jason4 Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 Now all his previous cgc signature books will go up. Just wait for thanos to own the marvel cinematic universe and then every kid and adult will want a starlin cgc. Hold onto one if you got it. ComicConnoisseur 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakman29 Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 I am not a fan of SS books, but I don't want to begrudge anyone for seeking them out. I do have signed books from my favorite artists, and even one SS book I bought from a dearly departed board member. To me, it kinda takes away from the special feeling of finally meeting your favorite creator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Aldred Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 6 hours ago, Aweandlorder said: Yup, this really does illustrate the problem. Despite his ideology, when it was down to his signature he was all about the money. His bodyguards weren't just there to keep the lines moving along, but would also detain anyone who tried to avoid paying him his fees, in order to begin the process of sending the cheapskate to an icy, Siberian gulag work camp. Of course, now we're much more liberal and no such deterrent exists to prevent signing fee misbehaviour at conventions, other than some ineffectual, verbal criticism on message boards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercury Man Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 I don't buy autographed comics, I don't want autographed comics, and I sleep pretty well at night. Heronext and Courageous Cat 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namisgr Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 1 hour ago, 1Cool said: It's an extra $10 for the SS slab. So CGC is making $10 for witnessing the signature since the stabbing process is the same unless yellow ink cost more. Plus they make money slabbing books that otherwise wouldn't be submitted for slabbing. As they should, of course, offering the service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComicConnoisseur Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 Creators should sign these comic books for free to show their appreciation to the fans who have supported them thru all the years. I never got why these comic artists/writers charged their loyal fans for an autograph. These creators should give back to the fans who still care about them to go see them by lining up in a line for hours. Heronext 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bird Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 (edited) 3 minutes ago, ComicConnoisseur said: Creators should sign these comic books for free to show their appreciation to the fans who have supported them thru all the years. I never got why these comic artists/writers charged their loyal fans for an autograph. These creators should give back to the fans who still care about them to go see them by lining up in a line for hours. Starlin has signed for free for many many years. He is only charging (or was very briefly charging) for sigs on CGC SS books. He was always happy to sign as many books as I put in front of him. (Yes, I was once that guy but I always offered to get back in line a few times. Although I could hear people groan behind me as the creators would say, "good idea, 10 sigs and then back in line if you want more.") Walt Simonson signed a stack for me, a huge stack, at a NYC LCS back in the day. Edited May 14, 2017 by Bird forgot to close my parentheses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComicConnoisseur Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Bird said: Starlin has signed for free for many many years. He is only charging (or was very briefly charging) for sigs on CGC SS books. He was always happy to sign as many books as I put in front of him. (Yes, I was once that guy but I always offered to get back in line a few times. Although I could hear people groan behind me as the creators would say, "good idea, 10 sigs and then back in line if you want more." Walt Simonson signed a stack for me, a huge stack, at a NYC LCS back in the day. It really wasn't aimed at Starlin, but the rest of the industry. When I see comic artists/writers charging their loyal fans for thier autograph it doesn't seem right. They should give thier autographs for free to show thier appreacition to their loyal fans who appreciated them over the many years. Edited May 14, 2017 by ComicConnoisseur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anfield Fox Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 CGC should reach out to him and fix this. Bad publicity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bird Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 1 minute ago, ComicConnoisseur said: It really wasn't aimed at Starlin, but the rest of the industry. When I see comic artists/writers charging their loyal fans for thier autograph it doesn't seem right. They should give thier autographs for free to show thier appreacition to their loyal fans who appreciated over the many years. Fair enough, sorry I misunderstood. And I agree with you. Will Eisner signed a few books for me, and man did he seem unhappy when he saw it was 4 or 5 books instead on 1. But I had Cerebus Jam (two maybe?), Spirit, the book COMIC BOOK REBELS and wanted a sig on each as they were all so different. ComicConnoisseur 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prez Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 2 hours ago, A-DONIS said: Completely uneducated about how CGC and the Signature Series program works. No one at CGC is making a dime off Starlin signed books. I think how CGC works would be the last thing on Jim Starlin's mind. Further, this is not about Starlin vs CGC. He was just happy to sign books for fee until fellow artists urged him to charge due to rampant flipping. Starlin gave it a shot and he didn't get his money - he got upset. Now, he doesn't want anything to do with CGC, which makes signed comics cost a premium in the secondary market. How hard is that to understand? fastballspecial, F For Fake and oakman29 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteppinRazor Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 30 minutes ago, ComicConnoisseur said: It really wasn't aimed at Starlin, but the rest of the industry. When I see comic artists/writers charging their loyal fans for thier autograph it doesn't seem right. They should give thier autographs for free to show thier appreacition to their loyal fans who appreciated them over the many years. It would be nice if they did, but I don't think anyone should give something for free. It's up to them whether to be generous or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComicConnoisseur Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 