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That was damn rude. I’ve never been to a con, but is that type of stuff routine? It made me embarassed to be a fan. I’m no Liefeld fan, but he took his time to come down there to meet and greet his fans, pretty awful.

I was on a line at a con once to meet Jim Aparo and have 2 books signed. Ahead of me was what I can only describe as a comic fan’s worst nightmare; an overweight fanboy with horrible BO, white crust on his cheeks and a small shopping cart full of comics. He goes to Jim Aparo and literally takes all the comics out of the cart and plops them on the table and says “sign these” You must remember at this point Jim Aparo was pretty up there in age. This guy had a rather large stack of comics. Not to mention he didn’t really talk to him at all. He didn’t even say thank you after it was all said and done. When it was my turn, the poor old man asked if I could wait five minutes as his wrist was killing him. After that I felt horrible for asking him to sign two books, but he said he didn’t mind. He enjoyed the small conversation. I got lucky by contrast, I guess. But that was one of the rudest things to do to a pro at a con. Granted, not as rude as the Liefeld story, but still pretty bad.

Not nearly as bad as that, but in high school I was at a con where John Byrne had a 10 item limit for signing stuff and I, or my Mom who didn’t think anything of it either, got back in line over and over again with more items. I’m still embarrassed that I was so rude and such a little moron. And I pretty much didn’t give a shit that it was Byrne either. I just wanted my comics to be worth more. High School me = idiot.

“Not nearly as bad as that” referring to the Liefeld thang but pretty much exactly like the guy in Jose Rivera’s post. And I even refreshed to see if anyone else posted yet.

The stuff I’ve seen is pretty mild in comparison. But one thing that stands out as inadvertantly rude was at a Marvel panel attended by Chris Claremont, Matt Fraction, and others. “X-Men Forever” had just been announced, and a fan requested in pretty strident terms to return to Uncanny, to “make it good again” or whatnot. What people don’t seem to realize is, that’s someone’s job. That’s specifically requesting that Fraction be fired from Uncanny. While I’m sure the Eisner-winning writer would have no trouble getting other work, suggesting to his face that he should be sacked from a job is pretty damn rude.

Live and learn, Da Fug. It takes a big man to avoid making mistakes. It takes a bigger one to admit to and learn from them.
But I’ve never been to a Comic Con. I’ve just been to a Magic tournament in Little Rock, Arkansas and met an a few artists there and we didn’t see anything particularly grievous.

I haven’t been to a con, so I can’t answer. However, the idea of giving Liefeld a book on how to draw the marvel way rather amuses me. I think he gives every male character an expression of constipation and could use some adjusting…

>>But I’ve never been to a Comic Con. I’ve just been to a Magic tournament in Little Rock, Arkansas and met an a few artists there and we didn’t see anything particularly grievous.

Little Rock? Cool. I spent most of my (nominally) adult life there, though I’m in Alabama these days. I’ve never been to a comics con, either, though I’ve been to a handful of sf cons (mostly in LR), where the behavior toward pros seems to be far less egregious.

I go to a lot of cons and unfortunately see rude behavior all the time. Probably the instances that stick out in my mind the most right now are (and I clump this together as I’ve seen in a few times) when a “fan” is lucky enough to get a free sketch from an artist..then proceeds to talk crap about the quality of the sketch….

That is pretty darn rude to do that to Liefeld, and quite uncalled for….but I do have to add, that Liefeld has been known to be pretty rude to some of his fans as well.

I had a gay porn magazine with me the entire time I was at ComicCon in hopes that Greg Land would be in artists alley and would “draw” me a picture of Madrox and Rictor “hanging out”. Is that rude? Or just well-deserved?

Brian,

The stories (not the commenters themselves) could get ugly pretty quickly. The Aparo story above already made me cringe. Howzabout a “positive con stories” thread someday for balance?

I agree with Adam. That Aparo story ruined my day. I feel horrible.

(wants to point out that Shaun and I are not the same person…)

I once saw someone shank Tom Beland right in the kidney and then take a dump on his bleeding body.

Okay, I say “someone.” It was Burgas.

(This is where I’d put an emoticon if I was an emoticon kind of guy.)

i just love the diplomatic phrasing of the question.

I hope I’m not offending anyone, but I just don’t understand why it’s so hard to be polite to people at these things. All I do is think “how would I want to be treated?” and do that. It’s not hard. Go to the professionals you like and tell them why you like their work. If you don’t like someone’s work then don’t meet them. Easy.

Man, that Aparo guy is a jerk.

I’ve only been to Wondercon and it was only for a day, but everyone was extremely nice.

@Cat Skyfire- Just giving him the book would be funny, if done in a “wink wink, nudge nudge” sort of way. It’s the comment and demand that he apologize that pushes it over the line into “rude”.

I hope I’m not offending anyone, but I just don’t understand why it’s so hard to be polite to people at these things. All I do is think “how would I want to be treated?” and do that. It’s not hard. Go to the professionals you like and tell them why you like their work. If you don’t like someone’s work then don’t meet them. Easy.

You have to keep in mind that certainly segments of the comic book fandom lack any type of social skills and do not interact with others unless they have to. Obviously not all, but there certainly is that small amount who have to ruin things for everybody by being obnoxious stereotypes.

Some of the ways that customers act at the local comic shops I frequent are so devoid of manners or awareness of other people that the word “rude” doesn’t even cut it. I’ve gone to the counter with books and other customers like this (who are usually debating about who would win in a fight or about the latest Marvel crossover) will tell me, flat out, that the books I am buying “suck” and that they “can’t believe” I would “read that crap.” And since I frequent different shops, I’m pretty sure these people don’t recognize me and probably just do it to everyone.

I don’t bother to say anything. I figure I probably have a more exciting life, so I win by arrogance!

Something I’m pondering over at Bleeding Cool….this guy basically just said in person what he’d normally say anonymously online. Isn’t that something online fans are bashed for? Saying stuff hidden behind their computers that they wouldn’t say to someone’s face?

Sure it was a douche thing to do…but how many of the people tutting about it have said the same thing or worse about Liefeld or other creators hidden behind a screen name?

Only been to two Cons and not observed any untoward behaviour (maybe from the handlers). You want a “good” story? At a Silver Snail signing years ago, Claremont signed my copy of “God Loves, Man Kills” beginning with “Warren,” except that ain’t my name. When I sheepishly noticed this, he took the book out of my hands and began writing furiously, correcting the entry to an anecdote reading “Gee, isn’t it sad that Jim Warren went out of business, sorry Mark.” (Or words to that effect, I haven’t seen it in a long time as the book was stolen; if you’ve seen that particular autograph you now know the story behind it.)

