Signature Series Opportunities - Phoenix Comicon: January 23-25, 2009

[Lebowski]

the shining pillars of witness-dom ).

 

Gotcha.

[PhiGam-migration]

the shining pillars of witness-dom ).

 

Gotcha.

 

i meant , not

[PhiGam-migration]

OK, I give..

 

Chandler: I still find your post towards me to be unethical, two-faced and rude. You know very well that I didn't hold up the line, you know that the PR lady had no right to touch my naked books twice, and you know that I didn't do anything wrong by simply asking for an extra book to be signed. I certainly didn't press any issues. To say that my behavior reflects poorly on our community is just untrue, and in very poor taste to say publicly.

 

Joel: I'm sorry that your fears were confirmed by my retort to Chandler. I have no problem if you no longer wish to handle my books in the future and I'll let you decide if you wish to complete our current transaction. The bottom line is that being a CGC witness is a job and a service, that is why we pay you and that is why you are highly respected. To be 100% frank, having the title of CGC witness should be viewed as an honor and a privilege...If you don't think it's 'worth it' and that its a 'thankless job'....well, I'm sorry to hear that. Send me a PM or give me a call whenever you get a chance with regards to the Smith books.

 

Up until this incident with Chandler, I have had nothing but positive experiences with Signature Series books and witnesses. I still consider Anthony Carpenter a god amongst men for attaining my favorite book in my collection (my beloved Invincible #1 LE CGC 9.9 SS Kirkman book). I have nothing but good things to say about past transactions with cats like Steve and JJ ( a pair of paragons atop the shining pillars of witness-dom ).

 

In my final defense, I truly disliked being 'made an example of' by Chandler for little to no reason, and I'm unsure why his actions are being tolerated. I admit to being semi-abrasive in some of my retorts to Chandler, but comics are very important to me, and when someone attacks my character I feel obligated to defend myself.

 

There...I'm finished, and I consider it dropped...

 

--end rant

 

 

 

 

dude, dont you ever stop

azz-kisser

 

 

[comicgrinder]

OK, I give..

 

Chandler: I still find your post towards me to be unethical, two-faced and rude. You know very well that I didn't hold up the line, you know that the PR lady had no right to touch my naked books twice, and you know that I didn't do anything wrong by simply asking for an extra book to be signed. I certainly didn't press any issues. To say that my behavior reflects poorly on our community is just untrue, and in very poor taste to say publicly.

 

Joel: I'm sorry that your fears were confirmed by my retort to Chandler. I have no problem if you no longer wish to handle my books in the future and I'll let you decide if you wish to complete our current transaction. The bottom line is that being a CGC witness is a job and a service, that is why we pay you and that is why you are highly respected. To be 100% frank, having the title of CGC witness should be viewed as an honor and a privilege...If you don't think it's 'worth it' and that its a 'thankless job'....well, I'm sorry to hear that. Send me a PM or give me a call whenever you get a chance with regards to the Smith books.

 

Up until this incident with Chandler, I have had nothing but positive experiences with Signature Series books and witnesses. I still consider Anthony Carpenter a god amongst men for attaining my favorite book in my collection (my beloved Invincible #1 LE CGC 9.9 SS Kirkman book). I have nothing but good things to say about past transactions with cats like Steve and JJ ( a pair of paragons atop the shining pillars of witness-dom ).

 

In my final defense, I truly disliked being 'made an example of' by Chandler for little to no reason, and I'm unsure why his actions are being tolerated. I admit to being semi-abrasive in some of my retorts to Chandler, but comics are very important to me, and when someone attacks my character I feel obligated to defend myself.

 

There...I'm finished, and I consider it dropped...

 

--end rant

 

 

 

 

dude, dont you ever stop

azz-kisser

 

how do you figure that? all you're doing is going on and on and on.

 

[PhiGam-migration]

OK, I give..

