Friend Encounters: Anthony Michael Hall and Michael K.

Friend Encounters is a weekly series featuring friends meeting celebrities.

I have featured comic creator Michael Kingston many times here. Usually Michael is pictured with wrestling stars, which makes sense considering his Headlocked Comic is about wrestling. Today, though, I show Michael with actor Anthony Michael Hall.

Michael is s creative as he is determined and busy. All of this makes him the success he is. He went from being disappointed by unrealistic comics to creating his own comic, which quickly became successful and has been growing ever since. Headlocked Comics has been embraced by the wrestling community, both insiders and fans, which isn't easy, considering the often fickleness of the fan base.

Michael does many conventions promoting his work. Obviously, aside from working with them, that is where he meets lots of wrestlers. That's also where he met Hall.

Hall has had an interesting career. From a geeky young actor to an established excellent actor, Hall has impressed me with his body of work and his growth, Having met Hall, too, I was very happy to see he was a genuinely nice guy.

I like these pics, because it shows others are just as happy to meet celebrities. Michael obviously posts a lot of his wrestler pictures, but he proudly posted this one, too, and I am appy to give Michael a little extra exposure.

Fir more info on Michael's work, go to HeadlockedComic.com. Check back here for my updates on Michael and more of his celebrity meetings.

Michael Kingston and Anthony Michael Hall in Richmond, VA-March 2024.

Anthony Michael Hall at Fan Expo

Anthony Michael Hall has had an amazing career. Starting 45 years ago, Hall went from being a teen actor to maturing into a well-rounded actor.

We all know Hall from his roles in the films of John Hughes. Hall showed great promise, but so do a lot of young actors. The difference is Hall grew and kept challenging himself. He joined the cast of Saturday Night Live. He started taking mor serious roles on television and the big screen. He worked hard at being a versatile actor and it paid off.

Hall also grew up without any major incidents, unlike many of his contemporaries. Hall is a real success story. He is also a very nice guy.

I forget all the great roles he had. Meeting him at Fan Expo and seeing all of this 8x10s, brought back fun memories of his many projects. I had forgotten Edward Scissorhands, one of my favorite movies. I also forgot 61, a great baseball movie. It just proves how many really interesting parts he has played and shows what an underrated career he has.

Fan Expo bought Wizard World and the comic con has not missed a beat. Any fear that the con would suffer should be gone. Fan Expo has done a great job carrying on the legacy Wizard World built.

The next event is October 20-22 in Boston, MA. Go to FanEcpoHQ.com for more info and look here for recurring coverage.

Anthony Michael Hall, Tony and me in Rosemont, IL-August 2023.

Anthony Michael Hall at Motor City Comic Con 2017

I have always liked Anthony Michael Hall.  He had a lot of success as a young actor on the early 1980's with movies including National Lampoon's Vacation, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles and Weird Science.  A few years later, he played a different type character in Edward Scissorhands (one of my all time favorite movies).

He stayed busy over the next several years in movies and on television, but he didn't have the level of success he had earlier.  It's always rough for a popular young actor to transition to a success career as an adult.

In 2001, Hall played Whitey Ford in the very popular 61*.  He followed that with a several season run on tv's The Dead Zone.  Hall seemed to have survived the awkward transition to continue his career into adulthood.

When we met him at the Motor City Comic Con, we talked mostly about 61*.  He said it was awesome working with Billy Crystal and a lot of fun doing a baseball movie.  His booth neighbor was Kelly LeBrock and it was cool to see those two together again.

Meeting Hall was a real feelgood.  Growing up on the screen in front of all can't be easy, but Hall has done it and has come through on top.  He was polite and friendly.  He seemed to enjoy himself there and his long line of fans enjoyed seeing him!

Head to MotorCityComicCon.com to see this year's celebrity guest lineup. I'll be "On the Beat" all weekend (May 18-20) and I hope to see many friends!

Cuzz Gekas, Anthony Michael Hall and me in Novi, MI-May 2017.