This past weekend was the latest Dallas Comic Show, the breath of fresh air in a now-crowded D/FW convention space, full of interesting guests, actual comic art and some great collectibles.
The night before the convention began, as we talked about in our pre-convention highlight article, we headed out to the Alamo Drafthouse in Denton (which is incredible, by the way) for what ended up being one of the best Q&A experiences we’ve ever had. Before the screening of Attack the Block began, mo-cap legend Terry Notary came out and gave us a thirty minute introduction to the world of motion capture. Over the half hour, the topics ranged from the deeply personal to great anecdotes from the sets of Avatar and Ron Howard’s The Grinch to, finally, demonstrating how to walk like an ape.
Of course, when he asked for volunteers, our hands shot up instantly. It was a night we’ll never forget.
Driving into Lewisville the next morning, we really didn’t know what to expect. I’ll be honest, I was a little worried about the new location for Dallas Comic Show, at the Premier Event Center in Lewisville, Texas. I grew up going to the Richardson Civic Center (and the Plano Center) and making the hike out to Lewisville and Denton was a new (slightly longer) journey for me. But the space was well equipped for the show, a bustling crowd of fans, collectors and (always stellar) guests. So, armed with our Twin Peaks vinyl from Mondo, we spent the next few hours taking it all in, getting comics signed and buying more than we should (the true mark of a great convention).
Ben Templesmith, one of our favorite artists and all-around nice guy, took a lot of time out of his day to talk to us, sign a stack of Jason’s near-dog-eared comics, and make the trip a good one. We’re looking forward to the next time he swings into Dallas, if only because there are still a lot more books we didn’t get to!
Sherilyn Fenn herself was an enormous delight, taking the time to talk to both of us about how much she loved The Return (as well as her theory on Audrey’s current state), and indulged us both by talking briefly about Psych and Gilmore Girls. Thanks to Dallas Comic Show, we’ve now met three original actors from Twin Peaks and they’ve all been just the best.
We’re looking forward to November 17-18, which brings another installment of DCS, this time branded as the “Holiday Special” (which hopefully will be bringing in whoever played Lumpy in 1978).
