The Stalker Thing
And the Truthiness of True Crime Television
I intended to make a video about the long hard truth of what really happened re: the stalker "Walter Rose", as in the Discovery ID show which is currently rerunning on Netflix. The show spent so much time trying to dance around the issue that he was a Marvel Comics employee - and the many name professionals who were involved in the matter - that the edits materially changed the narrative of the story.
Beware the truthiness of True Crime television.
I got very upset reviewing the material, and now I don’t want to deep dive. Ever. I have important work to do. There is only so much energy I should put into things like this.
But here are a few things I do want to go over.
The show makes it appear as if "Walter Rose" came out of the blue with a campaign of harassment that was immediate and traumatizing. That's just not true.
I was about 19 when this started.
When I began getting those cards and letters, I thought they were coming from a kid. The art and writing was very juvenile. It was some years before I realized I was dealing with a middle aged man trying to pressure me into a romantic relationship, while at the same time demanding that I work with him.
He used to write me letters saying I looked like a “…little English schoolgirl.” YMMV.
Most of my publishers were sensitive to the matter when I discussed it, and trashed his letters and packages when they came in without my ever seeing them. While there were several ugly incidents (abuse he heaped on editors who did not cooperate with him) for the most part he was easy to ignore.
My complaints against "Walter Rose" to my clients had nothing to do with his failed career prospects, as he sometimes claims. He'd been fired from Marvel staff some 7 years before I first heard from him - and the reason wasn't good - and the last professional freelance Marvel credit for him I could find was from 1984, years before I got my first job at Marvel Comics. I had nothing to do with him being fired from his job there.
It was nearly six years after he began harassing me that he really became a problem. It got exponentially worse when I began self publishing in the 1990’s, because then he could contact me directly without trying to get past Karen Berger.
Also, Rose's mother had been in on the harassment campaign for years. She even fooled me into speaking with her on the phone. She didn't just show up out of the blue at that convention the way the show makes it seem.
Another thing the show gets wrong, and I actually got a couple of abusive letters because of this, oh internet, how you amuse me.
The show makes it appear that my mom was at a convention, the only thing shielding me from Walter and his advances.
That’s not true, either.
The police had been informed in advance that Walter would be there. Walter had been informed that if he showed up he was likely to be shown out by cops. He showed up anyway.
My mom often attended shows with me as my assistant, and had been working for me for years. And it was also normal for at least one of us to be packing mace or a taser.
The police were in waiting for Walter. When Walter and his mom got out of hand, my mom - and rightly so - demanded Walter’s mom stop pawing me. My mom’s hand was on her handy taser. Then the police took Walter out.
And he threw a fit and threatened to sue everybody.
Rose spent at least 5 years sending threats and abusing me with expensive legal tactics while acting as his own attorney. He tried to force me to hire him, claiming discrimination when I did not comply. As you may imagine, that not only got costly, but it was nerve-wracking. My lawyer charged (adjusted for inflation,) $300 an hour, which is more than I made in a day as an artist.
The harassment did not last 10 years as stated in the show. It lasted between about 1983-2009, then there were a few more sporadic incidents until 2019, mostly due to one of his cronies who ended up becoming almost as much of a problem as Walter himself. There was one last attempt by Walter to get into a convention from which he'd been banned in 2019.
A publicity photo from around the time of Rose’s peak obsession. I stopped taking publicity photos for years after this. Showing Girl Face in nerd places seemed kinda dangerous.
I was not merely poked with a finger or lunged at while at conventions as the Discovery ID program depicted. I was punched in the side of the head, grabbed around the legs, and jabbed with objects. We could not prove Walter was behind every incident, so we could not make that case on the show, though friends of Walter were definitely doing the deeds.
I'm just one of a number of professionals who have had problems with this guy, including John Romita JR and J.M Dematteis.
Some people ask if I've forgiven or have compassion for Walter after all this, and I think forgiveness is the wrong word. Maybe pity works better.
Walter Rose did me a lot of damage. I can't get back the years of time and energy he cost me, the money, or the peace of mind.
But in the end, he did himself far more damage than he did anyone else.
WR is not insane. This isn't speculation on my part. His medical history is a matter of court record. In one of his many attempts to avoid responsibility for his actions, WR claimed to the court he was incompetent and that he had a terminal illness.
He did this repeatedly, insisting to me in many letters that he was dying and that I simply must contact him immediately in order to save him, provide solace, and/or to collect the large amount of money that would be available to me at his death.
He's been claiming this since about 1986. I didn't take the bait, though I wish I had that money, now. He damn well owes me.
