snap judgments

At the Marvel: Your Universe panel, i was able to not only praise the panelist for putting out two great books at the same time the Iron Man movie hit, but ask them why we got two very very very different books on the stands that were as far away as possible from the Incredible Hulk movie came out.

“We can’t always bat a thousand,” noted Quesada, mentioning that If you look at track trecord, they’re good at publishing the book in question.  Dan Buckley jumped in to note  that creatively, they hit their stride with Iron Man and didn’t need to change a lot to make Iron Man fit the tone of the movie.  matt Fraction was noted for his communication with the writers on Iron Man: Director of SHIELD and matched everything very well between current continuity and movie tone.  Hulk, on the other hand, is a bigger challenge because creators have to be able to ‘stretch their legs’ and do what they want without a corproate influence, suggesting to me that I load up customers on trade paperbacks ($12.99 and up) instead of new comics (as low as $2.99) for new readers.  Last Year, Buckley noted, they pushed the character with events like  Planet Hulk and World War Hulk and, while they had nothing to do with the movie, they it put the character out in the public eye.

Kevin Feige (president, Marvel Studios), in an Incredible Hulk hat, noted that they used a lot of the trades as influences on the movie, citing Hulk: Gray and Bruce Jones’ first run.

And yet… I don’t really feel my question was answered.  Why did Marvel not put out a comic that fit the theme of a very popular and well made movie?  Why do I have to recommend stories from years ago in order to keep customer interest?  Why can’t the Bruce-Banner-man-vs.-inner-monster story be told in the modern age?

And what in God’s good name is going on in Loeb’s book!??

Ah, wel.  At least joe Quesada didn’t tell me to sit down and enjoy the stories this time.

After the Punisher: War Zone panel I ran out into the hall to get out the word that yes, it will kick ass.  I heard them before I saw them, just a loud series of clicks and whirrs and shouts and this little knot of people slowly moved down the hall like a horror movie blob.  Thinking it’s Ray Stevenson, I get out my camera and lo and behold…

It’s Paris Hilton.

Sadly, I miss my camera moment but the guy next to me looks be having a heart attack.  Crouched down with his head between his legs, I honestly thought he was going to throw up.  When she passed by, he had paniced and talked about how the Hiltons and how they were nothing to the Trumps and the next think I know, he’s going to puke.  His friends try and calm him down, telling the guy that ‘that witch has no power over you’ and how he should just stay cool and eventually, he sits down and starts talking to me about his portfolio about a homeless guy who gets bonded to the internet.

I finish my article and leave.

I sit in my car, the husband driving (sadly, he won’t let me call him Happy Hogan as he’s both chauffer and bpdyguard this trip), listening to Sirius channel 22 (1st Wave!) and anticipating the Big One.

And for once, I’m not talking about earthquakes.

The San Diego Comic Con is like nothing else on Earth and the name is slightly misleading.  It’s not so much a comic book convention as it is a media blitz, full of sound and fury for everything from movies to TV shows to soft drinks to webisodes and oh yeah, comics.  For a few years, Marvel didn’t even come ot the big show and let DC have all the fun, but now, lives are on the line as comic properties are product above and beyond the call of a monthly title.

Right now, I can say I’m intimidated.  It’s a very daunting thing to see the list for the panels and previews and find yourself staring at the abyss of everything you wanted to know about.  Remember Tiny Toon Adventures and Freakazoid?  Yep, they got a panel.  Miss Mystery Science Theater 3000?  Yep, they got a panel.  Want to discuss the future of Star Trek?  They have three panels (and yet nothing on the upcoming movie?)  And oh yeah, comics.

How can they put so much into four days?  How can I possibly see it all?  Obviously the panel I don’t go to is the one that’ll have a cure for cancer and free t-shirts.  How do I manage my time?  How could you possibly see it all?

The answer is YOU CAN’T.

For serious.  You really can’t see everything they offer.  And in a way, you shouldn’t want to.  Don’t be a slave to their marketing shill!  Don’t forget to leave the convention center at least once every day and yes, before you go to bed.  Forage for food at a grocery store.  Go find the beach.  Do something non-Con related each day and I swear you will have a fonder memory of the experience than what was covered at any panel or picked up from a dealer’s table.  Once you come to terms with the fact that you can’t see everything, that all things are not attainable, that’s when you will find yourself at peace with the Con.

