What ever happened to the artist who did Wormy?

[Ourph]

Anyone ever try to get in touch with Dave? Yahoo People Search reveals an address for David Trampier living in Carbondale IL. Maybe EN World should let Dave know how much we all enjoyed his work.

 

[Piratecat]

Ourph, I think that'd be a really bad idea. Dave knows the fan community is out there and loves his work, but he apparently wants nothing to do with it... and is very protective of his privacy. I'd be extremely reluctant to impinge on that.

 

[Ourph]

Ourph, I think that'd be a really bad idea. Dave knows the fan community is out there and loves his work...

I guess this is what I was asking about. DOES he know that there are people who love and still enjoy his work? If so and he's expressed his wishes not to be bothered, then you're right, it would be a really bad idea to contact him. I guess I'm just curious to know whether he's actually said, "Please don't send me fan-mail. I don't want to be bothered." to anyone; or if it's just an assumption people make because he's not interested in being involved in art or the publishing industry anymore.

 

[Piratecat]

Well, I read an article about him recently -- an interview with him as a cabbie. He didn't mention the RPG background other than saying that a fare once insisted on taking him out to breakfast after he got off work, and that was accepted very reluctantly. I know I gave one company the contact info I had for him so that they could hire him for art, but no luck.

Heck, maybe he doesn't know about the fan community, but I'd find that surprising. I could be wrong, though.

 

[romp]

Ourph, I think that'd be a really bad idea. Dave knows the fan community is out there and loves his work, but he apparently wants nothing to do with it... and is very protective of his privacy. I'd be extremely reluctant to impinge on that.

Too bad, but it is a good idea to leave the man alone. He could have fought it out and tried to get ownership of the characters, but apparently decide to say "F**k you" to T$R and the corporate world. I would have loved to have seen a collecteced volume of Wormy and the finish of storyline...

 

[Henry]

I noted a couple of interesting posts over on RPG.Net, particularly here.

As for the news story, I tracked down the woman who wrote it and had an interesting little chat with her. She told me she had no clue that this David Trampier was once an artist. She also said that she had gotten a couple of calls since she'd published the story, all from people wondering if this really was THE David Trampier of Wormy fame. Personally, I don't know if it is or not. I mean, there are numerous David Trampiers throughout the country, so this guy doesn't necessarily have to be him.

THe only thing I know for certain about the guy is that when I called him a few years ago, he was married, and he really didn't want to acknowledge his past work even a little bit. He just wanted the world to think he was dead. I even called up the next day, playing along, and asking to speak to the executor of his estate so I could buy some of his artwork, and he just asked me to please leave him alone. There's not much you can do after that. Still, I was kind of glad to have tracked him down. It wasn't all that hard. I suspect he's changed his phone number since then, though. Moral of the story: never underestimate what a good lead and a working phone will reveal to you. There is no substitute for solid research.

The irony is when this was asked back then on RPG.net, I directed them to this very thread!

 

[Ourph]

Well, that makes it pretty clear. Thanks for the info Henry.