25 Comments

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  Comment by Thomas Bell — June 2, 2014 @ 2:57 am

  Hia Vanessa and Cole, Great episode! My first real con, was a little something called Mertoncon, if you remember the song I had Merton sing for you, well, a lot of the people who I met through the Merton Show,from Canada, and all around the U.S.took a trip to Denver, to meet Merton and just hang out with him for a couple of days. It was quite fun, and awesome! We took a bus trip tour around Denver while Merton played his Piano on the bus, and hung put where there were pianos lined up on the street and he just played for everyone who passed by. Great stuff! Thanks again for all the joy you bring us!

  Thomas Bell

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  Comment by Mark Redmond — June 2, 2014 @ 6:24 am

  I went to a Football Card convention in NJ when I was 20 — Saw some Dallas Cowboys and Peyton Manning just after he graduated Tennessee —
  no Eli…

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  Comment by Sarah — June 2, 2014 @ 9:05 am

  My first convention was New York Comic Con in 2010, and I’ve been going every year since. I had such a blast seeing a bunch of other people that were just as into all these nerdy things as I was.

  Great episode! Always love hearing Patton talk about TV and movies.

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  Comment by Stephen — June 2, 2014 @ 10:02 am

  My first convention was in downtown Chicago. I was 12. My dad took me. I saw Walter Koenig in a panel. Wrath of Khan had just come out. I won Avengers… 5, maybe, in the auction. My dad and I got free Something Wicked This Way Comes tees and he wore his for years. Never saw the movie. I bought a Wrath of Khan game watch and a REVENGE of the Jedi tee. My daughter wears it as a nightshirt. The highlight was I got to meet Ron Wilson who was the artist of my favorite comic Marvel Two in One and he drew me The Thing.

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  Comment by Diego — June 2, 2014 @ 1:48 pm

  my first convention was the los angeles comic book and science fiction convention in 2007. the highlight was a panel with smallville tv show creators alfred gough and miles millar. they autographed a poster for me (which is still on my wall) and answered audience questions. someone asked if darkseid would be appearing on the show. they seemed to have no idea who he was.

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  Comment by DJ Kento — June 2, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

  As a young boy of 11 or 12 I went to a local Star Trek convention and I went to mer Marina Sirtis, because we were told the actress who played Diana Troy on Next Generation would be there. In actuality it was Majel Barret, Gene Roddenberry’s wife who played Diana Troy’s Mother, Nurse Chapel on the original Star Trek and was the voice of the computer in pretty much every Star Trek show ever.

  She was super sweet, gave me a hug and took a picture with me. It was a really wonderful first con, especially for being so small, with a single stage where I remember they continuously played movie trailers.

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  Comment by Allen P. Williams — June 2, 2014 @ 10:59 pm

  I’ve never been to a convention.

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  Comment by Ryan — June 3, 2014 @ 7:34 am

  My first convention ever was Wizard World Chicago 2006. It completely blew my mind that something so wonderful and magical could even exist. Since then, I have attended at least 4-5 regional comic conventions per yer first as a fan and then starting in 2011 as a fledgling comic book writer (mostly self-published and small press, though I did have an issue out from Image Comics last year that I wrote). Nothing can compare to the first though–I was just blown away by EVERYTHING that year.

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  Comment by Denice — June 3, 2014 @ 9:59 am

  Ok, first things first. I think the movie you’re looking for Vanesssa is “The Bermuda Depths” It’s actually a Rankin Bass Movie done with Toho (Godzilla) in the 70’s. It starts with two kids on the beach who find a sea turtle and carve their initials in it. The girl is Jennie Hanover who is a woman who sold her soul to the devil to remain forever beautiful. Later the boy returns a man and the girl now “ages” to tempt him once again. Its on the Warner Archives and worth a look. I saw it when I was a girl and took forever to find it again.
  The first convention I went to was an X-files convention in Boise. Nick Lea and William B. Davis were the guest and William stole the show with his convictions that Cancer man was the real “hero” of the show. Truly memorable!

