A Legit-o-mite Fraud
From a mouse at wank_report .

For at least the last six years, a guy called Rob Granito has been going to comic book conventions and getting them to give him a free table as an official guest by showing his resume which includes various cartoons and DC and Marvel Comics.

Then some unnamed anonymous person noticed that his convention bio claimed "his most recent projects have been the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes". Say WHAT? Calvin and Hobbes, the comic that ended in the 90's and was produced singlehanded by Bill Watterson? This anonymous benefactor put Rich Johnston of comic site Bleeding Cool on the case.

And Rich didn't need to be Sherlock Holmes to crack it - a few phone calls proved none of the comic book companies he claimed to be connected to had even heard of him.

Granito's rebuttal? He claimed he "was a ghost artist for most of the projects I did", despite the fact that Marvel and DC don't hire ghost artists. Also, he claimed to work with the famed DC Editor "Jay Diddilo" who... does not exist. Maybe he heard of DC head Dan DiDio and didn't remember properly? The mind boggles.

The comment section fills up with posts heaping shame upon Granito

Comic creators following the story start to recognize their own work in the art Granito was selling for hundreds of dollars. Not just a similar pose, no, the same art flipped in a different direction or with a little paint on top. They are not pleased, and start collecting a wall of shame of photo-proven examples of Granito theft. There are a lot of them.

Many register their protest in the form of humorous comics. Of course they do, they're cartoonists.

But it gets better! As word spreads, a wave of suspiciously similar, badly spelled, defenses of Granito pop up in comments sections across the blogosphere. For example:

"No he is legitomite i was a DC Assistant Editor until a year ago and we used Rob as a ghost artist on a number of books we used he is well known on the “insiders” level of the industry and did alot of promotion art for DC and Marvel dont believbe rumors i worked at DC as an art director for 6-7 years and we used Rob alot he is legit"


"Gabe Carey - i was a proofreader at dark horse and other publishers and i personally saw rob granito perform at a professional and talented level this is nothing more than a whichhunt to the ones who love drama the guy is being treated unfairly because its a slow news week"

and

"Dave Parker - Hi I have been at many conventions, and, I have seen Mr Rob Granito work, and I never saw him steal, There are Alot of Tribute Pieces of Art, Why blame it all on Rob Granito, Just dont buy his stuff if it bothered you, Were else can he go to work everyone has a right to work, I dont know him myself but I have been reading this and It Is Just my Opinion."


A real master of disguise, this Granito. Note the cunning use of capitalization! Too bad he keeps using the same IP address. No one would have smoked him out otherwise.

Meanwhile, comic artist Colleen Doran has screenshot proof that Granito started claiming he worked with recently deceased comic and animation writer Dwayne McDuffie soon after the man's death. Oops. Just about everybody loved McDuffie, so it starts to get real.

Comic artist Ethan Van Sciver and comic writer Mark Waid, despite being on opposite ends of the political spectrum, meet at Megacon, spot Granito, and decide they can agree on one thing: Granito must go down! As Mark Waid later tweeted, "Hey Granito: When you get comics’ loudest leftwing hippiefreak AND loudest rightwing Nazi to join forces on your ass, YOU HAVE FUCKED UP."

They form an impromptu vigilante posse to go after him in his lair.

"I saw red and stormed over with Ethan. We were both livid. I told Fraudboy in no uncertain terms that I will personally contact every convention there is and warn them… not to give him a table if they ever want to see me or MY friends there, EVER. I also screamed at him when he said “Well, truthfully–” that he is not allowed to use that word, ever, ever. That word means nothing coming from him."

"I believe my exact endquote, two hours before the show closed, was, “Make your money here, because this is your last convention. Do you understand me? This is your last show.” That’s right, I was so pissed, I unilaterally appointed myself Sheriff of All Comicons. I should have a badge made."

Various cons announce Granito is no longer welcome.

Lalala, Granito is vanquished, all is well in the comic book world BUT WAIT! There's more!

He's gotten someone to try to sell a tell-all interview with Granito to various comics news outlets!

"Now is YOUR chance to take advantage of this red-hot story. As Charlie Sheen has proven in the mainstream media, controversy sells. It has been proven, and suggested by the convention fans blog that Rob Granito is the Charlie Sheen of Comics. And just like Charlie Sheen caused MAJOR headlines with his controversial 20/20 interview, now YOU can get Rob Granito to sit for an interview for your site or blog!"

Now that's what I call a wank.