Comic-Con Discussion

[GeorgeC]

... I 'shun' the Hollywood studio booths .. but one display qualified as the coolest freakin' thing I have ever seen at the Comic Con:

Life-sized Owl-Ship prop from The Watchmen movie!

Ahhhh.... Another human soul after my own heart! The Con is much more about Hollywood in general than comics now. For shame, for shame, but probably not too unexpected. The soul of California was sold a long time ago to the movie industry!

I wasn't at the Con -- making tentative plans to be there next year, come
[WORD REMOVED BY MODERATOR FOR LANGUAGE] or not! --, but the impression I am getting from G4 TV and the online comic news networks (ComicBookResources.com , newsarama.com , etc.) is that Watchmen stole the Con.

It's THE de facto film event for next year whether or not you think the graphic novel is overrated. (I think it's a good story, but it's hardly the best-written one and it's way overhyped as is before the movie came into the picture.)

I can only hope it captures the look of the comics (so far, so good) and the feel... Unlike TDK which felt and looked like a Bond film.

The trailer for Batman: The Brave and the Bold looks very good. Surprised they went with a Dick Sprang design -- let's see if the writing doesn't degrade to 1950s/1960s Batman comic book levels and that people don't feel as insulted by this series as they were by The Batman. Sprang, in spite of his Batman era stories, is one of my favorite Batman artists. The title sequences for the Adam West Batman series were definitely inspired by his art style. Same goes for the first sequence of the Batman: TAS episode, "Legends of the Dark Knight."




P.S. -- It almost goes without saying that I WOULD have gone to the animation panels that interest me and that I would have gotten artist sketchbooks the first day or two of the Con, too. At least Bud Plant and other online vendors will carry the majority of the good sketchbooks that were present at the Con.

Once again, I'll skip the con-exclusive Bruce Timm sketchbook because as much as I like his stuff I just won't pay $60 for a book printed at Kinko's. His sketchbooks and J. Scott Campbell's have ridiculous online values! That's stuff you definitely have to get at the Con. The online scalping is ridiculous!

[James]

We've been crazy busy during the day and super tired at night so apologies for the lack of updates. They'll come as soon as we get rested up!

Some quick notes:
- Disney showed about 20 minutes of Bolt. Looks fun but probably not a classic.
- They showed about 5 minutes of Up. Can't make too many assumptions yet but it does look good and even with the little they showed you could already feel an emotional pull from the story.
- Meant to mention this a few weeks ago but just remembered after a late night viewing - Go see Dr. Horrible if you haven't already.

Much much more later - and pics!

[Daniel]

20 minutes of Bolt!? I'm so jealous!

Can't wait for the pics.

[Once Upon A Dream]

Sounds great .

[droosan]

I heard they'd shut down some of the rides at Disneyland for inspection after the earthquake this morning .. hopefully, that didn't spoil any of your fun!

That was the strongest one we've had around L.A. in several years .. but it was actually (and thankfully) quite minor, as earthquakes go. Ju-u-ust enough to remind us that these things happen, and to be prepared! :idea:

[James]

I'm on the way home! Three day train trip so will still not be around much for awhile. Thiswas my very first earthquake so I don't have much to compare with. But it seemed pretty minor in Anaheim. VERY disorienting and disconcerting - but not enough that we were worried much.

[dr.hong]

Thanks you to everyone that bought one of our books.
It was really great meeting a lot of you!

-pb

http://www.whoisrocketjohnson.blogspot.com

[Randall]

I got home late last night. Wow, what a trip! Lots of cool things to talk about, but I'm back at work today, so there will be a delay in posting more. I've got a 3-day weekend then, though, so I'll post a report and some cool photos for everyone.

[James]

Just walked in. Must rest! Will report in this weekend with more!

[Daniel]

Glad you two made it home safe.

[Ben]

I actually got home first (not that it's a contest!) and then had a lot of catching up to do so didn't get a chance to come online until today.

Wow, what a trip. James and Rand have heard all about my sentiments on meeting up (don't worry, the rest of you...it was all good!) but I think we'll all write up something on our experiences and have it up during the week.

It was weird saying hello to some guys that I already "knew" and we all hit it right off, which was cool. We also met some other neat people, and I ended up missing the Floyd Norman panel because I met some other guys at the show and we got talking. Before I knew it, Floyd only had a few minutes left! No biggie, as we later bumped into him in one of the halls and got a few minutes on his own with him.

Thanks to the few (well, okay, two!) people who spotted my cap and praised our efforts with the site...much appreciated if you're reading this!

The earthquake was interesting...I tried to convince the guys that the park is built on a huge gimbal but they weren't having it! Odd sensation and certainly the biggest land movement I've felt in LA. Apparently San Diego got it worse, so we were lucky to have moved on...between the parks at Disneyland and California Adventure it was rather sedate, even if enough to stop everyone in their tracks.

BTW, in James' intial photo...he's on the left, I'm middle, with Rand on right. Much more coming soon!

[Ben]

Three books sold right here to myself, James and Rand!

Good to meet you guys too, and looking forward to the next one!

[Josh]

I'm glad to read you guys had a safe, fun trip.

[Doodles™]

I loved Comic-Con this year!

[Randall]

Yeah, it was great, eh?

We're about done our write-ups about it, so an article should be up (with lots of photos) by Monday at Animated Views.