San Diego Comic-Con 2010 Show Wrap-up

Though the convention's spotlight is usually taken by the major Hollywood studios and their star-studded panels, comic books and their creators still made their presence known with the heavy dealer presence in the Gold and Silver pavilion and the massive amount of creators meeting fans at the Publisher’s booths and Artist’s Alley. Comic dealers lined the crowded aisles with amazing material for sale, from hard-to-find Golden Age books to high-grade Silver Age, appeasing the tastes of every collector. CGC, located in aisle 901, was on-hand to take customer submissions through the entire five-day show. With submissions topping more than 3,800 books, it was evident to the CGC Customer Service staff on hand that collectors and fans alike wanted to take part in CGC's convenient submission drop-off. Though there was a heavy flow of vintage comics being submitted for grading, CGC’s prestigious Signature Series submissions were by far the most popular. And at a show such as SDCC, everyone is even more determined to get their books signed when all of their favorite creators are under the same roof at the same time.

The most heavily requested signatures were from Stan Lee; Chris Claremont; Jim Lee; Todd McFarlane; Brian Michael Bendis; J. Scott Campbell; Tom Palmer; The Walking Dead boys Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn (this TV show looks to be huge!); Jeph Loeb; Milo Manara; Chew boys Rob Guillory and John Layman; Geoff Johns; Ivan Reis; Dave Gibbons; Marc Silvestri; Jerry Robinson; Neal Adams; Denny O’Neil and Joe Quesada.

Even some of the rarer signings had CGC authorized witnesses on-hand for signings by the big Hollywood stars and directors of the upcoming Thor and Captain America movies: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Hugo Weaving and Chris Evans. A few lucky G4 fans and CGC customers had Olivia Munn and Blair Butler books witnessed for the Signature Series label. Copies of IDW’S comic version of HBO’s Trueblood were signed by some of the attending cast members as were Image Comics’ Walking Dead books by the main cast and crew of the highly anticipated Walking Dead show on AMC.

Hats off to the CGC crew (Shawn Caffrey, Bree Gregorio, Gemma Adel and William Bodin), who did a fantastic job handling the booth and thanks to the SDCC 2010 CGC witnesses, Signature Series liasons Jon Jespersen, Danny Hernandez, Ryan Caffrey, Kristel Grant, Eric Espejo and Frank Murray. A big thanks to our new Signature Series Director, Joe Pierson, for making sure everyone’s books were tended to and a special thanks goes out to the original Signature Series Director, Kevin Boyd, who was kind enough to lend a hand whenever possible.