I’ve done some dreadfully embarrassing things at cons that I’ve either instantly or eventually regretted… weaselling out of paying for a meal with creators… forgetting to book an overnight room for a con weekend… wandering up to a foreign creator to apologise for my friend, a ginormous fan of the artist, who’d inadvertently booked herself a holiday that weekend and couldn’t make it, and, er, no I’m not interested in your work even though you’ve travelled across continents to be here…

The most recent one involved an artist I’d received a few free sketches from in the past, and then one year started charging. I was semi-jestfully pointing out to another, completely innocent, artist as he was about to sketch something for me how poor I thought the paid-for sketch was… and then out of nowhere the original artist appears to have a chat with his artist buddies. I was mortified. Fortunately, they were too polite to say anything in front of him but I would have completely deserved it if they did. They had a good laugh at me after he was gone.

All learning experiences – the lesson being, I shouldn’t go to cons because I’ll just end up making a fool of myself.

I almost always embarrass myself when I’m getting something signed. Never anything obnoxious; just stuff that makes me look like a simpleton. Typically the guy doing the signing is cool and makes some kind of joke with me, and I don’t pick up on it because I’m too busy trying to be polite and considerate and everything. Robert Sawyer, Matt Blackett, Mike Wilner and Jim Munroe have seen me at my worst and were all great about it; I somehow managed to avoid humiliation in my encounters with J. Torres and Francis Manapul.

Apparently some pros have done porn comics. I heard (as in I wasn’t there) of a guy talking to a pro and recalling fondley his work in said porn comic. The creator (embarrassed or whatever) denied it and said the fan most have been mistaken. The fan brought the porn comic to show him the next day at the show just to stick it to him.

On a side note the nicest thing I’ve ever seen by any one pro was when I commissioned Mike Weiringo to do a fully inked spiderman illustration for my girlfriend’s birthday, it came out amazing, when I went to pay him Mike just smiled and said “I ain’t taking your money kid”. No matter how much I presisted he refused to let me pay him. It was my first con(at a hotel in Houston), the first time I got a sketch from a pro, the first time getting crits on some sequential samples too, that experience…Mike’s kindness and generousity really made me want to become a part of the comic book making world. He really was the nicest guy in comics.

@Scavenger

I don’t see how being rude in person is more admirable than being rude online. The point should be fans should consider not being rude.

I was on a line at a con once to meet Jim Aparo and have 2 books signed. Ahead of me was what I can only describe as a comic fan’s worst nightmare; an overweight fanboy with horrible BO, white crust on his cheeks and a small shopping cart full of comics. He goes to Jim Aparo and literally takes all the comics out of the cart and plops them on the table and says “sign these” You must remember at this point Jim Aparo was pretty up there in age. This guy had a rather large stack of comics. Not to mention he didn’t really talk to him at all. He didn’t even say thank you after it was all said and done. When it was my turn, the poor old man asked if I could wait five minutes as his wrist was killing him. After that I felt horrible for asking him to sign two books, but he said he didn’t mind. He enjoyed the small conversation. I got lucky by contrast, I guess. But that was one of the rudest things to do to a pro at a con. Granted, not as rude as the Liefeld story, but still pretty bad.

Sadly, I’ve been behind that kind of fan in line three different times…. once for Denny O’Neil, once for Mike Grell, and once for Dick frigging Sprang. All three gentlemen were WAY nicer than they should have been. I was so horrified that each time when it was my turn I felt compelled to apologize for the jerkwad in front of me and assure the professionals that we weren’t ALL like that. It’s also why I always try to ask them to sign things “to Greg,” so they no it’s not going to eBay.

To correct this story, the offending action took place at Wizard World Chicago this past weekend, NOT San Diego.

The one incident that I remember is from Dragon-con a few years back. I saw some woman stalk up to Harlan Ellison at a signing and called him a “Mean Old Man”. He laughed and agreed. She stalked off even angrier.
While Mr Ellison can be quite abrasive, her comment was uncalled for. He handled the situation quite well.

I’ve seen some bad stuff in regards to people bringing short boxes of comics for creators to sign during a 1-hour signing window, and some rude behavior, but the one that cracked me up was at the Big Apple Con two years ago where I heard a fanboy talking to a creator, I believe it was a Wolverine writer, and all I caught of the conversation was this kid going, “You know what you SHOULD have done…”

I haven’t been to a con since I was about twelve. Is this what they are like?

I don’t see how being rude in person is more admirable than being rude online. The point should be fans should consider not being rude.

I actually did a column about this, long ago. One of the earliest ones I did here… it’s sad it’s still timely.

People forget that, although you may just be one person with a simple request, to the pro you’re one out of umpteen people, all wanting autographs and/or drawings, so it’s tough to stay cheery for everyone.

And to make matters worse we have the people who behave rudely or obviously just want the autograph, and they still bitch about the experience afterwards. The “democracy” of the internet can be wonderful and empowering, but sometimes it also gives way too many negative nobodies their little platforms to rant upon.

I walked right up to George Perez once, picked up that big CBLDF charity bucket next to him and bludgeoned him with it, before running off with all the money.

Oh, almost forgot: does anyone remember that little comic drawn by some pro about his con experiences? Some of the types of fans he ran into were pretty funny and all too familiar. I remember really liking the art; he drew it in a comic style that I never knew he could pull off.

Yeah Nick, pros used to do free sketches and commissions all the time, but in the past few years they’ve been seeing their “free” work pop up on eBay pretty much the day after they draw them. So the only way to make it fair for everybody is to charge for it. (Stuart Immonen also did a rather excellent series of cartoon explaining 49 other reasons why he doesn’t sketch at conventions any more.)

Well, when I’m crazy nerd-famous, I’ll do free sketches all day long. But sucks for you, ebay, because a gibbon with the DTs can draw better than I can!

Ugly American, I think I saw you! This was after you pulled a Storm trooped blaster from some sad-looking overweight Star Wars fan and took down the entire creative team on the X-books, right?

Joecab:

I’m pretty sure that was Stuart Immonen’s “50 Reasons to Stop Sketching At Conventions”

Could be someone else though.

Stuart Immonen is a deity as far as I am concerned.

Mck Xavier wrote:-

“I’ve gone to the counter with books and other customers like this (who are usually debating about who would win in a fight or about the latest Marvel crossover) will tell me, flat out, that the books I am buying “suck” and that they “can’t believe” I would “read that crap.” And since I frequent different shops, I’m pretty sure these people don’t recognize me and probably just do it to everyone.”

I once went to buy a Claremont/Leonardi X-Men comic in a shop in the London. The Sales Assistant screamed that he couldn’t bear selling “crap to wankers” any longer and stormed out of his own shop.

