Informed Art - Comic-Con Revealed

300 director Zack Snyder with his wife, producer Deborah Snyder

Warner Bros. returned later in the day; this time bringing out reps from their home video unit to talk about the DVD releases of 300 and Blade Runner: The Final Cut. For 300, the panel included director Zack Snyder, creator Frank Miller, actor David Wenham, producers Mark Canton, Gianni Nunari and Deborah Snyder. Star Gerard Butler thanked the fans for their support in making the film a phenomenon. The movie will be released next Tuesday on DVD, Blu-Ray and HDDVD. On the Blu-Ray disc, the film will feature a picture in picture presentation showing the movie along with the bluescreen footage. Snyder was again asked about Watchmen, which Miller referred to as the Moby Dick for comics, and he assured the crowd that they were making a faithful adaptation.

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Elvis Storm Trooper

Day 2 continued at a fast clip. The floor was just, if not more packed than yesterday and it was hard getting through aisles. I did manage to run into Elvis in his current incarnation as a Storm Troope and he was nice enough to pose. Great guy that Elvis.

I accidedentally stumbled upon Frank Beddor, Cybil Award nominated author of The Looking Glass Wars. How lucky was that? I spent some time chatting about the

Frank Beddor

I just had to swing by Nickolodeon where I got to photograph the prettiest people there and obvious fellow lovers of caffeinated drinks.  We spoke a bit about AWN’s Career Connections, our fabulous job board.  I just love it when I can talk about all the great things AWN is doing and how much we love serving our animation community.  It’s even better when I get to do that talking to nice people like the ones at Nick.

Nicktoons

Nick is Nice

I visited the Disney booth to take my walk through the 40-foot replica of The Black Pearl and got sand in my shoes.  The ship looks amazing and the little walk through it is cool.  The walls are covered in art and there are costumes and other things behind glass.  Photos of the inside weren’t allowed.

A trip down an aisle brought me to the Pokeman tables where game playing was going on with fierce concentration and intensity.

Playing Pokeman

A dangerous looking nurse administers a shot.

No wonder I hate shots

At the Heroes booth, cheerleaders were handing out goodies.  The warehouse-looking booth has the Heroes artwork on the walls and I hear they are changing it daily.

Save the Cheerleaders

Heroes artwork

Signing off,

Gina

So you think you can dance?

Day 2 in a now completely sold out San Diego Comic-con found me back at the Dark Horse Comics booth for an early chat with Jeremy Atkins about a big announcement at their panel later that afternoon. While I was waiting for the super busy Atkins I had the great honor of meeting Sergio Aragones, the prolific award-winning Spanish cartoonist and creator of Groo.

Aragones at Dark Horse

Sergio is a very gracious gentleman and was happy to chat in his native Spanish. Turned out we had a lot to talk about. Most people from my blog know that I am a traditional Aztec Indian dancer or a danzante. Somehow that came up in our conversation about famous Mexican calendar artist Jesus Helguera and Sergio was quick to tell me about his time in the Mexico of the 1950’s performing along with a troupe of folklorico-type and Aztec dancers in a water ballet extravaganza. He reminisced about how he played the part of the tragic Aztec warrior of legend, Popotepetl and he showed me his regal stance as he mimed holding the dying Iztacihuatl in his arms. Then he laughed and told me how he had to run backstage for a costume change as in the next part of the show he played a clown. That’s Mexico for you - one minute you’re a brave Aztec warrior and the next you’re wearing a squeaky red nose. We chatted more about Mexico and did some dance steps together of various dances like El Guajito and La Botella much to the entertainment of the attendees in the booth. What a great way to spend a half hour!

Brian Talbot and Alice in Sunderland

After Sergio and I chatted and danced, I ran into Mark Evanier (no time for a photo) and Will Vinton. I saw Brian Talbot who was signing his fabulous Alice in Sunderland. While I waited in line as he sketched for a fan, I overheard him talking about Margaret Thatcher and how much she is universally hated. Standing in line can be very educational. Also spotted at Dark Horse – Josh Whedon and Eric Powell. The booth was incredibly busy with customers packing the store area as well as standing in line for signatures and sketches.

