Marvel Decides Who The Real Fans Are At C2E2 – No Window Bags For Comics Signatures! 5 5

[shadroch]

Marvel/Disney is trying to save the planet.

Where do you suppose all those sliced up window bags end up?

[rjrjr]

13 hours ago, Thwipped said:

Meh, went to a convention not to long ago and seen it done twenty different ways from twenty different tables. 

The one that bothered me was the ONE person I was there to see was not allowing CGC or any COA's to be done at his table. 

When I was at home discussing this with my wife, she put it all in perspective. 

She said, "So, who cares if you can get it 'properly graded, you got his autograph and that is all you really cared about."

She is right. As a fan, I'm not planning on selling my books.  They are my personal collection. So getting them witnessed and graded is not SO important. 

In the context of the post, I think this applies. "Marvel" or whoever doesn't want to saturate the market with speculators. Serves them right to not want that to happen. Was anyone alive in the 1990's? Better question, was anyone collecting comics in the 1990's? I was, it was horrendous. Every other book was a brand new #1 or death or resurrection, and the covers...god, the covers. You had your die-cut, chromium, hologram, colorform, etc. 

The point is, Marvel went bankrupt because of speculation. They have been there and seen it. Also, listen to my wife, she's a smart bird. You got your signature, you met your hero. 

If Marvel didn't want speculation, they would stop printing impossible ratio'd variants.  Trust me, they love speculators, which is an every increasing portion of their buying audience these days.

[spidermanbeyond]

14 minutes ago, rjrjr said:

If Marvel didn't want speculation, they would stop printing impossible ratio'd variants.  Trust me, they love speculators, which is an every increasing portion of their buying audience these days.

Agreed.  Circulation/print numbers are dropping.  The only thing keeping the number up is the variant stuff.   Too much and getting out of control much like the 1990s. 

[ADAMANTIUM]

Maybe Marvel/Disney is trying to prevent the people just buying and slabbing and not reading to get a 9.8?

[Ryan.]

2 minutes ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

Maybe Marvel/Disney is trying to prevent the people just buying and slabbing and not reading to get a 9.8?

Those people represent guaranteed sales to Marvel.

[ADAMANTIUM]

Just now, Ryan. said:

Those people represent guaranteed sales to Marvel.

That's what I'd say too, seems Marvel isn't making much sense, some wires crossed somewhere

[crassus]

2 hours ago, BeachBum said:

I know why this happened, and many others do as well. I was given the heads up by a Marvel rep before the show started. It's not Marvel sticking it to the fans. They are tired of some Facilitator's behaviors at Marvel booth signing events. It hit the fan atg last year's SDCC. That's all I will say at this time other than the stunts some are pulling to get books signed by Celebs is out of control.

I realize you may not want to get into specifics, but just in general terms I'm curious, what kind of behaviour/stunts for example...?

[mschmidt]

1 minute ago, crassus said:

I realize you may not want to get into specifics, but just in general terms I'm curious, what kind of behaviour/stunts for example...?

- putting a stack of people in line for capped signings, so they can get massive quantities of books signed

- abusing uncapped signings by trying to get creators to sign 40 copies of the same book

- bringing books to signings at Marvel's booth to bypass paying CGC signature fees the creator was charging at their booth in artist alley

Take your pick, really.

[ygogolak]

16 hours ago, jcjames said:

I don't get why an artist would care if one of their customers/fans sells a "free" (how much did he pay to get in to see her?) sketch she did.

Does she feel that SHE should get a cut of his profit? Does she feel cheated out of being able to earn money selling her sketches on Ebay? If so, then she can crank out a dozen quick sketches on a Saturday morning for herself and sell them on the bay any time she wants. So she doesn't want people making money off of her "free" sketches... but she has no problem RECEIVING a cut of their money that they pay just to get in to see her.

If you GIVE something to someone, it is now THEIRS and so why get all upset if they sell it? She's getting paid to be there, and he is paying to meet her so some of HIS money ends up in HER pocket, so yeah - he DID pay her for the sketch - so what's the problem? Did she not get paid enough? Hmm... I know her time and talent has value, but she must be the most naive person to think that everyone who gets a "free" sketch of hers will keep it forever and no one would ever sell it.

