LADY ALCHEMY GO FUND ME LEGAL DEFENSE DETAILS & EVIDENCE
Fundraiser by Martina Markota : Lady Alchemy Legal Defense (gofundme.com)
I never wanted to go public with this problem, but I am being targeted by a former “friend” and “artist” who is under the delusional impression that I owe him sixty thousand dollars after firing him from my comic book project. This person has gone too far and I am now forced to defend myself against his baseless allegations and smears.
This former “artist” (and his friend) are trying to sue me for $60 thousand dollars in a copyright suit over the Lady Alchemy: Mutus Liber comic book. They claim they started the campaign and that it was originally called “Dark World,” which you and I know is a lie. So does IndieGoGo.
Before we delve into that, please rest assured that this book is getting done with a whole new team. We are around 75% complete. The new artist is pushing forward with the art, and is already fully paid to complete the book. As is the colorist and letterer. The only remaining expenses are the printing and shipping, and this will be accomplished as well.
However, without solving this legal problem now, the former “artist” will stop me from being able to update you, share artwork, sell the book, or deliver the book to backers. That’s why I need to ask for your help.
Now, onto the update…
Last year, I shared with you my firing letter that I sent to my former “artist” and his friend. You can read it by clicking the link here.
I had many reasons for letting them go — even though I had only actually hired just the “artist”, not his friend. But simply put, they were not producing in a timely manner and what they did produce was of low quality and not something I could stomach putting out there in the world to present to my backers in my name. It included nothing of what I had envisioned for this book, or what you all paid for.
My vision was created around 2013 when I met NYC based comic book creator Graig Weich while performing in NYC as Lady Alchemy. Graig Weich has turned model Adrian Curry into a comic book character, as well as other female public figures and stars. GRAIG WEICH: SUPERHERO | New York Lifestyles Magazine. Weich mentioned that a comic book would cost at least $10,000 to create. I did not have the funds in 2013 but I started working with a small-time writer to come up with a script for my idea based on my life. You can see an email pitch I sent to a writer in 2013 here.
The “artist” for the Indiegogo campaign in 2018 was tasked with turning my story, based on my real life, into a comic book script. The “artist”’s friend (whom he had actively recruited on his own), who was pitched to me as a “famous Hollywood screenwriter” submitted an incoherent 9-page-long paragraph treatment. Not an actual comic book script but a poorly written and formatted word doc. See here.
It included things like the twin towers in NYC collapsing, characters, archetypes, and story-lines that appear ripped directly from several other franchises. One particularly perplexing storyline included a headless horseman appearing out of nowhere, for no reason, driving the main character “Major Grubert” around NYC’s tourist attractions on a car that turns into a horse and wagon. See here.
It included every tourist section of NYC like MCU park, Madison Square Garden, and yes, even Times Square…
The ‘artist”’s friend even wanted to include Lady Alchemy working at Radio City Music Hall…
I cannot think of anything so poorly written and so blatantly by a non-New Yorker. I was not pleased with what they provided, and surely nor would any of the backers. This was and is the exact opposite of who Lady Alchemy was as a performer in the underground arts scene in the LES where I performed at places like the Studio54 of Today. Hip, cool, artsy hot spots. Nowhere a tourist would go. For example, I was a regular performer at “The Box”, “Webster Hall”, and “Lit Lounge” — a nightclub in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The two-floor complex housed a concert venue, lounge, dance floor, and Fuse Gallery, an art exhibition space. Lit Lounge was noted as a major venue for New York City’s hipster subculture in the mid- to late 2000s, particularly the indie rock and electroclash scene of the era. A far cry from Times Square and Radio City that this Los Angeles “famous Hollywood screenwriter” tried to imbue Lady Alchemy with. He clearly did not understand New York. It was not me.
