Aaron Eckhart On Working With Heath Ledger

Not much I could say to add to the awesome of this. Simple and inspiring.

 

Problematic Comic Book Costumes

(From left-field.)

4-year-old: Black Widow sure can do a lot in high heels.

7-year-old: Yeah, a lot a lot.

9-year-old: Yeah.

4-year-old: Like Kicking and shooting.

7-year-old: And Running and jumping.

9-year-old: And it's not even good for your feet to wear high heels all of the time and never take them off.

(Totally girls. Totally comic book fans.)

The Red Skull is a Nazi

Art by David Aja (image from Marvel.com)

The Red Skull is a Nazi.

And you know what? Nazis are bad.

I don't mean "there's this jerk at work who doesn't do anything and spends all his time politicking because that's his only skill" bad, but "Genocide is a too-nice term for their actively killing massive amounts of men, women, and children because they didn't meet their ####-up standards of perfection" bad.

But I'm wondering -- not flippantly -- did Nazi's become a protected class at some point? Because in movies and comic books, it seems like you can't mention them, or show swastikas as a symbol of evil that we should not forget, and a pop-culture introduction to that horror might just be the gateway to more challenging dianoia.

I'm wicked stoked (and wicked nervous) about the upcoming Captain America: The First Avenger film. Excited, because a quality big-screen treatment is far overdue, I'm a lifetime franchise fan (Cap was my first comic book at 5 years old), and I think if director Joe Johnston can bring his Rocketeer and Young Indiana Jones Chronicles vibe to the Star-Spangled Avenger, it's a win. I'm nervous, because Captain America as a representative ideal means a lot to me.

I expect the film be a fun, mostly light-hearted romp, not necessarily prompting weighty discussions; but it is a launching point for them.

The Red Skull is going to be the main baddie in the film, but the film changes his origin in a significant way. Rather than portrayed as he is in the comic books as the goose-stepping protégé who eventually outstrips and frightens Hitler himself, he's couched instead within the clandestine, apolitical organization HYDRA (also from the comic books).

Now, I'm all for new expressions of franchise IPs (it allows me to be a Hasbro fan), and I totally get that for them to be successful in their non-generative medium, changes need to be made -- this smacks of commercialism with an unintentional bad social impact.

Allegedly, the Red Skull's affiliation was changed so the film would do well in overseas markets -- ostensibly Germany, where there's an understandable sensitivity to an ugly portion of that country's history.

Sure, there's an intelligent sensitivity aspect to this decision; though I doubt that's the driver. And the cost is potentially bigger.

I mean what I said earlier, where pop-culture can be a less-threatening entry to important concepts with which we should wrestle (there's an analog to edgy stand-up comedians making us laugh at things that would make us uncomfortable in intellectual-only situations). Hiding thorny things for marketing purposes is kind of the ... opposite of "Never Forget".

Interestingly, when Paramount Pictures (who is distributing the film overseas), was going to market the film in non-US markets, they balked at the planned idea of truncating the title to just "The First Avenger" -- arguing "Captain America" has too much brand recognition to remove from the film title. So they gave those various markets the choice between "Captain America: The First Avenger", or just the "The First Avenger".

Somewhat surprisingly, Ukraine, South Korea, and Russia are the only three having decided to date to go with just the truncated title; Germany is keeping "Captain America" intact. (China's still up in the air, since they only release south of two-dozen non-national theatrical releases per year, and it remains to be seen if Cap will be one of them, and what its marketing title will be. As a side note, it was also Paramount who chose to remove "A Real American Hero" from the G.I.Joe film title.)

So, at least for the most part (in this instance), brand recognition trumps, and the film gets to keep ... the name of the guy wearing a freaking giant American flag as his uniform.

Funny enough, the crew members-only poster (an excellent nod to 1940s art sensibilities) is a re-work of the cover of Captain America #1 from 1943 -- including Chris Evans punching Adolf Hitler (ah, but still no sign of swastikas; though Hitler's arm is cleverly obscured by a Luger P08).

"Captain America: The First Avenger" crew member poster (image from marvel.com)

Captain America #1, December 1940 - a year into WWII, but a year before the bombing of Pearl Harbor (image from coverbrowser.com)

Even in the comics, for some reason, the Red Skull's affiliation to the Nazis is being downplayed.

As an example, I'm looking forward to the Red Skull: Incarnate limited series, and I'm a David Aja fan (and these covers are fantastic). But notice this cover:

No swastikas.

Here we have Johann Schmidt doing the sieg heil, but the symbol of Nazi barbarism is missing.

From David Aja's blog:

"At last was decided not to show swastikas on covers, but we thought readers' brains would fill blanks ..."

Sure -- if readers know enough about some of the horrors of history needed to fill in these blanks.

(And to be clear, I'm not at all criticizing Mr. Aja in this, just raising my larger concern.)

I'm not trying to be alarmist or make something out of nothing, but I honestly feel there are truisms we shouldn't ignore. Truisms like Edmund Burke's "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it" (or George Santayana's more oft-quoted rephrasing, "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it").

At some point, societally, I think we do forget things. That happens over time, and the death knell is at some defined, measurable point we either have to figure out reactively, or for which we should actively watch.

"Never forget" is a mantra for the horrors of World War II, so we don't forget the brutality of some people toward others, and we don't forget the tragedy and cost of lives lost to that brutality.

To be totally insular (but to make a point with doable math), if I just consider the U.S. Armed Forces WWII veterans, there are estimated to be fewer than 2 million surviving. Within 6-10 years at current projections, we may lose the last of our living links to this important part of our history (though organizations like The National WWII Museum are doing what they can to capture oral histories from veterans and survivors).

Now, encouragingly, there are other places in the Marvel comics where the history and horror of things represented by symbols like the swastika are still remembered.

The amazing Ed Brubaker, whose current run on Captain America is currently one of my all-time favorites -- has reintroduced Sin, the Red Skull's daughter, and kept her and her father firmly entrenched in their Nazi origins.

Even in the current "Fear Itself" cross-over story arc (largely led by writer Matt Fraction), Sin and her armies are razing the entire United States  -- including the Capitol -- in their "Blitzkrieg USA", with giant war machines blatantly festooned with swastikas. Various participating comic writers are subtly (but explicitly) calling out this symbol via characters, noting its horrid history, and its current use to intentionally strike fear into the populace.

Going back to the commercial reasons for losing the Swastika from films and comic books (and to somewhat complicate the issue further) there's a related, cultural sensitivity reason to exclude the symbol.

It's not like the National Socialist German Workers' Party (or the precursor Thule secret society) invented the swastika. It's originally a sanskrit symbol, ironically a one-time good-luck symbol, and it still has wide active use in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Since India is a large populace (and an important commercial audience for US films), removing the symbol probably makes a lot of sense. There's a bigger, more complicated discussion here about misappropriation of symbols, whether such misappropriation can irredeemably damage a symbol or trope, and cross-cultural isolationism. (Though, to be clear, the red/white/black Nazi expression of the symbol is unequivocally negatively iconic.)