14 minutes ago, SteppinRazor said: It would be nice if they did, but I don't think anyone should give something for free. It's up to them whether to be generous or not. An autograph isn't work. They should reward their fans with one for all the hard-earned cash over the years these artists/writers made from the fans. A simple autograph as a thank you would be a nice way to show appreciation to their loyal fans. Remember, the comic book sales are way down, and it is not like these artists/writers are in big demand anymore. They should appreciate they still have some following, instead of gouge them. Some of these artists/writers are quite wealthy. It doesn't look right for them to be charging thier fans for autographs. I think this practice will be looked at as lame and petty by future generations. kav 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Aldred Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 (edited) I've never sold one of my signed raw books, and so it is irritating when creators you've admired for decades start charging nosebleed prices for signatures which I doubt I'd ever consider selling, and so now wouldn't even bother purchasing from them in the first place. Then again, it is understandably cautious, because how can they be sure who's putting on an act and who's genuine? Adam Hughes is a classic case there. Spoils the experience for those of us who really care about comics, knowing that's one reason we're penalised. Edited May 14, 2017 by Ken Aldred oakman29 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrwoogieman Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 7 minutes ago, ComicConnoisseur said: An autograph isn't work. They should reward their fans with one for all the hard-earned cash over the years these artists/writers made from the fans. A simple autograph as a thank you would be a nice way to show appreciation to their loyal fans. Remember, the comic book sales are way down, and it is not like these artists/writers are in big demand anymore. They should appreciate they still have some following, instead of gouge them. Some of these artists/writers are quite wealthy. It doesn't look right for them to be charging thier fans for autographs. I think this practice will be looked at as lame and petty by future generations. Anyone who creates anything should be free to monetize their signature or any other thing they want to sell and that people want to buy. Let them decide what 'rewards' they should bestow upon their fans. slym2none 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prince Namor Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 CGC should've seen this coming and been proactive to tighten this up. It's going to get worse. RockMyAmadeus, jsilverjanet and Semicentennial 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Aldred Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 Just now, TeamStarlin said: Blame CGC, not the artists. Flippers, speculators, eBay. etc. Multifactorial. Semicentennial 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bird Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 yeah I blame person_who_is_obnoxiously_self-impressed collectors/fans who act in such a way to draw negative attention to their actions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SteppinRazor Posted May 14, 2017 Popular Post Share Posted May 14, 2017 7 minutes ago, ComicConnoisseur said: An autograph isn't work. They should reward their fans with one for all the hard-earned cash over the years these artists/writers made from the fans. A simple autograph as a thank you would be a nice way to show appreciation to their loyal fans. Remember, the comic book sales are way down, and it is not like these artists/writers are in big demand anymore. They should appreciate they still have some following, instead of gouge them. Some of these artists/writers are quite wealthy. It doesn't look right for them to be charging thier fans for autographs. I think this practice will be looked at as lame and petty by future generations. A lot to unpack here. I'll start with the first sentence. Signing something is more work than not signing something. Signed hundreds or thousands of times for each fan will give them hand cramps. It costs energy. It's work Second, let's break down the hard earned cash they've gotten from fans buying a book. Let's say you bought a book back in the 80's for $1. Half of that is publisher profit, so 50c left. Let's say a mere 15c to run the printing press and buy the ink and distribute the book. 35c left. Split with writer/artist/inker/letterer. So the writer for example gets a piece of 35 cents for your purchase. Let's say he/she gets almost half, 17 cents. So for 17 cents you've given him/her, what do you get? You get a physical creation, you get happiness and enjoyment for the time it takes you to read the comic, from the ownership of the comic, repeatable happiness and enjoyment from re-reading it at your leisure, and content/entertainment you could not create yourself for 17cents. You also got the ability to re-sell their creation for 100% of the revenue, sending 0 of it back to them. What does the creator get from you, aside from 17cents? They get the opportunity to create, and the happiness they derive from that. Now, if you think what they get from you means they owe you more than what they've already given you, I ask that you approach your own employment the same way (assuming you don't run your own business). Your employer provides your opportunity to create, what do you owe them in addition to a workday, for your 17cents? Regarding comic sales being down as a motive for signing fans' books free, that's a pretty mercenary way to look at it. If they are in a bind, it seems you're saying that's the time to take advantage of it. Sign my book or I'll quit buying. Whether they are wealthy or not is irrelevant. You are expecting them to give of themselves freely for no other reason than because you like their art. I agree with the spirit of what you're saying. I think we should live in a mutual appreciation society. I don't like the commodification of everything, which we have in our society. I just don't think an expectation that someone owes you free stuff because you derived a lot of pleasure from their work is fair. The fact that their creation means a lot to you doesn't mean that that means the same to them. nepatkm, oakman29, mysterio and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteppinRazor Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 11 minutes ago, TeamStarlin said: The root of all (this) evil is CGC. I don't think so. The root of skating without paying is human nature. The root of valuing a collectible, and detail/quality creep is human nature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...