I continuously tried to get them focused on the direction I had envisioned back in 2013 but this “writer” who i did not know, kept blowing off my ideas (see here) and said maybe we can explore my ideas “in another book”. He insisted that he not only had everything in place for this first book, but had a plan for TEN BOOKS where Lady Alchemy would go around the world, even to Germany in book 5 to “play around with Nazis” and then by book 10 end up in Israel where Lady Alchemy would fight “Moloch", the god of child sacrifice which is a crazy anti-Semitic conspiracy theory. See 10 books pitched here including “writer” ignoring my ideas for bloodline.
As it approached almost a year since the campaign launched, I began to consistently contact the “artist” regarding art for the book. This was a point where his demeanor began to change. I gave him a deadline to provide half the book. Deadlines came and went, and excuses were provided instead of actual pages.
- Maz presented me a file, 5 days late of our agreement, of 14 pages of completed art. This is the last ever update on final art
- addressing the issue of only 14 pages done. I explained I was frustrated by the lack of productivity
- concerns about Maz’ lateness while he plays mind games
- maz keeps deflecting and delaying art, I keep asking where the art is.
- asking where the regular updates are. No response from maz.
- I address the lack of pages and being a month past the agreed 30 page mark.
Finally, when he provided only 14 pages over a month past the agreed deadline, I found that the old “artist” had changed the main character from Lady Alchemy into his own persona which he called “Major Grubert” in the original treatment. Lady Alchemy had been reduced to a secondary character, despite her being the title character. She was barely mentioned in the treatment and whenever she was, it was as a fearful, timid girl that could not do anything without Major Grubert’s help See here.
I had repeatedly attempted to provide them input on the character, as well as the inclusion of more Alchemy elements pertaining to my Lady Alchemy character, but this input all went ignored and overlooked. Instead I was provided page after page of this ‘Major Grubert’ persona. See here.
They would both later claim that ‘Lady Alchemy’ would appear within the first couple of pages, but this is in the form of a badly photoshopped picture of Lady Alchemy’s face. See here. Not an actual appearance of the character herself. Factually, the Lady Alchemy character did not make an actual appearance until almost one quarter of the way through the book and it looked nothing like me… Example
The “artist” had appeared online and in various places like a VICE interview about the Alt Right as this same ‘Major Grubert’ persona, wearing a Japanese Kabuki Tengu mask. You can see his interview in this link. He had been using this persona for years at this point, as you can see in the VICE video. This persona was the one he used as the main focus of the book and I wanted nothing to do with it.
Most egregiously, Major Grubert was already a copyrighted character from “Moebius and The Airtight Garage”, which was published by Marvel in the United States. See here. As he had also lifted numerous other plots and concepts from various properties, it becomes evident that he does not respect the copyrighted works of others. Which in light of his own copyright claim, is rather ironic.
In his pleadings for the lawsuit, he claims he did all the promotional work himself. Which also included him providing a script for the original promotional video that I did a voice over for. It was shamelessly ripped word for word from the English translation of the opening monologue from the 1987 anime film Wicked City’. He insisted this wouldn’t be a problem when I addressed it. And because I have a more passive nature and believed we were friends, I listened to him. See here.
He had also invoiced me in full for the art immediately after the campaign was funded, though he had not yet created any pages, and was a year and a half before he submitted his 14 pages. I hesitated to pay him full like that but I admit I was naïve and I trusted him way too much.
See invoice for only $3,000 here.
See all payments totaling $4,450 here.
He then invoiced me thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from his friend’s printing service. He and his friends, it seems, were looking to just use me as a cash cow while they disregarded my requests and wrote the story they wanted at my expense and on your dime.
- First $1000 Invoice from his friend, sent to him — I had already told him this was too many posters when given the quote.
- Second $1000 Invoice from his friend, sent to him — I told him I already paid 1K & he replied that was for half the payment, despite already telling him that was too many posters and not needed. I paid it anyway because I didn’t want a fight and he would push me around on this project non stop.
