What is your opinion on getting comics signed by the creators?

fxmatt

I have several special issues I am taking to a con this summer to get signed by the creators but am wondering if it may devalue the issues because there will be no certificate of authenticity? I know if I were ever to have them slabbed by CGC it would be considered not a valid signature, right? Just wanting opinions on the matter as I may consider reselling them in the future.

Greg

If you are looking to resell the books, yes it will devalue them without a CoA.

I have no intention of selling my signed books, my wife would never let me no matter how bad we may need the money. I also don't care for CGC, getting books graded and slabbed in general.

I seek out creators to thank them for their work; getting a book signed is an anchor to that moment so it holds a great deal of value to me, even more so if its a book from my childhood.

Trev

I wouldn't do it with the idea of selling them unless you are going to slab it via the CGC Sig Series.

Right now I don't think it hurts resale, but it may limit the pool of buyers. I don't know that it significantly helps except in a few cases.

When I sold a signed book via mycomicshop consignment, they did provide a COA on the sig.

Zhurrie

Signatures are something I like a lot, but I like small, quick sketches, and signatures if possible. For me if I am getting something signed it is someone I truly admire and means a lot to me personally. I would never sell it so that never enters into it for me. You can always have a friend snap a quick pic of you and the person signing it which is just as good as a CoA in my opinion though for a private sale.

I used to get to meet a lot of well known people and the one thing I always made a point was to just enjoy the time I had with them. Ask a genuine question or even talk about something unrelated to their craft even. Look them in the eye and just be real. So many people just shuffle through, shove something at them, and scurry off. They are just people and that gets boring and tiring. Don't try to have a full-blown conversation unless they initiate, but something quick or witty does wonders. For artists, if they aren't swamped, I'll ask nicely if they could do just a quick simple doodle or sketch. Sometimes they end up being awesome and those are some of my most treasured things.

TheMarvelMan

I don't collect for value or resale, I collect because I LOVE comics. Nevertheless, I do have my own (totally subjective) views of "condition factor," and thus I normally don't get them signed (or buy them if they are already signed). But I did ask John Romita Sr. to sign a cover for me once (because he's my absolute favorite!). An exception to every rule, right?!

batlaw

I think autographed comics are cool.

LegoNightwing

I love them. I had Quasar #50 signed by Andy Smith just yesterday. It's not worth anything much but I think it 's awesome.

JohnathanConstantine

I only get stuff I like signed but I don't sell it. In many ways, to me, it is about walking up to the creator, saying I love your stuff and me getting you to sign this or put a personal message on it is me supporting your work. Now I've started to get my HCs signed instead of issues because I believe it is showing more support for the creators because you are saying that 'i not only bought the issues but i bought a really nice HC because i love this piece of work you did'.

I mean, I got Chris Claremont to sign 4 omnibui and Bendis to sign about 10 different HCs (not at the same time, I saw him at different times during the few days of the con).

Zhurrie

@JohnathanConstantine, that actually brings up a new point. For some reason I only ever really get one thing signed by a person and that is all. Occasionally I will get a second signature if something new has come out since a previous one that I love even more but I think I only have a handful of people whom I own more than one thing autographed by. For me the autograph/signature is just a memento of meeting someone I really enjoy the work of, so a single autograph is enough. Cool little quick sketches though along with an autograph I have a couple more of by the same people but even that is rare. Maybe it is just a personal preference thing, but I really am good with just one piece signed by any one person. That's just me though, definitely no right or wrong, I just thought it was interesting as I read your reply that in my head having multiple pieces by the same person signed seemed odd.

Hex

I had Len Wein sign my copy of Hulk #181 last month. Resell value be damned! Having a creator sign a book that has special meaning to me... priceless.

Krescan

I'm hoping to get Larry Hama to sign my copy of G.I. Joe 109 at Derby City this year, it's one of 2 issues I always talk about when I mention G.I. Joe comics. I doubt it's worth much now so I'm not worried about resale, plus it'll mean even more to me now.

