As a fan of all things Superman, I was over the moon to hear that Dean Cain would be making his first appearance at an autograph show at the Chiller Theatre event in Parsippany, New Jersey, on April 28, 2012. As far as actors who portrayed Superman, he was the real deal, portraying him for four seasons on the TV show Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. To be honest, it was a show I hadn’t gotten thoroughly into at that point, but I had seen my share of episodes.
He also wasn’t my favorite of the actors who had played the Man of Steel by any stretch of the imagination. But he was competent, and I was excited. In fact, it might even be said that he was a piece of the tipping point on my decision to attend this Chiller show.
My meeting with him went rather swimmingly, except for one disturbing fact: he was ridiculously expensive. To the tune of $35 for an autograph and $25 for a photo op with your own camera. That’s some super ego, to be sure. Not to mention the fact that his signature looks a little bit like this: “D___ C___” But there was no way that I was going to bypass him, since he was one of the big draws of the show.
But despite the price, our encounter was very nice. He was super friendly, and he and his handler talked about this being his first show, and that he had more appearances lined up. I told him that he’d be seeing me two more time, and asked my name and told me he’d try to remember it.
When he appeared at the Hollywood Show in August, he had a pretty significant line so I didn’t bother to say hello to him. More than three months had passed and I really didn’t expect him to remember me anyway. The following week, my friend Dean and I attended the Wizard World Comic Con, and at that time it was confirmed: he didn’t remember me. This didn’t bother me at all, and he was still super friendly. But my friend Dean had paid even more than I had for the autograph and photo op combo, although this was a professional one.
The kicker came in April 2013 at the Hollywood Show a year after our first meeting at Chiller. This was now the fourth time I was seeing Dean Cain peddle his autograph. Clearly I privately felt that he had saturated the market, but that was still not the reason for my disdain. Apparently he had been being approached by too many fans who didn’t have their wallets wide opened. So this time there was a sign at his table ‘discouraging’ anyone from approaching his table unless they were buying something. And you know what? I really didn’t see many people buying anything. He ended up leaving early.
As it turns out, for all that charm and boyish good looks, the ego finally burst forth. I’d like to think that other celebrities might get the message that pricing themselves too high can easily just price them out of the collectors market.
Besides, I hated the fact that he had a beard in my photo (which he subsequently shaved for his next appearances), which like his ego, was decidedly un-Superman-like.
Celebrities of the Spring 2012 Chiller Theatre show will continue…
As I recall, if the choice had been completely yours, you would have opted that he not sign his name over the iconic “S” logo.
Peter
November 7th, 2013
Yes, very true. That annoyed me a bit too. Lots of wide open blue space to put his signature and he writes it right over the logo.
Brad
November 7th, 2013