By now I imagine everyone has heard the news of Dave Kelly’s art being ripped off by Todd Goldman, aka Todd Goliath. If you haven’t heard about it, read here, here and here for the situation and the commentary on it.

I can’t add much to what has already been said – Mr. Goldman is clearly a man (and I use that term loosely) of very low caliber, who apparently sees nothing wrong in profiting from the work of others. Dave Kelly, of all people, certainly doesn’t deserve this, as the producer of some absolutely brilliant – and unfortunately often unrecognized – webcomics. I’m just glad that the rip-off was so blatantly done that Goldman won’t have an easy time hiding from the fallout – which will hopefully include both a complete trashing of his reputation, and significant reparations to Kelly.

I wanted to show my support by mentioning what had happened – and I had planned to also talk about one of Kelly’s brilliant works – namely, Living in Greytown.

Unfortunately, Living in Greytown is currently only available through Keenspot Premium, as far as I can tell. It sounds like there are plans for the free archives to return, which will be a very good thing – of all the works I’ve seen from Kelly, this was the one that felt like his masterpiece. His comics were always bizarre, absurd and often offensive, but this was the one that took those elements and made it into something more. But… the strip is hidden behind a subscription wall, so no dice.

My next plan was to talk about the sequel, Lizard – but it looks like the archives for that are proving similarly inaccessible. And his other comics… well, just weren’t ones that grabbed me like the more story-centric ones did.

So… no reviews. Which means I just end up showing support for Kelly the same way everyone else is – spreading the word, via posts like this. Getting in touch with Mr. Goldman’s PR team, as well as his other affiliates, and letting them know that it might not be the smartest thing to associate with a stain on the face of humanity.

And hopefully, with enough outcry, the next time someone thinks it might be worth engaging in artwork theft for fun and profit… they won’t.