Getting above the weeds a bit, commercial concerns by themselves are certainly valid -- films are so expensive, and if they don't do gangbusters in all markets, we fanboys aren't going to get big-budget treatments of our franchise favorites.

My concern is that in the service of the dollar, or cultural sensitivity, or "playing it safe", even in these "light-hearted" pop culture vehicles like the Captain America movie, we will lose focus on the importance of remembering key parts of our history -- and in so doing, forget the cost, and how to avoid similar horrors in the future.

(Flame on!)

UPDATED: I've seen the new Captain America movie, and read the first issue of the new Red Skull comic series.

My feelings on this topic from the movie are mixed. There are nods to swastikas in the film, though they are creatively covered, hidden, and otherwise kept from full view. And while in the film Hydra is positioned as a division of the Nazi war machine, that in some way deflects the history of the horror the Nazis caused.

My feelings on the Red Skull: Incarnate limited comic book series are far less mixed (and very positive). While I still wish the swastikas had not been removed from the cover art, they are portrayed prominently, accurately, and frighteningly in the interior art. Even more importantly, writer Greg Pak is making this series an opportunity to accurately portray how not just the Red Skull, but the Nazi party, came into power. He is painstakingly portraying the culture and global events of the time, with a stated hope that people will tackle the thorny subject of how this happened, and how we might prevent it from happening again. He's even providing bibilography and further reading in each issue.

I'm impressed and excited by this mission of Greg Pak's -- it's encouraging, and weightier than I expected (my semi-myopia, nothing on Mr. Pak, obviously).

(I wonder if some smart PoliSci and sociology profs should look at this material as a clever way to give this topic a fresh look among jaded students.)

The Blogs are Back in Town ...

Guess who just got back today?

Them useful blogs that had been away

How they've changed, got a lot to say

But man, I still think them posts are crazy

They were asking if you had freedom

How you was, if you were readin'

Told them you were readin' all 'round

Driving digirati crazy

The blogs are back in town

The blogs are back in town

I said

The blogs are back in town

The blogs are back in town

The blogs are back in town

The blogs are back in town

The blogs are back in town

The blogs are back in town

(With sincere, sincere apologies to Thin Lizzy.)

And apologies to you, because my multitude of blogs have been on a too-long hiatus, and now they're back in force.

Between changes with blogger.com and my Web hosting company changing how they were handling CName records -- my blogs got broken sometime last year. Add to that me being wicked busy at the toy job, and content itself has been light -- and a lot of what was there over the last year has been lost because of changes to the two not-so integrated services above. Sucky.

Anyway, due to me recently re-recognizing the importance of staying in touch with y'all through my postings, I've rebranded and reposted my blogs. To avoid further CName problems (and to take advantage of Google's various integrated media services), I've moved all of my blogs to be hosted by Blogger:

• Adam Creighton, Voice & Film Actor (Ramblings)
  http://ramblings4realz.blogspot.com/
• Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming
  http://gaming4realz.blogspot.com/
• I'm Playing
  http://playing4realz.blogspot.com/
• I'm Hearing
  http://hearing4realz.blogspot.com/
• I'm Seeing
  http://seeing4realz.blogspot.com/
• I'm Reading
  http://reading4realz.blogspot.com/
• I'm Playing With
  http://notdolls4realz.blogspot.com/

Apologies for the pseudo l33t speak of the titles, but since the blogspot goldrush has long-since passed, I needed to pick consistently unique named titles for each of my blogs.

Now, any time I make a new post to any of my blogs, notices will automatically post to Twitter (the World) and Facebook (Friends only). Posts from my game industry and acting blogs will also post automatically to my LinkedIn profile (Professional Network). Check out the post, "My so-called (connected gamer) life" over at my Gaming blog for the details for how I'm piping data back and forth.

Nothing should have changed for the RSS feeds, since I re-pipe all of those through my existing FeedBurner account, and kept the outward-facing URLs the same.

That's it for now -- more Freedom of Speechish fodder soon.

TRON tributes

OK, so I dig the new TRON: Legacy movie and Daft Punk soundtrack.

So, I thought I'd check in on a few artists I follow, and see if they're doing anything TRON-inspired.

Turns out, yes -- so here are a few that I particularly liked:


Sam Flynn by *stanlydan on deviantART


CLU 2 by *stanlydan on deviantART


Gangsta-Tron Cover by ~mase0ne on deviantART


Tron - Buzz enters the Grid by ~iamclu on deviantART


Ghost Rider- TRON-ified by `diablo2003 on deviantART (this is my personal favorite out of all 5 of Marc Brooks TRON Marvel covers from last month -- I like this kind of synergy).

MARVEL TRON by *Enymy on deviantART (But check out the winners and runners-up -- especially David Murdoch's Magneto piece, or all of the Deviant Art-hosted entries).



Just a sampling of the awesome stuff you can do with figs and parts from Onell Designs. These may replace Stikfas for me (depends how they are to animate).

SDCC: Hasbro Marvel toy panel

I'm way too into Hasbro Marvel toys, with my main gripe being I can't find the ones I want easily at all.

So the best news for me was that re-orders for all of the current series figures.

My favorite lines are the Marvel Universe 3.75" scale figs, the Super Hero Squad, and the too-little-loved-of-late Marvel Legends figures.

2011 Finishing Out:

Super Hero Squad - Helicarrier, quinjet, and S.H.I.E.L.D. car! Battle for Asgard TRU exclusive!

Marvel Universe - there will be a dark purple variant Galactus.

2011 previews:

Big focus on Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America.

New toys based on the upcoming Avengers animated series.

6-inch Iron Man Legends will debut, and be a mix of movie and classic comic book figures.

There will be Captain America toys, which will be fine, if I don't have to buy one with a sculpt of Chris Evans face.

The only Super Hero Squad thing that hit me excited was The Blackbird vehicle.

For Marvel Universe, Olivier Coipel is the packaging artist.

Cyclops! Apocalypse! Spider-Man 2099! Spider Woman! Original Avengers 3-pack (including tiny Ant Man and The Wasp)! Frost Giant and Loki giant pack (the former is _sick_)! Bill Foster and Ragnorok Clone Thor! Sentinel and Wolverine giant pack!

2012 Previews:

2012 will see the return of the Marvel Legends line "in a big way"!

No commitment to the build-a-figure (BAF) plans, which I'm fine with.

There will obviously be products for all three Marvel movies.

And there were some teases for Marvel Universe 3.75" scale vehicles.

SDCC: Iron Man anime debut

I was able to attend the SDCC premier of the Iron Man anime series debut, and it was gorgeous, and exceeded my expectations - and I'm a comics and anime fan.

