I found out over the weekend that RICK OLNEY DIED last Friday. For anyone who wants a reminder of who Rick Olney was, I present the following news links:
Happy Birthday Rick Olney, Happy Birthday To You!
EXCLUSIVE: Rick Olney Pays Back $100, $35,502.76 To Go…
The Tenth Annual Rumour Awards – BEST LACK OF PAYMENT
Rick Olney Trying To Organise Veteran’s Day Weekend Comic Con In New York
So Who Is Actually Going To Rick Olney’s Comic Con In November?
Now Matt Busch Turns Against Rick Olney Over Indiana Jones
Rick Olney Cancels Adirondack Comic Con
Sending Rick Olney A Cease And Desist Letter
Rick Olney Sells Indiana Jones World Map Without Matt Busch Or Lucasfilm’s Permission
Lucasfilm Tells Rick Olney To Cease And Desist Over Indiana Jones World Map
Rick Olney Demands Apology Before He’ll Hand Over Charity Maps And Donations
All Aces Entertainment – The Latest Rick Olney Thing
Looking Further At Rick Olney’s All Aces Entertainment
Rick Olney Claims To Be Creating A Comic With Mort Todd and Joe Rubinstein
Rick Olney Interviewed By… Artful Angie
A WARNING TO COMICS PROFESSIONALS ABOUT RICK OLNEY
LYING IN THE GUTTERS WITH RICK OLNEY
Considering his “impact” on the comic-book industry, this hasn’t been covered by many of the big comic-book websites and forums, to date. The Beat has a post RIP RICK OLNEY. Rich Johnston simply noted it briefly at the end of a larger article HERE, where he disallowed comments, and Gail Simone deleted a thread that was started about it on her forum, and one of her mods added a final post to the primary Rick Olney thread, and unstuck it from the top of the forum.
I give credit to both Johnston and Simone for taking the high road in this matter. I, however, feel no such obligation to do so. The man was a cancer (pun intended) on the comic-book industry. And he died owing thousands of dollars to multiple people, as well as being in possession of a couple of hundred special maps, which were meant to be sold to charity to support disabled Veterans (despite Olney’s constant boasting of being a Veteran himself). So why should I feel the least bit sorry for him, or his family? Also, to be clear, The Beat article referred to him as “Con promoter/publisher” and Bleeding Cool called him “founder of ORCA and controversial publisher of TightLip Entertainment” but, while he may have promoted ONE convention (that all the guests who attended it claimed was poorly-run) and founded a comic-book group called ORCA (and grossly exaggerated its size and influence), he was NEVER a publisher. Despite many, many announcements over the years, he never managed to publish a single comic-book, because he could never paid any of the writers and artists that he hired to produce work for him.
And despite getting ill with cancer a few years ago, he never saw fit to change his behavior and attempt to right the many wrongs he’d done. As of this past July, he was still threatening people with bogus lawsuits, just for sharing the facts about him (read HERE and scroll down the comments HERE). Back in November, Jeff Hartz posted another round of videos on Youtube, featuring Rick Olney, where he continues to deny any wrong-doing and make excuses for his actions, HERE, HERE, HERE, and
HERE.
And this blog IS IT FACT OR IS IT FICTION? kept track of all of Olney’s activities during this past year, where he continued to boast about big plans he had in the future, and deny that he owed anyone money of anything wrong. So if he refused to change his ways even while knocking on death’s door, I will not express any sympathy for him, now that he’s gone through that door. Yes, I know I’m being “heartless” but, just like when Andrew Breittbart died, I consider this a good thing that one more worthless drag on society is dead.
Categories: I SEE DEAD PEOPLE
chacebook 
AMEN, brutha! Like I said on the Beat article, It’s a shame those loved ones couldn’t have made him a better person. I’d feel more sorry for them if it weren’t for the fact that there’s no way they couldn’t have been aware of all of his shenanigans, I saw his daughter defend him online and his wife was his original business partner. Plus, what did they think when he got those 250 Indiana Jones maps and was just keeping them in his house for the past year? They had to know something wasn’t kosher, yet did nothing to stop him.
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Exactly.
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Wow. I’m speechless.
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Rather harsh, my good man. But it does sound as if he deserves it.
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He does. He deserves all the scorn he gets, and more. Death does not erase his actions in life. So no need to pretend he wasn’t a massive assclown while he was alive.
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Yep. I completely understand why some people would think my post is inappropriate. All I can say is to go ahead and read every single link I provided, and see if that changes your mind. And even then, I know some would still say it’s wrong to gloat about a man’s death, and think that reflects badly on me.
So be it.
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Good riddance to bad rubbish.
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My nickel says this whole death thing may be bullshit.
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No, it’s real. I’ve seen the official obituary online, and the listing for the funeral, which was held yesterday, in the website of the funeral home in Whitesboro, NY. He’s really dead. And not a moment too soon.
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given how rick even up to his death was still being the infamous rip off scum he was . the industry now can rest for it no longer has rick around any more. for rick now is learning lessons in pulling cons and treating people like garbage from the true master the devil. who no doubt is happy rick has come to live in hell. bye bye rick too bad you did not learn how to be a decent human in life
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I admire your courage. I’m one of those who doesn’t believe death makes you a better person, and I don’t subscribe to the idea that we should temporarily all be liars and pretend someone was a good man just because he died, then go back to hating him a few months later. I also don’t believe the “for the family” excuse – even Hitler had friends and family who grieved for him, but that didn’t change what he did. Olney’s family can go ahead and be sorry he’s dead while the people he hurt continue to hate him. While I didn’t know anything about Rick Olney before I read this post, just the few links I read make me glad he’s dead, too. The real shame is that those he owes money to can’t collect it from his estate.
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I agree with your post, completely (sorry it got sent to my SPAM folder, hopefully that won’t happen next time, now that I’ve approved both posts). I’d been following this saga pretty closely for the past 6 years, so I’ve been well aware of who this “man” was, and have been disgusted at his continual lies and cheating. He hurt and took advantage of a LOT of innocent people, and never showed the slightest bit of remorse. That’s why I feel no need to “take the high ground” or be politically correct about it.
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“To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth.” – Voltaire
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And sometimes the truth hurts.
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I met Rick when I was about 11 years old (maybe 2002?). I grew up in Mohawk, NY, and his comic book club was what got me into the comics world. I remember him introducing me to many titles, and giving me free issues.
Although I’m 26 years old now and just found out about his death and the horrible cons that he pulled, I still think of his son Nelson who I thought of as a friend for a few months that summer. I still think of his welcoming attitude. I’m now a graphic designer, and I know what it’s like when you get conned/stiffed. I’m glad that everybody created a community to look out for each other and spread word, but I also think his death was a big loss. I owe him for sparking my appreciation for comic book art.
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Thanks for reading and sharing your personal recollection of Olney, Shawn.
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