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like dealing with people’s perceptions of you is a part of taking on the role of a public figure or celebrity. I’ve had some writing published in the local weekly paper and have welcomed critique, pleasant or not. I was in a band and had some serious wankers say some awful stuff after gigs, but I took that on as part of being on stage, in a band, in the public. Impassioned responses to one’s art should be welcomed as part of the process of submitting your work for public scrutiny.

The rudest thing I’ve seen at a con was again, this year at SDCC, when a vendor bought all 24 copies of Chew #1 from John Layman and insisted that he sign them all, standing there for more than 30 minutes telling him how his store had under-ordered the first issue and what a huge profit he was going to make off of the signed books that he had just bought on ebay. This showed a lack of interest, good or bad, for the creator’s work, and in my opinion was much ruder than an impassioned fan telling a creator that he sucks.

At Mid Ohio Con a few years back, I was present when Alan Davis threw a guy out of his line for bringing a longbox of the same five issues to him for apparently the third time that day. Alan really bitched him out royally, which was fun to watch, and got a standing ovation from everyone within earshot.

As far as getting a lot of books signed by going back to the end of the line and such, I know several comic creators who don’t mind that sort of thing-as long as it’s not the same issue over and over. The limit is in place (usually) to make sure everyone gets an autograph that wants one. The best is, when there IS no line and the pro is bored, when they say “Got a lot of books, eh? I’ll sign em all right now on two conditions-one, I get to pause on yours to take care of anyone else who walks up and two, you and I have a nice conversation about the business”. Both Terry Austin and Jim Shooter hit me with that one, Shooter and I talking for over an hour. I always take every issue I have that I’d like to get signed because while I may not get them all done, any that I leave behind will certainly not be signed. BUT I would never, ever throw a box worth down like in the Aparo story.

“Something I’m pondering over at Bleeding Cool….this guy basically just said in person what he’d normally say anonymously online. Isn’t that something online fans are bashed for? Saying stuff hidden behind their computers that they wouldn’t say to someone’s face?

Sure it was a douche thing to do…but how many of the people tutting about it have said the same thing or worse about Liefeld or other creators hidden behind a screen name?”

It’s still a socially retarded thing to do with no real justification behind it. I don’t see anything bold about it. Especially how he scampers off in the end.

I went to a lot of conventions when I was a 13-17 year-old with no social skills and I was terribly demanding to a lot of creators. I feel really embarrassed about it now. I just re-read all of Grell’s issues of “Warlord” and I was mortified to discover that every single one of them was signed by Grell, which means I must have dumped 53 comics in front of him at some convention. I’m sorry, Iron Mike! Please, forgive me. It was incredibly cool of you to put up with my very rude behavior.

>> It’s also why I always try to ask them to sign things “to Greg,” so they (k)now) it’s not going to eBay.

That, or you’re just aiming for a niche market.

A Black Panther sketch by one of my favorite artists ever, Marie Severin, that I got off eBay a couple of years ago just happens to be inscribed “To Dan.” (Which I’m pretty sure wasn’t even visible in the eBay scan, not that I would’ve been any less desirous of owning something drawn by Mirthful Marie.)

Sure it was a douche thing to do…but how many of the people tutting about it have said the same thing or worse about Liefeld or other creators hidden behind a screen name?”

Oh come on, because it’s wrong to get up in someone’s face and try to publicly humiliate them at a big gathering, that means we should never criticize them anywhere on the Internet? The Internet is a great place to debate the merit of books and blow off steam, I’d hate to think people self-censored the hell out of themselves in forums and blogs for the purpose of always playing nice. That would be intolerably boring.

I heard the exact opposite on this morning’s ForceCast Micro-Cast at the Chicago Comic-Con. Howard Chaykin was completely disinterested, rude, and downright mean to the ForceCast’s Jimmy Mac. Jimmy stayed cool, calm, and professional through the interview, but you can hear his disappointment. What a jerk!

A few people have mentioned people bringing boxes of comics to get signed, and my immediate reaction was to wonder if a creator had ever signed the box itself and told the guy to move on.

Oh come on, because it’s wrong to get up in someone’s face and try to publicly humiliate them at a big gathering, that means we should never criticize them anywhere on the Internet? The Internet is a great place to debate the merit of books and blow off steam, I’d hate to think people self-censored the hell out of themselves in forums and blogs for the purpose of always playing nice. That would be intolerably boring.

But both can be improved. A lot of message board discourse dissolves into slapfights. But on the other hand, this guy played a prank on a guy. If the exact same thing had happened at Comic-Con to one of the cast of Twilight, we’d all be laughing our asses off. And we’d have every right to.

I heard the exact opposite on this morning’s ForceCast Micro-Cast at the Chicago Comic-Con. Howard Chaykin was completely disinterested, rude, and downright mean to the ForceCast’s Jimmy Mac. Jimmy stayed cool, calm, and professional through the interview, but you can hear his disappointment. What a jerk!

I’m listening to The Mighty Sabo right now over on Talkshoe. Listening to a conversation that includes both Liefeld and Coons. And Scott Kurtz just absolutely dismantled Coons. He spent far more time describing, in detail, how Coons needs the attention in order to climax, than Coons spent in the entire encounter.

I’ve never been to a con, mostly because I’m scared of the fans. I did go to a store once where Richard and Wendy Pini were signing, and a brought with me an issued that I’d particularly liked, to have it signed. The signature wasn’t particularly important to me; I just wanted to get a chance to chat with the creators, however briefly. The woman in front of me in line had a stack of trade paperbacks, and it was obvious that she intended to ask the Pinis to sign all of them. It had never even occurred to me to bring more than one item, and as it dawned on me that she was probably having them signed to increase the resale value (this was 1995, after all), I became so disgusted — and so embarrassed that the creators might think that I was asking for a signature for monetary gain — that I got out of line and left the store without speaking to them.

A few people have mentioned people bringing boxes of comics to get signed, and my immediate reaction was to wonder if a creator had ever signed the box itself and told the guy to move on.

If George Perez did that = Awesome.
If John Byrne did that = Douche.

I just met Liefeld for the first time this past weekend, when I was surprised to find that he wasn’t accompanied by the massive line he usually is. I don’t really read his stuff, but I asked him to sign my Michael Turner tribute and he was really nice about it. I know a lot of people hate his work, but I don’t think he deserves that kind of crap.

To this day I’ll always remember the Aparo incident. Just because of the look on the man’s face when I went up to him. I felt horrible. I can remember being a kid and basically growing up with his art on Batman. So here was my chance to meet someone who I appreciated very much only to have that guy create an atmosphere where the poor man’s wrist was injured, and I felt like horrible for having more than one thing to sign.

We all enjoy comics. Getting to meet an artist or writer should be a fun experience. It should be the chance to say “I really enjoy your work. Thank you.” You tell them you appreciate your work and sometimes you bring something of theirs you enjoyed so much that it would mean the world to you if they’d sign it. It’s not so much the signature that’s special, it’s a reminder of a time when you got to meet someone you respected. Sadly, there are people who see a signature and equate that with the dollar sign. In the end, those are the people who ruin it for the rest of us.

