I knew where I'd be tomorrow back in January, when we first mentioned that, oh, some guys named Stan Lee and Leonard Nimoy would be attending the Dallas Comic Con, which makes its move to the newly opened Irving Convention Center after years in Richardson and Plano. Figure we'll get there 'round 3ish: That's when Mr. Spock's scheduled to make what he cryptically tweets will be "a special program" of some kind. (Love that he ends every message with "LLAP.") Also on the guest list: Carrie Fisher (who, sadly, will not perform Wishful Drinking), Thomas Jane (who just wants his kids back) and a host of writers and artists familiar to anyone who's stepped foot in a comics shop lately.
I've been to enough of these -- for the kid, swear ... no, you shut up -- to know this one's the big deal. Sure, William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols have been to Ben Stevens and Mark Walters's cons in recent months, but Spock and Leia and the co-creator of Marvel Comics's most icons heroes -- that's quite the Holy Trinity of Geekdom right there. Hence, perhaps, the CNN sneak peek, which predicts a turnout of more than 10,000.
I remember my first sci-fi convention -- 1978, NorthPark Inn. A Star Trek confab. Gene Roddenberry was there, showing off that blooper reel you could only see at conventions back then. I also remember going to one at the same hotel in '85, after a Judy's show at the Arcadia. We'd had a few too many Boone's Farms. My date thought it would "be funny." I vaguely recall running into George Takei in the hallway, talking to a tribble. Though it might have been the Boone's Farm.