Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope

Posted on April 9, 2012 at 3:36 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for some sex and drug references, language, and brief horror images
Profanity:	Some strong language and some bleeps
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drug references
Violence/ Scariness:	Some images of horror in comic books and other media

There’s an old joke about a woman who goes to a therapist. “Why are you here?” he asks. “My family wants me to come because I love pancakes,” she answers. “Well,” he says reassuringly, “that’s perfectly normal! I love pancakes, too.” “Really?” she responds happily. “You must come over to my house. I have trunks full of them!”

While many people may tell you that they are fans of “Star Trek” or “Star Wars” or “The Big Bang Theory” or an obscure Marvel comic hero named Red Raven, there are the super-fans who go way past buying the box set DVDs and encasing their comic collection in mylar. They fill rooms with collections of mint condition action figures. They spend a year meticulously creating animatronic costumes for characters from a video game. They propose to their girlfriends with a “Lord of the Rings”-styled engagement ring, in front of 6000 fans at a Kevin Smith panel. And this is their movie, opening in selected cities and available everywhere via Video On Demand.

Morgan Spurlock, who made himself the star of documentaries that were very critical of big business and corporate brainwashing (“Super Size Me,” “Pom Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold”), stays off camera in this kinder, gentler tribute to the the consumers who find hope, inspiration, and home in their passion for superheroes, zombies, cartoon characters, games, comic books, and the rest of what the people behind San Diego Comic-Con call the lively arts. The fans are pretty lively, too, as Spurlock shows, following five attendees. Comic-Con is one of the only places in the world where you can arrive as a fan and leave as a professional, and two of the movie’s leads are would-be comic artists who bring their portfolios for review by publishers. One is a costume designer and maker who compares her effort to win Comic-Con’s annual Masquerade costume competition to the “friends on a suicide mission” plotline of the game she is bringing to life. Another is one of the country’s biggest sellers of comic books, hoping to sell one comic worth half a million dollars to keep his business alive. And one is there to pick up the “Lord of the Rings” engagement ring and propose to the girl he met at Comic-Con the year before at the Kevin Smith panel in the cavernous Hall H.

Interspersed with the journeys of these fans is commentary from other attendees, some in costume and some who like many at Comic-Con are the objects of fan-dom and fans themselves. Seth Rogan, Kevin Smith, co-producer Joss Whedon, Stan Lee, and more talk about the fans and, endearingly, talk about their own encounters as fans. And there is some rueful discussion of the Con’s journey from a few hundred people trading comic books in a hotel room in 1970 to 160,000 pop culture fans waiting in line for hours to see movie stars in Hall H. “We can’t use the loading docks anymore because f**ing Lucas owns them,” says a comic book dealer. There is thankfully little of the “look at the weirdos in the costumes buying action figures” commentary Comic-Con often receives, and it is nice to see affection and even respect for people who are passionate about the culture of fantasy and imagination. Spurlock balances the stories of his characters with the larger context, showing us that each of the attendees has a story and that Comic-Con is a place where stories and characters always matter.

Parents should know that this film includes some strong language, drug references, sexual references, scanty costumes, and some horror images.

Family discussion: What makes people into super-fans? What do you learn about people from the costumes and media figures that mean the most to them?

If you like this, try: “Trekkies” and its sequel

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Comic-Con, Part 2

Posted on July 23, 2011 at 10:00 pm

I got to meet with the stars of three upcoming films from Lionsgate today. First was Australian Joel Edgerton and British Tom Hardy who play estranged brothers from Pittsburgh in “Warrior,” the story of a mixed martial arts championship bout that pits them against each other. Oh, and their father is played by Nick Nolte. I’ve seen it, and it is as fun as it sounds, sort of like two Rockys kicking and punching each other. They arrived two months before shooting to work on their fight skills (and “East coast with a blue collar edge” accent). “I have mad love for Pittsburgh,” Hardy told us. Working with Nolte was a huge draw, especially since the movie has a “70’s vibe,” he said. “He’s got a face carved from the rock of method acting. Very specific.” Edgerton liked the way the story had “two protagonists marching toward the same battlefield.”

Dominic Cooper talked with us about “The Devil’s Double,” an amazing true story of a man hired to impersonate Saddam Hussein’s son Uday. Cooper plays both roles. “I loved it,” he said. “Completely exhilarating.” While it was a challenge to work without another actor to help develop the scene, he was grateful for the opportunity to take a break from the exhaustion of playing the psychotic Uday to play the double, “a good man, an observer, watching the madness play out.” To find a way to reach into the character of Uday, who had “nothing I could find any remorse for, my way in was ‘why was he like this?'”

