San Diego Comic-Con 2010 Saturday
When you go to Comic-Con, you’ll want to spend some time in Hall H, the giant room where stars come to talk about huge Hollywood projects and show off the biggest stars at the show. This year, I went all day Saturday.
11:45 Warner Bros
Moderator: Geoff Boucher
Green Lantern
First, Green Lantern writer Geoff Johns came out to introduce some footage. It showed some effects shots, including a green fist coming from GL’s ring, a shot of Oa, and Tomar-Re. No shots of GL costume. Then they brought out some of the cast and crew. [Read the rest of this article]
San Diego Comic-Con 2010 Friday
Liz Smith (@Dammit_Liz) is Boba Fett.
This day was a little less busy, with fewer panels and a little more wandering in the exhibit hall. I caught the Batman: Under the Red Hood premiere with Chris Tulach at night.
12:00 IDW and their ‘Bro
Panel for Hasbro tie-in IDW comics. I went hoping to get some info on the D&D comics. There was…a little.
Moderator: Andy Schmidt
- Larry Hama (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero)
- Robert Atkins
- Mike Costa (G.I. Joe titles)
- Denton Tipton (editor, Dungeons & Dragons comics)
- Michael Kelly (from Hasbro)
- Alex Irvine (writer, Dark Sun miniseries)
Transformers Ongoing Series
- Mike: They’ll go into space, find Hotrod, bring back Decepticons, 5-part arc.
- DRIFT 4-issue miniseries by Shane McCarthy, Alex Milne. Origin of Drift, introduction of Lockdown.
- Last Stand of the Wreckers TPB
- Transformers: Sector 7 (movie universe). John Barber and Joe Suitor.
- Transformers Prime (Oct.), prequel to November TV series on The Hub. By Mike Johnson.
Dungeons & Dragons Comics
- Denton Tipton: Aug. 11 issue #0 comes out for $1. Ongoing series (Nov.) by John Rogers (Transformers, Leverage) with art by Andrea DiVito and covers by Tyler Walpole (Wayne Reynolds for launch books).
- Dark Sun miniseries. Writer is Alex Irvine, artist Peter Bergting, covers by Andy Brase (a friend of Brom).
Alex: The main character is a broken-hearted mul gladiator. (Didn’t quite get the name; something like “Grupic.”) He was sold back into slavery, and believes he was betrayed by a noble woman he loves. He breaks out and escapes into the desert. There, he meets Aki, a bard/dune trader/slave hunter. They come to find the mul carries an artifact that causes people to come looking for them. They have to sneak back into Tyr.
I asked during the Q&A which classic monsters might be appearing in the two series, but had no luck getting an answer. [Read the rest of this article]
San Diego Comic-Con 2010 Thursday and w00tstock 2.4
As I trudged to the convention center in the morning, I noticed the usual crush of hired guns foisting advertisements wasn’t in full effect yet. (But no worries, they’d be crowding the streets by lunchtime.)
10:00 “Spark of Imagination” Panel
Guests
- Tony DiTerlizzi (Planescape, Spiderwick Chronicles)
- Travis Knight (lead animator, Coraline)
- Mike Mignola (Hellboy)
- John Stevenson (Kung Fu Panda)
- Doug TenNapel (Ghostopolis, Earthworm Jim)
- Moderator: Geoff Boucher (Hero Complex blog, L.A. Times)
As soon as DiTerlizzi gets introduced, a guy in the audience says “Planescape!” in that growl usually reserved for dudes yelling “METAL!” This session is about the creative process and what inspires the panelists to create.
Q: Do you start small and grow big, or come up with the big idea first?
Tony: Start with character. The audience has to care about the character before caring about that character’s struggle. [Sort of a side track] We’re encouraged to imagine as children, but this becomes “There’s the art guy. Get him!” in high school. Working on The Search for Wondla, about the only human on an alien planet, raised by a robot. His take on Star Wars meets Miyazaki. He loved the maps in fantasy books like The Hobbit and the Chronicles of Narnia. Created an augmented reality map for Wondla. Video show uses mostly 2D images in a 3D space.