The ongoing series (one of 4) will broadcast on G4 television in 2011, be set in Japan, produced by the inimitable Studio Madhouse, and dialog will be in Japanese with American subtitles.

The 24-minute episode revolves around Tony Stark's humanitarian initiative, his desire to retire iron Man, and his introduction of a new set of armor, and ... other stuff (I hate spoilers). My only wish is that they'd showed opening and ending credits. We anime fans eat that up.

Iron Man is the first series, Wolverine is the second, X-Men the third, and Blade the fourth.

While nothing was said about the timing of the other three series, head of programming John Rieber did say there will be a rolling release of the various series.

They did show world-premier concept images from the Wolverine anime, including Logan, Yuriko, and Omega Red (Jeph: "Doesn't he look bad-ass?").

SCOOP: After the panel, while I was thanking Jeph Loeb for, well, basically being him, he said the four series all occur in one world, and the characters will show up in each others series. Teh shizzle - You read it here first.

And as a meta commentary, observing them the last few days, so many companies could learn so much from Marvel and execs like Loeb:

* How to create new expressions of an IP, authentic to the property, and authentic to the expression itself.

* How to tease and launch a new product - especially at Comic-Con.

* How to run a comic-con media reveal panel - gracefully handle technical challenges in stride, manage questions, and keep things moving.

* How to be confident in your art, and be cool, professional, pleasant, and personable, without revealing things they shouldn't, and without being douchey.

* More, but if I say it I'll look like I'm sucking up to the family, and/or I'll get myself trouble.

-30-

SDCC: Welcome to the Digital Age

Marvel is wicked impressive in it's transmedia penetration (I hate the former new buzzword, so I added the second to make it sound dirty).

Anyway, I didn't want to miss this panel, covering Marvel.com, the "Your Universe" initiative, Motion Comics, and more.

There was a convention preview of a Thor & Loki motion digital comic,which will coincide with the release date of the film, which looks amazing.

Next up was the browser-based Marvel Super Hero Squad game, which I checked out earlier today, and looks really fun for kids. Those Amazing Society developers are talented folks.

Then on to digital comics, which are doing well on Apple platforms, but no info about whether the experience will get any less painful on Netbooks.

There was also an announcement of Ultimate Thor releasing day and date in print and digital form. The announcement fell a little flat with the audience, which is too bad, because it's a pretty big deal, along the lines of Steve Soderberg / Mark Cuban day and date experiments.

During the QA, the panel revealed the more mature Marvel online video game from Gazillion is still under way.

There was an interesting diversion about digital comics creating a "discovery forum" for comics that's lacking since comics have moved away from non-specialty shop newsstands.

SDCC: DC Comics' 75th Anniversary panel

I attended the DC Comics' 75th Anniversary panel, which had amazing, amazing panelists, who got to share fun, unknown anecdotes, and "turning point moments" for the publisher and the industry. (All moderated by Paul Levitz.)

Jerry Robinson has been with DC in one form another for 70 of those 75 years. Stunning. He shared that Citizen Kane had a big creative juices-type influence on the early, intimate staff.

Mr. Robinson talked about the future of the comics from the view of the past, where he recognized foreign cultures more appreciated comic art as fine art, and needed to be preserved, and he started galleries and movements to support that.

Then on to Dennis O'Neill, whose Batman first captured me. Neat nod to Jenette Kahn, and her encouraging the DC staff to own their art form proudly, and to champion it. (He's been doing this 45 years?)

His turning point moment is the long lead recognition of comic hooks becoming mainstream and respectable.

Kahn talked about the growth of pride and craftsmanship in the industry, and Frank Miller, and Ronin.

Then to new co-publisher Jim Lee, and his 1986 excitement with DC books, though he talked in a more meta way about the political creators movement, the maturing of comics.

Lee talked about the upcoming generational shift that will make digital delivery of comics in the future very different from where they are today, and more natural in their consumption.

Dan DiDio (one of the laughy-est human beings I've ever seen) was up next, talking about his ABC days, meeting Kahn, and being more excited about the DC offices than working on things like M.A.S.H.

He talked about the original Crisis story line, and how DC let the tightly spun tale slip a bit, which did not make them as strong in the industry as they could have been if they'd "held the line".

Geoff Johns is the "new guy' from a leadership perspective, and shared his childhood passion about comics.

Johns talked about his time working with Richard Donner, and not able to get even a Green Lantern movie made, and now there are so many quality comic book movies beyond Batman and Superman - including a GL film.

(Sorry for the choppiness, but I'm trying to honor the panelists, and blogging from a phone sucks.)

SDCC: Mondo Marvel

Lot of series reveals:

Holy cow - 4 Captain America books? Mark Waid back on the character with Man Out of Time!

Ultimate Thor!

Ultimate Doom!

Strange Tales Volume 2.

An Iron Man and Thor book, from the "Marvel cosmic team".

New Power Man (new kid as the character; er ...) and Iron Fist.

Rocket Raccoon and Groot, coming out of the Thanos Imperative, and Mike Mignola back to Marvel to do covers!

Wait, the Thanos Imperative has Beta Ray Bill? Time to add that book to my pull.

Q & A:

Brian Michael Bendis says the Sentry will always be dead in his books. Yay.

Bendis says they're going to clean up the "magic issues in the Marvel Universe". Good.

Then he said Killraven is coming into the main Marvel Universe? I can't tell if he's joking.

"With our new Disney ties, and the expansion of Marvel Japan, we may see more work with Japanese creators."

(Can't wait to see the new Marvel anime line, like the Studio Madhouse Iron Man that debuts Friday.)

(They're giving away "pieces of Groot to good questions, with certificates of authenticity. Brilliant.)

Newly minted head of TV Jeff Loeb talked a bit about Marvel live-action. Very non-commital, but with a pledge of quality. Wonder what happened to Moon Knight that was filming in Vancouver in 2007?

Marvel still doesn't have the rights to Rom, but the Space Knights will be making an appearance in future Avengers.

There will be more Beta Ray Bill coming! No deets.

More Marvel horror characters will be making appearances.

Fun stuff, but not as big as 2007's Mondo Marvel.

Free Comic Book Day

Free Comic Book Day is a national event where local retailers give out free comic books as a way to give the medium exposure to new readers.

FCBD is a great way to test out books of all genres for all ages (I really recommend Owly for pre-readers).

If you're one of those folks I've gotten hooked on books in Texas or North Carolina, Several Austin area stores are participating, as are NC stores, and several are doing more than "just" giving away free books. Rogues Gallery in Round Rock, TX, for example is making a big event out of the day, with several industry folks in-town for signings and meet-n-greets (including "in the family" folks like Marvel writers Paul Tobin, Paul Benjamin; Artist Colleen Coover; and Carswriter Alan Porter of BOOM! Studios).

