DiNK Comic & Art Expo 2018 Recap: Reinventing the Celebrity Panel

Written by John Edward Betancourt

When it comes to conventions, and the routines that now come with them, we all have a pretty standard set of expectations in mind when it comes to a celebrity panel. They’ll come out, they’ll entertain and tell us amazing tales of their time on a particular show or movie, and someone will undoubtedly ask a question that’s not really a question, and well, while that sounds like a diatribe against such events, that’s simply not the case. After all, it is cool to meet your favorite celebrities at cons and hear their stories because we know little about them, but I make mention of such an issue because it goes back to one key thing I  just made mention of, routine. 
 
The celebrity knows the drill, we know the drill and we’re happy to accept it because for the moment, is there any other way to handle such an event differently or better? Well, after having attended DiNK Comic & Art Expo this past weekend, I’ve come to realize there is a different way to handle the celebrity panel because this convention managed to make that happen with John Leguizamo’s time on the main stage, and I have to admit, that this turned out to be the most refreshing celebrity panel I’ve been to in years, and credit goes to DiNK for making it look like business as usual at first.
 
After all, the process to get into the panel and the setup was pretty by the numbers. As was the introduction of John and everything that preceded that. But, once Steve Bessette, our awesome moderator from the Alamo Drafthouse, settled in with John on stage, that’s where everything began to change, because it quickly became evident that this particular chat was going to be far different than what we are used to and while there were plenty of moments that were of the norm; such as stories from the set, or John’s thoughts on his various roles throughout his career, I was quite frankly unprepared for how intimate his panel was about to become. 

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(John being presented with a 'Sid' donut at the end of his panel.)

Because John really opened up in front of the audience, speaking to the fact that success can impact an actor by making them feel as though they are special, when they are in fact, just like everyone else, they just happen to do something that they love and they’ve been able to share what they love with others, which in turn has put them into the limelight and well…hearing him speak like this was refreshing and humbling as a fan and I love the fact that he even spoke to the catharsis that comes with art, and how it can heal and artist and well, I left this panel wondering why more weren’t like this one.
 
I say that, simply because, we do often forget that celebrities are people too, who struggle with issues in life like the rest of us and this felt like an hour long chat with a friend instead of what you find at other panels like this and it was just wonderful to see John open up like that with his fans and speak with confidence about such matters and really, this truly was a reinvention of this kind of panel and well, I shouldn’t be surprised that such a change up would happen at DiNK. Because all weekend long I heard from first time attendees about how different and relaxed this con was, and I love that that mantra snuck its way into John’s panel, and I really do hope that other conventions and moderators take note of panels such as this, because was powerful and meaningful.
 
If anything, my thanks go out to John Leguizamo for his candor on stage, because it served as an inspiration. Because if John can battle his demons, and still create art that all of us can enjoy while doing so, imagine what we can accomplish if we put our minds to it? And my thanks also go out to Steve Bessette for moderating this wonderful conversation and the staff and creators of DiNK, for putting together a convention that allows for the core of art, emotion, to be put on display in every facet of the event and I look forward to checking out this incredible convention again, next year. 

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