San Diego Sunday

Okay... rambling today... not much rhymer reason, just some cool geek goodness from the West Coast:

First, The Examiner has the trailer for Tron: Legacy. Looks cool, even without sound, at credit card size. I think the set design will gain an Oscar nod, as will probably the score. After you watch the YouTube file, there are seven other video links underneath. Nothing much to see. Oh, did I mention it will be Disney 3-D? In IMAX? Yeah... Hope they clean up the original and show that first.

Today's photo montage comes from the New York Daily News... goats outshine a giant rabbit, an awesome eclipse in Asia gives a shout-out to Heroes, Lady GaGa upsets Sesame Street and PETA simultaneously, and I-don't-know-how-to-describe-it.

Here's another cool video... a game called "Ratchet & Clank" involving time travel recording to solve puzzles. Just watch... pretty cool idea. You play with yourself. (No, not that way...geez...)

And another, more fanboy centric photo gallery. Lots of cheesecake, some terrible photography. (Really... you've got a digital camera...you can see the result instantly. If it's out of focus or blurred, take another.)

There are lots of cool exclusives available at the Con, but the coolest is from Gentle Giant. A bubble-gum pink Darth Vader helmet! From their site:

A pop culture icon, if there ever was one. The classic Darth Vader helmet gets an overhaul, and a new PINK paint job for a very important cause. For every pink Darth Vader helmet sold from July 1 - July 26, 2009, Gentle Giant Ltd. will donate 10% of the retail sales price to Susan G. Komen for the Cure® with a minimum guaranteed donation of $5,000, in support of Komen's promise to save lives and end breast cancer forever.

This reminds me of another "limited edition", when Kenner ran one hundred of the Darth Vader Collector's Case through the assembly line to see if the gold coating for the See-Threepio (C3-PO) Collector's Case would work. Yeah, it looks cool.

Geek Dad, over on Wired's website, didn't go to Comic-Con this year, and posts ten excuses. Even better, 100 things today's kids will never experience. The comments list is worth reading.

(Bad thought... slash fiction featuring Quinto Spock/Nimoy Spock.)

I hereby dub Comic-Con International: San Diego 2009 "Cherry Con". So many "Geek Gods" attended for the first time: Peter Jackson, James Cameron, John Lasseter, Hayao Miyazaki, Tim Burton... as well as actors like Tom Welling.

Many noted the "Revenge of Moore" squids off the coast of San Diego. A few days later, I discovered a similar news item of a shark in Miami, which reminded me of an early Astro City story.

And while I'm using Google News, here's the earliest citation I can find for a mention of the San Diego Comic-Con: a UPI dispatch from August 4, 1974. Whatever happened to "Captain Sticky"? His obituary.

And remember all that fuss about how Twilight and girls were ruining Comic-Con? Here's an AP article about a (then) young female fan from Washington State.

It was at the San Diego convention where she purchased her most valuable book, a copy of of the first issue of Spiderman [sic], which sold in the early '60s for 10 cents. She paid $75 for her copy.

"I couldn't pass it up for that price," she said, adding that it will be worth a couple hundred dollars someday.

It originally cost twelve cents. According to Heritage Auctions, a 2/10 rated issue is worth $2400. You can buy one here.

Okay... it's 5:45 PM, and I'm calling it a day... nothing new on Google News.

San Diego, Day Three

Over at the Huffington Post, Andy Borowitz trots out the old joke: Comic-Con Offers Attendees Rare Glimpse of Women:

SAN DIEGO (The Borowitz Report) -- Thousands of comic book and sci-fi aficionados descended on San Diego for Comic-Con this week, all vying for the opportunity to look at or even stand near a real woman.

Ha. Not only is this joke about as stale as the "Pow! Biff! Holy [insert bad pun here], Batman!" headlines, his version is rather lame and lazy. Of course, the Onion did it much better, back in 1996.

How about "Comic Book Fan, Dressed as Normal Human Being, Wins Cosplay Award"?


In other news...

KPBS, the San Diego PBS affiliate, discusses the economic impact of Comic-Con on San Diego.


UPI reports that spending by fans is more restrained this year. Comic-Con visitor Joe Ries said, "People don't want the everyday stuff, but the high-end collectibles or exclusives."

