Nguyening It!
DOn Nguyen
Time to get it! #Kickstarter #crowdfunding #comics
You may remember how Retro started out as storyboards on this very blog in or around 2016. Aaron Lindenthaler had an idea and asked if I wanted to be involved. In 2019, he animated those boards into a short film that premiered at the famous TCL Chinese Theaters in Hollywood, California as part
We are now expanding that into a comic book series & live-action short film featuring Reno Wilson (Mike & Molly, Good Girls). Check out the trailer below!
If you like comics by Ed Brubaker or David Lapham or enjoyed the Jason Bourne movies, Looper, Taken or Memento, this project is for you! Ellie Wright (Immortal Red Sonja, Batman the Shadow) is helping on color. Jerome Gagnon (Holiday Spirits, Orange Cone productions) is handling letters. Hope we can count on your support! Simply visit WhoisRetro.com to bring this project to life!
Unreleased @PablotheGorilla pages #PerchancetoDream
I had the honor of being invited to join Ed Dukeshire’s Digital Webbing Presents 3. these 2 pages were originally looking to be released 2020/2021 as an interim short/prelude for Pablo #2. DWP is deferred to its anniversary year and I’m currently working on Pablo #2. So, I thought it’d be nice for anyone in Pablo’s troop to catch up a bit. 😉🦍🍕
What’s coming up on the schedule…
This Saturday & Sunday will be Free Comic Book Day (s) 😁. Saturday at the Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach will see appearances by TV’s Incredible Hulk Lou Ferrigno, Stray Dogs creator Tony Fleecs and my fellow Sketchy Bugs.
Sunday I will have the honor of joining Tony Fleecs at the Culver City Comic Bug. You can then find me (if the Delta variant doesn’t put the kibosh on things) at Rose City Comic Con, Fan X Salt Lake City, Baltimore Comic-Con and Comic-Con Ontario.
#SDCC #ComicConAtHome original art giveaway bonus entry details😁
San Diego Comic-Con is a special event to many a fellow geek and nerd. As a fan and creator, it’s been a particularly magical place. For those that have been with me on this journey of making comics and breaking into comics, I appreciate you; especially, if you’ve been with the daily doodle blog since the early days.
Like last year, SDCC is taking place online as #ComicConAtHome. That means we don’t get to congregate in person. One of my favorite things is attending panels and winning original art from my favorite creators (I know, I’m still and always a fan). It’s also attending panels to support friends. Although I’m not in a panel, I am in the Virtual Artist Alley and I am giving away original art again to celebrate SDCC &, hopefully, bring back a little of the joy of receiving art when attending a panel.
So, entering is simple. If you missed how, here’s a screengrab from Twitter:
Now for the bonus entry details! If your screenshot is from any of these panels, you get an additional entry:
Gaming in Graphic Novels: A Programming Match Made in Heaven!
Jet Off with the Orcs in Space Crew
Slaying Real Monsters & Building Communities Through Role Playing Games
Abolishing Traditional Ideas of Latinas through Latina Superheroes
For every dollar spent at my etsy shop or Bonfire store, that’s an entry. Just be sure to add a note with your social media handle so I know who you are!
It’s been a minute
Crazy how time flies! It was just a few years ago that I posted work-in-progress storyboard art for Retro. Now Aaron Lindenthaler and I are working toward finishing the first issue of the comic! Here is the regular cover for the first issue.
RETRO #1 Cover A (rendering may not be final)
Check out the trailer for the original short release!
Join some amazing comic book legends at @the_exp1! #theEXPExpo! Today & tomorrow!
Some amazing comic book legends are up today at the EXP Expo! We’re talking about Dan Jurgens, Jim Starlin, Mark Bagley, John Romita Jr., Ron Lim, Brian Haberlin & more! That’s a lot of characters covered between Marvel, DC & Image!
https://comicshoppingexperience.com/
Check the schedule below. Also, find me on the indie creator panel starting at 5 p.m. PT/ 8 p.m. ET. I’ll be with Travis Gibb, Cory De La Guardia, William K. Holland, & Nicole Fernandez!
This event runs through tomorrow so don’t miss out.
