Ok...I've got your attention...here is the deal.
I'm a bit miffed with Mister Panther and the service he
provides at his tickling/wrestling comic site.
He charges $8.95 (lowered from the original $11.95) for the pleasure of viewing his comic strip updates during the month. Unfortunatly, he seems to be particularly slow about his updates. This becomes a problem because he charges a monthly membership fee and when your membership runs out before he completes his updates you don't get the whole strip. This happens because he falls behind and updates days... if not weeks late. Hence..you have to pay the $8.95 all over again
if you want the whole comic strip. You might say...Yeah, but you just reup and get it with next months strip. Unfortunatly, not all his stips involve tickling. So there are months you might not want to buy.
He has been selling the idea of buying individual strips so you only get the ones you want. As yet...he only offers this option for one of his older CITA strips.
If this was a freak occurence I would let it slide. However, this has been occurring since he has opened the site. Constantly falling short on updates. In addition...a large percentage of his updates is NOT
new material. It is his old CITA series, every one of which has been
on either the newsgroups or the internet for years. He has claimed he was unaware of this. Fair enough..but he is now. He cannot with good
business practice charge for material that people already have. It may be unfair that his art is spread all over the web but that happens. My own art is also out there whether I want it to be or not.
I have e-mailed him several times about these problems. Each time he
has failed to respond with any explaination or apology. It was only
in my last complaint that he bothered to respond and it was nothing more than..if you don't like it then don't subscribe. Yeah, geat
additude when you already have my money.
Bottom line, if you do art free of service...like The legion of Ticklish Superheroes group on yahoo...no one has the right to complain. You owe no one anything. That group is chronically late with it's updates but no one has any right to complain since the groups creator is generously doing the job for free. On the opposite end of the spectrum...Ozzy...who does Yenny..has from time to time been late with product but has always notified customers when he is going to be. Since he charges per four part story there really is no chance of missing an issue...only getting one of the four parts late.
In the case of Mr. Panther...he niether does the work for free nor does he show any consideration for his customers. I'm not saying he's an aweful man and that I hope he folds his comic strip site. On the contrary, I enjoy his work, but I am saying that he needs to be called on the carpet. Maybe then he will clean up his business practices. Quite frankly, as a profesional artist myself...I have zero sympathy for any artist who charges up front and doesn't deliver on time. There is not an artist in the tickling community that has the right to use the excuse..."You don't understand how hard it is or how much time and work it takes."...because I quite frankly do know how much time and work it takes. Believe me...I have had editors and writers who would fire my ass in a heartbeat if I was doing what Panther does.
So...either you give it up for free or you produce your product on a timely schedule. You can't pull the crap Image Comic's artists do with going out and playing golf or watching your stocks and then maybe getting around to finishing another book so the title gets a new issue every 6 months!
Sorry, this has been a long rant, but I have a vested interest in
the subject matter. Artists like Panther give the rest of us artists a bad name. I have noticed a lot of artists comming out of the woodwork selling tickling related comics. Thats great..more power to em..but do not let them run rough shod over you with excuses for not getting product done. Once in a while things happen. The customer should excuse that when it occurs. However, the customer does not and should not put up with excuse after excuse..if not just being plain ignored. They need to deliver or stay out of the
money charging business.
reguards
JPM
I'm a bit miffed with Mister Panther and the service he
provides at his tickling/wrestling comic site.
He charges $8.95 (lowered from the original $11.95) for the pleasure of viewing his comic strip updates during the month. Unfortunatly, he seems to be particularly slow about his updates. This becomes a problem because he charges a monthly membership fee and when your membership runs out before he completes his updates you don't get the whole strip. This happens because he falls behind and updates days... if not weeks late. Hence..you have to pay the $8.95 all over again
if you want the whole comic strip. You might say...Yeah, but you just reup and get it with next months strip. Unfortunatly, not all his stips involve tickling. So there are months you might not want to buy.
He has been selling the idea of buying individual strips so you only get the ones you want. As yet...he only offers this option for one of his older CITA strips.
If this was a freak occurence I would let it slide. However, this has been occurring since he has opened the site. Constantly falling short on updates. In addition...a large percentage of his updates is NOT
new material. It is his old CITA series, every one of which has been
on either the newsgroups or the internet for years. He has claimed he was unaware of this. Fair enough..but he is now. He cannot with good
business practice charge for material that people already have. It may be unfair that his art is spread all over the web but that happens. My own art is also out there whether I want it to be or not.
I have e-mailed him several times about these problems. Each time he
has failed to respond with any explaination or apology. It was only
in my last complaint that he bothered to respond and it was nothing more than..if you don't like it then don't subscribe. Yeah, geat
additude when you already have my money.
Bottom line, if you do art free of service...like The legion of Ticklish Superheroes group on yahoo...no one has the right to complain. You owe no one anything. That group is chronically late with it's updates but no one has any right to complain since the groups creator is generously doing the job for free. On the opposite end of the spectrum...Ozzy...who does Yenny..has from time to time been late with product but has always notified customers when he is going to be. Since he charges per four part story there really is no chance of missing an issue...only getting one of the four parts late.
In the case of Mr. Panther...he niether does the work for free nor does he show any consideration for his customers. I'm not saying he's an aweful man and that I hope he folds his comic strip site. On the contrary, I enjoy his work, but I am saying that he needs to be called on the carpet. Maybe then he will clean up his business practices. Quite frankly, as a profesional artist myself...I have zero sympathy for any artist who charges up front and doesn't deliver on time. There is not an artist in the tickling community that has the right to use the excuse..."You don't understand how hard it is or how much time and work it takes."...because I quite frankly do know how much time and work it takes. Believe me...I have had editors and writers who would fire my ass in a heartbeat if I was doing what Panther does.
So...either you give it up for free or you produce your product on a timely schedule. You can't pull the crap Image Comic's artists do with going out and playing golf or watching your stocks and then maybe getting around to finishing another book so the title gets a new issue every 6 months!
Sorry, this has been a long rant, but I have a vested interest in
the subject matter. Artists like Panther give the rest of us artists a bad name. I have noticed a lot of artists comming out of the woodwork selling tickling related comics. Thats great..more power to em..but do not let them run rough shod over you with excuses for not getting product done. Once in a while things happen. The customer should excuse that when it occurs. However, the customer does not and should not put up with excuse after excuse..if not just being plain ignored. They need to deliver or stay out of the
money charging business.
reguards
JPM