YMMV

 

I'm having flashbacks to Napster.

[BeachBum]

1 minute ago, mschmidt said:

- putting a stack of people in line for capped signings, so they can get massive quantities of books signed

- abusing uncapped signings by trying to get creators to sign 40 copies of the same book

- bringing books to signings at Marvel's booth to bypass paying CGC signature fees the creator was charging at their booth in artist alley

Take your pick, really.

This stuff is nothing compared to what has happened at the ticketed celebrity cast signing events in recent years.

[mschmidt]

2 minutes ago, BeachBum said:

This stuff is nothing compared to what has happened at the ticketed celebrity cast signing events in recent years.

True - I'm only talking about the comic book signings at Marvel.

Edited April 24, 2017 by mschmidt

[revat]

well hopefully cgc is aware of the potential troublesome actions of some if its facilitators and representatives, and will act accordingly to ensure that those things don't happen again, and taking actions which include reaching out to artists and comic companies if appropriate.  If not for the customers (which might be nice), but for their own reputation and bottom line. 

[BeachBum]

Apparently Dan Slott got into it on Lauren's article on Twitter last night and this was his last thoughts on the whole thing -

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1spqkei

Dan Slott -

"My last word on the window box/BC nonsense.
Have talked with multiple freelancers who did signings through out the weekend.
ALL of them signed "window" bagged books at the booth.

The booth only deals with the problem when it BECOMES a problem with too many similarly taped, window bagged books started showing up. And that's a sign of one party abusing the free signing time for some serious flipping. (Something that might have been nice to know in, say, a news article that was researched before it went up online.)

(Remember the show where BC reported that the Netflix Daredevil booth signing was canceled? This was an article that was still up on the site while the the Netflix Daredevil booth signing was actually going on. That's the danger of sites that don't do due diligence.)

The free signing times at the Marvel Booth are there so that the greatest number of fans can get personal items signed by their favorite creators. The time is limited and when people try to game the system and get stacks of books signed that they can turn around and flip, it means the lines get capped early and many fans are turned away.

There actually ARE people out there who fill the lines with their employees, or pay people to stand there with stacks of their books, all for a way to turn those free signing times for personal mementos INTO large paydays. That's not fair to everyone who misses out.

The people working the Marvel Booth put in crazy hours at the show-- and they do it because they want everyone there to have a great time. With that comes times when they have to be the "bad cop" and cap a line, clear an aisle/entrance, enforce a book limit, or-- at certain times-- do things like ask people not to bring windowed/taped bags to the signings. This isn't done to punish fans. It's done because some bad apples have abused the system and the people at the booth want as many people as possible to have a chance to get through the line.

With individual creators, we have tables in artists alley. If something like this ever happens to you and you want your windowed/taped book signed, you can always find us there. I can't speak for other creators, but I'll sign them free of charge (as long as it's not a stack of the exact same comic with the exact same cover). And I have started asking that anyone with 5 items or more make a donation to the Hero's Initiative charity. 5 things is reasonable though, yeah?

Last thing:
Be nice to the booth guys, okay? It's a tough gig. The hours are CRAZY. And they've been there before you, setting up the booth-- and will be there after you, taking it down. Especially be SUPER-nice to 'em on the last day. I love them all very much. They're the hardest working sons of at each and every show!"

Edited April 24, 2017 by BeachBum

[ygogolak]

The people working the Marvel Booth put in crazy hours at the show-- and they do it because they want everyone there to have a great time.

 

Do they do it for free or do they get paid?

[BeachBum]

36 minutes ago, mschmidt said:

True - I'm only talking about the comic book signings at Marvel.

I'm talking about the celebrity signings that happen at the Marvel booth where Facilitators are getting as many comic books up on the Marvel stage by all means necessary. This was the nail in the coffin.

[BeachBum]

Just now, ygogolak said:

The people working the Marvel Booth put in crazy hours at the show-- and they do it because they want everyone there to have a great time.

