You could also email Topps for info.

A user on Blowout Forums solved it. It's Bernard Chang. I found other signatures of his online and it is indeed a perfect match.

Does anyone recognize the signature on this card. It was signed at Starfest 1996. Starfest was a long-running annual Comic-Con-type event in Denver.

Wow. Thank you for that.

I have no idea who signed that, but I figured I'd google to get an artist list from the convention and see if anything stood out. There is very little online about this convention. . . Then I remembered the state of the internet in 1996.

The few sites I did find were gloriously cheeky fan sites -- most fanboying/fangirling because Kate Mulgrew was signing. The few photos of the convention were amazing -- so much simpler. . . Such a different vibe than we have now.

It really took me back. I know it dates me, or whatever, but dang I miss those conventions.

Thank you, Jess, for posting this image for me. I spent a couple of hours searching for who the artist was but came up empty. I even asked ChatGPT but got the same result. Anyone?

Looks like a card that represents a TV show or movie for signing. Eg Adventures of Sinbad was out in 96, lead was Zen Gesner, kind of looks like a Z in the auto, not saying it is but food for thought.

I'm leaning toward one of the fantasy artists of the day. I don't know which though.

quote:

Originally posted by promoking:
I'm leaning toward one of the fantasy artists of the day. I don't know which though.

The art to me looks like it could be a RPG like Dungeons and Dragons, or a trading card game. Which obviously could have been done by a fantasy artist.

Is there a signature visible in the art? It looks like there might be on the right side behind the small dragon.

It is also possible it was a local artist trying to break into the business. I encountered a lot of them at shows at the time.

Is there anything on the back of the card.
Kinda has a Hildebrandt vibe to me.

Hi Promoking,

You're welcome. Here's the other image (same deal, signer unknown):

these 2 signatures are on an uncut sheet and the back of each card says Starfest.

I looked around too, trying to find even some info about the show, and read one of those talking about Kate Mulgrew. I think he wanted to marry her.

Yeah, back in the mid-late 90's, a comic book/collectible show could be maybe 10-15 dealers with some of them having comic shops outside the local area. I used to find oddball stuff in their bargain boxes. A couple of those shows still exist under different management and a new name and they are bigger with a higher admission price but they hardly ever have anything I want so I haven't been to one in years. One of them was "Super Con."

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:
Wow. Thank you for that.

I have no idea who signed that, but I figured I'd google to get an artist list from the convention and see if anything stood out. There is very little online about this convention. . . Then I remembered the state of the internet in 1996.

The few sites I did find were gloriously cheeky fan sites -- most fanboying/fangirling because Kate Mulgrew was signing. The few photos of the convention were amazing -- so much simpler. . . Such a different vibe than we have now.

It really took me back. I know it dates me, or whatever, but dang I miss those conventions.

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
I looked around too, trying to find even some info about the show, and read one of those talking about Kate Mulgrew. I think he wanted to marry her.

Yeah, back in the mid-late 90's, a comic book/collectible show could be maybe 10-15 dealers with some of them having comic shops outside the local area. I used to find oddball stuff in their bargain boxes. A couple of those shows still exist under different management and a new name and they are bigger with a higher admission price but they hardly ever have anything I want so I haven't been to one in years. One of them was "Super Con."

Yeah, those were great shows -- also at the time there were tons of hobby shops so you could get a bunch of collectible dealers to show up.

There was something special about having those shows that seem like this one when you'd have 1 celebrity show up, and they would be treated like royalty and would be so nice with the fans. There is one picture from that Starfest show I saw where Mulgrew is in a group photo with a ton of people seemingly in a hotel lobby. . .

I pretty much stopped going to shows a few years ago. Before that I would be lucky if there were 2 or 3 people with cards at a convention.

Maybe it would be different now as there was a resurgence in interest in cards during covid, but the costs to get into the bigger conventions are so high now that I'm not likely to foot the bill to find out.

Yeah, today's local/regional shows want to be like SDCC with the same big admission price but they don't have the same level celebrities and there are no freebies at all to attract more collectors.

There's still one interesting show in my area. It's run by a local collectibles shop. It's about $15 to get in (earlybirds pay more to get in an hour or two before the official open). They've had a few celebrities like Karen Allen and Julia Adams. I talked to Candy Clark at one. She was very nice and seemed to enjoy doing it. One of my brother's friends collects 80's G.I. Joes and he says it worth going early for him. I see a lot of stuff but hardly anyone brings cards anymore (used to be at least 2 card dealers but that was at least 10 years ago).

There are a few hotel/regional shows here. They get local celebrities sometimes -- usually wrestlers and maybe a couple of local artists. Those are fine shows, but very few cards.

Last time I went it seemed like half the tables were selling funko pops.

Years ago we were at one of the Chicago Shows when Paul ran them and we were just chatting with Kane Hodder for quite a while -- he was Jason in the Friday the 13th movies. Horror flicks aren't my thing, so we were just chatting about whatever -- nicest guy seemed to be happy to be there.