I promised in my C2E2 Cosplayers Photos post that I’d post more on C2E2. Well I’m finally getting around to doing so. This post is a little showcase for some of the swag I toted back from the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo.

This was the first con where I really made an attempt to get some signatures from writers and artists that I really like. I was very lucky to get Geoff Johns and Alex Ross to sign several of my things. I tried more than once to meet up with Jim Lee but has bad timing for his scheduled times and was unable to find him elsewhere. I did manage a few other signed items by other people too, but I’ll get into more detail on that and the items when I show them below.

First, here are three comics I actually brought with me from home, specifically to get them signed. To really show my comiccon naïveté I figured 3 comics was a good number to bring. So I selected my three favorites in both story and cover art. Well, didn’t I feel silly (or maybe normal?) when walking into the lines with fellow fans I discovered they had entire pull suitcases or boxes on carts with them, filled to their brims with years worth of comic books.

My first time in the Geoff Johns line I was told in order to optimize time there’d be a limit of 10 items per person. Well holy crap! I guess I was under the limit then huh? Especially since Angie was with me the whole time, I could have really had 20 things signed. Well, not to look foolish I grabbed some extra things for him to sign, but I’ll mention those later.

The three comics I had him sign were Green Lantern #50 Jim Lee Variant, Blackest Night #6 and Blackest Night #8. Here’s pictures of all three with his sigs. You’ll also note that on GL#50 I also got Doug Mahnke’s signature as well. It was just my luck and entirely unbeknownst to me that sitting right next to Geoff at this particular time slot, he was signing as well. So when Geoff signed it, he passed it right over to Doug. Sweet!

The next three are all items I got signed, but also got them at C2E2. The first is a very special copy of Blackest Night #8. I had to do a bit of research on this but it turned out to be pretty impressive. See, in one of the DC panels they posted a number to text a message to in order to win a signed copy of the hardcover collected edition of Wednesday Comics. I did so and got a message back that I had won! The only problem was I got the message at exactly 7:00 PM. Which is also exactly when the show floor closes, plus I was in the middle of another panel. So the next day I stopped by the DC Booth and they explained that there had been a mistake and that I hadn’t actually won. Several people had gotten the message but it was only meant to go to one person. They had given away the prize already, so they decided to give me a copy of this comic instead.

When I first got it, I was thankful to them and the guy who gave it to me said “it’s probably worth more than the Wednesday Comics book anyway”. Figuring this was a standard variant I figured he meant because variants usually sell for $10-25 or so anyway. Like I said though, in researching this book I noticed that the standard variant looked different. It had a colored-in background and some different colors and lighting effects on it. Well, it took a bit of digging, but I found out that this particluar copy was handed out only to retailers who attended the C2E2 Diamond Retailer Summit dinner two days before the show started. I don’t know the actual number of printed editions, but it makes this very rare. Then I went ahead and got Geoff to sign it, so now it’s even rarer. You can find it currently selling from many retailers for upwards of $150-$300.

The other two I mentioned are copies of The Flash #1 and Brightest Day #0. Both I had to buy at the show because I was flying to Chicago on the Wednesday they came out. Surprisingly, I couldn’t find them for the longest time. I figured it’d be easy to buy new comics at a comics show, but many if not most of the retailers on the floor were trying to expunge their collections of trades and back issues. I eventually found one selling the new issues though and picked them up. Geoff was kind enough to sign both when I caught him after a panel. Brightest Day however, I was able to get Peter Tomasi, who you’ll recall I lauded several posts back for his amazing work on Green Lantern Corps, to sign Brightest Day beforehand.

That’s it for the comic books themselves. Here’s a few more items I manged to get signed. First up is the Limited Edition C2E2 show poster I received for being a VIP. I had intended to get one of the two I own signed by as many writers and artists I like as possible. But after the first time I got it signed I stopped that idea. It’s actually a pretty funny story.