The Takedown (DMCA, that is)
I’m writing this in hopes that it may help someone else but also to document the tedious process which I’m sure I’ll be revisiting. The process of what? The process of taking down images/ products that infringe on your copyright.
As you may know, I created this BLM Skull Fist design for Punisher co-creator Gerry Conway and his Skulls for Justice campaign to reclaim the Punisher logo from law enforcement’s misguided use & fundraise for Black Lives Matter Los Angeles. Due to the popularity of the image, several sites decided to steal it while the campaign was being run. How low do you have to be steal from a fundraiser?
This started my foray into issuing DMCA takedown requests. What is the DMCA? The Digital Millennium Content Act basically helps to protect people’s copyrights online. How do I know if a work I made is copyrighted? In the U.S., as seen as you make a work (unless you plagiarized), you own the copyright. Filing a copyright is a formality that grants you specific privilege of having that copyright officially recognized. Thankfully, when I created this logo it was widely publicized: as seen in The Guardian. This actually helped establish my copyright (I have also since filed officially). I also wrote about it on the blog and added it to my website, both which incorporate a copyright claim statement for original content. So if you’re making stuff and document it online, not a bad idea to add a copyright statement to your about/info page.
The other thing I have working for me is lawyers. It’s nice to have counsel on retainer. This was advice I learned early on. If you’re thinking, how much is a lawyer? I use Counsel for Creators. The service is $95 a month and they have a flexible scheduling appointment system. I can easily set up calls to discuss my issues and receive advice as well as send emails!
You may or may have seen these jokers (Rageon, Teepublic, Prideearth) who stole my design during the BLM fundraiser. I was able to take to get them to take down the design within 48 hours- which takes us to the process of doing a DMCA request. I was lucky enough to have publicity, lawyers & Gerry Conway on my side but what if I was just an indie creator without those things? I’d still follow the same method.
First things first, there are bots that apparently troll social media & campaign sites like Custom Ink or Bonfire, looking to steal popular designs. So, caveat emptor if you’re looking to sell your designs online. When this design hit, I was hoping it would do well, but the response has been overwhelming. So thanks to all that supported!
When thieves like this pop up, your first line of defense is to search for a mechanism to submit a DMCA takedown request. Usually, you can find it under the “Contact Us” or “legal” link. In some cases, you may have to issue a request yourself through a basic contact form. If you don’t see any of these options, search for “legal@” or “dmca@” the web address.
Filing the request, whether by form or email submission, generally needs to contain the same info. You need to state that you’re the copyright holder of the design and that the site/a user on the site does not have permission to use that design and is infringing on your copyright. You will then have to establish your ownership over the copyright: case number of your copyright filing, your intellectual property (IP) appearing somewhere officially with a date. The date is important as it establishes provenance. (Things I learn watching American Pickers, amirite?). This is also where having a lawyer comes in handy because you can inform the site/user that your lawyers are copied and/or are aware of the matter. You will have to attest to all the facts being true. Sites like ebay have a very specific email format and codes to use.
The DMCA takedown request doesn’t stop there. You should screengrab the offender a) to document and b) to publicly denounce their actions. Post about them everywhere. Tag them. Then go in and message them a DMCA takedown request on every social media platform they exist on with screengrabs. It sounds a bit scorched- earth but persistence is key…and annoyance. You mean business.
Google and Microsoft (Bing search) also have reporting mechanisms for copyright infringement. Be sure to file those as well.
I ran a new campaign at Bonfire for the design and it got stolen again. This new round of thieves was interesting. As mentioned before, ebay is very specific about their NOCI/ Notice of Copyright infringement. They rejected me twice. However, I personally reached out to the seller and they removed my design. Kind of a “Thanks for nothing, eBay. ” That’s coming from a buyer/ seller with 100% feedback after 20+ years.
This group of offenders was tougher to deal with and included Teechip, Moteefe and knock-off Moteefeshirts and Tumblrshirt. Teechip/goteeshirt/Simi Tee/Reddit Tee responded after a couple tries.
Now let’s talk about scorched earth (funny yet sad because I’m Vietnamese and so are some of the people that stole from me). This all happened around Thanksgiving weekend and just resolved today. Moteefeshirt & Tumblrshirt (same company as far as I can tell and based in Vietnam) process their transactions through Checkoutshirt (based in the U.S. as payment processor with the page also hosted in Vietnam). As you can tell by the screengrabs, I had already gone through the aforementioned processes.
