Zombie Wolverine by Josh Medors
A friend of mine emailed me this scan. It’s of a piece of art he won during the charity auction at the 2008 Pittsburgh Comicon. Click on the image to see a larger version.
The artist is Josh Medors. It’s based on Incredible Hulk #340 drawn by Todd McFarlane. Wolverine is a zombie. I’m not sure if the Hulk is a zombie too. All I know is that it looks superb.
In fact, it’s making me rethink my stance on buying original comic book art.
ICV2 gets it wrong concerning the Michael George murder case
Comic book retailing news site ICv2 posted an article yesterday about the sentencing of Pittsburgh Comicon organizer and comic book retailer Michael George.
They make a rather huge factual error:
With no witnesses, physical evidence, or confession (see “Greed, Sex, and Power”), the prosecutors basically convicted George on motive (a $130,000 insurance police), opportunity (by casting doubt on alibi), and his behavior after his wife’s death (he reportedly hit on a woman at his wife’s funeral). This sensational cold case trial gained nationwide attention as the result of a feature on NBC’s Dateline.
No witnesses? The reason doubt was cast on his alibi is because the prosecution had a witness that put Michael George on the scene at around the time of Barbara’s murder. Michael Renaud testified that he called the comic book shop at around the time of the murder and spoke to Michael George on the phone.
To say that there were not witnesses is really kind of silly. It makes me think that whoever wrote the article over ICv2 never watched the Dateline feature they referred to.
Michael George to be sentenced today
Convicted murderer and Pittsburgh Comicon promoter Michael George is scheduled to be sentenced today in a Michigan courtroom. George was only recently convicted of murdering his wife Barbara George 18 years ago in the comic book shop they both owned. George was having an affair with one of his employees who he later married.
The case was recently featured in a two-hour episode on the NBC show Dateline.
The sentencing today is all but a formality since he is facing mandatory life in prison.
The prosecutor in the case, Assistant Prosecutor Steve Kaplan said that he expects several of Barbara George’s relatives to speak at the sentencing.
Michael George is still listed on the Pittsburgh Comicon website concerning the 2009 show. His photo remains there too.
Michael George murder case to appear on Friday’s Dateline NBC [UPDATE]
I remember reading during the Michael George murder trial that producers for Dateline NBC were in court getting footage for an upcoming show. Word on the street is that the comic book retailer and Pittsburgh Comicon promoter Michael George case will be featured on tomorrow night’s episode of Dateline NBC. And when I say “word on the street”, I of course am referring to what a woman at work told me. She said that she saw a promo for tomorrow nights program and “that comic book guy that killed his wife” was going to be on. Michael George used to own the comic book shop located in the mall next to where we all work.
I checked out the official Dateline NBC website, and it says squat about tomorrow night’s show. I checked out tomorrow night’s TV listings on Yahoo and it showed the Dateline NBC will appear on NBC from 9pm to 11pm. It doesn’t list anything about the stories that will appear.
I’m planning on watching it. Even if they don’t show the Michael George murder trial episode, they might show Chris Hanson bust some online perverts. I love when he offers them a cookie. There’s nothing more entertaining on prime time TV than catching child sex predictors.
[UPDATE] It’s been confirmed that the Michael George segment will indeed appear on tomorrow’s Dateline NBC.
Michael George seeks to have convictions nullified
Convicted murderer and Pittsburgh Comicon organizer Michael George is seeking to have his murder and insurance fraud convictions nullified by the judge. His lawyers are seeking to have Judge James Biernat throw the convictions out.
He faces a mandatory penalty of life in prison without a chance for parole for the murder conviction alone.
Judge Biernat will decide on April 25 if defense attorneys can even file a motion to have the conviction nullified before George is even sentenced. Prosecutors contend that they can only request a new trial after he has been sentenced.
April 25 is also the first day the Pittsburgh Comicon. George’s photo still appears on the Pittsburgh Comicon website. George’s name still prominently appears on the Pittsburgh Comicon website.
Though Jurors didn’t hear George testify during his trial, they listened to an audio recording of a police interview conducted last August in his comic book shop in Pennsylvania. Police claim that George changed his story. The jurors heard George speak that at the time of his late wife’s murder, someone “was out to get him”. He claimed that instead of killing him, they chose to kill his wife. He failed to say anything about this at the time of the murder.