A major reason why so many of his cronies were induced to do his dirty work for him, like follow me around and hit me in the head? Because he kept promising them access to money, his vast and valuable comics collection, and the many professionals he claimed he had in his back pocket.
The cronies didn't bend to his will because he fooled them as they later claimed; they did it out of greed.
Anyway, in 2021 the court called his latest "poor me" bluff. Medical reports were entered into the public record of Rose's own free will, and not only does he not have any serious illness, the court found him competent. A personality disorder is not legal insanity.
Walter Rose is in his 70’s, and has not changed his behavior nor taken advantage of the care he has been given. He's been involuntarily and voluntarily committed more than once, but refuses medication and other aid.
Because he cannot or will not change his behavior, he has spent decades in and out of trouble, only not with me.
The most recent debacle is, once again, with his condo association which has issues with the huge comic/fandom collection in his condo. He refused to comply with association rules regarding safety and hygiene.
He has been in an on/off again new lawsuit with them since 2015, and also failed to comply with a 2018 settlement.
In 2021, the court rendered its final judgment on the matter finding him liable for nearly $85,000 in court costs, all costs associated with the clean up and repair caused by his neglect to his condo unit and that of other damaged units, and attendant tests for vermin and toxic mold. The sheriff was ordered to be on hand to make sure Rose complies while inspection and repair commences.
Rose insisted he be arrested, because he believed he is being persecuted.
He got his wish. He was arrested.
Boo hoo.
He made references to gas chambers, but apparently did not encounter them in jail as he was let out days later.
Rose also claims to be indigent. He is not indigent when he is sitting on a collection he alleges to be worth 7 figures - and it probably is. He can liquidate it if he needs money. But he is desperate to keep that collection intact, so who knows.
Also, if that collection proves to be infested with mold and vermin, the court could require that he dispose of the contaminated material.
I have no idea if they did.
Rose had many opportunities to forward a career in comics, even though his prospects as a creator were not good. He has no talent. But he could have worked in production, been an editor (he has an education, and once worked as a substitute teacher,) or self published those books he wanted others to publish.
But he didn't.
Instead, he railed against his "enemies" list, wasted six figures on pointless court battles, ate up countless hours of time and energy that could have gone into creative pursuits, and alienated almost everyone who may have been able to help him.
He did this for decades.
That's on him.
Pity.
I don’t know what made him what he is, and frankly, I don’t care.
What I do know is that this desperate, cruel, grasping, controlling man held on so tightly to a dream of greatness he did not deserve, he ended up destroying everything he had.
I understand the editorial choices the show made to fit the narrative into the format, time slot, and to avoid lawsuits. I get it.
But…here we are.
This is an occasion when I wish there was an option for reacting to a post with something other than 'like'. Because there's nothing to like about what you went through here. I thank you for sharing the story though. It's got to be awful to go over this ground again, but it allows your friends and fans to see what's going on. I admire and respect you even more now, for your resilience and your sensibility.
Hi Colleen. I'm so sorry to read all this that has happened to you. I live in the UK and for the past year have been harrassed by the resident in the apartment above me who does actually ha e mental health issues. I have tried to be compassionate about this and have a deeper understabding than the average person as i used to work in the mental health field. But eventually I have no more allowances to make and kindness to give, especially as she uses her mental health issues as her sword and her shield. She weaponise them when it suits her and hides behind them to avoid consequences. She is very sly and manipulative, very clever in her actions often walking right up to a slim line which separates her from legal ramifications, even stepping briefky over, but not enough to have action taken in my defence. Her issues have meant the police say their hands are tied as she is unwell and the housing association who is both our landlords have similar difficulties in dealing with the situation. Alhough our place manager has treated me with nothing but compassion, empathy respect and support, she is severely limited in what actions she can take and when. Last year, this drove me to very edge of suicide. I do have an exceptionally supportive GP and now have a psychologist also supporting me. I am disabled, live with chronic pain due a deformed and collapsing spine, fibromyalgia, chronic depression (all my adult life), severe anxiety and panic attacks and PTSD (which are the original reasons I was referred to psychology). When safe guarding was initiated last year due to the harrassment and the severe effects on me and my existing conditions, a social worker got I touch. Within a few minutes of talking to me she stated "You're living under the conditions of domestic violence ". This is despite that I am not in a relationship nor living with the person. This is because my entire existence is based on is the harrasser at home? When will she next be screaming at my door? Will she carry put her threats? Will she do worse than she's threatened? She is delusional and negatively fixated on me because when she moved in, I tried to make her fell welcome and helped her. We never had an argument or falling out... contact just petered out 2 years ago. Then suddenly she made me part of her delusions. She fluctuates between accusing me of spying, of witchcraft (what happens when her delusions tell her I've put an evil spell on her and the only way to break it is to kill the witch?), of violence towards her, of abuse since the day she walked in the building (which can be disproved by the times I transferred money into her account to cover getting credit on her phone, my letting her use my WiFi and Disney+ account... didn't disclose the passwords, just logged her in and many digital records to the contrary). Last year, despite that I had repeatedly reported harrassment to the police, with evidence including a disgusting and racist note she left in communal area regarding my Pakistani best friend who is also essentially my carer, who won a BBC are award for carer of the year 2 years ago when I nominated him because he's the best soul I know, when she made a spurious police report about me they still came to my door and when I was upset about them re-victimising me by doing so was told "Had she wanted to press charges we'd be having a very different conversation right now". I haven't had the strength and capacity to deal with making a formal complaint against my local police force for the repeated mishandling of my case last year, but have been encouraged to do so, repeatedly by the operators on the non-emergency police number and by victim services. Very few people who know me know what's been going on and this is certainly the most public I've talked about it.