Will Vinton

Busy day at Dark Horse

Later, I attended the quick half-hour Dark Horse panel for the exciting announcement that they are re-launching the series Dark Horse Presents in conjunction with Myspace.com. Dark Horse Presents was a great black and white anthology series in the 80’s. The relaunch of the digital version of the anthology debuts today at http://myspace.com/darkhorsepresents. The series begins in earnest with a new monthly comic every month starting in September. The page on Myspace looks amazing and features a story called Sugar Shock by famed Buffy creator Josh Whedon. Sugar Shock is a story from an upcoming Dark Horse series called Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way, front man for My Chemical Romance. Dark Horse expects to publish new talent they find on Myspace on the online series. I hear they are already searching for talent on the popular social networking site.

The new creators will maintain ownership of their work, with Dark Horse having the exclusive right to run it on MySpace as well as the rights for a limited print run. Future Dark Horse Presents contributors will include Hellboy’s Mike Mignola, Guy Davis, Peter Bagge and Gilbert Hernandez, and more are expected to turn up in the coming months.

Dancing off,

Gina

New Line focused its panel mainly on the action film, Shoot ‘Em Up. However, it also included the debut of the trailer for Jack Black-starring, Michel Gondry-directed comedy, Be Kind Rewind, and director Chris Weitz presented a five minute trailer for The Golden Compass. However, the panel started with Shoot ‘Em Up director Michael Davis and star Clive Owen taking questions from the fans, who were very thankful for the free screening and the added second screening when the first screening filled up. Davis was thanked several times for spending time with the fans in line.

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Carell Gets Smart and Laughs from Crowd

Friday got started quickly with a two hour Warner Bros. panel. Director Peter Segal started off showing the premiere trailer for the feature adaptation of Get Smart. Also on hand for the star studded panel were the new Maxwell Smart, Steve Carell, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Ken Davitian (Borat), Nate Torrence and Maki Oka (Heroes). Carell was asked whether it felt more like working on a comedy or an action film. His reply was that it made him look athletic, coordinated, smart and sexy, which in reality he is none of the above. He went on to say that the film keeps true to the tone and feel of the TV series only deals with modern political issues.

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If Family Adventure Has a Name, It Must Be LEGOÆ Indiana Jones: The Videogame

LucasArts and TT Games Don Their Fedoras for the Next Great LEGO Gaming Experience

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - July 27, 2007 - LucasArts and TT Games today announced that LEGO Indiana Jones: The Videogame [working title] will whip onto game consoles everywhere in summer 2008. Developed by the same team at Traveller’s Tales that created the LEGO Star Wars(tm) series, LEGO Indiana Jones presents a tongue-in-cheek take on the first three cinematic adventures of pop culture’s most iconic archaeologist, including Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

“LucasArts and TT Games are setting the bar for next-generation family entertainment with the LEGO Star Wars franchise, and our incredible relationship continues with LEGO Indiana Jones,” said Jim Ward, president of LucasArts. “In addition to providing the quality bonding time inspired by any good family game, LEGO Indiana Jones delivers something a little different for everyone. Parents will enjoy the humorous take on some of their favorite movies, and their kids get some rousing action/adventure gameplay that may also introduce them to Indy’s original adventures for the first time.”

“It has been a real joy to work with LucasArts on the LEGO Star Wars games. Indiana Jones is the perfect character for the next LEGO-based videogame adventure,” said Tom Stone, director at TT Games. “Indy also presents us with wonderful and memorable cinematic moments. The boulder scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark in LEGO is hilarious!”

Lucasfilm Ltd. recently announced that the LEGO Group will begin releasing LEGO Indiana Jones playsets in January 2008. Meanwhile, LucasArts remains hard at work on its revolutionary, internally developed Indiana Jones videogame, which takes place a year after The Last Crusade in an original story overseen by George Lucas.

