CGC Announces In-House Private Signing with Legendary Comic Writer Mike Friedrich

CGC Signature Series is excited to announce an exclusive In-House Private Signing with veteran comic book writer Mike Friedrich, whose career in the industry spans decades. 

Friedrich was part of the first wave of comics fans who became professional writers and artists starting in the mid-1960’s. His first script was sold to DC Comics in 1967 and his first publication was in January 1968’s, Spectre #3, drawn by Neal Adams. Adams drew a number of Friedrich’s scripts at DC, most notably “Silent Night of the Batman,” a Batman Christmas story still in print. He also asked for Adams to conceive the visualization of his character, Meryln, who is now a regular on the Arrow television series, and was created in JLA #94. Regular series he wrote include Justice League of America and solo stories of Robin the Boy Wonder. While he wrote mostly superhero and costumed character stories for DC, he also wrote mystery stories, most notably for Witching hour, as well as stories about war and a handful of romance shorts.

In 1972 Friedrich moved over to Marvel Comics, becoming the regular writer on Iron Man for four years. In that span, he co-created “Moondragon” in Iron Man #54 and an issue later wrote the first appearance of the Jim Starlin-created characters Thanos, Drax, and Starfox. Other series that he wrote at Marvel include Ant-Man, Ka-Zar and Morbius. 

In 1974 Friedrich launched the first independent mainstream comics company, Star*Reach Productions. The first issue of Star*Reach featured Jim Starlin, Howard Chaykin and Walt Simonson. Over a five year period he published 30 ground-breaking comics, featuring talent such as Frank Brunner, Dick Giordano, Dave Sim, Steve Leialoha, Ken Steacy, Gene Day and Lee Marrs, with covers by Neal Adams, Barry Windsor-Smith and Jeff Jones.

In 1980 Friedrich moved behind the scenes, becoming Marvel Comics’ first sales manager for the comics store market. Then in 1982 he established an agency, again called Star*Reach, which represented comic artists such as Tim Sale, Norm Breyfogle, Brent Anderson and Paul Chadwick, among many others. Along with partner Joe Field and others, Friedrich co-founded and ran the WonderCon comics convention in Oakland, CA for 15 years before selling it to Comic-Con International, who operate it today in southern California.

For this exclusive event, ALL CGC members, including free CGC members, can submit books directly to CGC headquarters in Sarasota, Florida. CGC must receive all submissions for this event by Friday, October 20, 2023. 

If the In-House Private Signing needs to be rescheduled, CGC will securely store all submissions in its vault until the event can be rescheduled. 

After Friedrich signs the submitted books, CGC will grade and encapsulate them with an estimated turnaround time of six weeks. If CGC pressing is also requested, the turnaround time is estimated at eight weeks. After grading and encapsulation, the collectibles will be shipped back to their owners.

The CGC In-House Private Signing fee for Mike Friedrich is $85 per item and includes: 

• Mike Friedrich’s signature 
• Estimated turnaround time of six weeks for CGC grading 
• Estimated turnaround time of eight weeks for CGC grading and CGC pressing (an additional $20 fee applies for CGC pressing)  
• Encapsulation with the iconic yellow CGC Signature Series label   

Submission Instructions 

For this CGC Private Signing event, you can ship submissions directly to CGC with a FREE membership. Paid memberships are also available and include additional benefits. For more information and to join, visit CGCcomics.com/join. 

To submit books for the signing: 

• Log onto your account or sign up for an account HERE.
• Click Submit in the CGC website navigation and select Submission Forms. 
• Next to Comics / Magazines, select Online Form.
• Select Comic or Magazine from the drop-down menu, then select Private Signing and one of the following from the dropdown menu section:
  MIKE FRIEDRICH, SIGNATURE.
• Under Services, select Grading and, if you would like it, Pressing. Then hit Next in the top right section of the form.
• Enter the information requested for your comic, and make sure to check the box next to MIKE FRIEDRICH under Private Signing Details.
• On the next screen, you can add one of CGC’s custom Marvel labels to your submission for qualifying books.
• Select Add to Cart, and then repeat if there are additional books in your submission. If there are no additional books in your submission, click on the cart icon and proceed to checkout.
• Note: If you want to submit magazines, please group them together on their own private signing form separate from comic submissions. The same rule applies for any custom labels. Please group them together on their own private signing form separate from non-custom labels. To see the available labels, click HERE.
• Put ALL ungraded books in window bags or they will not be accepted. You can purchase window bags HERE.
• Books that are already certified by CGC, including CGC Signature Series books, can be submitted for this event. CGC will remove a CGC-certified book from its holder for an additional $5 fee.
• Carefully package books in a box for shipment. If you need a CGC shipping kit, they can be purchased HERE.
• IMPORTANT: Please write MF on all sides of the outside of the box. You must initial outside of the box or we will not be able to honor the submission for this signing. 
• Books will be received into the CGC system when they arrive and will be safely stored by CGC until the event. (Please note: Payments are processed as they normally are at the time of the collectibles’ arrival at CGC.)
• Once books are signed, they will start an expedited CGC grading process. 

PLEASE NOTE:

All submissions must be received by CGC no later than Friday, October 20, 2023, to qualify for this private signing event. No change requests will be accepted after Friday, October 20, 2023.

*No Multi-Sigs included with other signings.

**If you submit a CGC-graded collectible that needs to be removed from its original holder by CGC, the collectible will need to go through the certification and encapsulation process again, and there is no guarantee that it will receive the same grade.

***Marker color requests are welcome, but not guaranteed. Marker color choice and signature placement is at the final discretion of the signer.