My Dallas Comic Show
2018 Holiday special review.
As some
may know, I don’t get to that many Comic/Celebrity conventions that much
anymore. One reason is the money factor. They have just skyrocketed in cost
nowadays, I just can’t afford it. The other is time. Time, especially free time,
is almost nonexistent these days. But one I do try to go to is the Dallas Comic
Show. This is actually only my second time being able to attend the DCS. Once
again as I said before, there are two main factors. D.C.S. is put on by a
friend of mine, Mark Walters. I’ve known Mark since the first Dallas Comic Con
way back when. He puts on a great show that is affordable and has a variety of
guests. Plus the venues are remnant of “back in the day”. To be honest it’s
what I preferred back then. The cost of admission is great and most of the
celebrities that are brought in are affordable.
Now to
the actual experience at the show. I purchased my ticket months ago around the
time when they went on sale with the anticipation that some really cool guests
would be added. It wasn’t long after actor Ray Wise was added. Being a fan of
his from so many roles including Robocop and Swamp Thing and now Fresh off the
Boat, I had to meet him. I noticed a theme lately is actors from the show Twin
Peaks, to which Ray was on as well. I personally never really got into the
show. I had seen a few episodes back in the day. But that’s about it. I know
people who just absolutely love it. Another addition was Twin Peaks alumni
Harry Goaz. He’s mainly known for Twin Peaks but I remember him from the short
lived Eerie, Indiana. Then there was Michael Biehn (Kyle Reese from Terminator),
Alan Ruck (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), Jason Douglas (The Walking Dead), and a
handful of voice over artists including Monica Rial and Cynthia Cranz. Plus
many many awesome artists (including my friend Terry Parr from Shonuff
Studios).
Since I
had purchased a VIP ticket, I was able to get “perks”. Usually this means you
can get into the show early as well as priority placement for certain autograph
lines and Q&A’s. You also get a special lanyard and “goodie” bag. The bag
is usually some comics and a couple other things. When I had walked in I
instantly saw all the familiar faces. First face I had seen was Paul. I’ve
known Paul for years through the convention scene. He provides Mark with
security for the show now. We usually don’t get to chat much, but it’s always
good to see him. So I decided to take the opportunity of my “extra” early time
to walk around without bumping into people and checking things out. Firstly, I
go visit my buddy Terry with Shonuff Studios. It’s always good seeing him at
the shows. His wife didn’t make the show this time. But it’s good seeing her
too.
I then
decide to walk back to the media guest area and check it out. I walk straight
up to Ray Wise’s table and look at his photos. He had a wide variety of Twin
Peaks photos and a couple really good shots of him from a show called “Reaper”.
Didn’t know the show. He had a couple photos from Swamp Thing as well as
Robocop. Two out of the three from Robocop were fuzzy. I get it, it’s hard to
get high res scans of older shows and movies. So I picked the third option of
the Robocop photos. I was chatting with him for a few minutes and was talking
to him about my son and that I was bringing him back the next day. He told me
to make sure I brought him by to meet him. Will do I said. Shook his hand and
was on my way.
I then
walked over to Michael Biehn’s table. He had some pretty cool photos to choose
from his most iconic roles (Kyle Reese, Johnny Ringo, Planet Terror to name a
few) and some lesser known ones as well. He also had some shots with his wife
Jennifer Blanc-Biehn. I then saw his price list. Some may think it was a decent
price to pay. But I wasn’t willing. I heard that he raised his price again from
the last time someone had recently seen him. So I reluctantly passed. The same
with Alan Ruck. Like Michael Biehn, I’ve loved just about everything I’ve seen
him in. Ever since I had first seen Ferris Beuller at the drive in when I was a
kid. He wasn’t as much as Biehn, but I just couldn’t do it. So I passed on him
as well.
So I just I just wondered around
the dealer’s room like some kind of on foot nomadic nascar driver. Just around
and around. I had brought a handful of my Funko Pops that I didn’t want anymore
and sold them to a dealer. Made a little money. Went over to Mark’s table and
checked out what he was selling. Because as well as being the promoter of the
show he also sells autographs he picks up at various shows he is part of and
attends. I knew he had some Doctor Who autographs, so I pick up a classic shot
of Michael Jayston as The Valeyard. As well as a cool signed shot of the first
live action Spider-Man, Nicholas Hammond. After that I just walked around a
little while longer then I headed out. I had seen a couple guys I know, but
everyone was kind of doing their own thing. So the day got boring fast. The
next day is going to be better I thought to myself.
I had designed a shirt for my son
who is 20 months old today. I put the design together and bought some comic
book heat transfer vinyl. I gave my design and vinyl to my sister in law and
she printed it out on her cricut (sp?) machine and ironed it on his shirt. I
also wanted “Sign here” with a line across the back. It turned out awesome. My
plan was to take him to his first Comic Book convention and maybe some of the
artists could sign it for him. So we wake up and get ready to go to the show. The
night before, I find out that my daughter wishes she could get Cynthia Cranz’
autograph on her Yu Yu Hakusho book. Cynthia voiced the character Botan on the
anime. My daughter has been a fan since it first came out. I wasn’t planning on
getting anything signed that day, but I took my daughters book as well as a comic
I wasn’t able to get signed the day before.
