Conventions: Big Apple Comic-Con Goes Old-School in NY

On a cold, dreary, wet weekend the folks at Wizard Universe got their geek love on in NYC by hosting their annual Big Apple Comic-Con event at the Pier 92/94 convention center. I dragged myself out of bed and overcame my fear of driving to NY (not so much the drive, it’s the parking nightmare)) to catch Saturday’s festivities.  Attending this year’s event the one phrase that ran in my head is – I am sooo OLD!  This event was refreshingly old school all the way.  It was like taking a trip through memory lane, seeing all my childhood heroes like Lou Ferrigno, Gil Gerard, Taylor Dayne, Julie Newmar, Sean Young, Helen Slater, Edward Furlong, Virgil, Ric Flair, Demolition, and a ton more.  The problem was all my childhood heroes are old now, which makes me feel really old and unhip, although, strangely enough Todd Bridges looks almost the same. TV’s Buck Rodgers, Gil Gerard – old. Back in the day he was smoking in that tight white jump suit.

Unlike San Diego and New York Comic-Cons, this was a very comfortable event. They noon they reached capacity but it didn’t feel like there were wall to wall people.  The folks at Wizard Universe put on pretty good show, there weren’t any big time Panels or a huge Hollywood or Video Game industry presence. Nintendo did have a ginormous booth and they were being prickish about people taking screenshots of their games. Hey Nintendo, these games have been out for months now what are you protecting at this point?

There were some panels but none of them particularly exciting; the BSG Panel was good as they always are. The BSG crew knows how to do these panels and as usual Aaron Douglass was funny as heck. He’s at Big Apple promoting his new show the upcoming CBS Cop Drama The Bridge. The great Neal Adams had an extensive Q and A session. Last year I spent an 1/2 hour with him in his booth and got to experience NY Comic Con from his perspective let me tell you it was intimidating sitting there with him and watching 500 people come at you for autographs.

For the first time I couldn’t think of that one special con item to look for, so the show floor didn’t particularly excite me. I was eying this Six Million Dollar Man DVD Complete collection but it was $85 and I couldn’t remember if I actually liked the show or not. Why isn’t this show out on regular DVD yet? It would be pretty awesome if Lee would show up at one of these conventions. I did pick up the Sarah Jane Adventures Season Two – I’ve given up on the idea that BBC America would ever air it.

Shatner was there and sucked the life out of the room. Huge lines for his autograph, he ticked a lot of folks off when, in typical, Shatner Prima Donna fashion he cut it off early and then cancelled the rest of his signing sessions for the day and cancelled his Q and A panel. But he did go into a private closed off booth to take some photos. Face it Shatner’s kind of a dick and there was poor Brent Spiner sitting in the same booth trying to compete – he saw me with my camera and happily struck a pose – without me asking. Nichelle Nichols wouldn’t let anyone touch her. In this age of the swine flu, can’t say I can really fault her for it.

I’ve never liked the original Star Trek crew and really all of them are pretty much jerks in real life.

By comparison the show’s other big draw ended up being the High Flying, Styling and Profiling, Limousine Riding, Kiss Stealing, 16 Time Wrestling Champ – Ric Flair. He pulled almost as big a crowd as the Shatner and worked the room – Whoo!  Whoo!  Overall I enjoyed my day at Big Apple Comic Con – I wish I was able to attend the Taylor Dayne and Naughty by Nature after show concerts but I wanted to get out of the city before the promised evening downpours. But hey, despite the last few days of horrible weather and the constant threat of more in the air a good time was still had by all.