Corrections had to be made from my first meeting of Walt and Louise Simonson at Baltimore Comic Con 2023. Specifically, of Mrs. Simonson. I missed getting key things autographed by her because of organizational issues during that show. Today, I aimed to rectify that.
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| Those lovely Simonsons |
As I mentioned in my Joe Rubinstein post from Awesome Con 2024, I picked up a Charles Vess signed newsstand edition of Web of Spider-Man. This was because Joe hinted that Charles, at his current age, might not be going to conventions anymore.
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| Purchased pre-signed by Charles Vess |
Because of this, I also got my direct edition, which was already signed by Jim Shooter, signed by her. My hope is to bump into Jim at a future show, and have him sign the above copy, and vice versa for the below copy, should Charles happen to be at a convention near me.
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| Also signed by Jim Shooter at Big Lick NOVA 2023 |
I also wanted her to sign my copy of Marvel-Team Up Annual 7, which is one of the tail end issues in the symbiote story arc.
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| Also signed by Jim Shooter at Big Lick NOVA 2023 |
This particular issue, Marvel Age 24, has the preview of Web of Spider-Man issue 1 in it.
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| Also signed by Jim Salicrup at Awesome Con 2024 |
I'm still kicking myself for missing the two below books from not only her and Jon Bogdanove, but also Dan Jurgens. These are two of the four cameo appearances of Doomsday. Dan will be at Baltimore Comic Con this year (unless he cancels). So, that's my first opportunity to get him to sign. Unfortunately, Jon will not be there (as of now). I'd like to have a complete signed run of the Death of Superman story arc, and these two are the only stragglers deterring that.
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Lastly, I wanted to get a sketch from Walt. Sadly, I didn't necessarily want the one I ended up with. Because of the high demand for his sketches, this year he changed two policies for himself.
The first was that he was now charging $45.00 for the Hero Initiative Fund, versus letting people donate their own set amount. It was his hopes that charging this fee would reduce the number of requests. I guess the problem was that too many people were taking advantage of his generosity, and either not donating anything, or a very minimal amount. To that regard, that's not right of those individuals.
The second thing he stated was that he was no longer drawing full body images. Instead, he was only drawing heads. This is where I was a little bummed out. As readers of The Toy Box may know, my focus for commissions has been on a series called Peter Parker - Decisions. These drawings focus on Peter Parker holding both his red and blue suit, and black / symbiote suit, deciding which one to wear. Well, that's not something that I could get if limited to just a head.
Walt also requires all sketch buyers to have their own paper, to which a comic backer board resolved right quick. This was not only a great place for a sketch, but allowed me to then bag my signed Web of Spider-Man 1 with it. A nice hidden bonus, so to speak.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not sad (overall) with this sketch. It's pretty cool.
There were more books I could have brought with me for Mrs. Simonson to sign. She did, after all, write several more Spider-Man related issues. However, at the end of the day, I'm really trying to get my compulsive nature under control. I'm trying to not go overboard at show by bringing "everything". For starters, it's heavy. Secondly, it leads to issues that I had at Baltimore, wherein I got so unorganized as the day went that things started getting missed. Third, if these folks continue to go to shows, it gives me later opportunities to then decide if I want to bring something with me. I'm not opposed to getting more signed. I just don't necessarily "need" it all at once.
In fact, now that I type that, the Simonsons will be at Baltimore this year. I may go ahead and take some books, and then also get Walt to do me a sketch with half and half black suit Spider-Man / Peter Parker. Then I can put that one in my other issue of Web 1. That sounds like a plan to me. I got my tickets.
For those of you interested in pricing, as I said, sketches from Walt were $45.00. Signatures on books didn't have a specific amount assigned. Instead, donations were being accepted on behalf of the Hero Initiative.
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