Travis: It’s hard to pinpoint the stop-motion creative process. “Artists in general, and stop-motion people in particular, are weird people.” You draw from the things to create: research, life experience, and imagination. When you get “first frame-itis” (animator’s block), you break it with research and thinking about the characters and how they behave. Researched how supermodels move to give the Other Mother in Coraline an “evil supermodel” look. Rehearsed in a mirror; not pretty. Used own experience with daughter for a scene with Coraline and her father, drawing specific expressions he’d seen his daughter and himself make.
Mike: Hellboy started as a sketch. He usually drew Batman for people, but a fan who already had a Batman from him said to draw whatever he wanted. He drew the first incarnation of Hellboy. The sketch kept popping up, and one time he randomly put “Hellboy” on its belt buckle. Later, he had an offer to do a comic and had no idea what he wanted to do. Hellboy was the only original character he had. At first, he didn’t know who HB was, and started vague until the characters took on a life of their own.
John: Put Mike’s art up in office while working on Kung Fu Panda to get inspiration to do the best work he could. The Sinbad movies originally inspired him to pursue a movie career. He worked on The Muppet Show early on, the creative cauldron where he learned most of the things important to his work, primarily from Jim Henson. Collaboration was extremely important to Henson, and he was one of the few people who would say “Thank you” for a good idea. Paraphrasing Frank Oz, “Jim wouldn’t have been such a great creator if he hadn’t been such a great appreciator.” So collaborate, and avoid fearing putting your ideas out there. When you have a big project, you have to say, “I need help to fulfill this vision.” Showed a video of some of his work on The Muppet Show.
Doug: The easy part of imagination is coming up with stuff, and some develop their imaginations more for jobs. Execution is the hard part. You have to communicate ideas to the crew, editor, yourself, or the audience. Separating the good ideas from trash is the hard part. Develop the skill of executing ideas. Really skilled creators, like the rest of the panel, show that it’s a “human trait” to be that good. It’s not impossible to achieve that level; use them for inspiration. Comics are great because they’re a “friendly medium.” You can just get a pencil and paper and write a whole book by yourself. Projects can fall apart, so there’s a whole lot of “nuttin’ to show for it” in the arts. Comics and novels let you have an end product, even if no film version comes through.
From the Q&A
Tony: I think, “What would 10-year-old-Tony want that 40-year-old Tony can make?”
Tony: (Ref: The specifics of inspiration for Planescape) People working with me on Spiderwick and Wondla wondered how the world was so fleshed out. If you played D&D, you have to design a world from soup to nuts. The design is Zeb Cook criscrossing world myths. The art was inspired by Arthur Rackham in large part, along with the otherworldly feel of Yoshitaka Amano.
Q: Do you feel a master plan or outlines constricts your creativity?
Mike: A really big idea is daunting. Start small.
Tony: Make a general outline.
Doug: Break into small, workable pieces.
John: Doing one piece will lead to the next.
After the Panel: Everybody around me was talking about Planescape and D&D.
11:00 The Red vs. Blue Infiltration
Guests
- Geoff Ramsey (Grif)
- Kathleen Zuelch (Tex)
- Gustavo Sarola (Simmons)
- Monty Oum (animator)
Jerry Holkins introduced them. I don’t think most of the audience recognized him. They’re wrapping up the RvB: Revelation DVD for Sept. 14. They’ll have a boxed set, RvB: The Recollection, with 3 most recent series and a bonus Grifball disc. They showed plenty of videos.
Protestors
The Fred Phelps crew had a few protesters outside Comic-Con, but they were far outnumbered by counter protesters. These included Bender and people holding signs saying things like:
- ODIN IS GOD
- Magnets: How the #%$! do they work?
