Market Realities Regarding my Autograph Policy

Mick the Nerd sent the following comment for my attention:

This is not a review of the book, this is a review of how you’re charging 10 dollars for it to be personalized…AND fifteen dollars for an autograph!

Like…WHAT?! CHANGE THAT PLEASE-you think people have all the money in the world?!

In this day and age of economic concerns, I get it. I truly do. But there’s a flip side to this comment which I’d like to address.

Before I respond, let me offer the following perspective:

When I attended my first comic convention in Buffalo, NY back during Thanksgiving weekend, 1973, I could purchase a page of original Gil Kane art he did for a Marvel Comic for $10. I also acquired a free sketch of Dr Strange that was illustrated in pen by P. Craig Russell. Finally, my program book was signed by all the attending comic book professionals free of charge.

In the mid-70’s, during Thanksgiving weekend, my brother & I spent the weekend taking in a Celtics game on a Friday night, a Bruins game on a Saturday afternoon and a Patriots game on Sunday afternoon. We must’ve spent between $5 & $10 per ticket. On top of that, we had floor seats behind a basket for the Celtics game.

That same year, I took in a David Bowie concert at a cost of $10. Two years later I took a date to see Bowie, paying $17.50 for floor sets 8 rows from the stage.

Flash forward 20 years later. I paid $200 – $225 apiece for 2 Gil Kane pages of original art, one of which was signed by him. I also paid $750 for a Jack Kirby FANTASTIC FOUR page inked by Joe Sinnott as well as $50 for a classic Dan DeCarlo Archie cover featuring full figure poses of Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead and Reggie. I did attend a couple of Buffalo Bills games during those years, but I can’t imagine paying more than $25 or $30 for a ticket.

Ten years later, I’m selling that FANTASTIC FOUR page for $6000 and the Archie cover for over $500. I also sell the Gil Kane pages for over $1000 each. Today the FANTASTIC FOUR page would fetch anywhere from $25K to $30K if not more while the Gil Kane pages would sell for $3K to $4K. The reason the prices have soared to these levels at that time was due to the internet making such transactions possible as well as the rise of EBay.

It’s now the present day twenty years later. I’ve seen the Buffalo Bills play at SoFi Stadium two years in a row. My son Colin paid $60 per ticket from a scalper who was trying to make back some money on tickets that normally sell for $500 each, which is essentially what I paid per ticket to take Bernie to see Paul McCartney at SoFi Stadium previously to those events. A Gil Kane GREEN LANTERN cover sold for $85K and a Jack Kirby splash page goes for $500K.

Now let’s look at how the Sonic market has evolved over the years.

When I first started doing conventions, Archie was giving away free copies of SONIC issues 11 & 13 at the San Diego Comic Con. That was the only one Mike Kanterovich & I sat at the Archie booth and signed copies. If you have one of those copies, you have a rare collectible in your hands.

Within a year, I was doing the convention circuit bringing my own copies of SONIC issues to sell as no one else at any conventions was selling any copies. Back in those days, I always got a free table, maybe some food during the convention, but I always had to pay for lodging and transportation costs out of my own pocket. I sold my copies at cover price until I did the Motor City Comic Con. That was the 1st time retailers began buying my copies at a convention. And because I always signed the copies with no additional charge – no one did that back then – the retailers would take the copies they bought from me and raise the prices a few bucks to sell to their customers.

This situation created several problems for me. The first being I had only a limited number of copies to sell at any given convention. Second, I was discovering families were literally driving hundreds of miles so their kids could meet me at the convention instead of the creators who were primarily working on Marvel and DC titles. If they didn’t bring their own books for me to sign, they were generally counting on being able to buy something from me to sign.

I don’t remember how the connection was made at the time, but the people at SEGA heard about me promoting the SONIC series at conventions, so they sent me some items to hand out on a promotional basis. These items included two different Sonic pins that weren’t available anywhere else as far as I knew. Once I had these items, I started raising the cost of the SONIC back issues I had for sale. The $5 price tag per book discouraged the retailers from buying me out, but handing out a pin with the purchase of a book or print was a winner with the families who came to see me.

