I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Sac-Con, the piddly little comic convention in Sacramento, had landed George Perez as a special guest.

For those who don’t know, George Perez is an icon in the comic world. An aspiring artist since age five, he began drawing for Marvel Comics in 1974. He gained notoriety working on some of Marvel’s top titles, but it was only after he moved to DC Comics in 1980 that his career took off. He worked on many of DC’s flagship titles, including Justice League, Teen Titans and, my personal favorite, Wonder Woman.

At home I keep a spreadsheet of all my comic books, which boxes they’re in, and what they’re worth… you know, just in case there’s a fire or something. So I knew I had copies of George’s first issue on Wonder Woman, (Wonder Woman Vol. Two, #1) and his last (#62).

I’d bought them after my return to comic collecting. Consistent with my new attitude about comics, I hadn’t bought them for their value, but because I wanted them. When I saw that George was coming to Sac-Con in November 2013, I knew it was a rare opportunity to meet him and get his autograph on those two books.

I wasn’t alone – there were about 300 people in line to meet him by 10 am, but fortunately I’d arrived early. Suffice it to say, however, that Mr. Perez is a class act all the way. Here’s a guy who could have let fame and money go to his head, but instead became the kind of man who showed up at his autograph table a half-hour early and stayed there without a break for 9 hours so he could shake hands, pose for pictures and sign autographs for anyone who wanted one.

I’d only brought my two books, which in retrospect was shortsighted, because I have almost two dozen George Perez comics and he would have happily signed them all. Here’s hoping I get another chance in the future, but on that day in November, I left Sac-Con feeling very good.

As I got home, it occurred to me that with George Perez’s autograph, these comic books would be worth more than their listed Overstreet value. Overstreet doesn’t estimate values for autographs, so I turned to the only reliable source of pricing information on the autograph market, eBay. And what I learned blew my mind.

I found three or four autographed copies of Perez’s Wonder Woman #1 for sale, anywhere from $100 to $175. Most were in better condition than mine, but even on the low end, the value of my book had just jumped 500 percent.

It was an OMG moment. I’d just fallen ass-first into a scheme to turn my stock of overprinted and “worthless” comics into items that actually were “rare” or at least “special.”Unsigned books that were listed on eBay for 99 cents were priced—and selling—for $10 or more with autographs.

I envisioned going to all the big comic book conventions, some of which feature 50-100 artists as guests, and enlisting all that talent in transforming my collection from “something worth less than firewood” into something I might actually sell for a profit, or at least feel good about leaving behind for my kids.

I scoured the internet for convention listings. Wizard World in Sacramento in February. WonderCon in Anaheim in April. Spectrum in Kansas City in May. Comic-Con, and Sac-Con again in June. I saw the names of giants in the comic industry as featured guests—names like Jim Lee, Gail Simone, Kevin Eastman, Terry Dodson, Rob Liefeld,Neal Adams, Michael Golden and, the ultimate of ultimates, Stan Lee.

It would annihilate my hotel and airline flyer points, but I could travel these shows and stay for free if I wanted to get to all of them. But first I had to take stock of what comics I had, so I went back to my spreadsheet. I only had titles, not who’d drawn them. No problem – some artists I could guess. The rest I could look up. It would take hours, but it would be time well spent.

I dove in, flipping through my comics and looking online, and something happened during that process. Yes, I’d bought a lot of these comics hoping they’d go up in value, but I had still been somewhat choosy. Outside the supposed “investment” attraction, I’d been drawn to many of these comics for their cover art. I found an astonishing set of common denominators in the names of artists who’d worked on the comics I’d bought. Without any effort, I’d developed a taste for certain styles and certain artists whose work had appealed to me.

Suddenly it wasn’t just about autographs, but about meeting these artists and telling them how much I liked their work.I started a new section of my “bucket list," targeting about 30 comic artists I wanted to meet— and had to meet.

I also remembered something I’d learned from a comic dealer a decade before: an autograph is just scribbles on a cover, and therefore can actually lower the value of a comic book, unless the signature can be authenticated. There are services which, for a fee, will authenticate signatures and send you a “COA” (Certificate of Authenticity). There’s nothing wrong with those… they are the gold standard, but a simple photograph of the person signing the autograph or holding the autographed object is a decent substitute—sort of a poor man’s COA.

I'd blown it with George Perez, unfortunately (although I’ll never sell those Perez books, they have too much sentimental value) but going forward with smart phone in hand, I was ready to start my quest.I had no idea the amount of work “conventioning” would require to do it right, but I learned quickly. I also learned—thanks again to George Perez—that for me, just getting autographs and shaking hands wasn’t going to be enough.