The worst Con experience I’ve been privy to was from a friend of mine who’s sister publishes a fairly popular online comic about her life, and has had to make up a fake boyfriend in her new installments to keep fanboys from hitting on her at her booths.

I was waiting in line for Joe Kelley to sign my copies of Deadpool #1 and his first JLA issue. The dude in front of me in line dumped on the table EVERY ISSUE of the Kelly Deadpool, JLA, Daredevil, and X-Men runs. To his eternal credit, Joe signed every issue, smiled and joked with the guy. Class act.

At another con, I saw a guy try to pull the same shit with Busiek’s Avengers run. Kurt said he’d sign ten issues then, and the guy could come back at the end of the day to get the rest done. That seems like a smart way to handle it.

I haven’t seen too many rude instances at cons. Granted, I only go to the Megacon down here in Florida (and not even every year) and thats mostly for the shopping. However, I did participate in some semi-rude behavior at one a few years ago.

I went over to the Crossgen “booth” (quotes because it wasn’t really booth like) with my copy of JLA #1 to get it signed by John Dell. Once I figured out where he was in that mess, I waited by his table for a chance to get it signed. Finally, I had an opportunity and kind of shoved it in face. He signed it without saying anything, but he had this look on his face, you know?

To be fair to me, though, A)it was my first comic con and B)there was nothing close to resembling a straight, organized line at the Crossgen sprawl so I had no idea where I should have been stading anyways to get the signature non rudely.

This isn’t a con story, or a negative story, but what the hell: Bob Rozakis once gave me a tour of DC’s offices in New York. I met Mr. Rozakis back when he ran a weekly trivia forum on DC’s old message boards on AOL. He knew I was taking a trip to NYC, so he invited me, my dad, and sister to run around the offices. To boot, I got to meet Denny O’Neil (who autographed my Batman: Contagion TPB) and a bunch of other DC editors. I also met the Archives editor; I forget who it was, but he showed me original copies of Action Comics #1 that they kept on file for reprints. So as much as I’d love to go to cons to meet creators more often (I’ve NEVER been to an SDCC), I don’t think any con experience will ever beat that day.

I was in Chicago Comic Con in 1999 and met Erik Larsen. In spite of being a gawky kid from Malaysia with no social skill King Erik did me a nice lil sketch of the Dragon, spoke well, and gave some of his thoughts of he comics world c1999. It was the highlight of my US trip.
Of course I went home that night and discovered i had Savage Dragon 1 in my bag.

I was at Heroescon and these 4 guys all had long boxes for Bendis to sign . They all knew each other and they were all same issues . I took an hour for him to sign them . Everyone cheered when they left. The rest of the line took about the same amount of time . Bendis was passing out cookies for anyone who wanted them while waiting . That was cool of him. The day before some guy wrote a threating note for Bendis on the plastic table covering. He was mad because he wasn’t signing until after his panel. The guy came back later and told him it was a joke.

I always feel bad when I have only $10 or $20 and then take back some change out of the Charity bucket for an autograph .

(wants to point out that Shaun and I are not the same person…)

The rudest thing I ever did at a convention was pass gas. Nobody noticed.

What Yellow Hat did was rude and stupid, but I wonder if he was egged on by online “friends”. How many times have you seen an online person say a bunch of crap about a creator, and then his friends told him he was full of it and wouldn’t ever be brave enough to say it to the creators face?

Hey… I thought I was “Shaun” here! Time to start using the last name initial.

Well, *I* didn’t have any gay porn magazine. And I’ve never been to a comic book con. Um, not that there’s anything wrong with that. Either one, I mean.

As for the Liefled incident, incredibly rude and uncalled for. But, as someone who’s been a vocal critic of the guy, I admit it made me laugh.

Oh, and even though no one has even seen Alan Coil and I in the same place at the same time, I swear we are not the same person. I’ve never even smelled his farts.

This last year at SDCC at at DC Nation Panel- I don’t remember the exact details- A fan asked the panel a question where the response was either not what he was expecting, or made him look a little foolish. Before leaving the mike, the fan made a disparaging comment about how he liked the book he was asking about better when someone else was writing it. It was a real dick move on the fan’s part, and really brought the room down.

When I was 13, I called Ron Marz a “son of a bitch” for having killed Kilowog. It was made even more dickish by the professional, courteous and downright friendly way Ron dealt with me. Years later, when I started working in the business, I apologized, we had a laugh and to this day I’ll pick something up just for his name on the cover, because of what a champ he was while dealing with some of comics’ worst fans.

It is interesting reading all of these comments, particularly the one about Howard Chaykin. I actually wandered by his table while the interview was happening, so I did a lap of artists alley and came back a few minutes later. When I got back, there was a short line, and he was incredibly gracious, seeming genuinely touched there would be enough people interested in his work to line up. We chatted for about 10 minutes, and he signed a few of my old flagg graffitti hcs and told some interesting stories about the weird incentive cover version of power and glory he signed for me. Honestly, meeting him (and Matt Wagner) were the high point of the convention for me, being a big fan of both.

I’m not sure what the story was during the interview, or what the vibe there was, but during the time I hung around his table, Chaykin was world class.

Also: After standing in line behind someone who GUSHED the whole time he stood there about Geoff Johns’ greatness and what an inspiration he had been to the young fan’s budding writing career, I once told Johns that the last time he inspired anyone was when he was dead. But he signed my comics anyway and seemed to take it in the intended spirit.

I went to Dragon Con in Atlanta in 1991. The Books of Magic had just come out, and Scott Hampton had some of his original art stacked on a table for people to look at or buy. I was browsing through it, just admiring it, when I realized I didn’t know where my friend was. I was 18, but I paniced like a three-year-old at Walmart who can’t find mommy. I walked around a minute or two, found my friend, and then realized I was still holding about 5 pages from The Books of Magic #2. I took them back and apologized. Scott turned a little pale, but didn’t kick my ass. And that’s why Scott Hampton is my hero.

I’m just amazed that so many creators apparently feel they have to sign whatever people bring for them to sign. I’m amazed there’s a single person who would sign a box full of comics for one person, and yet it sounds like a pretty regular occurrence for comic creators. They must be a way more patient group of people than I am.

I don’t know if I’m (mis)remembering the same incident RDMacQ mentions above, but there was one guy at the DC Nation panel that opened up by praising everything that DC was doing now and then followed it up by complaining about Final Crisis and Batman RIP being overhyped. I liked both, but this isn’t necessarily unfair or particularly uncool (though I still don’t understand why you’d wait in line to simply tell them that you’re not necessarily a Grant Morrison fan). What I thought was a little lame was that he followed it up by asking them not to do it again and to be more consistent, as if his disappointment were something DC had been looking to achieve with the two series or was intentionally aiming high and shooting low. Baffling.

