Score!

Oh, I am dancing with glee! I am giddy with joy! I am a sick bastard!!

You see, back in the fall of 2000 icebluenothing introduced me to my second favorite online comic, Chopping Block. It is black humor at its finest, a single panel comic about the trevails of a serial killer named Butch. The artist, Lee Adam Harold, has a very unique style in which he cuts out frisket film to mask out areas of the paper and then uses an ink and sponge blotting technique to create the image. You can see a step-by-step example of his process here. My all-time favorite of the strip, the one that hooked me for good as a fan, is this one:


So a while back Lee posted on his site that he was going to be selling some limited edition hockey masks with original Butch artwork on them. Of course I emailed him saying I wanted one. I also asked if he ever sold any of his originals. Just this afternoon I heard from him, he has a mask for me. He also mentioned that he hadn't sold any of his original art to date, but he wasn't opposed to doing so. An exchange of emails happened, I told him the one I wanted, he named his price, it was absurdly low so I doubled it, and on Monday he will be shipping out to me my mask and I will be the proud owner of the original chainsaw / sorority girl artwork. Woo Hoo!

The Art of the Deal

Some concern has been expressed about my poor bartering skills...

Let me explain: a while back I was doing some consulting work, and when I gave the customer the bill he laughed at me and told me he couldn't get anyone to have a cup of coffee with him for that price. He wrote me a check for double the invoice, and suggested I raise my hourly rate. It was a confidence booster that I won't soon forget.

When Lee gave me his asking price, trust me when I say it was laughably low. I might expect to pay that much for a quick piece of original artwork tossed off at a convention, but not for an original complete comic. For a moment I considered accepting his price, if that's all he thought he was worth. Then I remembered that customer, and I decided that it was time for me to pass that good karma on. Besides, when I asked about buying that particular strip I had a number in mind that I was willing to pay for it. What I actually paid him was roughly 30% of that number. I still feel like I am stealing the artwork from him.

So there you go. God help us if I ever get a job in procurements for government contracts...