Justin & Paul Go to Comic-Con
Comments and Photos by Justin Bowler & Paul Preston
(click on any of the photos to enlarge)
Every July, the city of San Diego becomes the center of the entertainment and pop culture universe! It’s a magical place, where you’re walking along and BAM!:
DOLPH. LUNDGREN.
Comic-Con was bigger than ever this year. We wouldn’t have it any other way. And as down as everyone gets on the fact that it’s taken over by Hollywood, there is still a TON of stuff to do there if you love comics. For everything you plan, there are ten things that are equally awesome that you are missing out on. But there’s always next year…which is why we go back again, and again.
Due to our crazy exploits in LA-LA-Land, our time was limited at Comic-Con this year, but as fantastic as Hall H was last year, where the biggest film and TV announcements and hype parades happen (and we went on a Saturday), this year was pretty great on a THURSDAY. EVERY day is great now, the damn thing has gotten so big. And don’t forget, even the trip down there from L.A. is littered with signage and sights that all nerds love:
Upon arrival, we were immediately reminded that it’s Batman’s 75th anniversary, something that we ran into over and over again.
…even though Batman didn’t always seem too psyched about it.
Professionals and even the likes of Justin are among the 200,000 people that converge on the city for four days.
Religious guys show up every year with signs and no other intention than to spoil the party. A party, by the way, which mostly celebrates heroism and togetherness (and the occasional zombie), so it’s always good to see them get Baba Booey-ed with Galactus and Godzilla signs.
“Fear him who has the power to cast you into Hell.”
Constantine?
Next to these folks were people giving away copies of the movie “Sabotage” with Arnold Schwarzenegger on Blu-Ray. All you had to do? Go on the trade show floor inside the Convention Center and get a fake tattoo, show it to the “Sabotage” street crew, and you win. But there was no one inside manning their booth, so Paul got angry (you don’t dangle a free movie in front of a Movie Guy). Below you can see Paul dispensing his mock outrage on the street team, who gave him a copy anyway. Special points to the girl who remained adorable, even during a street fight:
Paul soon calmed down after remembering that “Sabotage” is not that good anyway.
There was an Assassin’s Creed obstacle course that you could…um…run, most likely…and…maybe win something. True to form for Comic-Con, however, even if no prize was guaranteed, there was a line of nerds stepping up to prove that they haven’t worked out since Warcraft Paintball last August:
Justin didn’t see any Swampy the Alligator costumes, but these came pretty close:
Turtle Swampy
Angry Swampy
X-Men Swampy
(editor’s note: Justin would like you to know that he’s the voice of Swampy the Alligator in “Swampy’s Underground Adventures”, a Disney app game that’s very popular. He also cannot understand why there is no Swampy presence at Comic-Con)
(website editor-in-chief’s note: Disney no longer has a presence at all at Comic-Con, saving most of their announcements for D23, a Disney fan event in Anaheim, CA)
(editor’s note: I wish the Editor-in-Chief would just get with Justin to discuss those things so I don’t have to seem so underinformed, when I’m the fucking EDITOR of the article)
(website editor-in-chief’s note: Not for nothing, but if you were really doing your job, you’d go into more detail about who Swampy the Alligator is, visually, ’cause he’s not, like, Spongebob or anything. Granted, he’s pretty entertaining, but I bet a lot of people are wondering who this Swampy is, for reals)
(editor’s note: OK, so I’m writing a “Swampy’s Underground Adventures” article now? I thought I was just chiming in on JUSTIN & PAUL’s article about Comic-Con? I’m sure they don’t want me to take over and post LINKS to the Swampy cartoon or anything, do they? I mean, do you really want me to take over the article? Lead by example.)
(website editor-in-chief’s note:…………)
(website editor-in-chief’s note: I really just wanted you to put up a picture of Swampy, so people knew to whom they should compare these other costumes. Dramatic much?)
(editor’s note: 
…dick.)
Other sights included the usuals, like early Superman, posing here with Krypton:
…and late Superman, posing here with a flask:
Paul, always one to send “Ghostbusters” pics to his wife Karen wherever he sees them, sent this:
Her response: “They both have cameltoe!”
…
…why does he bother?
