Posted in: Comics, Image | Tagged: bored ape, bored ape yacht club, image comics, nftwatch

The Story Behind That Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT & Image Comics

This week saw the publication of The Secret History Of The War On Weed graphic novel from Image Comics. It also saw the launch of a Bored Ape NFT tie-in. Image Comics tweeted out the following "Something's brewing in the… weeds? Celebrate 4/20 with #THESECRETHISTORYOFTHEWARONWEED #BAYC #7073 @BoredApeYC @thebrianposehn @GerryDuggan @Koblish #apefollowape http://shop.imagecomics.com" Image Comics offered a 500 limited run of Bored Ape Yacht Club Secret History Of The War On Drugs variant covers at $20 each.

BAYC SECRET HISTORY OF THE WAR ON WEED Regular price $20.00 SOLD OUT Adding product to your cart The year is 1985. The First Lady decides to crush Northern California cannabis farmers and deploys the biggest tool in the armed forces: Scotch McTiernan (collectible first of many hilarious appearances). "If it weeds…we can kill it." Scotch puts his boots on the ground in Humboldt and does what he does best—but what happens when he gets high for the first time? This exclusive BAYC cover one-shot has it all: laughs, tears, heart, action—plus, an activity page! A portion of the proceeds from this comic will be donated to organizations dedicated to helping casualties of America's immoral drug war. Featuring BAYC #7073! Limited Print Run of 500 Maximum of 2 per customer

Only 450 copies were available on the site. It sold out, fast. That was a very easy way to make $9,000 (gross).

There is a lot of bad feeling among some people regarding the rise of NFTs, initially over their extreme use of electricity and energy, but after that was heavily reduced for many NFT offerings, it has been as money laundering, tax avoidance and corruption on a multi-global scale, or a long-term Ponzi scheme and that anyone who participates in creating NFTs is either trying to con someone or someone who will be conned. There are also countless examples of people taking other people's works and minting them as NFTs.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club are seen as some of the worst NFT offenders, creating a series of poorly drawn cartoon images of apes, that then sell for thousands and in total have raised billions.  Owners of a Bored Ape NFT are granted access to a private online club, exclusive in-person events, and intellectual property rights for the image. Which is what has led people who buy a BAYC NFT to sell their own products based on the image they bought. Which is what seems to have happened here.

Reaction to Image Comics offering NFTs, especially Bored Ape NFTs was fast and furious, with thousands of negative comments. Some seemed to think this was Image Comics issuing NFTs rather than an exclusive print variant cover. But the most intriguing was from comics letterer and designer Chris Ross. Who tweeted, looking at who was issuing the NFTs.

So who owns this NFT? Good question: OpenSea has this as the owner: https://opensea.io/PINDELDYBOZ_FORT_KNOX Pindeldyboz is an interesting word: http://theliteraryunderground.org/pindeldyboz/about.html Who is that founding editor? Looks like Jeff Boison, Director of Sales and Publishing Planning for Image Comics

Pindeldyboz was a fanzine website publishing stories from over a decade ago that Jeff – and others – worked on. It did seem like a curious link. And yes, Bleeding Cool understands that Jeff Boison is indeed the owner of this Bored Ape Yacht club NFT and owns the right to use it as he sees fit. Image Comics printed an exclusive print variant of the comic book and sent copies to influencers at the BAYC 4/20 party from a couple of nights ago, hoping to drive sales. But before that could even happen, the Image Comics website sold the remaining 450 copies.

All money went to the original creative team, after Image Comics' costs. I understand that Jeff Boison didn't personally profit from the venture, it was just a way to try and draw attention to the comic book – which it certainly did. I don't think Image Comics expected the blowback they got, but much if that seemed to be from people thinking that Image Comics was minting NFTs themselves. The creative team will have signed off on this venture, however, and writers Brian Posehn and artist Scott Koblish are already part of NFT investment with Crypto.com and Heavy Metal Magazine. Co-writer Gerry Duggan is stayng quiet on this one.

The (standard) cover version of The Secret History Of The War On Weed is available in comic book stores right now. No Bored Apes are included.

SECRET HISTORY OF WAR ON WEED CVR A KOBLISH (MR)
IMAGE COMICS
FEB220059
(W) Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn (A/CA) Scott Koblish
BRIAN POSEHN, GERRY DUGGAN & SCOTT KOBLISH reform Voltron (metaphorically only) from their days on Deadpool (also not appearing) to tell a true story and lost chapter from our nation's sad and failed war on drugs. The year is 1985. The First Lady decides to crush Northern California cannabis farmers and deploys the biggest tool in the armed forces: Scotch McTiernan (collectible first of many hilarious appearances). "If it weeds…we can kill it." Scotch puts his boots on the ground in Humboldt and does what he does best-but what happens when he gets high for the first time? This one-shot has it all: laughs, tears, heart, action-plus, an activity page! A portion of the proceeds from this comic will be donated to organizations dedicated to helping casualties of America's immoral drug war.  In Shops: Apr 20, 2022 SRP: $4.99

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