NYCC exclusive covers as a tradition as old as the con, and Action Lab had one that got a little too hot to handle with this one for a one shot called….Ivan the Pervy Ghost.

iventhepervyghost.png

IVAN THE PERVY GHOST ONE-SHOT
Cover Artist: Dan Mendoza
Written by: Bryan Seaton & Dan Mendoza
Limited to 100 copies each
Cost $100 per set, sold in sets only

From the pages of DollFace, Ivan ventures out on his own adventure. When the DollFace team decides to get some downtime at a Comic Convention, Ivan gets separated from his friends and goes into a neighboring Con. Things take a turn. A “sexy” turn. For the 1st time ever, see Ivan in all his perverted glory in this solo book, IVAN THE PERVY GHOST.

This will be a true New York Comic Con exclusive and this single issue comic will not be offered in print again. This is your one and only chance to collect the first edition of Ivan’s solo debut. A digital release will come out later this year for fans that just want to enjoy the story of Ivan and his Pervy Adventures. Sold in sets of 1 Regular & 1 Risqué cover, it will come with a certificate of authenticity that will be numbered and hand signed by Dan & Bryan. $50 from each set sold at NYCC will go to help Hurricane victims of Harvey, Irma, and Maria.

There is so much to unpack here.

  • Why does it cost $100?
  • Why is there a nude variant of something that looks like a 7th grader drew it?
  • Why is there a nude variant at all in the era of Porn Hub?
  • Why do her clavicles look like nipples?

While these questions went unanswered, they did get a lot of dragging on twitter, including pointing out that a comic that makes fun of harassing cosplayers is a) inappropriate and b) so 2012.

Sadly, whoever was handling Action Lab’s social media – whether a staffer or a hacker – they didn’t like getting sassed:

 

 

Obviously, this is not how you respond to legitimate criticism in this day and age. In fact, a new narrative soon emerged:

 

https://twitter.com/ActionLabDanger/status/914983549194948608

Instead of a pervy ghost, Action Lab had a skeevy hacker on its hands. And soon a full statement:

After releasing Action Lab‘s exclusive NYCC covers, the IVAN THE PERVY GHOST ONE-SHOT received notable backlash. In response, Action Lab‘s publisher/CEO Bryan Seaton released the following statement:

“As Publisher of Action Lab Comics, it was never my or Action Lab‘s intention to promote or make light of cosplay consent issues.  We recognize that sexual harassment of cosplayers is a very real issue and particularly that it is one some of our own creators have spoken out on in the past.  In retrospect, we agree that the cover of Ivan is ill-considered, and we will be removing this cover as one of our NYCC exclusives.
 
As a publisher of creator-owned books, Action Lab doesn’t believe in censorship – but we do believe in respecting our readers, being sensitive to issues in our community, and owning up to our mistakes.  In short, we made a mistake, we did something dumb, and we sincerely apologize.  As part of the comics community, we appreciate your comments and feedback and we will continue to work to get it right.  When we do something wrong, please call us out.  We want to be a publisher where every reader feels welcome.”

In response to the Twitter controversy that spawned from the critique of the cover, Seaton went on to say:

“I would like to apologize on behalf of Action Lab and Action Lab Danger Zone for any and all rude and inappropriate tweets. We do not believe these tweets where done by any Action Lab staff but by a malicious third party. Passwords have now been changed and tweets deleted but damage has already been done and again we apologize.”

honestly, the thing i”m most outraged about is that anyone thought they could get $100 for a cover where a girls clavicles look like nipples. We have hentai for that, thanks.

Action Lab has probably gotten more attention for this than anything else they’ve done recently. A smaller publisher, Action Lab puts out some great books – Princeless – and some books that sell very well – Zombie Tramp – a dichotomy, if you will. At any rate, maybe this all paid off for them as a lot of people are asking for the first time: “Who are Action lab anyway?”

 

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2 COMMENTS

  1. I can’t take Action Lab seriously. They publish amazing all ages work like Princless, but at the same time, publish a book called “Zombie Tramp”. The only difference in branding is the words “DANGER ZONE” on the cover, which really doesn’t say anything.

    It’s a confusing company that needs some major branding work.

    And to probably stop publishing trash like Zombie Tramp.

  2. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. Stop advocating for censorship by connecting every fictional thing you don’t like to some real world problem without any factual correlation between the two.

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