It wasn’t a con, but when I was at a Simone Bianchi signing where I had him sign my copy of Shining Knight #1 and then the B&W version of Wolverine #55, I told him that the Wolverine issue was probably one of the worst written comics I’ve ever read but that his art in it was gorgeous. He laughed and said something like “Oh no, don’t say that!” then laughed again when I said I was looking forward to reading Astonishing X-Men so that I could see his artwork paired with a real writer. He seemed to take it in good humor, but in retrospect it was probably one of the biggest dick moves I’ve ever made to a comic professional. (In my defense, Wolverine #55 is a truly irredeemably awful comic.)

To my credit, when I got Loeb to sign the same issue, I just didn’t say anything and talked to Tim Sale about Grendel the entire time instead. I only realized afterwards that I had legitimately wanted to ask Loeb if Romulus was his idea or Daniel Way’s.

Sadly, I think most of the creators, regardless of the level of their popularity, could share various horror stories.

I think the rudest anyone’s ever been to me personally as far aswhen I was a guest creator at a con was at San Diego Con 1999-2000 (one of those years) when a woman who was dressed in clothes that were… not adequately covering her twins, shall we say?… walked up to me while I was seated, sketching, and bent over the table and practically stuck her chest in my face, supposedly attempting to see what I was sketching. This same person then proceeded to flirt with my friend artist Sean Ortega to the point where he had to excuse himself from his table out of disgust and we had to call security to have her removed from the building. Apparently she had been flirting to this extreme level with several other artists in Artists Alley as well.

Another similar rude behavior happened last March at the Captain Comics Comic Con in Charelston. Some woman was cosplaying as the Punisher, and she was well-endowed. I was having a conversation with my local retailer at his booth and seeing how he was faring at the show when she walked up to us, stood up on her tippy toes and *PLOP* right on top of the back issue boxes and says, “Can you help me?” No ‘excuse me’, no politeness whatsoever, just… “Here’s my boobies, do whatever I ask of you.” Tracy (the manager who was manning the booth) and I just looked at each other, biting our tongues trying not to tell her off for acting the ho, and I excused myself and went to my table and Tracy had to deal with whatever she supposedly wanted.

She then proceeded to pull the same stunt at every retailer booth. If there was anything on the table she could set the Twins on- *PLOP*. If not, then she made sure to bend over and show as much cleavage as possible, to the point where they almost fell out!

But the kicker was when she did the bend over routine in front of another guest artist at the show- Vernon Washington – and HIS WIFE. I’m sure you can imagine what could have happened, but I had my father and a couple of security guards escort her out before there was an incident.

I’ve also had to tell people to come back to my table later because they’d shoved little kids who were there first to the side to get to my work for sale or to get a book signed and made them apologize to the kid before they leave. Most of those people don’t come back, but honestly, I wouldn’t have sold them any of my work after that kind of behavior anyway.

But I would say in my experience, rudeness from fans mostly happens after hours. Partly due to the alcohol and drug consumption that goes on, partly because they figure they can get away with it when there’s no security on hand to throw them out of the show. (This is why I know of several authors who bring personal bodyguards to the cons they appear at who go everywhere with them. It’s sad that it’s come to that.)

wow…i have alot of stories of me or other people being rude and ive only been to 2 comic cons…now i dont know if i was behind the guy who did the rude thing to rob liefeld but i remember asking him for a quick sketch and he gave me a rude no and i replied ok thanks and he replied thanks for asking…another time i was in line to meet humberto ramos and this other fan who clearly had never been around other people and women started asking questions to this women that was whit ramos but she clearly didnt speak english so i told the guy that she dosent speak english so he gives me a dirty look and goes back to asking questions and i told him she dosent understand you so he looks my way and gives me this little french mans wave and tells me to mind my business so i precede to go towards him and just as im about to beat him to death humberto ramos jumps in between us and starts talking to the guy so hell go away so the guy starts to leave and shays to me sorry musta been a communication problem. if this guy ever sees this he should get on his knees and thank ramos for saving his life….another time me and a friend were in line to get sum comics signed and we had our kids whit us and i dont remember how we started a conversation whit the guy in front of us but he felt comfortable enough whit us that he began insulting us and the comics we read .And were me and my friend grew up you just dont start talking trash to some one you just meet or bad things will happen to you so we let the first insults go and then we start giving him a hard time back but just messing around but then he says something about how kids are annoying and they should be left at home so i had to restrain my self and my friend from kicking his ass. he was very surprised at how we got mad but im sure hes use to talking to his nerd and geek friends like that and no one doing any thing cause there all just talk.thats the problem whit sum geeks and nerds that there so use to being around each other and not around people that dont put up whit rude and stupid and ignorant people….well this last one is kinda sad i remember going to my first comic con when i had cancer my friends decided to take me never knowing that i would get the chance to get to go to another one so we were standing in line to get this comic signed by michael turner. It was the one were he did the variant cover for world war hulk number 1 so im in line feeling like crap i had only one hour of sleep and all my hair was gone and i had lost allot of weight and could barely stand because all the muscles in my legs were gone and i remember thinking to my self man whats taking this guy so dam long and i kept getting more agitated and i was even complaining to my friends. By the time i got to michael i didnt have the strength to say thank you just a painful smile and he gave me a quick smile to and i was off . The next day i was online and was looking at a comic book site and saw that michael turner also was battling cancer i felt like such a dick..i wished that i would have said something to him at least a simple good luck..butt by the time i was in remission and got the chance to go to another comic con he was already gone..i will always have that in the back of my mind…and yes all of this is true..

Jose, that Aparo story is truly saddening. I always wanted to meet the great man myself, and tell him how much I appreciated his work (one of the first comics I ever owned was THE BRAVE & THE BOLD 122, starring Batman and Swamp Thing, so I’ve literally loved his work my entire comics-reading life). I can only imagine how sickening an experience that was for you.

I don’t remember many rude people at MoCCA. The only thing that I can think of is when I met Leslie Stein, the woman sharing her table (I cannot remember her name) had a mall goth girl who was doing this routine of “Twilight… I blame you… [other genre trope] I blame you”. It was being done in a friendly manner, but she just didn’t know when to stop. It seemed like she may have known the creator more personally than a first con meet, but I felt bad for Leslie, who is an awesome person by the way. Seriously though, that was the rudest thing I witnessed and it was ultimately pretty harmless. Pretty much everywhere else I looked it was fans and creators meeting each other and having really cool conversations about comics.

