do your job, people

[davemerrill]

So I've been following the whole Rob Granito story - for those who don't know, he's this guy who made a lot of claims concerning his work for Marvel, DC, and, uh, Calvin & Hobbes. He used those claims to get invited to a bunch of conventions like Dragoncon, the Toronto Wizard Comic Con, and Megacon, where he'd sell original fantasy and superhero paintings that in some cases weren't so original. You can get started with the story here or maybe here or perhaps here. It's pretty amusing, particularly the poor grammar on display from anonymous commenters pretending to be DC editors defending Granito.

It's an old story - everybody went to school with somebody who had a desperate psychological need to impress everyody around him with amazing stories that never quite panned out. Additionally, the super hero comic book world is up in arms because Granito's work for super hero comics is, shall we say, swiped like crazy from other artists, and his other claims of employment haven't quite lived up to his big talk. (I say, superhero artists swipe from each other all the time. Every time you're drawing a corporate-owned character you're swiping. Some of these characters have been being drawn regularly for SEVENTY YEARS. Originality is not even on the table here.)

But there's a larger story here, and that story is this: why was he a guest at conventions AT ALL? This is somebody who has inspired fandom to ask "who is Rob Granito?" Obviously he's not going to be a draw. Nobody is going to look at your flyer and say "Hey, it's Rob Granito, I wasn't going to go to the con before but now, SIGN ME UP!!" Why was he a guest at Dragoncon? Why was he a guest at Wizard World Toronto and Wizard World Anaheim? Why was he at Megacon? Why was he at JACON?

And even that question isn't the real question - we know why he was at those shows; he was at those shows to make money by selling "art" to convention attendees. I ask, why did the conventions not charge him for a dealer's table? Why let this big-talking fake talk his way onto your guest list? Are you that stupid?

He needs conventions WAY MORE than conventions need him. Let him shell out for a dealers room table and do his own promotional work. His name on your guest list only makes your convention look desperate, confused (JACON?) and now, clueless.

There are quite a few people who pad their resumes out in an attempt to work their way into the green rooms of conventions - it happens at anime cons all the time. For some I think it's an addiction; as long as they can find their name in a con guide or on a con website, as long as they get a panel room to talk at four or five people for an hour, as long as they can talk the con into taking them out to dinner three or four times over the weekend, all's well with the world. And there are plenty of conventions that are too polite to refuse, too ignorant of the true cost of padding their guest list out with nobodies, of taking one more room out of their room block and adding two or three mouths to their catering bills. At least Rob Granito is walking away from these shows with a pocket full of cash and business cards of potential business contacts, in addition to a belly full of free convention food.

AWA's taken some heat under Stan's administration for a pretty strict guest policy - there's always somebody desperate to see their favorite internet celebrity recieve a guest badge, or something, who takes offense at Stan's bias towards working industry figures - but it's avoided a lot of Rob Granito nonsense over the years, and I continue to support it fully.

I don't see this Rob Granito story as anything other than a slightly more extreme version of The Way Things Are; liars lie, hacks hack, suckers bite. Don't be a sucker.

Comments

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

The reject file of convention guest submissions is always an interesting look into the psyche of fame-mongers. I always wonder what they think being an anime con guest is going to get them? The only thing being an anime con guest leads to is being a guest at more anime cons. Repeat until fired from day job.

Even some of the "industry guests" - they go to a con and get to parade around in front of 500 nerds for a couple of hours, and then they go back home to their unrelated-to-the-fantasy-world day jobs so they can pay the bills.

But it's the non-pros desperate to "make it" in the "big time convention world" that really take the cake. I have a dance routine built around a video game song, I play video game songs on the piano, I have a standup routine, I have a cable-access show, I have an internet radio program, I make parody YouTube videos... these things are great, but guest-worthy they do not make you.

[warpig1979.livejournal.com]

Fellow at the local anime club once asked me what I do for a living, I say I'm a writer, I do anime and game reviews and features and stuff for X, Y, and Z. He says to me, wow, that's awesome, you could go to all these conventions and do panels and get in for free.

