“In A Serpent’s Nest, Nothing Can Survive.” – OR, This Is The Shit I Have To Deal With

One thing about this blog that I’d like to maintain is that I am never interested in promoting myself like an Alex Grand nor am I out to cultivate public spats and feuds like a Rich Johnston. Why, I’m even hesitant to mention their offensive names lest it appear that I, of all people, might be using their names to attract more attention for my humble writing.

No. I mean it!

As it is, you’ve caught me on a day in which I am genuinely distressed and heavily distracted by what is happening in Israel, insomuch as I have very close friends currently living in Tel Aviv. I admit it has left me on edge and might be responsible for leaving me a little salty when I get ridiculous messages such as the one I saw around dinner time tonight.

Now, I risk a lot by even sharing this nonsense message. For starters, I lend credibility to it by the dignifying it with a response act of telling others about it; I also add more weight than it deserves by explaining it to my apparent readership. It’s juvenile, it’s obvious and its sigh inducing. Perhaps the worst thing about it is that the two guys I believe to be behind it are seemingly a decade older than me.

I received a message from a guy claiming to respond to my recent article on the antics and continued misleading public relations grift of Roy Thomas and his manager John Cimino.

Before you ask, the answer is correct– I don’t want to hear from Chris Cuttitta.

This is exhausting. This is the result of writing a fuckin’ blog, man. The comic book guys… they’re pure gold. Now, it’s possible that I’ve just outed Chris Cuttitta and he’s absolutely sincere in his desire to spill the beans and give me some real dirt on “the manager”- whom he despises, you know, so much that he can’t even say his name– I’ll get to that in a second. Let me first explain why I’m a little skeptical over Mr. Cuttitta’s offer to help get “comeuppance“- as if being John Cimino wasn’t karmic punishment enough.

Chris Cuttitta is a long-time volunteer, per his own admission, for the annual TerrifiCON event in Connecticut. Which is owned by one Mitch Hallock, the vaguely Jay Leno-ish pseudo personality who is fond of creating and posting literal dozens of AI-generated selfies of himself as a thinner, more handsome variant. Hey, that’s his business! But it occurs to me that ol’ Mitch is, incidentally, the guy that was with John Cimino when he ambushed an elderly Steve Ditko.

So, I already resent having to have written an article which so strongly references Mitch Hallock, whom I’m sure is a significant deal on a regional level- but, because I believe in context for my beloved readers, I’ve got to spell all of this out. Is a personal friend and associate of Mitch Hallock suddenly going to contact me, some unknown blogger, with an offer to help bury the famous Roy Boyzz???

Against my better judgment, I responded to Mr. C. Here is my response:

Am I just losing the plot, imagining that (possibly) Mitch Hallock asked this guy to contact me to gauge what my response would be? Did Chris see reference to Mitch in that last article and decide upon himself to lull me in with an offer of information, in a proactive gesture of loyalty towards his disgusting and narcissistic mentor?

This is where I consider the slim possibility that I’m outing Chris. Perhaps he’s truly sincere and quietly vomits in his mouth every time he has to observe The Rascally One and Mego Stretchneck on an annual basis; maybe Chris is the undercover brother and knows something even more diabolical than disrespecting a man in his Eighties while giggling like schoolgirls about it. I guess I’ll never know.

If the latter IS true, then what does it say about the loyalty of these fanboy motherfuckers? Literally, while I’m writing this blog, the Christus himself responded further:

• “Yes, I have become pretty good friends with Mitch when a lot of this “stuff” created an entry point for me. It was well after the Ditko incident (didn’t know either then), which Mitch since has expressed regret. Mitch, myself & counterpart “henchman” equally loathe Cimino. So yes, they suggested I remain a member in stealth mode of the Roy page lol. That way I can share the wealth with them.”

Sigh. Conspiracies and factions within factions… over a douche like John Cimino? Perhaps I’m a worse writer than I thought… perhaps these guys think I am like (choke) Rich Johnston.

Could it be possible that even the people close to Cimino recognize how insufferable he and Thomas are, and the tide is slightly, finally turning?

Anything is possible- but I doubt it. Being able to hang with guys who can get away with lying about co-creating Wolverine adds a degree of credibility and connection to Stan Lee’s corpse by proxy that is simply irresistible to the aging male comics enthusiast.

So no, I will not be entertaining any secret info from dorks about people whose antics are already endlessly regurgitated, and shamelessly, on social media, on a regular and recurring basis. Good DAY Sir!

Let’s say this is all sincere, and F.O.O.C. (Friends of Ol’ Cimino) want to feed me- a guy they know nothing about- incriminating and shameful behavior of this guy on the sly. Well, I’m reminded of what the actual creator of the Marvel Universe, Jack Kirby once said, and which I will share with you again now:

• “I see it as a serpent’s nest. And in a serpent’s nest, nothing can survive. Eventually all the snakes kill each other. Eventually they’ll also kill whatever generated them.” – Jack Kirby

In closing, once he saw that I was giving minimal/disinterested responses to his obvious attempts to gleam information from me, Chris C. finally gave me warning about the apparent physical threat that 50-ish leathery bodybuilding selfie-taking men pose to younger men who were trained by stern Black men in Philadelphia boxing gyms:

John Cimino will not get “hands on” with me, I assure you. And not because I’m so tough. For one thing, there’s too much to lose by being involved in any altercation at or around a convention appearance; Cimino is dedicated to the mission.

He isn’t likely to fuck with the tiger and get bit; real tough guys don’t post photos of their abdomens after all. Cimino is there to count the money. Which is his right.

Sigh. I feel dirty for entertaining this for that long. But I really do hope Mitch, Cimino, anyone else connected to this den of thieves gets to see it. Why? Because the “community” is a tier-based group of competitive and cutthroat dorks; they have factions, they have agendas, they talk shit and then embrace each other at regional events. It’s gross, it’s weak, it’s not how men should behave.

In closing, a guy who is in a Cimino group in a “stealth mode” capacity contacts me to tell me that other dickheads think Cimino is a dickhead and then proposes to offer me information… and then proceeds to ask me lots of questions about my geographical location, etc.

I have no loyalty to these guys and the purpose of what I write is not to elevate myself. So shit like this will never get you anywhere. I say this after receiving over 35 comments, numerous e-mails, all from people offering me secret information, threats, innuendos, and implications about my “real” identity, blah blah blah.

Let me again reiterate: the purpose of Four Color Sinners is to arrange evidence in such a way as to present a case or provide proof- or both. If Chris here is sincere and wants to help “pile on” Cimino and Roy- then he has sorely mistaken the point of my articles, which is perhaps the fault of my lack of writing ability.

I don’t do this to pile on. I don’t have a personal agenda. I simply see contradictory statements and blatant dishonesty and it is maddening that other apparent non-blind people also see it and do not comment upon it or call it out; therefore, its left up to the few that will speak up and ask questions about it. That’s what this is about.

Cimino? He just happens to be a fuckin’ nimrod. But it’s the lies his “client” Roy Thomas peddles- that’s what’s dangerous.

I’m glad to be part of the outspoken few. That’s the only club that would really have me anyway, to paraphrase the great Julius. Stealth members of Roy Thomas groups can go suck a dick. And hopefully, grow the fuck up in the meantime.

YOU WILL ALWAYS KNOW WHERE I STAND. NO BACKROOM DEALS, KAPISH?