I am feeling a little crazy about this Shortbox post but I tried really hard to be calm and non confrontational in my response so I will not add to the post itself. But damn. It infuriates me that because this artist did not follow the rule and was mad that they were not accommodated, they're making it up to be an abusive environment and using all the internet language to make it sound so bad. Maybe they are young and don't have experience to understand it but like. Do you know how impossible it is to organise comic artists for an event that size?? The most notoriously unorganised and overreaching people there are (including me in the process)??
If the deadline wasn't strongly implemented the Fair wouldn't exist. If she accommodated every one who couldn't finish in time then so few people would actually submit their comic!! We need hard deadlines!! It's just common sense!!
It's due to 15 years of thankless work that this Fair is what it is, this is an audience that Zainab built with sweat and love for comics.
It's so so disrespectful to her to react this way. She works so hard, had such a sharp eye and because she doesn't sugar coat things suddenly she's abusive. Really she's the one being tone policed in this situation. None of us would have the reach she's giving us with this Fair, we're benefiting in so many ways from her curation. "Go buy from artists directly" and how do we find these artists?? The internet and algorithm make it so hard to be found!! Stop being entitled and own up to having messed up. This is not being mistreated it's just being asked to follow one simple rule urgh.
I think this is an extremely ungenerous take. The artist in question finished a 65 page comic and turned it in by the deadline. They asked how to adjust their ending to meet the organizers standard since it was unclear and they were not allowed to make an extended version... only to receive no response except an email asking for a dropout fee a MONTH later. To paint this as 'breaking rules and asking for special treatment' from a comic creating peer is sad. OP was asking for basic communication and how to abide by rules, I don't think that's an extreme ask under any other normal circumstance. What is a 'complete' comic in this case? Is 65 pages not enough? How should the ending feel? Are open ended endings not allowed? These are all fringe questions that are not clearly answered, and the artist seemed more than willing to abide by whatever guideline the organizer wanted if they could just receive some clarification.
I don't think running a show like SBCF alone is easy, it's extremely hard work and despite my personal shortcomings with the organizer I think that alone is something worth admiration. However, it's a point of frustration how often people use this to shield Zainab from all criticism and turn it against the creators for not being compliant enough. If you cannot respond in a professional manner, let your stress out in condescending emails, or cannot have basic conversation with fringe cases in your show, I think it is not the responsibility of the artists to just take it and grit their teeth, but rather should be a wake up call to the organizer that perhaps the show has outgrown the capabilities of one person and that to have healthier, smoother communication, you should expand your team. There have been plenty of free labor volunteers chiming in over the years. I think being the sole organizer is impressive, but not an excuse for bad behavior or treatment. I'm glad if you have not experienced this, but I hope you can accept and understand there's a reason why a lot of dissent exists against this organizer from both amateur and veteran creators alike.
While I may not agree with some of the OP's language or a call to completely boycott, I think it really makes me sad that their behavior is being painted as 'rule breaking, expecting special treatment' when they made a comic, turned it in on time, and then were told it didn't meet the guidelines when a month earlier they asked for more clarification on that guideline so they could finish to standard.
Also, considering last SBCF a Nimona fancomic was allowed in the lineup (no hate to the beautiful comic itself or the creator) after the website explicitly stated 'original IP only', how am I expected to respect rules if they are only arbitrarily upheld.