Why would someone out to get Michael George murder his wife Barbara? By all accounts, Michael George wanted out of his marriage with Barbara. He wanted to begin a new life with his then employee and now current wife Renee George. Because of Barbara’s death, he was able to do just that.
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.
Michael George found GUILTY of murdering his wife
Pittsburgh Comicon organizer and comic book shop owner Michael George was found guilty of murdering his wife Barbara George in 1990 in the back room of their comic book shop. The jury found him not only guilty of first-degree murder, but insurance fraud.
I’m really kind of surprised by this. I’ve been following the case from the day the news broke that he had been arrested. As I’ve blogged earlier, Micheal used to own the comic book shop in nearby Scotland, PA. It’s located in the Chambersburg Mall and it’s where I buy my comics every week.
As more and more came out about the case, I was certain he was guilty.
I then read how his two daughter testified for him.
They were familiar with all the evidence, yet they still firmly believed in their father’s innocence. Who was I to question that? They knew about all the womanizing — and attempted womanizing — while he was married to their mother and all of the other sorted details that came out about their father. They still thought he was innocent of the murder of their mother.
All of the evidence against Michael George was circumstantial. That’s not to say someone cannot be found guilty with only circumstantial evidence. It happens all the time. This just seemed so surreal in the fact that it happened 17 years ago. No new evidence had come up.
Is the New York City Comic Con antisemitic?
Reed Exhibitions, organizers for the New York City Comic Con decided to move the dates of this year’s convention to the middle of April. For the past two years, the convention was held in the month of February. When I first heard of the date switch, I assumed that they wanted to muscle out the Pittsburgh Comicon which holds its event during the same time frame.
Now I’m not too sure.
As it turns out, the 2008 New York City Comic Con takes place April 18 – 20, the very same weekend as Passover.
Why would Reed Exhibitions change the date to correspond with one of the most important holidays for Jewish people? Do they not want them to attend?
I searched the New York Comic Con website for an explanation as to why they changed the event to take place during Passover. I couldn’t find it. That’s not to say it’s not there. I just couldn’t find it. I did find something that was supposedly written by someone representing Reed Exhibitions by searching Google. It’s a comment on a LiveJournal post about this controversy:
Needless to say, I’m none too happy about the Passover situation either, so let’s get that out of the way right off the bat – we are really sorry about this and certainly intended no disrespect towards anyone. The unfortunate reality is that these were the dates we were given at the Javits Center. Javits is unlike most places in that the demand for the space far outstrips the availability, so customers, such as NYCC, are left with little to no choice as to what dates we are given. To that point, I’ll announce here first that the show will be moving back to February next year – because we want to be in February? Not really. Quite simply, these are the only dates we can get next year.
So it’s not Reed Exhibitions’ fault. It’s the Javits Center’s fault.
It’s more then possible that this has nothing to do with antisemitism, but just plain old fashioned incompetence. This is the same group that massively over-sold tickets to the inaugural event in 2006. Not only were there reports of people having to wait in line for hours to get into the event — including some comic book professionals — there were reports that many who purchased their tickets months ahead of time and traveled to New York were not allowed in and were turned away. I remember listening to Greg Topalianone, one of the event’s organizers speaking on a podcast. Not only did he blame the Javits Center for not giving them more floor space, he blamed people that purchased 3-day passes for actually attending all three days.
They had no idea people would do that.
I doubt they are antisemitic. I think they are just incompetent enough to schedule an event in New York City during Passover.
Michael George murder trial to begin today
From the Detroit Free Press:
Clinton Township police’s 17-year suspicion that Michael George killed his wife in the back of their comic book store finally reaches the courtroom today.
Jury selection is set to begin at 1:30 p.m. in the case, in which George is charged with the July 1990 shooting death of his 32-year-old wife, Barbara George.
Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor Steve Kaplan said he expects to call 43 witnesses in the reopened cold case. The trial could last more than three weeks.
Former Macomb County Prosecutor Carl Marlinga is representing George, 47. The case has garnered national attention. The NBC show “Dateline” is expected to feature it in a future episode.
