My Eastman Sandwich (his joke, not mine) - They were both awesome again. I met Kevin this past year at NYCC for the first time and although it was busy he still gave us a little time to talk. This time with nothing going on they were chatter boxes. Each fan talked with him for 10 minutes or so if they wanted. They walked around the event casually and just hung out with you. Same as Ernie, Kevin was only supposed to sign if you handed him a paid voucher. Well he didnt listen and signed everything we wanted. Why? Because hes awesome and appreciates his fans. He always publically thanks us and knows without us, he wouldnt be where he is.
I had a variety of things I wanted him to sign but didnt bring as much because I thought each one was going to cost me. Luckily I had some random things and was staying with my friends in MI who also had an old VHS for me to take.
Signed by Eastman, Reyes, and Rich from PIN
My "Convention" Hat which I wear to every Con and a photo the event was giving away with both Kevin and Courtney (signed respectively).
The story and the haul - I went 2 of the 3 days because some people were appearing on Friday and others Saturday but I knew Kevin would be there both so I hoped for an autograph and a quick sketch. By then end of the weekend I was on a first name basis with both of them and we got to joke around lot - here's why. On Friday I had him sign his Cover Gallery, My Hat, and do a Shredder Sketch on the Shredder Micro. While I was waiting in line to meet him I swore I saw some sketched covers he had done but all his Merch was packed away after an argument with the promoter because of how confusing the event was. When it was my turn I talked a little, gave Kev my books and he began to sketch Shredder when I asked Courtney about those covers I thought I saw. She said "oh yeah here you go." She handed me SHOTF with an amazing Shredder and Annual w/Masks with Leo. I was giddy and wanted both because of the amazing work and since I'm working on completely by IDW covers. We talked price for a minute and we agreed on something and I walked away with the books and I was ecstatic. Here they are and story continues below....
Story continued... The guy who ran Detroit Fanfare was there and had a lot of his blank covers for great prices. I didn't know this but there were 2 versions, Matte and glossy. I bought one of each on Friday and I wanted to have Kevin Sketch on one saturday. You can see above I had him do Splinter and I left the other blank for the future. When I went in line to have this done I was still debating what to have him do so I wanted to let him know who I had art of already and who he could do quickly to have a variety of characters in his style. When I approached I talked to them again and told them that I was the guy who bought the sketched books the day before at which point they started laughing and said "you're the guy who got the deal." I was confused and I guess when I did the credit card swipe Courtney under charged me for the books by a lot. I told them I would gladly pay the difference and because of that, Kevin said he appreciated my honesty, would do more than just a Splinter head. Courtney said she would give me 2 flats from his art books because of being so honest. I saw the prices they had on the flats and looked over at the comics and asked if I could look through the comics instead and they said sure - pick two. To my surprise they had the two in the picture below that they just gave me. So through all this we had casual convos and jokes. I told them I happened to be going to a convention next week that they would be at and that if they brought more sketch books Id be interested. They said "Hans, we will bring some for you. Thanks again for being honest and we look forward to seeing you next weekend again."
As always his certificate of authenticity on the back...
All in all I had a great weekend, spent some quality time with some people that I may never get to again, added some much needed books to my collection, all of which have stellar artwork on them.
Just as a small bonus I came home to these last night! My weekend ended with bagging and boarding my new pieces!
I hope everyone enjoyed!