Then, if you manage to survive the anxiety attack of slowly advancing on one of your geek heroes without passing out (that'll be the water you remembered to bring along), you have to deal with a whole new ordeal: actually meeting them. That's just dumping a whole new can of worms right on top of your sweaty head. You need to quickly gauge what to talk to them about, what the appropriate time to talk to them is, and to make sure you've actually got something to talk to them about. It'd be rude to just shove your comics in front of them, get them signed and scarper, plus you want to make them understand how much they mean to you. But, then, so does everyone else there, and they're probably twice as eloquent and charming as you and oh god maybe it would just be easier to silently hand them the issues and then run away forever.
2. How Much Do You Get Signed
Everybody knows that the guy who brings an entire longbox for Jim Lee to practice his signature with a silver gel pen on is a jerk, but judging the correct amount of things to bring to a signing is tricky. You want to show that you're a fan, not just one of these casual hobbyists who owns a couple of titles. You also want to take advantage of what could be your one opportunity to have some of your favourite comics or items of merch with the creator's John Hancock scrawled upon it. It's more guesswork about how whoever the signer is will react. Nobody's going to be super stoked to get cramp in their writing/drawing hand. You've gotta make a bit of effort though. Still, remember you're gonna have to cram it all into that overflowing swag bag...
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
