After a 12 year absence from cons, I would not want to create any bottlenecks as people try to get their longboxes full of FF or X-MEN etc signed.

(One of the things that used to depress me a log in my early days of attending cons was how totally oblivious many fans were to the people standing in line behind them. Before I put a limit on the number of books I would sign per day, people would literally come up to my table with fifty, a hundred, once TWO hundred books for me to sign.)

••

One of the downsides of a "good deed" like that is that it invariably gets around the con, and people start showing up with their hands out. "I hear you're giving away books."

Trying to explain that the "free" books come with special circumstances attached leads only more Bad Byrne stories. "Byrne was handing out free books but he wouldn't give me one!"

One of the things some fans cannot seem to grasp is the degree to which they create their own Bad Byrne stories. Approaching me in the men's room is not a good way to get an autograph, for instance. Neither is approaching me after the con has closed for the day and I have packed up all my stuff. And, of course, there is the eternal "just one" plea. Tho I am making it clear that I will be signing only my STAR TREK work at this con, I know there will be people who will approach with "just one" X-MEN, or FF, or whatever. Sometimes I feel like saying "Okay, I'll sign your book -- but then you have to stand here for the rest of the con and explain to everyone else who comes up with 'just one' book why it is that you're special and they're not."

One of the downsides of a "good deed" like that is that it invariably gets around the con, and people start showing up with their hands out. "I hear you're giving away books."

*********

The great thing was I didn't even ask for them. For the ALIEN book, you had already signed my books and I saw the guy behind me pull one out to be signed. I exclaimed that I didn't know the serial had been collected and you pulled one out from your podium signed it and handed it to me.

For the WW issue, almost the exact same thing happened the next day. I saw the guy infront of me pull it out to be signed and I made the comment that I didn't know it was already out. You pulled one out from your podium*, signed it and handed it to me.

*What a magical place that podium must be. It's like Shaman's bag!!

•••

Two things used to happen regularly when I was still doing cons. One was someone coming up to my table with only reprints for me to sign, the other was that someone would come up with nothing to sign, just to say thanks.

So, in order that the first did not get only the rubber stamp, and the other did not go away empty handed, I got in the habit of loading my portfolio with comics from my latest bundles of comps, to give away.