Ocean Marketing's Paul Christoforo says his former client iControl Enterprises asked him to take on an alternative identity named "Tom" so he could keep working for them even after his name was marred by a PR firestorm last year.

Paul Christoforo, best known as the man who set off an Internet firestorm after a spat with a customer went public last December, has filed a lawsuit against the company he worked for then.

It's tough to recover from a PR gaffe. Even tougher: when it's the biggest PR gaffe of 2011, a customer service firestorm that set the Internet into Complete And Utter Outrage Mode late last year.

The founders of Penny Arcade pulled a fast one on one of their most notorious foes this weekend, hitting Paul "Ocean Marketing" Christoforo with a prank they say has been in the works for the past three weeks.

The guy who supposedly started this rides a crotch-rocket motorcycle, and his Facebook gallery is full of shirtless, sunglassed, dudebro posturing, koozied beer in hand. He's in marketing and he can't spell for shit, even when he's insulting you. He may even be a steroid user.

In a statement just released, N-Control, maker of the "Avenger" accessory linked to the infamous marketer Paul Christoforo, has promised a $10 discount coupon for all who pre-ordered the device, as an apology for Christoforo's conduct toward a customer, which drew the wrath of the global video gaming community earlier…

"I want to clear my name. I want to get these people to stop bothering me."

Boy, the internet works fast these days. It's barely 24 hours since the whole Paul Christoforo/Ocean Marketing thing blew up and already there's surprisingly enjoyable comedy videos of the mess available.

The PR tempest in a teapot born of one misused gamer and shockingly bad customer support seems to have mostly run its course, leaving a one-man PR firm in apparent shambles and a unique video game controller accessory struggling to survive.

It's been a heck of a day for Paul Christoforo, whose flippant email to a customer asking about his Avenger controller order has made Christoforo a walking memetic punchline. But maybe we should cut Christoforo a break for his overly aggressive emails: he could just be feeling the effects of roid rage.

Reader Dave has sent us a rather interesting conversation he's had over the past few weeks with Paul Christoforo, a PR rep from Ocean Marketing, representing the makers of the Avenger controller accessory.