At that time (1996), Zero Hour the mini series from DC Comics hit the shelves. As I'm walking around with my mom in Artist Alley (like a little kid in a candy store..lol), we were walking by this guys table which had a lot of Green Lantern stuff on it. Everything from comic books, statues, even his table cloth was green. I can't even remember seeing if anyone in Artist Alley had banners...not like today when you walk around, it looks like the "Great Wall of Prints" down every aisle. But he stopped my mom and I, saw the Zero Hour #0 cover in my hand (which was a blank cover) and said "Hey, how are you? Can I sign that for you?" I looked at him with terror because I had no idea who he was or what he was going to do, but, I said "sure" and handed him the comic.
As he's signing the comic he's talking to us about Green Lantern and about the convention itself. My mom had asked him if you have to be published to set up at a convention and his response was "Yes you do. You have to have at least one comic published to set up at conventions". I was embarrassed, but like any mom or parent, she was trying to "show me off" to the guy saying that I'm a very talented artist, I've been drawing for years and so on. As we're talking we still had no idea who he was. Maybe he was a talent scout looking for talent for DC Comics. We didn't know. But as we're talking I see him not just signing the book I gave him, but he's drawing a green lantern (not the character but an actual lantern) sketch on it with green markers and pens. I thought that was very cool..but odd at the same time. I just never came across someone doing that or have every thought of that. Back then (I make it sound like 50 years ago..lol), they didn't have blank sketch covers like they do today. If you wanted a sketch, the artist would do it on a piece of paper or on a backing board for a comic.
He hands me back the comic and on it is the sketch he did and he signed it twice. I asked him, "why did you sign it twice?"
He said "I'm Mart Nodell, the creator of the Green Lantern. I signed it this year with my signature and signed it the year I created Green Lantern which is 1940". I WAS FLOORED! I was so excited that I got the ACTUAL creator of Green Lantern to sign and sketch on my comic. FREE!!!!! NO CHARGE and he stopped us!
From what I understand, he only sketched less than 10 of those covers in that same way.
Today at conventions, it's a whole different story. Oh you can still find some of the creators of the characters at shows, but, most if not all of them charge for signatures and charge pretty hefty for sketches. It's very rare to find a creator of a popular character who will sign and/or sketch for free after that character gains popularity on the big screen.
Me personally, you can quote me on this. I will never charge for signatures. You're already supporting me by buying whatever it is I've worked on (comics, Sketch Colorings, soon Animations and so on). I am MORE than happy to GIVE you a signature for anything you've purchased that I've worked on, as a THANK YOU for your support.
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