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Alan's USA Trip - Part 2: Comic-con 2010

Ok, part two of my update: Comic-con 2010...

It was an interesting and fun few days amongst, fans, friends, celebs, and in some cases all of those rolled into one. I was really lucky this year in managing to score an 'Exhibitor Pass' via a freind who had a stall (more about him later). This gave me backstage access and in some cases the ability to queue jump (very un-British).

However, in that capacity its a little harder to take pictures. Here are the rules of backstage/ professionals:

1) No pictures backstage because all materials (movie props etc) are copyrighted and celebs don't like it either.
2) Talks are again copyrighted and show officially unreleased material. Some people do sneek cameras in and later upload to youtube, but its considered very bad form. In extreme cases studios have pulled out of comic-con because of 'abuse' of this request.
3) Its pretty common that when talking 'business' you don't whip out your camera.

With that said I was able to take pictures in the craziness which is the main hall and a couple of friends did insist on me taking photos to show you all as a form of personal greeting to all CG Arts students at the UCA. Very decent of them.

An official estimate for the Comic-con week shows that over 125,000 people attended. This is the building that housed them all:



Doesn't look like it can house them all right. Well it does get crowded but generally speaking everyone gets on well and I have to say that there is often a great buzz in the air. I heard one guy shout "Comic book geeks unite!"...may be that sums it up? :) Sadly, I did witness one bad incident where a guy was stabbed with a pen because he wouldn't move. Bizarre! If you want to read more check it out here:

http://www.10news.com/news/24382617/detail.html?source=sand

Inside the main hall you can see how vast Comic-con is:



The numbers along the ceiling represent stand numbers. The fact theres a stand number well into the 2000's says everything. However, this is only the main hall and the event extends to three floors with classes, discussion panels, and talks. Everything from Paramount studios to new artists.

The main hall is where most of the people head to early in the day to make a dash for free stuff. For some people thats their only reason for going and they get pretty aggresive about it - Think January sales and old ladies! Its pretty funny watching people fight for ten minutes only to realise that they don't even know what they're fighting for. Often its just a sticker of R2D2. :)

Here are a pick of the key stands:


Stan Winston


Gentle Giant


Warner Brothers


DC Comics


Lionsgate

However, there was one that caught my eye. UCA and New Designers anyone?


Peanuts

Part of the magic and strangeness of Comic-con is the people who dress up. These generally fall into two catagories: The good choice brigade and the bad choice brigade. What I mean by this is clearly there are fans who see themselves as their comic book heroes but weigh 500 pounds. You could argue that everyone entitled to free expression, but when its wrapped up in spandex and in front of you I tend to disagree. One person who i'd loved to have photographed as an example of this unfortunately got away. A 'Catwomen' (Tim Burtons Batman) that had very little chance of cat like movement. Oh well, never mind, here are a few fans and entertainers I managed to photograph and couple from local news photographers:


Good Costumes


Worst Costumes

Picture marked A: Was taken by the local press. I was behind the photographer as it was taken.

Pictue marked B: I wasn't present when this was taken but I walked by this guy several times. He's a bit of a youtube celebrity by all accounts.

Check out the best costumes here:

http://movies.yahoo.com/photos/collections/gallery/2766/2010-comiccon--costumes#photo0

Having a background in Modelmaking I'm often drawn to the sculpture aspect of Comic-con. Studios such as 'Gentle Giant', 'Sideshow', and 'The Four Horseman' generally have great exhibitions of future products. Despite many of these being film/ comic based and really impressive I still like the 'fringe' products too. These are often the sleeper products that go under the radar but are great to look at:


Sideshow & Weta

The next picture is a shamless one for Phil who's a Superman fan (Don't think he'll mind me saying that). Yes its the Brandon Routh's Superman costume:


Superman Returns

Ok onto the movie related stands. Obviously there are loads of these alongside presentations and sneak peek trailers. A few too many to mention here. However the bottom of the list for me was 'Green Lantern' and 'The Green Hornet'. Both of these look like they are straight to DVD. A real shame for the Green Lantern given the names that have been associated with it over the years, such as Kevin Smith who would have done it justice I'm sure. Here are a few sci-fi / comic-book ones which may fair a bit better in the next 12 months:


Tron Legacy

My main pick is Tron Legacy. It seems like the right time to make this film given the point we've reached in culture and CG. The film requires us to start looking backwards to see how far we came in a short space of time. Check out the new Comic-con trailer:

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3320907289/


Thor

This film has me split in much the same way the comic book did. Norse god as a superhero? However, the visuals for Thor were always great. Does this mean we're going to get an eye-candy / no plot film?



This one is a bit of a prediction. There's been a lot of speculation around a Ghostbusters 3. Aparently there is a script, there is already a game, and now the Original Ghostbusters car appears at Comic-con. Hmmm...I smell a studio testing the waters.

A few more reveals here:

http://movies.yahoo.com/photos/movie-stills/gallery/2755/2010-comiccon-reveals#photo0

So finally we come to friends. Fristly, my good friend Matthew Spradlin. To give you some background information, Matt and I studied together at Gnomon and later worked together on several projects. Matt gave up CG some years ago to become a writer. This year has seen him write and produce a graphic novel 'Bad Kids Go to Hell' based on the movie 'The Breakfast Club', as well as having scripts accepted by the Sci-fi channel and several movie studios.