Sometimes you might run into a friend.  Hell, you might make a new one.  Sometimes you’ll go to something you hadn’t planned on and find yourself enthralled by something new.  Sometimes you  might even win a free t-shirt.  Let Comic Con come to you, do not chase the dragon.

I highly enjoyed my tome at WonderCon this year, set in drizzly San Fransisco and proving that last year’s joy wasn’t just a one time thing. I got to meet my awesome colleagues in the comic blog-o-business, from Blog@Newsarama to the amazing David Brothers from the 4th Letter. I got to sit in on the wacky panels this time, a strange assortment of opinion and feedback panels that went from the comic retailer side of things (something I’ll be talking about later at great whopping length) to the jewel of the WonderCon Crown.

Sunday Conversation: For the Love of Comics was this crazy weird little panel hosted by Dan Didio about litterally.. the love of comics. Questions were fielded by the audience on what got them into comics collecting, what do they buy out of habit, if they took a break, what got them back, what drove them away, all questions asked by Mr. Didio himself. It was surreal, sitting down with the people who make the books and having them ask you why you’re here. What do you love, dear reader? Tell us, the people with the responsibility.

Dan Didio looks at you when you’re answering a question. I mean, almost disturbingly. He is so intent on YOUR answer that you better be ready because he’s gonna want to know what you think. He’s like that at all the panels really, bouncing about the stage and finding cool costumes in the audience, eager to be there. Honestly, I felt kind of bad because … well, look at me. Died in the wool Marvel Zombie here. But still, it makes you excited for the product and excited to be there.

Like I’ve said before, enthusiasm is contagious and if you’re thrilled to see the lastest issue of Annihilation: Conquest, you can get someone else nearly just as excited by expressing that enthusiasm and man… Dan Didio is a fine example of that. He laughs at the silly things his company does, he delights in those crucial moments that the fans do, he’s just a delight in person. I almost wish I followed more DC titles.

And then I read them and know that the odd book I pick up now and again is okay.

Anyhoo, this brings me to the moment of realization: while I’m sitting in this bizzaro focus group where the fans are actively being asked what they love about comics (and not just DC, there really was no agenda here and I mean that), I asked myself, “Carla? What would Joe Quesada do?” Would he really be here? Could he stand something like this?

I honestly don’t know. Sadly, Marvel’s not really been good for stepping out like that in recent months, almost after Civil War. Some time into 2007, they pulled back and took offense and started to get … well, less Marvel. So when I go to cons like WonderCon, I get a better feeling from DC than I do the publisher I extoll.

In three week’s time (oy!) is WizardWorld LA; I’m pretty sure there’s some sort of deal Marvel has with WizardWorlds, so they should be there.  There should be at least one panel about something up and coming, something on Secret Invasion, just… something?  And all I ask, just the one little teeny thing, is that Marvel’s panel there makes me feel as welcome as the DC panels I was lucky enough to go to this weekend.

I mean…. we belong?

Okay, Iron Man.

It’s the only goddamned Marvel panel at WonderCon this year and by hell or high water, I was going to be there.

Well, after both hell and high water I found myself a little on the late side in a gigantic auditorium with Jon Favreau and about 300 other people. A lot of the questions were movie based (what inspires you, how was it to work with Stan Winston, etc) and for his part, these didn’t seem like technical rote answers. He was just as excited to tell you about going to Skywalker Ranch this weekend to do some mixing as he was to tell you about Rhodey and War Machine in the new movie (probably no War Machine, per se, but the origin of the character will remain true). There was enthusiasm through a second party as Favreau felt that Marvel Studios was very encouraging to get as imaginative and creative as possible with the movie; one, because the more locations, the more armors and the more honest-to-God ‘stuff’ is in the movie, the more they can make of merchandising. Simple fact that in the case of Iron Man happens to work well; man makes a lot of stuff that would be incredibly cool in 6″ plastic.

