No 2010 Dragoncon post would be complete without a shout out and "thank you" to the folks who sponsor and stage this massive media event each year. I had absolutely no problems at the show this year and my friends and I were amazed at how smoothly the check-in process flowed. We all agreed that this was a much larger Saturday crowd than we encountered last year. Think huge!
We got into line fully two hours before the show was scheduled to open for the day at 10am and the monstrous line stretched around the entire block outside of the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel. The Sheraton is only one of the four major downtown Atlanta hotels that Dragoncon spills across, the others being the Hilton Atlanta, the Hyatt Regency Atlanta and the Marriott Marquis Atlanta. All of my time yesterday was split between the latter three contiguous hotels, but kudos for the Dragoncon show staffers/volunteers and the friendly staff of the Sheraton for an outstanding job moving that insane line through quickly. As a suggestion to anyone who decides to go in the future, buy your pass with cash (like me) and skip the plastic, the credit card line bogs down every year and you don't want to stand in line longer than necessary.
There is nothing more fun than being surrounded by actors & actresses from damn near every scif-fi, horror and fantasy show that you've ever watched. This year almost one hundred media personalities appeared at Dragoncon and there was someone for fans of all stripes to appreciate. Seeing the surviving cast members of the classic sit-com "I Dream of Jeannie" (Barbara Eden, Larry Hagman and Bill Daily) in person was really pretty cool. Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell were present for fans of "Quantum Leap" and if you appreciate sexy sci-fi sirens like I do, then I have to say that you have no idea just how smoking hot Summer Glau, Michelle Forbes and Morena Baccarin are in person. Yikes! I am a big fan of each of these lovely ladies and seeing them in the flesh is really the bee's knees, baby! I spoke briefly with Forbes & Baccarin as I purchased autographed photos, but Glau's line was really too long each time I ventured over into her area (sob) but that's just as well since I may not have been able to control the drooling fit seeing her sent me into.
There were also about thirty authors, thirty music, theatrics, & performance art groups and around forty comics-oriented guests to divide your time between. Word to the wise, at Dragoncon you have to pace yourself and accept the fact that you're not going to be able to take in everything - unless you stay for the whole four day show.
I've seen Stan Lee once before (at an earlier Dragoncon of all places) and "The Man" was there this year, but I never laid eyes on him. Ditto for actors Ben Browder, Levar Burton, Michael Shanks, Christopher Judge, Erica Cerra or Lexa Doig. The guests usually participate in panels, presentations and scheduled photo sessions with fans, so that's just the breaks. As I said meeting Michelle Forbes & Morena Baccarin was terrific and I also became infatuated with Kristin Bauer from "True Blood". She is much taller and sexier in person than I had imagined.
I am presenting random photos that I snapped (mostly of the comics industry guests) as proof that I was actually there, but I must apologize for a couple that are blurry and I had beer with my lunch yesterday; so that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
In descending order: (2) pics of the legendary Neal Adams, J. Scott Campbell, a stunning cosplayer as the "Silver Age" Catwoman, Darwyn Cooker, (2) pics from the Heroes & Dragons booth, Stephanie Gladden, Mike Mignola, Jimmy Palmiotti & two cosplayers (Riki LeCotey at right as "Loki"), George Perez, Eric Powell and my brother David posing with Kelley Jones.
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