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I've only been to one here in Regina, Saskatchewan a few years ago.
There was Marina Sirtis, Ray Park, I think Kevin Sorbo, Tia Carrera and some others.
I was stood looking at merchandise telling my friend how much i loooooved Tia Carerra growing up (like everyone), and moved to make room for the person stood next to me - and it was Tia Carrera, who thankfully just smiled. I did a deer-in-headlights look and gave a Wallace and Grommit smile and sloped off. I swear she'd just been at a booth two hundred yards away about thirty seconds earlier, which was part of the shock.
There was also a draw-off between comic artists. One artist was Chris Sprouse, whose work i enjoyed back in 1990-94 when i was reading comics. So it was interesting to see him live. A couple of my friends won the art they drew too, which was nice.
Marina Sirtis gave an interesting talk but had just found out that morning her car had been nicked back in LA, which is all i remember of her actual talk now. Other than she mentioned supporting Tottenham Hotspur.
Everyone seemed to have a good time but it wasn't really for me and i haven't been since. But it was nice to go once. Families and kids loved it, which was nice to see, and the atmosphere was good. I believe it has grown in popularity each year and is probably packed to the rafters now. At the time their was enough room to breathe in.
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I used to do them when they were cheaper and more fringe events. Now, they're all "ComicCon" events and everyone goes. It's less fun and a LOT more expensive.
I used to go to Chiller Theater, a local con called ICON and a few of the Creation events. But now that the big ones are just advertising machines for new shows and movies, I lost interest. I miss the fun days where it was all about 60's TV icons charging $10-20 for a picture and an autograph. Then Adam West started overcharging and the has beens saw dollar signs. However, I met some amazing people. The casts of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Land of the Giants were amazing people and very generous with their time. My favorite, though, was Robert Culp, So down to earth and asked more questions about me and my life than I did about his. A true gentleman.
I've met all my heroes and most of them are gone now, so I'm kinda done. But when a really small "collectibles" event comes to town, I'm usually into it.
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Posted: |
Feb 22, 2019 - 12:58 PM
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By: |
drop_forge
(Member)
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I've been to some smaller cons, but between the '80s-2012, I hit the San Diego Con no fewer than twenty times, and I watched it move from the Concourse to the Convention Center and hence morph from the single greatest collectibles show for comic art lovers and comix collectors into a big, bloated, overpriced, over-attended press junket — not to mention it's much harder to get tickets to now, and the hotels have jacked their rates up to stratospheric levels during the event simply because it's downtown San Diego's single largest annual economic boon.
Since Bud Plant Comic Art and Mile High Comics also bowed out after 40+ years of exhibiting there, that also makes attending SDCC less glamorous. I just love San Diego, especially downtown, and being able to combine being there with attending North America's single largest pop culture event was divine — to a point. I'll miss the great smaller panels that were routinely passed over by the knaves, like the artist and publisher Spotlights. My single favorite panel ever was one that featured, together, the inimitable Bernie Wrightson (RIP), the legendary Bruce Jones, and art-mage Walt Simonson and his wife Louise Simonson (Jones), all sharing incredible reminiscences of their days at Warren Publishing in the '70s. That was something else!
Now, smaller events are more palatable, especially where travel and purchases are concerned.
But the San Diego Con always brought/brings great signings, and I got to meet and chat with some cool celebs, like Tim Thomerson (way cool guy!), Dirk Benedict (a rare appearance, also a really cool dude), Mark Dacascos, Kelly Hu, Dawn of the Dead's Ken Foree, Hellraiser's Ashley Laurence, the ubiquitous Reggie Bannister of Phantasm fame, Michael Madsen, and others. I should've gotten Malcolm McDowell's autograph that one year he was there.
The big disappointment was the 2016 Star Wars con in Anaheim. I got a free ticket (I'd never pay to go to that), and I figured merch would at least be on the somewhat eclectic side. Wrong! I could barely find comics in there. It was Star Wars shit up the ass, and since it's not exactly my favorite franchise, I was done with the event after a couple hours. I lingered a few more, but I didn't spend much there, at all. I've spent more on a single day in a shop!
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