One of my personal goals in life is to never appear on an episode of “Dateline”. No good can come of it.
Jury in Michael George murder trial will be told of marital infidelities
Things are not looking good for comic book retailer and Pittsburgh Comicon promoter Michael George.
From this morning’s Detroit Free Press:
Allegations that Michael George cheated on the wife he is accused of killing will be allowed in his upcoming trial, a Macomb County Circuit Court judge ruled Thursday.
George, 47, is to go on trial Feb. 26 in the July 13, 1990, death of his wife, Barbara George, 32, who was shot in the head in the couple’s Clinton Township comic book store.
Judge James Biernat made several other rulings Thursday: He denied George’s request to exclude testimony about his behavior after his wife’s death — such as witnesses’ accounts that he wore sunglasses to and flirted with other women at his wife’s funeral. He also denied George’s request to quash charges of insurance fraud.
His own lawyers admit he committed acts of adultery with more then one woman. I would say this is a very bad development.
Michael George murder trial to begin February 26
A trial date has been set for comic book retailer and Pittsburgh Comicon organizer Michael George. His trial has been scheduled to begin February 26 in Michigan. The trial is scheduled to last two weeks.
George stands accused of murdering his wife, Barbara George, 17 years ago execution style in the comic book shop they both owned. Investigators initially believed that that the murder was the result of a robbery gone bad. George claimed at the time that many high-value comic books were missing from the store. He filed an insurance claim against the missing books and received $13,000 from his insurance company.
It’s the prosecutor’s contention that no comic books were stolen and that the story of missing books was made up by George to make it look like a robbery. Both cash registers in the store still contained money and Barbara George still had all of her jewelry when they found her. A witness will testify that George was in the shop at around the time of the murder. The witness is claiming that he called the comic book shop at around the time of the murder and spoke to Michael George.
Michael George claims that he was asleep on his mother’s sofa at the time of the murder. His mother and his then 4-year old daughter will testify that he was asleep on the sofa. Neighbors will also testify that they remember Michael George’s vehicle parked in front of his mother’s house at the time of the murder.
No physical evidence links Michael George to the murder. The weapon used to kill Barbara George has not been found.
Michael George to stand trial for wife’s murder
Comic book retailer and Pittsburgh Comicon organizer Michael George was ordered by judge Linda Davis to stand trial for the 1990 murder of his wife Barbara George. Davis ruled that although most of the evidence against George was circumstantial, it was sufficient to warrant the case proceeds to trial.
Barbara was murdered in the comic book shop that she and Michael both owned. The prosecution has a witness that puts Michael George at the scene at the time of the murder. Comic book collector Michael Renaud testified that he placed a call to the George’s shop around the time of the murder and spoke to Michael George. Renaud testified that Michael George sounded “sounded busy”.
Janet George, Michael’s mother testified that Michael was taking a nap on her sofa at the time of the murder.
A woman that worked at a nail salon near the comic book shop testified that she witnessed Michael and Barbara arguing outside the comic book shop the day of the murder.
Probable cause hearing begins in comic book convention promoter murder case
A probable cause hearing began Friday for Pittsburgh Comicon organizer and comic book retailer Michael George. George is charged with murdering his first wife Barbara George execution-style 17 years ago in Michigan.
Some of the evidence emerging from the first day of the hearing included the fact that Michael George told police that the killer was really out to get him, not Barbara.
He also admitted to having “emotional” affair with another woman at the time of his wife’s murder.
Even though George told the police that boxes of expensive comic books were missing from the store, police could find no other evidence that a robbery had taken place. Money was found in the cash register along with money and jewelry found on Barbara’s body.
Friends of the George’s testified that Barbara told them her marriage was in trouble and that Michael had a gambling problem.
Witnesses described Michael George’s behavior around the time of his wife’s funeral as strange. One woman told of Michael George showing his grief by “hugging the vacuum cleaner his wife used”.
Two woman testified that Michael George made unwanted romantic advances toward them, both before and after the murder. On one occasion, Michael George told one woman that he considered his wife unattractive and wanted to move to Florida with the children. Barbara and the children where in the store only a few feet away when Michael said this. The same woman testified that about six weeks after his wife’s murder, Michael George put a note in her hand that stated she “looked very pretty today.”
