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Post by spiderwasp on May 19, 2012 10:55:02 GMT -5
This is just a question for all you loyal comic fans. I've never been to one of the big conventions and was thinking about going to HeroesCon in Charlotte next month since it's only a couple of hours from me. My question concerns autographs. There will be a lot of big people there (Including Stan Lee, George Perez, and Christos Gage). I've heard that the really big ones charge a good bit to sign books. Is this true? Does everyone? I really don't know how the signing thing works. Also, does anyone else have any advice concerning attending one of these things?
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Post by humanbelly on May 19, 2012 17:24:37 GMT -5
Can I piggyback on Spiderwasp's request, here? It's been probably 18-20 years since I've been to a Comic Convention, and I can well imagine that they've changed massively in that interval. (Stan Lee was at that one, though, which was pretty cool.)
The charging-for-autographs thing is too bad. . . but I certainly see how it's come about, since SO MANY wheeler-dealers even back then were known to monopolize the line and the signators' time with stacks of books. . . which they simply intended to sell at a much-inflated price. It was, of course, absurd to ask the dignitaries to let themselves be used a completely free commodity for no return whatsoever.
I don't-- it's ultimately the fan, of course, who loses out with the practice. . .
HB
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Post by freedomfighter on May 23, 2012 9:17:41 GMT -5
I went to San Diego two years ago and usually go to the NYC con, so I've been to a few of the biggies. I personally don't get many autographs, but the ones I do get aren't usually any cost. Most of the time, they charge for photos and autograph those and that's where there's some fee. I also think they tend not to allow people more than two or three books/other items to be signed as it slows the line to a crawl. If you're looking for Stan Lee, then yes I'd expect to pay for the privilege. Someone like Gage, I'd be shocked. I've been at cons where some talent just sit and wait for people to come over and talk to them. Guys like Peter David and Fabian Nicieza who've sold tons of books won't have a steady stream of people. Perez will probably be very busy because people will be commissioning artwork and that will eat up a ton of time. I don't blame him- he can make two or three grand in a day probably just throwing out sketches. A friend paid Michael Golden for some artwork and I'm fairly sure it was a two or three hundred dollar piece- it was a very nice Baron Karza, but man, it didn't take the dude more than a hour, tops. So, artists will be busy making money, everybody will be trying to sell something, but a lot of the talent will have time on their hands. If you look for the big names, expect a long wait...
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Post by spiderwasp on May 23, 2012 14:51:17 GMT -5
Thanks FF. That's exactly the kind of stuff I needed to know. I totally understand why Stan would charge but I wasn't wanting to take a stack of books with me for others to sign and then discover that they all charged. I'd love to get Stan to sign my Avengers 9 & 16 but I'm not sure I willing to throw out the $. If I were looking to sell them, maybe, but I'm really not.
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Post by Shiryu on May 23, 2012 15:06:45 GMT -5
Take it with a pinch of salt, but usually, when Marvel authors come to conventions in Italy, it's only the artists who ask to be paid, and only if you ask them to draw you something. Autographs are always free.
If I were you, I'd take the books with me anyway. Once there, you can ask if there's anything to pay or not.
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kidcage
Reservist Avenger
Posts: 167
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Post by kidcage on May 24, 2012 10:30:30 GMT -5
I'm actually going to Phoenix Comic-Con tomorrow, George Perez is going to be there and I'm toying with the idea of taking something. Stan Lee had been here the last two years and was charging $75 for an autograph. I think that was the going rate.
I think it depends on the person, sometimes they are very generous with autographs, just happy to see people come out, and charge only for stuff you buy from their table (prints, ask them for a drawing, etc.) but for the most part, I've seen artists/authors/stars ask for anywhere between $15 - $25 to sign something.
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Post by spiderwasp on Jun 23, 2012 22:02:39 GMT -5
Okay, just got back from my first convention and loved it. I talked to and got books signed by Roy Thomas, George Perez, Christos Gage, Louise Simonson, Neal Adams, Jonathan Hickman, Mark Bagley, and many more. The coolest part was that I got called on to ask Stan Lee a question during his panel. My question was "You've created so many brilliant characters in your career, but was there one that later made you say "What was I thinking?" His answer was yes and the character he named was Diablo. He said he thought the name was cool but the character was awful. He knew he never used him again and didn't know if anyone else did. He checked with Roy Thomas and Steve Epting who did say that John Byrne did. Stan finally said "I thought the character was just awful and I'm really embarrassed by him. I wish you hadn't brought it up." Luckily he laughed good-naturedly at that last part.
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Post by starfoxxx on Jun 24, 2012 7:28:40 GMT -5
Wow, great story spiderwasp. George Perez is my all-time favorite creator (probably artist as well), how cool it must have been to meet him. And of all the new creators, Gage would be top on my list. Excelsior!
