More geeking out in Sea Bright, NJ
By Mark Voger, author
‘Futuristic: Rockets, Robots and Rayguns of Space Age Pop Culture’
Just got back from my second visit to Sea-Con (held May 4, 2025), which took place literally within a few steps of the Atlantic Ocean in lovely Sea Bright, NJ, where Tony Soprano nearly bought a vacation home.
As with my first Sea-Con appearance, it rained. (So if I were Sea-Con, I wouldn’t ask me back.)
But you can’t keep comic book geeks, nor “Star Wars” geeks, down. There were cosplayers in stormtrooper and jawas modes; lotsa vendors with lotsa cool merch; and industry pros spearheaded by Glenn Taranto, a Shore guy who starred as Gomez Addams in two seasons of “The New Addams Family” (1998-99).
Above is the poster for the “the Pop-Culture Celebration by the Sea!”
Here’s Taranto. The actor was funny and approachable, and full of stories about his career. After his “Addams” days, Tarnanto did a ton of TV, and had a recurring role as a mob boss on “General Hospital.” The actor diversified by writing plays and movie scripts. A fan of classic horror, he played a newsman in Rob Zombie‘s “The Devil’s Rejects” and recently finished a screenplay for a vampire movie.
Taranto said he was “honored” when John Astin — the original Gomez from the 1960’s series — appeared in two episodes of the ’90s reboot as Grandpapa Addams. Taranto revealed Astin’s acting trick: He approached the role as if he was actually playing “the” Gomez, making Taranto’s character a descendant. According to Taranto, Astin got a bit wild during a jousting scene (which is a callback, of course, to the 1960s series, in which Astin would occasionally wield a saber).
The only other time Astin played Gomez in live action was in the disappointing shot-on-video TV movie “Halloween With the New Addams Family” (1977). Astin admitted to Taranto: “I thought it was going to be something else.” The older actor also offered Taranto what sounded like hard-won advice: “Don’t let Gomez take you over.”
My new best friend is comic book artist Mike Koneful, a Philly guy through-and-through with a macabre drawing style. How do I begin to describe this gentleman? He toured with the Misfits. He plays, and lectures about, the theremin. He remembers Dr. Shock. Once a year, he and his dog visit the grave of Edward Van Sloan, during which Koneful will watch a Van Sloan movie on his phone. He knows every syllable, every frame, of the 1931 “Dracula.” The first thing that greets visitors to the home of he and his wife is a large color bust of Bela Lugosi. At Christmas time, the Bela bust wears a Santa hat.
Oh, and he owns a copy of my 2015 book “Monster Mash.” Koneful said he keeps it by the toilet. I replied: “As long as the book is doing its job.”
I was immediately attracted to Koneful’s table thanks to these three issues of Zacherly’s Midnight Terrors featuring the late, great horror host John Zacherle. Two of the three covers were painted by Famous Monsters of Filmland artists Basil Gogos and Ken Kelly. Koneful’s current comic-book projects are Necromantic Noir (horror) and Boxboy (superhero).
Koneful, Taranto and myself soon discovered that the three of us are avowed horror aficionados. We proceeded to trade stories fast and furiously. (Taranto has a great anecdote about a random encounter with Basil Rathbone‘s son.) Taranto and I learned that we are both members of a very small club: people who saw the early-’80s Broadway production of “Frankenstein” with John Carradine as the blind hermit. It closed on opening night!
Then the three of us tried to stump each other with trivia questions. I asked Koneful how many vampires Lugosi played in movies. Without a word, he threw up two fingers. I added: “In how many films?” He then threw up three fingers.
Sea-Con attendees flocked to the table of Travis Artz, a musician and voice artist for animation. Artz’s claim to fame is as the voice of Hot Rod on “Transformers: Cyberverse.”
Also on hand was Tony DiGerolamo, author of “The Pineys,” a comedy-horror novella series about the Jersey Devil.
Koneful took this photo of me at my table. The warm smile for which I’m famous is on full display.
Here are my books displayed the old-fashioned way — on good old U.S. American milk crates. But I told those around me that these were new, bespoke, curated milk crates painstakingly crafted as undetectable reproductions.
“Like with a 3D printer?” one of the nerds said.
“Oh, yeah,” I said, “you wouldn’t believe how much plasticine I went through! It was hot and smelly and a lot of work, but just look at the result.”
(I’m Irish. We say stuff that isn’t true with conviction.)
P.S.: If Sea-Con will have me back, the odds are very strong that it won’t rain a third time …
VIDEO
See Taranto as Gomez in this 1998 episode of “The New Addams Family.”
PARTING SHOT
For what it’s worth, below is my bio from Sea-Con’s guest page.