And then we spoke to the producer and three stars from the new “Conan the Barbarian” movie, coming out next month. Producer Fredrik Malmberg told us he worked for ten years to bring this movie to the screen. His primary focus was to return to the original spirit of Conan’s creator, Robert E. Howard, rather than try to remake the John Milius, Arnold Schwarzenegger classic of the 1980’s. “Schwarzenegger was his own special effect,” he said. “We are going back to the source material, back to Howard.” It was good to be back at Comic-Con, where the deal for the movie was made four years ago. Jason Momoa and Rachel Nicols talked to us about playing Conan and Tamara, as he was eating all of the meat out of a Subway sandwich. “Meat every two hours, bland, no salt, lift heavy weights, and sword training,” was his description of the regime required for the role. Nichols talked about her character, who at first “has no idea who she is, what she is going to represent,” but “an innate warrior.” And they spoke about filming in Bulgaria, which “offered up a lot” in terms of terrain and climate.

Dreamworks brought in the cast and the people behind “Fright Night,” who talked to us about remaking the 1985 horror film about the suburban teen with a vampire next door. That film’s star, Chris Sarandon, appears in the remake, written by Marti Noxon, something of an expert on vampires from writing and producing “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” The tone had to be updated, she explained. “The boys would be aware of genre conventions. We live in a ‘Twilight’ universe.” It retains some of the humor of the original, “but in a very grounded way. People are funny in a scary situation, not in a funny situation.” But, she assured us, “it’s not campy because that makes you not believe the scary part.” Colin Farrell, who plays Jerry, the neighbor, told us he views the character as enjoying the threat he imposes on the boys in the neighborhood, but he is “debonair, cultured, suave.” He “treats humans like a cat treats a ball of wool, like playthings. He has no human virtues.”

You’d think that after helming the Starship Enterprise and three X-Men movies, Patrick Stewart would be an old hand. But his first-ever visit to Comic-Con is on behalf of…”Dorothy of Oz,” an animated film opening in the summer of 2012. It is based on a book written by the grandson of Oz creator L. Frank Baum and Stewart’s co-stars include Lea Michele (Dorothy), Kelsey Grammer (Tin Man), Jim Belushi (Lion), Martin Short (the villain), and Dan Ackroyd (Scarecrow). He talked to me about the great advantage of doing voice work as an actor — being allowed to overact!

More coming soon — stay tuned.

How to make a gif

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Comic-Con: Etc. and Misc.

Posted on July 26, 2010 at 1:06 am

I saw Gamer Grub, a specially designed “performance” snack for gamers that won’t leave crumbs on the keyboard or make their fingers sticky.

A lot of people were walking around with dripping wounds on their faces. It turned out to be a promotional temporary tattoo from the “Dexter” people. There was real blood, however, at the Robert A. Heinlein Blood Drive, an annual tradition at Comic-Con.

Among the highlights of Comic-Con for me each year are the presentations from the Comic Arts Conference, an association of academics who conduct serious scholarly analysis of comics, graphic novels, and sequential art. I truly enjoy their serious, thoughtful engagement and especially their vocabulary, using terms like “meta-panels,” “panopticonism,” “historiographic meta-fiction,” “inexpungable relativity,” “multivocality,” and “ret-con.” And I like to think about the way that comic book stories, carrying the same characters through decades of real time, provide an opportunity for scholars to think about the power and possibilities of endless narratives carried forward by many different people through many different eras.

A group of superheroes took on a group of virulent haters when Comic-Con attendees staged a protest against Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church.

You can buy tribbles at Comic-Con, and these are guaranteed not to reproduce.

One of my favorite promotions this year was for the forthcoming “Skyline,” about a strange light that sucks people up into the sky. They had a truck that launched small, ghostly white “bodies” made of soap bubbles that floated up past a huge sign for the movie.

No staples, no need for Mylar bags, and your mother can’t throw them away — there are now digital comics for you to read on your iPad or computer. But what will happen to all of the meticulous grading and how do you buy and sell vintage digital comics?

At the huge “Tron” session, the film-makers recorded the audience and promised to include their cheers in the movie.

Movie stars like Harrison Ford, Angelina Jolie, Sylvester Stallone, and Robert Downey, Jr. get a big reception from the crowd at Comic-Con. But they also go wild for Janet Waldo, Stan Freberg, and Tom Kenny. If you know who they are and want to hear a funny story told by Janet Waldo, send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com

The biggest announcement of this years Con was the cast for “The Avengers” movie, to be directed by Con favorite, Joss Whedon.

Everything is mutli-platform and omnimedia. TV shows spin off games. Games spin off movies. Both spin off comics and graphic novels and they spin off movies, television shows, and apps. I played Glee karaoke for the Wii and it was a blast.