However, Moteefeshirt & Tumblrshirt offered no valid means of communication by which to submit DMCA takedown requests. So I dug.
Doing a Whois/Icann search allowed me to track down domain registrars and ISP hosts. Through the screengrabs, you can see I tracked down GMO Internet, Tenten, Hostingrocket and Cloudflare as all tied in by usage. Cloudflare and Hostingrocket are American companies so that helps. Tenten doesn’t host, but they could forward messages to their client. GMO never responded. I recall they claim to be one of Japan’s largest ISP/ domain retailers, so maybe one day they’ll face a whale instead of a guppy like me.
My friend, Anthony Pollock of Sodaandtelepaths.com, suggested I look to see whether Moteefeshirt & Tumblrshirt accepted Paypal as it would be a violation of their terms. I never thought to click to buy shirts to check card processing services. Anthony told me, hit ’em where it hurts as these overseas companies rely on payment processing. Thank the stars for people way more knowledgeable than me.
Sure enough, Paypal was an option and they did indeed have a reporting mechanism. Find it here. In fact, it appears most credit card companies do this as well. I only had to add Visa and American Express to the mix.
The bad faith operators that Moteefeshirt and/or Tumblrshirt process their payments through Checkoutshirt which uses Hostingrocket. If these sites have infringed on your copyrights, here are the email addresses I used to contact them: abuse@gmo.jp (I added legal@gmo.jp & dmca@gmo.jp to see if they might work), legal@moteefe.com, abuse@enom.com, Stephanie@hostingrocket.com (which I discovered through this post), sale@hostingrocket.com, info.web.sg@z.com, info@tenten.vn, kythuat@tenten.vn, & hotro.web.vn@z.com. Just as a heads up, I also informed tumblr that their name (which I imagine is trademarked) was being used.
Here’s where I’m at now. I hope this was a good resource for anyone out there that has to deal with copyright infringement; especially, if it’s with these sites I’ve documented in particular.
What a journey!
I know I don’t post as often as should, but that’s a good thing as I’ve been busy with projects. I thank you for hanging around and checking in on my blog every so often. Your company is greatly appreciated.
As you know, 2020 has been wild to say the least. Most of the time, it has been truly heartbreaking. I lost a good friend before the pandemic hit. I think about him in particular now because the Dodgers are in the World Series and he was a huge fan. He was also an amazing artist and we would have had a lot more conversations about this year.
I had my largest convention schedule planned for this year but COVID-19 took care of that. It was going to be a lot of firsts for me. Surprisingly, other opportunities have presented themselves. As you know, I was honored to be a part of Gerry Conway’s Skulls for Justice campaign.
Since then, I’ve had the privilege of doing a sketchcard set for Marvel & Upper Deck’s Marvel Anime trading card series. I started posting them on Twitter & I guess someone in Japan found the Venom card already. I’m fanning out that I’m in a set where Peach Momoko is the headline artist. Insane! Here’s a look at all of my cards:
I’ve also been working quite a bit with my friend Mike Korpi. He’s an amazing writer and I wanted to bring his stories to life. You may remember we were in Wannabe Press ‘ Cthulhu is Hard to Spell: The Terrible Twos right before the pandemic hit.
We now have an opportunity for a comic book anthology hat trick. Our second and third anthologies are live now on Kickstarter. The first one is from the creator collective we belong to: the Sketchy Bug Group. The book is called Danger Arcade and features 10 stories by 21 creators plus pinups. Click here to check out the campaign! The cover is by Mike Penn from Heavy Metal magazine. Ed Dukeshire (from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers & Hulk) is doing letters for some of the stories, including ours! Our project was recently backed by BOOM! Studios as part of their 100 First-time Comic Kickstarter Campaigns initiative. We have 2 weeks left to fund and we’re almost at 50%! I hope you’ll consider it.