SONIC original art was another matter. The artists themselves didn’t see any value in something they felt would only last a few issues and be forgotten shortly after. They would either give pages away or sell them for $5 or $10 is the piece was a cover or a splash page. When Patrick Spaziante was going to do the same thing at the 1st convention he and I attended together along with other Sonic creators, I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. I could either buy him out – every single cover and page he had at the time – for $25 each or my better half could represent his interests and sell his covers and pages for a percentage of the selling price.

It didn’t take long to establish a price of $150 per cover and $75 for pages. As demand grew, the prices went up, to the benefit of all the artists working on the book. By the time I left the book, covers were going for $250 to $350 as the supply dwindled. By the time the 2010s rolled along, the available art I had resulted in me starting to do limited edition prints such as the cover art of SONIC SUPER SPECIAL issue 2 and making those available for sale.

It wasn’t until we experienced the COVID pandemic and started to get back to what approximated “normal” that I discovered everything had changed dramatically. Not only were people paying higher prices for back issues and original art, they were also paying creators to autograph the items they were associated with.

Bernie had paid actor Leonard Nimoy $20 back in 2014 or thereabouts at the San Diego Comic-Con to sign the drawing I did of Spock for a proposed STAR TREK project at Marvel back in the 1990’s, but that was easily rationalized as something we’d never have the chance to do otherwise. As it turned out, he would pass away the following year.

But ever since the San Diego Comic-Con held their Special Edition Convention back in November 2021, charging for autographs became not just routine, but expected. I myself was a holdout, still signing for free, until I released my book THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES: BEGINNINGS, in which I still signed at no extra charge unless one wanted their copy personalized. At that point, I began charging $5 extra.

During the past year, as the costs of me doing business – operating a website, attending conventions to promote my work, etc – were obviously increasing, it forced me to reevaluate my pricing structure.

I was never one much for doing commissioned art, for example, as it cut into my family and work time without the benefit of being fairly compensated. Too many younger artists were offering to do commissions for way less than I thought the job was worth, and I was not willing to get into a race to the bottom.

Over the past year, however, people made it clear they were more than willing to fairly compensate me for my efforts, resulting in me raising my prices and making it worthwhile for me to take on such projects. Not only that, but people approaching me at conventions were expecting me to charge for my signing of not only any item they purchased from me, but also charge for signing any item they brought with them.

I honestly felt weird at first taking money for something I used to happily do for free as a courtesy, but as I looked around seeing people sell what I sign on Ebay or at their booth for a higher price than the cost of an item, I recognize the cost of doing business has changed, and so I have to change with the new reality.

Currently, I have a copy of SONIC issue 98 up for auction on Ebay which will end within a couple of hours. People are bidding up the price primarily because I’m going to sign this copy. As far as I can recall, I haven’t signed more than a handful of copies since the book came out over 20 years ago. But with the release of the new SONIC film and the scarcity of copies of this issue, it’s obvious the value of this book is increasing dramatically.

To protect the buyer of this book, SONIC issue 98 will be the one exception to my current policy of charging $10 or $15 for items I sell. Anyone wanting me to sign their copy will have to pay $100 for me to sign their copy, as I anticipate some people approaching me to sign their copy to increase its value, considering this book marks the 1st appearance of Shadow, Professor Gerald and Maria, and I played a major part in the creation of their 1st appearance in this issue. Hopefully, this will discourage people from asking me to sign, and that’s the point. I’ve made it clear the book I’m selling is not in the best of condition, so I want whoever ends up being the winner to feel they’re getting something special regardless.

To Mick the Nerd’s point, no, I don’t think people have all the money in the world, but just like I can’t afford the Kirby art or other things I’d like to have or do, it’s not a matter of whether people can afford something or not, it’s what they’re willing to pay. I don’t sell a necessity. I sell a luxury item that all I’m looking for is a fair price so I can keep doing what I’m doing. And if I can’t afford to no longer do what I do, I’ll have to close up shop and find something else to while away my time.

The bottom line for me is to find the sweet spot where both myself and the people I do business with come away feeling happy with the transaction. It’s not always easy, but I do my best to make it so. Thanks for taking the time and hearing me out.