Two new Signature Series additions

[Garlanda]

one I'm pleased with, one I'm not

 

It's been a long time since my last journal, several weeks in fact. I've just been too busy to write much, but things have still been going on.

 

This week I gained two Signature Series books. The first, Atomeka's A1 #1, signed by Glenn Fabry and Brian Bolland. I was initially drawn to this comic for the cool Warpsmith cover. I recognized the characters from Miracleman, and the table of contents on the back cover read like a who's-who of influential creators: Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Simon Bisley, Brian Bolland, a dozen more. I was surprised to find that I enjoyed several of the stories by unknowns more than some of the headliners. One in particular, "Bad Bread," really stood out to me. It is a short story that may have a "grain" of truth to it (pun to be revealed). It is the story of a Medieval peasant who has consumed his usual meal of hard, dark rye bread, but this time the rye is infested with the fungus Ergot. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergot) One of the natural chemicals produced by the Ergot life cycle is lysergic acid, a precursor element to LSD. As such, ingesting Ergot typically results in dramatic hallucinations which were generally ascribed to spiritual hysteria in Ye Olden Days, considered visions or demonic torments. Some years later, I cited this story as a reference in a paper I wrote on Dante's Inferno, postulating that some of his descriptions of the underworld were influenced by hallucinations he had heard about or perhaps even experienced himself. I still have this copy, but it is in "reader" condition by now. My new SS copy, however, came via eBay. The list price was a bit more than I was willing to go for, so I made an offer expecting a counter-offer, but my initial offer was immediately accepted. Hooray!

 

The other Sig Series I got this week is one that I had been expecting for a while. I've seen several people make some good-natured (and some not-so-good-natured) comments on how many Stan Lee signatures there are out there, but I didn't have any. TIme to remedy that. I checked the Desert Wind Comics website to see what was coming up, and decided on trying for Wizard World Chicago. Chris Claremont and Alan Davis would also be there, and I saw a chance to get a great X-Book triple signed. I considered an Excalibur 1, but I thought the dark cover would be tough to get good results. I settled for an Uncanny X-Men 213, with an iconic Wolverine-Sabretooth battle cover. This is an issue that I'd never owned, so it would be extra special. I bought a Blue Label 9.6, thinking that would be sufficient with triple sigs to be a real highlight of my collection. I sent it to DWC in July for the August show. I was immediately struck by the lack of communication from DWC, who never acknowledged receipt of the comic as they said they would on their website. After two weeks and confirming delivery through USPS, I emailed and they replied that they had received it. Earlier this week I decided that it had been gone for a long time, so I emailed to check on it. They replied that it was on Delivery Exception from Fed Ex. I found the FedEx second notice in the bushes of the townhouse next door, but no first notice or final notice. The Door Tag number was also not to be found in the Fed Ex tracking system. After an hour on the phone with Fed Ex, and an hour drive to the Fed Ex ground HQ, I had my box direct from CGC. I know CGC sends me an email when they ship to my account, but I guess DWC was too busy to relay that to me so I could look out for it. If I hadn't emailed DWC myself I would still not have it. Less than stellar customer service. Even worse, I open it to find that the book has dropped a grade to 9.4 (unfortunate but understandable). The corners are pretty serevely dinged; in fact I'd say 9.4 was generous. Still, acceptable so far. Hey, wait a minute... signed by Stan Lee and Chris Claremont. Not signed by Alan Davis. What? Why not? I paid for multiple sigs, and can understand that time constraints with Stan Lee may have prevented all three, but at least give me the courtesy of letting me know that at some point in the two months between the show and getting the book back. Not a satisfied customer.

 

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[bagofleas]

I personally have not had any problems with DWC. They have always informed me of their receiving of my books and I have always gotten them back as desired.

 

Of course, any number of factors could have contributed to Alan Davis not being put on the XMen issue. He may have needed to leave the show a day early or something and DWC simply did not get to him yet. Cancellations and early departures can always happen at the cons.

 

If, however, it was simply an oversight on their part, then shame on them.

 

I will say that when dealing with DWC, I would highly recommend always getting the books pressed at CCS. You can fill out a CCS form and send it with the books to DWC and they will make sure to include it when they send them to CGC.

 

They have each of the three times I have used them and I have been very satisfied with the results. Any time you use a third party to get issues signed, it is probably a good idea to go ahead and have them pressed before regrading. Unless the final grade isn't really all that big of a deal to you and you just simply want the sigs.

 

After all, with other people handling your books, you never know what could happen. It's always better when you can handle them yourself. Of course, even that doesn't completely remove the risk involved.

[Garlanda]

The condition returned is not as important to me as the almost complete lack of communication. No communication was initiated by DWC; they only replied to my inquiries when I thought too much time had passed and asked to check the status, and from what you say that is not the norm. If a can't-miss opportunity comes up, I may give them another try.

[bagofleas]

Yeah, normally once they receive your books, they do up a CGC invoice and then email you, letting you know that they have them and what your CGC invoice number is.

 

After that, they won't say anything unless you specifically ask. If you want to know your invoice status, you have to call CGC and ask, since the invoice will not show up on your online order summary.

 

I currently have three issues being done through DWC for McFarlane, and can't wait to get them back.

[Tnerb]

Garlanda, may I recommend Rich Henn or Torrey Quella.

 

I too, do not like Desert Winds, I used them once to see what they were like and only to get information to write about them. I never did write about them, but I never did use them again either. Bagofleas and I both have been doing our best to get our New Mutants signed by as many creators as possible and I dare say even if Desert Winds were able to procure BWS I would still not use them...maybe I should write that journal after all.

[meshuggah]

My experience with DWC has been the same as BOF for the most part. I will probably start having things pressed that go through a 3rd party. My books from SDCC came back pretty banged up. But as Tnerb pointed out, there are other resources available. I haven't done business with them yet but probably will somewhere down the road.

[Garlanda]

In case anyone was curious, I did send an email to DWC on the same day as this journal to inquire as to why they did not also get Alan Davis to sign, as the invoices indicated. To date there has been no response whatsoever.

[meshuggah]

Sometimes it takes them a bit depending on their schedule.

[Garlanda]

If anyone is curious, Desert Winds has still not contacted me to explain why they took my money to get Alan Davis's autograph but did not actually get Alan Davis's autograph.

[meshuggah]

Wow. Its been quite a while. Maybe try hitting them up here on the boards.

[kaholo1256]

This was posted in the Signature Series section by DWC and followed up by another with a decent amount of time inbetween... so just saying..... may take a minute. Good luck.

 

Hey guys. Thank you to everyone. Both Sharon and I have been spending this week with our family in Texas and enjoying a short time off while eating turkey and watching football. We will be back in the office on Tuesday and will begin the process of responding to emails and taking care of business now that the con season has come to an end. And we can attend to the questions that some of you have been asking. Again thanks for respecting our family time. Happy holidays.

 

Its 12/10. Please respond to your emails and messages.