Sometimes called “Nerd Vegas,” Comic-Con International San Diego (or simply, Comic-Con) is truly a wealth of geek fun.
More than just a comic book convention (although the medium is still well represented) Comic-Con has evolved into the biggest pop culture convention in the world. Reportedly over 100,000 fans flock to the San Diego Convention center to worship at the altar of their idols.
This year, I convinced Ice Cream Man that this was something we had to hit. Not only does it branch away from our tendency to concentrate solely on music, but we could possibly get the attention of thousands of people. Plus, it is usually HOT in San Diego around this time. So on a limited budget, Phil and I headed south to revel with fellow geeks.
Surprisingly, the line outside wasn’t near as bad to get in as it was last year. Apparently their method for checking in was much more streamlined (I got a press pass for the first time, so my check-in would be smooth regardless). This is a good thing since they expected the highest attendance in Comic-Con history.
What’s all the excitement about? In addition to a HUGE main exhibit hall where people are peddling anything from their small press comics to next summer’s big blockbusters, there are also dozens of panels talking about upcoming projects of interest to the convention goers.
This year’s big ones were a preview of the second season of my favorite show, Heroes, teasers for J.J. Abrams upcoming projects: Star Trek and “Cloverfield” (his technically untitled movie project) and panels for superhero movies The Dark Knight, The Watchmen, The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man. Alas, we were not able to get into the Heroes panel despite showing up an hour and a half before it was scheduled to start. The panel discussion is available at nbc.com/heroes however. Same goes for the Warner Bros. panel for Dark Knight and Watchmen which happened a little too early Friday for us to make it.
Friday, I went to the New Line panel to see the preview for the upcoming Golden Compass movie. I’m a big fan of the book series and can’t wait to see it translated to the big screen. They showed a five minute clip and it looks pretty spectacular. Before that, there was a panel on Shoot ‘Em Up, a John Woo-esque action movie with Clive Owens coming out in September, and that looked really awesome. I didn’t know anything about it beforehand, so was glad to see some footage. It looks very over the top, but in a good way.
Luckily for us, we did make it to the Marvel Studios panel for Hulk and Iron Man. We had gone in to the Disney/Pixar panel before just to rest our weary legs and saw the preview for Prince Caspian, the next installment of the Chronicles of Narnia series. I must say it did look better than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but I was still unconvinced. Plus the talk went way too long. Phil put it best about Caspian saying, “You know what sucks about those movies? I’ll go see them even though I know they’re gonna suck. It’s like being able to see your own death but being powerless to stop it.”
After Caspian, they previewed the new Pixar film, Wall-E, about the last robot left on Earth after all the humans have left to space due to overcrowding and over-trashing (I’m deciding that’s a word). It looked actually pretty interesting. The sound work is all done by Ben Burtt, best known for providing the bells and whistles for R2D2. I’m interested to see how a Disney movie where the main character doesn’t talk will do.
The Incredible Hulk panel was a bit of a letdown. All they had to present was an artist’s depiction of the Hulk. Plus, Edward Norton, who will be playing Bruce Banner and who wrote the screenplay, answered almost every question posed, but had nothing to say. Everybody seemed a little out of sorts and unsure of what to talk about. The best part was when a girl dressed as Arwen stepped up to the mic to ask a question of Liv Tyler, “Um.. do you ever bring to your characters elements of past characters?” to which Phil laughed incredibly loud.
Iron Man stole the show. They showed a preview with almost no cgi involved and the Iron Man costume is amazing. Jon Favreau seems to know the character and be a fan, which is always a plus for comic book movies. Robert Downey, Jr. nailed the character of Tony Stark. I am so excited for this movie now and so bummed it doesn’t come out until May. Also the panel was very fresh and entertaining with a lot of banter between the people on stage. It also included a cameo by Stan Lee who was very engaging. Seriously, go see Iron Man when it comes out, it has to be good.
After all the daytime goodness, we stopped both Friday and Saturday over to Subtext at Gallery 680. Friday night was a dinner/party for Kid Robot and an exhibition, Love:Hate. The same show was going on Saturday, so I figured we might as well stop by again and give out more ice cream.
After all that on Saturday, we made our last stop before heading home. Dr. Sketchy’s San Diego was having their first event at Bluefoot Lounge and after checking out their website, I had no choice. Artists drawing burlesque models? Done. They were really great, and you should check out to see if there’s a chapter in your area.
Finally, we made the trek back home, tired but ready to do it again next year, and do it bigger and better. Hopefully next time we’ll have a table and sell some merchandise. Until then
Check out comicbookresources.com for more comic book goodness.
