January 31, 2012

Hack

Normally when I talk about Hack I'm referring to getting to play HackMaster, probably my favorite game of all time.

Sometimes Hack refers to voiding a warranty on an item in the name of creativity and fun.

If you live in the big city, a Hack can also refer to a taxi driver.

Courtesy of Gutters 
In the world of artists and comics, a Hack is synonymous with "asshat" as a person who steals other people's work an tries to pass it off on their own.  Now I only know a couple of artists and I can think of one who has had their work stolen and passed off as an original construct from another person.  Just a tip for that particular Hack, taking someone's actual art and writing and simply using it in another medium doesn't make it your own.

There is one Hack who rises above many others in the world of comics: Rob Granito.  The internet abounds with stories of how this guy has copied other's work and then passed it off as his own creation.  Another tip: just because you did the tracing yourself and colored in your traced lines all by yourself doesn't mean that it's your art....

Mr. Granito was caught passing off his "art" without crediting the original source and after passing it off as his own work.  He even put together a fake bio to secure table space at big conventions.

Like most Hacks, he pushed the envelope too far and pissed off the wrong people. According to this article, Mr. Granito made a claim on Facebook that he had worked with a famous comic, Dwayne McDuffie, who had recently passed away:


The unintended results of this seemingly innocent post resulted in Mr. Granito being essentially banned from the comic book/ convention industry.

Now, not even a year later there is a petition to allow Mr. Granito back in:
"Rob Granito, a hard working artist and family man, made some unwitting mistakes doing tribute art and was buried in the comics tabloid media. Rob admits to his mistakes, and wants a chances to make amends and return to the industry he loves so much: the world of comic book art, and more importantly, COMIC BOOK CONVENTIONS. Please show that in this day and age YOU can show forgiveness and are open to second chances. God is watching all of us, and would like to see that comic fans can look past mistakes that happened a year ago, and allow a man to feed his family using his talent. Everyone makes mistakes, it is time the convention community came together and showed support for a wayward son who wants to make good. Thank You and God Bless!!!!!"

Seriously.....it hasn't even been a year.  WTF?!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Obviously this guy hasn't made the best choices, but maybe you can stop being so cold. The guy wants to work and has been locked out for a year. Imagine not being able to work in your preferred industry for that length of time...

Christopher Stogdill said...

Actually I've been out of my preferred industry and unemployed for over a year.....but not because I stole someone else's work and repeatedly lied about it.