People don't realise the effect this sort of incident has on you. Even when things aren't actively happening you live in dread of when will the next thing happen? How bad will it be? You live in fear every minute of every day. You live in a high alert state of fight or flight, but fight is not an option because then you would lose your right to legal protection of any kind. You live I'm perpetual stress and anxiety. You fear the accusations and fear not being believed or being ridiculed pr dismissed when you report something, especially as individual incidents on face value can seem very minor but as part of a relentless campaign of harrassment and abuse, every incident is minor. Your fear being ridiculed or dismissed. You find so much of your mental, emotional and physical energy is being spent on defending yourself from spurious claims, leaving you little or nothing for yourself for your basic daily living and functioning. You fear for your personal safety every time you step put of your home, so you start avoiding having to do that. In my case, because she lives in the building and has started intercepting deliveries and mail (some important mail), that is now an issue for me and home delivery is vital to me due to my health conditions and disability. Harrassers are very smart about how they contact you and the content of contact, so it can easily be defended or dismissed. However every contact from a harrasser is a violent psychological attack, every bit as damaging and often far more damaging than a physical one.
I have only been living with this for a year so far, although I was stalked about 15 years ago which is why I was moved to my current residence by the housing association... under place of safety conditions. The safety has been viciously tipped away from me.
I don't know how you survived so many years of what happened to you and I am in awe. The main reason I've written what I have here is to say to you, and to anyone who reads this who may be experiencing something similar, is to say you're not alone. That there are people who not only sympathise, of which there will be so many, but those who empathise. This is not a "poor me" or "jumping on the bandwagon" or "I have it worse than anyone else" post. I know there are people on far worse situations, suffering far more than I am. You suffered far more years of this and in a much wider reaching way (your professional life). It was just that your post hit so hard and close to home that I finally wrote something about what im experiencing, partly because the kastest incidences only happed last Thursday, after some time of no incidents. Thats almost worse because you start to hope that its finally over, only to be shattered even more when you find it was just a brief reprieve. I only discovered your work and this blog through backing the Good Omens kicstarter and I'm not one for googljng the ins and outs of a professional i admire, so i had no idea what you had been through. It sickens me and my heart breaks for you, but I am filled with admiration of what you've survived. Thank you for sharing. It has kind of helped me. It won't change ehat is happening and i can only hope that evetually something will be done about it by the relevant agencies. But in the meantime, i have some hope of evebtually coming out the other aide of all this and dont feel quite so alone...i'm single, live alone, my sister lives in the USA and due to health & disability, I'mlargwly housebound. I do have very good friends but havent wanted to drag the majority of them into this chaos, so only have a few who know, but they are wonderful and unconditionally supportive. Its just that neither i nor they can activeky do anything to stop or change the situation. We all feel as powerless as each other. I dont want to make them feel this abysmal powerlessness, so i dont always even turn to them.). It's been amazing following g your posts about the journey of this Good Omens work, thank you. And I cannot wait to receive mine when you are done. The images you've shared of the artwork are absolutely stunning and I'll be proud to add this book to my modest collection of first and special editions. (Sorry for any typos in this post - I'm on my phone and this box is small and difficult to proof-read. And sorry for where it's disjointed. As I say, this is the first time I've written anything at length about my situation, so it's a little disordered. I hope you don't mind that I've shared here.)