I have never singled anyone out in my life, but one board member, ONE board member has brought me to posting a comment that I cant follow, or respond to on here.
After reading this I hope you understand, but I cant take the pull to defend myself, or explain things, but at the suggestion of other board members, whom also have a commission in waiting from me, to tell my side, because Kyle Roy is clearly taking things WAY to far. To the point he emailed me today to tell me he emailed my publisher so they would know who works for them.
I have learned he even kept people riled up on this message board like he was leading a lynch mob, of course he told me he was going to do so as a threat, and i guess copy and pasting conversations to do such , not sure he was explaining his daily harassing, 5 -10 or more emails a day calling me out, making threats, etc, which as I have told him is Harassment .
First of all I apologize for my situation and how its effected everyone.
Life was pretty simple last year, i had a couple health scares, and i have battled that all my life, last summer my heart stopped and i dropped in the yard, but in the scheme of things, wasnt that big of a deal health wise...lol
There was actually an issue I did at DC while in and out of the hospital, so i understand dedication and hard work, and i have NEVER made light of it.
Just a short few years ago things got so bad health wise that Heroes Initiative helped me and my son out and I have always had a soft spot for anything to help those in need.
Odd though when i was at my lowest, Kyle singled me out and felt the need, as he said, to speak on the message boards behalf because he himself didn't care, he was just gonna make sure I paid the consequences of my actions. So when others helped, he kicked more....on this boards behalf, according to him.
Its sad when i get emails from people apologizing for the thrashing i take on the message boards because they know what I am dealing with and to have that as well.
Before i explain what has happened,which I feel shouldn't have to be explained, and even Kyle himself told me, he could care less about my personal problems, i feel maybe I should shed a look back. I don't want sympathy , not in any way, i simply want to shed light on this even though the
message boards ambassador said he doesn't care what i have to deal with, on top of dealing with his BS
End of last year, my , now ex wife and I had our 3 kids, my son, whom i have sole custody of and her 2, and we adopted 2 foster kids, one of which had Cerebral Palsy.
We had A TON of hoops to jump through for State Requirements, TONS of money that had to be spent at Christmas time and I was between books. In that down time I decided to take commissions,and with in a week, two weeks i was back on a book, at the same time was having to add on a room, remodel, do everything in my power to save money by doing the work/remodeling myself to save money to do all these things at Christmas time.
Shortly after finishing we then learned our house was on the demolition list for a highway expansion, tension in the marriage, and money problems, work pulling, family pulling, therapy every other day for our foster kids Cerebral palsy, literally life was tugging in EVERY WAY, and it was pulling on my health again, because Ive always battled Heart issues/blood pressure/stroke, etc...and i am only 38.
A few years ago when Heroes Initiative stepped in to help me out, it was the same battle, but even now, i work with a broken neck, I shattered my neck 9 years ago, i should be paralyzed from the neck down at the least, but no reason i shouldn't be dead, so everyday is pain, but i deal with it. It limits me a little, but not enough to complain. I was in a Coma, battled a lot of issues, growing up i spent most my childhood sick and in and out of hospitals...again, its just what life has always been to me, a series of health issues.
None of this matters, its just life. We all have problems, pains, heartaches, family loss, you name it, we all deal with it
Having this as my history, These last 9 months have been some of the hardest I have EVER dealt with.
The short version, I was homeless most the summer. Lost all my money, my ex wife ran up so much debt that i cant even open a bank account without paying that debt. In the divorce I was able to get my office building, which is a 12x30 building that's an amish built cabin/shed that i converted into an insulated room to work inside of. My grandmother paid to have it moved so i could get it back, and a family friend let me put it on a set of lots he had empty. He told me i could buy the lots when i get settled.
I have electricity, a couch, TV and internet, a small fridge and a cheap microwave my mom gave me from her own office last month when she lost her job.
Any parents out there will know, raising a kid not only requires school clothes, books etc....but housing accommodations. So my fix, my son sleeps at my mothers or grandmothers at night, and I sleep on my little couch in my office, BUT with no water/sewer I have to walk 2 blocks to my parents house to go to the bathroom and shower.....the things we take for granted. Is it depressing, VERY, but I know things will get better.
Its funny, in the last few months the comic book community has been amazing in that they learn about whats been happening to me and offering to help in any way, but i wont take it, Ill fix it, I dont like help.
But on the flip I have threats from Kyle demanding i give him his money back, and how everyone hates me etc. I have never even been in a situation to be one to return money, i have always said ill do it when i can, BUT I also said, I have no way to return money i dont have.
Every dime I make on Evil Ernie is spent before I get it, I literally keep NONE of the money. I get my check, I sign the back, my mom cashes it for me since I dont have an account, and she starts paying bills in order for me because without a checking account etc, I have no debit card, nothing, so she pays my bills and right now its going to be another month before i finally get caught up to where i am just simply staying even, Still no bathroom, no water, etc....just even so i can go back into debt to have those things.
