📸 Samantha Ysaguirre
Big Texas Comicon was back in San Antonio this past weekend and I was there on Saturday ready to explore. Not only was it my first time inside the Henry B. González Convention Center but it was my first-ever comic-con. The building itself was gorgeous and the convention was extremely well-organized, making it easy for me to navigate and so much fun to experience.
The moment I walked in past the front doors was the instantly recognizable sound of Darth Vader’s heavy, laborious breathing. Seconds later, I saw a guy fully suited up in Vader’s costume and my excitement just shot up even more.
All around were so many more cosplayers around to see and snap photos with; Marvel heroes, anime icons, and in honor of the celebrity guests there, plenty of Homelanders and lots of Lucius Malfoys. Vendors filled the floor with customizable T-shirts, the endless Funko Pops, insane swords, and comics from every superhero character ever in existence.
So many familiar faces from film and TV packed the celebrity signing section, all super friendly with their fans there waiting to see them. Luis Guzman, a fellow Boricua who recently played Gomez on the Netflix show, Wednesday, Kristen Schaal who’s known for her voice work on shows like Bob’s Burgers and Gravity Falls, and the Hardy brothers who had the most insane line of the day.
San Antonio truly loves their wrestling.
Getting to see some of the convention’s guests at their own panels was the highlight of the day for me. I’m always fascinated by artists’ process through their work and the memories they have of making the work that would come to define their careers.
The first I attended was John Rhys-Davies, known for his roles in Indiana Jones and Lord of the Rings, joined by another Lord of the Rings actor, Lawrence Makoare. Rhys-Davies was extremely eloquent, sharing his memories of shooting on location in the beautiful landscapes of New Zealand.
They were followed by an Arrow panel featuring two actors from the CW show, Stephen Amell and David Ramsey. Both talked very fondly about their time on the show, their favorite episodes, and crossovers they enjoyed with other DC shows.
I haven’t seen any of the CW DC shows but with how much passion both these men still had for it, Arrow’s definitely a show I’d love to check out.
Then came what was undoubtedly the most interesting panel of the day with Jason Isaacs, best known as Lucius Malfoy from the Harry Potter films. Unfortunately, as soon as he stepped out on stage, he requested the entire crowd, including the media, to put all our cameras away, but thankfully, my memory is somewhat decent.
He reflected on Harry Potter quite a bit. He told a very cool story shooting with Daniel Radcliffe and Richard Harris on Chamber of Secrets that made him feel like a better actor. He discussed his voice role on Avatar: The Last Airbender that he has loved that it’s been so beloved by fans still decades later. He recounted his role in two extremely underrated movies, The Death of Stalin and Mass, with the latter saying it’s the best movie he’s ever been a part of, and he really is terrific in both of those films.
I did feel he lacked direct connection with the crowd sometimes, in contrast with the other panelists who felt more personable. During his Q&A, he seemed legitimately bothered by questions about voice acting roles or chemistry he shared with certain characters – questions that didn’t seem very unreasonable to me.
His storytelling overall though was on another level talking about the great roles he’s played.
The Boys panel that followed right after had the audience laughing nonstop with Antony Starr (Homelander) and Cameron Crovetti (Ryan Butcher). Rocking an amazing IDLES band tee, Starr was effortlessly witty, teasing Crovetti and the audience a ton. Crovetti was super humble talking about all the experience he’s gained acting on this show and how much he’s loved the experience.
I’ve only caught clips of Starr’s performance on social media, but seeing him in person in contrast to his menacing performance from the show was surreal and I‘ve really got to check The Boys out ahead of its final season.
Big Texas Comicon had its best for last with Jamie Campbell-Bower, most known for playing the main antagonist Vecna from Stranger Things. This was also the panel I was most looking forward to; the hype is unreal for the show’s final season coming out next month and I loved his performance in Season 4.
He discussed what it was like to play Vecna and all the intense prep he put into creating the character’s personality and voice. There was this sweet moment with a young fan sitting next to us that asked him if he liked playing the villainous Vecna. He answered with a smile, saying that in order to portray the character authentically, he learned to understand and empathize with his character.
He couldn’t have played the role as well as he did if he truly didn’t like him.
He also got a lot of questions about his early career role in Sweeney Todd; I’ve never seen it so I had no idea he was in it, but turns out it was his feature film debut. It’s quite a journey that the actor has been on since then, and seeing his personality shine on stage through this panel for a show and a role that I love was the highlight of the day.
I couldn’t have asked for more for a better introduction into comic-cons as Big Texas Comicon. I’m so excited to now be exposed to this world of fans celebrating pop culture and entertainment and I hope it’s just the first of many of these experiences to come.
