Memorial day weekend, there were two major conventions happening in Texas, DFW’s Texas Frightmare Weekend, which had it’s first event at it’s new venue, and Houston’s Comicpalooza. While many horror fans opted to go to Texas Frightmare for obvious reasons, I decided to attend Comicpalooza for their two Scream guests, Jack Quaid who plays Richie Kirsch in Scream (2022) and Josh Segarra who plays Danny in Scream VI.
According to their website, “Comicpalooza is the largest annual, multi-genre, comic book, science fiction, anime, gaming, and pop-culture convention in the Southern United States and is held in Houston, Texas.” Even though horror isn’t Comicpalooza’s forte, they had a handful of guests with credits in the genre, even if that wasn’t the reason for their booking, like the aforementioned Scream stars. Other guests from the horror genre included Chad L Coleman, Julia Harkavy, and Jason Douglas from The Walking Dead, Colton Haynes from Teen Wolf and American Horror Story, Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder from The Vampire Diaries, Tenoch Huerta from The Forever Purge, Erin Moriarty from the upcoming paranormal horror movie True Haunting, and William Shatner, who of course is the face of the iconic Michael Myers mask. Comicpalooza also wasn’t lacking in vendors selling horror merch, or horror fans and cosplayers.
As big Scream fans, when Jack Quaid was first announced as a Comicpalooza guest, my friend Rob and I were instantly drawn to the convention, and even more so when we realized that Josh Segarra was also going to be there. Rob then suggested Comicpalooza add a duo photo op with the two actors, and we were beyond excited when they actually did. Both Rob and I were able to attend Comicpalooza with media badges, myself on behalf of The Horror Syndicate, and Rob for his Instagram page, @TheWorldOfScream , where he posts about every convention and event appearance by anyone who has been in a Scream movie. He also has a Facebook group, and a newly created Twitter account, @AWorldOfScream, so if you’re interested in meeting the stars of the Scream franchise, I highly suggest you follow him!
We decided to stay at the Marriott Marquis Houston which was connected to the George R Brown Convention Center where Comicpalooza was held, via skybridge. I got into Houston around 2 p.m, and the convention started at 4 p.m. I was originally planning on not attending the convention Friday because Rob was getting into Houston late, and I didn’t want to attend without him, but I got restless and decided to go pick up my badge around 6 p.m. As soon as I got over to the convention center I spotted an awesome Ghostface with a shotgun cosplay, and received several compliments on my “Please don’t kill me Mr. Ghostface, I wanna be in the sequel” bag from Mustard Yard Press. After getting my badge, I peeked into the convention floor to check out a few of the vendor booths. Even though I didn’t look around much, I had already found lots of vendors selling horror merchandise, like Bun Leung who had Michael Myers, Ghostface and Scooby Doo art, and even some pillows!
I headed back to the hotel by 8 p.m when the convention floor closed, and to greet Rob. Even though the exhibitor floor closed at 8 p.m, they had other programs and events happening until midnight. They also said that the box office stayed open until midnight, but when Rob and I arrived back at will call, it was empty, except for one person who had only just finished packing up their things so, luckily Rob was still able to get his badge. After getting his badge, we decided to check out the tail end of the Texas Allstar Wrestling matches, where Rob got to interview the winner of the rumble, Zarek Camacho. After the match ended, the Friday Night Bash was still going strong so we decided to pop in to the party area. I’ve previously attended parties at Horrorhound and Houston Horror Film Festival, and Comicpalooza’s party was by far the best in my opinion. While the other two cons’ parties were simply a dance floor and dj, Comicpalooza’s Friday Night Bash had additional entertainment like an arcade area, aerial silks performers, and more.
