Gareb Shamus Accused Of Trying To Get Artist Fired From Their Day Job

[Rich Johnston]

The Gutters is a weekly web comic written by Ryan Sohmer and a gang of artists that satirises the comic book industry. Two weeks ago, they took a pot shot at Gareb Shamus, now ex-President and CEO of Wizard World. With a strip that is... no longer online, not in its original form at least.

Because, according to Sohmer, Gareb went to the artist's place of employ - a well known boys toys brand - and tried to get the artist fired as a result of the strip.

Ryan doesn't name Gareb by name. But he makes it very clear indeed.

"Should you find yourself the subject matter of a Gutters page, and take offense to it, don't go after my artists. Should you be so offended that you attempt to get someone fired from their day job, don't be a coward.

"Come after me.

"My e-mail is Sohmer@blindferret.com, I will gladly provide you with my contact information, as well as that of our legal department.

"I take sole responsibility for every comic and news post on this site."

Ryan seems to have no such correspondence. He has removed the original strip, and... replaced it with exactly the same strip, redrawn by Lar Desouza.

[evilwilma]

Hey, look! A weasel!

[Joe B. Pangrazio]

Fuck Gareb Shamus.

[ahlhelm]

And thus ended all my benefit of the doubt posts about Gareb. I read the notes on the most recent Gutters and after that, you pretty much can't pretend you are not a scumbag.

[Matt Spatola]

So he took it down and then put it back up, written exactly the same but redrawn? Wonder what the problem was?

[Joe B. Pangrazio]

So he took it down and then put it back up, written exactly the same but redrawn? Wonder what the problem was?

The artist.

Lar DeSouza makes a living drawing comics with Ryan Sohmer. Shamus can't threaten Lar.

The same can't be said for other artists that work with Sohmer on Gutters.

[poneley]

This is a great example of the Streisand Effect. I never would have heard of this wonderful online comic if it were not for Mr. Shamus' childish reaction. Good job Gareb, you've not only proved the point they were trying to make in the comic but you also got more folks to see it.

[Fengor]

Here's the rant in it's entirety, the snippet in the news post does not do it justice.

I need to speak out about something, making one issue very clear, before I get on about today's page.

Every single Gutters page is attributed to me as the writer, meaning I am responsible for every panel on every page.

The artist of the page, as well as the team behind Gutters, are all on a work for hire basis. In layman's terms, we pay them to draw, letter, color and edit my script, they do so.

Should you find yourself the subject matter of a Gutters page, and take offense to it, don't go after my artists. Should you be so offended that you attempt to get someone fired from their day job, don't be a coward.

Come after me.

My e-mail is Sohmer@blindferret.com, I will gladly provide you with my contact information, as well as that of our legal department.

I take sole responsibility for every comic and news post on this site.

Don't you dare go after one of my artists.

I'm a much better target.

That said, should an artist request that I remove a page, I will do so in a heartbeat in such a situation. Of course, I reserve the right to have the page redrawn at my leisure.

As someone said, he removed the original page at the request of the artist and had Lar draw a replacement because Shamus can't touch Lar and because Sohmer enjoys giving d-bags the finger whenever he gets the chance.

[MWEDMER]

Gareb can threaten anyone he wants. However he should be prepared to receive a big dose of -Go fuck yourself. Gareb is a shitstain. He knows it, he just doesn't like it being pointed out to everyone else.

[Joe B. Pangrazio]

Gareb can threaten anyone he wants. However he should be prepared to receive a big dose of -Go fuck yourself. Gareb is a shitstain. He knows it, he just doesn't like it being pointed out to everyone else.

You're right. What I meant to say was, "Gareb can have no negative impact on Lar's livelihood."

Mind you, having met Sohmer, Lar, and some of the other boys at Blind Ferret, they're all complete sweethearts and I'm proud to support them in every way I can.