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NOTE:  IF YOU WANT DETAILED REPORTS ON EACH OF THE CONVENTION DAYS, YOU CAN GO TO COMIC VINE. THEY HAVE ALL YOUR NEEDS ABOUT PANELS, ART, COSPLAY, AND COLLECTIBLES.  THIS HERE IS JUST THE HUMBLE OPINION OF A FIRST TIME JOKERHOLIC VISITOR TO THE SDCC.  THANKS.

 

Ok, I admit. I’m impressed by the impressive size of this convention.  The Registration to COMIC CON was a royal mess, but I have to admit that I enjoyed its content very much.  There was just too much see and experience.  More forums than I could fit in a day, very instructive HOW TO session, with knowledgeable people in the field , and an Exhibition Hall that makes my ORLANDO MEGA CON, look like an amoeba in a pond.  The whole Exhibition Hall is just…HUMONGOUS!  So many creators in the ARTIST’S ALLEY and with the megacompanies fighting over the fan’s attention with the design of their booths I felt I was in Las Vegas.

I tried to post yesterday, but between the jet lag intensified with my lack of sleep since my arrival to San Diego, left me in a comatose state on my bed, so apologies to those of you that were waiting for a report.  I know I owed it to you Kanike, but here it is, better late than never. So here it is.

• SATURDAY, JULY 23, 2011- 8:30 am: I am able to get my COMIC CON bag along with the souvenir book early in the morning.  I had learned from my day before. I wanted to get a specific BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY bag, and learned exactly which volunteer was handing them out (They tried their best to keep the bags images secret so people would not ask to change them, but it’s hard with so many people). 

• Not as messy as the day before, as the lines moved a lot faster and I noticed people this time around seemed to know what they were doing. And the lines at the Sail Pavillion to get in…well, take a look:

 Doors were supposed to open at 9:30 according to a staff member I asked while I was in line, but we were allowed into the Exhibit Hall at 9:00 am and my eyes sparkled as I watched the scale of this thing.  I’m used to only local conventions that never reach this level of complexity and extravagance.

They were handing COMIC CON bags to the attendees, and there was a great variety.  From True Blood, to Looney Toons, to Big Bang Theory, to even CN’s new Thundercats series.  Here is an example of one with Jim Lee’s Justice League #1 design on it.

 Inside the Exhibit hall was a totally new world. Loved the Marvel and DC Booths full of eye catching graphics and goodies. Looked over the Hasbro booth which, as expected, was cashing on the success of TRANSFORMERS THE DARK OF THE MOON by launching tons of first editions TRANSFORMER TOYS, like Optimus Prime and so forth. 

Mattel was not far behind, getting the line to YOUNG JUSTICE, and some other DC Superheroes.   In front of them, Funko was really pushing the DC Funko toys.  Only saw the New Joker-Harley Quinn edition in their booth and I added a few pics.

There was an Arkham City booth.  Arkham City booth was not showing much in the world of new visual material regarding the game but it was a great chance to get to play ASYLUM.  They had some of the WAVE TWO toys from ARKHAM ASYLUM and let me tell you…that WAVE TWO HARLEY looks really nice. (Pics will be added soon).  They were giving away collapsible water bottles with the Dark Knight promo picture you’ve seen everywhere, and I snatched one. 

The DC booth was promoting the famous DC52, and from being in line waiting to get pins and comics, heard a lot of controversial talk about the new DC reboot.  Some where saying GREAT, somebody had to give Deadman and Aquaman an face lift, and Batman needed to be aimed to the younger generations.  Others were saying, “WTF is DC thinking?  They are going to destroy this characters.  New Batman…Superman?”  And yet another small group was debating why in the world DC worries about lame characters like Aquaman, Deadman, Swamp Thing, and who the heck is LADY LUCK (one of the newest members of JLA, according to Jim Lee in a DC52 panel later on Saturday).  I don’t know.  I don’t want to add to the debate because I know what is what moves the changes in DC….good ol’ $$$$! 

Anyways, they realized what these new character movies are doing for their company by bringing enthusiatic new fans willing to spend and they want a chunk of that.   hey want to start producing movie quality plots of these new characters for people to start buyin and its a little hard when they have over 70 yr of history behind their backs.  To modernize the characters they need some freedom, so why not just relaunch them and start from issue #1?  It’s the simplest way, right? Let DC do their thing…and let’s see how it comes out.  If they don’t get back all that revenue fromthe changes, then they will eventually return things to where they were and blame it on Zoom and the multiverse.  The only thing I want in better storytelling…and good art.  And they promised that at the DC52 panel…so let’s see then make up our minds.

