Beaming up fun at Space City Comic Con

One of the perks of being the editor of the newspaper is assigning yourself some really cool event s to cover.

I decided to assign myself to cover the Space City Comic Con held last weekend at NRG Center, in the same Houston complex as NRG Stadium and the Astrodome. Yeah, I know it has nothing at all to do with Sealy, but who knows, maybe someone from Sealy went to the event. Maybe I’ve got an opportunity to show and tell you something new and interesting.

After a less than stellar experience a couple months ago at Comicpalooza, I was feeling jaded toward the whole comic con thing. I’ve been to more than I can count. The whole thing has become institutionalized with celebrities charging for pictures and autographs, people dressing in costumes and the same overpriced merchandise being hawked from vendor booths.

Space City Comic Con, however, surprised me.  No, it still had the same trappings as all the other cons, but this was smaller and had a more intimate feel to it. With very few exceptions, you could mingle with the celebrities at their autograph tables. Even if you didn’t buy an autograph, most were willing to shake your hand, visit and even let you shoot their picture. It was almost like being in the Golden Age of comic cons when you could really get to know the stars.

Even the vendor’s trinkets seemed to be more unique and better quality than what I’ve seen of late. You gotta love it when someone specializes in lightsabers.

My son Luke came with me on Saturday. He is a huge “Doctor Who” fan and thoroughly enjoyed getting to see actors Arthur Darvill and Karen Gillan who starred as companions of The Doctor on the show. We did not get to meet them, but we did sit in on their Q&A panel. We also sat in on a panel with William Shatner, best known as the original Capt. James T. Kirk from “Star Trek.”

Seeing Shatner was incredible. I first saw him from a distance at Starfest in Denver more than 10 years ago. I honestly thought that would be the one and only time I got to see him in person. This time we got to sit in on his talk and take some pictures. He was really funny and not afraid to lampoon himself. As a life-long “Star Trek” fan, it was a dream come true.

We also got to see several members of the “Star Trek: Voyager” cast. I saw Kate Mulgrew and met Tim Russ and Garrett Wang for the second time each and met Ethan Phillips and Robert Picardo for the first time. Robert Beltran was supposed to be there, but I never did see him.

One of the thrills for me, however, was getting to meet Gil Gerard, best known for the show “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.” He was there with Felix Silla, who played the robot Twiki on “Buck Rogers.” For those of you old enough to remember, he was Cousin Itt on “The Addams Family” TV show.

Of all the stars, however, one in particular made me feel star struck. I have wanted to meet Chad Michael Murray ever since he starred as The Lone Ranger in the ill-fated television program that aired in 2003 on The WB. As the owner of the Lone Ranger Fan Club at the time, I wanted to interview him and stalked him for years to no avail.

On this day I finally got to meet him in person. He was very kind and friendly. When I asked if I could take his picture, he was more than happy to oblige. He did request that he pose with someone, so Luke stepped in. I now have pictures of Murray with my son (and my wife is jealous).

With an experience like we had last weekend, I think I can shake off the jaded feelings and once again enjoy the madcap, star struck weirdness that is comic cons. If I’m lucky, I can test that theory the second weekend in August when Texas Comicon comes to the Alamo City. Darth Vader (David Prowse) is coming to that one. I can feel the force flowing through me already!