Oh… I may have insulted Dash Shaw by accident. He showed me this new cartoon that he was working on, and I told him I was impressed by how one of the animations looked like 3D modeling. He looked taken aback and insisted that it was hand drawn. I tried to tell him that I knew that, and that’s what made it impressive because I’d never seen a 360 shot rendered so well by hand before, but the damage was done.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=15538

“WHEN DARICK MET SCOTT

[Yellow Light]At a large convention, not too long ago, one of the show promotion staff was driving Scott Kurtz and his partner to the show from the hotel. Darick Robertson saw the opportunity and jumped into the front seat.

Scott complained to the driver, asking why he let a fan jump into his ride. Darick, an unassuming kind of chap, just said he was also taking a ride to the convention center. Scott wouldn’t let it lie, and Darick exited the vehicle.

The driver told Scott that it was Darick Robertson. There was no recognition until he mentioned “Transmetropolitan.” Scott didn’t say anything for the rest of the journey – but the driver got a couple of drinks out of it later telling the story (and probably embellishing it) to all and sundry.”

That is the rudest thing I’ve heard of at a con.

While not a totally rude story, it’s a favorite of mine.

Back in 2002-2003, I was going to a lot of conventions. One in particular featured guest of honor Kevin Conroy. Folks, let me tell you, he really is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.

Well, after I talked to him and had some of my stuff signed, I continued walking the floor. I hear some jack-ass and his friends passing by Conroy and yelling out “Yo, I’m Batman!” he’s laughing to himself and his friends are high-fiving him and suddenly two fists slam on the table. I turn around cause it’s pretty loud. I turn to see Conroy with his fists on the table, his head down but slowly moving up as he says “I am vengeance…I am the night…I…AM…BATMAN!” and the entire floor cheered and clapped! It was an awesome moment.

While the guy and his friends weren’t being incredibly rude, it was still kind of a dick thing to do, especially when Conroy is talking to someone who waited in line to talk to him. These guys were on the side lines being too cool for school. But Conroy handled it in such a classy and hilarious way that I think he got a kick out of it, the people on the floor got a kick out of it, the person he was talking to who waited got a memorable moment, and maybe, just maybe the guy and his friends thought it was cool but realized what it was that caused it. It’s funny how a guy can diffuse a situation in such a smart but funny way. No confrontation, no snark, just doing what he does best. All the kudos in the world to you, Mr. Conroy.

Dave, your story was going okay up until the point at which you reveal you got Loeb to sign the same issue. I mean… if you hated it enough to moan to Simone Bianchi about it, why are you wasting your time and Loeb’s getting him to sign it?

@jazzbo- probably because it’s better to be nice than to risk having everyone know you as “that jerk that wouldn’t sign a few comics”.

When people like that complain, they often embellish the truth. The box full of comics becomes “just a few more than average”. Pretty soon, you’re a horrible monster who chewed out a ten year old kid who just wanted one little comic signed by his hero.

Harlan Ellison wrote an article about rude fan behavior and the worst offender was an individual who approached writer Barry Longyear when he was going in his hotel room. The presumed fan yelled, “This is for ‘Dueling Clowns’ [a story Longyear wrote],” and threw a cup full of warm vomit on him.

Ellison, who is not exactly the forgiving sort himself, wondered what kind of a person waits around holding a cup of warm vomit.

I’ve never understood the “Here, sign a copy of everything you’ve ever written/drawn” thing. I remember going to a Creation con back in 1984 where Marv Wolfman and George Perez were the guests. This was at the height of their popularity on “The New Teen Titans” and the hardcover/softcover plan had just started. There were people in line with briefcases containing entire runs of “NTT,” “Tomb of Dracula” and other books Wolfman and Perez had worked on.
I’d forgotten to bring anything myself, so I bought a copy of the latest issue of “Tales of the Teen Titans” from one of the vendors, got that signed and went on my way.

I don’t know that this really qualifies as “being rude to” a guest, but one thing I’ve seen time and time again at SF cons is the guy who asks a question that’s already been asked and answered, presumably because he waited for his turn at the mike and, by God, he’s going to ask a question no matter what. I once witnessed three different people ask John DeLancie, “How did you come up with the idea for Q?”–at the same convention, AT THE SAME Q&A SESSION (never mind that the answer was “I didn’t, [name of writer] did. They called me in for an audition and I got the part”). Jesus, people, if your question’s already asked and answered, either come up with a different one or get out of line…

Tom, I was going to the signing to get Tim Sale to sign my Grendel issues and since it was a joint signing with the two of them, I figured I might as well bring something for Loeb to appear polite*. Also, if I ever decide to sell the issue while thinning out my collection, I figure having both creators signing the issue makes it slightly more valuable.

*Not that it actually seemed to matter, Loeb barely made eye contact with anyone in line and seemed like he didn’t actually want to be there.

Here is an idea: can we please give Jeph Loeb a break?

At least for a while?

Did it ever occur to anyone that his ’04-’09 comic book output might not have been the first thing on his mind? The guy had a son die tragically after a three-year (no doubt extremely painful) battle with bone cancer. So what if The Ultimates 3 was a disappointment? Who does that really hurt in the grand scheme of things?

Jeph Loeb is having a much worse decade than most of us can even imagine.

Loeb made the mistake of signing an exclusive deal with after being primarily a DC guy. He worked with Rob Liefeld who is apparently the anti-christ for creating Cable (or something). He worked on “Smallville”, which everyone loved until they hated because it confused teenage girls about post-COIE continuity (or something).

I am not saying everyone needs to run out and buy “Ultimatum”, but there are other things to complain about.

You know … like Dan DiDio.

Dean: I think your points are well taken about the amount of outrage directed at Jeph Loeb being disproportionate to the importance of his work in the grand scheme of things (it’s probably disproportionate to the actual quality of work, too), and you’re right about his son’s death being tragic and difficult. But I’m wicked uncomfortable with your suggestion that his work on Ultimates 3 or Ultimatum or whatever (everything from 2004-2009? really?) is subpar because of the difficulty of dealing with his son’s death. Linking the two just seems incredibly disrespectful to Loeb as a person and a creator in its assumptions about his state of mind and professionalism.

I haven’t been to a con since I was about twelve. Is this what they are like?

Nah, in my experience, these are just horror story examples. Maybe I’m naive, but I’d think the majority of fan/creator interactions are positive (or at least, not rude) experiences for both. In all the cons I’ve been to through the years, I’ve never witnessed more than a handful of noteworthy “bad” experiences.

I go to at least two cons a year (my local ones) and volunteer at the bigger one, where I usually get to work with the group that deals with the creators: we check them in, show them to their table, give them the lay of the land, check in periodically to see if they need anything, and hit them up for donations for the charity art auction.