If you're intimidated with how to get started with what to read, store owners like Randy Lander (who ownsRogues Gallery) are great about suggesting books based on your TV, movie, and game preferences.

Below are the "official" free books, but several of the participants are ponying up additional free offerings of their own.

Previews available on the FCBD Website.

• Archie's Summer Splash! #1
• Doctor Solar/Magnus
• Fractured Fables
• G.I. Joe #155 ½
• Iron Man/Thor
• Mouse Guard/Fraggle Rock
• Shrek & The Penguins
• The John Stanley Library
• Toy Story
• War of the Supermen #0
• Sonic: The Hedgehog
• Worlds of Aspen
• Fearless Dawn
• S.E. Hinton / Fame
• Bongo: Free-For-All
• Irredeemable #1
• DC Kids Mega-Sampler
• Del Rey Showcase
• Green Hornet #1
• Weathercraft!
• The Overstreet Guide
• Library of American Comics #0
• Artifacts: First Look
• Love and Capes #13
• Iron Man: Supernova
• The Tick #1
• Oni Press Free-For-All!
• The Sixth Gun #1
• Radical: Bigger Books!
• Atomic Robo
• Freedom Formula: Speed Metal
• The Stuff of Legend/Mortal Instruments Preview
• Owly And Friends

Favorite comic book covers

As part of celebrating 70 years, Marvel is having a Favorite Covers Countdown.

I can only pick 5, which is nowhere near enough, so I'm listing my favorites here, instead. Oddly, they don't have every cover online, so I'm just listing the ones they do -- so you can look at them, and not realize how much of a geek I am digging into my collection (what, no Alien Legion? No Deathlok?).

In no particular order:

• Alpha Flight #1 -- John Byrne sentimentality.
• Amazing Fantasy #15 -- First appearance of Spider-Man.
• Astonishing X-Men -- #3 (John Cassaday's leaping Wolverine, back in the yellows) and his #4 (return of Colossus).
• Avengers #503 -- The "Avengers Disassembled" cover, with Captain America sitting on the floor amidst Ant Man's helmet, Mjolnir (Thor's Hammer), Hawkeye's bow and arrows, the Scarlet Witch's headband, Iron Man's helmet, and the visions cape. Sad and weighty.
• Captain American -- #248, #250, #254 are John Byrne covers and Roger Stern arcs. Ish #248 was actually one of my first comics as a kid (and then I went back-catalog as an adult), #250 is the "Cap for President" cover that graces one of my favorite political Ts, and #254 is Baron Blood and Union Jack. Oh, and Mike Zeck's Annual #8, with Wolverine in his brown duds sparking off of Cap's shield.
• Captain America (2004 series) -- There are sooo many good Steve Epting covers here. I'm particular fond of the gravitas of Captain America at the graveyard in #4, the powerful S.H.I.E.L.D. cover of #9, both the bloody jersey and newspaper Epting variants of #25, and the Alex Ross variant of the not-yet-release issue #600.
• Daredevil -- #183, with Punisher unloading into Daredevil, shortly before Punisher crossovers became obnoxious. And there's David Mazzucchelli's excellent #228, which vividly shows Frank Miller's deconstruction of Matt Murdock, and his cover for #233, which is a powerful issue where Daredevil gets done with the Kingpin.
• Devil Dinosaur #1 -- Another of my first comics as a kid, and Jack Kirby owned me.
• Excalibur (first series) -- Wow, Alan Davis, Ron Lim, and Rick Leonard did some great, fun covers. I really dig Davis's #1 (team intro) and his wraparound #4 (first of the cross-time caper arc). Oh, and #23's riff on "Days of Future Past".
• Giant-Size X-Men -- First of the new team, and the long-time core members many of us remember as "the" X-Men.
• Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #1 -- I can't remember who painted this cover, but it is gorgeous.
• Howard the Duck #1 -- I think this is a Frank Brunner cover, and it's got Howard, Red Sonja, and Spider-Man. Yes it does.
• Immortal Iron Fist #1 -- Dunno, but for me this David Aja cover just captures who Iron Fist is.
• The Incredibly Hulk #340, #345 -- I dig both McFarlane's Wolverine cover, and his gray Hulk smashing through the logotype.
• Iron Man -- For me, John Romita's cover of issue #126 is the Iron Man armor, and Bob Layton's gutsy alcoholic Tony Stark cover for issue #128 really sticks with me. I like Mark Bright's cover of #225, because even though I don't like the silver centurion armor, I'm oddly sentimental about those issues. Maybe because that was the height of my collecting before it went near-dormant for a few years (girls were prettier).
• Mighty Avengers #2 -- It's a Frank Cho female Ultron.
• New Avengers -- They're missing virtually all covers on Marvel.com, including some Frank Cho covers. Egregious.
• New Mutants -- All of the Bill Sienkiewicz covers (18-25). I would add his Daredevil graphic novel cover, but it's not listed.
• Secret Invasion #8 -- Can't remember the artist, but it's a great nod to New Avengers to Avengers proper.
• Secret Wars #5 -- Spidey's black costume!
• Spider-Man: Blue #2 and #3 -- Man, I love Tim Sale's 60s spy movie poster sexy vibe.
• Spider-Woman #1 -- Another of my first comics, with a cover by Joe Sinnott, so sentimental as hell. I just realized this is the only comic from my initial collection I haven't re-purchased.
• Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill -- I'm a ridiculous Beta Ray Bill fan, and while this series ultimately let me down, the covers of #1 and #2 -- by Andrea Vito and showcasing the raw majesty of this character -- certainly did not.
• Thor (first series) -- Sooo many good covers, but none (none!) like Walt Simonson's #337 (intro of Beta Ray Bill) and #366 (Frog Thor). (I like the Olivier Coipel covers of the new series ok, too.)
• Uncanny X-Men -- Long ride here, but I remember Dave Cockrum's #100 (Charles Xavier standing), #101 (Phoenix), #109 (intro of Alpha Flight), and #112 (why Wolverine should never fight Magneto). And John Byrne's "The Day the X-Men Died" cover and death of Jean Grey (#114 and #136) are alternately very sad, simple and powerful, angsty covers, as opposed to his very dynamically powerful "Days of Future Past" covers in #141 and #142. Paul Smith's cover for #167 (death of Professor X) is a solid nod back to #136. Alan Davis's cover for #213 is what I always think of as Wolverine versus Sabertooth. I so dig Jim Lee's cover to #268, which is a powerful portrait of Captain America, Wolverine, and Black Widow.
• Web of Spider-Man -- The Mike Zeck covers for issues #31 and #32 of the "Kraven's Last Hunt" arc (some of my favorite writing from J. Dematties) really capture the essence of that twisted story.
• Wolverine #1 -- Frank Miller's beckoning cover paints a portrait of the deadly, off-kilter canuck.
• X-Men #1 -- I so like how this Jim Lee cover brought Magneto back as the terrifying force of nature he should be.
• X-Men: Magneto Testament #5 -- This Marko Dhurdjevic cover is heartbreaking, and is for me the best in the series.

