Matt Dinniman Comicpalooza 2026

After the late night at Frightmare Week on Friday, I got up at 4 AM to be on the road by 4:30 on Saturday. I wanted to be sure I got to Comicpalooza early to get close parking and get in line for Matt Dinniman.

I have to admit, I’m clueless. About 6 months ago, I saw a reference to ‘DCC’ on a DragonCon Facebook page.  I had no idea. After reading several comments, I learned it meant Dungeon Crawler Carl. Well, that didn’t really add much light. So, I googled that. That was more productive.

This is a fairly famous and popular book series. It seems to have some hard-core fans. I have been in the dark for a while. When I mentioned it to friends, it seems everyone is surprised I am living under a dark rock…or in a dungeon. Because of the hype, I felt I had to get this autograph. However, I was too late. The free tickets were gone. One of my friends that knew about DCC, mentioned the convention was doing wait list. I joined that. I actually was selected.

My plan of getting there early was to ensure I was toward the front of Matt’s line when the signing started. I had some other graphs I wanted and didn’t want to miss out on them. Turned out I was 3^rd in line. Yeah me!

I handed over my book and told him I hadn’t read this yet but EVERYONE is talking about it. He smiled and signed. He took a closer look at my shirt and asked if that was Arizona. Yes, I was wearing my obligatory UofA golf shirt. I smiled and nodded and asked if he went there. He stated he lived there. Then I said I was there for college and actually met The Wife there. She lived in a small town south of Tucson.  I told him the town. Now his smile got big and he said he lived there for a while too. We were BOTH speechless. He mentioned the community and it sounded very familiar. We both paused again. Do we investigate this further. Do we leave it as it is. Do we exchange numbers.

Then the handler stepped up and said Matt had a LOT of people in line. And he did. Hundreds. She said they all wanted to see Matt and talk about Carl.  She was correct. I had taken more time than I expected.  Matt was great and said to the handler, that he was asking the questions and it wasn’t not my fault. We both knew we needed to move on. We shook and I went on to the next autograph.

When I got home, The Wife said Matt lived was very close to her. His neighborhood was built after she left. They never crossed paths.

AH

Gina Gershon Texas Frightmare Weekend 2026

The other autograph I wanted from Texas Frightmare was GinaGershon. She has been in a lot of movies. She normally portrays a very sexy or sensual woman. And the photos I found for her represented that. I don’t have an issue with that but I was hoping for something a little tamer for my blog. Afterall, my Dad will occasional read this.

So, after searching, I found something I liked. I think it’s a nice compromise.

After completing my Warwick marathon, I found Gina. Just 2 people in front of me. I handed over the photo and she laughed. She said she remembered this.  I told her I actually watched the series and I liked it. It was silly but fun. She said it was only on for one season.

And like a fool, I corrected her. I said ‘Tripping the Rift’ was on for 3 seasons but she only was only on it for 1. I got a frown.  Oops. She recovered and found a dark blue pen that was better than the one I had and signed. Gina’s pen matched the hair tint on the animated character.

She mentioned she forgot the character name. I told her. She wrote the numeral. Then she realized it was written as text and not a number. She apologized. For me that was a bonus and I didn’t mind.

I left and it was now close to 10 PM. My Frightmare was over.  I was already thinking about the drive to Houston for Comicpalooza the next morning.

AH

Warwick Davis Texas Frightmare Weekend 2026

This autograph I have wanted for a long time. Mostly because of scarcity…not because I’m a Willow fan. When Texas Frightmare announced WarwickDavis, I was excited.

Since I did not have a VIP ticket and I really wanted/needed to get this signature on Friday as I had other plans for the weekend, I got in line 6 hours before the doors opened. That is 6 hours in the hot Texas sun. If a buddy didn’t sit with me and share water and umbrella for shade, I would have died. Not literally died, but I would have been very sunburnt and extremely dehydrated.

After 6 hours of torment, I entered the air conditioned building and made my way to the Warrick line. Not too bad, about 150 people in front of me. Now we waited until he showed up. Which wasn’t too long after I sat in my little camping chair.  Warrick arrive riding a mini-Segway or maybe it was a hover board with a steering bar. He arrived in style.

I’m in line at 6 PM. He arrived about 6:15 PM.

