Dallas Comic Con May 17 to 19

[Chiclo]

Is anyone going to the Dallas Comic Con in May?

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I may attend, depending on the wife's work schedule. I can pretty much guarantee my days off if I promise to get my boss an autographed picture of the Green Ranger.

[cjv]

I could do Houston, but Dallas is too far away for me.

Chris

[Chiclo]

Well, nobody missed anything that great. On Saturday, the show was scheduled to open at 11 but they did not open the doors until nearly 1. We spent about an hour and a half lined up in a parking garage in 103% humidity or something like that. Not good for this small town flatlander.

[greg]

What happened?

[Elveen]

What happened?

+1

[Chiclo]

What happened?

They managed to get the line going before someone snapped and whipped the line into a mob?

I never got an answer. I was mad but when I got inside, I was just happy to get to air conditioning. We did not even go on Sunday because we didn't want to bother with that stupidity before a 7 hour car ride to get home, an hour or so of which is through the hell that is Dallas traffic.

[Chiclo]

This whole weekend was cursed. We drove down Friday, me and my wife and a woman she works with and her husband. About half of the 7 hour ride, my wife's co-worker was worried we were going to miss our turn, fretting seriously for over 150 miles that our turn was coming up and we were going to miss it. They brought sandwiches so we did not have to stop for lunch - choice of ham or turkey. I have an allergy to sodium nitrate, commonly found in ham so I tried the turkey. I ended up developing a headache about half an hour before we got there and wanted nothing more than to get out of the car and away from the worried co-worker of my wife. Saturday morning, she starts panicking at 10 am because she is scheduled to have her picture taken with McGyver at noon. We line up at 10:40 and the whole time she is getting more and more anxious. At least we moved into the shade at about 11:10. The photo op was available from noon to 1 and she barely made it when they let us in. The con was run by frelling amateurs. The convention was at the Irving Civic Center and they totally screwed up the layout. They had one door designated as available for entry into the facility and let people in single file. The convention was spread out over three floors but the escalator was a nightmare. For the first two or three hours, there was a queue for the escalator that took 20 to 30 minutes to get through.

There were quite a few comic vendors there but relatively little that interested me. Andrew Robinson was there and I got to check out the original art to several covers he has done for da new Valiant. I bought a small press comic called Hoodratz in Space. There was a guy who did a lot of colouring for DC in the 80s - Anthony Tollins? - he had a bunch of original art at reasonable prices. I picked up a piece from him, a cover from Wonder Woman 299 for $60. He would talk to anyone at length and just seemed to enjoy himself and enjoy interacting with the fans. The bootleg DVD guy had some new bootleg DVDs that interested me that I don't remember seeing before. I was surprised at how many people would line up for a talentless hack like John Romita Jr. while Phil Noto had not a single person at his table. I thought Phil Noto was a star on the rise? Amanda Conner was there with Jimmy Palmiotti. Amanda Conner had a line the whole show and Jimmy was pretty much left alone. I had him sign 22 Brides 1 to 4 and I don't think he even looked at the comics he was signing. Amanda Conner was as awesome as she always is but I had never seen her stand up before. I did not realize she was so short. I got a sketch book from her.

William Shatner was there doing pictures and signing autographs. So was McGyver. But the green power ranger had a longer line than both of them combined and my boss wanted me to get his autograph. Luckily, right at the end of the day his line was pretty manageable so I did get his autograph. He was definitely the belle of the ball. My wife was very excited to get to see Ioan Gruffud, Mr. Fantastic from the Fantastic Four movies. He had a panel so we sat through the one before his to get to see him. That panel was Natasha Henstridge, the naked blonde from Species. She is still so gorgeous that it feels wrong to see her in person, like she is supposed to be on a tv screen. That panel was filled with creepy old guys.

[Chiclo]

Still, the worst day at a con beats the best day at work.

[Elveen]

Still, the worst day at a con beats the best day at work.

Yes.

But sorry for the sucky-ness.

Every con I've set up at opens the doors early.

As for the lines, I can see BIG problems trying to get 4 people in in a quick manner. As always the key to early entrance to any con is: #1) Be Nice, #2) Sketch Hustle.