Friday, March 21, 2008
The status of the 2008 Pittsburgh Comicon
It’s been about five days since Pittsburgh Comicon organizer and comic book retailer Michael George was convicted of murdering Barbara George, his first wife. Not only was he convicted of first degree murder for killing the mother of his two children, he was convicted of insurance fraud and obtaining money from an insurance agency under false pretenses.
The insurance fraud stems from the fact that Michael George made the murder appear t be a robbery and he fraudulently reported the loss of multiple high-value comic books to his insurance company. His insurance company paid him $13,000 to compensate him from the loss of these comics. The comics the jury decided he never owned.
Wont he now have to pay that money back?
Then there’s the matter of the $125,000 Michael George collected on Barbara’s life insurance policy. Since the jury ruled that Michael killed Barbara, wont he have to pay that money back too? Convicted murderers aren’t normally allowed to collect on the life insurance policy of their victims. And when I say normally, I of course mean never.
So where exactly does this leave the Pittsburgh Comicon?
The show is owned by Michael and Renee George. How will all this effect the show? Will the insurance companies that paid large sums of money to Michael George under fraudulent terms now move to seize assets belonging to him? Wouldn’t the Pittsburgh Comicon be one of those assets?
I’ve been checking out the Pittsburgh Comicon website every day since the verdicts were handed down. Everything looks the same. Not one mention of the fact that the show’s co-promoter has been convicted of murdering the mother of his children and is now facing a mandatory life in prison. Further more, prosecutors in the case claimed that Michael George killed his first wife so that he could start a new life with his mistress, the woman he is married to now.
She is the show’s other co-promoter.
It seems to me all this would require some sort of statement from the show. Not only is Michael’s name still featured on the Pittsburgh Comicon website, so is his photo.
There’s already talk among some comic book creators about boycotting the show on the grounds that it is supporting a man convicted of murder.
Last month I was contacted by Patrick Thomas, the Marketing Director of the Pittsburgh Comicon. He assured me that no matter what happened in Michael George’s trial, the 2008 Pittsburgh Comicon would be going on as planned and that nothing would prevent that. I don’t know Patrick, but I know people that do. I’ve been assured that when he says something, you can bank on it.
Well, I wouldn’t expect them to go and post something up there immediately. That’s probably a low priority for them. But the overall issue is one worth watching for updates on. I won’t be going to that con either way. Worse than warrants, I have a psycho ex-girlfriend in the Pittsburgh area. -shudder-
I think at the very least, they ought to purge his name and likeness from the website being that he is a convicted murderer.
The Pittsburgh Comicon is a nice con. I went last year and loved it. The parking is free and you can get to your car in a minute or two from the con floor. It’s also connected to the hotel. You don’t even have to go outside if you don’t want to. There is a large mall with a decent food court directly behind the convention center.
It is amazing to me how many places people post that have not followed this case very closely.
The man was convicted based on loose facts and a lot of circumstantial evidence such as; 1 guy remembers seeing a comic book on the wall that he wanted and couldn’t get…and says that exact same comic was sold years later by Mike and was reported as stolen during the “robbery”. Has anyone heard of different editions of books. Okay, now the next incriminating evidence was that someone in the building next to them heard them arguing a lot…well then, every married couple out there better we wary of arguing in public or that makes you a potential murderer.
It is a sad day when the media can convict a person….or gossip can…or the fact that you are a spouse that argues or god forbid has an affair. Wow, if everyone who ever cheated on a spouse was a potential murderer, then sadly there would be a lot of them out there!
It’s funny how you keep mentioning the children…did you know they absolutely support their father 100%????
These are also the same children who are financially supported by the fact that the show still goes on. If anyone actually can’t get past gossip or circumstantial evidence, at least know that by boycotting the show you are hurting innocent people.
Did you copy and paste that response from elsewhere or something? Because I didn’t get the sense that Rick kept “mentioning the children” all that much.
If he killed her, then the con is tainted by ill-gotten gains as it stands. He used the money from both insurances to relocate and eventually start up the convention.
By the way, I followed the trial a bit. I remember the witness that said George answered the phone just prior to the time that the murder happened and had to get off the phone quickly at some point. The phone call was during the time that his mom vouched for him being at her place and not at the store.
Believe what you want and refute the evidence if you like, but don’t ignore the pieces that pose the biggest problem to his contention of being innocent. If you believe that witness, then his alibi is a lie.
Joe, I’ve followed the case very closely. Do a Google blog search for the particulars involving this story and then tell me that I haven’t been following the case.
The media didn’t convict Mike. The jury did.
I’ve made a point of blogging only about stuff that’s been published in the newspapers. That doesn’t mean I don’t know about stuff that hasn’t been published in the newspapers. You’d be surprised at some of the emails I’ve gotten over this case from people who knew Barbara. I’ve kept a lot of the sorted details out.