- Ash

Jet Jaguar? Jet Jaguar! His mother never loved him.

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Hood of the Living Dead

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we talk about the love making habits of animals more than the movie.I’m not kidding.

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Maneater Pictures returns once again to kick us in the balls.

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Ash, Flanagan and Fertile Badass discuss this fun post-apocalyptic romp

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When we last left off we had wrapped up Friday sometime around 2am outside the house of blues. Saturday dawns and I meet up with my dad at the train station and head back to the floor to pick up some swag that I saw going around. The crowds on Saturday were even worse than Fridays; my dad was absolutely blown away; missing more than one turn behind me because he was busy looking over his shoulder at some half naked floor model dressed up as a _________ trying to sell him something. But man, the freebies this year were pretty awesome if I do say so myself! DC was giving out a bunch of comics as well as a casino chip to Wayne Casino. There was a Twilight/3 Musketeer booth giving away twilight lightbulbs (not lit; b/c this last film is sooooo dark ‘bah’ (That bah was supposed to be Leach’s vampire noise)) and mini foam sponge like swords for three musketeers. Sony Online Entertainment was giving away some pretty sweet DCU Online lanyards and Joker masks. WB was giving away full sized nerf swords in the style of Thundercats Sword of Omens; didn’t even get close to one of those; you can find ‘em on ebay right now starting at $5.

I also wanted to take a minute to mention all of the awesome costumes I cam across over the weekend. For the most part I think people were getting a little lazy with them this year; but the exceptional ones still remained exceptional and are worth showing! Don’t forget the Cheetara and Snarf costumes from yesterdays blog!

Ok on to the panels and the juicy secrets therein for Saturday!

Saturday; 1 pm: Community
After 2+ hours in line we finally made it (dehydrated and sunburnt) into the Indigo Ballroom, the second largest room at the Convention Center, (boasting some 2000 seats) where we planned to camp for the rest of the day. The good kids over at Community put on a hell of a panel; they were all hilarious playing off of each other in magnificent fashion. Donald Glover dropped some rhyms on us from his upcoming album, Camp (here’s a link from his set at the House of Blues while I was watching Kevin Smith http://therockabyereview.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/childish-gambino-new-song-comic-con-video-mp3-lyrics/ ) Chevy Chase played the part of the backwards Pierce Hawthorn to a T. They had the monkey bring out the DVD for season 2 (which everyone in the audience received a SDCC exclusive dvd slip cover), and our good friends the writers revealed that they are working on another Halloween (and most probably paintball) specials for next season!

Saturday; 2 pm: Legendary Comics with Frank Miller
From acclaimed Legendary Pictures comes a new creative team, headed by Bob Schrek, starting a comics division! Legendary author Frank Miller (Sin City, Batman:Year 1, 300, do I need to go on?) will be kicking off their lineup with a new book, Holy Terror. From the looks of this book this man is on a warpath. Having been in Manhattan on 9-11 he is decidedly even more dark and anti-terrorist than ever. The art looks pretty awesome, very reminiscent of Sin City; due to hit shelves in September. When asked if he had seen, and if so what he thought about , the newly released Batman: year 1 animated movie from WB; he answered with a frank and curt: No. Also launching alongside Holy Terror on Legendary Comics flagship line is a very interesting looking book called The Tower Chronicles from artist Paul Pope and author Matt Wagner. The premise is that we follow a bounty hounter on a supernatural action-adventure with a team of high tech-mercenaries. Bob Schreck said in a statement. “Just as our film division works with the best-in-class talent and filmmakers to produce content for the fandom demographic, so too will Legendary Comics move forward on our mandate to publish works from the best in the industry.” Either way, I’m on board!

Saturday; 3 pm: Dark Horse Comics with Joss Whedon
The days awesomeness rolls on with another great panel featuring fan favorite Joss Whedon! Long before he brought us such television gold like Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, and Dr. Horrible he was creating compelling characters and storylines in the world of comics; and now that all of said shows have been canceled there he remains, brining fans full circle on the storylines that the small screen couldn’t complete. He will be continuing all of his existing Dark Horse storylines (again, Buffy: Season 9, Dollhouse, etc.) and also bringing fans a new series Angel & Faith; as well as hinting at a handful of one shots from the Buffy-verse; and the eventual merging of the current Angel and Buffy storylines. The biggest announcement for me was the reveal of, Yes there will be a Dr. Horrible 2. I don’t think the old storyline needed anything more, but who am I to tell Joss Whedon he’s wrong? I shant pass judgment until the day I (excitedly) see it.

