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Praxis52

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Journal Entries posted by Praxis52

  1. Praxis52
    From Blue to Yellow
    This is my first attempt at a journal entry, but wanted to share my experience and photos for my Incredible Hulk 181.
    I first purchased my copy of Incredible Hulk 181 CGC 9.6 at SDCC in 2011. I was so excited about finally having a copy of my own. And it was my first CGC slabbed book. After purchasing it, I quickly ran to my computer and did what any one would do is check out CGC. To my surprise they were the #1 grading company for comic books and magazines. Immediately, I thought this was a great investment.
    After reading some entries online in the Signature Room, I thought it would be great to have some of people who had a hand in creating this book sign it. My first thought was Stan Lee. So, I met with Sharon and Chandler (Desert Wind) at my first Long Beach Convention in 2011. At this point, I was a little nervous handing my book over to someone I've never met, but they assured me they would handle everything as if it were there own. And they did. So, I got Stan Lee to sign my boo.

    And I totally love how HUGE the signature is. I don't think I've ever seen any book with a sig like that (for better or worse).
    After receiving Stan's signature on my book, I wanted to get another one. As luck would have it, Herb Trimpe was appearing at a comic book convention run by Terry in Jan 2012. Meeting Herb was awesome! He was great to talk to and was very accommodating to everyone waiting in line for his autograph. He even drew a little Wolverine sketch for me.

    Close up of sketch:

    As luck would have it, Len Wein will be at the Long Beach Comic Convention this November. I cannot wait to meet him and get him to sign my book. November can't come soon enough!
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  2. Praxis52
    Spider-man signings on the greatest cover ever!
    This started as soon as I saw the Amazing Spider-man 700 Marcos Martin Variant issue and realized the potential of getting all these signatures of all of the people who had a hand in creating the world Peter Parker/Spider-man lives in. The cover just lends itself to this as these names pop as a city scape as Spider-man swings overhead.
    I thought this would be the greatest collection of creators/writers/artists to ever be on a book at one time. So, I went about collecting 6 books from Amazon at a great price. And had Joeypost press 6 books. He also identified 5 of them as 9.8 candidates. The remaining 3 came from eBay as 9.8s. So, I was atleast ensured 3 9.8 books upon return (fingers tightly crossed).
    I shipped 2 of my 9.8s to Sean for the Masters signing in which I'll be getting Stan Lee, John Romita, John Romita Jr and Tom DeFalco. I've also asked Sean to get some additional sigs at Philly Wizard World (Barry Kitson & Bob Layton). This will then close the loop for these sets of books. The picks have looked great so far (though I'm not the only one who had this idea, so I can't figure out which ASM 700 is mine).
    For the remaining books, I took 5 of the best books with me which included the other CGC 9.8 to WonderCon. It was a great experience as I met with all of the guests. I waited patiently in line to meet a bunch of the guests and covered the entire floor at least 50 times.
    My first stop at WonderCon was JM DeMatteis who was really cool and easy to talk to. He signed all 5 books in blue which make the sig really POP! Unfortunately, he smeared one of the sigs and per the CGC guy automatically drops the books grade a point or 2. I was devastated. My first experience with this and I've already received a "FAIL". So, I decided not to include this book with the rest of the submission. So, I was down to 4 books.
    The rest of the day went great as more people signed the book without incident. Whew!
    The second day was "DAN SLOTT" day as he tweeted he'd only sign during a certain period of time and made sure to tell everyone this would be his only West Coast visit for the year. So, I made sure I grabbed my books from CGC and lined up as soon as they opened. As I was waiting in line, Dan mentioned that he hated these Window Boxes which show him wear to sign. The people in front of me (Desert Wind) were first up after he mentioned this and began to tear all of the plastics apart and then signed each book. I was shocked and scared he'd do the same to my books since they had windows for him to sign through. I wonder if those books came back as 9.8s or higher? Seriously, it was crazy!!!
    As I neared Dan, I was so worried about what was coming next and the books being manhandled. But to his credit, Dan looked at how nervous I was and said, "You're not with them, right?" Them being Desert Wind and I said "No, and please don't rip my plastics." He then smiled, signed my books and posed for a picture with me. It was AWESOME!
    My next stop was Mark Waid who I happen to run into at a booth signing. I was so luck to have stumbled across him. He posed for pictures and signed my books. This was getting fun. Then it was on to Desert Wind to pick up my Stan Lee tickets.
    Getting Stan Lee's autograph was different then I expected. I thought he'd say, "Hi" and make a little small talk. Unfortunately, it wasn't that way. I was told where to go and herded with other fans just like cattle on a chow line. They said no pictures and have your books out. I didn't even give my books to Stan, someone took them plopped them in front of him and he signed away. Stan didn't even look up to see who it was or anything. And I couldn't even linger as they moved me through the exit. It was rough and definitely a poor experience for me. It was my first time to ever "meet" Stan as I've submitted other books via Desert Wind, so I never got to see him in person.
    After this was done, I left my books at Desert Wind since they deal with Stan stuff ONLY! I then heard Olazaba was signing and I didn't mind adding another sig to the books, so a Desert Wind rep came with me to the signing. Now this really freaked me out. After Olazaba signed my books, the Desert Wind guy said, "You need to give me the books now, so I can walk them back to the booth." I was shocked by this since CGC let me carry them to the booth as I gently held them. The Desert Wind guy put all 4 books together and "pinched" them as he held them with one hand. And the madness didn't stop there as he wouldn't go back to the Desert Wind booth and walked everywhere "pinching" my books. IT WAS HORRIBLE!
    No disrespect to Sharon and Chandler, but this guy was extremely disrespectful of my comics and didn't care what I wanted. ARGH! Anyways, I left Desert Wind a little weary of the new status of my books. And prayed I would get a 9.6 after all of that nonsense.
    After calling CGC a month after the show, I was hopefull that my books would be graded generously and hoping for a 9.6. As luck would have it, when I called for the 2nd time, my books were finally graded and received 9.8s across the board. I was SHOCKED and EXCITED! I guess the CGC gods were smiling down on me!
    http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee374/praxis52/7b55aa44-f8a3-4072-b64f-9721258dca4d_zps55dd87d1.jpg
    Now, I've contacted someone who's going to help me get some additional sigs in Phoenix. WooHoo! If things work out, I should get them back in time for SDCC (fingers crossed) for some more signatures.
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