Iron Circus: Templar: Dueling Theories.

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March 03, 2008

Templar: Dueling Theories.

So, here we are. A bit of light shed on Pippi's past, but not much. A hint of why she's living with Scip in the first place, but only just. A cause for Reagan's burning annoyance with the situation, but just a bit.

I'm stingy like that. TIME TO CHANGE THE SCENE!

Hey, remember me going on about summore art theft in a previous post? Jess Fink was vindicated, and Hot Topic pulled the copycat shirt, laying the blame squarely (surprise, surprise) on a junior designer. Jess had to lawyer up to get a response, but a response came all the same. This is pretty reassuring, since I'll admit, I was betting Hot Topic was gonna gamble Fink wouldn't have the balls to sue and risk ignoring her.

Maybe they paid attention during the Shmorky/Todd Goldman rumble? Who knows. Probably not. I just like to think so.

On occasion, I do con panels on webcomics, and I get asked about what you should do if you find out you're being copied. My answer is that it depends. Is some 14-year-old on Deviant Art tracing your bishies? Lay the fuck off. Seriously, who cares? Stop it, you're not losing a single fan or a single dime. But when people start making money off of your work... eBaying shirts or cigarette cases with you art on them, selling stolen shirt designs, etcetera? Lawyer up, and go for the throat. No all-caps warning emails, no bitchin' and moanin' like a helpless victim. no climbing up on a cross. Just do it. Like Jess, like Shmorky.

And nope, I've never been stolen from that I know of. But then, I've never been very good with whimsy. That stuff draws the copycats like flies.

More Wednesday!

Posted by Spike at March 3, 2008 09:25 AM

Comments

Hi Spike, I name-checked you in an article I wrote about online publishing:

http://www.writinghood.com/Online-Writing/Online-Novels.88282 .

Hope that's okay. Loving the latest chapter.

Dan

Posted by Dan at March 3, 2008 10:04 AM
138.38.54.194

Is Zora a good kid ? She needs to be taught a few things about boundaries. And she needs to be taught that stealing wallets is wrong, even if her dad does it... A lot of things could go horribly wrong with that kid.

Posted by Wood at March 3, 2008 01:01 PM
86.214.111.213

It may be just because she's a little kid, but Zora has a natural empathy that Pippi's way too self-centered to develop. Certainly that could be lost if Zora's life went a bad way, but Pippi seems to need boot camp where Zora just needs a little common sense around her. Reagan's got some of that, even if it's wrapped up in scathing cynicism. But Scip wouldn't be consistently hard-nosed enough to cut through Pippi's victim act, although if pushed, he could probably find somewhere to send her to get her the discipline she needs, and feel terribly guilty for it ever afterwards.

Posted by Jala at March 3, 2008 04:08 PM
68.118.230.164

I think Zora will be OK. Her dad may be incompetent, but he means well, and intentions are very important. Intentions transmit better than specific behaviours. As long as he doesn't wind up dead or in jail or forgets to buy food or something.

Posted by jdalton at March 3, 2008 06:17 PM
205.250.74.8