Anyways, enough of discussing comics here, on with the convention

I went to the booth where they had GHOSTRIDER 2 and MEN IN BLACK 3 previews.  Ghostrider 2 promises to be a lot darker and a lot meaner than the first one.  Stars Nicholas Cage again as Johnny Blaze the man cursed to become the GHOSTRIDER to send evil back to hell. This time, Cage is in Europe when he is summoned to stop the devil who is trying to take human form. All the tweets and discussions I heard on COMIC CON were very positive.  This might not be a movie for the children though.

And that is not the case as with MEN IN BLACK 3 and his plot involving “retro aliens”  as K and J hop into a time machine to take care of one alien menace.  I don’t know…I just thought that two MIB were enough, but it seems the fever of trilogies is not over.  I will have to wait to see the whole thing when it comes out…whenever it does.  Rumors has it in comic con that they are overbudgeted and have no film filming end date yet…tsk, tsk…this looks like a possible flop.  We’ll see.

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE GHOSTRIDER SEQUEL AT SDCC FROM COMIC VINE

DC GL PANEL DISCUSSION:   I was impressed by the GL one (always liked GL for some reason).  Can’t wait for the new GL storylines that will come from GL #1 since I know that so far Mr Geoff Johns has not dissapointed me as a writer and he has done great things for the GL franchise, but one thing bothers me…Sinestro has been the quintessential rebel in all GL stories.  The perfect nemesis for Hal Jordan and the blue men from OA.  A hero turned a monster, killed so many with no remorse…and he gets his ring back?  I don’t know.  I prefered to see Sinestro as a villain not a hero. Is Mr. Geoff trying to redeem Sinestro, is this a new phase on what we can call an ANTI-HERO?  We’ll see, because Sinestro is a ‘hero’ who doesnt act like a hero…perfect aspect to explore in a series if well written.  GO GEOFF JOHNS…its your court now.

CLICK HERE FOR MINUTE TO MINUTE COVERAGE OF THE GREEN LANTERN PANEL AT SDCC

DC NEW 52 PANEL DISCUSSION:  About DCU 52 I talked already, but Dan Didio, Geoff Johns and Grant Morrison guarantee that all the buzz will pay off as these ‘new’ characters that are not really new, but have been rejuvenated even retouched a little with botox and plastic surgery, will live to their expectations.  Jim Lee said that at the beginning he did not agree with this 52’s idea, but as an editor he started to read the scripts of the new storylines and he was impressed. He said he now changed his mind (maybe $$$$ changed his mind too).  Anyways, if Jim Lee says it impressesses him, it is worth taking a look into it.  I already have my 52’s in reservation…

One interesting thing happened at this panel. A lady, dressed up like Batgirl came forward and adressed the panel as to why there were no women sitting at that panel (I much later learned she did this to every DC panel she went). Didio, Lee, Johns, Morrison and all the rest of the panel were taken aback by the question either because they didn’t understand why she asked that question or really could not make an excuse fast enough.  The question was valid.  There are no women artists, writers EVER in a DC Panel anywhere, as if  DC has a problem with having women join their ranks.  I’m sure there have been plenty of women that have sent their portfolios and their samples to the company in the past, and many of them were probably very talented. So why are not there any women in any of those panels? 

Dan Didio started to call names of women who to me (and many) had just minor participation in the making of the DC Universe, and then proceeded to enumerate the large list of female character they have on their roster.  Yes, Mr. Didio, we have a Wonder Woman, a Huntress, a Mera…but were are we, the REAL women who wanted to be part of DC Universe?  Comics have been a world mainly dominated by men, but things change. Times change.  And all our brave Batgirl wanted was to find out how willing was DC to open their door to more women writers, artists and creators.

Mr. Grant Morrison encouraged women who “felt they had it to be part of the DC Universe” to send their portfolios, and sample stories (though I did not like the tone in which it was said).  I hope a lot of women took note of that and are working hard on their submissions.  I share Batgirl’s worry, that comic is an industry that closes it doors to women.  I want more women writers, artists and sitting at panels discussing their creations.

And  as an aside…Mr. Morrison, I heard a few things you said aside to your colleages, and I don’t think they speak too well of you.  Hope I misunderstood the context of what was said, but mysogenism is not a virtue.  Neither is arrogance. You are an exceptional writer, you can also be an exceptional human being.

And that said….I shook  Batgirl’s hand at the end of the panel.  She did what most women are afraid of…face the world of men confidently and request admission to the wonderful world of comics as an equal. She’s my new hero.

 CLICK HERE FOR COMIC VINE’S FULL MINUTE BY MINUTE COVERAGE OF THE NEW 52 PANEL BY COMIC VINE

NEXT:  LOOK WHAT I SAW AT THE SIDESHOW BOOTH…

 

 

 

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