Saturday; 4 pm: The Guild
My last panel in the Indigo Ballroom was the Season 5 panel for Felicia Day’s: The Guild. It is a web series based around the lives of a group of gamers (who are not not-playing WoW) and their misadventures when they meet offline in real life. The guild plans to further their fan love by releasing a line of maquettes with QMx as well as a line of Jones Soda due out next spring. Me, I don’t really care, I’m content with my guild comics and jinx tees; I was just there to see the premiere of Season 5; and although some technical difficulties delayed that and we were forced to watch a lo-res timecoded version The Guildies did not disappoint! Everyone can catch The new season of The Guild on Xbox Live on Tuesday Juy 26th and online for all Thursday the 28th.

Saturday; 5:45 pm: Kevin Smith
So I almost had a heart attack on the way to Hall H; the notorious bad boy of the Convention Center. Famous for it’s tales of lines twisting 3 times around the Convention Center and attendees suffering dehydration, fainting, and heat stroke spells while waiting for even a mere glimpse of their favorite stars in the monstrous 6500 seat theatre. My heart attack was thankfully not hunger, sun, or line induced; but rather the fact that we WALKED RIGHT IN. I don’t know how it happened; all week long I had heard whisperings that Hall H was open for the taking, but I had to see it to believe it! The con organizers really did a great job of scheduling multiple big events so that everybody could get into something; and Kevin Smiths panel was no exception as all the media and the majority of attendees were trying to get into another theatre for the (as I hear it lackluster) Cowboys & Aliens premiere.

That being said, Smith emerged to thunderous applause and a packed room and proceeded to catch up the audience that hasn’t been following along over at S.I.R. (Smodcast Internet Radio); revealing an academy qualifying run of his film Red State in mid-Augest at Quinton Tarintino’s theatre The New Beverly (I already have my tickets for Saturday the 20th!). Red State can also be viewed by everyone thru their favorite Video On-Demand service in September for $10; and a new poster and trailer will be out the week following comic-con (as of this publication see it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ1v6oFHefc&feature=player_embedded). Before moving on, the audience was treated to a healthy 5 minute chunk of the film featuring John Goodman showing off some serious acting chops. Smith was very humble to the audiences overwhelmingly enthusiastic reaction. The only thing that I was upset about was that they stopped the film to keep going with the panel! This film looks truly epic in scope and scale; the scene we watched alone looked like it cost $4 mil not the entire film!

Other news that Kev dropped on the crowd was regarding the tv shows that the Smodcast team are currently working on. One being a Pawn Stars meets Hoarders meets Antiques Roadshow reality series on AMC centered around the employees of Smith’s comic shop in New Jersey, Jay and Bob’s Secret Stash. I’m really excited about this show as it sounds like a perfect fit for AMC looking to fill in some geek centric programming while it films more Walking Dead episodes. Also the characters of this shop are more than entertaining, having their own Podcast on the Smodcast network, Tell ‘em Steve Dave. Smith couldn’t allude too much to his other series; but he did reveal earlier this week that it would be a talk/sketch show in the spirit of the Daily show to whit he was inspired by an appearance on Chelsea Lately. Chelsea shoots in the same media park as my stages; I wish Smith had come to shoot with us; but I’ll just be happy to see him on air one way or another! Also announced by Smith was that they will begin to publish Podbooks; written transcriptions of some of their most infamous podcasts printed and bound, to be enjoyed in book form. He also hinted at perhaps publishing their entire library of podcasts which seems like no small feat considering the hundreds of hours of content available from Smodcast! This service will also be available for other podcasts looking to do the same for their own shows. I’m not sure how well this idea is going to fly; but hey Smith has been ahead of the puck with his plan for self promotion for Red State and all his other endeavors in the past year. Like I said, who I am to question someone with the proven foresight of Mr. Kevin Smith? I feel like I’m missing something, that there was at least one other announcement from the Smith camp; but as my dad said, “This guy can talk the balls off a brass monkey…in a good way!” To keep abreast of all the Smith news check out his latest addition to podcasting: the sinbin an aggregator of all news and content generated on S.I.R. over at thesirmon.com

Anyway, thanks for reading part 2 of my comic-con experience! I hope to see some of you at Com-i-Con next year; sigh…only 360 more days to go.