For more information on LEGO Indiana Jones, please visit www.legoindianajonesgame.com .

About LucasArts

LucasArts, a Lucasfilm Ltd. company, is a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software worldwide for video game console systems, computers and the Internet. Based in San Francisco, Calif., as well as on the Internet at www.lucasarts.com , LucasArts was created in 1982 by George Lucas to provide an interactive element to his vision of a state-of-the-art, multifaceted entertainment company.

About TT Games

TT Games aims to become a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment for young gamers and their families. Based in the UK, the Group incorporates the TT Games Publishing organisation with world-renowned developer Traveller’s Tales, and subsidiary studio TT Fusion. The first title to come from the TT Games partnership was the award winning LEGO Star Wars: The Videogame, which won over audiences both young and old alike, achieving critical acclaim rarely matched for a title aimed at children. For more information, visit www.ttgames.com.

About The LEGO Group

The LEGO Group, a privately held, family-owned company based in Billund, Denmark, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-quality, creatively educational play materials for children. The company is committed to the development of children’s creative and imaginative abilities, and its employees are guided by the motto adopted in the 1930s by founder Ole Kirk Christiansen: “Only the best is good enough.” For more information, visit www.LEGO.com

LucasArts and the LucasArts logo are trademarks of Lucasfilm Ltd. © 2005-2007 Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd. or Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM as indicated. All rights reserved.

LEGO and the LEGO logo are trademarks of The LEGO Group. © 2007 The LEGO Group.

Programming content is always news at Comic-Con, but this year Programming itself is newsworthy.  Why, you ask?  Because the Comic-Con staff has organized it like never before.  This includes established entrances and exists to programming rooms, and most panels being back to back without a break except in the larger rooms. Entrance and exit hallways are clearly marked.

So if you’re on the way down, be prepared.

Got registered at 9:30 in the industr y line which was really short and efficient.  Industry and pros got to wait inside while everyone else waited outside for the exhibit hall and convention to open at 10.  Industry and pro got in first, followed by everyone else.  Another change from past years.

Sampled some of the programming.  The first panel was on The Ar t of Adapting Comics to Screen, and included writers such as Don Paine, Mark Fergus, and Kevin Feige; I came in midway on this and it was all right but nothing too revealing in terms of filmmaking.  There was a lot of discussion as to what made good superheroes, which ultimately centered around their character flaws, faults, and personal struggles.

Immediately after that came a spotlight on animation and now comics fixture Paul Dini.  Paul’s a fun and entertaining guy to listen to who clearly has enjoyed the wide range of things he’s worked on in his career, from early days interning at Filmation to his best known work at Warner Bros. Animation on shows like TINY TOONS and BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES to his current work with DC Comics.  Interestingly, though moderated by his current DC Comics boss, the panel (particularly the fan questions) regularly returned to animation.

Then it was across the hall for the SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN panel with Supervising Producer Greg Weisman, Supervising Director Victor Cook, Character Designer Sean “Cheeks” Galloway and the voice of Spider-Man, Josh Keaton.  The first teaser clip was unveiled (twice!) leaving the audience cheering for more.  This new series returns back to the heart of the original 1962 comic with Peter Parker in high school, and from what concept art was shared promises to introduce many fan favorites (including Harry Osborne, Gwen Stacy, etc.) in what is admittedly a compression of time as many of these characters first met Peter in college.  Fans had many questions, including what villians would be featured - some are more expected than others, and surprises were hinted at, though all will come from the Spider-Man Rogues Gallery.  The audience also called for wanting to see the revival of the classic “web shooter” over the more organic web shooting as seen in the recent films, and as they are just looking for overseas studios now, there may be time in the production pipeline to take this to heart if not already done so… time will tell. THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN was announced as debuting March 2008 on Kids WB!

Now on a lunch break.  I’ll check back in later,

Shannon