- $600 for stickers — note says the artist said to invoice me here
They admit to shoehorning me on this podcast with Doug Tennapal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMK3SkoVa80
28:05–28:28: Chris claims to have asked Maz how they were going to promote the comic and they both agreed to use me and my Lady Alchemy persona as a character in the book due to my “large platform”. I was never told that this was the case, and it wasn’t the case. I hired the “artist” to work on my comic book, and if he was having secret meetings behind my back to talk about using me to promote their comic book, then that is precisely the problem. They tried to use and manipulate me. I was not aware of their secret scheme.
The artist tells this story in their court filings. He claimed that the comic book was his project, that it was intended to be called “Dark World,” and then he had brought me on board to promote it.
You can find their complaint and declarations here:
I really need your help to fight this. They are trying to make sure I am never able to depict myself and my life story in an illustration ever again in my lifetime. Please help Fundraiser by Martina Markota : Lady Alchemy Legal Defense (gofundme.com)
At no point was this project ever titled “Dark World’’ — as you all know and can go back to the early Comicsgate streams and see for yourself — and at no point did backers fund a project with such a title. This project was launched by me, as a Lady Alchemy comic book, about my life as Lady Alchemy.
The concept of the book advertised on stream was not anything like what is shown in their “script”.
They are also completely misrepresenting even the basic functionality of Indiegogo, and how campaigns themselves function. The entire basis of their claim is that I simply changed the Indiegogo passwords and stole the account.
Any of you familiar with Indiegogo know that it is a secure platform that requires tax identification and ID verification before even launching a campaign. This is critical information that you cannot change once the campaign launches. You cannot just simply change the password of an account and ‘steal’ it..
See:
- What You Can & Can’t Edit After Your Campaign Is Live — Indiegogo Help Center
- Indiegogo owner information and Tax form which CANNOT BE CHANGED-LOCKED
Further, the treatment that they call a “script” in the lawsuit I have never seen before. They decided to remove all mentions of Lady Alchemy like I requested after firing the artist, and they also replaced “Major Grubert with “Maji’’ since I brought to their attention in this email as well as in my firing letter that Major Grubert is a copyrighted character. You can see their “script” (treatment) in the lawsuit filing here.
Had I done exactly as they accuse, then their original information would still be listed on the Indiegogo account, and not my own information as it currently does (and always has). They are currently using a lawyer that appears to be just as unethical as they are. No sooner had my attorney contacted theirs, their counsel immediately filed for default without properly filing a notice prior to the filing for default.
Surely they must know they have no case, as they don’t seem very interested in fighting on the merit of their claims. Clearly they just wanted a swift default so that they can torment me. And to use this court filing to abuse copyright strikes in their favor.
Their intentions are even more clear in that they want to stop this book from being made out of spite, at all costs. The fact they are intending to claim ALL of the funds that the campaign raised, and more, shows their vindictiveness. This amount is despite the fact that the “artist” was paid in full for the work he had done. So in essence he is attempting to duplicate his payment plus rob the campaign of additional funds. His intentions also show he intends to deny you, the backers, the product you were promised and sneak in one that was never advertised to you in the first place.
At this moment, there is a hearing scheduled for Monday 2/1. Their default entry was set aside, but they are trying to get the judge to reconsider his order. It is rather telling that their attorney would even file for it only a few hours after my lawyer initially contacted them. That they are attempting to claim ALL of the funds in the campaign total is ludicrous on its own considering they claimed all over the internet that I already spent all of the money. Which was another lie as I had used the funds to hire an entirely new team to recreate the new book in the vision that this campaign was built on from scratch. This is the book that I had set out to make in the first place, and that the backers had gotten behind. We are currently 75% complete and my team is 100% paid. Everyday they continue to work away at it. We are nearly in the home stretch.
