Marvel

and Anime

Reign

Supreme

at Dallas

Comic

Con 2014

ARTIST AT VENDOR EXHIBIT

Last weekend, I attended Dallas Comic Con. It was nothing short of amazing. My decision to go was solely based on the possibility of meeting three people: Stan Lee, the mind behind Marvel, Eric Vale, and Sean Schemmel. I got so much more than I bargained for.

Seeing Stan Lee is not what you would consider a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because the man covers lots of ground at events like this, but he is still 91-years-old. However, we’ll talk more about Stan later. Let’s move on to the ultimate reasons why I went to the Con.

Eric Vale and Sean Schemmel are voice actors. Their bodies of work, combined, include anime like Pokemon, One Piece, and my incontestable favorite, Dragon Ball Z. I am obsessed with Dragon Ball Z. I hope to one day write a Dragon Ball/Z/GT bible. If you’re unfamiliar with this pioneer anime series, here’s a bit of back story:

The Dragon Ball series chronicles the life of Son Goku, an unfathomably strong descendant of a warrior, alien race of people called Saiyans, who is sent to Earth as a baby to destroy the planet. After a bump on the head as a rowdy toddler, Goku becomes a big-hearted, albeit extremely daft, lover of martial arts. He then takes on the title of

defender of the Earth and the show features the battles of him and his friends against the universe’s most evil tyrants.

I fell in love with the show as a child and the obsession has yet to wane. With that being said, I nearly lost all of my decency when I learned that the voice behind Goku, Sean Schemmel, was headlining the Con. Along with him was Eric Vale, the voice behind the character, Trunks, who happens to be my favorite DBZ character.

My boyfriend and I headed to day one of the festivities after work. We snapped a few photos with some awesome cosplayers and things got very interesting after that. Hunger reared its head and we stopped to get pizza. As fate would have it, my boyfriend’s mini pizza wasn’t sliced. I opted that we stop by a table and cut his pizza into edible slices as he is still recovering from wisdom teeth extraction.

Stay with me.

At the table, I set our drinks down and began slicing the pizza. Two men, that I didn’t pay much attention to, walked up to the table to get napkins and condiments.

Don’t mess with Deadpool My boyfriend, Lewej (luh-zhe), loves Deadpool, but sadly, learned that the anti-hero does not feel the same way about him.

Who is that masked man? These masks were on display at the vendor exhibit. If you are going to cosplay, you have to do it right. Right? I’ll probably purchase one of these beauties in the next lifetime because they most certainly are not cheap.

Voice Actors Galore and Meeting Goku

I realized my things were in the way so I grabbed them. One of the guys apologized for being in the way of my stuff and of course, it wasn’t a big deal.

I said, “Oh, no, you’re goo—”

Before the ‘d’ could round out the word “good” and escape my lips, I realized that I was face-to-face with Sean Schemmel. How awesome is that? My weekend was absolutely made from that point on.

Meeting Sean at the Con

After my encounter with Sean, my boyfriend and I headed to some meet and greets and I met Eric Vale and got his autograph. I met Mike McFarland, the voice behind another DBZ favorite, Master Roshi, and Vic Mignogna, the voice behind Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan.

I felt like I was going to die of DBZ overload. I didn’t get any other autographs because I left my manga, which is a Japanese comic book for lack of a better description, in the car because I only expected to see my voice actor favorites at an anime panel scheduled for day two. I didn’t realize they were meeting fans and signing autographs all weekend.

After buying some awesome, dirt cheap, classic comic books, we headed to the Stan Lee panel. At the panel, I realized two things: I realized that Stan Lee is in love with himself

and that I should not make writing the burden that I oftentimes do.

Meeting Mike McFarland AKA Master Roshi

Stan regaled the audience with memories of how he came up with the world’s most iconic superheroes. He made a point to mention that he was not overcome with a sudden revelation, but that he simply sat down and thought about new material. He said his motivation was that he was being paid to write and create new things, and he wanted to keep his job.

He was asked how he came up with Spider-Man and he said that he was asked to create a new superhero. He retired to his room and thought about it. He noticed a fly crawling on the wall and thought it would be amazing if a man could do that. He began to think of names. Fly-Man and others were no good, but the awe-inspiring eventually came to him. He pulled his microphone closer, adopted a serious look on his face, and said, “Spider-Man.” Thus our “teenaged hero with a bunch of personal problems” was born.

Honestly, I’ve never been more inspired.

The next day of Dallas Comic-Con involved an anime panel with many of my favorites, lots of walking, pictures and autographs. My boyfriend even surprised me with a four star Dragon Ball signed by Sean Schemmel. It’s safe to say that I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything and I’m officially

addicted to Cons. I can’t wait for the next one.

Feeling super at the Funimation station

Look, it’s the Great Saiyaman!

Enjoy the pictures These obvious DBZ fans’ swag is well over 9000 as they rock their Turtle Hermit School tees.

People Paid a Pretty Penny to Meet Stan Lee

Stan signing autographs.

Deadpool likes me.

Beast does too. Boyfriend, Lewej and Harley Quinn.