Hex

For some reason I only ever really get one thing signed by a person and that is all.

For me the autograph/signature is just a memento of meeting someone I really enjoy the work of, so a single autograph is enough.

I agree. For me, getting something autographed is just an excuse to go to the table and have a couple of minutes to chat with the creator... kinda like a conversation ice-breaker.

MikeGallagher

I miss the days when creators signed the inside first page not the cover

Nick

I miss the days when creators signed the inside first page not the cover

I had some comics signed by people that do that. Peter David did it for some of the comics (not all), and Brad Meltzer does it for certain issues too.

Torchsong

I've had creators sign trade collections of their work, but never the actual individual books themselves. I sign all mine when I sell them (but I'm small potatoes and I always ask first).

Anymore, if it's a creator I like, I whip out the handy-dandy sketchbook and have them do a quick con-sketch or if it's a writer I have them sign inside the back cover.

Flintlockjaw

I miss the days when creators signed the inside first page not the cover

Ennis signed my Preacher trade on the inside first page.

MrMidnight

I remember a few years ago I decided to Mark Sparacio sign a copy of Green Lantern 175 and had CGC come over and view him signing it so it could be sent in as a signature series version. Mark thought it was pretty awesome that someone would do that, as the issue was his first mainstream cover he had ever done. Now, each year when I see him at the Michigan Con he remembers me and thanks me again. I have always been a fan of his work, and am honored that he remembers me at all.

MrMidnight

I asked Mark to sign, forgot to put the word "ask" in there...oops

LibraryBoy

I don't mind getting books signed from time to time, but I give not a damn about resale value.

JohnathanConstantine

@JohnathanConstantine, that actually brings up a new point. For some reason I only ever really get one thing signed by a person and that is all. Occasionally I will get a second signature if something new has come out since a previous one that I love even more but I think I only have a handful of people whom I own more than one thing autographed by. For me the autograph/signature is just a memento of meeting someone I really enjoy the work of, so a single autograph is enough. Cool little quick sketches though along with an autograph I have a couple more of by the same people but even that is rare. Maybe it is just a personal preference thing, but I really am good with just one piece signed by any one person. That's just me though, definitely no right or wrong, I just thought it was interesting as I read your reply that in my head having multiple pieces by the same person signed seemed odd.

Perhaps a bit of clarrification is needed @Zhurrie. I don't live in North America and we have very few cons a year. The cons we do have tend to have a very high media guest presence and a large anime attendence but only two or three comic guests. The problem is that we don't have the ability to get the creator to sign at another con because the number of guests that come out is very small and you might never see the creator again. I understand the dislike about getting massive amounts of stuff signed, and I try to avoid it where possible but taking six things at most, but when you have the 'risk' of never meeting the creator again you do tend to want to get your favorite stuff signed. With the example I mentioned before about Bendis, we haven't seen him since the start of Ultimate:Spiderman and Avengers:Disassembled and we aren't guarenteed to see him again, so I got my HCs signed

Night_stick

If I like an artist or writer enough to have him sign a copy of their work It would probably never leave my collection. If one were to have thoughts of selling it in the future I would have someone take a quick shot of myself with the book as the autographer signs it. I would think that this would be enough if not better than a CoA.

Zhurrie

@JohnathanConstantine, no worries, I hadn't realized you were not in the US... but even still it is all good, I can appreciate it all I just never even think to or have a desire to have multiple items signed by the same person. It is definitely just a personal preference thing for me. I see the signature/sketch more as just a way to remember meeting and speaking to someone, so multiple items just never really was something I'd do. Occasionally I will buy something signed not having met the person in the case of deceased or unobtainable ones, but again usually one item is it.

I think it is cool even though I don't do it, that shows some passion and real love for the creator. I definitely was not putting it down at all, it is just different than how I approach it.

