Comic-Con 2016 Round Up

STAY CLASSY, SAN DIEGO

Article by Justin Bowler

It’s that time of year again! The entirety of the entertainment world was drawn to the Mecca of San Diego for the 2016 San Diego Comic Con!

(Superman statue outside the Omni Hotel in downtown San Diego.)

Once upon a time, a long time ago, Comic-Con was only about comics. No, I’m not talking about the likes of Sinbad or Sam Kinison (hey kids, they were stand-up comics in the ’80s). I am referring to actual comic books like X-Men, Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman. Sure, over the years, comic books have been made into movies by major studios, but in the early days, there was little crossover between the entertainment industry and Comic-Con. That has changed! Comic-Con used to boast numbers in the thousands, and tens of thousands, it is now much larger. Nerd culture has become pop culture. It is the golden era for superheroes. Crowds at Comic-Con now boast 100k to 200k.

Studio executives are not stupid (ironically many people at Comic-Con would argue with that statement), they understand if a crowd is gathering, their company should be there to promote something. This is an absolute truth (unless of course you are 20th Century Fox) (if you didn’t get that joke, I am surprised you are reading this article). So, due to this absolute truth, San Diego Comic-Con has turned into San Diego Entertainment-Con (that doesn’t quite have the ring, does it?). By that, I mean, that there are plenty of panels, activities, booths, and the like that have nothing to do with comic books. They are neither derived from, incorporated into, nor even remotely centered around comics. Yet, they can eat up a large amount of time in the largest hall (Hall H holds 6000 people) at Comic-Con. For example, The cast of Twilight had a panel in Hall H every year for three years. Twilight is described in part as fantasy. While I will admit that many comic books incorporate fantasy, I personally believe Twilight had no business being at Comic-Con. But, I have digressed for long enough. Let’s talk about what I saw at this year’s con. You can Google until you are blue in the face about what happened in Hall H, so I will provide you with some alternative activities and panels that I enjoyed.

There are always plenty of fantastic costumes to enjoy in and around the convention center. Cosplayers can be found anywhere within the proximity of downtown San Diego.

(Jake blues and the Blues Mobile from the The Blues Brothers. (You may have to look that one up, kids.)

(If Deadpool were a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man) (This is a personal favorite of mine, mostly because, it requires the person inside the costume to constantly be moving. Tiring, indeed. While it looks awesome, from a practical stand point, it probably wasn’t the best choice.)

Activities abound around the convention center at night. While waiting in line to see The Killing Joke, I snapped this picture of the Adult Swim carnival that was set up across the street.

As you may or may not know, the long-anticipated R-rated animated film The Killing Joke premiered Thursday night at Comic-Con. Considered one of the most pre-eminent Batman comic books of all time, this adaptation was highly anticipated. It reunited Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill (who had previously retired from the character) as the voices of Batman and Joker. Needless to say, Ballroom 20 was at capacity. In attendance, on the panel was writer Brian Azzarello (you should remember that name (seriously, you should copy that name down and in a minute I will tell you what to do with it)), producer Bruce Timm, Tara strong (voice of Batgirl), Ray Wise (voice of Commissioner Gordon), and Kevin Conroy (voice of Batman).

(Kevin Conroy making his entrance and recording the audience cheers on his phone.)

(Not personally in attendance, but gracious about the turnout, by phone, Mark Hamill)

It was revealed in the panel that Mark almost couldn’t make this movie because he was shooting Episode VII (true fact: he almost didn’t voice The Joker because he was in a film where he didn’t speak at all).

Remember the name that I told you to write down? Keep it handy. First, I will introduce some backstory. You may have already read online about the added material they used to lengthen The Killing Joke into a feature film. The comic by itself would only last about forty-five minutes. So, in an effort to lengthen the comic to a full feature, producer Bruce Timm explained to Empire magazine what they did.

