2018.04.29 Marcus King Washes his Hands Professionally of Ken "Whit" Whitman

A couple of people have sent us this Facebook post from Marcus King. It doesn't seem to be a public post, so we're limited to what has been sent to us, which was just the text of the post. If anyone can forward a screen shot we'd appreciate it.
We do have some commentary to make, but we'll just use some footnotes, denoted like this (1).

"Marcus King
Admin · 1 hr
Ken Whitman, Kickstarters & Marcus.

Ken has been my friend for about 20 years.
In 2006, as I have described elsewhere in detail, Ken Whitman spent about 3 hours preventing me from committing suicide. Consider, if you can, what you might do to repay such a debt.

Ken and I never worked on any kickstarters.(1) I never backed any of his kickstarters, either. In fact, I have backed about 5 or 6 kickstarters, ever. Two from Reaper, one of two from Dwarven Forge, a couple others. Maybe.

I never received money from Ken about or over or from his Kickstarters.

About a year and a half ago I absorbed the assets (and not the liabilities) of another store, the owner, whose name does not need to get muck/dragged - we will call him JIM. He owned Little Monster in Somerset, KY.(2) About that time, Ken Whitman came to work for me as an employee because he needed to work to eat, plain and simple. I hired him to work in my store. He did some good work for me for a few months. But, some of my staff did not like working with Ken.

After a few months of Ken working with me, he had proven capable when on his meds, and erratic when not. I suggested to Ken that I pay him $8 an hour (what most of my 12+ staff get paid) for 20 hours a week to do projects for me (like casting terrain, and making comic lots, etc), and also pay him 20 hours a week to work on old kickstarter projects (and thus allowing him to work for me, but not with my other staff). I was willing for him to start using my computers or equipment, paying him $8 an hour for 40 hours, and he could live in my home if need be. Thus, using his pay to buy whatever other supplies he needed (like pencils or what have you). Ken went off to work for Troll and Toad instead.(3)

Meanwhile
My plan for the Little Monster location was to close it, but my new partner (JIM), wanted to keep it open, so we tried. But, MOST of what I acquired by merging with Little Monster was their inventory, and their customer base, and their manager (Jason, still works for me, does a great job). I did not want to keep the store open. So, we tried making it a pallet store, didn’t work. I tried to gift it to my daughter and her boyfriend, and give them a good start. REALLY didn’t work.(4)

Finally, Ken not wanting to work for Troll and Toad any longer, he asked about buying the store. Jim wanted to get out of the lease. I agreed to sell it way below value to Ken, as long as he covered the lease. We agreed, signed documents, etc.(5,6)

A year went by.

Jim decided he wanted OUT of being my partner. Suddenly. Like, about two weeks ago.
I paid Jim some money, and gave him back controlling interest in the debt owed by Ken to us.(7) He worked something out with Ken, which documents I have not seen, the details of which I am not privy to.

This is where things stand now.

I am no longer associated with Little Monster.
I am no longer financially associated with Ken.(8)
I am 100% owner of Mad Ox.
Jim is bought out and now has only to deal with Ken.
Ken blames me for his financial troubles, even though I had recently agreed to buy the pencil machine for him to make pencils for his old Kickstarter thingy (mostly because he now has financial responsibility to Jim, instead of me, and I had not required him to make a payment in months, and had previously said I never cared if he made another payment to me or not).(9)

My long term loyalty to Ken has been because he saved my life.
It is not because we are tied at the hip financially. His buying the store from me/us at the time really was only of benefit to Jim, because it relieved Jim & Ken - allowing Ken a source of income, and relieving Jim from the financial responsibility of the lease, which I never was party to or responsible for.

I just wanted to post this to let there be a public record of what has transpired.
If you want to bash me for my past blind loyalty to someone who saved my life, I reckon I got it coming from many of you.

I now wash my hands of all association with Ken, other than being his friend, if he decides he wants to remain friends.

Marcus King
Owner
Mad Ox Games & Comics"

Footnote Commentaries:
(1) Did Marcus already forget about his Facebook post we featured in this post? He literally wrote, "My friend, Ken Whitman and I, goofing around while working on the PencilDice Kickstarter"
(2) "absorbed the assets (and not the liabilities) of another store" We have no idea what that means. Did he purchase the assets, were they a gift? "About a year and a half ago" places it with the dissolution of Little Monster Comics, LLC but a good three months AFTER Kenny's creation of Little Monsters Games & Comics, LLC. We detailed these business filings here.
(3) So Ken "Whit" Whitman had a job offer paying him 20 hours a week to work on his Kickstarters, but he turned it down?
(4) So the store belonging to the company that was administratively dissolved wasn't actually "absorbed", but there was a merger of the two companies, resulting in only one company left, which was NOT Little Monster Comics, LLC.
(5) Up until this point there are TWO storefronts belonging to one company. Marcus and "Jim" are partners in said company. Ken asks to extract one storefront, and presumably some stock, from the one company. He forms Little Monsters Games & Comics, LLC and now there are TWO companies and TWO storefronts.
(6) The most solid statement regarding Ken "Whit" Whitman actually owning a comics & game store seen yet.
(7) So Marcus is now the sole owner of the one company, and Kenny is the sole owner of the second company, but he owes BOTH Marcus and "Jim" money, with "Jim" owning the "controlling interest" in said debt.
(8) See #7
(9) So Ken "Whit" Whitman has not paid off his debt/loan to Marcus & "Jim" in months, and Marcus, who says he doesn't have any financial association with Ken, but evidently holds some of Ken's debt, doesn't care if Ken ever makes another payment. To be fair, that could have been said months or a year ago and is the reason Ken "Whit" Whitman hasn't paid anything in months.


Overall this makes a lot more sense, with the whole....."Does Kenny actually own a store or not?", but it also looks like Marcus has finally gotten burned by his association with Ken "Whit" Whitman. Regardless of anyone's opinion on Ken "Whit" Whitman, or even of Marcus King for that matter, you cannot fault the man for wanting to give Ken a helping hand or three if he credits the man for saving his life.

What's your life worth?....probably a lot more than a storefront and a bunch of comics.....