User:BigCow/Backup

As with all UserSpace pages, this is not meant to be taken authoritatively, it's a backup of some content from the Sean Howard/Squidi article that's been argued over and which the creator himself has tried to have removed:

End of the comics

Howard was the center of a disagreement surrounding the modified use of his art as avatars on the Penny Arcade online forums in December 2003. The avatars, Howard claimed, were edited forms of his characters, created by Tauhid Bondia (under the pseudonym "Tubesteak Samurai"). Bondia eventually apologized and stopped using the avatars, while other forum users continued to do so. Howard [1] and Mike Krahulik (writing under the pseudonym "Gabe"), a Penny Arcade author, [2] were involved in a public argument over the appropriateness of this use. In the months following, Howard's interaction with the webcomic community became more hostile. Howard cites this incident as a catalyst leading to a year and a half of escalating online harassment and flamewars, eventually leading to his removal of the comics from his web site and ending nearly all contact with internet communities.

It is fair to note that although Sean Howard described declining readership for his comic and blamed it primarily on what he called "The Penny Arcade Incident," at the time of the closing "A Modest Destiny" was going through a major change in artistic direction. In his blogs, Howard often talked about the change in form and tone, as the once light-hearted strip had evolved into a very different kind of comic; with complicated ongoing storylines, darker themes, and adult content (including a controversial attempted child rape and an abortion.)

On Tuesday, 2 August 2005, Sean Howard announced he would shut down squidi.net, citing less time due to family responsibilities in addition to frustration with online harassment. To prepare for its removal, he provided the archives of his comics and blogs in ZIP format. Howard stated that it was his intention to continue AMD in other media, but was no longer interested in posting his comics on the Internet.

Pixel art controversies

Sean Howard has maintained a policy of not allowing the use of his artwork or any pixel art which is significantly derived from it without permission. He insists this is necessary to keep his art from being stolen and propagated all over the Web, and that if people are allowed to create derivatives of his work there would be little to distinguish his site from other sprite comic versions of it. Since he sells merchandise with his artwork on it, he believes it is important to make the ownership of the art clearly his in order to avoid potential problems. This has been mentioned on the front page of squidi.net, in this blog [3], and in webcomic community discussions. [4]

Criticisms of this policy center around the appropriateness of enforcing a copyright in all situations, which would outlaw sprite comics and many derivative forms popular on the internet if it were implemented by more copyright holders, and how far the copyright over pixel art extends. How unique a pixel-based image has to be to warrant protection and how to clearly distinguish a derivative work has been a matter of debate. Critics charge that Sean Howard has been overzealous in enforcing his copyright, and that the derivative works wouldn't be a threat to him.

The precedent of sprite comics and people commonly using characters from video games to create webcomics has led to an expectation of being able to use pixel-based artwork under fair use. Sean Howard's insistence on maintaining complete control over his creative work and its derivatives, even for non-commercial uses, has caused friction[5].

Several webcomics have demonstrably used his work without permission[6][7], both in modified form and directly, and Sean Howard has had them shut down. He has done so first by contacting the site owner, then contacting their ISP and in some rare instances, by turning his fan base against them [8]. He has noted that he intends to continue protecting his work after his site has shut down.

Penny Arcade incident

The issue with Penny Arcade centered around Sean Howard going after individual forum members on the Penny Arcade forums for using pixel art avatars based on his work. Howard has become well known for his role in this incident. The dispute was resolved with the help of the forum administrators, but the owners of Penny Arcade soon posted statements on their blog criticizing Sean Howard's actions, bringing more attention to the issue. The controversy revolved around the actions and position taken by Sean Howard and brought him a large amount of negative publicity.

In early December 2003, some members of the Penny Arcade forum were using pixel art avatars which Sean Howard alleged were derivatives of his artwork in A Modest Destiny [9]. Howard showed that the one of those images closely resembled his by superimposing an outline of one of his images over the avatar image. The creator of these avatars, Tauhid Bondia, aka Tubesteak Samurai, much later admitted were based on Howard's images, but stated that he originally had not known of its origins [10]. The members of the Penny Arcade forum argued first that it was not based on Howard's work, and when that proved to be untrue, argued that a 32x32 pixel character is not uniquely artistic enough to be covered by copyright protection in the case of derivative artwork — a claim which Howard has spent considerable time and effort trying to publicly disprove.

Sean Howard responded to the Penny Arcade forum members' use of the avatars by first requesting credit for the work, and failing that, insisting that they remove the avatars based on his work. Tubesteak Samurai removed the avatars from his post and started a new post with his own work, but some forum members refused to remove the avatars. Howard then threatened to contact the ISPs of the offending forum members if they failed to comply. Howard was suspended from the PA forums at this time. In response he asked his own forum members to contact, in his place, the people on the Penny Arcade forums who were using his artwork. This action was interpreted by some fans as an invitation to invade the Penny Arcade forums and cause trouble, in a situation with some marked parallels to Henry II's involvement in the murder of Thomas_Beckett. Some of the members went on persistent attacks contrary to what Howard had requested. This led to new member registration on PA being turned off for a time. According to Sean Howard, a phone message was left on Howard's home answering machine [11]. Howard quickly revised his front page message and contacted an admin of the PA forums. The entire matter, including the avatars, was quickly resolved.

During his suspension from the forums, Howard had sent off a request for support to the two owners of Penny Arcade. It was interpreted as a legal threat against Penny Arcade by the site owners, though Howard insists that it was never intended as such. A copy of the letter was posted on squidi.net's front page. Parts of the letter were posted on the Penny Arcade front page along with commentary criticizing Howard's actions and suggesting that his protection of his art was overzealous. The traffic resulting from the link from Penny Arcade's front page overloaded the squidi.net server, bringing it down for an entire day. When it returned, only the newest comic was available along with a basic text page. Gabe of Penny Arcade disparaged the recognition of talent in pixel art that Howard based his argument on, and made the claim that the difference between the derivative avatars was trivial enough to be restricted to the feet. Howard strongly disagreed with both points. Additional arguments were made by both sides on the question of fair use and whether modification of pixel art is a legitimate grievance.

The online culture of sharing and assuming a broad definition of fair use fit better with the Penny Arcade side of the argument, and the general consensus on other webcomics and forums was opposed to Howard's position. Many in the webcomic community sided with Penny Arcade [12]; some used their comics to mock Howard [13][14], though some agreed with Howard's position [15]. The incident became a defining image of Howard among many people who had never before heard of his work. Howard said that harassment and vandalism persisting from this incident was one of the reasons he shut down squidi.net.

At times, this feud became very bitter and personal. In one blog post on his site, Sean made the following comment: "But, I'm biased. I'm really biased. I'm counting the days until Gabe's unborn child grows up to be just like him, and treats him like trash, because I have an innate appreciation of irony and I'm willing to wait for the payoff." Squidi's Blog - June 21, 2004 For their part, Penny Arcade published a comic containing a representation of one of Howard's characters although it was known he was strongly opposed to people doing so so without permission.

End of the comics

Pixel art controversies

Penny Arcade incident

External links