Mike and I are also in great company with a horror anthology that we’re a part of called Nightmare Theater. This campaign just launched today and is over halfway funded. It features a ton of phenomenal talent like Ringo Award-Winners Rylend Grant (Banjax, Abberant), David Pepose (the O.Z., Spencer & Locke, Going to the Chapel), David Avallone (Bettie Page, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, Drawing Blood), Terry Mayo (Wicked Righteous) and many more. It’s insane. The book is over 200 pages! Mike and I have a story in it we’re sure you’ll love and I did a pinup.
I also did a pinup for my friend Steven Prince and his book Monster Matador! It’s also live on Kickstarter with only 5 more days left, if I’m not mistaken.
I hope you enjoy these amazing projects. If you support any of them, sounds off below and let me know! If you find any of my sketchcards, let me know!
Reclaiming the Punisher logo one piece at a time. @AskegardJeremy @Dameredbento @chuckypin @GerryConway
As I write this, there may be minutes left on Gerry Conway’s Skulls for Justice campaign. It’s raised over $76,000 for Black Lives Matter Los Angeles. To celebrate Pride and to reflect some issues happening right now in our country, some friends and I created a comic inspired by the campaign. Introducing Rook, our trans protagonist.
For those who may not know, Gerry Conway is the co-creator of Marvel’s Punisher character. The idea behind Gerry Conway’s campaign is he wanted to reclaim the Punisher’s skull from being used by law enforcement and the military. Considering they’re suppose to be forces of justice, you can see how using a vigilante’s emblem is troubling.
I read an insightful article by Charles Pulliam-Moore about how the Punisher logo couldn’t be reclaimed. I feel like at least we could try to chip away at it.
I want you to meet the writing team behind the piece:
Jeremy Askegard
Massage therapist by day, writer by all other times. Being black and queer means you don’t get a lot of representation in media. Granted there has been a lot more examples recently. I’ve made it my writer’s mission to continue writing about underrepresented people. I’m here to ensure that PoC and LGBTQ+ aren’t just a tending topic in media. But characters that you love and more importantly relate to, no matter your identity. Coming from a diverse city like Long Beach California, it’s easy to forget that not all homes are like mine. So I saw this as an opportunity to spread some empathy, understanding and compassion for people that we think are different but actually really aren’t.
Robin “Raven” Walker
Eclectic artist and educator, Woman of Color, and queer to boot. I have been a life long nerd, gamer, comic enthusiast, and when I was given the opportunity to work on a Punisher project, I could not have been more delighted. Punisher was one of my favorite comics growing up because Frank Castle did the right thing even when it was tough and brutal, that really taught me to be unflinching when it came to my own real-life struggles confronting things that should not stand. It’s been hard for much of my life to find protagonists of color, let alone lgbtqia+, so this comic feels personal, needed, and real. Not only am I working on a comic for a company I admire, I am showing a piece of my communities to the world , hoping to open a dialogue and bring creativity to diversity.
Chuck Pineau
Writer, editor, and token white guy for the project. Having grown up in a very rural setting it was strange learning from bands like Rage Against the Machine, and from the comics that I loved that there really was an imbalance in the system. As I grew older, family members came out and I supported them af best I could. When two of my children informed me that they were transitioning it added an entirely different dynamic to things. Now with two African-American grandchildren as well, it puts it all the more into focus for; Our world is so diverse, and we need to look into that imbalance now more than ever. The moment I heard of this amazing opportunity to take on one of my favorite heroes in my favorite universe, and to help so many other voices be heard, I HAD to jump in.
Me? You already know. 🤣
I hope you enjoy the piece.
Doing what I feel is the right thing #BlackLivesMatter #ReclaimthePunisherLogo @Gerryconway
So, two weeks ago I answered the call put out by Punisher co-creator Gerry Conway about a fundraiser for Black Lives Matter & a campaign to reclaim the Punisher logo from Law Enforcement.
Gerry reached out and asked to do a logo inspired by the Punisher skull, maintain the white skull on black background motif, add a red tear and incorporate Black Lives Matter. Here’s what I came up with & the response has been overwhelming.
Please visit the link above if you’d like to support.
Here are the process sketches for the design.
Also, check out this article from the Guardian! https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jun/11/how-do-you-stop-the-far-right-using-the-punisher-skull-make-it-a-black-lives-matter-symbol
Nguyening It! 