You’ll remember a few paragraphs up I mentioned how I felt a little empty handed when getting Geoff to sign things, so I added a few more. Well, one of these posters was one of those items and when I unfolded and handed it to him he went, “The Avengers… Huh…” Which was funny, really and truly, but I was horrified. I had just offended the man who singlehandedly gotten me back into comics by asking him not only to sign a poster that he had no hand in, but asking him to sign a poster in the DC booth, at a DC signing with a team of characters that are not even remotely affiliated with DC. I tried to justify to him that it was the C2E2 show poster that I was trying to get signed by multiple people, but I realized it wasn’t worth trying to explain my failed concept. This moment represents my low of the show, I felt so dumb. Now I can only laugh at it. Thats how my quest for signatures ended as I realized most anyone I’d want signing it, work for DC.

Of course, pictured below you won’t find Geoff’s signature. While I still have that poster as well, I opted to photograph the version that makes more sense. That being; one signed by the amazing artist, Alex Ross (who designed the poster). You’ll notice it is #28 of a run of 500 which makes it another great collectible, especially signed by the man himself.

The other poster I got signed was this brilliant and huge poster that DC was giving away for Brightest Day. No real unique story to this either, but it was another item I threw on the pile for Geoff to sign feeling empty handed. The only funny part of this poster is the odd spot at the bottom with the sponsors. I’m considering snipping those off as they otherwise wreck it.

The next items up in my little showcase are another pair of limited edition items. For the C2E2 show, DC Direct offered 1,500 copies of two action figures. A Black Lantern Hal Jordan and the White Lantern Sinestro. They were sold by Graphitti Designs in a raffle format. You would have to line up at certain times of day and try to draw a red ticket out of a bag full of blue ones. Well, I managed to get lucky once more and pulled a red ticket out while hundreds of other people got blues. With my red ticket I got a bracelet and with my bracelet I was able to cross the show floor back to Graphitti Designs’ booth which was literally located on the exact opposite spot from the ticket booth.

The figures themselves are awesome and come packaged in a book-style type of container that fastens shut with a piece of velcro. Each contains the figure itself plus the corresponding ring. Yes, that means I have a White Power ring. Rest assured though, I was told at the show that everyone else will be able to get their hands on them with Brightest Day issue #1.

Besides these figures I also picked up a shirt from Graphitti Designs. I didn’t personally take this picture, it’s from their site. But you get the idea.

Finally I’ll wrap this up with three amazing pieces of art. Another first for me, I picked up several prints I saw and loved throughout my time at the show. The first is by an artist who also owns a store called, BuyMeToys.com. His name is Casey Heying and he regularly does the art for a series called The Oz/Wonderland Chronicles. His booth had a very large version of this print posted on its wall and immediately caught my eye. I talked with him for a while and he was a really nice guy. He explained to me he decided to do a Blackest Night piece instead of Brightest day because he had some serious time constraints coming up to C2E2. He wanted to include the White Lantern logo, but decided it was best to leave it as it is. I really love it, and think he did an amazing job. I need to get it framed up soon. He also signed it for me at the bottom.

The last two here I came across in the Artist Alley. I stopped and started talking with Gabe Eltaeb, colorist for more than several issues of both Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps. Another really nice guy, Gabe had a bunch of prints of his art available for sale. What genuinely caught my eye was the first piece you’ll see below with the “chibi” New Guardians and Nekron. Larfleeze always cracks me up in the comics, but here especially he is very funny. I would love for Gabe to pitch a series featuring chibi Larfleeze. The second piece below was a joint work that if I remember correctly was penciled and inked by Nick Runge, someone who I am not really familiar with, and colored by Gabe. It’s another great piece, I have to give it to Nick. A little different but pretty cool. Nick was also on hand, siting next to Gabe, but I didn’t really get a chance to talk with him much. Both did sign it however.

And that wraps it up on my main take of swag. There was lots of little things I got too like a collection of buttons given away for free at the DC booth. I also got a set of mini-buttons from a retailer that featured all the various lantern corps logos. I got an amazing Flash poster as well, but somehow managed not to think to get it signed on the several times I saw Geoff. Lots of little things like that. But this was all the main good stuff.

Expect another post sometime soon about the show in general and maybe some shots from around the show floor. See you next time.

Tags: Blackest Night, Brightest Day, C2E2, Comics, DC, Green Lantern

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 29th, 2010 at 9:00 am by Pete Labrozzi and is filed under Blackest Night, Brightest Day, C2E2, Comic-Con, Comics, Green Lantern. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.