Obviously jumping on a guy for putting a card on
ebay isn't going to accomplish much and in many ways isn't worth the
effort. Even Sergio's decision to not do sketches in books anymore is a
small gesture and ours is like a grain of sand on the beach. But getting
stuff for free for the express purpose of selling it is wrong when the idea of
the artist is to be nice to real fans and give them something as a
keepsake.
I cannot blame folks for buying it, especially
fans like Vaughn who live far away from convention land. And I can
understand people selling stuff after a number of years. They thought they
would always cherish it, but they lost interest or whatever. But, again, to get
the stuff from Sergio for the express purpose of selling it, that's the
rub.
The rationales and pros and cons of what's
ethical and what's not under the myriad of circumstances can get pretty
murky. But it makes Sergio mad, and that's good enough for me. I
could see that it pained him not to do sketches, but it finally pained him even
more to know some folks were getting the things just to sell them. And like I
said to Glen, the result is that Sergio is not happy, many real fans are not
happy, and all because someone wants to make a quick buck off of someone elses
generosity. Bummer.
Gary "I will send no more downer messages and everyone
send a check to Turkish relief" Grossmann
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