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Post by sharkar on Jun 24, 2012 11:43:34 GMT -5
Okay, just got back from my first convention and loved it. I talked to and got books signed by Roy Thomas, George Perez, Christos Gage, Louise Simonson, Neal Adams, Jonathan Hickman, Mark Bagley, and many more. The coolest part was that I got called on to ask Stan Lee a question during his panel. My question was "You've created so many brilliant characters in your career, but was there one that later made you say "What was I thinking?" His answer was yes and the character he named was Diablo. He said he thought the name was cool but the character was awful. He knew he never used him again and didn't know if anyone else did. He checked with Roy Thomas and Steve Epting who did say that John Byrne did. Stan finally said "I thought the character was just awful and I'm really embarrassed by him. I wish you hadn't brought it up." Luckily he laughed good-naturedly at that last part. Glad you had a great time! Excellent question, SW; and Stan's response is utterly consistent with what he's related over the years about Diablo being his least favorite creation--for example in a 2000 Stan interview by Will Murray (which is included in the Stan Lee Conservations book). And IIRC last year there were a couple of YouTube videos of Stan answering the same question. Hey, I'll bet someone video'd your question, SW--you should check You Tube!! But y'know, Stan must've liked Diablo somewhat back then as he used Diablo again a few issues after Diablo's debut, though more as a way of introducing a new character, Dragon Man (FF #35). As for other writers using Diablo, yes, as Roy and Steve E. noted Byrne did, but I've read plenty of other comics in which Diablo appeared. I am a huge Crystal fan and I'm very familiar with FF issues in which she played a prominent role. As it happens, Diablo was the villain in a few Crystal-centric issues: FF #117-8 (1972), written by Archie Goodwin; and many years later in FF #306-307, written by Steve Englehart. And not Crystal-related: Diablo also featured prominently in that heartbreaking story of Ben's friend Desmond Pitt, written IIRC by Len Wein. However, I am shocked, shocked that Roy Thomas forgot he himself used Diablo in Avengers #41 and 42, back in 1967. Those were the very first Avengers issues illustrated by John Buscema, and Thomas has often rhapsodized about those early Buscema issues, at least in interviews I've read. Well, I suppose the modest Roy holds the great JB art in high esteem but not his own story. ;D Not only that but Roy wrote the Dr. Doom story in Marvel Super-Heroes #20, 1969. This was a much-ballyhooed issue because the issue's lead feature (and cover) was devoted to a villain, namely Doomsie. Doom's opponent? Yep, you guessed it--Diablo.
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Post by Shiryu on Jun 24, 2012 12:03:26 GMT -5
IIRC, Diablo was also used by Busiek towards the end of his Avengers tenure, just before Kang's big attack. He used some form of chemicals to transform the population of an entire town into Hulks. I have a feeling the artist was Alan Davis.
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Post by humanbelly on Jun 24, 2012 13:17:44 GMT -5
Shar's comments here rather nicely leads into a related side conversation: the fact that there is an enormous, unavoidable gulf between our perceptions and memories ("us" being longtime, avid fans) and the perceptions and memories of the creators themselves. Whereas all of that history and past work still remains very much alive for us today, and we very often will return to it and revisit it and re-experience it even several decades after it first saw print-- that just isn't the case for most creative folks. They are almost invariably moving on to the next project before the current one is fully completed-- or even in various stages of mulitple projects. Dwelling on & revisiting the past (beyond the necessity of keeping everything in order) wouldn't be the highest priority-- moving ahead and growing would be. Heck, I imagine Stan & Roy haven't read their own finished books even a fraction as much as almost any of us here have read them. We've had an ongoing bit of a tussle on this board in years past about whether the fans or the creators know the characters/books/stories best, and in a way, the fans (especially in the realm of detail, minutea, and continuity) win that contest hands down. It's simply in the nature of fandom to be constantly involved in the complete past life of their favorite titles & characters. The creators are busy moving on ahead. No disrespect implied at all. An actor doesn't remember every performance-- or role, for that matter. A singer doesn't remember every song forever. A painter doesn't recall every portrait. A designer doesn't remember every frock. I think. . . I think creativity doesn't house itself in the long-term-memory part of the brain. . . sort-of-thing. So, yeah, I forgive ol' 90 year old Stan and 70+ (!!!) Roy Thomas for not readily calling to mind their own subsequent use of Diablo. Man, there's been 45 years of life and work in the interval. In fact, I find myself coming across my own posts on this board now and then, and thinking "When the heck did I write that?? I'm not even sure I agree with myself-!!" Sometimes it's like trying to recapture falling sand. . .
HB
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