That's the list for now. Too many covers aren't listed on Marvel for the vote, so I'm bummed to not be talking about some of my other favs.

But this is a good nod to people who have inspired be over the years.

Labor Day pop-culture sale (Austin)

If, like me, your creativity is informed by, inspired by, or otherwise fed by pop culture, and you're in Central Texas, you should head down to Austin Books & Comics this weekend.

They're having a great Labor Day sale, with a gigantic temporary space down from the main store filled (filled, I tell you!) with boxes of comic book back issues -- all for (wait for it!) one dollar each.

A buck! I filled up on stuff like Hulk and Powers, and even picked up things I've long since missed, like St. George. I got some gift shopping done, too.

Not only are back issues a buck, but trades located in the temporary sale space are at least 50% off (more Powers for me, baby!), and action figures, toys, statues, and the like are 40-90% off.

Over in the main part of the store, everything's at least 10% off, and back issues of comics are 50%. I picked things like Captain America #248 (one of the three first comics I consciously picked up as a wee little lad) and a bunch of Austin-local independent titles from some guys I know (including one I ran into again at the sale).

So, if you're a comic book fanboy, pop culture junkie, obsessive shopper, or someone who just can't pass up wicked good sales, make sure to stop buy one of the cooler stores in our great nation (and a constantly robbed contender in the yearly Comic-Con "Best Retail Store" Eisner Awards category).

Plus, Brad and company are really good peoples. Even if you're just wanting to dip your toes in comics for the first time, they'll make some good recommends.

(I just realized I didn't restock my missing Devil Dinosaur collection. Crap.)

Recognizing Jack Kirby ...

The new York Times (free registration required) has a short article on comic book legend Jack Kirby (his 90th B-day would have been yesterday).

The guy is amazing, and I'm grateful for his influence on comics. I've actually been re-reading a lot of his original stuff lately, so this tribute to a hugely influencing creative comes at a good time for me.

Don't know who Jack Kirby is? First, shame on you. Second, here are a couple of snippets from the NY Times article for context:

"Mr. Kirby did a lot more than just draw. As the critic Gary Groth so ably put it in The Comics Journal Library, “He barreled like a freight train through the first 50 years of comic books like he owned the place.” He mastered and transformed all the genres, including romance, Westerns, science fiction and supernatural comics, before he landed at Marvel.

"He created a new grammar of storytelling and a cinematic style of motion. Once-wooden characters cascaded from one frame to another — or even from page to page — threatening to fall right out of the book into the reader’s lap. The force of punches thrown was visibly and explosively evident. Even at rest, a Kirby character pulsed with tension and energy in a way that makes movie versions of the same characters
seem static by comparison."

(Via Boing Boing.)

Comic-Con: Sunday

Previously:

• Countdown to Comic-Con 2007!
• Just landed in San Diego
• Comic-Con sum-up ...
• Comic-Con: Wednesday
• Comic-Con: Thursday
• Comic-Con: Friday
• Comic-Con: Saturday

This was a short day, and we spent it basically just trying to make the most of the Exhibit floor. I talked to some more companies and individuals, looked for last minute schwag, and tried to help my buddy find some gift for his girls (I was useless).

Toys:

I took a few quick picts of the new DC toys from Mattel, sculpted by the Four Horseman , and looked longingly at the Hasbro Legends series 3 and 4 stuff one last time.

Other Cool Stuff:

Saw Frank "Thank you for Spider-Woman" Cho, and talked to Steve Lieber about Whiteout. Good for him. Greg Rucka's been super good for comics, and I'm glad to see a guy like Steve on the upside of it.

What Sucked:

Having to leave. Oh, and our Dallas connection getting canceled; but I spun on a dime and got us to Austin ... by way of San Jose. An hour later, but at least we got home.

Pictures:





Twitterings:

(Reverse chronology.)

• Coming down to the real world ... 01:31 PM July 30, 2007 from web
• Posting Comic-Con video game links: http://tinyurl.com/2vnwth 01:18 PM July 30, 2007 from web
• Posting the first of my Comic-Con summaries: http://tinyurl.com/2ykqc9 12:56 PM July 30, 2007 from web
• Back in Austin. Dowloading Xbox Live Comic-Con content I missed while away. 12:38 AM July 30, 2007 from web
• "Amazingness" holds (so far). Delayed SJ to Austin flight, but at least it's not cancelled! 07:46 PM July 29, 2007 from web
• :- 05:09 PM July 29, 2007 from web
• Dallas flight cancelled. I am _amazing_ and have secured an alternate flight. 05:08 PM July 29, 2007 from web
• Looking at 4 generations of Nintendo Gameboy in use as people wait for the flight. I see one PSP. 04:16 PM July 29, 2007 from web
• Best marketing move at Comic-Con? Dark Horse free bags for swag. Bright yellow, & all over the city & airport. 04:10 PM July 29, 2007 from web
• Looking at a audition details for Tuesday morning. 03:07 PM July 29, 2007 from web
• Heading home from Comic-Con. Bittersweet. 01:35 PM July 29, 2007 from web
• Talking to Steve Lieber about "Whiteout". 01:02 PM July 29, 2007 from web
• Being followed by @Celebrity Watchdog. 11:41 AM July 29, 2007 from web
  @luge Congrats! 11:39 AM July 29, 2007 from web in reply to luge
• Getting ready to make the most of my last day on the Comic-Con show floor. 11:38 AM July 29, 2007 from web

Comic-Con: Saturday

Previously:

• Countdown to Comic-Con 2007!
• Just landed in San Diego
• Comic-Con sum-up ...
• Comic-Con: Wednesday
• Comic-Con: Thursday
• Comic-Con: Friday

(Sorry for the delay; been wicked ill; as you were.)

Comic-Con on Saturday (July 28) was (oddly) less crazy than Friday. Maybe we just got used to the crazy.

And Saturday was fun. My buddy and I split up first thing, and he went to the Avatar panel while I hit the Exhibit floor to introduce myself to companies and individuals, meet up with folks I'd only previously known via Email and phone (like Mark Irwin, co-creator behind multi-format property Jack Secret; pitched as "Harry Potter meets Johnny Quest"), talk to a bunch of folks on Artists Row, pick up that Leinil Francis Yu signed Captain America "The Return" poster I'd eyed the day before, and so on.

Panels were great this day, too. The Marvel Spider-Man and Smallville panels, in particular, were what I expect panels to be. Poppy, unexpected, with panelists jumping in and out of conversations, having fun, and knowing their stuff.

