But not this time.
Yes friends, that's me with Dr. Demento, taken just a few weeks ago at East Coast Comic Con in Jersey. Radio host, media personality, the guy who gave Weird Al (and countless others) his start, and all around goofy, friendly guy.
As a fan of all things weird and campy in pop culture, I just had to meet the guy. I'd been listening to the Covered in Punk album he released last year, and just had to tell him just how much I loved it. The guy who helped him put it together, John Cafiero of Osaka Popstar, was in attendance too, but for some reason I didn't approach him.
It was no surprise that Dr. Demento was a totally nice person, and sounding exactly the same as he did all those years ago. I had to ask him just how in the world did he become Bart Simpson's other arch nemesis, since that question's been plaguing me ever since I first saw that episode over 20 years ago.
He simply gave me the actual story behind his cameo: Matt Groening would always listen to him while drawing Life in Hell, and decided to put him into the show as a way of saying thanks. So this just means that the mystery behind this little throwaway gag continues.
Throughout his stories, I was hanging on his every word. I'm not the most talkative guy around, but if I didn't have other things to do that day, I would've been able to talk to him for hours.
And I definitely could have. Since there was about a few months of hype surrounding his appearance (and being cancelled and being put back on a few times before the show arrived), I thought I would have to fight crowds and I feared missing out on him. Oh, how wrong I was. I pretty much had the guy to myself, which is a double edged sword. For one, it's not every day you meet a guy like Dr. Demento and being able to hold an honest to god conversation with him at a busy convention. On the other hand...I just kept thinking he was lonely. Well, he had his handlers and the other people around his table, so he wasn't truly alone. It always pains me to see someone at a con get little attention.
He paled in comparison to the show's real headliner, this guy:
George Perez. Artist for Marvel and DC, responsible for illustrating such works as the Infinity Gauntlet event, and Crisis on Infinite Earths. That alone would be enough to command a crowd, but he was apparently on his "farewell tour" from retiring not only from the comics industry, but the convention circuit as well. I'm not THAT well-versed in the inner workings of the comic industry, but that's still a pretty big deal. I just didn't know HOW big of a deal he was.
I would've loved to have gotten him to sign my copy of the Infinity Gauntlet collection, just like I did for the other three guests there: Ron Lim, Joe Rubenstein, and Jim Starlin.
Each of the guys that signed it either charged ten bucks, or were free. Gotta love deals like that.
Yep, that's the creator of Thanos. And of course, a totally cool guy.
George's line got cut off every time I tried to get on it, so that candid picture is all I have of him. Not only was he willing to sign up to a dozen things for everyone in line, but he's also pretty chatty and loves to talk to his fans. Which is all well and good, but that meant lines that lasted for hours. FOMO hit me pretty hard, even though I got to see and meet lots of other great things that day.
Like Butch Patrick (the guy who played Eddie Munster) playing Munsters pinball. If you were able to beat his score, you won a piece of Munster's memorabilia from his table for free. As far as I know, nobody beat him.
And of course, the Munstermobile. Or at the very least an awesome replica.
The Munstermobile was a given, but I wasn't expecting to see the Dragula from "Munster, Go Home," the 1966 movie that ends with Herman entering a race to restore the honor of the family name, or something. It's been a while since I've seen it.
And finally, probably my biggest score at the place. I don't normally go for mystery boxes, especially ones that are just a single Funko Pop. See, one booth was selling a $50 mystery box containing a single Funko Pop that was signed by various celebrities at shows that the booth's been to. The possibilities ranged from Stranger Things, Power Rangers, MCU cast, Billy West, some Game of Thrones people, all the way up to Stan Lee.
Of course, not every possible signed pop was worth the $50. But that's what makes it fun! I decided that I was still under budget and just felt lucky, so I bit the bullet. I grabbed one off of a pile, and told the people there that I had a good feeling about this one. Imagine my surprise when I opened up the box to find this Harry Potter pop signed by Daniel Radcliffe.
I was assured that it's real, and for now I refuse to part with it. For now.
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