To which I say, "DUH." The everyday stuff I can find at my local shop or eBay. When I visit a convention, I want stuff I've never seen. A complete run of Marvel Age magazine. (Worth the price for "Mark's Remarks" alone, as well as a historical time capsule.) A bottle cap with Uncle Scrooge on the inside liner. Bizarre comics from the newsstand era, like "Superman Meets the Quik Bunny". Graphitti editions from the 1980s. Eclipse hardcovers. I want Wong's Lost and Found Emporium, not Wal*Mart.

Instead, I usually see the same clearance items, the same hardcovers and trade paperbacks at each retailer. I understand that conventions bring in a lot of customers into a small area, I realize that it's a great way to move unwanted merchandise, but I'm looking for the interesting. I've actually had trouble fulfilling the 3-for-2 specials at these vendors... that third volume, I have to search for something that's worthwhile.



Reuters reports that more families are attending Comic-Con. The traditional generational shift is one reason (fans involve their children in activities), as is Hollywood's presence at San Diego.
(At left, an image from the Reuters article, showing fans lining up Friday morning.)


Here's the link to AP photos. Most are celebrity photos, but there are a few cosplayers. (Angela Min, enjoy your fifteen minutes. Or is it Lorie Wheeler?) Yahoo News has a wider selection (Reuters and AP)


MGM is remaking "Red Dawn"? And fans are excited that Kurt Russell (The King of the B-Movies) is involved? Okay. If it makes you happy, enjoy. At the very least, he has more geek-cred than most actors appearing at San Diego this weekend. (And here is the Comic-Con coverage from IMDB.)


Lev Grossman, over at Time's Nerd World blog, reports on the Warner Bros. panel, and other aspects of San Diego. An enjoyable blog; I shall follow.


Friends of Lulu Legacy: Lindze Merritt turns cosplay experience into successful fan business! (Lots of cheesecake photos of Ms. Merritt, wearing her own creations. Do read the words next to the pretty pictures!) (If you want REALLY sexy fangirl cheescake, try this.)


Toy Story 1 and 2 will be screened as a 3-D double feature this Fall before Toy Story 3 premieres next Summer. Beauty & the Beast will be 3-D'd (3'd?) as well, and Pixar will air a Christmas special on ABC! (And Thursday, Tron: Legacy was presented.)


And, of course, fair and balanced reporting from the Onion. Who knew J.D. Salinger was a Terminator fanboy? (And if you live in China, please to click here.)

Real Life is for Those Who Can't Handle San Diego

Again, I was scanning Google News today for news from San Diego, but nothing really excited me.

Until... I saw a link from the Wall Street Journal featuring a photo from the San Diego Comic-Con. Curious, I clicked the link.

And discovered many photos which could have been from San Diego, but were actual news photos from around the world.

Which shows just how unusual the world is.

San Diego Comic-Con 2009

Two years ago, I read about the craziness surrounding Hall H at the San Diego Comic-Con (I expected the Red Cross to show up with relief supplies). Last year, like this year, I avoided the Con because it was too crowded, I had no business to discuss, and there were other, more local conventions to attend. Also this year, like last, while working, I periodically updated Google News ("san diego" comics) to see what was new and exciting. (I'll repeat my other strategy, of using the money saved on airfares and hotel rooms to purchase swag on eBay without having to fight for Con exclusives, next week.)

Here are today's interesting points:

• Tim Burton next movie will be "Dark Shadows".
• Tron: Legacy (AKA TR2N) will be in 3-D.
• Google is offering an incredible array of comics themes for iGoogle. (They are also sponsoring Wi-Fi for the Con, and had Jim Lee do this cool logo.)
• The Comics Riffs blog at the Washington Post ponders over a nickname for Comic-Con International: San Diego. I offer a few suggestions.
• Wired Magazine's Underwire page covers Comic-Con, as well as other cool pop culture thingamajigs.
• Robert Zemeckis discussed the possibility of a sequel to Roger Rabbit during the Disney 3-D panel (his next film will be "A Christmas Carol").
• And the coolest news, Jeff Smith will draw new Bone stories for Scholastic!