Taken from the on-line column "Lying in the gutters"


THE FAKE ART ADAMS


A very serious scam is being carried on a number of mid-level comics publishers.

Previously, LITG reported on how con artist Josh Hoopes had a scam going where he would show publishers artwork created by major artists, pretending it was his. The publisher would commission him for artwork at a fairly low rate, Josh would then commission the artwork from a different artist at a high rate - and then not pay them. The comic would be published, the artist would find out and demand money that had already been paid to the now elsewhere Josh Hoopes.

The current scam involves a letter sent to a number of mid-level publishers a month ago purporting to be from Art Adams looking for work at a very reasonable (for Art Adams) rate. Remember, this is from The Fake Art Adams:



Hello there..............

Allow me to introduce my self.

my name is Art Adams, comic artist and Illustrator; If you don't know me I have worked on just about every comic title from the X-Men to Batman, and everything in between, (Lol).

I am writting because I have quite a bit of time here in between gigs,, and am offering my artistic talents for contract.

Here is a link to my site; [link] or just go down to your local comic dealer

and better yet buy one of my books.

If interested shoot me an E-mail.

Art Adams, Zoinks!!!



The Fake Art Adams requests a deposit up front, stating that he's been screwed by some publishers in the past. The publisher negotiates a figure with The Fake Art Adam's supposed agent, one “Jeff Henzel.”

The money is paid and then the art arrives. It is clearly not from Art Adams.

Emails used by "Jeff Henzel" and The Fake Art Adams are: adamsarthur@rocketmail.com, cinemagic87@yahoo.com (sometimes with the name Anthony Birch) and crazypens@live.com.

Crazypens is one pseudonym used by Josh Hoopes to scam people on DeviantArt.

Street addresses for "Jeff Henzel" given include 5647 Beauregard Way, Orangevale, CA 95662, which gives a "Does Not Live Here" return, as well as the not-working phone number (916) 529-9394. He then gives 30 Camino Margarita, Nicasio, CA 94946, which is the address of a travel agent.

Anthony Birch also has a DeviantArt account registered with the cinemagic87 email address. [link]

Whether the artists involved get a slice of the money, or get paid nothing, what they know of the situation, I don't know. Jeff Henzel, with a small DeviantArt listing, also states that he represents John Martin with a larger one. Emails to Martin were not returned by press time.

One publisher I spoke to is too embarrassed to publically admit to being scammed in this fashion. Which may just be what The Fake Art Adams is banking on. Of course, publishers do have greater access to lawyers and this publisher will be prosecuting.

Other publishers didn't realise they were being scammed until I got in touch. Some will discover this when they read the article you're reading now.

I also decided to try it out for myself. I emailed the crazypens@aol address, meant to be for "Jeff Henzel" but addressing it to Art Adams, as if I was replying to an e-mail sent to me. I was using the markandrich@gmail.com address I use for my RichAndMark website and the company name from my old self publishing venture fifteen years ago... was this too obvious? Would they twig straight away?



Mr Art Adams,

I very much appreciate the e-mail you sent.

I'd be very interesting in commissioning you for the cover of one of our new comic projects, "Killing Time."

Could you give me any more details? Costs? Schedule?

Mark Andrich
Twist And Shout Comics
London, UK



And yet it was The Fake Art Adams who replied



Well............................

I´m currently finishing up 2 pin-ups for (REMOVED TO SPARE THE PUBLISHER'S BLUSHES).

I´m running things on auto-pilot lately with my agent playing accountant secretary & gig finder. I pretty much have been working on freelance contract with a full advance on what ever page rate we decide on. Jeff is a good friend of mine and helps keep everything fair and in order. I´ve been doing Hulk these days but always have time for other endeavors.

My rates for covers vary, the least I charge is $800 for fully rendered pen and ink all the way to $2000, I don´t expect every company to be able to do that but you would get what you pay for.

Let me know what your budget is and how many pages you are looking at.

Sequential pages I charge $150 for pencils and another $150 for inks on the bases that I do a minimum of 10 pages.

So In any case let me know what your budget is and what your thoughts are, don´t be shy I´m an easy going guy.

Hope to talk soon Art.



Wow. For Art Adams artwork? That is a bargain of the highest order. But possibly not for the Fake Art Adams.

Oh this was getting fun. But could it be any more fun?

Yes. I replied



Wonderful to hear! I've been a big fan of your work ever since Longshot and this is a dream, come true.

We're looking at a cover and twenty-two pages of internal artwork. The first issue is called "Lying In The Gutters" and it involves the story of a gossip columnist in London, tracking down criminals across the world using the Internet.

