Awesome Con 2024 - Part 7: Convention Books, And Prints

As the sun sets on Awesome Con 2024, it does so as often my convention posts end, with the showing of my updated convention book. Well, actually, there really wasn't any sun. It was cold and raining the entire day of the show, and only got worse as the morning turned to day, and then evening.

But I digress.

Not too many new signatures added this time around, and probably not a bad thing. This book is filling up, and people are struggling to find a spot to sign. Most seem to have an aversion to signing on the back. I may need to start a new book.

Signed by Art Adams, Jeph Loeb,
Jim Salicrup, and Joe Rubinstein
at Awesome Con 2024.

Signed by Art Suydam, Jim Shooter,
Mark Waid, Michael Golden, Renee Witterstaetter,
Rick Leonardi, and Ron Marz at Big Lick NOVA 2023.

Signed by Al Milgrom, Alex Saviuk, Bob Hall,
Bob McLeod, Bob Wiacek, Brian Michael Bendis,
Chris Claremont, Howard Chaykin, Jim Starlin,
Jon Bogdanove, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Judy Bogdanove,
Kieth Williams, Klaus Janson, and Walter Simonson
at Baltimore Comic Con 2023.

Signed by Mark Bagley
at Awesome Con 2024.

Signed by Howard Mackie, Jae Lee,
Pop Mhan, and Terry Kavanagh
at Baltimore Comic Con 2023.

Art Adams

Jeph Loeb

Jim Salicrup

Joe Rubinstein

Mark Bagley - Sending away for his Christmas
card assortments.

In addition to my Amazing Fantasy 15 reproduction, I also got a couple more signatures on my Heroes for Hope book, adding Art Adams and Joe Rubinstein to the mix.

Signed by Art Adams and Joe Rubinstein
at Awesome Con 2024.

Signed by Al Milgrom, Bob McLeod,
Chris Claremont, Howard Chaykin, Klaus Janson,
Louise Simonson, and Walter Simonson
at Baltimore Comic Con 2023.

While there are no new signatures on the back, I'm including it here just because.

Signed by Jim Starlin,
at Baltimore Comic Con 2023.

Rounding everything off were a series of prints I picked up, as well as a fantastic commission piece, all of them signed by their respective creators / sellers.

Miles Morales by Mark Bagley

Carnage, Venom, and Spider-Man by Mark Bagley

Mary Jane Watson by Mark Bagley

I guess I have a Mark Bagley wall now

I'm not big on picking up prints of comic covers, but this McFarlane Spider-Man issue one print was nagging at me while I stood at Jim Salicrup's table. Then of course, it's $20.00 for one, or $40.00 for three, so who's going to buy just one?

Initially, I was going to put these going up the stairs to my loft, but decided that I would inevitably bump into them and knock them off the wall if they were there.

They look okay next to my prints purchased
from Art Suydam at Big Lick NOVA 2023.

Look closely at the prints above. Three of the four mirror each other. Art's just happen to be zombie iterations. Hmm...Maybe I should reorganize these to be more symmetrical.

 

I wasn't initially going to grab this print (below) from Jeph Loeb, but when I saw it was also pre-signed by Tim Sale, I figured, why not? Two signatures for the price of one (and a half). Truthfully, the piece is drawn by Sale. As a writer, Loeb had nothing to do with this work other than taking money for it, and adding his signature to it.

When the creator is charging $20.00 per commission, and promises you can come back in an hour to pick it up, and on top of that says to pay him when you get the drawing, it really becomes easy to give in and pick up a commission.

And that's how I ended up with my second piece in my "Peter Parker - Decisions" series. Jim Salicrup's artwork may be "basic" in terms of what one would expect in a commission piece, but at the end of the day, it's a unique style, and it looks great! Especially next to my first one done by Rick Leonardi at Big Lick NOVA 2023. I STILL have not received the commission piece I bought from Jim Shooter at Big Lick NOVA 2023.

You have to enjoy the inside joke as well. At my request (insistence), Jim poked fun at McFarlane by "hiding" one spider on the drawing, and adding the number "1" under his signature. As I've mentioned before, McFarlane would hide spiders in his covers, and though not at first, would eventually start numbering how many were hidden under his signature for readers to find. It was a nice touch to his drawing for the editor who worked hand and hand with McFarlane for many years at Marvel.

Can you spot the hidden spider?

A simplistic piece, but beautiful. I love it!

And with that, my trip to Awesome Con 2024 is wrapped up, and behind me, but Big Lick NOVA 2024 is hot on its heels.

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Baltimore Comic Con 2023: Part IX - Convention Book, And Heroes For Hope

My final post for Baltimore Comic Con is to showcase my convention book. For those of you who recall, this started at Big Lick NOVA 2023, and was intended to become the book I would take with me to get signed not only by the people I got other books signed by, but a catch all for everyone else. There are certainly a lot of people I didn't get a chance to get to in Baltimore, but as compared to the prior show, this book got hammered with autographs. So many that people had to start signing on the back.

Al Milgrom

Alex Saviuk

Bob Hall

Bob McLeod

Bob Wiacek

When I handed this book to Al Milgrom, he said something to the tune of, "Oh, this thing is full. Where should I sign?" To which I said, "Spider-Man's left arm is untouched." He responded with, "That seems kind of disrespectful to Spider-Man to sign there..."

...Apparently Brian Michael Bendis didn't feel that way as he smiled with glee when I suggested that Spider-Man's crotch was still available.

Brian Michael Bendis

Chris Claremont

Howard Chaykin

Howard Mackie

Jae Lee

Jim Starlin

Jon Bogdanove

Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

Judy Bogdanove

Keith Williams

Klaus Janson

Louise Simonson

Pop Mhan

Terry Kavanagh

Walter Simonson

Click "HERE" to see the signatures from Big Lick NOVA 2023!

In addition to my convention book, I picked up the X-Men Heroes for Hope book, an early Marvel collaborations where all proceeds were donated to Famine relief and recovery in Africa. Think, "We Are The World", but for comics.

This is honestly a book that I bought strictly to get signed, not because of actual interest in the book itself. While I got a lot of signatures, I don't know if I'm going to continue on with it. In conjunction with my convention book, it's just too much. Plus, it kind of serves the same purpose, except being limited to just those who worked on it. Redundant, I suppose, is the word.

Since it's just more of the same signatures as above, I won't zoom in on each one.

Signatures from:
Al Milgrom, Bob McLeod, Chris Claremont,
Howard Chaykin, Jim Starlin, Klaus Janson
Louise Simonson, and Walter Simonson

Jim Starlin asked if he could sign the back, as the back cover was his only contribution to the book. I didn't mind.

And with all of that, my trip to Baltimore Comic Con 2023 is wrapped up.

The lesson learned from this show is that future conventions will be heavily edited in terms of the volume of books I take with me. I'm not going to just take a comic with me because someone will be there who worked on it. Rather, it's going to be very specific storylines, and if it's outside of that realm, then my convention book will suffice. Granted, people are going to have to start signing inside on the pages at some point.

My hope in approaching things this way will be to not only keep prices down, but allow me to actually enjoy the conventions I'm going to. I can say without a doubt that while I got a lot of signatures at the convention, I didn't actually get to enjoy the show.

With that said, I also walked out of the show with a ton of great signed books, and under budget by $430.00. So, I'll still label it a success.

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