I say, what in the hell would I want to do that for? He gets this blank, perplexed look on his face.

I dunno. The appeal of being a fixture on the con circuit just escapes me.

[efathefinger.livejournal.com]

Don't think joeysnackpants still reads his LJ, so I'll answer for JACON. JACON after say the 5th one, we were getting a bit jaded, so the guest list turned into A) George Lowe. We like George, for all his faults, maybe because of them. B) 2-3 guests in the anime industry for the kids C) People who the staff wanted to see.
So, hell, we had Rob Paulsen (Booya!), Phil LaMarr, Billy West, Ellen Muth. Some had voice credits on stuff, some didn't. Oh, and Brett Weaver anytime we could get him to do yet another convention.
Seriously, we didn't get paid, at this point in our lives we don't generally like the anime the kids are watching. You do something you want at the convention.
So, Rob Granito was there because we wanted to see him at our convention. No cheating, weaseling, or whatever.

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

I'd love to meet Phil LaMarr. Guy has amazing vocal talent, I used to watch MAD TV mostly for his bits.

I've long thought he would be really really good as the dub voice of Captain Harlock.

And that bit in the mockumentery Free Enterprise, the trip to the LD store. There was a reality to that bit that tells me he actually did that crap in his off-screen time. Yeaaaaaaaah.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but WHY did you want to see Rob Granito? So you could watch him paint over somebody else's artwork and claim it as his own? It's not like he had any accomplishments that he didn't make up. I mean, there's people like Billy West, great con guest. Actually done things. Granito, not so much.

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

The only reason I can think of, and you know we fanboys are cruel, evil people, would be for the odd joy of seeing just how delusional the dude is.

Right? Just watching him utter pure bullshit, seeing him get redfaced when he's questioned, poke the monkey and watch him dance.

OTOH...you know, it could be the 'big lie' thing at work. He's bullshitted so long and so hard there's BOUND to be those that believe him. Pick ANY topic, any person in the 'real world' that you know is utter, 100% poop puck yet there are folk out there that buy into it tooth and claw.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

I'm sure Granito bullshitted somebody pretty hard and they threw a pass at him to shut him up. And I got no problem with throwing passes at people to shut them up, have done it many times, but listing him as a guest on your website, that shows a little advance bullshit throwing and a little advance bullshit catching.

You spend any time at conventions and you see these fakes all over; they all have some amazing project that's just about to happen, or they worked on some successful property but their name wasn't on the credits because they were called in at the last minute, etc., etc. It is one step removed from the panhandler who has the story about how his car broke down on the way to taking his kids to the hospital so they can see their mom, can I have $7.59?

Play their game, everybody loses.

[snackpants.livejournal.com]

Ouch... not pretty... not pretty at all.

[snackpants.livejournal.com]

Well Dave, its because I own a number of Rob's works. They hang on my walls. I talked to the guy a number of times and offered him a table in the Dealer's room. He was doing pieces that complemented the other 'guests' that were there. I treated Rob just like any other artist that did commissions.

Rob was nice and personable. I liked what he put on canvas, and honestly no one, including Doug or Steve had anything bad to say about the guy. It's not like I paid him or anything to be there. He sold his wares and people bought. I am far from an 'art expert' or knowledgeable in the industry.

JACON was never my 'job'... so I did as much research as it should have supported a hobby. If the other artist that were there didn't have issue with, I didn't. Didn't stop Doug and Steve from glad handing Rob at the JACONs he did.

Eric is right... after 2005, I brought people I or my staff wanted to see. Seemed a lot of attendees didn't care or appreciate who was there. Hell Daric was "Guest Emeritus" for 7 years. I think one year we had pictures for him to sign.

People like Ellen Muth, why? My Registration Director (and most of her staff), who put YEARS of time into the event wanted to meet her, so I made it happen. Sue me for trying to make the people who helped me year after year happy.

Stan Bush as a guest? I was sick of getting stupid 'insert dumbass band name here' requests... So I decided if anyone was going to play JACON, it was going to be Stan Bush... and Tom made it happen.