Meanwhile they are telling their lawyers that there is nearly $60 thousand dollars to collect from this campaign. Ignoring how the “artist” had already taken thousands from it and incurred even more in the form of vastly overprinting merchandise from the campaign unnecessarily. It appears their lawyer may be operating on contingency, so they are possibly spending nothing on legal fees while trying to press for a default.
This brings me to another point. Why in the world would I spend TENS OF THOUSANDS of dollars to hire a new team if their claims are true?
They are claiming that they were nearly complete (which is a lie and I provided evidence above of my constant requests for pages a year and a half later and months past our deadline agreement). If they were almost completed, then why would only 17 pages be turned in by the “artist”? Then they claim that I am ‘copying’ their “Dark World”.
First off, this book is based on elements of my real life. I hired them to create artwork to match my story of being a burlesque dancer in NYC. How can I be accused of copying anything of theirs, when these experiences of mine form the basis of the story, and the name of the book was ‘Lady Alchemy’, which was the moniker I performed under nearly a decade prior to this project ever coming to fruition?
The original promotional artwork that was released was all based on my likeness as my ‘Lady Alchemy’ character. Furthermore, the new book is substantially different from their ‘work’ in practically every conceivable way. The level of quality in the art and story is volumes above what was originally produced, and this is the reason they are targeting it as much as they are.
They took down the Indiegogo campaign because they have an ongoing lawsuit, so Indiegogo is following proper copyright law procedure. However, their claims are frivolous. This whole lawsuit is an attempt to further harass me and derail the project out of spite.
Below, you will find “Exhibit B” from the lawsuit, which shows the artwork that I commissioned that the “artist” fraudulently filed for copyright rights after I hired him to create this artwork. The art also depicts my trademarked image, Lady Alchemy. I own this art. It is also worth noting that in the legal filings, the “artist” included extra artwork that he never submitted to me.
Below, you will find a break down (page by page) showing that the artwork he filed as a copyright infringement is A) art I commissioned, and B) art depicting my image, Lady Alchemy. In some cases, the art doesn’t even take the form of drawings as the “artist” would frequently insert photographs into the pages and use filters to make them appear as though they were drawn. I also own those photographs.
- Page 3 & Page 9: Image of Lady Alchemy is being used for posters in the background. The copyright of images being drawn is owned by Martina Markota and the Lady Alchemy mark is also being infringed. reference image of Lady Alchemy 2013
- Page 15: Image of Lady Alchemy performing in a nightclub is being used in Maz’s drawings. Copyright of images owned by Martina Markota.
- Lady Alchemy on stage 2017
- Page 16: Images taken from Lady Alchemy images to create page.
- Neon projection modeling picture of Lady Alchemy with Alchemical circle 2014
- Image of Lady Alchemy body paint 2013
- Page 17: Image of Lady Alchemy was used to create art.
- reference image of Lady Alchemy used on page 2014
- Maziar was sent reference images to draw Lady Alchemy by martina markota
- Page 20: Lady Alchemy’s mask mask inspiration from lady-alchemy.com
- Page 24: Depicts Lady Alchemy in costumes, “artist” was sent reference images to draw Lady Alchemy by me.
- Lady Alchemy costuming references sent to maz by martina
- Lady Alchemy costuming references sent to maz by martina
This is why I NEED to fight back. I need to fight back because They are attempting to make sure I can never do a comic book without them and they get retribution. They are using this lawsuit to take down ANY comic book creation of mine. They are claiming substantial similarities when I had directed him to literally draw me and my life. Then went behind my back after I fired him to copyright the works of me.
So according to them, I ‘stole’ the Indiegogo campaign so that I can then spend tens of thousands of dollars more on another team, just to copy their exact story and art? How does that seem at all logical?
At this point, because of the damage they have done to this campaign, and then their further antics to try to abuse the copyright system to stop the book’s production at all costs, I won’t even be making any profit at all on this book. It will cost me money out of my own pocket to complete printing and shipping. The cost of having to produce two books in a single campaign was substantial, and the first of those books won’t be released by me (though that is somewhat of a blessing in disguise). I promised to produce the product, and I am fulfilling that promise. They know this, and that is why they are attacking me with this lawsuit. This is the lengths they are going to in their attempts to derail the completion of this book.
