Kevin Sorbo at SDCC

Things you would never plan on happen at SDCC. You put 120,000 people that love pop culture in one (LARGE) building, throw in celebrities, comics, games, costumes and anything else you can imagine and it's quite a mix. To tell the truth, I've never really gotten into the Hollywood aspects of Comic Con. Not that I'm immune to the spell of Hollywood, it's exciting to hear about the new shows and etc, and I do manage to check in on some of my faves, but mostly Marc ends up at the Hollywood panels and I end up listening to writers and artists, prowling the exhibit floor looking for additions to our art collection.

Saturday, I was on my way through the central pavilion on my way to another panel when I saw Kevin Sorbo, star of Hercules and Andromeda. No one had really noticed him yet, in the midst of all the chaos of the moment, and he was just sort of hanging out watching the crowd in amazement, waiting to sign autographs.

I may be be the only person that has ever personally thanked him for making Kull the Conqueror in 1997. But I felt compelled to tell him my story: In 1997, Marc & I went back to see my Dad in Northern Michigan for what turned out to be a very stressful visit. Afterword we continued our vacation in New York. I will never forget going to see Kull at the Loews Manhattan, overlooking Times Square and thinking "I can finally just relax and enjoy this movie." I think it was followed by many martinis...

At the end of this story, he looked at me and said "Where in Michigan?" I said, "Manistee. I live in San Francisco now, but I grew up there." It turns out that he just shot a film there called What If , and we were both blown away by the coincidence. Manistee is a tiny resort community of 25,000 souls perched on the shore of Lake Michigan. "I'd never heard of this town before I went there on location," he said, "and now here you are. It's a pretty little Victorian town, and I played a game of golf there for my children's charity A World Fit for Kids." He also mentioned that, counting What If, he has 6 movies coming out. Sorbo seemed like a very sincere guy, and I was glad I met him.

Marc has much more celebrity news than I, as he made it to panels for Smallville, Farscape, Sanctuary, Marvel Animation and Eureka.... and he met Leonard Nimoy! But these are his stories to tell. Live Long and Prosper!