How Dare You?! Options

[John Wilson]

It has come to my attention that some very hurtful e-mails were written to Bob Hickey in the wake of his return of ownership of Comic Related to Chuck Moore. And because Bob has too much integrity to tell anyone who wrote those emails, I have some things to say directly to those email writers:

You are a sad pathetic child without an ounce of integrity or professionalism! How dare you call this man out for anything he has done here?! Bob stepped in at a moment of need and for that I will always be grateful to him. You don't know any of the particulars of the change over or the change back, you don't know any of the plans that had been made were Bob to continue and most of all, you have no idea what it takes to keep this site afloat. Only six people in the world know the amount of work that goes into CR everyday and I guarantee that you could not fill anyone of those peoples shoes for even a day.

Of Bob Hickey, I will say I have never met a man of more enthusiasm, drive and imagination for the comics field. I have also never met anyone more devoted to his family. And I have never had more respect for him and what he does than I have now.

It is very easy to hide behind your computer screen and your pseudonym and call people out for what you perceive to be their failings. It is also the epitome of unprofessionalism and I hope you have no aspirations toward being in the comics field because no one can stay hidden forever, word gets around fast and our memories are long. So if you have something to say, I am right here. That is my real name up there. And even if I never find out who wrote those emails, know this...I am a big believer in karmic revenge and karma is looking for you,pal!

These opinions are mine and mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the other owners or any CR affiliates.

[Ron Fortier]

God, I hated reading that, John. I've always thought the CR family was made of decent, honest and up-front people. Not petty minded, back stabbing babies, which is the mentally required for these kinds of hurtful actions. Bob Hickey is a gracious, kind and magnanimous human being who has only ever wanted to do right by the comic community he loves so dearly.
Bob, if you are reading this, I pray your shrug off those stupid e-mails and know they are NOT representative of the 99.99% of the CR family, all of whom think the world of you and are honored to call you a friend.

[AmaruStudios]

John, thank you for bringing this to our attention so that the real CR community can show our support. To say that I am disappointed to hear this is a bit of an understatement. There is no reason for such behavior. I may still be new to this site and I don't know Bob or Chuck personally, but from what I've seen on the site and heard on the Sketch Podcast, they are both upstanding guys and I have no doubt that whatever was done in terms of the site changing hands was done for the good of the site and it's readers/users. All of the people involved with CR, Sketch, Blue Line, etc work extremely hard and are constantly juggling multiple jobs. As a small-press artist, edtior, PR officer, etc, I can understand what that's like. Keep up the good work, Bob and I look forward to the next podcast and Clay's Way update.

[SapphireGypsy]

Wow, I'm sorry that someone chose to write a nasty e-mail instead of come out and say what they wanted to. It's easy to be brave when there's a few hundred miles of internet cable between you and the person you're talking to.

I'm glad that he was there to help keep CR afloat when we needed him and for making some tough, of not popular, decisions regarding the site. Family is, and will always be, more important than keeping a website up and running. I feel like we were made a part of the family here at CR from day one, which if you know anything of our previous experience then you'll understand how refreshing that was, so it hurts me that someone would attack a member of our family.

It's hard work, and anyone who thinks it's easy probably isn't putting out a quality product, I can speak from experience on that one.

I know I can speak for all the Nerd Girl's when I say that we were glad that Bob was able to step up when he did and we support his decision to choose his family over a website, and we're sorry that someone chose to attack him for his decisions.

[Gonzogoose]

It was a very disheartening thing to hear when we learned that some people had been messaging hurtful things to Bob. Make no mistake about it, regardless of whether you agreed with decisions made under his time here, he was doing what he felt was best for the site and that would help it to grow. That is without question, and I personally commend and respect him for that.

Most of the people in the CR community are some of the nicest and friendliest people I've ever had the privilege of knowing in all of comics. When there are so many other communities that are full of hatred and petty crap it is refreshing to be a part of this "family." It's, therefore, despicable to me to know that there are some in our midst that are not of this shared mindset, respect and friendliness.

Do yourselves a favor and express your thoughts in a professional or at least respectful manner or just keep your mouths shut. We don't need any of that around here. We're fine with opinions, please, speak your minds, but do so in a way that doesn't reflect poorly on you and that is not hurtful to others.

Bob, on behalf of the rest of us here at CR, I do apologize for any disparaging messages sent your way by those less civilized.

[cougar18]

I honestly hope that whoever sent those messages is some troll looking for trouble, rather than anyone of us regular posters.

I have to say, that for the most part, I will air my greivances on these boards, unless I have a problem that I need to contact someone specific.
I have not contacted Bob, personally, in years, so I have to categorically state I was not one of those who chose to bully him whilst hiding behind a screenname. Any comments I have made to Bob have been on these boards.
I just have not had a reason to email him, nor him me.
That said, I have always wished Bob and Bill the best of luck with all their endeavours. They have been nothing but genlemen with me.

(Btw, while I do acknowedge I use a screen name, if anyone wishes yo find out my real name, they just have to ask. I will answer them without any hesitancy.)

I do find the thought of someone claiming individual ownership of a website that was set up to help everyone to be somewhat disturbing, and I am referring to a situation where they were not involved in the website development at all.

Anyway, I have to state, for the record, that I was not the abusive e-mailer(s). Just wanted to state that clearly.

[Decapitated_Dan]

That is horrible to find out. Bob is awesome, getting to meet him at C2E2 and then hang out with him at Detroit Fanfare was great. It's a shame that people have to act like this.

[Robert W Hickey]

It's not a big deal. I'm just happy that CR is in great hands with Brant, John, Chuck and Darren. We all need a strong CR to help this industry to grow.
I wish everyone the best and look forward to keeping in touch.
take care,
Bob

[doombug]

I would like to state for the record that I wasn't the emailer either.

I've only had the pleasure of having Dinner with Bob once 2 NYCC's ago and he was nothing but a nice guy and a great conversationalist and while I don't agree with the choices he completely made in his short tenure running CR, I certainly would not wish him any ill will and hope he's doing good.

[Bill Nichols]

Bob Hickey has been one of my best friends for almost 20 years.

I've been blessed to have him as part of my life and I've done of lot of comics and comics-related work with him and because of him, including Sketch Magazine and the other things we've produced. And that friendship and collaboration will continue until the day we die. If you're lucky, you find a friend like him. He could have given up on me a long time ago (read that "as the years I was married: if you want), but he didn't.

Shame on you for your hurtful emails and attitude shrouded in your anonymity.

I hope you see the tide is against you. And I hope you find yourself mature enough to apologize.

[Mike Luoma]

Bob,

Just wanted to offer some words of support - sorry to hear some self-righteous jerk went off on you. That's totally uncalled for. The fact they did it anonymously galls, hate that. You tried - you kept the site going - you gave it... wait a sec, let me write that again in big letters - you GAVE it back to Chuck when you knew you wouldn't be able to keep going with it. That's an amazing thing, and honorable as well. I want to echo the sentiments of the others here, the community of CR, and apologize for the fact someone did that to you, and thank you for everything you've dared to try to do.

Mike