Memorabilia and mega-models of all kinds peppered the show floor:
And as ever, the Lego booth delivers:
Sadly, we tried this year to take part in the free Comic-Con exclusive Lego figure giveaway. Even THAT had a line of 150 people, and every one of them was waiting to see if, when their badge was scanned, they one. So they might wait and get NOTHING. NOT the way to spend Comic-Con.
Celebs of all kinds are encouraged to take pictures and sign autographs on the red carpet:
(editor’s note: We’ve researched this as much as possible, but we still don’t know what celebrity Justin was waving to)
(website editor-in-chief’s note: You…totally killed that joke)
(editor’s note: How could I have killed that joke if I don’t know the celebrity Justin’s waving at?)
(website editor-in-chief’s note: *sigh*)
There were interactive experiences, which mostly involved making dopey faces:
Paul’s Comic-Con began with a Wednesday night advance screening of “Into the Storm”, which was introduced by the producer, director and cast:
But despite how excited Sarah Wayne Callies seems in the above pic, the movie she’s in is horrible. She should be slightly excited, though, as she comes out looking better than most, acting wise. The main offender being a kid named Max Deacon. You will not find a worse performance in a film this year than his. But you can’t beat free, really the best way to see “Into the Storm”. Take note.
Paul’s vote for best costume? This guy:
And to the kid next to us who congratulated him on his “Dude” costume…it’s The Jerk, jerk.
But on to Hall H. As we mentioned, there was no bad day in Hall H, and Thursday saw a super-eclectic Dreamworks Animation panel, with Jim Parsons talking about “Home” and then a film that brings THESE TWO together:
Yes, “The Penguins of Madagascar” have that kind of cache now, to where they can get MALKOVICH to Comic-Con. It was a Cumberbatchian panel, to be sure.
Don’t think there’s been a year where crowds haven’t seen this guy in Hall H:
Hey kid – THIS is The Dude. He was at Comic-Con for “Tron: Legacy”, the long-gestating “Seventh Son” and now he was plugging “The Giver”, which comes out in a few weeks. If Meryl Streep came out on that stage, would people go nuts or politely applaud. She’s the world’s greatest actress, but they were right to bring out Bridges, and the way he described the future of “The Giver”, it seemed really cool, man.
The Rock showed up as Dwayne Johnson to promote early screenings of “Hercules”. We weighed leaving the trade show floor and putting off dinner at The Strip Club, one of the finest steak joints in The Gaslamp District, to go and see one of these advance screenings…but didn’t. We made the right choice, no?
But that doesn’t mean Dwayne ISN’T the greatest salesman of subpar movies since Schwarzenegger. He fired the crowd UP.
Paul’s Hall H highlight:
Christopher Nolan made his Comic-Con debut to talk “Interstellar” with star Matthew McConaughey. Both were cagey, and delightfully so, about plot details, but Nolan is just one of those true Movie Guys who refuses to dumb down the movie talk, despite the crowd that just went nuts for a “Hercules” screening. Nolan doesn’t come out and say, “What’s up, Hall H? You ready for some mutha fuckin’ INTERSTELLAR?!” He talked about space exploration and technology in our world and cinema and he was…the man. More, please.
And we said there’d be more Batman. Closing Hall H on Thursday was a “Batman” ’66 panel with Adam West, Burt Ward and Julie Newmar:
Our biggest brush with greatness came in full geek fashion, as Paul got some interviews from some of the biggest names in Sci-Fi from the last twenty years – Marc Zicree (writer, “Star Trek TNG & DS9”), Mira Furlan (“Lost” & “Babylon 5”) & Robert Picardo (“Star Trek: Voyager”, “Innerspace”). They talked “Space Command”, a grass-roots sci-fi effort by Zicree that is getting made via Kickstarter and nationwide talent searches.
Hear the interviews about 1 hr., 10 min. into our latest Movie Showcast:
Until next year…Seacrest out.
(editor’s note: The above vehicle is from the upcoming “Dumb & Dumber, Too”)
(website editor-in-chief’s note: That’s “Dumb & Dumber TO”. See…they’re dumb.)
(editor’s note: Interesting. You see, I thought that was a typo, so I fixed it)
(website editor-in-chief’s note: *sigh*)