About 7 PM he took a short break.

Then there were photo ops. A few more VIPS arrived and were placed in front of the general admission people like me.

At 9:30 PM, I’m about to enter the room where he was signing.  The aches and pains are dulled from the adrenaline rush of being so close. When I handed over my photo, he knew the exact color pen and where to sign. He added a quote and character name without being asked. Very cool.

Then I thanked him and left. It was 9:45 PM.

A very long day for an autograph.

AH

Diana Lee Inosanto Order 66 store signing

Once again, Order 66 moved their store. And once again, they had an in-store signing.

If you don’t know, Order 66 is a Star Wars store that sells lots of figures. Give them a look.

They also have signings from various Star Wars actors and over the years, they have added to my collection.

This time, Diana Lee Inosanto was their guest. After I finished with Nostalgia Con in the morning, I drove from Irving to Plano to get this signature.

When I dropped in, Diana was doing an interview. I waited and wondered through the figures. This store front is much smaller than previous locations. I expect they still have a large on-line presence.

When she was done with the interview, I got in line. For my turn, I handed over the photo and she commented that she liked it.  I brought my own photo. She picked up a pen and I offered my red but she had one that was a dark red. We tested it and it looked great. When she signed it, it looked good.

Then we chatted, mostly about being the stunt double for Sarah Michelle Gellar on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I left and headed back to the car and home.

I noticed as the ink dried, it didn’t look nearly as nice. It's more pink than burgundy. While slightly disappointed, I was still a happy camper.

AH

Christy Carlson Romano Nostalgia Con Dallas 2026

Christy Carlson Romano has been a name I have seen for years. I never watched Kim Possible but she always had a long line and she is rather pretty.  (I quickly check that The Wife didn’t see me write that.)  I figured this would be the time to get her signature.

As I looked over her credits on IMDB, I noticed she was in Cutting Edge 2 and 3. I know The Wife loves those movies and I figured that makes up for the ‘rather pretty’ comment.

I was about 30 people back but Christy hadn’t shown up yet. Her hubby was there and he chatted with the crowd a little as they set up the table for the signing.

When she arrived, I was surprised how tall she was. Maybe it was the heels or maybe that she seemed taller than the hubby. She was all smiles and chatted as she tried to figure out table setup what was happening with the first person in line that had a special request.

Once that was resolved, she started signing and talking. When I showed her my photo, she grinned, then turned to the husband and asked, “Do you know who that is?” Dumbfounded, he shook his head ‘no’. Gleefully, she said it was her and she was in a skating movie.

When she turned back, I asked if that was her. She laughed and said that was before AI.  I laughed too. Then clarified if that was a double. If it was, I’d pick another photo. I explained I didn’t want to sign that image if it wasn’t her. she confirmed it was her.

She told me (and the crowd) she couldn’t do the big jumps, axels, and spins but she could start a jump and pretend to land. The skating on camera was her until she had to leave the ground. The double came in for the fancy stuff. She paused as she looked over photo again. I suggested a red pen and to sign in the spot light. When she was done, she was surprised with the results.

AH

TC Carson Nostalgia Con Dallas 2026

Next on the list at Nostalgia Carson was T C Carson. He voiced Mace Windu in the Star Wars Universe. I caught him as he finished with another guest. He started to stand. I could tell be wanted to leave. I mentioned I could come back but then he waved me forward.  He picked up a purple pen (the perfect choice) and signed. It was quick and simple but it worked well. He left and came back about 15 minutes later with some friends in tow. Hopefully, I didn’t keep them waiting too long.

AH

Daran Norris Nostalgia Con Dallas 2026

I went to Nostalgia Con in Dallas (actually at the Irving Convention Center) and as I expected, it was lightly attended. Good for me. I had a busy day planned and wanted to get this done quickly and move on other chores.

I found Daran Norris first. He was standing and chatting with people. I showed him the photo and he loved it. He mentioned he hadn’t seen that before. I pointed out how I cropped it and Veronica Mars was more or less removed from the photo. He laughed. Then we chatted. When he signed, he mentioned that he was still impressed with it being the first time seeing that image and wrote ‘1 of 1’ in the corner.

