Baltmore Comic Con 2024 Part 5: Al Milgrom

It kind of sucks when you focus on bringing a bunch of books with you to get signed by someone, and yet when you do, you miss the most important one. That's exactly what happened to me when I stepped up to Al Milgrom's table.

I completely lunched on the fact that he worked on Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual 4, a symbiote story arc book. I didn't have it with me, didn't check the list, and completely missed out as a result. Dang it, oops, and oh well. Maybe there will be a future opportunity, maybe not. Don't know, can't dwell on it at this point.

Rather, the series of books I did get signed by him were ones which I had initially brought with me to Baltimore Comic Con 2023, but gave up on when the day dragged on, lines got tiring, and in general, I was exhausted, hungry, and dehydrated. Admittedly, I would have traded all of the signatures I got to have it on the one book I actually really wanted. Okay, so I guess I am going to dwell on it.

Okay, rant time.

I try to stay positive at conventions, and be happy for the people in front of me who are taking the time to meet their "icons", ask questions, and have a conversation. For them, it's not a transaction, it's an experience. I also realize everything is on a first come, first serve basis.

However, I wanted to grab this woman by the head in front of me, and toss her across the room. She was not there to get books signed. She was not there to meet the artists. She was there to drum up business for an upcoming show, and get people to attend. She talked, and talked, and talked, and talked to Mr. Milgrom, and in turn this caused him to turn Mr. Saviak next to him, and start hammering out details. All of this while the line grew with actual fans and customers. People had places to go. Other people to see, and this clown, the woman, was wasting those people's time. Those conversations should be had before or after shows, when attendees have had as much opportunity as possible to get face time. This woman seriously ticked me off, and I honestly almost protested by walking away.

Rant over.

When Chatty Kathy finally f*%ed off, and the now massive line which had been created as a result were able to get back down to brass tax, the signing commenced. This whole event did, however, necessitate that I move as quickly as possible, resulting in me forgetting to grab a photo of Mr. Milgrom in the process.

Short of tracking Mr. Milgrom down in the future to get the above noted missed book signed, I think I'm done with him. Not because of the incident with the woman. That happened, it can't be undone.

Rather, I'm done because I am quite literally grasping at straws for things to get him to sign. These books weren't important enough the last time I saw him to get autographed: they frankly weren't that important this time.

To compound this, Mr. Milgrom's price also increased from $10.00 per signature to $15.00. I really wish these artists would post their fee on the convention websites so that people could plan accordingly. This type of transparency would allow people to make informed decisions, cut fat, and honestly, skip a lot of people when factoring the true amount into their budget. It would also help people not have to lug things with them that they ultimately pass on as a result.

While you may think the overall tone of this post meant at this point I was having a bad time, this actually wasn't the case. Frankly, things were about to get worse too.

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