JohnathanConstantine

@JohnathanConstantine, no worries, I hadn't realized you were not in the US... but even still it is all good, I can appreciate it all I just never even think to or have a desire to have multiple items signed by the same person. It is definitely just a personal preference thing for me. I see the signature/sketch more as just a way to remember meeting and speaking to someone, so multiple items just never really was something I'd do. Occasionally I will buy something signed not having met the person in the case of deceased or unobtainable ones, but again usually one item is it.

I think it is cool even though I don't do it, that shows some passion and real love for the creator. I definitely was not putting it down at all, it is just different than how I approach it.

Well, if its an artist I try and get a sketch from them instead... We really need to figure out the equivalent for writers.

ctowner1

My Swamp Thing #1 is signed "Swampily yours...Len Wein" Not that I'm planning on selling it our anything! :^)

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L nny

JohnathanConstantine

Are people suspect of creators signing because of the speculators in the past?

jaydee74

I love getting my books signed by the creators. It's fun to be able to talk to them about certain issues and it's nice little thing to have. I remember having a particular issue of DC Comics Presents signed by Paul Levitz and he looked at the issue and he started to talk about the process of making the issue and it was really quite fascinating so there are a lot of cool aspects to getting books signed. It's something I like to get done when I can.

ctowner1

I'm always surprised when professionals are willing to sign stacks of books where it's clear that the person is just getting them signed to sell them. If I was a pro, I would insist on only signing books personally to the recipient and just a few of them and then keep the line moving!

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random73

I don't collect for value or resale, I collect because I LOVE comics. Nevertheless, I do have my own (totally subjective) views of "condition factor," and thus I normally don't get them signed (or buy them if they are already signed). But I did ask John Romita Sr. to sign a cover for me once (because he's my absolute favorite!). An exception to every rule, right?!

Tank you for saying this! Anytime I tell a non geek i like comics the first questions i invariably get is "you have any that are worth money?" and when i say i don't care I collect them because I love comics, their eyes glaze over like i just said i prefer to pee in the bathtub...so yeah hey, thank you for just publicly saying you love comics. awesome.

dubbat138

I don't collect for value or resale, I collect because I LOVE comics. Nevertheless, I do have my own (totally subjective) views of "condition factor," and thus I normally don't get them signed (or buy them if they are already signed). But I did ask John Romita Sr. to sign a cover for me once (because he's my absolute favorite!). An exception to every rule, right?!

Tank you for saying this! Anytime I tell a non geek i like comics the first questions i invariably get is "you have any that are worth money?" and when i say i don't care I collect them because I love comics, their eyes glaze over like i just said i prefer to pee in the bathtub...so yeah hey, thank you for just publicly saying you love comics. awesome.

I get that question all the time also. And yes I have some comics worth decent amounts of money. But I collect comics to read not for the resale value. If I collected for resale value my Miracleman trades,hardcovers and issues would have been sold a few years ago.

TheMarvelMan

You're welcome, Random! Yeah, this happens to me all the time. I have my 18,000+ comics nicely displayed in one room (my wife gets the other 8 rooms... LOL), along with lots of action figures, prop replicas, etc. Any time a new friend comes over and sees the room, their FIRST question is always, "Wow! How much is all of this worth?!" Then they are SHOCKED that I have no idea! That's why we are True Believers and they aren't!

random73

You're welcome, Random! Yeah, this happens to me all the time. I have my 18,000+ comics nicely displayed in one room (my wife gets the other 8 rooms... LOL), along with lots of action figures, prop replicas, etc. Any time a new friend comes over and sees the room, their FIRST question is always, "Wow! How much is all of this worth?!" Then they are SHOCKED that I have no idea! That's why we are True Believers and they aren't!

Yeah i have kind of a "batcave" myself for my geek stuff and yeah i have toys & actions figures and books (gobs and gobs of books) stashed away in a semi-finished attic room. We just moved into a new house and I'm a little worried though that in the dead of summer (we use that phrase for winter i can use it for summer too, right?) it gets amazingly hot up there. I picked the attic because i thought it was better than the potential moistness of the basement but now i'm not so sure. any pros out there have comments of the effects of heat on comics? I typically store them, you know, bagged and boarded in longboxes.