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  Comment by Aaron Brungardt — June 3, 2014 @ 7:29 pm

  My first con was San Diego Comic-Con in 1997. I went from 1997-2008, when I’d had enough of the crowds. What is somewhat ironic or coincidental about Patton being the guest, this being the 1st question, and this story of me:

  In 2000, during SD Comic-Con, I was at the Marriott Hotel next door going up the escalator when I see Patton, Posehn, and Scott Adsit going down the opposite escalator. I’m a comedy nerd, so I knew them all, not to brag. So I think quickly what to say, and this is what I go with: I shout, “Oswalt!” a la Brian Doyle Murray as Jack Ruby in JFK and I duck. A few seconds later, I look down and see the three of them looking up to see who did that. I look them all in the eye and give them the ‘devil horns’ because hey, I am a fan and they like metal… I was 17. I didn’t see them again at the Con but we clearly connected. Right?

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  Comment by Rob S. — June 4, 2014 @ 7:34 am

  My first convention was Fed Con USA in Dallas. Half the guest didn’t show up and it was cancelled half way through. My X-Men character would be called Placebo. she just makes people THINK they’re okay. Prof. X tries to stand up. Cyclops doesn’t wear his glasses.

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  Comment by Lynn M. — June 4, 2014 @ 12:31 pm

  My first convention was a Sci-Fi Expo in Dallas Texas! I think it was in February of 2013. I went because Billy Boyd from The Lord of the Rings was going to be there and I Love those movies!! I figured I would never get this opportunity again so I bravely decided to go there alone and it was a blast! It was fun to see the venders and panels along with the other Sci-Fi fans getting to see some of their favorite hero’s. A goal I have now, is to try and collect the entire fellowships signatures for my Blu-ray special edition box set of the LOTR’s 🙂 It will be a challenge for sure, but totally worth the adventure that it will surely hold!

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  Comment by Paul — June 5, 2014 @ 7:56 am

  I don’t remember the first convention I attended because my Dad and I attended a lot of local baseball card conventions when I was young. Usually at a Holiday Inn, or something like that, near Altoona, PA.

  One memory that sticks out is of getting Barry Bonds autograph at one of these things, back when we was a skinny outfielder for the Pirates. I remember telling him thanks and him not acknowledging me at all, just signing the thing and handing it back. I was probably 13 years old. Good times.

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  Comment by Todd Mason — June 5, 2014 @ 11:13 pm

  Sf and fantasy fiction fandom might not’ve invented the affinity/not particularly commercial convention model, but comics fandom and media fandom and romance and crime-fiction and pulp-magazine fandom all took after the model established beginning in 1939 in Philadelphia, with the first con so tagged…most of the pioneers in those other fields had learned the con-running ropes from sf/f conventions before striking out in other directions. (Likewise fanzines/zines…not that they don’t have other parents, too, but f&sf fandom spawned punkzines as well comics zines and others.) I managed, despite reading all sorts of fiction passionate since early childhood, to not actually move myself conward till 1984, having just relocated to the DC area, and managing to catch the tail end of that year’s Disclave, the long-established annual regional con for fans that was slowly gaining an attending mix of non-sf/f folks interested in wide range of activities, including not a few sexual fetish enthusiasts…some of whom were a little incautious on how they set up their toys, and managed to set off some of the fire alarms and do small damage to their rooms; a fratboy (or might as well be) element had likewise crept in, and altogether Disclave was gaining a Very bad reputation with hotels in the area, and 1984 was toward the end of that convention’s run. As someone who hadn’t yet met too many fans from the area, I volunteered to help with some of the last-minute tasks the organizers faced, and talked with a few people, but generally didn’t have too great a time, as most of the most gregarious and neofan-helpful folks were busy in the last day…though a few were engaging and encouraging, and seeing the art show was pleasant to say the least. One young woman in attendance was among a number of costumers, cosplay the term not yet in circulation I think, and had produced an almost stereotypically woman-fannish human/butterfly hybrid or faerie costume that was beautifully done, and utterly transparent; she was also quite physically attractive, a fact not at all diminished by her wearing the costume and nothing else aside from sandals or mules or the like–I admit my eyes didn’t run to her feet too often, and I chose not to gape too foolishly (nudity in costuming is somewhat less common today than it was from the latter ’60s well into the 1980s, I gather). No paid model she (a la ComiCon), but someone who worked hard on costume-construction, and clearly enjoyed the attention it brought (as far as I know, no one paid the bad kind of attention)…this kind of thing probably ticked off the hotels a bit, as well, though hers was the only costume I saw which would definitely not fly in most theme parks nor kid-friendly costume parties. I can’t say I’ve been completely at home in any of the cons I’ve attended since–often since they’re too much crowded into too short a time, a breakdown of the nature of the events–but the International Association of Jazz Educators convention I was able to attend in DC was an exception, though there there was so much music happening, in scheduled concerts and impromptu jams in the hallways, and everything in between, that not getting to talk to too many people for any length of time was less disappointing…as was getting a chance to be not Too Fanboy in the presence of longtime heroes such as Max Roach and Joe Morello…two gentlemen we won’t be hearing from again, unfortunately. Likewise, that was one of the last IAJE gatherings before that organization shut down, in the face of cutbacks in art-education funding…clearly my attendance can doom a long-running con. Happily, so far my appearances at one each of the Bouchercon (the world crime-fiction convention), the WorldCon (the world f&sf con), CorFlu (for fanzine fans), NoirCon (noir crime fiction/drama/related), and ReaderCon (mostly fantasy, horror and sf literature) hasn’t yet derailed those institutions.