Witnesses also testified of making telephone calls to the store around the time of the murder and speaking to Michael George. Macomb County assistant prosecutor Steve Kaplanin told the court this places Michael George in the store at the time of the murder.
Two years after the murder, Michael George relocated Comics World from Michigan to Windber, Pennsylvania. Some have written that George owned and operated a comic book shop in Pittsburgh. Windber is about 100 miles outside Pittsburgh. I think part of the confusion comes from the fact that George is the organizer of the Pittsburgh Comicon. Michael George later opened another Comics World in the Chambersburg Mall located in Scotland, Pennsylvania. Though he later sold the Chambersburg Mall Comics World store, the store remains today retaining it’s original Comics World name.
It’s where I buy my comics. I live in Hagerstown, Maryland, but I work in Scotland.
I didn’t really know Michael George when he owned the comic book shop in the Chambersburg Mall, but I knew who he was. I knew that he was the owner. I certainly didn’t think he was capable of murdering someone, especially his wife. Then again I didn’t think he was the type of guy that would hug a vacuum cleaner either. It just goes to show you that you never know someone as much as you may think.
Michael George waives extradition hearing, will go to Michigan
In a surprising move, comic book retailer and Pittsburgh Comic-Con organizer Michael George is waiving his extradition hearing and will go to Michigan where he will stand trial for for the 1990 slaying of his wife.
George had been fighting the extradition from Pennsylvania. No word yet why he is waiving the right to a hearing that would force the Michigan prosecutor to present the evidence they have connecting him to his wife’s murder.
This whole story just gets weirder and weirder.
Michael George faces more charges
The prosecutor in Michigan is charging Pittsburgh Comicon organizer and comic book retailer Michael George with new charges.
George, 47 — who is accused in the slaying of his 32-year-old wife, Barbara, in his Clinton Township store — faces two new charges: insurance fraud and obtaining money under false pretenses.
“The proofs will show that nothing was taken,” said Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor Steve Kaplan.
He acknowledged that the murder charge is more pressing, but he said that George received $13,000 in insurance money.
George reported that two boxes of valuable comics were stolen from a back storage room during his wife’s murder. The police now contend that no comics were missing and that George simply made the whole thing up to receive insurance money and to make the police believe that the his wife’s murder was the result of a robbery gone bad.
More information about the Michael George case – Update
I’ve been trying to keep up with news concerning the 1990 murder case involving comic book retailer and con organizer Michael George and his first wife Barbara. As I wrote in my previous blog post about this whole mess, he used to own the comic shop in Chambersburg I buy my comics from.
From the Daily American:
The July 13, 1990, killing was the result of an extramarital affair George was having with a store employee, said Macomb County prosecutor Eric J. Smith. George also stood to benefit financially, Smith said, with a six-figure pay out on Barbara’s life insurance policy.
“It’s a classic case of domestic murder,” Smith said. “One partner wants out of the marriage the quickest way possible. Loved turned to hate.”
From The Detroit News:
The Georges’ two children were 3 and 5 years old when their mother died. Police believed robbery may have been a motive, but nothing was missing from the store, the body or the cash register.
Within months of his wife’s death, Michael George moved in with an employee of the store.
“Evidence does exist she was unhappy in the marriage,” said Macomb Assistant Prosecutor Steve Kaplan. “She had strong suspicions of his infidelity.”
George married his employee and moved to Pennsylvania with his two children and his new wife’s five children.
I’m sure a lot more information will come out concerning this whole story as time goes on. A lot of the information so far just does not make a lot of sense. For instance, if it was a robbery gone bad, why didn’t the killer take the money out of the register? Also, George claimed at the time that $30,000 worth of comics was stolen. That’s a lot of comic books, especially considering it was 1990. The shop in Windber doesn’t seem to be the type that would have a lot of high-end premium comics in stock.
Update: Someone claiming to be Mike George’s stepson has posted on Newsarama that seems to contradict some of what was reported in The Detroit News. He writes:
For instance, my mother did not “leave” nor “abandon” my siblings and me in Michigan. She attempted to take us to Pennsylvania with her, but this move was fought by my father, who eventually won the ensuing custody battle. I chose to rejoin her in 1995 at age 15, and my siblings followed later. I’m sure all this could have been discovered with a FOIA request or two. But then, television journalists are not known for their competence.