Bad Kids Go To Hell

Matt has agreed to come to the UCA and talk about his experiences, script writing, and his new comic. So watch this space guys!



This one is bit of a fan moment for me as I love the work of the animator Bill Plympton. I was lucky enough to meet him a couple of years ago. He was at Comic-con again this year promoting his new film 'Idiots & Angels' and agreed to say hi to you all (via a photo). A very nice guy.



Finally, a bit of a funny spot...



Well...thats it for now. I did see and do more at Comic-con but this is becoming a bit of a long post. My next venture is to Siggraph 2010 in L.A. and hopefully Gnomon if I get time too. Unfortunately, they close for Siggraph week so my window is tight this year before I fly back. No matter, most of the staff will be at Siggraph anyway so I will get to see them there.

Next update from Siggraph coming soon.

Comments

  1. Awesome Alan. Enjoyed this read.

    Though Kevin Smith hates Green Lantern. He says that he would write it as though Green Lantern is a piss freak, but because he hates Yellow, it will kill him.

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  2. I think he was just bitter he didn't get the job.

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  3. Peter Mayhew is actually my 3rd cousin if I remember correctly, I guess that's why my hair was always long.

    Yes Green Lantern does look quite bad but I'm holding out hope for Thor I mean Anthony Hopkins as Odin come on that's gotta be worth a watch.

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  4. When he mentioned it on Smodcast he said he was never really a fan of Green Lantern because of the whole magic ring thing

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  5. We have an exact Ghost Busters car parked around the corner from us. Along with a lovely Buick.

    Post more images and write-ups! I need more things to read whilst being stuck in Medway!

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  6. (Dan has informed me he Ghostbusters car is actually a real one used in a Movie - Ebay'ed no less.)

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  7. I spoke to Kevin Smith after the preview of Clerks 2. He said he was never a fan of Green Lantern but had an idea how to make it.

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  8. Funny. Medway has a history of movie cars. The Tim Burton Batcar was sprayed in Delce Road, Rochester.

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  9. I think Green Lantern is a hard comic book to adapt I mean it does boil down to a guy with ring attacking people with boxing gloves and mallets which is going to be hard for an audience to take seriously. I did watch the DC animated movie awhile back Green Lantern: First Flight and it was actually quite good if they just did a live action version of that it would be a decent film.

    I would like to see Kevin Smith do a comic book movie I think he would do a amazing job if someone gave him a chance, I keep meaning to buy his Batman and maybe his Green Arrow series that he did and give them a read, he always talks so passionately about comics and that's the kind of director you need on adaptation of a comic.


    (wow I went on there for a bit)

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  10. Yeah I would love to see him do a Superhero movie too. I think thats one of the sad things about Hollywood. Being passionate and knowledgable about a subject doesn't mean you ever get to make a movie about it. What a waste.

    I watched 'Cop Out' on the plane. It was a so-so movie. Not one of Kevin's best sadly.

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  11. Thanks for the Superman/Brandon Routh nugget, Alan! Sigh - yes, I know Superman is a big old square and all the cool kids prefer Batman because he's, oooh, a bit edgy and he's got a cool car... but I'm not ashamed. I can still remember seeing the original Chris Reeve movie on VHS (it came out in 1978, so I was 3 years old at the time of the cinema release) and it absolutely blew me away (apart from 'I know, I'll reverse the earth denouement - DON'T get me started!); favourite scene: Lois/Daily Planet/Helicopter. And was I the only person who loved Superman Returns for its seriousness/messiah imagery? Yeah, I know the new Lois was rubbish casting, I know! Anyway, despite my enjoyment of it, I don't think Brandon Routh will be donning those fetching blue tights anytime soon. I love his look in Scott Pilgrim though!

    @ Jonny - you shouldn't be bored - you've got an astrolabe to model! Get on with it! :-)

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  12. Yeah Cop out wasn't fantastic but I give the guy credit where its due it was the first script he hadn't written, I am looking forward to his horror film Red State.

    I must admit growing up in the 90's when there was 2 of the best animated shows at the time Batman and Superman the animated series. I think that's when the divide happened, the Batman series was amazing some of the best voice acting and art direction in a TV show or animated series ever, where as Superman was just kind of clone of that series, still good just not as good.

    As for Superman returns that film was just sooooo boring I cant stand superheroes that are all depressed all the time, I mean I can put up with that to some extent for you know some character depth and development but in the next scene you better be throwing someone through a building or fighting something lol. If the original films made you believe a man can fly then superman returns makes you believe a man can cry.

    They need to do a big Superman Trilogy epic with some decent villains kind of like the recent Batman films.

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  13. I must admit growing up in the 90's when there was 2 of the best animated shows at the time Batman and Superman the animated series is what sparked my interest in superhero stories*

    Just corrected it

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  14. It sounds so cool, surely, I have to make some plans to go there :) loved the costume's part... some ridiculous stuff there yet funny

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  15. Apparantly the guy who got stabbed in the face was just protecting a seat for a friend. The stabber obviously wanted that seat.

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