 

Do they do it for free or do they get paid?

Some are volunteers if I'm not mistaken but most are paid of course.

Edited April 24, 2017 by BeachBum

[fastballspecial]

1 hour ago, mschmidt said:

- putting a stack of people in line for capped signings, so they can get massive quantities of books signed

- abusing uncapped signings by trying to get creators to sign 40 copies of the same book

- bringing books to signings at Marvel's booth to bypass paying CGC signature fees the creator was charging at their booth in artist alley

Take your pick, really.

Ive seen the bottom two several times. Greed kills everything I guess. I really worry we are heading the way of sportscards hobby because honestly many of them are now in our hobby.

[fastballspecial]

4 hours ago, BeachBum said:

I know why this happened, and many others do as well. I was given the heads up by a Marvel rep before the show started. It's not Marvel sticking it to the fans. They are tired of some Facilitator's behaviors at Marvel booth signing events. It hit the fan atg last year's SDCC. That's all I will say at this time other than the stunts some are pulling to get books signed by Celebs is out of control.

I cant imagine your frustration. You have been doing this along time with a solid reputation. I cant even imagine some of the issues you have seen or encountered at conventions lately.

 

[jcjames]

9 hours ago, Turtle said:

If the fan approached the artist and politely asked for a sketch and the artist obliges, then I'd say your point is a valid one. 

However, sometimes people get a little pushy/beggy when asking for things from creators at shows, sometimes lying and saying "I'm your biggest fan", "I've been trying to get one from you forever", "I want to pass this on to my kid", etc., etc., etc. when they really have no intention of keeping the item long term.  From a legal standpoint, the two scenarios are the same.  A person convinced an artist to draw a free sketch at a convention.  From an ethical standpoint?  Very questionable.

This happened pretty publicly with Adam Hughes a few years back.  Someone approached Adam Hughes for a commission at a show.  In the past, Adam took a list at the beginning of the show and picked which commissions from the list to do based on his own personal leanings (person asking, subject requested, etc.) and he only got to a small handful during each show.  Someone at this show got on his list and proceeded to tell Adam that he was his #1 fan and that he'd be trying to get a commission from him for years...practically begging Adam to pick his request.  Adam decides to make this fan super happy and does the commission.  As I recall, by the time the show had closed, the piece was already listed on ebay, and it didn't take long to come to Adam's attention.  Adam posted about this negative experience and stated that he would no longer be doing commissions at shows using his old list method.  For some time after that, the only commissions he'd do were the ones he sold on ebay in the days leading up to the show (which sold for multiples of what he charged for commissions at shows).  This was a few years back and I'm not sure what his current commission policy is. 

All I'm saying is that I agree, some artists care a little too much about what happens to something they sign/draw once it leaves their table.  However, obtaining that something from a creator under false pretenses is highly unethical to me and would shift how I view the situation.

 

I completely agree with that. Lying or misrepresenting yourself as "your greatest fan and would you sign this for my little nephew who's in the hospital" and then turn around and flip it before the ink is even dry is always wrong and so yeah, I'd be upset if I was lied to like that. 

 

As far as ygogolak's comparison to Napster... not quite. There is only one copy of a sketch and that one copy will be sold for a profit by the guy who gets the artist to create that one copy. Napster was TOTALLY different. If someone buys/makes a single .mp3 of a song and starts sharing hundreds or thousands of identical copies of that file, it WILL cut into the future sales of that song for the artist. That's why it's called a "copyright". 

 

Edited April 24, 2017 by jcjames

[Lucky Baru]

7 hours ago, 1Cool said:

Almost every big artist I have gotten a sig from over the years (Zeck, Steranko, etc) all have charged more if a CGC rep is present.  Neal Adams charged the same either way but I think it was $30 so it wasn't cheap.  I think Bernie Wrightson and Mike Grell where a couple that only asked for a donation and didn't care if CGC was there or not.

Mike Grell doesn't upcharge for signatures.  He does charge an additional $25.00 if you want a sketch cover done.  He says that's because they end up on eBay. 

Edited April 24, 2017 by Lucky Baru