit Man- I suggested to SG that he bring some east coast blood to the mix and in the inventory that he mailed me, some of the characters' appearances had already been seen in previous comic books. Here SG is trying to warn me of a certain legality.

You know, I was going to go on about my free comic book day booty- but I realized I had to finish reading them all in order to give them a fair unpartisan look - it would maybe help if I got around to finish them tonight.

In the meantime:

COAT-
DON'T SAY ANYTHING TO MARK THAT WILL UPSET HIM, BUT
I CHECKED OUT THE SITE, AND NOTHING HAS CHANGED.
IF IT STAYS LIKE THAT, I DON'T THINK THE PEOPLE WHO
HAVE THE RIGHTS TO DONNA MIA, WILL EITHER FIND OUT
ABOUT THE COLOR COVER, OR DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. BUT I
JUST THOUGHT I SHOULD INFORM YOU, ORIGINALLY OF THE
SITUATION. BESIDES, WE DISCUSSED THIS SEVERAL TIMES,
AND YOU ASSURED ME THAT IT WOULD BE TAKEN DOWN. I AM
LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING THE SITE, ONCE YOU HAVE ALL
THE BUGS OUT. TRY TO GET THINGS DONE WITHOUT ANNOYING
MARK, BUT MAKE SURE HE KEEPS IN MIND THAT WE ARE
ULTIMITELY TRYING TO PUT $ IN HIS POCKET. AND BEING
TOO MUCH OF A PERFECTIONIST CAN CAUSE PROBLEMS.

SG.....

My replay in parentheses:

<< Yeah Scott, I realize that. Didn't you read what I said in the last couple of e-mails? That's why I'm telling you to send more stuff. If Mark has to go in just to take out those Donna Mias, just to put up that one new cover/thumbnail, the entire site will have
to come down. AND I NEED THE SITE UP AND MY DEPOSIT MAN 5
page previews up until at least APE is over, because I
need the links for electronic press reviews. It's either have it up now or not have it at all. Just don't tell Mario it's not on there. Technically, we're not selling anything because we don't have the
shopping cart on line yet. So it's really doing no harm to anyone. Once we have twenty to thirty projects on line, it will eventually be forced out.

Coatster>>

coat-
i understand. i will send all i promised by the
15th. however, the reason for you sending your last package
was to get me a zip disk, so i can send you the marty
cover. since you sent everything but the most
important thing; i had to use your money order to
purchase a blank disk, so we can fulfil our
professional obligation. you also sent the package to
a-hole studios again. since i have never been unkind
to you or shown you disrespect, is this an indication
that i am mistaken about our friendship? can i also
assume that since you can't keep your word regarding
professional agreements, and since i can't get an
answer from you regarding my deal on all this hard
work i've been doing for the past 2 weeks, that this
is not an honorable deal i've become involved in?
i appreciate the fact that you sent me great stuff,
and you respond to everyone of my e-mails; however,
when you don't send important things you agreed to,
and when you evade important questions in my e-mails,
this doesn't make everything alright. by the way, when
i send the maximum 2 e-mails a day, and you respond to
them, and i re-respond; this doesn't constitute 6
e-mails a day. if you feel you can treat me the same way i treat
you, i have no problem hooking you up with my colorist
from continuity, and my friend in la, who draws and
paints like frazetta. if you just have no respect for me, and don't wish to reconsider, i'll just fulfill my obligation to you,
and you can be on your own in this venture. i'll realize that all this work i'm doing, and sending are just freebies, and i'll wish you good luck.

I think you are a great guy, but for some reason,
probably because of ann nocenti, you have a problem
with me. i hope we can resolve it, because you have a
lot to gain from continuing to work with me.



COAT-
JUST WANTED YOU TO KNOW, I WASN'T TRYING TO HURT
YOUR FEELINGS. IN NY, WE FEEL IT'S BETTER TO BE
BLATENTLY HONEST WITH OUR FEELINGS, THAN TO BE
SENSITIVE, AND LET SOMETHING GO UNSAID. I JUST WANT TO
KNOW WHERE WE STAND, SINCE I HAVE A MILLION DOLLAR
POTENTIAL, AND I WANT TO BE SURE WHO I'M LETTING TAKE
ADVANTAGE OF IT.
THERE SEEMS TO BE AN EAST-WEST CULTURAL GAP IN OUR
RELATIONSHIP. SINCE I'M FROM THE WEST LIVING EAST, AND
YOU'RE FROM THE EAST LIVING WEST, THEORETICALLY, WE
SHOULD BE ABLE TO RELATE TO EACH OTHER WELL.
UNFORTUNATLY, IT SEEMS TO QUADRUPULE OUR LACK OF
COMMUNICATION AND UNDERSTANDING.
I WANT TO BE FRIENDS, AND I WANT US TO MAKE LOTS OF
$$ TOGETHER, BUT IT JUST SEEMS SOMETIMES, THAT I'M
DEPOSIT MAN, AND I'M LIVING THE SURVIVAL GUIDE. I GET
THE GIRL AT THE END, BUT MY HANDS ARE COVERED IN SHIT.
I'M SURE I'M WAY OFF BASE, AND I'M HOPING YOU LET ME
KNOW THAT, AND WE CAN START OVER. IF NOT AS FRIENDS,
THAN AT LEAST WE CAN ACHIEVE SOMETHING IN THIS
BUSINESS TOGETHER. MY FRANKNESS IS NEVER MEANT TO
OFFEND, JUST AVOID FUTURE PROBLEMS.
AWAKEN...ATTACKING....SG..

