There are many, many stories to tell about last week's gathering in San Diego but I thought I'd get started with a few photos…
The first of the nineteen panels I hosted or appeared on at Comic-Con was an easy one: Just me and my longtime pal Leonard Maltin sitting there, telling stories from our lives. He told about meeting Buster Keaton. I told about meeting Leonard Maltin. We both told about meeting Groucho Marx and other famous/funny folks. If we'd been splitting a pizza as we talked, it would have been just like any of the first three dozen times Leonard and I got together.
I'm not going in any sequence here. Saturday evening, there was a lovely memorial for our friend Peter David which — fittingly because this was Peter — was full of very funny stories. The folks in the back row here, left to right, are Paul Levitz, Maggie Thompson, Tom Brevoort and Chris Ryall. The front row is George Takei and me. I had a much better time at this event than my face would indicate.
At Comic-Con, I host a Cartoon Voices Panel on Saturday and another one on Sunday. This is the Sunday panel from the con just past and the back row here consists of David Errigo Jr., Gabe Kunda, Michael Scott Action, Kaitlyn Robrock and Vincent Martella. The front row is Abby Trott, Maurice LaMarche and me. Again, I was happier than my face would suggest. So was Maurice. This was one of the funniest panels I've ever moderated.
There's a long story behind this one. It's from the Saturday Cartoon Voices panel and on it, I had Dana Gould, Audrey Wasilewski, Fred Tatasciore, Jim Meskimen, Benni Latham and Gregg Berger. Just those six. But after a wonderful discussion and script reading, I began to make like the announcer on The Price is Right and call other voice actors to "Come on' Down!" We had a Special Important Surprise Guest and I thought we should have a bigger welcoming committee to honor her appearance.
So I brought thirty or more actors down to the front of the stage, then I introduced that Special Important Surprise Guest. It was Mari Shimizu, one of Japan's leading voice actresses and the original voice of Astro Boy. The place went wild. I interviewed her a bit — we were tight on time — and then the place went wild again when I brought out Candi Milo, a recent voice for Astro Boy in America. Mari and Candi hugged and cried and a lot of folks in Room 6BCF cried, too. A very happy occasion! We then all went out in the hall and took the above group photo.
What's that? You say it's too small? Well, click on it and it'll get much, much bigger. Then, you'll be able to pick out Mari, three in from the right in the second row from the front. Candi, holding an Astro Boy toy is on the right end of that row. I'm the guy on the left with the hat and cane, and also in there I see…well, would someone like to take a stab at identifying everyone else in this photo? We'll have more to say about this panel in the near future. It was pretty unforgettable.
You can also copy this photo to your computer and/or post it anywhere you like or link to it here…but if you do, please explain what it is, who our Special Surprise Guest was and also credit my buddy Bruce Guthrie. I'll have more Comic-Con photos here in a day or so but none will be as special as this one.