Toys:

I picked up the "Ramathorr" figure from the Four Horseman's Seventh Kingdom, to complement the "Gauntlet of Vaskkh" figure with which I'd been gifted the day before. They guys offered to sign it, and were surprised when I told them I was actually going to take it out of the box for display.

Hasbro also added a bunch of their Marvel Legends series 4 figures to their show floor display case, so I snapped some picts of those, as well as their upcoming Japanese-derivative, 6-inch figures, which nonetheless look cool.

Panels:

The Marvel Spider-Man panel was a blast. It included writers, editors, and artist Dan Slott, Zeb Wells, Bob Gale, Marc Guggenheim, and Phil Jimenez, with Joe Quesada moderating. The panel was snappy, fun, well-moderated, and the guys are obviously having a blast (and taking seriously) the Spider-Man "One More Day" arc, then 3-times-monthly change-up. Writer Marc Guggenheim and artist Phil Jimenez are now exclusive to Marvel, and I felt bad that Jimenez let slip who makes out alive between Mary Jane and Aunt May.

And Dan Slott? Perhaps one of the funniest panel members I've seen. He was hilarious, punny, and having a lot of fun with the panel, and the absolute thrill ride that writing Amazing Spider-Man affords.

I also attended the GameTap "Re/Visioned" panel, consisting of Jim Lee, Warren Ellis, Peter Chung, Gail Simone, and Brian Pulido, and moderated by GameTap's Ric(k)ardo Sanchez. I'm really liking Simone's down-to-earth take on female empowerment, and it was fun to watch part 1 of Ellis's 3-part arc, at the same time he got to see it.

I also got to chat with Peter Chung and tell him "thank you" for the animated Æon Flux, and give him my voice demo. Very quiet, pleasant person. I was also able to meet the producer behind the Re/Visioned series, and let him know I was impressed with it.

The there was the Warner Bros. Smallville panel. Again, how I think a panel should be -- a lot of back and forth, people jumping in and out, playful, sexy people (Seriously -- Hartley? Vandervoort? Morris? Durance? Gough? Millar? Wow -- wicked sexy, all). The funniest exchange happened during the Q&A when a fan asked Hartley and Durance how they prepare for their steamy scenes -- and both of their spouses (and Hartley's daughter) were in the front row. Good feedback on the professional side of the preparation, though.

This panel was also a great example of how you video summarize an entire series, and tease the next season. Serious kudos to whoever pulled that off.

Other Cool Stuff:

Wow, what wasn't cool?

Talking with Leinil Francis Yu and getting the signed Captain America "The Return" poster?

Meeting writer/creator Mark Irwin in person and being the first to see the new Jack Secret preview art?

Talking with Peter Chung (and saying "thanks" for the animated Æon Flux; and giving him my voice demo)?

Chatting with artists like Chris Batista & Tom Nguyen?

The incredible (and incredibly redeeming) Marvel Spider-Man and Smallville panels?

Getting to meet and say thanks to Scott Porter in person for Friday Night Lights?

What Sucked:

Not having mentally linked clones of myself to run around the exhibit floor and attend all of the panels. Seriously, that's a good use for mentally linked clones.

Oh, and I was stuck in the Smallville line for forty-five minutes with a real-life, unfunny version of The Simpsons Comic Book Guy. Dude seriously hated every comic book arc since 1969, and every comic book TV show or film that didn't have George Reeves. I politely engaged him for 40 of those minutes, and expressed my opinions counter to his, until he started belittling someone in line merely for being born in 1982. I then told him I didn't understand why he was at Comic-Con given that he hated everything, and that we could either talk about something he actually liked about comic books, or something other than comic books. He stopped talking. Very sad, really.

Pictures:




Twitterings:

(Reverse chronology.)

• Chatted with Scott Porter (Jason Street on "Friday Night Lights") today. Turns out we share things in common. 12:03 AM July 29, 2007 from web
• @GabrielleSays Phil Morris. He is sooo cool. Super grateful about his gigs. Super articulate. 11:57 PM July 28, 2007 from web in reply to GabrielleSays
  (This is the END of the "Smallville" season 7 panel.)
  (GabrielleSays was asking who "Phil Mor¬" from my truncated Twitter post was.)
• #&-!$+!! m.twitter truncation! 09:11 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Phil Mor¬ 09:09 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Girls love Justin Hartley ... 09:07 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Supergirl (Laura Vandervoort) joins the "Smallville" cast. 09:06 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• At the "Smallville" season 7 panel. _That's_ how you tease a new season. 09:04 PM July 28, 2007 from web
  (This is the START of the "Smallville" season 7 panel.)
• Looking at the "Iron Man" movie gray (1st set) armor reveal. Impressive. 08:16 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Getting another Four Horseman figure. I may be have a problem ... 08:13 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• I'm impressed with how talented and nice all the GameTap folks are. 07:33 PM July 28, 2007 from web
  (This is the END of the GameTap "Re/Visioned" panel.)
• Peter Chung, animator Robert, and GameTap producer Elliot all have my voice demo. 07:32 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Preview of all "Re/Visioned" (Tomb Raider), and Ellis's part 1. 06:57 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Chung criticizing U.S. animation division of labor. (In Korea, everyone is a generalist.) 06:52 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Chung talking his process. 06:51 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Gail Simone's phone just went off. 06:48 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Ellis's episode builds on british adventurism tropes. 06:43 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Mike's script is political. "Hey, there's politics in my entertainment!" 06:42 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Brian Pulido's episode is a comedy. Nice. 06:41 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Jim Lee is top-notch at saying why his style isn't animation friendly, and who at Wildstorm is. 06:41 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Gail Simone's Tomb RaideH 06:39 PM July 28, 2007 from web
  (Should read, "Gail Simone's Tomb Raider is the anti-Laura -- 12 years old, pre-pubescent, and chestless.")
• -- because it was shooting up the Vatican. 06:38 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Peter Chung's version of the Tomb Raider Buddhist temple shoot-em-up was rejected -- 06:37 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Peter Chung deftly deconstructs the Tomb Raider template, and turned it on its ear.
• Peter Chung did this because it was a "chance to practice my craft... under ideal conditions". 06:32 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Realizing Warren Ellis never returned my Email ... 06:31 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Joke about Jim Lee being late ... to the panel. Yeah, _just_ the panel ... 06:27 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Warren Ellis's phone just went off. 06:26 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• -- but they're a 06:25 PM July 28, 2007 from web
  (Should read, "--but they're all in one place!")
• I am a fan of Jim Lee, Warren Ellis, Peter Chung, Gail Simone, and Brian Pulido individually -- 06:24 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Attending ready the GameTap "Re/Visioned" panel. 06:20 PM July 28, 2007 from web
  (This is the START of the GameTap "Re/Visioned" panel.)
• _That's_ how you do a panel ... 06:15 PM July 28, 2007 from web
  (This is the END of the Marvel Spider-Man panel.)
• That Marvel Spider-Man panel was a hugely redeeming Comic-Con / panel experience..... 06:13 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Noticed among multiple comic panels, hot artists are younger, hot writers / editors are older ... 06:05 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• 12-year-old fan awesomely rips "Iron Spider" costume ... 06:01 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Writer Dan Slott is sooo funny ... 05:54 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Bob Gale surprised by geek letter he wrote to Marvel in "Tales of Suspense" #93, 1967. 05:52 PM July 28, 2007 from web
  (I have a copy of this issue; and the letters.)
• The Spidey decision (one team, one _complete_ arc) is a brilliant Marvel marketing move ... 05:39 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• ... but I had a preview discussion with someone, so I know ... 05:35 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Petey is on the outs with Jameson / Bugle, so people are wondering about a camera in Jimenez art ... 05:33 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Looks like Jimenez let slip who survives out of MJ and Aunt May ... 05:28 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Slide slip shows Guggenheim as exclusive ... 05:26 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Jimenez is exclusive to Marvel (announced yesterday) ... 05:23 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Slott, Wells, Gale, Guggenheim, and Jimenez are one the panel, and Quesada is moderating ... 05:21 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• And Larroca. And I meant McNiven. I know. I'm twittering, give me a break. 05:16 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• New Spidey creatives Jimeniz, Niven, Bachalo ... 05:11 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• New Spidey creatives Dan Slott, Zeb Wells, Bob Gale, Marc Guggenheim ... 05:08 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• At the Marvel Spider-Man panel ... 05:04 PM July 28, 2007 from web
  (This is the START of the Marvel Spider-Man panel.)
• iItandIn You are absolutely right! ;-) 04:06 PM July 28, 2007 from web
  (This was supposed to be "@StandIn You are absolutely right! ;-) "; he was saying my "overheard" comment earlier should be the start of an "Overheard at Comic-Con" reveal.)
• Grabbing a bite at The Tin Fish ... 04:03 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Buying a print from Allen Berman, Living Legend (Timely Comics) ... 01:41 PM July 28, 2007 from web
  This is should be Allen Bellman; my sincere apologies for miss-spelling his name.)
• Great meet-n-greet with Mark Irwin & his daughter. Super nice guy ... 01:40 PM July 28, 2007 from web
• Great talk with Chris Batista & Tom Nguyen ... 01:14 PM July 28, 2007 from web
  checking out the Sierra booth ... 11:40 AM July 28, 2007 from web
• Overheard from girl on phone: "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm at Comic-Con and I have boobs." 11:10 AM July 28, 2007 from web
• Waiting in line for the Exhibit floor. Ballroom 20 line is insane. Supposed to meet a writer for Biz work ... 11:08 AM July 28, 2007 from web