SG also had these problems about women and was under the impression that our relationship was confident enough to unload our every little burden to each other concerning his about cross-country relationships- I already told him about a gazillion times that I thought they were dumb. Telling him that somehow didn't help in stopping him from telling me more about his overbearing woes pertaining to the opposite sex. I had absolutely no interest in having him purloin my shoulder to cry upon- but he soon kept persisting on bringing the subject up. There are some in the future batches in the next few volumes that are just whalloppers

(Whoa ! Where are you going with this? I only
addressed A_Hole Studios as a joke. You brought it up in a
e-mail and I thought I'd take a trip down memory lane. I
mean, you gotta admit, it's kinda catchy. It'll make
a great name for a company. And the zip disk, I
misunderstood, I thought your colorist needed
reimbursement for a disc. And by the way, Mark said
it has to PC compatable. Not Mac or Apple or anything
like that. I'm not pissed off about anything- I mean
I got into a hassle with Mark over things concerning
where the website was going and how long will it be
before getting it up and he was putting it up at the
same time as I was yelling at him. So don't go
jumping to any conclusions. And I'll get busy doing those
tapes of yours soon. I don't know when, but soon as
I get time.)

Coatster

I UNDERSTAND.
I NEEDED THE ZIP DISK AND $20. ACTUALLY, I MENTIONED
THAT I WAS PAYING BACK THE COLORIST $ THAT I OWED HIM,
SOONER THAN I WOULDV'E LIKED TO, AND YOU OFFERED TO
COVER IT. THEN I TOLD HIM I'D GIVE HIM THE $20, SO I'M
OBLIGATED TO DO THAT ON TOP OF THE DISK I BOUGHT.
OBVIOUSLY A MISUNDERSTANDING. BUT YOU SEEM TO GLOSS
OVER MANY THINGS I FEEL ARE IMPORTANT. LIKE, ARE YOU
GOING TO EVENTUALLY SEND THE WALSH TAPE? WHAT DID YOU
THINK OF TOPO D'BILL? ETC...
WORK MY WAY LIKE A BULLDOZER....SG..
PS-LET ME KNOW HOW TO PUT THE IMAGE ON THE DISK. THE
COLORIST THOUGHT THAT THE 3 FORMATS YOU E-MAILED ME
WOULD OVERRIDE ANY PC/MAC CAPABILITY. IF NOT, LET ME
KNOW IMMEDIATLY, I'M SENDING THE STUFF FRIDAY, OR
OVERNIGHT ON MONDAY..S..

Yeah- hired help was cheap back in those days. If you all saw how much I was paying Oliver and Masekela- and how much money I'm losing on the new books.

Well it's better to stand to be counted as one who is in control of his or hers creative destiny

(What are you talking about?

The last e-mail I sent you implied no malice at
all ( no pun intended ), just letting you know how
things stand. I mean, I know what you're hinting at- but as
far as the Deposit Man goes, I needed to do those
two books with Mark for the presentation. Now that we
have three books under our belt- now is the time to show
it to other companies. Now that you have the books in
your hands. Talking about it with other companies at
your end should be a breeze. However, Mark wants to
be in on the deals and act as a liason. So we have to
include him in the deal- since I rely on his
Photoshop skills. And like you TOLD ME before, I guess we're all New Yorkers. )

I'VE GOT NO PROBLEM. JUST TRY TO RESPECT MY QUESTIONS
AND COMMENTS AS MUCH AS I DO YOURS. IF WE CAN WORK
TOGETHER SMOOTHLY, I WON'T HAVE ANY RESERVATIONS ABOUT
INTRODUCING YOU TO OTHER TALENT. WHO BY THE WAY, ARE
ALL READY AND WILLING TO WORK FOR YOU ON YOUR TERMS.
EVERYTHING I SEND FRIDAY OR MONDAY WILL BE HARD COPIES
FOR YOU TO SCAN. ANY THING I WANT TO ADD TO THE SITE
AFTER THAT, I WILL SCAN MYSELF AND E-MAIL IT.
YOU'LL GET 3 STORIES TO PUT UP, ONE OF WHICH I'LL
REWORK AND E-MAIL, LATER; YOU'LL GET 3 11 x 17
SKETCHES FOR THE 3 COVERS. ONE WILL BE BASED ON BJ'S
GATES OF DELERIUM PAINTING; AND YOU'LL GET THE DISK
AND THE TAPES....SCOTT.

One major beef that was beginning to fester and I surely contribute it to my current occupation at a record or movie studio is the unimitigated animosity I now hold towards bootleg pirating and this was one of the big pain in the ass in working with this guy was that he wanted to be paid off by making copies of my record collection. It was fine at first, but then the nitpicking and keeping the score on who owes this much and that much in trade was becoming more and more unprofessional each day. I was sick of helping tolose money for a few musicians that I've begun to spring up e-mail friendships with by making copies of their latest CDs by having it downloaded on Napster somehere.

Anyway, these were just the contributing elements that will make up a shitload of expletives that were to be exchanged back and forth. How it all went to Red Alert will be explained in a couple of days.
~

Coat