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  Comment by Todd Mason — June 5, 2014 @ 11:14 pm

  Reading fiction passionately, that is…and writing some.

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  Comment by Katie — June 6, 2014 @ 10:13 am

  My first con was Denver Comic Con in 2013. But I also attended SDCC last summer as well. At both cons I bought lots of original art, talked to comic book artists and I went to some panels at SDCC. Met Patrick Warburton in a food truck line. Going back to the DCC next weekend and I’m doing cosplay this year.

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  Comment by Corky Maday — June 7, 2014 @ 1:33 pm

  My first con was in Chicago in 2003. We hit the hotels on Saturday night and saw Lou Ferrigno at a bar. He was chatting up a woman. That’s when I learned that the Hulk has game!

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  Comment by Corky Maday — June 7, 2014 @ 1:35 pm

  Oops. It was a comic book convention. Wizard world…

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  Comment by Jeanine — June 7, 2014 @ 3:33 pm

  First con: I no longer remember the name of it, but I think it was one of those actual fan-run SF/Comic/Everything conventions in LA that pre-dated Creation coming in and monetizing everything. Compared with today, it seems so loose–I recall Anthony Daniels just showing up and being given a room to give an unscheduled talk on the spur of the moment.

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  Comment by Herecomesthefuncooker — June 7, 2014 @ 11:25 pm

  Wondercon in the early 90s. I don’t remember much but Todd McFarlane was a total douche to me. Jim Lee was totally cool though so it wasn’t all bad.

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  Comment by jesus vasquez — June 9, 2014 @ 4:42 am

  The first convention I ever attended was Comic-Con. I live in Tijuana, Mexico. It was a 2 hour trip to get there but it was worth it. Pre-Twilight so there was breathing room.

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  Comment by Gordon Guano — June 9, 2014 @ 3:50 pm

  Woot! Dream guest!

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  Comment by Terry T — July 2, 2014 @ 11:17 am

  My first convention was in Chicago for mentalists. I was a very young performer and got to meet my magishing and mind reading idols. My first comics con was in San Diego when it was in the lower levels of the El Cortez hotel. Yeah, I’m that old.

  Also, the Patton Oswalt podcast was my favorite so far.

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  Comment by Jonah — July 11, 2014 @ 10:36 am

  Haven’t been to a con. Want to go small and work up to San Diego.

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  Comment by HBT (@HADSTERIFIC) — August 5, 2014 @ 8:51 am

  This ep was ery different from past eps imo. Fun change.
  Also I think Sabra is a real superhero? I saw someone cosplay her at NYCC one year lol.

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