I usually bring some stuff to get signed, but maybe it’s because I get to interact with the creators more, but I’ve NEVER understood the fans that need to get every single comic on which said creator worked signed. I usually bring a trade of their stuff, or a few issues of a favorite arc and leave it at that. For me, it’s more about an opportunity to chat with the creator for a few moments and thank them for their work. The signature is just an excuse for that, and a memento of that conversation. I don’t need 150 of those mementos.

And the stories of young(er) kids being rude shock me more than anything. When I was a teenager and going to cons, I felt lucky just to get a signature on a book; to ask them to sign more than a few books, or to question the quality of their writing to their face are thoughts that would have NEVER crossed my mind. Those were ADULTS, professional adults, on a level FAR beyond my pimply self. Who was I to get in their face? If there was a creator whose work I didn’t like at a con, I just didn’t go and talk to that creator.

In fact, for a long time, I just assumed that if you were going to get a sketch from a creator, it had to be of a character on which they were working. I remember the first time I went to Wizard World, I was probably 19 or 20 and it was the height of Crossgen’s popularity. Steve Epting was there, signing and doing sketches. I loved his past work and other Crossgen books, but hadn’t really read much of the one he was working on at the time. But I figured it would just be rude or embarrassing to ask him for a sketch of Captain America or something, so I racked my brains in line to come up with one of the characters in his CrossGen book (It was Capricia).

I’ve since learned that it’s okay to ask creators to do sketches of different characters than the ones for which they are known, but I still have that Epting sketch, and it’s awesome, even if the character herself is long gone.

I don’t like Liefeld’s work at all, hate almost everything I’ve ever seen from him and loathe his Capt. America with a passion. All that said, I would have loved to see him smack that dude who wanted him to apologize for a comic book that he didn’t think was good enough. What the hell is wrong with some of our fellow fans?

I’ve always heard that Liefeld, for all of his faults is extremely gracious to the people at cons. I hope this doesn’t make him rethink that.

As plenty of others have said, if you don’t like the guys work why bother talking to him in the first place.

@ Nick – What’s so disrespectful about assuming that “real life” would influence the work that a professional writer was doing? From the writers I work with and as an artist myself, I know that my mindset can absolutely affect the quality of the work I do. I imagine something as horrific as what Loeb went through couldn’t help but find it’s way into his work in one way or another. Like I said, just curious.

Thx

Calling Ultimates 3 “a disappointment” is being incredibly charitable. It was an unmitigated trainwreck, as were Wolverine: Evolution and Ultimatum. I’ve always thought that even Loeb’s “good” books were fairly terrible by most standards, regardless of when he wrote them or what company he wrote them for, and while I don’t go actively bashing him, I’m not going to avoid talking about my opinions when they come up in a discussion.

Also, I’ll agree with Nick that to suggest that his son’s death should place him beyond criticism for bad writing feels incredibly disrespectful to both Loeb as a person and his to son’s memory. I sincerely doubt he would use this as an excuse if confronted, and I don’t think he’d want anyone else doing it either.

LouReedRichards: Well, it’s not assuming that real life would influence his work. Of course it does. In additon to what Dave’s said, I guess I’m objecting to the suggestion that we can somehow guess at its influence in a way that’s extratextual. I wouldn’t be bothered by suggestions that his experiences (or any other writer’s experiences with the same) were relevant to a scene where some of the characters were dealing with another character’s death. That to me, seems fair, if not particularly compelling (I’m not a fan of biographical criticism in general).

It’s more the idea that we can ascribe a perceived change in the quality of his work to how he coped with a personal tragedy. Presumably, none of us is Jeph Loeb aside from Jeph Loeb, so how could we know what he was feeling at the moment he wrote Ultimates 3? To suggest that we could know and that our personal disappointments with the series can be attributed to Loeb’s ability to cope with and process a personal tragedy seems to be awfully reductive and really distasteful.

I usually go to two comic cons a year, one being the local Phoenix one and SDCC since its only a few hour drive (plus I like the beach at that time)
I was standing in line this year to get some John Romita Jr. to sign a “Kick Ass” #1 sketch variant and My Spider-man Obama 1st print Inauguration day edition signed as well.
I was probably the 5th person in line. Granted in SDCC you were constantly pushed around to make room so Im guessing that was my position in line. Well I dont know if you remember when John Romita Jr starting signing that was as soon as Stan Lee left and was starting the Marvel Costume contest. There was two instances. Some small Chinese crusty face looking guy just jumped in front of me. I asked him the end of the line was back there. He explained to me that he was here before I was. I looked at the person behind me and he laughed and so I got pissed and yelled at him to wait in line like everyone else. I waited for a few hours on my feet, so I was kinda annoyed and looking to pick a fight. The second this that made me furious was the idiot fan boys that had literally 100+ comics in there bags and there must of been 4 of them just with these professional comic book bag that looked like lunch boxes and a cup of grease next to them so they can shower in there glory afterwards I guess. Well after about I would say a hour and half of waiting it was finally my turn. John Romita Jr felt so bad since I heh only had 2 comics he made me a sketch and I guess it was his PR or someone interviewed me on what I thought about “Kick Ass” so a weird time I just have to bring my friend next year to make fun of these people in line, since he enjoys making fun of people. Just not fun to do by yourself.

Brain Azzarello asked my friend Craig what his name was before he was about to sign his book. Now Craig did not hear him proberly and replied “where ever you want” ( cons are loud as we all know, Craig thought he said “where do you want me to sign this?”)
After about 20 seconds of confused eye contact between the two of them, Azzerello raised his voice and bellowed in his most frustrated and condesending tone ” WHAT ISSS YOURR NAME”!

A real dickish way to speak to a fan who has been waiting in line to meet you and simply misheard your question.

Maybe he feels / thinks he needs to be a hardass because he makes up tough, gritty comics.
Give me a brake, buddy.

Fair enough. I can see your point about it.

I wouldn’t assume to guess at the influence it had on his work other than as a general “He probably was in a horrible place, so he MAY have been distracted or occupied by personal circumstances that might have affected his work.” Too me that doesn’t seem like an insult or an attack on his professionalism. It seems like a reasonable assumption to make.

I should add that I’ve barely read any of Loeb’s work, and none of the Ultimate Universe stuff has ever held the slightest interest to me. Same goes for the Wolverine stuff. So I’m not reacting against or defending those particular works.

Thanks

@ Nick:

I meant no disrespect to Jeph Loeb. As far as I know, the guy has been 100% professional through the entire thing. You do not hear stories about long delays on his books, nor has he ever used his personal tragedy as an excuse. He has done a better job honoring his exclusive deal than a lot of creators over the years.

Frankly, that is why I find the whole idea of someone sneering at him after a signing so distasteful. I am sure the guy could be doing a lot of things other than turning up at a signing, or a convention. The guy made that trip to interact with people who enjoyed his work. If someone takes some of the man’s time to get something signed, then sneering at him does not make them a discerning fan. It makes them an ungrateful bore.