On Saturday, the convention opened up at 10 a.m, and we arrived at 11 a.m, and headed straight to Jack Quaid’s table. A lot of the guests, including Quaid, had long lines, but the convention did a great job at arranging the floor in a way where the lines didn’t protrude into the aisles and make it harder to get around. While Quaid didn’t have any Scream photos available to sign on his table, many people in line brought their own. Both Rob and I bought autographs from Jack Quaid. As soon as Rob stepped up to the table, Quaid recognized him from their many interactions online, which include Jack sharing and pinning a post about Rob’s mom going missing last fall and donating to the Gofundme when it was discovered she had passed, and meeting him at New York Comic Con in 2021, and immediately got up to go hug Rob. Rob had him sign his arm so, he could get it tattooed next to his Stab, Ghostface, and other tattooed autographs from Scream stars, including Neve Campbell, and some of the other killers. Surprisingly, Quaid told us that wasn’t even his first time signing his autograph for a tattoo that day. Electrified Tattoo actually had a booth set up at the convention where they had several artists doing tattoos there, so Rob was able to get the tattoo done immediately, and went back show Jack Quaid later in the day. Rob also had Quaid add the quote, “Holy shit, it’s Ghostface!” to a poster he had previously signed with just his autograph, prior to the movie’s release. I had Quaid sign my Scream (2022) one sheet, and personalize it with the quote, “You are my boner pills.”, which he said was the first time he had ever signed that, and then I took a few selfies with him.
At 1:30 p.m we headed to get our Scream duo photo ops with Jack Quaid and Josh Segarra. While the line wasn’t crazy long, it still had a decent amount of people, and even a few Ghostface cosplayers. After waiting for about an hour, they announced that the photo op had been moved to 5:40 p.m.
While waiting for the new photo op time, we decided to head to Josh Segarra’s table. Unlike Quaid, Segarra did have Scream items available on his table. I brought my Scream VI print that was handed out to ticket holders of AMC’s special 3D Fan Event during the release of Scream VI for Segarra to sign, and had him add in “Yo!” which made him laugh, and then say some of his dialogue from a scene in the movie where he’s yelling at Ghostface. Then, Rob had him sign some of that dialogue on his poster, which ended up being, “Let’s go! I see you motherfucker!”. Josh Segarra is easily one of the nicest, and bubbliest people I’ve ever met, in general, not just in the sense of a fan and celebrity meeting so, I definitely recommend meeting him. He is very clearly appreciative of the Scream community welcoming him in.
Finally, it was time for the Scream duo photo ops, and everyone’s pictures turned out great! Both Quaid and Segarra were glad to accommodate pose requests from fans, including hugs and kisses on the cheek, so don’t be afraid to ask, but do make sure you ask, and don’t do anything without consent.
We decided to not go to any of the convention’s Saturday night events, and just catch up with friends instead.
On Sunday, we slept in, and made it to the convention just in time for a Q&A panel with the cast of The Boys, which included Erin Moriarty, Jack Quaid, and Antony Starr. During the panel, one fan asked the actors how they thought their The Boys characters would react to being in a Scream movie. At first, Quaid said he thought his character, Hughie, would be the first or second kill, but then said he may not be killed, but be next to somebody who got stabbed, and all of their blood would get on him, which is a situation Hughie often finds himself in in The Boys, and the fan who asked the question said she thought Hughie would be the final boy. Moriarty said that her character, Annie aka Starlight, would protect Hughie and probably be the final girl, while the cast unanimously decided that Starr’s character, Homelander, would be Ghostface. On our way out of the panel, we ran into a girl Ghostface, so I had to get a picture with her!
After the panel, Rob and I had a trio photo op with the cast of The Boys. Then, I went to meet Erin Moriarty at her table. I told her that I was looking forward to her upcoming horror movie, True Haunting, the true story of the first televised exorcism on NBC in 1971, that she stars in with Jamie Campbell Bower, to which she replied that she is excited for it, and thinks its going to be very scary.
Before the convention ended, we made sure to give the vendor floor a good walk through, and I picked up a few things, all horror themed of course. I got a comic sized metal print of PescEffects’s “What’s Your Favorite Scary Movie?” design, and a Halloween themed print, as well as a Precious Moments inspired Vecna from Stranger Things keychain from Ramenanaa.
Overall, I had a great time at Comicpalooza. They had a wide range of guests, vendors, and other programming, a great venue, and were very accommodating for ADA attendees. I would gladly return, and can’t wait to see what they have in store for next year.