And people wonder why I was sick of doing JACON.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

You own a number of works of which it may be said that the degree of their "Robness" is now under a certain amount of ambiguity.

To be honest, they are probably going to be worth a LOT more now than they were, say, a week ago.

I don't even know who Ellen Muth or Stan Bush are. They're not relevant to the discussion. The discussion is about Rob Granito and his lack of ethics, talent, and honesty, and how that reflects upon conventions who have him as a guest. If the reaction of Wizard World and Dragoncon and the Chiller Expo is any indication, the reflection isn't a good one.

I realize there aren't any more JACONs, so it's not like you have future conventions to worry about. But it was kind of curious to see him on that '09 guest list.

[snackpants.livejournal.com]

I am not defending Rob or his ethics. And the 'Robness' or worth of the items on the wall is not something I gave a damn about at the time. Hell he could have traced them for all I knew, they look nice on my wall.

He was at JACON 2008 and JACON 2009. At 2009 he did a number pieces of 'original' pieces for the event, and I felt it was considerate to give him Featured Artist status. Steve was there as talent not as an artist. That last year I was throwing everyone on as a guest, because... it was the last year.

Rob probably was lying about his credentials... I never asked for any, so I guess he never lied to me. What I am finding strange, Rob has been doing the convention circuit for nearly 6 years and this has come to light now. It does prove things do come back to bite you in the ass.

Does this make me like the pieces I own any less... nope. I got them because I liked how they looked, just like other 'stuff' in my home. Would I commission Rob to do work in the future... probably not.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

That's kind of the issue, though, with him being at Wizard or at Dragon or at any show... by making him a guest, these conventions were supporting Granito and his fraud. Perhaps unwittingly, but supporting nontheless.

Due diligence needed to happen at all these shows. It *is* actually the job of the convention - this is what I'm talking about when I say "do your job" - it's the convention's job to check the credentials of the people they advertise as 'guests' and make sure that Joe Whoever actually did shoot Hitler right in the face on the Moon in 1954, or whatever the claim is, to ensure that the attraction you're advertising honestly does exist, and that people who pay money to come to your show are getting what they paid for. When it turns out dude really didn't shoot Hitler on the moon, or work on the Batman animated series... somebody's been lied to. And that ain't right. Conventions shouldn't be a party to these kind of lies, even unwittingly.

This goes right in hand with the fact that the convention organization has a responsibility to ensure its attendees aren't being sold fraudulently represented works. That could be bootleg videos, or bootleg merchandise, or artwork Rob Granito claims he did all by himself. There's a basic level of honesty here, not just on Granito's part, but on the part of major, major conventions (well, okay, expecting honest behavior on the part of the Wizard organization is probably asking too much) that is disturbing.

[snackpants.livejournal.com]

Thanks Eric, but I do drop by LJ to read Dave, Nicole, Dr. Wagner and a few others.

We did have more Emmy award winners than any other event in Florida. *chuckle*

[efathefinger.livejournal.com]

Good thing we never booked Tiger, holy crap, what a douche he turned out to be.

[kikaiju.livejournal.com]

Never understood why people go to such great efforts to get a free con badge. Not just this guy I never heard of, but anyone. It's not like it's a freaking golden ticket. It's a con badge that might cost anywhere from 10 to 50 bucks, versus going to a fair amount of effort to get in free. meh. Skip that value meal and buy a ticket. Problem solved.

Hell, most cons are pretty terrible about keeping out the freeloaders and gate-crashers. Wandering around for free AND breaking the rules is probably even more of a thrill than just getting a free pass.

Anyway, the problem with guests like this is really when the con heads or whatever fall for it OR don't care and go along with it. Like a padded bra, everybody running a con thinks a padded guest list looks better.

Then the guests of questionable value gets foisted on the attendees, some of whom won't see it for what it is, and they might even take it at face value, and thus a BS artist starts to get cred. Misdirecting attendees like that is the part I feel bad about. A little. I mean, it's only called a "con" by coincidence but shady stuff still goes on.

Actually I don't give a crap any more. :)