It is fine for a fan to hate the work of a creator (God knows that I do), but we really should stay on the Internet where we belong.

Dean, I can see your point, except I’m a little baffled as to what it was in response to as it has absolutely nothing to do with what happened in the story I told. I didn’t sneer at Loeb at the signing. I handed him the book to sign while he barely even looked up to acknowledge me, then I moved on to Tim Sale and talked to him about Grendel while he signed my books.

@Dave:

Fair enough. I’m sorry if I misread.

Howard Chaykin was completely disinterested, rude, and downright mean to the ForceCast’s Jimmy Mac. Jimmy stayed cool, calm, and professional through the interview, but you can hear his disappointment. What a jerk!

But that’s Chaykin.

When I met him at a con and asked him to sign a couple of books, about four or five (all issues I’d really loved and Black Kiss, just because I wanted to see someone sign a porn they had created), I asked for ‘To Ben, and he just scribbled his name, and grunted a ‘thanks’* when I said American Century was one of my favourite series… BUT, that’s Chaykin.
He’s exactly the same in any interview, and was the same in panels that day.
If you’re wanting a ‘it’s great to be here guys, I love talking with fans’ you don’t go to Chaykin.

*Of course, I may have mumbled… I was pretty darn nervous (been to cons before, but that was first with someone I consider a legend).

That is just plain rude and messed up. I met Rob at Wizard World Texas one year and for all his shortcomings as an artist, he is a pretty nice guy. I had him sign a Bowen Deadpool mini-bust. It tickled him pink that someone would have him something other than a stack of comics.

Now for my rude story. Once again at WW Texas, the Kubert School had a booth set up and Adam was there doing the promoting so I went and got a Last Son Superman figure to get signed after he got back from lunch. Adam gets back and I’m second in line. The guy in front of me hands him a stack of books and then starts asking him what happened, what did he get sick with. Adam told him that was a little personal and he didn’t want to talk about it, but the guy kept on asking about it and wouldn’t let up and started getting around to saying that the problems that Action Comics ran into was all Adam’s fault, that he should have been a professional and worked through his sickness. Need ess to say, he got half his books signed and was sent away. I did manage to get a chuckle out of Adam with my comment of “What an asshole.”

Verdammt – Adam who?

Sorry, Adam Kubert.

DanCJ: Adam Kubert, presumably.

LouReedRichards, Dean: Good points from both of you. When you frame it the way you did in your second paragraph, LRR, I’m a lot more comfortable with it, honestly. And Dean — you’re absolutely right about Loeb’s professionalism and that’s probably why my initial reaction was so strong. In any case, I apologize if I came off as more strident than was necessary (in retrospect, I feel like I did), as I think we’re all on pretty much the same page here.

Ah – I should have guessed it was Adam Kubert, but I just associate that school (rightly or wrongly) with Joe Kubert so his sons didn’t even cross my mind. The only Adam I could think of was Adam Hughes

In that Bleeding Cool link ( http://www.bleedingcool.com/2009/08/10/the-rob-liefeld-backlash-backlash/ ) there are loads of creators sticking up for Liefeld and saying what a dick Yellow Hat Guy is. The sad thing is that half of them felt the need to say “I’m not a fan, but…”

Would it have killed them to just say what a prick the Yellow Hat Guy is without commenting on Liefeld’s art – just this once?

Yeah Nick, I think we’re all pretty much on the same page.
You didn’t come across as strident to me, I found your points well reasoned and informative.

Would it have killed them to just say what a prick the Yellow Hat Guy is without commenting on Liefeld’s art – just this once?

It’s Bleeding Cool forums.
Being a dick is one of the rules, even if you don’t mean to be.

Did it ever occur to anyone that his ‘04-’09 comic book output might not have been the first thing on his mind?

True, but people still paid for those comics, and he in turn was paid for them – he even hyped the book in interviews.
People are allowed to have whatever opinion they want about the finished product – creators have off days, off months and off years – for a variety of reasons, from personal tragedy to a head cold to they just aren’t feeling it at the moment – BUT, you have to treat the end product as the end product.

If anything, if you want to bring his son into it, I’d be surprised if he didn’t see writing superheroes as a good relief from the everyday – I picked up the Agents Of Atlas trade yesterday, and Jeff Parker talks about how writing the book was pure escapism after having just turned off his fathers life support.

Jesus, people, if your question’s already asked and answered, either come up with a different one or get out of line…

And if the answer to your stupid question is just a ‘no’ don’t keep asking them to think about it or digging further…

Some guy at the last Supernova asked Dave Gibbons why other scientists didn’t try and re-create what happened to ‘Dr. Manhattan’… and after Gibbons said it was a fluke, the guy went on about how it was a controlled environment – and why didn’t they put more Dr. Manhattan characters into Watchmen, until Gibbons was like ‘well, that would have made the story totally different, and not said what we wanted to’.
Which doesn’t sound too bad, but this went for a few minutes, with this guy constantly re-phrasing, ignoring the derisive laughter and a few calls of ‘sit down’, and just plain ignoring the fact that it was a silly line of questioning to begin with – what could the possible outcome have been Gibbons going ‘You’re right, we should have thought of that, it would have changed everything, the work is a complete fallacy, I renounce the book and call for it’s complete withdrawal and we’ll get set on re-doing it’.
(Also worth pointing out, comics pros are so much more normal and sane than actors at cons. Those guys live in crazy land in their talks – David Hatch I’m looking at you!).

It’s Bleeding Cool forums.
Being a dick is one of the rules, even if you don’t mean to be.

Maybe. But it’s not just there. It’s EV-ER-Y-WHERE. I don’t think I saw a single thread on any board (except Liefeld’s–haven’t read it), where at least a third of the commenters didn’t start off their first post with “I’m no fan, but…”

Being a dick to him aside, I think it can be assumed you’re not unless stated otherwise.

It’s Bleeding Cool forums.
Being a dick is one of the rules, even if you don’t mean to be.

I’m not talking about the forums – It’s expected there. I’m talking about the quotes from other comics professionals who’ve spoken up in Liefeld’s defence.

I think the importance there is to head off any accusations of being a defensive fan or coworker, while at the same time stressing the notion that you don’t need to love his work in order to be civil to him.

[...] What’s the Rudest You’ve Seen Someone Be to a Comic Pro at a Con? (goodcomics.comicbookresources.com) [...]

What’s the rudest you’ve seen a comic pro be to someone at a con?

For me it was when Steve Pugh stole my credit card and wrote the card number and security code out in permanent marker on the palm of his hand…

in fairness, the marker was only an improvisation until i was able to power up a camera phone.