Of course, before Milla could sink herself any further... Alexander got out of his thoughtful ruminations, so she did as well.

Alexander just didn't care much for their think-stare dynamic as he just wanted to get on with this Comic-Con exploration.

"We should probably explore some more if you want to take advantage of the time we have."

"Is the television screen going to play already?" Milla's stupor turned to focus on that.

"It's still before noon but I kind of want to inspect every nook of this convention now, so maybe we should do a lot of this exploring to time it with the showcase schedule." Alexander had just had insights on costumes and competitor advancement after all.

It wouldn't be a stretch to expect that this little Comic-Con stroll would still have some informative value for him.

"Yeah, we should probably pick up some gossip that would help take down your enemies." With how semi-enthused he now was, Milla assumed that "business matters" must be the reason.

"That isn't exactly my goal but it's close enough." Alexander just let her lead the way with that. "Ready when you are."

"Yep. Let's go." Since she's mostly the strolling leader of this buddy system that they have, she took up that offer to ensue.

-----

In any case, the duo did stroll Comic-Con some more and may have pretty much explored all the sections that San Diego Hotel had allocated.

Lucasfilm, Indiana Jones, Alien, Planet of the Apes, and pretty much all other sci-fi exotic stories had panels or tributes for them.

Alexander and Milla mingled around as they could.

It was quite a mixed bag of fan groups for the popular properties and cult-ish followings from the trippy movies that not a lot has heard about

It was also amazing how this weirdo-infestation hadn't really led to some harm to elementary students like them.

Quite the testament to the screening process that the event organizers had done for the panels and whatnot.

With that, they were able to discover what they could discover and Alexander found a lot of Comic-Con things that stood out for him.

Milla's interests were somewhat close to his stand-out discoveries since her next curiosities tackled them.

"Signing autographs is really a hit."

Of course, this was her takeaway from seeing people line up to have their stuff signed by select people that looks to be important.

There are also people bragging about how this comic book was signed by someone from the 50s or 60s, so it was clear that certain signatures were a trophy of sorts in this place.

"If your star plan would work out, then your autographs would be sought after too." Alexander commented.

There was something irksome in having pristine comic books being written over but when done right by certain people, it becomes special.

The one that signs must have considerable importance and popularity though.

"It seems that having rareness and low production number isn't the only thing that makes things valuable." Milla surmised and turned to Alex for his trusty clarifications. "Why aren't you signing things, Alex? It should help a lot with whatever product stuff that you are going for."

"It hurts the hand."

"A bad excuse for a guy that draws comic book issues for many days straight." Milla countered as she had seen him do this firsthand.

"I don't see the need to do it."

"Didn't you use it to bribe your teacher?" Milla knew this little tidbit as well. "If you could do it for Mrs. Montgomery, can't you do it for your fans as well?"

She's got a point there but his own point still has merit. "My teacher's example aside, autographs and signings are much more meritorious when done in proximity and mingling with the signee. Directly selling stuff at a premium because it has my signature on it… would feel fake and capitalistic."

He is capitalistic but Alexander didn't want it to be so obvious.

"Can't all the other Creed Comics people do the signing for you?" Milla had some friends from Creed Comics and she knew that they were credited for many released comic books.

"They can... but the worth it’s pretty diluted between the 50 or so of them." Although Creed Comics has the trademark 'Created by Alexander Creed' to them, he wasn't stingy with credits. However, the ten-man creative team had become a crux in this regard.

To be fair, some nerds even cherish even distantly related relatives of their favorite creators. There are even joke cases of kidney doctors and Dr. Whatnots of famous people being sought after.

"Ultimately, it is a far reach and signing panels wouldn't be in Creed's agendas in a long while."

Milla could pretty much attribute it to his non-people personality and identity secrecy. "What do you think about awards then? There are Inkpot stuff and Kirby stuff here."

Ah. This takes them to another thing that is considerably noticeable in this event.

The awards.

