Todd Goldman, Read This. Or Don't: It's Your Life.

Over the last week, I've tried repeatedly to get in touch with Todd Goldman, because I believe there's got to be another side to this story. No, not the story that his company has plagiarized Dave Kelly's design-- that's an open and shut case. Goldman more or less copped to the charge, shifted a little blame to subordinates, but pledged to donate all profits from the shirt straight to Dave Kelly, which was certainly a step in the right direction.

Unfortunately, Goldman has two feet, and the other story is the minefields he's stepped in before and since said confession. He or someone claiming to be him has accused Kelly of pedophilia, posted pornographic images to defame Kelly which ended up being seen by minors, hijacked the MySpace account of the person who originally reported the theft, openly mocked anyone who expressed concern about this...

...and, now, enlisted his lawyer to threaten anyone who reports on any of the above, even when such reportage sticks to verifiable facts.

Hey, see what I just reported on, there?

Bring it, Felix. That's right. I said come and get me. I support Gary Tyrrell to the point of putting my neck out right alongside his.

Now, I say "or someone claiming to be him" because, well... it's the Internet, the land of identity theft. There's still the shadow of a doubt. Someone else could have been acting in Goldman's name to make him seem worse than he is. The shadow grows fainter with time (that e-mail was tagged as coming from smtp.davidandgoliathtees.com? The MySpace hijacking used an image privately hosted on the davidandgoliathtees.com server? UH-OH), but a shadow remains. Tyrrell was responsible enough to raise that possibility, not that Felix or Goldman seem to care.

But if Goldman is being misrepresented... why hasn't he stepped forth to denounce these actions? Don't tell me he's not aware of them, not when this story has already affected his bottom line.

Well, Mr. Goldman, if you can read this, I'm giving you one more chance. I can't pretend to be on your side, but I can promise you an interview where you can tell your side, uninterrupted and unedited, to a comics news source. In terms of public relations, that's probably the best offer you're going to get at this point. Contact me here.

I don't expect a response to this. My gut tells me that everything "Todd Goldman" does and says is indeed Todd Goldman-- the persona is just too internally consistent with the guy whose most famous quote is an incitement to violence. But this is one time I'd be happy to be wrong.

Prove me wrong, Mr. Goldman.