STAN LEE’s Comikaze Expo 2012… Suddenly Susan Says It Was Pretty Damn Lame… But Gets To Meet The Waking Dead Star Norman Reedus!

I was planning on going to Comikaze… Well… STAN LEE’s Comikaze but I was informed by the PR Department that they were only allowing “Large” media outlets into the con. Now, here at MTF we’ve been given press passes to:

San Diego Comic Con

Even Comikaze 2011!

And on, and on, and on… But STAN LEE’s Comikaze… Just too big… So, I boycotted (yes, I was in a tad bit of a tiff, but I restrained myself far more than I thought I would!).

Suddenly Susan however, was intent of getting to meet The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus, so she braved the long trek downtown.

Was it as lame as I anticipated… Well… Just check out her report after the jump!

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The problem with being a seasoned Comic Con attendee is that you tend to compare every other convention to it. Well, that aside, I wrote up a review of this past weekend’s Comikaze Expo. Excuse me; my bad. It’s now Stan Lee’s Comikaze. Those 8 little letters sure make all the difference. Adding good ol’ Stan’s name to the event doubled the number of attendees from 2011. It also created a giant cluster for those actually trying to get inside. I don’t think the powers that be were properly prepared. In fact I don’t think they were at all prepared. Entrance wait times varied from 20 minutes to over 2 hours. Some people left the LA Convention Center before ever getting inside, as the blistering 100+ temperature waiting in line was too much to bear.

I might have left too, except that I got an awesome stroke of luck. I had decided to take the train downtown, as it’s much easier, and a $3 fare sure beats a $20 parking fee. Who do you think I ran into on the train? MTF writer the Novel Strumpet! After a LONG walk to the back of the line, which stretched around the Center, Alicia and her friends learned other friends of theirs were already in line inside the Center.

Though I detest line cutters, I put on my Hypocrite Cap and squeezed in with them. Our wait was still 45 minutes long, but at least we were out of the heat. Inside wasn’t fairing much better. It was mini cluster. No signs, no velvet ropes, no cones, no answers; just an eager maze of people waiting to get on the expo floor. I think my favorite moment came when the Convention staff had reached their “screw it” limit and started handing out wristbands to anyone with a paper printout. They did not check i.d.s, they did not scan the bar codes, they did not check to see if I merely handed them a CVS coupon that expired last week.

Given the amount of time spent just to get indoors, I expected the actual convention floor to be mobbed. I was wrong. The aisles were open and not at all crowded.

It made it much easier for me to snap photos of unsuspecting fans in costume. I noticed a theme amongst the male superheroes and villains. Let’s be nice and call it…husky.

I saw Husky Darth Vader,

Husky Green Hornet,

Husky Iron Man,

and so on…

The panels scheduled were quite lackluster in my opinion. Mark Hamill may be considered a headliner, but when he’s there to discuss “Sushi Girl” and not “Star Wars,” does anyone really give a crap? Felicia Day and The Guild were there, of course, whoring themselves out at more than one panel.

We also had a Nerd Dating Game where the winning contestant got a “date,” meaning a few private moments at the expo, with Adrianne Curry.

How joyous for the winner. I’m not sure whose affections the female contestants battled over. I left before they got to it.

In fact, I left after they announced Ms. Curry. As for the merchandise being peddled, it’s not that it’s bad, or uninteresting. It’s just the same stuff you see at every and any convention, including the Hollywood Collectors Show.

One of the reasons I attended was to get Norman Reedus on my Walking Dead poster. Now, he was advertised on the site as costing $30. However, once you got to his table, there was a small sign indicating it was $40. I’m not going to blame Norman for the faux pas and it’s not really that big of a deal. It just feels like I’m getting swindled. A woman ahead of me in line said, “why is it ten dollars more?” “Because we’ll pay it,” is what I told her.

I only had one item, but I felt bad for the kid behind me who had three. That’s an extra 30 buckaroos, or what should have been one autograph. Perhaps Norman can use it to buy another pair of sunglasses to wear indoors. Ok, so that’s me being cranky. I truly don’t get why someone meeting their fans would shield themselves from actually making eye contact, but I can’t cut the guy down. He was so soft spoken and kind, and seemed generally interested to meet each person in line. I’ll just tell myself he had a long night filming and was hiding the dark circles under his eyes.

I have to comment on the number of people NOT signing at the expo. I had assumed when I saw Noah Hathaway’s name as a featured guest on the site, that he would be signing autographs. I planned on getting my own Neverending Story item, as well as an 8×10 for a friend. Given the popularity of the original Battlestar Galactica, as well as TNES, I expected a good crowd for him. What I got was no crowd, because he had no scheduled autograph session. I checked with the “information” booth hand all they had to say was, “that’s handled by the talent, we have nothing to do with their scheduling”. They did have a signing list, but he was not on it, nor was Mark Hamill. I had joked earlier in the week that I wished I had $150 to burn so I could take a DVD of Corvette Summer for Hamill to sign, instead of something Star Wars related. Now I come to find out, he’s not even doing a session. Why oh why would you bring the Luke Skywalker to a convention and not give him an autograph session? It boggles the mind.

I had one last task to complete before I left. I had promised Mike the Fanboy I’d get Ron Glass to sign his Firefly mini poster. Mr. Glass was posted on the site as having an autograph session. I found the booth with his name above. Between 11:30am and 2:15pm he was a no show. Again, the “information” booth could only confirm his was on the list, but they had no information on what time. Apologies to Mike, but I left the convention without getting Mr. Glass. I had already stayed two and a half hours longer than needed waiting for him to show up. But, the timing paid off. On the way out I struck fangirl gold! I couldn’t believe my eyes, when none other than Danny Cooksey, who played precocious Sam on “Diff’rent Strokes” after Gary Coleman stopped being cute, was walking ahead of me!

I couldn’t just ask a big star like that to take a photo with me, so I did a drive by and it came out pretty well. You can’t tell from the photo, but he’s only about 5’2 and a little bit chunky. He’s still got that attractive red hair, in a happenin’ Lord Fauntleroy cut. Way to keep it real Danny.

Way to keep this whole convention real indeed.