~Thom Obarski
Editor & Colorist
Los Angeles, CA

Flanagan’s Other Note:  This picture was not in part one but I really liked it so

Thursday, 8pm: I arrive in beautiful downtown San Diego (which really is beautiful, nicest city in southern California; at least hands down better than downtown LA) and notice this year one huge difference: muychandising, Muychandising, MUYCHANDISING. Now comic-con is always full of ads usually even a building wrap or two; but everything had some sort of branding this year! Trains sponsored by Arkham City, dinners sponsored by Syfy, this carpet brought to you by the WB; total insanity!

I take the short walk from the train station to the convention center only to find that professional registration was already closed for the evening. So I did what anyone in my situation would do: plop down on the steps, finish re-reading Kevin Smith’s Quiver Green Arrow storyline on and grab some pictures people watching. Had I got into the hall I certainly would not have spotted captain Bike Shorts!

My friend Susan eventually finishes her panel, we grab a bite to eat at the aforementioned Syfy sponsored café. Head back to our friend’s house, grab an early nights sleep (early for comic-con, about 11) and then back to the con the next morning. I quickly grab my registration badge and embark on my first day at the con! Once inside I decide to head to the floor to see what’s going on with the various booths and companies this year when I remember just how crowded that space is! 125,000 people at the con and feels like a good half of them are all around you at all times!

Every year that goes by at Comic-con you see less and less actual comics; on the train ride I was the only one reading an actual comic book, at the booths the comics and art are at either end of the floor and the crowds around even the free giveaways at the DC booth are less than trying to cross the aisle in front of WB’s booth.

Anyway, here’s what I got on the floor;
First stop: Troma booth; because without them there’s no Shitty Movie Night!

Next it’s time to pay homage to the props of the movies worth watching (for the most part) in the past few years.

Can’t forget about the toys and comic-con exclusives! Castle crashers making a big push, legos always popular, WB all about Thundercats, and the odd assortment of toys worth their weight in gold! I personally picked up a necklace for my wife from The Guild’s booth in the form of codex’s staff and a coffee table book from Morgan Spurlock detailing the history and culture of comic-con in preparation for his upcoming documentary doing the same.

Burnt out on the floor it’s time to head to my favorite part of the convention; the panels!

Friday; 11:45am: Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness
Coming to Nickelodeon from DreamWorks comes a Kung Fu Panda series. The TV show will boast mixed 3d and 2d animation styles in the same spirit as the original motion picture. Jack Black will not be reprising his titular role as Poe; but a perfectly suitable replacement has been found in Mick Wingert. Also, a pleasant surprise in that James Hong will be back as Poe’s father with a fair amount of exposure in the show, and John DiMaggio will be voicing several villains throughout the first season. An entire episode was screened for us comic-con crowd; I found it enjoyable with the same heart and humor as the movie, animation rendered not as brilliantly as the movies but still more than acceptable for television, and the serial nature of the show will allow for many thrilling adventures of the lovable Panda and the Furious Five.

Friday; 1pm: 3d Comics Panel
So next I went to check out this 3d Comics Panel. Turns out I should have just stayed in the Kung Fu Panda room as that’s where the Thundercats premiere would be in two mere hours. Instead I opted for food and a guy desperately missing the minor fad of 3d comics of his youth and selling a collection of 3d panels he restored from some of the best ones. The book is a pretty good steal at only $30 if you’re really into that or yearn for the nostalgia factor; I don’t think it was worth missing the premiere however.

Captain 3D’s superpower is that he exists in three dimensions!

Friday; 3:30pm: Thundercats Premiere (line)
The new Thundercats TV show debuted at Comic-Con this year. Lots of hype around it; almost all of WB’s booth was dedicated to it; however after standing in line for an hour and a half I still missed getting into the room. Oh well I can wait until Friday the 29th where it will be officially starting on Cartoon Network; I just feel bad that these guys didn’t make it in either.