AH

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Villainesses DAMCon III

DAM Con III was small. I explored the floor for a few minutes. If you know me, that is not a priority. I was just checking if anything screamed at me to give it a closer look. The Ultraman card game seemed interesting but I only gave it a second look. It was time to get to business.

After getting Eihi’s autograph, I wandered off to Carla Perez. My ‘wandering’ was 10 feet. She was one of the ‘villains’ in Powers Rangers. She was sweet. She saw my Tokyo Gore Police photo and asked about the movie. She had not seen the movie. Nor anything in that genre. It’s an odd genre/movie to try to explain. I don’t think I convinced her to watch it. We chatted for a few minutes when another attendee wandered over. The show was small but people were coming to the guests’ tables.  I did not want to prevent a fan from seeing her so I ‘wandered’ over to Amy Rolle.

Amy Rolle, you might know her as Amy Miller, was another villainess in Power Rangers. She was chatting and explaining to a fan that her costume gave her strange tan lines across her stomach. When I saw the photo, I understood why.

When the fan moved along, I stepped up and asked if the costume also made bathroom breaks ‘interesting’. She laughed and said her makeup artist was her best friend as she helped her get in and out of the suit. It was as struggle to stay hydrated and ready to film.

As we chatted, I found out she was local, the DFW area. That lead to other topics beyond Power Rangers and acting.: kids, school, seeing friends.  Like normal people. As if on cue, a fan wandered to the table and I left.

AH

Eihi Shiina DAMCon III April 2026

Fifteen years ago, at Texas Frightmare, I got Eihi Shiina autograph on a 5x7. Today at DAMCon (DAM – Destroy All Monsters) I got her on an 8x10.  FYI – I’m glad I printed something; she only had a few 5x7s available at her table.

After I said good afternoon and introduced myself in Japanese, she responded in Japanese and I had to turn to her interpreter. That was all the Japanese I knew.

We chatted for a short while on different topics. She seemed happy to meet a fan.  She did tell me she visited Buc-ees. I’m sure the surprise was evident on my face. My first thought was she flew 10, 000 miles and saw a Buc-ees. Buc-ees IS world famous. She was surprised how big it was and how much ‘stuff’ (my word not hers) they had.

She asked if I saw Tokyo Gore Police. I had…about 15 years ago. She asked if I liked it. I do remember liking it. I watched it because she was at Texas Frightmare all those years ago. I got a nod. I think that is a positive response.

Then someone walked up and I moved along.

AH

Jaime Pressly – Not that theater dummy!

An autograph buddy and I drove to Texas Theater for the screening of a movie that Jaime Pressley is in called, Last Shot. It’s film festival time and there are a few actors in town promoting different movies.

We got to the theater early and conveniently there was a park bench in front where we sat and chatted. It was a little breezy but a good day to be outside.   About 30 minutes later a small white car pulls up and the passenger door opens. It’s Jaime. We were surprised as were expecting a big black SUV.

In my surprise, I actually said, It’s her! with a surprised look on my face. She turned and mimicked my surprised look and said: it’s me!

We stood and asked if she had time to sign.  She begged off and said she was late. It happens. We’ll wait until after the film is shown.

She tried to enter the theater but the doors were locked. She frantically looked for someone that might get her in. She asked for help. And of course, the last door was still unlocked and she entered.

Just as the adrenaline faded, she came out and quickly walked to the curb. She moved with purpose. Before we can ask what was wrong or if she had time now, she turned to us and said, they dropped her off at the wrong theater. Then she asked if we still had our stuff to sign. She would do it while she waited for the driver.

When I handed over my pen, she said the signature wouldn't show. She normally signs along the bottom. I suggested the sky. I told I picked red to match the color of the car.

I loved that she asked noticed the pen color. and I love that she was proactive and asked us for our items. Very sweet of her. Just as she finished signing ,the little white car pulled up and she got in. Our mission accomplished.

She was supposed to be taken to the Red Carpet event as a different theater. After that, she was to be driven to Texas Theater later. The driver goofed. It worked out well for us. We were done early and drove home.

Now, in my head, I image, she channeled her inner Joy, from My Name is Earl. She started hard chomping on imaginary gum, snide condescending look developed on her face, and said to the driver: That was the wrong theater dummy!

AH