 

Chandler: I still find your post towards me to be unethical, two-faced and rude. You know very well that I didn't hold up the line, you know that the PR lady had no right to touch my naked books twice, and you know that I didn't do anything wrong by simply asking for an extra book to be signed. I certainly didn't press any issues. To say that my behavior reflects poorly on our community is just untrue, and in very poor taste to say publicly.

 

Joel: I'm sorry that your fears were confirmed by my retort to Chandler. I have no problem if you no longer wish to handle my books in the future and I'll let you decide if you wish to complete our current transaction. The bottom line is that being a CGC witness is a job and a service, that is why we pay you and that is why you are highly respected. To be 100% frank, having the title of CGC witness should be viewed as an honor and a privilege...If you don't think it's 'worth it' and that its a 'thankless job'....well, I'm sorry to hear that. Send me a PM or give me a call whenever you get a chance with regards to the Smith books.

 

Up until this incident with Chandler, I have had nothing but positive experiences with Signature Series books and witnesses. I still consider Anthony Carpenter a god amongst men for attaining my favorite book in my collection (my beloved Invincible #1 LE CGC 9.9 SS Kirkman book). I have nothing but good things to say about past transactions with cats like Steve and JJ ( a pair of paragons atop the shining pillars of witness-dom ).

 

In my final defense, I truly disliked being 'made an example of' by Chandler for little to no reason, and I'm unsure why his actions are being tolerated. I admit to being semi-abrasive in some of my retorts to Chandler, but comics are very important to me, and when someone attacks my character I feel obligated to defend myself.

 

There...I'm finished, and I consider it dropped...

 

--end rant

 

 

 

 

dude, dont you ever stop

azz-kisser

 

how do you figure that? all you're doing is going on and on and on.

 

 

can you not read grinder? you asked if i ever stop, when you have my quote with the answer to your question DIRECTLY above your post

[Joel Elad]

For the record, I consider it a great honor and privilege to be a Signature Series witness, and when I get to announce some of the signings I've been working on for 2009, hopefully you will understand more. It's just very frustrating when I bend over backwards and the "thanks" I get are backhanded compliments and judgments from people who professed their love to me when they were getting their way earlier.

 

I would like to complete our current transaction, but based on your PM to me, I guess it is up to you. Just like comics are important to you, keeping my word and doing my job is very important to me.

 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta go watch Kris Moore rap some more...

 

Joel

[PhiGam-migration]

Joel, please stop airing our private transaction and PM details in public....

 

 

and GOOOOOOOOOOO CARDS!!! :D

[Joel Elad]

Fine by me. At least we agree on something... Go Cards!

 

Joel

[PhiGam-migration]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

 

:cry:

[Celestial Comics]

Being that the previous thread had been closed prior to my chance to reply to request from certain people, here is my response. Kevin, after this reply, you can close this thread down as well if you choose but please do not delete it.

 

Due to our signing in Los Angeles with Stan Lee this weekend, this is the first real chance I have had to react to what seemed to invoke some interesting conversation and demands from people.

 

Allow me to first apologize to anyone that my previous statement may have caused undue stress to. My statement was a simple expression of my opinion of what I saw happen during the McFarlane signing.

 

As a certain person on the boards had previously mentioned my name in his comments, I then spoke my opinion about the issues that CGC Witnesses face when dealing with creators. There were several times that I did make mention of a certain person in referance of those issues. In all of those cases, I spoke the truth and had witnesses that saw the same thing I saw. I spoke my opinion of what the McFarlane PR Manager's actions were under the circumstances she was dealing with. I was not necessarily agreeing with her actions but I understood why she reacted the way she did. And Kevin, it was not Jen (Todd's Assistant), because Jen was standing next to me pretty much the whole time. Now I will respond to the comments made to me by the certain person.

 

1) 'I watched the whole thing and the PR Manager did nothing wrong'.

