Cheesecake artist Randy Queen does not understand "Fair Use", tries to censor blog

[the4thpip]

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20...famatory.shtml

This is pretty sad. Artists should be fighting for freedom of expression, not against it.

And how long has he been in the business to still not understand that critics are fully within their rights to print excerpts of a comic book?

[Puppetmaker Grae]

Streisand Effect about to kick in. He can't honestly think he's actually got anything to sue about.

[dupont2005]

So now articles are being written about what a tool he is and I find a new blog to follow.

[the4thpip]

Yeah, this is actually great exposure for the cleverly named Escher Girls.

[The_Greatest_Username]

Has Queen moved into Liefeld territories or has he passed Liefeld since he's threatening the blog with legal action?

[Enigmatic Undead]

So yesterday I found out that Randy Queen (artist of DarkChylde) filed a bunch of DMCA takedown notices to Tumblr to remove posts of his covers on this blog (the entire posts, not just the images). I've also gotten messages from other users that he’s had their stuff removed too (redraws, etc that have been featured here). Non-critical Tumblr posts of his art/covers and those praising his work appear to be unaffected.

I’m writing this to let other people who run sites that might have criticized his work know that he seems to use DMCA takedowns to remove pages that are critical of his work. And, to be prepared that he might have Tumblr remove your posts without warning (there was no prior communication of any kind, or conventional requests for removal).

Also, if you've submitted redraws of his stuff to these sites, you might want to ask them to put them private for now (if he complains about a submission you've made, Tumblr will count it as a complaint against your account).

To date, Mr. Queen is the only artist who has taken this kind of action - other artists and publishers seem to understand Escher Girls & other similar sites are fair use and criticism, and that fan discussion, positive or negative, is important and helpful to their business. (In fact, the creators I've interacted with are either fans of EG, or expressed disagreement but know that it’s fan criticism.)

If anybody is curious about what his DarkChylde art looked like and why they were featured on this blog you can find them here.

(Don’t harass him on his Facebook or Tumblr by the way. I’m not interested in having a feud with him, just letting people know what’s going on.)

Update: He has now filed a DMCA takedown with Tumblr to remove this post. This post is still up on Escher Girls, but every single reblog of it has been removed.

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[Clea]

The Streisand Effect on this is in full force now. From what I've seen on Twitter, lawyers are offering pro bono support to the owner of the Escher Girls site and Queen is being called out about this all over the place. It goes without saying that criticism, discussion, and parody are all considered legal 'fair use' under copyright laws so his initial DMCA was groundless. But now is he threatening to sue the site owner for defamation for even posting about the DMCA. I'm boggled.

[the4thpip]

I'm getting some popcorn in case this moves from Streisand effect into Rick Olney territory.

[Vibranium]

it seems to be, some people out there (be it artists, restaurants, performers) seem to be taking crticism way too heavily

I read an article about a bed and breakfast that will fine a wedding party $500 per negative review their guests leave online

[Mikekerr3]

I guess that disprovethe idea that you must have a functioning brain to be an artist

I hope he does sue, the owner of Tumblr Escher Girls will see quite a prfit out of that suit and the counter-suit for filling a frivolous suit.

Is there a legal penalty for filing false DCMA claim? If not they should add one.

[dupont2005]

I'm getting some popcorn in case this moves from Streisand effect into Rick Olney territory.

He's been giving Prince a run for his money since day one. Soon he'll be in his own territory.

[Mikekerr3]

I guess that disprovethe idea that you must have a functioning brain to be an artist

I hope he does sue, the owner of Tumblr Escher Girls will see quite a prfit out of that suit and the counter-suit for filling a frivolous suit.

Is there a legal penalty for filing false DCMA claim? If not they should add one.

Added it looks like ther are penalties including possibly Perjury

And the Striesand effect is working quite well Wheaton and Scalzi tore him a new one as have many others

[Clea]

CBR has a formal thread up about this now:
http://robot6.comicbookresources.com...-legal-threat/

[the4thpip]

Unexpected turn: He apologized via facebook and directly via E-Mail to the Escher girls blogger.

Hey everyone,
Just wanted to clear up a few things that happened this past week. I have been having a very hard time in my personal life with the loss of my mother and my marriage having fallen apart and found myself in a very vulnerable and fragile state of mind. There were posts on the web criticizing my artwork that were brought to my attention and added to my stress. I reacted without thinking it through, but have now stopped, realizing my response was the wrong one to take. I am doing my best, each day, to get myself back on my feet and getting my life in a better place and realize now that I have just try to move on and get back to my art, the thing I find the most joy in these days. I want to thank those professionals, friends and family who have been giving me their support, understanding and love.
Thanks for listening.
~ R

https://www.facebook.com/randy.queen...?fref=nf%C2%A0

[Kieran_Frost]

Unless you are uber powerful/rich (like A-list Hollywood or music industry wealthy), acts like these RARELY work or silence the criticism and comments someone is so desperate to see removed. This was foolish for him, because it's going to make a minor blog (which most haven't heard of) suddenly known and "important". A mountain out a mole hill, and we have front row seats