Friday, May 17, 2019

More Keith Giffen Autographs


 Last week I talked about meeting Keith Giffen and bringing him some 5YL books to get signed.

As I have said, one of the new things I need to calculate when I attend cons is the cost of autographs. With more and more creators charging for their autograph, I need to decide how much money I want to spend on signatures and therefore how to rank issues.

For Giffen, as a lifelong fan, I had in my mind 10 signatures or $50 maximum. If Giffen was charging $10 a sig, I would only get 5 books signed.

Incredibly, Giffen wasn't charging. In fact, at Terrificon that year, only a couple of creators were charging. Most had a Heroes Initiative charity jar on their table instead. I definitely threw a lot of money into those jars that weekend.

Meanwhile, with Giffen signing whatever you brought to him and with (shockingly) never a long line at his table, I was able to bring books to him each day. And with the 5YL books signed, I dove into the earlier years.

So now, with that out of the way, the question I ask you is which issues would you bring from your collection to be signed.

I think most would bring some (if not all) of the Great Darkness Saga. Let's face it, that story sort of out Levitz/Giffen on the map. And it still holds up today. I opted to bring the first and last issue, #290 and #294. My guess is Giffen has signed a ton of these.



 With those out of the way, I decided to pick and choose.

Legion #300 is a great issue, with many contributors, and leaning into the Legion history. So that was also an easy one to pick.

As a Supergirl fan, I knew I needed to bring one of the issues that showcased her. And Legion #303 has her on the cover. So I was grabbed that one too. (To be honest, I also brough Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #3, a cover her drew.)

But I knew I had to bring Legion #305. For me, this is sort of the epitome of the Levitz/Giffen greatness. The Violet replacement was a subplot that had been planned and enacted for over a year. The clues were all there. But it still came a shock. I told Giffen how much I loved that reveal.


 I also brought Legion Annual #1 And Legion Annual #3. The return of Computo! The Curse!

Easy choices!


Then I was left with the Baxter series and what issues to bring from that.

Legion of Super-Heroes #1 is an easy choice.

But Legion #5 was an easy choice for me. The end of the LSV story. Nemesis Kid. Projectra leaving the team (for now). Love this issue.

I also brought an extra #1 to give to friend Mart Gray. And I brought Legion #304 to get signed for Legion blogger Siskoid.

So I'll pose the question again. What issues would you bring to Giffen?

3 comments:

  1. Seconding your remarks about "The Great Darkness Saga". Recently scored a used copy of the "Deluxe Hardcover" edition of that one. It features many of the stories leading up to, the Saga itself and a couple of after issues as a sort of extended epilogue. Great stuff.

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  2. Ambush Bug...so DC Comics Presents 59

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  3. I met him once or twice in Baltimore...I had Legion Annual #1 (great choice, and great image for a signature) and also Baxter Legion #1. I feel like I brought another one or two but can't think of what they were...Superboy #50, where he drew the cover maybe.

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