For SDCC standards, they have The Inkpot Awards. An honor bestowed to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Then, the new Jack Kirby Comics Industry Awards. This one was more focused on comic books though and not the encompassing multi-genre affair that Comic-Con is all about.

"Best Single Issue. Best Continuing Series. Best Black & White Series. Best Finite Series. Best New Series. Best Graphic Album. Best Writer. Best Artist. Best Art Team. Best Cover. Best Comics Publication." Milla simply listed out from the category board before them. Even though most winner reveals are last minutes, it seems that Kirby winners are more or less guaranteed already. "There is a lot that you could win but your name isn't in any of this Kirby stuff. Even your nemesis, Alan Moore, is going to be awarded."

Milla was quite angry about such an arrangement but she consulted the calm Alex again. "What do you think about that?"

"The Inkpot Awards are understandable due to the older generations being more deserving than me." Alexander reasoned. "As for the Kirby thing, it's the petty extension of the Creed targeting that we've already tackled earlier."

"They're hateful." Milla scowled her pretty face with her bottled anger. Being snubbed in every category was one thing but it was dreadful to see how they allocated the winners.

Milla didn't know the others but she did know Alan Moore.

If one were to look at the winners, there's Alan Moore in Best Continuing Series for Swamp Thing, Best Writer is Alan Moore for Swamp Thing. Best Cover is still from Swamp Thing again.

It is well-known that there had been a publicized clash between Alex and this Alan fellow. It was also the enemy that made it all happen but nothing came out of it since they've been shut up by Watchmen.

Now... they actually found a scummy trick that they could use to make Alex a loser.

Since Alexander Creed didn't win the award but Alan Moore did, then Alan Moore was clearly the better creator!

There's no doubt that this would be their move. They staged the fight in the first place and it seems that they will stage the winner to the end.

"Alex, I know that you won't do something... but can you do something?" Milla pleaded. She actually seemed more affected than the target himself.

"It's their awards, it's their rules." That was Alexander’s stance on it.

The Kirby awards are voted on by comics professionals... meaning creators, retailers, and distribution personnel.

If that were true, Creed would probably have quite the sway. Creed Comics is loved by retailers after all.

This kind of Creed-snubbing results can only mean one thing- it was rigged. Or maybe... the "creator" votes are the higher percentage and those "creators" are pretty much under the employ of the so-called Big Two and other prominent comic publishers.

It's a shame that Jack Kirby had his name associated with this or maybe he was part of it all along.

This Kirby Award was really something and perhaps this was the true reason why it split into the Harvey Awards and the Eisner Awards in the past timeline.

In any case, it has a stinky scheme behind and it is no wonder that it would collapse in on itself.

Granted, Alexander didn't really care for the results of these awards. If he would be incensed by such pettiness, then the competition would truly be the one that is reaping glory via petty tricks.

"As for my stance and takes on awards, I think they're overrated." This was something that Alexander was sure of.

Even award shows like the Academy Awards were something that he found to be a bore and a bother.

"Overrated?" Milla reads a lot of entertainment news and probably worships awards like anyone else. "Isn't that just what people say when they’re sore losers?”

Generally, it is the excuse that a person has when one is not part of it, overlooked by it, or those that badly lost the contention.

Maybe he does fit in those categories. “But I’m no sore loser since I want no part in it.”

“Like the rare limited editions and autographs we talked about... awards could just be categorized as a glorified add-on." Alexander went to the crux of it. "Also, I refuse to be defined by something that can easily be recreated by Creed Toys' overseas workshop."

Of course, that is not to discount awards and recognition that truly matters. These were probably the type of achievements that had true weight.

Faulty awards like how the current Kirby Awards are implicitly presenting themselves as... are the award types to frown upon.

Still, be it false or true awards, it is just decorative or a bonus to who someone is.

Although, Alexander didn't really know where he stands when it came to the [Chaos Butterfly] achievement.

Is it defining him? Is it just a glorified add-on? Or maybe it is just something beyond what awards can be?

That was a whole existential spiel though but the whole dynamic with regards to signatures and awards in Comic-Con is something much more tangible to ponder about.