NYCC help (first timer) 1 1

[Jasten]

I need some help prepping for nycc. I’m new to the convention scene and i have a bunch of books I'm hoping to get signed. I will be attending just Friday. 

Do I need a cgc subscription to get signature series at the convention? Is there a benefit to being a member? I plan to submit more of my collection eventually so i am considering this.

How hard is it to get a cgc witness at nycc? How long are the lines for doing this? I have a lot of books I was hoping to get signed 15-20. Is that too many in 1 day?

I hear there are sometimes private signings or ways to drop off books to be signed and graded without your presence? I’m curious about this as Frank Miller is only there on Sunday and I was considering getting DD 168 signed along with Klaus Janson.

Any help/guidance would be appreciated!

[MarkMoon]

18 hours ago, Jasten said:

I need some help prepping for nycc. I’m new to the convention scene and i have a bunch of books I'm hoping to get signed. I will be attending just Friday. 

Do I need a cgc subscription to get signature series at the convention? Is there a benefit to being a member? I plan to submit more of my collection eventually so i am considering this.

How hard is it to get a cgc witness at nycc? How long are the lines for doing this? I have a lot of books I was hoping to get signed 15-20. Is that too many in 1 day?

I hear there are sometimes private signings or ways to drop off books to be signed and graded without your presence? I’m curious about this as Frank Miller is only there on Sunday and I was considering getting DD 168 signed along with Klaus Janson.

Any help/guidance would be appreciated!

You don't "need" a CGC Subscription, but based on the number of books your looking to get done, it's worth it.  A premium level membership comes with a $150 CGC credit so it would essentially pay for itself based on the number of books you're looking at.

Getting a witness depends on the when you go.  Obviously, on Saturday there are a lot of people so there will likely be a wait.  Friday in the middle of the day might be busy, but your best bet is to get there early depending on when your artists are signing.  The time issue is based more on the number of artists more than the number of books.  If all 15-20 of your books have different artists/writers you want signatures for, then it will be difficult to get that done in one day, but depending on the popularity of the artist/writer you can knock out a good chunk, but keep in mind that some of the more popular artists have one hour waits on line.

Also keep in mind that many artists/writers charge a signing fee, sometimes for any signature, sometimes just for books that are being graded.  Frank Miller has a particularly high signing fee ($100 per signature).  Most range from $10-$30, but guys like Jim Lee and Rob Leifeld are higher.

Private signings are announced by CGC right before the con, so you won't know beforehand.  You have to separate your books for the private signatures for their own submission.  For example, Chris Claremont usually has private signings with CGC so whenever you submit for Chris Claremont they are submitted on a separate order for with separate shipping and order number.  

 

 

[Jasten]

Thanks for the detailed info, its super helpful. I still am not clear on how many times I will need to wait in line at CGC booth. Is it once per artist each time to get a witness or dependent on the artist lines. I assume if there are a few artists with small or no lines, I can get those all done at once? Also, will i be filling out forms for each signature or will they keep a pile for me until i'm done so I can have it all sent as one order?

[Catwomancomics]

You can get a witness to go to multiple creators as long as the creators are at their table/booth and are available for signatures.

You can also keep a CGC invoice open to add more books to the invoice or get books back from CGC to add another creator to books.

Edited September 3, 2019 by Catwomancomics

[mschmidt]

On 9/4/2019 at 12:28 AM, Jasten said:

Thanks for the detailed info, its super helpful. I still am not clear on how many times I will need to wait in line at CGC booth. Is it once per artist each time to get a witness or dependent on the artist lines. I assume if there are a few artists with small or no lines, I can get those all done at once? Also, will i be filling out forms for each signature or will they keep a pile for me until i'm done so I can have it all sent as one order?

CGC will have 2 booths at NYCC (as usual) - one in the artist alley, one on the main floor. Depending on where the artist is located, you should go to whichever booth is closest & and they will set you up with a witness.

Expect to wait a bit before a witness becomes available, but you can use that time to get your paperwork ready (it needs to be started before you leave the booth) and get your books prepped. You will need at least a free account if you want to submit books (which you can set up at the booth), but, like MarkMoon said, if you're doing a bunch of books you should sign up for a paid membership before the show and just make sure you have your account number handy.

Once you've been assigned a witness, that witness will walk with you to any creators that are available & signing - if a creator has a giant line, the witness will not be able to wait with you & will hook you up with a phone number you can text/call when you're getting close.

You can submit up to 25 SS books pr. invoice, so you can easily add new books throughout the weekend as they're getting signed. There's a new SS system in place where books are no longer held at the CGC booth during the show - they now get put into tamper-proof bags which makes it very easy for you to just hold on to everything and them submit when everything's done. 

Edited September 5, 2019 by mschmidt

[mschmidt]

Also, in regards to Frank Miller, even though it hasn't been announced yet, CGC will most likely have a private signing with him during the show. They did that at SDCC this year and the price was $100 pr. signature.

[celluloidbuff]

55 minutes ago, mschmidt said:

Once you've been assigned a witness, that witness will walk with you to any creators that are available & signing - if a creator has a giant line, the witness will not be able to wait with you & will hook you up with a phone number you can text/call when you're getting close.

This is one of the greatest time savers. Witnesses keep plenty busy, so to expedite the process for everybody involved, they'll usually have you call when you're ten or so people back from the front of the line, and the witness will make their way to you in time. For some of our more loquacious creators, they may drop that down to three  . I won't name names because I'll never turn down all that face time. I do get a little self-conscious about holding up the line from time to time, but then I remind myself I waited forever because they were giving others the same treatment.

[Jasten]

Great info, I'm sure I wont get to half of what I bring (or less) but this will be a fun learning experience. What about panels? I see Bendis is doing a panel on the day I am going. Do panel guests usually sign after them and if so are you pretty much out of luck for witness in that case?

[feder241]

Any one know how to hear about Frank Miller signings otherwise? I've been trying to get my Dark Knight Gallery Edition signed for forever and he was in Artist's Alley last year signing but you needed to have some kind of number. Does anyone know how those were given out?

[mschmidt]

On 9/6/2019 at 3:55 PM, Jasten said:

Great info, I'm sure I wont get to half of what I bring (or less) but this will be a fun learning experience. What about panels? I see Bendis is doing a panel on the day I am going. Do panel guests usually sign after them and if so are you pretty much out of luck for witness in that case?

Some guests will sign after a panel, but there's pretty much no chance you'd be able to get a CGC witness for something like that.

[mschmidt]

On 9/7/2019 at 3:29 PM, feder241 said:

Any one know how to hear about Frank Miller signings otherwise? I've been trying to get my Dark Knight Gallery Edition signed for forever and he was in Artist's Alley last year signing but you needed to have some kind of number. Does anyone know how those were given out?

Check with comicsketchart.com - they rep Frank Miller (which means they're set up at every show he's at and any artist alley signings with him happens through them).

[feder241]

On 9/12/2019 at 2:37 PM, mschmidt said:

Check with comicsketchart.com - they rep Frank Miller (which means they're set up at every show he's at and any artist alley signings with him happens through them).

Great, thanks for the suggestion!