Gene Simmons and KISS have never been on my radar. The only reason I was interested was that Gene Simmons aired an episode of his reality show where he was at ComicCon. He seemed to genuinely enjoy the show and I enjoyed his self-deprecating sense of humor.
In the days before ComicCon, I came across a reference that Gene would be signing at the Archie’s booth. After I paused and digested that for a moment I figured, what the hell, I’d go for it.
So at Preview Night I meandered over to the Archie Booth to see if my info was correct. They told me I could buy the hardback version of the Archie’s series that KISS was in and I could get it signed. Seemed simple enough. I bought my copy and left.
I checked on Thursday to ensure nothing changed. I was told I needed to be line about 30 minutes before the signing started. So I went out and about and had a good time. The day of the signing I double checked again. Am I being a nuisance? Maybe but I swear I was polite. I also know how things change.
I was late to the signing. I got there about 10 minutes before it started. Since they had a small supply of books, I wasn’t too concerned. I found the back of the line, a line of about 15 people up near the booth...but I was told the ‘real’ back of the line was on back wall. Okay, been there and done that. I had time. I moved to the back of that line. Then it got interesting.
I go to the end of the line against the wall. A security guy quickly told me I couldn’t be in that line. Been there and done that too. I asked where the extension of the line was. He told me the line was too long and there wasn’t a new extension. When the current line shrank, then I could get in the line but now there was no line and ‘no I couldn’t hang out and wait for the line to shrink’. A big goofy question mark floated above my head. This was a new wrinkle to the age old problem of SDCC crowds.
The guy holding the ‘end of the line’ sign was from the Archie booth and recognized me from the times I popped in and confirmed the event. He told me that no matter what happened, I would get my book signed. See, I was polite after all.
I wandered off. I just wanted a place to sit and rest my feet. I walked around and checked on a few booths that were on my radar. I picked up some swag; confirmed some other signings; etc but I never found a place to sit.
When I got back to the line, it had shrunk a lot. Gene Simmons was signing fast. I was actually the head of the line on the back wall. I leaned against the walk and relaxed.
Then I saw employees from the booth hawking copies of the book. As they found people to buy the book, they were filtered into the line in front of me. They sold about 50 copies of the book. This was kind of annoying because my feet really hurt and I was looking forward to resting them in a small window of down time I had after this event.
Finally the guy holding the ‘end of the line’ sign noticed and told me to move up to that other line. It just wasn’t fair for me to wait just because I book my book in advance. I wasn’t going to argue. So I joined the short line in front of the booth. By my entering that new line, it was now too long. Yes, it was that same security guy that told me I couldn’t wait on the wall.
I smiled but it’s was a failed attempt of a friendly smile. I went back to the wall. The ‘end of the line’ guy was confused. He went up to the people selling the books and vented some of his frustrations. Better him than me. They continued to sell books and let those people in the short line by the booth. Yes, the very same one I was just rejected from.
When they finally ran out of books to sell and people to put in front of me, they had me move up. I was told to hurry because the line was too long. I didn’t care if any of the things they said made sense. I got my book signed and shook Gene Simmons’ hand. Then I noticed that the rest of the people that worked on the book were also signing.
I got done with this much later than I expected so I had to rush off to my next signing. I never got the time off my feet I wanted. The important thing is I did get my autograph.
AH
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