- GOD LOVES FSM
- Jesus was nailed to a cross—Thor has a hammer
4:00 Robert Kirkman
***HERE THERE BE SPOILERS***
Much of this panel was Q&A. A summary follows.
He has a new imprint: Skybound. He is overseeing books by new creators. Skybound is not currently looking for pitches, but scouring online to find interesting talent.
In Walking Dead, expect turmoil arising in the community and trouble for Rick.
The first Skybound title is Witch Doctor by Brandon Seifert and Lukas Ketner. They came onstage for a bit. It’s a horror medical drama—Dr. Strange meets Dr. House. All the supernatural stuff has a basis in the weirdest phenomena of real biology.
Where’s the Walking Dead TV series filming?
Atlanta. The first season is almost done.
Did you give up creative control for the AMC Walking Dead series?
Kirkman is executive producer, hired Frank Darabont (The Stand, The Shawshank Redemption) to write and direct the pilot. Very experienced with adaptations that are true to the source material.
Is there an oversaturation of zombies?
No. Not as many zombie comics as there once were, and there hasn’t been a zombie TV series before.
Will you come back to write more Marvel Zombies?
No. Said his piece with 1 & 2.
What’s your favorite rock band?
“Probably Rock Band 2.” [Joking. Kirkman's very funny. See him in person if you can.]
[Skipping a bunch of questions. If you want to know about anything specific, ask in the comments.]
Did you consider doing the TV series in black & white to match the book?
Thought about it. Felt it would be too “stunty.” People might skip the channel thinking it was an old movie.
How do I break into comics as a writer?
Find an artist and make a comic.
Will the high mortality rate in Walking Dead affect how you cast?
We’re hoping we’ll get more big actors who can do short runs but not commit to an entire series.
I heard there’s a Science Dog t-shirt in Walking Dead TV.
Yes, but they had a bad reference for the symbol, so it looks more like a bear’s claw. I want to put a donut shop in the series called Bear Claw so it becomes an internal reference.
6:30–?1:00? w00tstock
There was a long line for w00tstock 2.4. They had two screens instead of the usual one. I had a special pass thanks to Liz Smith, the w00tstock Dungeon Master. I was in the top VIP area at first, the first guest there, and managed to contain myself when the next guests were Jamie Hyneman and his wife. Show was very cool. More controlled, focused than usual, but about the same length since there were more performers. Molly Lewis had to wait outside when she wasn’t on stage since it was a 21+ venue. (Free Molly!) Performers were:
- Paul and Storm (they are the opening band)
- Wil Wheaton (blogger, ubergeek, Wesley Crusher)
- Adam Savage (Mythbusters)
- Marian Call (folk musician, plays a typewriter)
- Matt Fraction (comics writer and madman)
- Jamy Ian Swiss (the Honest Liar, magician)
- Molly Lewis (ukulele YouTube sensation)
- Phil Plait (Bad Astronomer, showed trailer for new Bad Universe show on Discovery)
- Len Peralta, drawing the special show poster on stage throughout the night (Geek a Week)
- Jason Finn (drummer, member of Presidents of the United States of America)
- Chris Hardwick (Nerdist podcast)
- Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett (Rifftrax)
Themes of this show included double, triple, etc. rainbows, “Free Molly,” and beer. Special guests ranged from Jamie Hyneman (Mythbusters) to Aaron Douglas (of BSG, in his flight suit for a cheap “toast” joke) to Grant Imahara (Mythbusters, escorting Chewbacca) to Bill Amend (Foxtrot). Hope I’m not forgetting any people! Molly gave a free concert outside during halftime.
In a few days, you should be able to find videos of the show on YouTube. I’ll try to remember to post them to comments.
It was a late night, and it’s another late night typing this the next night. I’ll recap today tomorrow, and confuse you more.
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- Optimus Prime stands guard near the entrance to the convention center. As far as I know, he didn’t blow up any innocent cars, thinking they were Decepticons.
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- A shot of the (modest for SDCC) crowd in one of the large areas between the seminar rooms and outdoors.