Comic-Con: Thursday

Previously:

• Countdown to Comic-Con 2007!
• Just landed in San Diego
• Comic-Con sum-up ...
• Comic-Con: Wednesday

Thursday (July 26) was the first full-day of Comic-Con. We showed up early, and waited in line for an hour and a half to get into the exhibit floor. The plan was to get to the Hasbro booth to get tickets that let you get in line to buy stuff. Like convention exclusives.

That didn't happen, because they let the folks registering for one-day Thursday badges in before all of us that had already shelled out for four-day badges. That was poor, and it could have made for a frustrating day. That is, if I hadn't been willing to pay folks (and my buddy hadn't been willing to front me the cash) who did have tickets to buy exclusives they weren't going to buy for themselves. Like the super hero My Little Pony. (What? I'm a sensitive guy.)

The exhibit floor was better than on preview night, because people were split between attending the panels and the show floor. that was an improvement.

And I totally blended in with my fellow geeks, as airport security had confiscated my gel (I suspect they thought I would use it to make deadly hair spikes and gore fellow passengers), and I was breaking out like a teenager (probably from the stress of them blocking my goal of goring fellow passengers). Nice.

Thursday was ostensibly about toys and Halo.

Toys:

There were a whole bunch of new things at the Hasbro booth that hadn't been out the night before, including three things for which I've been waiting.

First up was Marvel Heroscape. I like the craft and extensibility of the existing Heroscape, but it's this comic-book themed release for which I'm been waiting since it was announced in January -- of 2006. So, 1.5 years later, it was nice to see in person, and since it's finally going to retail, I didn't worry about purchasing it.

Next up was Marvel Legends. Hasbro took over the fan-favorite line from Toy Biz, and promptly unfan-favorited it. Seriously, the sculpts for series 1 and 2 were poor in quality, appropriate articulation, and likeness. But I've said before, series 3 looks to improve upon the formula, with a 1940s Captain America, and a Hydra soldier (and variant) that look like they'll nicely complement my Baron Von Strucker Face-Off variant. (Or compliment Von Strucker: "Ja, Herr Strucker, you look wery nice!"). And series 4, announced at the panel, look even better.

Then there were the additions to the Marvel Super Hero Squad, a semi-super-deformed offering that I dig. Made for kids, the series has found new life with collectors and fanboys. There are a ton of new offerings, and I'm interested in the upcoming new Mega Packs, which add the likes of to-scale(ish) Galactus and Sentinels, and (revealed at the show) Apocalypse and Ultimate Giant Man.

I wasn't so gung-ho on the Hasbro Comic-Con exclusives of Marvel Legends renditions of Stan Lee and She-Hulk (picts below). I'm glad Stan's getting an action figure, but the whole changing him out of actual clothes makes him a little too ... doll-like to me. I fight that battle enough as is. The good news is (as of right now) those two exclusives are still in stock on HasbroToyShop.com.

Halo Action Clix:

Yeah, this gets its own section, both because -- just by impact relative to their size and scope -- WizKids owned the show floor Thursday. And because they owned a big chunk of my afternoon as well.

I was there for big reveal of the Comic-Con exclusive version of the Halo ActionClix scarab (it was one of the big things to which I was looking forward at the con). This is a battle-damaged, limited edition (500 total) version of the largest, playable clix-type figure WizKids makes. It is stunning and brilliant, and that plus the fast-paced version of the Halo entry, over the already stellar HeroClix, has got be pretty stoked. And, since I won a ticket that allowed me to purchase one of the limited edition monsters ... I did. And I spent a ton of time in line, or checking the booth to see if I'd won, when I could buy, when I could give them my shipping info (thing's a freaking monster), and whether I won an on-the-spot version (didn't).

I'm still weighing the purchase, but for me, things are bought to be used and played with -- not resold at markup. Besides, I'm a community kind of guy, and if I have the scarab, that helps me draw and center Halo ActionClix tourneys.