Beyond the obvious inaccuracies and blatant lies in their legal filings, my former “artist” — who I foolishly believed was a friend and who I gave more than enough chances to complete the job I paid him to do — went on to do some vile things that have caused me extreme emotional distress. I want to share with you below some more details about that so you know what I am really dealing with here.
The harassment started with the classic sign of vindictiveness — copyright strikes. The “artist” and his friend pulled copyright strike attempts on Indiegogo, and my two business websites.
They also pulled copyright strikes on my YouTube streams if I mentioned them or the project. This also meant they were watching every stream I did. Streaming is part of how I make a living at the moment. It started to feel like I was being stalked, and the frivolous copyright strikes were taunting me and causing me difficulties — including stopping me from updating my backers.
Their actions, between the suit and their constant taunting, has been very difficult for me. It has seriously impacted my mental and physical health at a time when I am dealing with very serious personal problems too. But what makes this so much worse is that, in their filing, they are claiming that I am causing them “severe emotional distress.” This is backwards.
They also claim that I have caused them reputational damage, but until this lawsuit, I had never exposed either of their names. They exposed their names through the lawsuit, and chose to go on podcasts to tell lies about me and my husband, destroy this comic project, and damage my reputation. This is the definition of gaslighting, and it is abusive.
I’m afraid to just live because anything and everything I do is being taken out of context by these two. Their lawyer is pushing for default after serving my mother (who I have no contact with) at a property I do not live at, and they used a tweet where I described how I was living in a secret location as “evidence” I was avoiding service. The sad truth — and one that most people don’t know — is that I have been targeted by a number of literal stalkers in recent years. I have been inundated with death threats on a daily basis (literally — I’m not exaggerating) with thousands of emails, disturbing videos, men sending photoshopped images of me being raped and murdered, and threatening to find me with private investigators. And yes, the police are involved. Interpol is even involved.
This isn’t something I talk about publicly, but on top of this, ANTIFA has previously doxxed me and I am always concerned about my safety. That is why my location is always secret, and these unethical liars used a tweet out of context to lie to the courts and attempt a default on a case they know they have no chance of winning on merit. If you follow the tweet they reference to the OP, you will plain see it references ANTIFA by name as the reason for that secrecy.
The harassment continued with social media violent threats and troll attempts. His grand plan was to write a hit piece about me on the Daily Groyper only a few months after they wrote an article praising me. This was his attempt to use the word ‘simp’ to shame my backers or anyone supporting me and my work. It was also an attempt to co-opt a group of trolls to target me.
After a month of waiting on countering the copyright strikes, I slowly started to get my websites back and then eventually the Indiegogo campaign was back up. Around this time, I was asked by Dick Masterson to come on his show to talk about my comic book. I knew that he was the “artist”’s friend and quickly informed him that I knew. He acted surprised that I had a falling out with the “artists” and said that he just wanted to have me on to talk about comics with Doug Tenepel.
I ended up spending the day on the trampoline with my niece while staying out of NYC during the covid lockdowns and I was assembling my new team. This was around the time I was doing tests with artists and asking around for artists and colorists while Von worked on the new script.
Sure enough, the Dick show with Doug Tennapal was an ambush attempt. This was the “artist”’s big moment. He got all dressed up in his LA gear, a flat brimmed hat, patches on his jacket, and big square sunglasses (indoors). He was in his element.
It was an hour-long mean-spirited rant in which he told several baseless and harmful lies about me in what seemed like an attempt to save his reputation. What I don’t understand, however, is what reputation he was trying to save. As I said, I had never revealed his real name, and my followers — particularly the comic book backers — didn’t really know who he was anyway. Dick Masterson’s audience also does not overlap with mine, so instead of saving his reputation — which wasn’t impacted in any way — he chose to spread vicious lies about me and my husband.