Of course the little guy falls
asleep in the car on the way. But we make it to the convention in about half an
hour. We get there and he wakes up. He’s happy but wanted me to hold him. Of
course that’s no problem at all. Once we get into the venue I take his sweater
off and I hand him “his” sharpie then we start to walk around. As soon as we
walk in, we see some friends of mine I haven’t seen in a long time. I introduced
my son to Scott and David and Joseph gave them his trademarked high five and
fist bump. It was good seeing them, even if it was only for a few minutes.
Afterwards we go over in the
direction of Ray Wise’s table. Ray remembers our conversation from the previous
day and he sees my son. His face as well as the face of the young lady
assisting him lights up as we walk over. I’m introducing him to them and Joseph
quietly responds back. Again he does the high five and fist bump. They do it
back and Joseph smiled. Ray had read Joseph’s shirt and loved it and he also
noticed the “sign here” on the back. So he asked Joseph “Do you want me to sign
your shirt Joseph?” Joseph shook his head yes. Even though he had no idea what
he was talking about. He then asked, “Can I use your marker?” Joseph hands his
the marker and he signed it for him. His handler was taking photos of the entire
thing for me and then Ray posed with the two of us for a photo. I was already a
huge fan of Mr. Wise before this, but even more so now.
We then head down toward the dealer’s
room. Most people reading this know what that is. If by chance you do not, it’s
a huge room consisting of various people peddling comics and other comic/sci fi
collectibles. Every now and then you can find a bargain, but a lot of times the
prices are quite inflated. But you can find some hard to find collectible
there. So on the way to the dealer’s room we stop and talk to my friend Terry
Parr with Shonuff Studios. Terry is an amazing local artist that I have known
for many years. I walk over and introduce my son to him. After a couple minutes
I ask Terry to sign his shirt and he was more than happy too. We were then on
our way. We didn’t want to take up too much of his time as he was there to make
money. We also stopped by and said hello
to Mark. Mark absolutely loved his shirt. So much so that he had to take a
photo of it.
Well, little man wanted to walk
now. So we walked into the dealer’s room. His face looked like mine when I
first when to Toys R Us as a kid or when I first went to Kennedy Space Center
as an adult. Lol. He grabbed my hand and we were off. He had his sharpie is the
left hand and my hand in the right. It was his show, we went where he wanted to
go. So we walked around checking everything out. Then he wanted to go out of
the dealer’s room and walk around the autograph room again. So we walked out
there. As we were walking Jason Douglas from The Walking Dead and Preacher said
hello to him. So we walked over and said hello. Fist bumps and high fives. Then
Jason asked him if he wanted to sign his shirt, Joseph said yes and so he did.
I took a pic of Joseph, and Jason was pointing at Joseph in the background,
just a cool guy.
We then made our way to Cynthia
Cranz’ table to get my daughter’s book signed for her. We chatted for a minute
about voice over and acting as well as Joseph and Sydnie. She absolutely loved
that my daughter Sydnie was such a hardcore Yu Yu Hakusho fan and she just
absolutely loved Joseph’s shirt. Even more so when she found out that it was a
custom made shirt. She signed my daughter’s book as well as my son’s t-shirt.
As we were walking away there was a small bantha next to the table of the 501st.
Well they weren’t there but Joseph wanted to see the bantha. So we walked over.
Not sure what he thought at first. He was looking at and then started to pet
it. Lol I took some great photos of him with it.
As we were leaving the bantha,
Joseph walked right over to Harry Goaz’ table. Harry waved at him and said
hello. Joseph waved back. I picked him up and walked him over and introduced
him. Harry was talking to him and Joseph was being shy. Answering a little but
in a very low voice. Without missing a beat my son hands Harry his sharpie.
When Harry grabbed it, my son started to reach for Harry’s cup of sharpies.
They chatted for a few minutes and Harry asked him if he wanted him to sign his
shirt as well. Joseph said yes and immediately laid down on my chest so Harry
could sign it. Lol. He picked up on that fast. I shook Harry’s hand and told
him thank you so much. Joseph reached out and gave Harry as well as the young
lady helping him high fives and fist bumps.
I decided to get one more thing
completed that I wasn’t able to get done the previous day. I needed Frank Cho
to sign my one comic. It was a Wizard World Texas Jungle Girl sketch variant
that I’ve had for ten years. Every time I went by Frank’s table he wasn’t
there. Multiple times I would ask if he was charging to sign and if he would
charge to sign my one book. Every time I asked, same answer. No he will not
charge. So my son and I walk over to his table and he is there. There is a huge
line around the corner. I ask the lady running the line if I could use my VIP
skip to get my one book signed. The answer I got was a little shocking. “This
is a small show, you really don’t need the skips”. WOW! Ok. I really wanted my
book signed so we got in line. You ever try to stand in a line juggling a 1.5
yr old. Then I noticed a guy taking money from people in line. So I asked him what
the money is for. He said its five dollars per signed item. I told him every
one has told me there would be no charge. “Don’t know what to tell you”. That
and the lady’s response just rubbed me the wrong way. So we immediately got out
of line and said our goodbyes to everyone and left.
As a whole, I had a great time.
Especially the time I spent with my son. Everyone we met was absolutely
fantastic. Some people only think there is only one choice for quality comic
conventions in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Let me tell you that is not the case.
A certain big box convention not saying any names (But it rhymes with Dan Fexpo
Allas) only cares about your money. I would recommend the Dallas Comic Show
convention to anyone. You should
definitely check them out. Follow them on social media on most of the
platforms. (FYI: I am no way connected to the show and am not being endorsed for
my review.)