Would $7000 for everything, pencils and inks, be acceptable? Would you need a deposit up front?

Any chance we could get a sneak peek of the (REMOVED PUBLISHER) pages? As I said I'm a big fan!

Mark Andrich



Surely this was too obvious? After all, Hoopes had already been exposed once by LITG, and it's not as if the column is unknown in the comics industry. Surely someone would twig?

No.



Hey Marc..................

Thanks for the compliments, yea I can give you a sneak peak just don't let the guy´s at REMOVED PUBLISHER know, they my feel a little tiffed about it, but I can show you what I got in tough form blue penciled so far.

As for price that´s fair. I´m going to shoot all this info to my agent Jeff if that all right with you.

As well I work with contract form.

And as a rule of thumb I work with 75% to 50% up front as a deposit. At least that´s how I do it with all the companies I work with, Some companies pay me all up front but I don´t expect that from everyone.

Also Jeff has us working through PayPal as he hndles all finances so I can concentrate on the creative side and not worry about the red tape, or in this matter the green tape.

Sounds all good to me though, I´ll let Jeff know asap and see what he says.

Talk soon and hope we can work together.

Art.

(ARTWORK REMOVED TO REMOVE MORE BLUSHES)



He can't even get my fake name right. At this point I was sorely tempted to pay for one page of pencils for the "Lying In the Gutters" comic immediately, just to see what he would do. And then realised that in all possibility, an artist would draw the piece and not be paid. I couldn't do it. But was a sneaking sense of what was going on starting to penetrate the Fake Art Adams' skull?



By the way how did you get my E-mail??



Then



I´ve been getting some wierd messages lately.

Just being cautious that this is not on of em.

Art.



From "Jeff Henzel" on Anthony Birch's cinemagic87@yahoo.com e-mail



Art recently contacted me regarding a possible art job from you guy´s.

He did respond but has not heard back.

As his representative, I´d like to welcome the chance to work together.

Also Art get´s a lot of false offers, not to say this is one, just being cautious.

I look out for all his artistic endeavors as well.

If you could please send me a confirmation E-mail.

Talk soon.



And, since I used the Twist And Shout Comics name, my self-publishing company from the nineties I set up with Mike Meyer, "Jeff" did some Googling, and found some contact details. He seemed not to twig the "Rich Johnston" aspect of the fact that the site still holds the old "Rich's Ramblings" rumour columns, but e-mailed my old partner Mike Meyer, saying



Hello.................My name is Jeff Henzel and I represent a few different artists in the comic industry big and small, my client Art Adams recently received an e-mail soliciting him to do cover work and Even a 22 page book penciled and inked.

These guys representing your company Twist and Shout asked about time frame and rates, Art replied, they seemed very enthusiastic and sincere with the offer, but after Art sent several messages, as well I have sent messages as follow up we have not heard back.

Art receives countless messages regarding work, some bogus some real, I try and help look out from the flakes to the real deal. Below is the message and reply.

Maybe you can make sense of this, or someone in your company can.

We would be more than happy to venture into a book deal with you guys, but communication is key.

I hope you can shed some light into this.

Sincerely Jeff Henzel



I think he suspects. The cheek of them! Time for a reply! I wrote to the Fake Art Adams,



That's wonderful!

We're talking to the bank tomorrow to get the whole cash sorted. I have to put my house as security, but based on that page you showed me, I know this will be a winner!

Mark Andrich



And then to "Jeff"



I think Art emailed me after I'd gone to bed. What time zone are you, West Coast?

We are all very very keen for Art Adams to contribute towards Lying In The Gutters!

Mark Andrich



And just before the column went live, the Fake Art Adams replied one last time saying



Mark......................

must have been bad timing plus a few fan boys trying to gey me to do wotk for free.

So I´ve been a little weary these days of certain offers.

Any way, just let me know when your ready.

Plus my agent Jeff Henzel takes care of all contract and financial deals.

So if he hasn´t contacted you yet I´m sure he will soon.

Just let me know when your ready.

Art.



Oh I'm ready Fake Art Adams. Are you?

I think he suspects now.

I contacted The Real Art Adams who told me



AAAGH!

Yes, it's a scam. I saw this message about a month ago (passed on to me by Nick Barruci.) I assumed, this being such a small industry, people in publishing would know to contact me to find out if this was crap or not... If people don't already have my info they can find me almost every year at Wonder-Con in San Francisco or Comic-Con in San Diego. Or through Nick or Scott Dunbier. or now...you.



Lying In The Gutters is willing to forward any e-mails to the relevant authorities.