 

To say that the PR manager (aka the McFarline line nazi) did nothing wrong is totally incorrect. Nobody, and i mean NOBODY, ever has the right to touch my naked books....much less do they have the right to do it twice! I was very polite to her the first time that I asked her not to touch my books, and she ignored that (while she treated everyone in line like cattle instead of people). Condoning this behavior is just plain wrong and you know it, Chandler.

 

As you are correct that nobody has the right to touch anyone elses property, so it also goes that when someone refuses to respond to the requests of an individual to pick up such property and move along, that could/will cause action to be taken such as the property being moved by someone other then its owner. I watched the whole signing and she usually only touched peoples books when she needed to get the person to move along and allow the line to flow. As she may not be experienced in the manner of handling books in the way a collector would, I believe her intentions were not ill-willed. Being that I have been involved in numerous major signings by creators, I see this happening all the time. If a person is so concerned about the well being of their books, then that person should pick up their books as soon as they get signed and not leave them laying on the signer's table.

 

2) 'You were joking around in line trying to be cute'.

 

Well, if you consider making small talk with todd cute, then I guess I'm guilty as charged. Labeling me a cute troublemaker (although true) is uncalled for in this case...but thanks for calling me cute

 

May I suggest you check a dictionary to make sure of how the word cute was meant to be used. It had nothing to do with looks. The FACT was you were talking to others around you. You laid out four books on the table, Todd signed two of them and pushed them away from himself and looked over at his assitant standing over to his right side. Once you realized that Todd did not sign your other two books, you stood there looking at your two unsigned books and did not move. It was at that time you were asked to move on by the PR Manager and you ignored her, she then reached down to move your books and you then reacted to her reaching for your books. Should she have touched your books, maybe not, but should you have listened to her request for you to move on, yes you should have.

 

3) 'CGC Witnesses fight an uphill battle because of people who pull stunts just so they can get one more item signed'.....

 

or in your case getting about 50 books signed without waiting in line....I didn't see you there at 8:30 AM that morning..how is that following the rules?

 

As my wife Sharon commented to you about this. First we did not have 50 books to get signed by Todd. You are thinking of Kris Moore who had made an arrangement with Todd to get his books signed after he was finished with the signing. I was doing my job as a witness which is why I could not stand in line for my clients, yes you heard that right, my CLIENTS!! My clients come first!! If it had not been for me acting as the witness, you may not have been able to get your books certified by CGC for one simple reason. CGC had 3 staff members at their booth, and if they had to assign a staff member to stand as the witness, they most likely would not have had enough people to take submissions. By me acting as the witness, it gave them the chance to get all of the submissions in. If one has never been a witness at a major signing, it might be hard for one to understand all of the aspects of allowing it to run smoothly. And if I happen to make arrangements to be able to get books signed after the signing is over in exchange for my time acting as the witness, then that seems to be fair. I stood there watching for 2 1/2 hours without being able to walk away or take any kind of break. And as for getting our tickets, Sharon already spoke about that. We were in line at 8:40 in the morning to get our tickets, and we spent money to acquire unwanted tickets from others. Did we stand in the McFarlane line without a ticket? No we did not. So we did in FACT follow the rules.

 

4) 'Because the last thing we need is one person *spoon* off Todd'

 

Oh come on, I was nowhere even CLOSE to pizzing off Todd...I was in front of him for about 30 seconds max. There was no altercation whatsoever. I began to ask for an extra sig, the PR lady said 'no' and attempted to handle my books again. I stopped her from grabbing my books, and told Todd that it's disrespectful for his employees to handle our books, and that was it...thems are the facts, bub...you know its all true

 

Though Todd may not have been getting upset, I know his PR Manager was getting upset and you may not realize that his PR Manager sets up these events, so upsetting her can have the same effect as upsetting Todd. As for no altercation, you yourself even stated "chandler from desertwind had to ask me to move along before i caused a scene " Those are your own words meaning you acknowledged you that were causing a problem.