Most popular questions at the panels: What are the DVD extras? How do I get your job?
You are AWESOME! (Yes, I know that’s not a question, but apparently, some people do not.)

No one really was stabbed here, despite news reports. A guy poked another guy in the face with a pen. Everyone is fine.

I spoke to Neil Kaplan, a voice-over actor (he once voiced Optimus Prime) who has created a non-profit group called Audio Theater for Our Troops. He hopes to build a library of audio materials to send to military forces for entertainment and support.

A guy standing at the microphone to ask a question was wearing a black hood and long cloak. The moderator called on him, “Uh, the next question is from, uh, Death?” The guy in the cloak responded with as much dignity as he could muster: “I am a Sith Lord.”

I was captivated by a book called Boilerplate: History’s Mechanical Marvel and got a chance to speak to the co-author, Anina Bennett. She told me her husband is a graphic designer and history buff who originally wanted to write straightforward historical adventure stories that evolved into a graphic novel and then evolved into a book that took a fictional inventor and his fictional invention, a robot, and put them into real, historical events. “People get turned off by the way history is taught,” she told me. Inspired by Gore Vidal and the Flashman books, the two of them worked together to tell true stories through the adventures of the robot, illustrated with astonishingly authentic-looking historical artifacts. The book is simply gorgeous and very inviting, and there is a brief but excellent teachers guide available. J.J. Abrams has announced he will make the movie.

There are enormous displays on the Exhibition floor, some costing a quarter of a million dollars. We could have our photo taken on the throne of Asgard, in the zombie house from “The Waking Dead,” or lifting a car like the superhero members of “No Ordinary Family.” But what I found most moving and inspiring was the rows of displays from people with their own comics and graphic novels. It isn’t the marketing blitz; it’s the power of imagination and the need to tell stories that is the real energy behind Comic-Con. And I cannot express how impressed I was with the talent, dedication, and professionalism of everyone I spoke to.

Can’t wait for next year!

And yes, there are two more Comic-Con posts coming, one on movies and one on television. Stay tuned. And if you’ve read this far, send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with Comic-Con in the subject line. First one will win a Comic-Con souvenir.

Comic-Con 2010

Posted on July 20, 2010 at 3:57 pm

comiccon logo.gif This week in San Diego it’s all about the geeks and the fanboys. There will be Klingons and superheroes. There will be people who know far more about Futurama, Groo, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and The Justice League of America than the people who created them. Sergio Aragonés will be up to mischief. Cast members from “Glee,” “Haven,” “Fringe,” “Chuck,” and next year’s shows will meet with fans. Stars of the 60’s and 70’s will be there to sign autographs. Great big movie stars will show up to cajole Comic-Con attendees to get the word about about their great big movies. And there will even be comic books.
And I will be there to tell you about it. Stay tuned!

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Comic-Con #2

Posted on July 25, 2009 at 3:09 pm

There may be red carpets and glamor and great big movie stars in great big movies, but at it’s big, beating, heart, Comic-Con is still about passionate fans of the popular arts, whether of the most arcane and all-but forgotten radio programs or comic strips to the most mainstream and squeal-worthy, like the next installment of the “Twilight” or “Iron Man” sagas.

I’ve said it before. Comic-Con is the Iowa caucuses of popular culture. For a while, there was some attempt to tie in the movies, television shows, books, games, and music on display here to comics. There was almost always some element of fantasy or action. But now even a suburban sitcom has come here to give its first previews. The Comic-Con audience is fearless — they never care what anyone else has said about something or whether it is cool or not. They are happy to decide what is cool and pass it on to the mainstream. By the time the kids who were too cool to talk to them in high school have caught on to whatever is approved here, this crowd will have moved on to something else.

Or by the time others have moved on, they will remain faithful. One of the most endearing aspects of Comic-Con is seeing the audience enthusiasm for people whose work has been overlooked or forgotten by the mainstream. It was a thrill to see a packed ballroom cheering for Stan Freberg, who talked about his experiences doing voices with Mel Blanc for more than 400 cartoons, helping to create “Beany and Cecil,” and revolutionizing advertising with his cheeky commercials for Pizza Rolls and Contadina.

One of yesterday’s highlights was a “Coraline” panel with author Neil Gaiman, writer/director Henry Selick, voice talent Teri Hatcher and Keith David, and some of the other people who worked on the movie. They brought some of the figures used in the film and the detail and sheer beauty were astonishing.

I’ll be posting more pictures later, plus my interviews with the Winner twins, two of the stars of the forthcoming “Boondock Saints 2,” and more, so stay tuned.

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