This contradicts the story that Mike George and his new wife moved to Pennsylvania with his two children and her five children. Her children evidently remained in Michigan with their father for at least three years.
Pittsburgh Comicon organizer Michael George arrested for murder
The man behind the annual Pittsburgh Comicon has been arrested for murdering his first wife execution-style 17 years ago in Michigan.
His 32-year-old wife, Barbara Marie George, was shot in the head in 1990 in the Comics World store they owned in Clinton Township, north of Detroit.
Her body was found in the shop she had closed that day to surprise Michael George on his 30th birthday, The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens reported.
Comic books valued at $30,000 were taken.
Michael George moved to Pennsylvania following his wife’s death. He opened another Comics World shop in Windber, Pa.
Clinton Township detectives reopened the case in January.
Not only did he open another Comics World in Windber, he also eventually opened one in Chambersburg. It’s where I buy my comics every week. George eventually sold the Chambersburg store, but it retained the name.
Continued Reading
My 2007 Pittsburgh Comicon report
We had a rocking good time at the 2007 Pittsburgh Comicon. The Expo Mart is actually a fantastic place to hold an event like a comic book convention. The Expo Mart is connected to the Radison Hotel. It literary takes only 30 seconds to walk from the lobby of the hotel to the convention floor. Unlike any other funny book convention I’ve been to, parking is free. This means I had more money to spend on the convention floor.
If you entered the convention floor from the Expo Mart side, you were forced to walk by a table staffed with rude women that asked you to support “the troops”. Evidently the only way one could do this was to give them some money. I show my support to “the troops” by being against getting into costly and never ending wars under false pretenses. I don’t do it by giving to obnoxious people that ask for money as soon as I step foot into a comic book convention. To each his own though.
There were two dealers selling bootleg DVD’s. Both were selling copies of the South Korean monster movie THE HOST. It’s not out on DVD here in the states. I was very tempted to pick one up. I’m looking forward to seeing this movie, but I guess I’m willing to wait till I can purchase an actual legal copy. I was surprised to see anyone selling bootlegs after the raids at a comic book convention in Detroit last year. Not only were the two dealers selling bootlegs, it didn’t appear they were selling anything but bootlegs.
Probably one of the most peculiar things I witnessed at the con was STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE 9 actress Chase Masterson. She didn’t look anything like what she looked on DS9. She didn’t look like any of the photos for sale at her table. It appears the years haven’t been overly kind to Chase Masterson. It also appears that she has developed quite a fondness for all-you-can-eat buffets. Not that the same could not be said for me. The difference is that I don’t dress like a hooker.
Some time early Friday afternoon, Chase Masterson stormed out of her booth barefoot while talking very loudly on her cell phone. It was obvious that she was highly agitated about something. I thought maybe the convention organizers told her to go and put on some more clothes. Maybe they told her to go put on some clothing that actually fit. I could hear her yelling on her cell phone about something being paid in full as far as she was concerned. Something like that. I didn’t see her back at her booth the rest of the day. On Saturday, she still wasn’t at her booth. All of her stuff was there. I asked Marc Singer, famous actor from major motion pictures such as THE BEASTMASTER and the hit television mini-series V what happened to her. He was sitting in the booth next to her. Mark informed me that he didn’t know what happened to her and that he hadn’t seen her all day. I wondered if she had at least returned to get her shoes. When we watched her storm out the day before, she was barefoot. As this photo shows, she didn’t come back for her shoes.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the shoes were to end up on eBay. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the eBay seller was somebody that went by the eBay username “BeastMaster7667″.
One of the highlights of the con was the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund quick sketch raffle. That’s where comic book artists sit at a huge table on stage and draw giant comic book related quick sketches. Some of them were quite funny such as anything drawn by Chris Moreno. Some were much more artistic such as anything done by Rags Morales. People purchase raffle tickets for a dollar each and when artists are done with all of their numerous sketches, raffle tickets are drawn for each sketch. It was really quite fun. We attended both Friday and Saturday’s quick sketch event. Saturday’s event alone raised over $1800 for the CBLDF.
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