 

5) the biggest problem i have with your posting is the following statement:

 

'just follow the rules and don't try to be cute. Let's all try to be part of the solution and not part of the problem'

 

Really? Play by the rules? This is coming from the CGC witness who hoarded extra tickets to have forum members go through the line upwards of four times for them

 

That comment has already been discussed by Sharon. So no need to rehash it.

 

I do find it to be disrespectful for others to touch my books without asking...perhaps you don't, which could be the reason why 2 out of the 5 SS submissions I did through you in May (which you didn't get submitted until August for some reason) had grade drops

 

I would advise you to have your information straight before making libellous statements about Desert Wind Comics or myself. To begin, you submitted books to us during the Mark Millar signing in August. All four books you submitted to us on invoice #800173 were signed by Mark on August 20th. Only two of them had CGC certs with them and only 1 of those dropped from 9.8 to 9.6. Furthermore, by your own admission, you stated "I actually cracked said books out of their slabs myself". For you to make a statement that Desert Wind Comics would be responsible for your grade to drop when you were the only person handling the book through the unslabbing and signing process is completely unreasonable and it could be considered to be liable. The books you talk about were already in bags and boards when Desert Wind Comics took possession of them to ship to CGC. I think if you ask any person on this board who would be more likely to cause the grade to drop due to contact with the book, they would have to say the person who unslabbed it and handled it during the signing process which was you. So I would ask that you apologize to both Sharon and myself for making such a statement.

 

In conclusion, we work very hard for our clients, who come first to us before our own benefit. And it is not for financial gain, as we were lucky if we broke even last year. We traveled over 45,000 miles for our clients and spent thousands of dollars to attend conventions and events to benefit our clients. I spent easily over a thousand hours between the traveling, communicating and time away from home because of my love for this hobby and community. Sharon and I have even put our own day jobs, which pays our bills, at risk to get the "Job" done for our clients. And in return, I being the full blown pompous azz that I can be, do sometimes speak out about my opinions and thoughts. And have been known to once in a while not completely communicate my message, that I admit I am guilty of. But know this, I will do it with the best intentions for our clients and those we respect and call our friends. Now for my final thought for said certain person is this. For you to use the term "McFarline line nazi" is completely uncalled for and I, as well as others I know, take great offense to that terminology. And consider that the fact that someone, maybe even the PR Manager herself, could be reading these boards and could take great offense as well and that could do irreparable damage to the relationship between Todd and anyone associated with CGC. So I would strongly suggest that you publicly apologize for the poor judgement and use of such a horrible title. With all of that being said and being that I do not rant.

 

-end thought

 

Chandler Rice

 

Chandler & Sharon Rice

Desert Wind Comics

[Joel Elad]

Before the thread gets locked, the only thing I wanted to say is this: Colin and I spoke earlier tonight, and I want to make clear: my comments about not wanting to take further submissions from PhiGam should NOT be seen as a rallying cry for other witnesses to not accept submissions from him. I had some bad luck with his submissions regarding the Jeff Smith signing, and with all the discussions, confusion, fatigue, late night of the post, etc, I overreacted and went too far with my long post in terms of cutting off business with him. Colin, thanks for calling so we could hash everything out. Now we can both wallow in the sadness of Sunday's Super Bowl game results and hopefully move on...

 

Joel

 

 

[jonjesper]

'hugging it out' is the only way to go a this point

[PhiGam-migration]

Allow me to first apologize to anyone that my previous statement may have caused undue stress to.

 

Thank you Chandler, this is all I wanted to hear *leans over and kisses Chandler on the top of his bald head*

[Kevin Boyd]

I'm now locking this.

 

Colin is not a Signature Series Witness. He has been a client of Witnesses here, but it is my understanding that he was getting books signed at this event for himself. His actions at the show, and the actions of Todd McFarlane's assistant, have absolutely NOTHING to do with CGC or the Signature Series program.

 

I'm glad that people have resolved their personal conflict, but doing it all so PUBLICLY instead of PRIVATELY puts your words and statements on the "stage", for all to read.

 

Kevin