And the WizKids folks? Top-notch, every one of them. Brand Manager Mark is a machine, and Rae and Jenny (both of whom I'd known earlier only via Email) are phenomenal, and super-community and super-business minded. I made sure to introduce myself to all of the WizKids folks, who were all kind and helpful.
And (without me asking) they hooked me up with a Target exclusive two-pack of the Master Chief and Arbiter. Normally you only get this by pre-ordering Halo 3 from Target. Look for that to show up on my toy blog soon.
And a guy in full Spartan armor was there throughout the day. Just for effect.
Panels:
Just two panels for the day -- the "Hasbro Marvel" panel and the "DC Group Therapy" panel.
Hasbro:
The Hasbro panel was a bit ugly. We missed the first few minutes of it, but there were some angry folks inside for some reason. It might be due to some folks being upset about the Hasbro take on Marvel Legends (kinda understandable), but there were some (2) vehement folks in the room. It felt more like they were mad because they're completests(ists?), and things like chase variant figures make it hard to be a completest. My thought is (a) don't be a completest, and / or (b) realize that if we didn't have at least the figures as chase, we wouldn't have them at all.
I think collectors need to realize that Toy Biz version of legends catered to the collector, but Hasbro is all about the mass market. There are trade-offs there. More on that when I talk about Friday's Mattel / DC panel.
Hasbro did reveal some really cool stuff, like the Marvel Legends Wave 4, which seem to even more improve on the line, and includes first-appearance Daredevil (and red-suited variant), Black Bolt (and blue-suited variant, but I wish he was yelling), Punisher (with Crossbones variant). Wal-Mart will be getting two-pack exclusives of Cannonball & Domino and Cable & Marvel Girl, and on the Icons side we'll be seeing red suited Daredevil (with a first-appearance variant), Phoenix (with Dark Phoenix variant), Colossus, and Nightcrawler. In the case I also saw what looked like an Astonishing X-Men Cyclops Marvel Icon.
There are also going to Marvel Legends of Tigra, Nova, and Astonishing X-Men Beast, probably before December.
I also met writer / columnist Troy from Newsarama.com, who was knowledgeable and very pleasant.
DC Group Therapy:
This was a fun panel, and while I'm not a huge DC fan, per se, I really like Dan Didio, and all of the panelists -- Geoff Johns, Sean McKeever, Gail Simone, Tony Bedard, Eddie Berganza, Mike Marts, Mike Siglain, and (especially) Dwayne McDuffie.
Other Cool Stuff:
I missed the Marvel / MAXUM Games "Demons of Mercy" panel, which I really wanted to attend to check out the comic book / video game interaction. But I was in the room a couple of panels after that, and found that someone had left their Comic-Con Demons of Mercy comic. So, score!
And I got to meet a ton of cool people, and connect with folks I hadn't seen for a while. The Cartoon Network MMO folks in particular, are a great group of folks, and were very helpful in letting me try out the "alpha" version of the game answer questions, hook me up with a prelude comic, and just generally have fun. I also talked to several game and animation companies on the voice acting front, and they were much more helpful and responsive than I've experienced (sadly) in Austin.
What Sucked:
We had big plans to see the Superman Doomsday premiere that night, and the panel following that would include Bruce Timm, Gregory Noveck, Brandon Vietti, Lauren Mongomery, and Duane Capizzi.
But remember the lines I complained about? This night, we were victims. After waiting in line for an hour, we were the first people not allowed into the ballroom. We're talking they literally stopped us at the door, we could see in, and they wouldn't let the two of us inside. And then things got ugly. People who allegedly had been inside couldn't get back inside. People who had friends inside that were saving seats couldn't get inside. Then the fire marshal was doing a sweep, said there were too many people, and they were going to eject more. After about a half an hour of this ugliness, we left, bummed to have missed the premiere and the panel with one of our mutual idols.
The silver lining? The fine folks at Microsoft made the panel available for download over Xbox Live. Score again!
Pictures:

www.flickr.com

Twitterings:
(Reverse chronology.)

• "Linear Men are time, Monitors are MultiVerse. Two different things." 08:57 PM July 26, 2007 from web
  (This is the END of the "DC Group Thereapy" panel coverage.)
  (Didio said this like it was common knowledge. Funny.)
• Not having characters get together in DCU likened to avoiding "last season of 'Moonlighting'." 08:53 PM July 26, 2007 from web
• While I'm not a 08:48 PM July 26, 2007 from web
  (Noticed m.twitter started truncating posts. Should have read, "While I'm not DC fan, per se, I'm a fan of these creatives, and the process is cool.")
• Wow, some fans are incredibly brave asking questions. They look almost out-of-there skin nervous in public ... 08:46 PM July 26, 2007 from web
• Didio on the spot for leaking "52" ending ... 08:42 PM July 26, 2007 from web
• Creators share there 2 favorite character / interactions to write (Hal Jordan & Batman for McDuffie, etc..). 08:33 PM July 26, 2007 from web
• Brief derailment on classic ("Lightning Lad") versus modernizing ("LiveWire") debate ... 08:29 PM July 26, 2007 from web
• Perception is everyone's killing everyone on the DC team books ... 08:23 PM July 26, 2007 from web
• Wolfman / Perez Outsiders may be making a return. More on Sat.... 08:16 PM July 26, 2007 from web
• Dwayne McDuffie joining the DC panel ... 08:12 PM July 26, 2007 from web
  Interesting to hear DC's Didio cop to Marvel's market dominance ... 08:10 PM July 26, 2007 from web
• Live Blogging the DC group therapy panel at Comic-Con ... 08:07 PM July 26, 2007 from web
• Listening to DC's Geoff Johns, Sean McKeever, Gail Simone, Tony Bedard, Dan Didio, Eddie Berganza, Mike Marts, Mike Siglain ... 08:05 PM July 26, 2007 from web
  (This is the START of the "DC Group Thereapy" panel coverage.)
• Seeing Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) ... 06:06 PM July 26, 2007 from web
• Watching someone really pull off a Black Cat costume ... 04:35 PM July 26, 2007 from web
• Spider-man 6" _and_ build a figure coming from Hasbro this fall! 03:17 PM July 26, 2007 from web
  (This is the END of the Hasbro Comic-Con panel coverage.)
• Attending the Hasbro Comic-Con panel ... 03:16 PM July 26, 2007 from web
  (This is the START of the Hasbro Comic-Con panel coverage.)
• In line to purchase a Halo Action Clix. Feeling a little insane ... 02:22 PM July 26, 2007 from web
• Getting ready for Wizkids Comic-Con reveal. See my video gaming blog ... 01:29 PM July 26, 2007 from web
• Taking a bath on Comic-Con exclusives ... 12:40 PM July 26, 2007 from web
• Breaking out like a teenager. must be Comic-Con sympathies ... 10:29 AM July 26, 2007 from web