Marvel Decides Who The Real Fans Are...

Jim Starlin
Okay, Ant, here's the story. When I do Con appearances I don't charge for autographs. I sometimes have a charity can and ask folks to donate to the charity. But many of my fellow artists have urged me to charge for these authentication signings. CGC is making money off my signatures. If they are, I agreed that I should make a little something also. So this weekend I told this fellow I was doing so and we agreed on a price, with the CGC guy standing right beside him. The CGC guy got called away for something. I signed the guys' two books ( without a witness) and he guy asked if I'd hold his books while he got a third book. When he returned I signed it also and the guy went off to find the CGC witness. They returned and I gave them the books. Someone nearby asked me a question and when I turned back both the guy and the witness were gone, without paying me.


Jim Starlin
I later, once I could get away from my table, went over to the CGC table and asked about this. Got a lot of excuses but no offer to help remedy the situation. I later came back again and told them I wouldn't be dealing with CGC any more. Don't see youthe use of their service. My choice on who I do business with and CGC is not anyone I going to deal with any more.

SteppinRazor: 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.

Okay, there’s been some confusion about what happened between myself and the Certified Guartany Company (CGC) at a convention Saturday, partially because of my own hastily composed post on Facebook. So let’s straighten out what happened, at least from my point of view.
To start off with, I don’t usually charge for signatures at conventions. I’ve always figured the reader buying the book and helping keep me alive merited my autographing it at events like cons. I do charge dealers for signing multiple copies and large numbers of books for resale. I also sometimes have a charity can at my table for donation to certain worthy causes.
Until yesterday CGC was something other cartoonist complained about. I had very little awareness of them, let alone how they actually operate. Other artists have always urged me to charge CGC for signatures and I finally agreed that I would do so.

So I was at this convention yesterday and this fan came up with a CGC witness and asked if I would sign his books. We worked out and agreed upon a price. But before I could sign the comics the witness was called away. At that point I did autograph his two comics, with no witness present. The fan then asked if I would hold his books while he bought a third. I did so.
He then returned and I signed that book (no witness) and the fan went off to find the witness. Both returned and I gave the fan his books. Someone at the table next to me asked me a question as I was doing so and I answered. When I turned back both the fan and the witness were gone, without paying me the agreed upon fee.
Okay, the fan may have just forgotten to pay. Stuff like that happens. But when I was able to get away from my table a little while later and go over to the CGC table, to ask about finding this fan, a gentleman at the CGC table told me flatly that giving out any information about their clients was against policy. Seeing as how I wasn’t requesting medical records or a social security number I thought this strange. So I returned to my own table to consider the situation.

Here’s this company that’s charging some very high prices to fans for a very questionable service and making a very healthy profit off what I am giving away for free. I would think such an arrangement would earn me the minimum cooperation in finding this fan. Apparently it didn’t.
So I returned to the CGC table and told a lady on duty there that I wouldn’t be signing any more books for CGC and asked they send no more witnesses to my table. I would not be cooperating with their enterprise.
Later this same lady came by my table to try to convince me I was being unreasonable. I wasn’t convinced by her case and said I would no longer cooperate or deal with CGC. At no time did she offer to help find this fan.
Now some of you fans out there may still want to deal with CGC. That’s your choice, no matter how I think you’re just throwing your money away. But I won’t be signing any books for them. I will do so for other authenticators, at an agreed upon price, but not CGC. I will also continue to sign books for free at cons, occasionally hitting you up for some charity.
This is a choice for me to make and I have done so. But I really think you ought to go off and buy your own plastic sleeves to entomb your comics in and stop being suckers for this crazy scam.