Is any of this anyones business, honestly no, it makes me feel horrible crying on someones shoulder...or feeling like thats what I am doing.
Today, really today I got infuriated, not because what was said hurt men in any way, just the fact that
Kyle, the self proclaimed ambassador of this forum making sure I pay for my sins of screwing people over emailed me, stating He took it upon himself to email my employer, Dynamite so they would understand who they have working for them.
Anyone working in comics knows, Editors don't dig artist doing commissions while there carrying a deadline. So in that respect, he just stated what I already told them, i had a stack of commissions to get done but with everything going on, its been all i can do to keep my deadlines afloat. School starting with my son, school clothes, books, etc.....before that the divorce.....its been one thing after another, and the fact losing my banking , i lost my PayPal, debit cards, everything, i am as unplugged from society as you can get.
I apologize from the bottom of my heart and the ones Ive kept in touch with, i have assured everyone that i am giving more than what was paid for, and yes I understand the time that's been elapsed. I have never been one to do commissions, works usually so backed up that with work, being a full time single dad, that I never have spare time. The commissions I do take, the people are so excited to get them they could care less how long it takes, they spend Hundreds and hundreds, sometimes thousands, and they get it when i have time which is usually with in the year.They dont care, they want my best and they know they will get it with me not pressured by deadlines, and they dont want it to effect my deadlines.
Kyle smarted off I would make up a story and try to take more commissions and like everything else i have said, I am sorry for this situation and I wont take any more commissions this way again, i dont like the fact its caused this much trouble, and God Knows I hate the constant emails saying, are you done yet? and then hearing how much of a prick i am.
So I apologize to everyone and I will fix it
everyone please get in touch with me at my email
jasoncraigart@yahoo.com, and I will use that as a way to keep in touch to close out everyone's commissions, i have nothing against this message board I just cant take the bashing, got to much on my mind, lack of sleep, deadlines, life....dont need to have a website telling me how screwed up my life is...lol, I hope you understand.
Please dont think bad of me. Evil Ernie is rocking and rolling and I am REALLY proud of how its looking and I hope you guys give it a chance, Jesse and I are really proud of it. (and for those in the loop, thats the ReLaunch book Jesse and I have had in the works since Late Nov/December)
I will post ONLY today's conversation but I thought you guys can see what I deal with, and what I mean when I say Kyle is a self proclaimed ambassador since according to him, he speaks on the boards behalf.
Thanks for your time, I hope you understand, and again, my email
jasoncraigart@yahoo.com
since i wont have your screen names, just email me, say Hi, I am so and so and this was my piece your doing so i know who i am addressing, and I will get you taken care of with a little extra to make sure everyone is satisfied in the end.
Todays emails.
First email today
hey Jason,
I've given up on ever getting my pieces and/or cash back...but the people on SF still want to know if you'll ever produce anything at all...and yes I know you made that great Joker piece back in November...and yes I know you made that Zatanna with the messed up face that was never corrected...and yes I know you've been working on the "free" Harley piece to go along with Joker for like 6 months now...and yes I know you started my piece then moved them to the back of the pile, then started it, then pushed it back since March or something...
see a trend?
so if you decided to steal all the cash please let me know so I can pass it along and we can all stop talking about you
I also sent a small email to your current publisher (Dynamite) letting them know about this whole ordeal and linking them to the SF discussion as well as email discussions (lies, false promises, repeated delays, etc). I know it will likely not do anything in the long run but if I was a publisher, I'd certainly like to know about the people who are working for me whether its their personal or professional life.
enjoy,
Kyle
my reply
dude whatever makes you feel better, if you think your screwing me over for making you wait, fine. I told you Dynamite did not want me doing commissions espeicially while going through my hardship because they did not want it effecting there deadline, so you just helped prove i am keeping my word to them and once things level out everyone including yourself will be taken care of simply so Ill have the satisfaction of doing what i said i was going to do all this time, if you only knew what has been going on and I have nothing to prove to you other than the fact I will keep my word, never said I wasnt.
His retort...
do you know how to read? i merely said another member of the forum had cancer and he commented that even during his chemo he was still able to finish the work that was commissioned to him.
I stopped reading your first sentence as it clearly shows you didn't read a damn thing I wrote as you can't understand what I say apparently.
once again, you're above everyone else. Go back and reread my previous email to understand what I say. Think for a few minutes...then write back a response. You didn't address anything I said in that whole email aside from the "cancer" comment which you didn't even understand why I mentioned it.
you confuse me to no end,
Kyle
Angered I said this
just know i had let everyone know in advance all the situation, and you have been sole in harassing me, what you do is harassment, and it was so bad this summer when i was going through my divorce i showed your emails at the time to my attorney, he said is there a paperwork agreement? i said no, he said so , anything with locked signed off times of official business confirming official times, etc...i said no, its a basic, do this, heres money.
