Kirk! Spike! Data! And, Wil Wheaton are coming to town for Emerald City Comicon!

Our man "Spike"...aka, James Marsters.

Our inner Fan Boy Ganglia Nerve is twitching in dee-light because the 9th annual Emerald City Comicon is revving its engines for the big opening on Friday, March 4 at the Washington State Convention Center for the start of a three day nerdfest orgasmatron! While not as media heavy as San Diego’s Comicon, Seattle’s version of the sci-fi/fantasy/horror/comic book fan festival is still a pretty big deal and they have some heavy hitters at this year’s event including the Big Man himself, William Shatner not to mention some ST:TNG big shots, “Data”, aka Brent Spiner; “Stryker”, aka Jonathan Frakes; and everyone’s favorite character to hate/adore, boy wonder “Wesley Crusher”, aka the one and only Wil Wheaton. Sadly, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise fans are screwed; no one from those shows will be on hand, but frankly, the hard core Trekkies/Trekkers probably aren’t whining.

And, fans of Joss Whedon have a lot to cheer for as well. We have THREE Buffy actors on hand, plus Felicia Day from “Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog” and Dollhouse. But, the biggest cheers will probably be for the “Buffynauts”. Not only do we get the Season Five Big Bad, “Glory”, aka, actress Clare Kramer but we get original “Scooby” member, “Mr. Xander Harris”, aka, actor Nicholas Brendon! (Is he bringing his twin?)

However, most Buffy fans are salivating over the presence of former Seattlite, James Marsters, aka, the one and only Spike. The hugely popular character started out as a villain, came back as a comic sidekick and evolved into a love interest and major player in the Buffyverse and even segued into Angel for its final season. And, for non-Buffy fans, Mr Marsters was also a beloved player in two other iconic TV show fan favorites, appearing as the villain “Brainiac” on Smallville and as the “omnisexual time traveler” Captain John Hart in beloved British sci-fi series, Torchwood where he got to snog with lead actor, John Barrowman’s “Captain Jack”. Lucky bastard…BOTH of them!

Mr Marsters is pulling double duty while in Seattle. Not only will he be in attendance at Comicon, but he’s squeezed in a singing gig at the Hard Rock Cafe on Saturday, March 5. Buffy fans know that James Marsters has some pipes; his singing was a highlight of the musical Buffy episode, “Once More With Feeling”. Tickets are still available for the performance; it’s a joint concert with the band “Kracklefest” with Mr Marsters performing at 7:30pm.

Other biggies coming to Comicon: Bruce Boxleitner from Babylon 5 and Tron; Norman Reedus from the hot new series, The Walking Dead; John Noble from Fringe and LOTR; and, the just announced Rainn Wilson will be in town to discuss his upcoming film, Super with director James Gunn also in attendance. All these film/TV stars PLUS dozens of comic book artists will be on hand for the three day long event.

For tickets/more info, go to the Emerald City Comicon website AND don’t forget there is a HUGE LGBT presence at Comicon and we’ll have another post on that, shortly!