Conned by Comicpalooza, I’m headed to San Antonio

For the record, I’m a big fan of Comicpalooza, Houston’s big, annual comic con.

I’ve attended almost all of them since it was a two-day event at West Oaks Mall in 2009. I’ve been a volunteer a couple times and have written extensively about it over the years. It was founded by my friend John Simons and has become the largest such event in Texas, taking over the George R. Brown Convention Center.

I’m not going this year.

It’s not because of a scheduling conflict. It’s due to a lack of interest. There are no A-list celebrities attending the event next weekend. No big names from Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter, Battlestar Galactica, or any other major sci-fi/fantasy genre grace the marquee this year. It’s incredibly disappointing.

Instead, I’m focusing my attention on the Superhero Car Show & Comic Con at Freeman Expo Halls in San Antonio the first weekend in August.

While Comicpalooza was trickling out names like Terry Crews, Christopher Eccleston, Alice Cooper, Karen Fukuhara, Adam Cole, and Jackie Earle Haley, Superhero Car Show & Comic Con was trumpeting Ewan McGreggor, Haley Atwell, Giancarlo Esposito, Hulk Hogan, Alan Ritchson, Brandon Routh and Spencer Wilding, among others, with more being announce all the time.

Now, I know there is a lot more to see and do at comic cons than stalk celebrities for expensive autographs and photo opportunities, but Comicpalooza isn’t offering up anything that really strikes my fancy.

Superhero Car Show & Comic Con, however, has an awesome car show. Among them are the 1966 Batmobile and Bat Cycle, the 1989 Batmobile, Men in Black Ford Galaxy, Iron Man 2 Formula 1 Race Car, Ghostbusters ECTO-1, several Transformers cars, Back to the Future Delorean Time Machine, Herbie The Luv Bug, Green Hornet’s Black Beauty, Knight Rider’s K.I.T.T., Greased Lightning, the Munster Koach and many more. (I was hoping they would have Wonder Woman’s invisible jet, but I don’t see that happening.)

Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, the Blues Brothers featuring Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi will be in concert there Friday, Aug. 5!

I’m sure there are plenty of people who are excited about Comicpalooza this year and are very familiar with the guest lineup. I just don’t happen to be one of them. I miss the good old days when Comicpalooza had people like Sir Patrick Stewart, Stan Lee, Peter Mayhew, Tom Holland, Ray Park, Henry Winkler, the casts of “Battlestar Galactica,” “Gotham,” and “Aliens” (including Sigourney Weaver, Bill Paxton, Paul Reiser, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn and Mark Rolston), and so many other A-list celebrities.

I remain hopeful that Comicpalooza will come across with major 11th-hour announcements, but it is unlikely this late in the game. If they do, I just might be there after all. Until then, Superhero Car Show & Comic Con is the convention serving up the big names this year.

As a bonus, the event falls on my birthday weekend, so my daughter Heather will be joining us from Denver, where she routinely attends comic cons and is big into anime. We haven’t been to a comic con together since she was really little. It will be fun to spend time with her like that.

I’m sure she will wear one of her many costumes. All I have is my Lone Ranger outfit, and I haven’t been able to wear it since losing 60 pounds over the last couple years. Maybe I can come up with something creative between now and August.

It would be awesome if we can re-create a photo Heather and I took in 1993 with the 1966 Batmobile. She was just a baby then.

My wife and sons are not interested in attending the comic cons anymore. That’s probably because I’ve dragged them to so many over the years. Interestingly enough, I proposed to Sandy while we were standing in a line at the first Star Wars Celebration in Denver in 1999.

We were toying with the idea of going to next year’s Star Wars Celebration in London, England, but it sold out before we even knew tickets were on sale.

I guess I can hold out hope for attending the Holy Grail of comic cons someday – the San Diego Comic Con. That’s the largest in the world and is an extravaganza like no other. Major Hollywood studios hold big events and announcements there and A-listers are a dime a dozen.

For now, I’ll have to keep that on my Bucket List and set my sights on San Antonio. And hopefully next year Comicpalooza will get back on track and bring us a show of the type we love and expect from a major comic con.

Joe Southern is managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and the East Bernard Express. He can be reached at news@journal-spectator.com.