The host never challenged him when he said he owned the Indiegogo campaign, or that I spent all the comic book money, and committed tax fraud. My tax guy was furious by this lie, attempted to contact him, but the “artist” never picked up the calls, he didn’t want to face his actions.
None of the facts were addressed in the show, including the artist having already been paid in full, him losing me $thousands on unsold merchandise, and me paying out for a whole new team. It was character assassination and really traumatic to hear, and up until now was something I didn’t address. It does not even deserve a response, but I have to tell you, the backers, what is going on.
He lied on purpose and the host allowed it because drama gets views, and views mean money. I don’t want drama, I just want to produce a comic book.
The former “artist” attacked Lady Alchemy backers as “simps” but that does not work with the comics crowd. We love sexy women…you’re not going to shame comic fans about liking babes. So his attempts did not work. Aside from a few of his online troll buddies, the podcast with Doug Tenepel was a stale attempt. The comics crowd doesn’t just fall for the ‘let’s hate her bc she’s an EVIL WHAMEN!’ thing.
Following the show, some Comicsgate people looked into it and immediately saw inconsistencies in the “artist”’s claims. See here. Most of the comic scene just ignored the drama and were happy that I made progress on the book, they did not care about the change in team.
Around this time, the former “artist” was also posting threatening images on Twitter. One was a picture of a guy shooting a girl, blowing her head off. Then he created merch with another girl getting shot in the forehead, with the bullet crashing through her iPhone. This is just about getting revenge on me for firing him, and intimidating me any way they can to not deliver a comic book.
Then I find out through one of my biggest haters sending me a link online to show me there is a lawsuit. They somehow knew the day the default motion was posted and used it to intimidate/mock me online. This guy is now collaborating with far-left extremists who have taunted me for years, who spearheaded my blacklisting in the New York performing industry because I supported Trump. They were also working with/talking to Doug TenNapel, who I had never had a bad word to say about, so it felt particularly like a betrayal.
This is all what led up to the lawsuit I described to you at the beginning of this post. After lying about me and intimidating/threatening me online, he and his friend filed a frivolous lawsuit that has cost me thousands of dollars and is likely to cost tens of thousands more to fight. But thankfully, lying to the courts — perjury — is a crime. So, if we can fight this lawsuit, I will not only deliver the comic book but ensure justice is done too.
I really need your help to fight this lawsuit.
I never wanted to ask but the costs are racking up and if something doesn’t change then they will achieve their goal of making it impossible for me to deliver the comic book to you.
I am Lady Alchemy. They do not own my image nor do they own the artwork I commissioned. They do not own my story and they have no right to try and deny backers the comic they paid for. All because I fired the former “artist” for failing to deliver a quality product on time.
Here are the facts:
- I never promoted a “Dark World” book and this was always a Lady Alchemy comic book.
- Neither the “artist” nor his friend have ever owned this campaign. I own it, I pay the taxes, and I paid the artist. I am the one losing money on delivering this project.
- The former “artist” may have told his lawyer that there is $60k sat waiting for him, meaning he gets cheap/free legal representation based on contingency.
- The former artist has lied to the courts several times already and, presuming his lawyer is an honest lawyer, he has also lied to his legal counsel about the nature of the project.
I want to deliver the comic book you ordered, but the only way I can do that is by winning this legal battle and ensuring that he can no longer abuse the legal system to stop me delivering. We have to show the court that he has lied at every turn.
If I don’t handle this legal battle, his fake copyright claims will mean I cannot post updates, that I cannot sell the book online, and I cannot print and deliver the book to you legally or ever depict myself in an illustration again ever in my lifetime.
I really need your help Fundraiser by Martina Markota : Lady Alchemy Legal Defense (gofundme.com)
