Most of the guests I was interested in seeing had cancelled but there was still the opportunity to see
Julie Newmar
Joyce Dewitt
Priscilla Barnes
Jeremy Bulloch
Yvonne Craig
and comic book artists
Jeff Schultz and Rich Buckler
So I came in on Sunday instead of the usual Saturday because we had a huge party for my daughter on Saturday and I checked things out. First off this show was a dealers room and signing tables. A lot like the Chiller Theater style of show but with less people. This is a good thing as I was able to move around the convention at my own pace, shop a little bit and look and all the guests first before getting on line for an autograph. Out of the attending guests I decided I wanted to get a signature from Priscilla Barnes.
She was quite fun to watch as she was wonderfully social with everyone on line for her and chatted nicely with everyone despite having a terrible summer cold.
I chatted with her a bit about a small role she had on Taxi in the episode Fantasy Borough: Part 2. In this story Alex has a fantasy where he picks up a pretty fare who flirts with him. They make it back to his apartment where they flirt some more and begin to make out before Alex figures out she's his cousin. The punch line, Alex can't even have a good fantasy!
Next I walked around a bit more and took a few pictures and decided to talk to Julie Newmar. Over on Mark Evaniers weblog News From Me he has a lovely little write-up of Julie Newmar and her role in the Lil' Abner musical but I was in full geek mode and I decided I would talk to Ms. Newmar about a small part she did in a 1973 episode of Columbo called Double Shock
She really didn't remember the role that much (It was 5 days work) but the entire story had made an impression on me and of course there is always the Martin Landau/Space 1999 tie-in I bring to these things so I wanted to ask questions along those lines. I didn't really expect too much information and I ended up telling her more about that episode and Martin than she could tell me. Still it's a pleasant way to have a few minutes of conversation with....Julie Newmar and I convinced myself that I couldn't live without this signed picture!
Julie told me that was her mothers lingerie which, in a way spoils it a little for me.
Had a huge conversation about Julie with my sister when I got home on Sunday night and I wished she had been able to go with me to this thing. I think she would have appreciated Julie in a less sexist way than I do. We had a long talk about her in the Lil' Abner musical and her career in the 1960's. So thanks Julie for giving my sister and I something to bond over on Sunday night.
From there I checked out the comic book artists that appealed to me on the convention website. That would be Jeff Schultz who works on the Archie line in the Betty and Veronica books. He said he thought Betty was hotter than Veronica but I figured he heard that question a thousand times and knew I was going to say Veronica.
The other artist I wanted to see was Rich Buckler who had done some comics I remember from the 1970's, especially titles like Fantastic Four and Deathlock.
I didn't speak to Rich because while I did remember his covers and some of his books I really didn't remember them that well and I had no time before the convention to dig through my collection and re-read those old Deathlock comics.
I met a couple of nice dealers in the dealers room, notably Arsenal Models who discounted some kits for me and who have a web site coming up soon. They say it's an in progress site so if it doesn't work for you wait a few weeks and try again. www.arsenalmodels.com. Had a nice discussion with John Mimlkos (sp?) about Spielberg's version of War of the Worlds. John has a terrific collection of TV and Movie tie-in paperbacks and you should look for him at the next convention you go to. Before I left the convention a little while for a coffee break I talked with Jeremy Bulloch who played the bounty hunter Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. I asked him about his Doctor Who work, what he thought of the New Doctor Who series and the conversation slid into a discussion of the old Star Wars compared to the new Star Wars. I told him Empire was the best film of the series and that Lucas got a swelled head when he started talking to Joseph Campbell in the 1980s. Jeremy is a good guy and it was nice of him to talk to me about this, I'm sure the guy would have rather discussed a film where he wasn't wearing a mask all the time.
Before I left the show to go home I decided one more walk through past the dealers tables and autograph tables. But I ended up checking out a cool replica of the Batmobile which you'll see in the pictures below ended up being a great moment as BatGirl, Yvonne Craig came out to autograph the car! Check out the last rows of convention pictures below to see this incredible moment!
I didn't speak to Rich because while I did remember his covers and some of his books I really didn't remember them that well and I had no time before the convention to dig through my collection and re-read those old Deathlock comics.
I met a couple of nice dealers in the dealers room, notably Arsenal Models who discounted some kits for me and who have a web site coming up soon. They say it's an in progress site so if it doesn't work for you wait a few weeks and try again. www.arsenalmodels.com. Had a nice discussion with John Mimlkos (sp?) about Spielberg's version of War of the Worlds. John has a terrific collection of TV and Movie tie-in paperbacks and you should look for him at the next convention you go to. Before I left the convention a little while for a coffee break I talked with Jeremy Bulloch who played the bounty hunter Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. I asked him about his Doctor Who work, what he thought of the New Doctor Who series and the conversation slid into a discussion of the old Star Wars compared to the new Star Wars. I told him Empire was the best film of the series and that Lucas got a swelled head when he started talking to Joseph Campbell in the 1980s. Jeremy is a good guy and it was nice of him to talk to me about this, I'm sure the guy would have rather discussed a film where he wasn't wearing a mask all the time.
Before I left the show to go home I decided one more walk through past the dealers tables and autograph tables. But I ended up checking out a cool replica of the Batmobile which you'll see in the pictures below ended up being a great moment as BatGirl, Yvonne Craig came out to autograph the car! Check out the last rows of convention pictures below to see this incredible moment!
