What was your best interaction with a comic creator?

Could be a convention experience, could be a random encounter. What’s your best/coolest story about meeting and interacting with a comic book writer, artist, etc.?

Mine is when I got an email from Geoff Johns. This was back in the days of the DC Message Boards and I was a pretty active participant. Geoff said I’d been randomly selected to receive some ‘DC goodies,’ which ended up being autographed copies of Flash #193 and Hawkman #9, plus a Flash posted signed by the entire creative team at the time. He also sketched Mister Miracle on the envelope (I’ve had this user name a long time). It was totally unexpected, and super cool. I still have the framed comics in my office at work, and the poster in my office at home. Needless to say, I kept the envelope too!

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I had ten classes with Denny O’ Neil at NYU Continuing Education.

There were six of us.

Denny mostly talked without notes.

How Julie Schwartz alway started with the cover. After that the story based on the cover.

How he was assigned Superman and Justice League and how he hated to write those too powerful heroes.

Summaries of these classes were put up on bleeding cool. All but one are still up there to this day.

He was kind and a gentlemen.

He approved my one paragraph summary of the three stories I submitted for approval.

Based on that approval, I wrote a twenty page script for a comic book which is in Fan Creations.

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I just happened to be in California on the day that Blackest Night #1 was released, and Geoff Johns was scheduled to appear at a comic book store just a few miles from my hotel.

The line was long, wrapped around the inside of the store. Lots of people getting stuff signed. I didn’t have anything with me, of course, so I picked up a copy of the hardback Green Lantern: Secret Origin for him to autograph. Nobody in line was really chatting him up - it seemed to me they were just there to increase the value of their swag.

When it came my turn, he smiled and started drawing a GL Icon in addition to his autograph on the inside cover of my book. I immediately asked him the geek question of the day: how did he feel about Ryan Reynolds’s recent casting as Hal Jordan. He was so excited about the movie, and became quite animated talking about it. I stepped away from the line to get out of everyone’s way, but the two of us kept chatting about all things DC for quite some time. He was so genuine, so happy to share with other fans.

He eventually asked me what other upcoming things I was excited about, and I mentioned his Superman: Secret Origin with Gary Frank. I started to gush about Gary Frank’s artwork, and a smile stretched across his face. He turned around and grabbed a stack of artwork and handed it to me. ‘Take a look at this.’ It was a black-and-white copy of the full first issue of Secret Origin.

I melted.

I stood there, slack jawed as I poured through the pages of a comic that wouldn’t be produced for months. And Geoff Johns continued to sign autographs, checking me out every few minutes to watch my reaction to the pages. I eventually left that store in a blissful haze. Not entirely sure how I got home.

He was so gracious, so enthusiastic. A perfect herald for all things DC, because he exuded a love that just can’t be faked.

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Met Mark Waid at a con . It was one of the smaller ones, so I actually had a chance to say hi, shake his hand, and chat while he signed my copy of one of his books. Very nice guy and he even commented on the book I handed him (Legion) He had loved writing it and was hoping DC would bring the Legion back (this was a few years back)

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Haven’t had many, but Peter David was at a comic con we had here in Oklahoma City, and it was dead on Sunday which was not good for him but gave me a chance to have a good long conversation with him.

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Not sure if this counts, but J.M. DeMatteis is always positive, polite, and professional with fans on Twitter.

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It was with Jim Starlin, writer of Cosmic Odyssey and Death in the Family, and also the creator of Thanos for Marvel. I paid $15 for him to sign my copy of Cosmic Odyssey, which we then got to talking about. He told me some WILD stories about DC in the late 80s. I felt like I was getting an exclusive look behind the curtain. I won’t repeat what he said in public, but it was equal parts insightful, hilarious, and the kind of stuff that could get people in serious trouble.

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These are all great stories, thank you for sharing!

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@Super-Squirrel That’s an AWESOME story! Johns seems like a very cool guy.

My close encounter would be that I used to shop at a comic store that artist Cory Walker also shopped at. He usually popped into the store every Wednesday around the same time I came in.

I didn’t know who he was appearance-wise until a friend of mine that worked at the store pointed him out. I thought it was cool he and I shopped at the same store, especially since I was reading his work on Invincible at the time.

Then he started going out with an employee that I was very friendly with (and likewise, she was very friendly with me) and had a crush on. I dropped Invincible from my Pull List and lost interest in meeting him after I learned of that.

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Chatted with alex saviuk at the superman festival, metropolis ill. He was pretty cool with the kids and their,uh, kidness…

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What wonderful stories! <3

I haven’t met a comic creator just yet, but when I do I hope it’s as unforgettable of an experience as the ones posted here. :slight_smile:

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Too many to choose from… wandering the halls of Atlanta Comics & Fantasy Fair (pre DragonCon days) with my good friend Joe Phillips… hanging out in Gaijin Studios in the early 90s with Joe, Brian Stelfreeze, Adam Hughes, Cully Hamner… Eating dinner with Neil Gaiman…

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Bryan Lee O’Malley once responded to a very silly/stupid tweet of mine. “He tweeted me and he’s famous.”

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I met Chris Claremont, who was signing autographs. I only said to him, “Mr. Claremont, I just want to shake your hand and thank you for the great pleasure your work has given me.”

He shook my hand and replied, “Thank you. That really means a lot to me.”

A most pleasant encounter with one of the greatest writers in comics history.

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I got to talk to George Perez for a good ten minutes at a wizard world convention a couple years ago he was way in the back and I came upon him completely by accident.What a great man he is! We chatted about Titans( and Teen Titans) it’s predecessor I bought a print of the iconic Superman Supergirl death cover that he signed. It was so cool but it soured me on some cons which are turning more and more to have less and less about comics

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I met Paul Dini at SDCC about 12 years ago, he signed my superman peace on earth hardcover and i asked him how it was to work with alex ross (my favorite artist). His face lit up and we started chatting about they’re time working together and how they used to play on a softball team together. Some pretty memorable things we talked about, he was real passionate about his work. He also said Alex would of loved to meet me, cause i seemed like a true fan, that changed my life.

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