Friday; 4pm
A little dejected about missing the Thundercats Premiere I strolled by the Justice League panel line which was obvious too long to get into the room so I strolled on down to the room for the next panel I wanted to see. Determined not to miss it I got in line 2 hours early and wound up catching both of the next two panels!

Ugly Americans: Comedy Central’s Ugly Americans will be back for another season with even more characters and side stories than the first season! The cast was very humorous and did a table read to animatics of an upcoming episode set at, and laced with, an appropriate amount of SDCC sarcasm. Only big announcement here was a trailer for an Ugly Americans video game. Looked pretty fun, available for xbox live ps3 download for around ten bucks.

Friday; 6pm: Batman: 45th Anniversary of the Original Series
In what was easily the most entertaining panel of the day, the HUB channel gathered together Adam West, Burt Ward, and Julie Newmar to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Batman on television. The only announcement here was that you can catch the Batman series on the HUB; which they’ve been showing for at least 2 weeks prior to the con. The cast shared with us personal stories from on set, favorite memories from the show, and many a Holy Fill In The Blank Batman! Joke. Their hour panel flew by in what felt like 5 minutes and was truly the highlight of the con for yours truly.

Friday; 7pm: Sushi Girl
After the PHENOMINAL Batman panel comes a bit of a personal plug; the debut of a little film called Sushi Girl (that I’ll hopefully be color correcting later this year). This is a gritty action flick produced by my buddies over at Stray Angel Films and stars Mark Hamill, Tony Todd, James Duval, and fans of SMN should recognize Noah Hathaway (Neverending Story and Troll). The clips shown were pretty good and it was awesome seeing my buddy standing behind Mark Hamil! Great to see an independent film make a major debut and sell out a 1000 seat room at comic-con.

Friday; 8:30pm: House of Blues

As comic-con grows and grows the con expands ever outward from the convention center center. My next and final stop of the day is a 10 block walk away at the House of Blues; to see Kevin Smith’s live podcast recordings for Hollywood Babble-On and Jay & Silent Bob Get Old. On the walk over I passed the GIANT display they had set up on the lawn by the trolly station for the Total Recall remake; looks very Minority Report-y from the props; no visuals to speak of however.

In line for the podcasts outside the House of Blues who should walk past me but the cast of Community! Turns out they were going to Donald Glover performing his geek Hip-Hop material for his new album, Camp. He dropped a line on us in The Community Panel but that’s another blog for another day.

Friday; 10pm: Hollywood Babble-On
Starting an hour late and showing up pretty stoned; Kevin Smith still killed at the House of Blues with co-host Ralph Garmin. If you’re reading this blog you should be listening to that podcast! In honor of Com-i-Con (as Smith affectionately refers to it) the duo emerged under a screen depicting Batman fighting Jaws with a lightsaber…like I said no part of the performance was disappointing!

Friday Late Night; 12am: Jay & Silent Bob Get Old
Forced to encircle the building and re-enter for the second show I lost my awesome seat and was forced into a puddle of beer that soaked my bag ruining a handful of comics and some 3d glasses. Thankfully everything that was worth anything was bagged & boarded (you should also be listening to that ‘cast). In between shows I got to meet the audio engineer for S.I.R/The Lovitz Comedy Club James Franco; a really cool cat with a wicked sense of humor. Jay & Silent Bob Get Old was also hilarious with Jay Mewes recounting how he almost got into a fight with Captain America earlier in the day and was capped off with a game of ‘Let Us Fuck’ the prizes being Smodcast Etnies Sneakers that were released Thursday evening.

My final surprise of the evening came around 2am while waiting for my ride back home. The Smodcast crew was loading up their gear when Jason Mewes emerged and having no-one else to talk to struck up a conversation with me. We shot the shit for a couple minutes before they hit the road. Tired, buzzed, and ready for sleep I finally made it home only imagining if Friday was this great what Saturday had in store for me! Stay tuned for my next blog on all the news and big panels Saturday had to offer!

~Thom Obarski
Editor & Colorist
Los Angeles, CA

Meh: The Movie

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hello? George Romero’s Day of the dead? are you in there?

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