THE DEANO & BANDY SHOW - BEYOND A JOKE?

Images copyright Dundee Comics Tyrant

Recently, a well-respected cartoonist revealed that, as far as he understands things, one of the companies for which he freelances will no longer allow him to feature images of his own artwork on his blog, which he uses to promote the very publications they appear in.  Other artists (plural) apparently still do feature images (though I'm going by info gleaned from other sources) so, naturally enough this has led to discussion on various 'unofficial' fan sites as to what exactly the situation might be.

As usual, I was the 'Johnny-come-lately' to the table, but I expressed my opinion (as a comics buyer and collector) that this seemed to be a mean-spirited attitude for the company to take, as they would surely only benefit from any of their artists promoting the product - so why prevent them from doing so?  (Seems like a fair enough question to me.)

In the absence of any clear details or explanation as to why various contributors seemingly had a different understanding of what was going on, speculation arose as to whether certain cartoonists were operating under different conditions and whether there might be dissent between them, prompting one of them to deny such was the case.  (Which is fair enough I suppose.)  Unfortunately, he was initially rather vague in explaining just why it wasn't the case, preferring a 'read-between-the-lines' approach as opposed to a more specific account of the current state of play.

I pointed out that it was hardly fair to bemoan fan-speculation when his own actions - and subsequent silence or equivocation - has allowed it to take root; resulting in a sarcastic response which suggested that, not being 'included' in the situation, I shouldn't be expressing either an opinion or an interest in the matter.  As is usual in such cases, it wasn't long before the inevitable nameless diddy emerged from the woodwork, saying that I should be ignored as I was a 'troll' - apparently quite unaware of the inherent irony in him contributing nothing of significance and in doing so anonymously.

So, tell me - where do these t*ssers come from?

Anyway, let's hope that the company in question comes to its senses and removes any impositions which prevent its cartoonists from promoting the very images they produce for them.  And, just for fun, see if you can spot the subtle visual clues as to exactly which Dundee-based publishers of periodicals I'm referring to.  A free, lifetime subscription to a certain comic which ceases publication on December 4th for all those who guess correctly.

(Subscription commences from January, 2013.)