“We thought if we were going to expand this to feature length, we didn’t want to just pad out the original story… So we took that opportunity to basically tell a Batgirl story, which we don’t often get a chance to do these days. And it was great, because we could spend more time with her as a character and get to understand what she’s all about and how she’s similar to Batman in some ways, and really different in others. …. The good side of that is we get to spend more time with her and learn that she’s an interesting character. The bad side of that is that we get to like her so much that when The Killing Joke part of the story happens, it’s, like, “Oh, no!”, because we really like her.”

Theory and practicality are two very different things. What sounds good in the pitch room is not always executed well on screen. I’m not sure if the producers and writers were expecting the backlash against the Barbara Gordon portrayal (instead of creating an empowered female superhero, they went off canon, had her sleep with Batman, and then become a lovesick school girl) (for some reason, the producers and writers thought this would go over fine). However, I can certainly say that they did not handle the backlash well (remember that name but I asked you to write down?) Writer Brian Azzarello could not have handled the backlash worse. One person in attendance challenged (on mic, in front of everyone) the portrayal of Barbara Gordon, saying it “diminshed her as a woman and a hero” and walked out. With a knee-jerk reaction to this, Brian Azzarello called him “a pussy” (while I recognize that the term “pussy” in this context was derived from the word pusillanimous, meaning “lacking in courage”, it does not make the knee-jerk reaction appropriate). Some of the most hard-core Batman fans on the planet were gathered in that room. They had a very high standard for their favorite hero. So as a caretaker, i.e. writer or producer, of that hero, responses to defending your work cannot be anything less than professional.

Google “Brian Azzarello Comic-Con fiasco” or take a look at his Twitter feed @BrianAzzarello for further insults that he shared with Batman fans (while you are at it, check out my Twitter feed @JustinTBowler and IG @IndyFilmTwittic, they are pretty cool). And with that, I move on…

Of course there is no shortage of star power at Comic-Con. This picture of the Marvel movie universe cast says it all.

(Yes, that is Michael Rooker in full makeup as Yondu)

Well, you may not be able to see all of the stars in this picture. This was just after they announced Brie Larson as Captain Marvel. I found some fun Photoshopping for her entrance.

But there are also plenty of lesser-known stars to see as well. Stars from yesteryear…

(Lee Meriwether, former Miss America, and was the original Catwoman in the 1966 Batman film. Judging from the picture, she clearly digs me)

(Cindy Morgan, now 61, was the lead female in Caddyshack and the original Tron)

In addition to the gigantic panels held in ballroom 20 or Hall H, there are some fascinating smaller panels that can be found throughout the convention. John Schnepp and Holly Payne held a small panel and Q&A discussing theei DVD release of the spellbinding documentary The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened? If you are unfamiliar with this story, rent the movie. Following the Superman comics of the late ’90s, when Superman died, super producer and former hairstylist Jon Peters (Wild Wild West, Madonna: The Video Collection) tried to make a Superman filled with Nicolas Cage. After several years of development, and several million dollars spent, the film never happened. This documentary looks at why. It is fascinating to say the least. Moving on…

On the exhibit floor there’s always plenty to see. The Walking Dead had wax figures of the cast posed in last season’s finale scene.

(if you were willing to wait an hour in line, you could map any shot so it looks like you, too could have been killed by Negan)

You could also get a picture with a life-sized Captain America made entirely of Lego.

(One of these is as fake as Hollywood gets and it is completely made of plastic. The other one is Captain America)

Or you could get a glimpse at the new uniforms of the female Ghostbusters (I’m not sure if the mannequin’s anatomy is intentional or not).

(New Ghostbusters uniform. Nipple not included)

There was also an American Gods “experience” where you could get a picture taken with a stuffed buffalo and human bones (I’m not sure why American Gods is an adaptation of David Mamet’s American Buffalo)

(Movie guys (or American Gods, you pick) from left to right- Justin Bowler, Buffalo, and Paul Preston)