Im asking you nicely to chill out, you have pushed harder than you realize this summer, and it was you alone. I had just last week mentioned you by name to my publisher to which it was, its a commission, take care of that later, as artist do, or in your spare time, but its the fact YOUR name has become part of my vocabulary, what you have done is not only go after me personally with threats in any form, but you have now taken to a level of having proof with my place of work, which just causes people to lose time in there day , but its the point of the matter
back off
everyone is getting settled up, as i have said, and i am going to do, any more threats, or emails, blasts, ANYTHING and I will stop taking it on the chin so you can feel like Moses of the message board, feeling the need to harrass me to help there case of getting work faster.
YOU HAVE NO CLUE what your talking about or dealing with, I NEVER EVER misunderstood your email, i was simply saying i have dealt with those issue, hell i was in the ER last year when my heart stopped...AGAIN...you dont know anything about what your saying, i was simply stating you have no clue what i am dealing with, or have dealt with in the past. Your right, MY PERSONAL LIFE IS NOT YOUR BUSINESS, but you keep making it your business when you want explanations on why your not my priority, trust me when i say, you have no clue what ive dealt with, or the hardships and the fact i keep making it work even though there have been times when there was no medical reason why i lived let alone was able to keep working. Hell I did an issue at DC the week i was in and out of the hospital
please i am asking nicely......back off, everything is going to be taken care of literally as soon as i can.....you really think i enjoy knowing i have commitments out there I still need to take care of, like that doesn't make me feel bad enough, or the fact i enjoy getting trash talking emails from you or seeing your lynch mobs you start on message boards?
Just know everything is getting taken care of
And he ended saying this....
not for anything bud...but if you truly wanted me to "back off" you'd have granted me my refund a long time ago. It was your fault for spending the cash prior to completing the commissions in the first place anyway.
I also am going to laugh at the comment that you let everyone know the situation. Multiple people on SF mentioned they hadn't heard anything from you in ages and had no clue what the delay was. Others have said as well that you simply haven't even responded to their emails so they gave up and wrote it off as a loss. So once again Jason, stop shoving your foot in your mouth.
I'm sure you went to your publisher last week: "so this Kyle guy keeps harassing me to finish work I picked up in November when I swiped his money". and if Dynamite was actually cool with you swiping money 10 months ago and refusing to refund your clients then that says a lot about Dynamite as a publisher. I find that HIGHLY unlikely...but whatever
your excuses just keep coming...you've had the roughest life out of all of us, I get it. No...in the past 2 years my mother hasn't had breast cancer...no I didn't become a full time caregiver for my disabled sister when my mother was going through chemo...no my sister hasn't had 2 major spinal surgeries, 1 hip surgery and 1 hand surgery...no I didn't manage to drive down to the hospital an hour each way every day after my 12 hour work shifts to spend time with her during recovery even though I was exhausted...no I haven't just planned and paid off a 41k wedding along with my wife...no we didn't just put a downpayment on our first house...none of that has happened in 2 years Jason...none of it at all...
you see where this is going? You have problems...well so does everyone else but everyone else doesn't let it get in the way. I've said tons that people are lenient to a point, but when you outright take advantage of their patience...people get pissed off. Go back and reread my earlier emails. I was polite. Go back and reread your excuses over and over and over. If you were in my shoes you'd be pissed as well but why should you care, right?
the smartest thing you could ever do would be to ease the workload on yourself and simply refund everyone. With all your excuses for not providing anything, one would think you'd simply want to rid yourself of this mess and be over it.
By not refunding the cash to everyone it just shows you (likely) secretly love screwing around with people. I've never seen an artist who's has so much crap happen to them that wants to actively take more work on. You make no sense...
so yes Jason, I will "Back off". I'll "back off" knowing I'll never see anything as I mentioned that I did not care and if I did ever receive the piece, I'd just turn around and sell it or toss it anyway (thus why I'm asking for the refund in cash instead).
I was merely seeking an update for my "mob" on SF
so this is me "backing off" knowing that you'll get everything "taken care of" when you're good and ready.
This is the last time you'll have contact from me so enjoy my $130...hope it helps your life improve in some meaningful way as you obviously need it more than I do.
Best of luck with all your problems,
Kyle
So now you know what ive delt with, and a SMALL taste of what i deal with , with Kyle...seriously...if i was out to screw people over, i wouldnt care, nor would i be replying to anyone, or even feel bad, as soon as I am able to get this fixed I promise its going to be fixed, I was already doing things at half price, I WANT to give more than what was wanted or paid for, so I promise everyone will be taken care of and again, my email
jasoncraigart@yahoo.com
Just drop me a line, say this is so and so and this was my project so Ill know who I am talking to away from the message boards.
Thanks for your time and again, I apologize for any problems Ive caused.
