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" Sullivan&amp;#039;s Sluggers artist James Stokoe has requested to have his name removed from the Kickstarter-funded comic, sparking a backlash from writer Mark Andrew Smith. The baseball-themed horror graphic novel was originally slated for publication by Image Comics, before Smith chose to crowd-source funding for the venture.  However, Stokoe did not believe this was the route to go down and requested that his name be removed from Sullivan&amp;#039;s Sluggers. &amp;quot;The writer and myself had briefly talked about working together on the KS, but due to some disagreements, I decided to remove myself from it completely,&amp;quot; he wrote on his blog. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s not a book that I feel good about endorsing, and I&amp;#039;d prefer not to be associated with it any longer.&amp;quot;  Some of Stokoe&amp;#039;s supporters have directed criticism towards Smith, claiming that he should provide his collaborator with compensation from the Kickstarter funds, while others claim they were misled into believing that they were supporting the illustrator by providing funds. &amp;quot;There&amp;#039;s been talk on my behalf about fair compensation from the KS earnings, but I have to say that it personally doesn&amp;#039;t bother me,&amp;quot; he added. &amp;quot;I have been paid what I was contracted for, and I&amp;#039;ve been very content to keep my nose out of anything involving the book post-Kickstarter.&amp;quot; Stokoe&amp;#039;s remarks have prompted an angry response from Smith, who hit out at the artist&amp;#039;s work rate on the project, claiming that he turned in just eight pages in a year.  &amp;quot;I hired James Stokoe for Sullivan&amp;#039;s years ago starting in 2009, and then he&amp;#039;d go missing for months and months at a time, one year turning in about eight pages total. Eight pages in one year,&amp;quot; he told CBR. &amp;quot;I was foolish enough to bet the house on Sullivan&amp;#039;s Sluggers with Stokoe and things didn&amp;#039;t go at all to plan with the schedule.  &amp;quot;Stokoe was a grown man, he agreed to do a job for a certain amount like many of you do every day, and took three years to finish that job which was only to deliver art for the book. He was paid for the job in full.  &amp;quot;I offered to pay more but he declined. I don&amp;#039;t look at him like a brilliant artist but more as someone that built a house for me, finished, and moved on to what&amp;#039;s next. If things went smoother on the book that wouldn&amp;#039;t be the case but they didn&amp;#039;t.&amp;quot;  Smith further claims that he has been the victim of &amp;quot;non-stop bullying [and] targeted harassment&amp;quot; from Stokoe&amp;#039;s camp. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/comics/news/a464065/sullivans-sluggers-creators-james-stokoe-mark-andrew-smith-clash/>