Two to this is the fact that this is Marvel’s first production out of the thumb of any major studio influence but their own. This gives them a lot of freedom to use source material to its fullest and with as much enthusiasm as possible. I like the sound of that, Marvel Zombie that I am, and it gives me hope that not only are they willing to throw the Armory at us, but in Favreau’s opinion, create a whole universe that’s consistent within their movies (now at least). This level of consistency to both within the movies and to the original stories can lead them t do things like an Avengers movie, which Favreau would like to be a part of. Now, if only we can get that kind of consistency in the comics….

Obviously, there wasn’t a lot that could be said about the movie itself, details, specifics, all the nitty gritty you’re waiting for. Favreau likened it to being a burglar in a house with a pit bull. You can bring a bag of steaks to sate the pit bull while you’re robbing the place, but eventually… you’ll run out of steaks. Preferring to work under the white noise of uncertainty, he declined comments on online rumors and dodged and weaved with the best of them.

Well, it wouldn’t be a panel without a teaser and he apologized that the 90 second preview attached to Lost wasn’t actually this week, but next week (check your local listings). He didn’t even have that 90 second preview with him… but he did have the 2 1/2 minute trailer.
Oh man.

A lot of it we’ve already seen, but there’s a lot more of Tony in it, his arrogance, his cocky nature and you’re starting to get a feel for the man more than the suit. There’s a cute test flight at night that crashes through his garage (Tony’s pad being a rather swanky high tech apartment that will delight the nerdy senses), there’s a press conference about how there’s rumors of him building a hero (maybe becoming a superhero, it was hard to hear) and that he wasn’t the ‘hero type’ interspersed with shots of him kicking ass and blowing shit up like an Iron Man should. One line that caught my attention specifically was “I want to protect the people I put in harm’s way” which is a genius motivation and rarely seen in the heroic story of comics. Someone who wants to not put back the genie in the bottle, but survive what came out and help the innocent who never brought this on themselves.

The movie is going to be fantastic; with the enthusiasm from both directions, both corporate and fan, it would take a catastrophe to ruin something this well made. Again…. if we could just get this level of attention on the comics.

So tired.  So very very tired.

Comic Con was awesome, of course, but only when you’re home, in your bed, far far far away do you realize that you just spent a very long weekend with a hell of a lot of people running across convention floors with a laptop in tow.

Hoo.

I have tons more to say, as said laptop’s battery wasn’t fantastic and I switched to the ol’ pen and paper method of notes for the most part, so continue to expect more Con info from Yours Truely.

But for now I’m back home, selling books and listening to the wonders of peace and quiet.

Still here.   Hanging on.  Vision blurring.  Shoulders weak.

The last panel of the day is the X-Men panel, in which they will swear the idea of putting a five-or-so page back up story in the back of a bunch of disconnected books is a FAN-TAS-TIC idea.

My laptop ran out of batteries yesterday along with my camera (those Iron Man shots are the last ones I got), so I do have a bunch more notes on the rest of that day on that pen and paper thing I keep hearing about.  Keep watching for fun things like HOLY CRAP BOB GALE IS A WRITER ON AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, my theories on such, the Warren Ellis lte night panel (oh yeah).

Revealed at the Marvel Booth, the Mark I Iron Man armor designed by Stan Winston.

Slick.

Oh my GOD.

I’ve been seeing customers and fellow bloggers (HEY BULLY!) …   and a very important person with very important news.

I have to say something or I am going to explode with the secret, but the info won’t be officially released until around 4 today.

But I need to say this:  ONE OF MY PULL CUSTOMERS AT METRO IS GOING TO BE A WRITER ON AMAZING SPIDER-MAN!!!

More later when I’m done freaking out.

Quickie Update:  I just asked the Joe Quesada panel if people check in regarding character continuity when people use characters from comic to comic (oh sayyyy…. Kingpin!  Showing up in one book, going to Japan, used in two other books between that one published later, and on and on).  I tried to phrase it well, but…

No dice.  They are to understaffed to keep track of that, just enjoy the stories was the bottom line.  I tried to compare it to Lucas Licensing, but since they don’t have a ranch, that sort of continuity check is just out of their reach.  6 movies versus the 80-some books they publish, so many characters… just not possible, says Mr. Q.

Discuss.