Steve McNiven, remember him? The guy who destroyed the comics industry? Yeah, that’s right.

We kid about the destruction thing, but the life of the modern comics superstar is thrown into relief by this item @ Comic Book Conventions.com. It seems that McNiven was to be a guest at the local Comic Expo but couldn’t take the time to appear all three days when the fate of comics now rests on his drawing speed. :

Due to my schedule on MCW I was about to cancel my THREE DAY appearance at Canada’s biggest comic book event, Hobby Star’s Canadian National Comic Book Expo in Toronto. After speaking to the con’s organizers I was informed that they had sold a huge number of advanced tickets to fans who were coming specifically to meet and get my signature. While completely unexpected and unbelievably flattering, this has caused me quite the unforeseen dilemma. Not wanting to disappoint all the great fans who have been so supportive of me and the wonderful folks at Hobby Star, I’ve managed to come up with a compromise that I can live with and that has the complete support of my family and Marvel. While unfortunate, I will be flying in and out of Toronto and will only be able to sign for one day. I’m sorry for this inconvenience but I feel that his is truly the only compromise I could make while not disturbing my current working pace on Civil War. I’ll be signing on Saturday starting at 11:30 and finishing , well, when the last book is signed.