My comic shop's 'free for all' signing event almost ruined my favorite book

I was at the big signing event at Gotham Comics in Austin, where they said it was first come, first served for a popular artist. The crowd got so pushy that someone's elbow knocked a full soda onto my signed copy of 'The Dark Knight Returns' #1, soaking the cover. I had to quickly blot it with a napkin and get the store owner to help me press it flat before the ink set, but the stain is still there. Has anyone else had a collectible damaged at a chaotic event and found a good way to fix it?

3 comments

3 Comments

zara_coleman3mo ago

I remember a 1998 convention where a guy in a full Ghost Rider costume backed into my display table. He sent my mint copy of Amazing Spider-Man 129, already signed by Stan Lee, right into a puddle of coffee on the floor. The cover looked like a Rorschach test. My attempt at fixing it with a warm iron and a towel just made the colors run, so now I have a unique, if sad, piece of comic history. I learned the hard way that some stains just become part of the book's story, a story that now includes a very sorry man in plastic spikes.

blake_lewis3mo ago

Wow, I used to freak over any damage but that story changes things.

ninah1019d ago

Your attempt at fixing it with a warm iron and a towel" is what got me. That's a level of desperation most of us have felt but few admit to trying, and I'm honestly shocked the paper didn't just melt into a sad little puddle. Did you at least keep it as a reminder to never try home restoration again, or is it framed as a monument to your own bravery?