Dave Cockrum tribute

[ollybygollly]

Got mine today. i was a little bit disappointed that the advertised Perez work wasn't in it. But, to be honest, I didn't order it as a Mr. George completeist. I ordered it as a fan of Mr. Dave. He has been so overlooked by Marvel and DC over the last 15 or so years, especially after the great contributions to both companies.


I'm begging my fellow Perez-fans....DON'T LET THE FACT THAT MR. GEORGE'S WORK WASN'T IN THE BOOK RUN YOU AWAY! Please...buy the book. Mr. Dave deserves our love and support.

[Jim Reeber]

Folks,

Clifford Meth, the tribute's organizer, adores George Perez, both personally and professionally. Some years ago, George illustrated Cliff's story, "The Legion of Dysfunctional Heroes," which is currently under option with Hollywood.

When Cliff invited George into the Cockrum Tribute, George said he'd love to join us, but that he was still suffering from a problem with his hand. So Cliff suggested to George that he pull a drawing that George did for Cliff years ago and use it in the book, and George said sure. George also said he'd look for something, too, and it was left at that. But at the end of the day, the only pieces Cliff had of George's were under glass (framed and mounted) and not necessarily appropriate for the book. And George never sent us anything else. Our loss, but no hard feelings.

If you ordered the book from us and would like to cancel the order, just write to [e-mail] and your money will be refunded.

As for John Byrne's absence: John insulted Dave Cockrum on his blog or website while Dave was still hospitalized. This only came to our attention when Dave's wife Paty called our offices. She said that under the circumstances neither she nor Dave felt comfortable with Byrne in the book. So that was that. Byrne had only sent us a xerox, so there was nothing to return to him nor reason to contact him.

Jim Reeber
Aardwolf Publishing

[sleeper]

Thank you.

[Brian Talley]

And just what was the insult that was allegedly directed at Dave? As a poster over at the Byrne board, I can't recall anything of that nature ever being posted there. John's respect for Dave is well known. As another poster there has pointed out, wouldn't it have been better to go to Byrne first and discuss the "insult" before making the decision to omit the artwork from the tribute book? Omitting the piece that John was generous enough to donate without going to him to discuss this matter does not seem to be a very profesional thing to do.

[Jim Reeber Aardwolf Publishin]

Guest-Brian said:

And just what was the insult that was allegedly directed at Dave? As a poster over at the Byrne board, I can't recall anything of that nature ever being posted there.

I didn't see it, nor did I need to. It was sufficient that Paty Cockrum -- Dave Cockrum's wife -- saw something that upset her; that she called us insisting that John Byrne not be includedl.

We did this book as a gift to the Cockrums, who we have a personal and professional relationship with. There was no need to contact John Byrne, who we have no relationship with.

Frankly, I don't want to get in the middle of this, nor do I want any of my staff involved. We are grateful to John Byrne for having attempted to participate in this project, and regretful that it did not work out.

A letter from Dave and or Paty Cockrum will be forthcoming.

Jim Reeber

[Shaun Crowell]

I gotta say that I have been posting on the John Byrne boards for years and I have NEVER seen anything negative written about Dave Cockrum by John Byrne. I am sure that if Byrne did not like Cockrum or respect him than I doubt that he would have contributed a piece of art. The fact that Dave's wife said she saw something could be true, but with the internet anything can be forged. She should have contacted Byrne and asked him about this.
Shaun

[sleeper]

I'm not trying to suggest such a thing, but it's worth noting that John Byrne does delete posts that he doesn't approve and/or when he changed his mind.

[Bob Simko]

As a Moderator on John's board, I cannot recall any message, even which might have been deleted, which was insulting. I know, without a doubt, that John has nothing but respect for Dave Cockrum. Clearly, a misunderstanding took place.

[sleeper]

Again, I don't want to insinuate that John said anything about Dave and then delete the message.... but here is an example of a post that was deleted on John's messageboard:

vu.morrissey-solo.com/moz/perez/news/030729.htm

I don't know who deleted the original message, but it's gone. It was deleted shortly after CBR reported the link and story.... Anyway, I have not personally read anything about John's statements towards Dave Cockrum (even good comments), so I wouldn't know anything

[Shaun Crowell]

So John Bryne deleted his own message?

[comic reader]

Historically--back to his days on AOL--Bynre has had a well-established habit of trying to rewrite posting history. He would get a buddy of his at AOL to delete posts from people he didn't like, or remove his own previous posts that contradicted a more recent opinion. By contrast, he would often write posts that were contrary to AOL's TOS attacking and insulting people he disliked/disagreed with.

This only stopped when his buddy at AOL was fired for accomodating these activities after numerous complaints. The replacement board monitor promptly removed those of Byrne's posts which violated TOS. Within a short time, he left AOL, to continue his bizzare behavior on another messageboard.

When some of his posts were removed from THAT board--for largely the same reasons as at AOL--he moved to his "own" place, where he posts whatever he wants, deletes whatever he wants, and doesn't have to abide by a civilized code of conduct.

Byrne has been described by some his peers (and we're not talking about people famous for arguing with him, either) as "a bitter, old man", and "the biggest pain in the (butt) to work with--all he tells you is what you can't do."

People would be well-advised to follow the excellent example set by the Cockrums concerning John Byrne--

IGNORE him. Sooner or later, he'll go away.

[Robin Taylor]

Not to derail "Comic Reader's" own attempts at rewriting history, but as someone who has been a part of the various Byrne boards immediately after the end of the AOL thing, I can tell you, you are full of it.

The message linked to above was from the second Byrne message board outside of AOL, hosted by Net54. It was the first moderated board, and was NOT moderated by Byrne, at that time. Dave Pruitt was the only person capable of deleting anything as owner of that board at that time, so please gets your facts straight by not confusing the situation on his current board with the past.

Robin Taylor

[BuddydaveNoLoggy]

Sounds like Cockrum did his share of insulting as well when he called Byrne a "world-class jerk" on a messageboard last year and groused about Byrne getting all the credit for making the X-Men popular.

Now don't get me wrong, I love the fact that fans are able to interact personally with comics professionals on the Internet, but is anybody else getting sick of the "board wars" between comics creators these days?

Most of it is childish, unprofessional bickering and takes a LOT of the fun out of being a comic book fan. Some could say that these folks are merely following the fans' examples (who have the capacity to behave 100 times worse), but is it too much to expect that comics professionals behave professionally?

[sleeper]

Looks like the thread on Byrne/Cockrum is now re-opened. It was locked for a brief time. The Lying in the Gutter story re-sparked the issue and now more readers are exposed to this ...

I don't think there's a search option on DC's board, can someone send me the link to that ? Or just tell me what forum it is in. I am curious to read about DC people talking about John Byrne/Dave Cockrum.

[sleeper]

Nevermind, I found it under the Doom Patrol section.