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- This year, there were a couple massive ads that covered the faces of buildings. This is one, the other is for the Scott Pilgrim movie.
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- A promo area for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World outside the con. Long line is long.
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- Across the street from the con, you can see a few protesters from Fred Phelps’s group, and a BUNCH of counter-protesters.
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- Seen at the Splatterhouse booth
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- The open gaming area
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- The line for w00tstock
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- Bunch of folks doing autographs this time: Marian Call, Len Peralta, Jamy Ian Swiss, Phil Plait (the Bad Astronomer), Paul, Storm, Wil Wheaton, Aaron Douglas, and Matt Fraction (who later did get a table).
San Diego Comic-Con 2010 Preview Night
Here’s a quick post to cover the tiny bit of Comic-Con that’s happened so far.
After a mistake that put me on the wrong shuttle and a nearly hour-long drive around downtown, I arrived at the house Chris Tulach and I have rented a room in. Then after a 30-minute walk back down to the convention center, I snagged my professional badge and headed toward the exhibit hall that was just opening up.
The first thing I saw when walking into the hall was a massive image of anime-style comic heroines with their boobs hanging out. Way to break those comic fan stereotypes, Comic-Con! Chris headed for the Hasbro line to pick up some Transformers Blaster exclusives while I wandered the hall. First awesome freebie: cardboard Alien face-hugger on a stick. The exhibit hall seemed really segregated, perhaps more so than last year, with video games on one far end, big movie company booths next them, then toy manufacturers, then comics, then small press. They carted in some huge movie props, like a giant golden throne from Thor. The Stan Winston booth had three Iron Man suits, Iron Monger, and the mecha from Avatar.
Preview night doesn’t really lend itself to details beyond “I saw this and this and this and this.” It’s just a night that’s not quite as busy and has all the stuff set up. So look forward to my recaps of the remaining days (and w00tstock!), where I’ll be taking more notes about panels and announcements.
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- Stan Winston props from Iron Man and Avatar
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- THRONE USED IN THOR MOVIE. ALL THOR CAPTIONS WILL BE IN ALL CAPS. MIGHTY!
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- Tron: Legacy light cycle
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- Statue at the Weta booth, promoting…a line of steampunk/retro future guns. I guess. Hard to tell what this really was.
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- Mecha for Red Faction: Apocalypse, cold and aloof
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- Mecha from Red Faction: Apocalypse, now open for business
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- Rock Band 3 on display at the EA booth
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- MJOLNIR, THOR’S HAMMER
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- I totally want a gladius flash drive from Spartacus: Blood and Sand.
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- Billboard for The Walking Dead
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- This house set (post zombie attack) promotes the AMC series of The Walking Dead.
Greetings from the New Initiate
When Chris Sims extended an offer to joining Critical-Hits a while back, I was intrigued. I liked the site, and its reputation as a good group of people who usually stay positive about games (but while remaining honest about their opinions). My existing blog, while mostly about gaming, didn’t cleave strictly to D&D discussions. Or at least I didn’t plan for it to always do so. Also, I’ve made a long tradition of following in Chris Sims’s footsteps ever since I became an editor on D&D shortly after he did, so here was another chance.
So I made the switch and became part of a larger whole. The advantages are tremendous, and I look forward to being a part of the Critical-Hits community. But I wasn’t sure where to start. What would my first topic be? I knew I wanted to switch over before Gen Con, so I could tell people where to find my stuff. Maybe I’d start it off with another installment of my 4E Success or Failure series. That seemed like a strong way to go.
But then I ended up securing a professional badge to San Diego Comic-Con when they got some badge returns, and was suddenly about to fly off to California. So what better way to kill two birds with one stone than to cover the convention, giving C-H something new and introducing myself by showing the readers what I care about in the gaming/geek sphere. So join me over the next few days while I see the sights at San Diego Comic-Con 2010. Expect late posts, though. I’ll be busy!
