I hope everyone enjoyed our Vice Director’s beta test of his game for our last meeting. He is hoping to smooth out the rules and have it ready for MileHiCon this year. So if you have any recommendations on how he can improve the game I am sure he would appreciate it.

As promised last month, I will be talking about Denver Comic Con this time around. It was just a great weekend of fandom on so many levels. Yes, there were crowds and long lines and at times it got frustrating, but in the end it was highly enjoyable. Saw a lot of friends and many DASFA members, who I hope enjoyed the con as much as my family did. Our own Marcus Healy was sporting a slick afro as Luke Cage/Power Man in his original, 70s inspired costume. We do have pictures of this.

For me the greatest part of the convention was the interactions with artists who entertain us across all forms of media. DCC was incredible this year with that interaction for my family. We got to meet Colin Baker, the actor who played the Sixth Doctor in Dr. Who, really nice and outgoing. We had a great conversation with Daphne Askbrook (She played companion Grace Hollaway in the Doctor Who movie from the late 90s) who was just so excited about all the people she met, claiming to be a huge people watcher. We also had a truly memorable exchange with Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca from Star Wars) who we had met 10 years ago at Starfest. My oldest son Quinn was three at the time, bet he remembers the meeting. We gave Mayhew a picture of the two of them from Starfest and it really seemed to mean a lot to him. So now we have some updated photos of them meeting again.

My boys went in their improved costumes of Dr. Horrible and Capt. Hammer (If you still have not seen Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, you are really missing out). The only guest they really cared about meeting was Felicia Day, who plays Penny in Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog. From the get go there were heavy lines for her. I honestly believe she was more popular than any other guest there, including William Shatner. So on Friday the boys got to meet Robin Thorsen (She is a co-star of Felicia Day’s from the web series The Guild) and they sang to her one of the Dr. Horrible songs. They had hoped to sing it to Felicia Day as well, but that didn’t happen. Due to the craziness of it all and just bad timing on our part, come Sunday afternoon it looked as if we were going to miss out on meeting her. Her line was closed early as she had a plane to catch. We were told by her manager that if we waited there was a chance if the line moved quickly he get us in as it was clear the boys were fans. The line was not moving quickly at all. Once the line was cleared and she was getting ready to head out, my wife took the boys up to at least wave to her. She stopped what she was doing, walk over and let the boys stand with her so we could get a picture of them. It meant a lot to my boys to have that.

Those are the kind of con experience that are worth it and can outshine the rest of the weekend.

As with all such cons the costuming dominated with creativity evident at every turn. Local authors and artist were everywhere, as well as some big names in the comic book industry. Fans groups were there in full force and or course the dealer’s room was packed with goodies that could suck dry the funds of any fan willing to pick up some new collectables. All the madness that fits together so well to make a con memorable.

I’ve been reading the response to the ‘Red Wedding’ on HBO’s adaptation of Game of Thrones. I think it says something that people can get that emotionally attached to characters and is a credit to the story telling. At the same time it is scary as to how much some of these views much have dedicated themselves to this show when you see comments like ‘I hate Game of Thrones. I'm so done this is the worst day of my life’ over the death of a character. And that is one of the tame ones that are not death threats or filled with vulgarity. I remember being shocked when I read that scene in the book, but to declare your life is over because a fictional character ends up being killed off… I get the feeling there are some people who need to turn their TVs off and step outside the house every once in a while.

This month artist Stan Yan (http://www.squidworks.com/Stan/ )will be our guest. Mishalak has gotten everything set up for our Picnic in August. So put Aug. 17th, noon to 5pm at Progress Park 5100 S Hickory Street Littleton, on your calendars.