Paneled Goods: Captain America Epic Collection Volume 12

How was your Thanksgiving? Hopefully you had time to kick back and relax. My original plans were to basically eat and drink a bunch while catching up on movies in the theater but I got sick like a loser. Instead of venturing out to Happy Hour or the multiplex, I spent most of my long weekend napping, reading and online shopping. I did manage to hit Pulp Fiction on Friday as they have a giant store filled with discount graphic novels and comics. Marvel has begun releasing Epic Collections, full color runs of their most iconic titles. While on my quick trip across America, I stopped into Des Moines, Iowa to see some friends who were holding my comic book collection from Ohio and sadly did not find my cache of Captain America! Maybe it's in some different boxes but I had a sizeable run from the 60's through the 2000's. I did find the Cap cache of toys and trinkets though. Anyways, coming back to California without my stack of comics, I wanted to see what Pulp Fiction had and ended up with Volume 12 from 1985-1986 with issues #302 through #317.

These Epic Collections are quite nice, full color with some supplemental material like Letters to the Editor, corresponding Annuals or sketches and concept art. Paul Neary does most of the art with clean pencils, detailed backgrounds and a kinetic style supplemented by a chipper pastiche of smiles while editor Mark Gruenwald officially takes over writing as he feels like he's got a grasp on our Star Spangled Avenger. We get some excellent character snapshots with staples like Jack Monroe's Nomad trying to get out of the shadow of Cap, fiance Bernie Rosenthal losing her job and questioning her future with Steve. Our boy is all over the place here, hard charging and idealistic. One issue he randomly goes to Britain after being hit with some crazy psychic bolt to team up with Captain Britain to fight a contemporary of Merlin, you know from King Arthur, like you does. In another he rails against his ad agency editor about advertising putting possessions over people. Which is good though because it leads him to drawing for Marvel Comics, on Captain America! In a bit of meta-hilarity, we learn that Avengers butler Jarvis provides basic stories to Marvel and signs off, another revenue stream and positive exposure, I guess. Thanks to Jarvis we also learn that Captain America's favorite post workout repast is a GRILLED AMERICAN CHEESE SAMMICH AND GLASS OF MILK. Holy shoot, time to get Captain America YOKED.

Later on Cap runs into the Serpent Society who have formed an organized mercenary squad to carry out all your criminal or murder-centric needs. Our favorite flying head MODOK is sadly their quarry and is taken out. Later, Steve ends up with a million bucks from Army back pay and instead of using it on himself or his lady, decides to start up his national hotline. Through and through we see his relationship with Bernie deteriorating because come on, Cap's gotta fight the good fight, but it's still sad when she up and leaves him for law school, putting their engagement in limbo (psst, they don't make it). It's great to have the issues in full color but I miss seeing the ads from regular issues so you can get a context of the era. There's a funny inclusion of readers writing in, freaking out about a panel where Cap's nose is missing a line so it looks like he doesn't have one? I honestly didn't notice it and thought the schnoz was outlined plenty but whatever.

In addition to Gruenwald and Neary, these issues would not be possible without the contributions of Michael Carlin, Roger Stern, Frank Miller, Josef Rubinstein, Dennis Janke, Al Williamson, Jim Massara, Howard Mackie, Michael Higgins, Lynn Varley, Ken Feduniewicz, Al Milgrom, Jim Novak and Diana Albers.

Gotta Go! Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure Orlando

After spending a mad dash time at Disney World, we ventured to Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure the next day. There's two separate parks so again we opted for a Hopper that would get us into both. Like Los Angeles, there's a vibrant scene of restaurants and shops before the park. Unlike Disney World, these two parks were more or less connected so you didn't need to hop on a 15 minute shuttle bus ride. Right away you walk into a section of Beverly Hills streets and there's the Terminator 2 3D show Battle Across Time. This has closed in LA but was still packing them in at Orlando. It's been a couple years since I saw the show and I was impressed by how much pageantry and set up there is between the Cyberdyne waiting room with host, warm up video and pre-show in the theater with actors, pyrotechnics, giant props and the like. The finale fills the theater with fog and then your seats drop, it was truly shocking. Masters of the Universe director and theme park attraction specialist Gary Goddard worked closely with James Cameron to produce the immersive show that transports you to the Future War to take on a T-1 Million. Arnold, Edward Furlong and Linda Hamilton all reprise their roles from the 1991 summer blockbuster for a 12 minute short film that cost an alleged $24 million!

Walking around there were plenty of other movie and TV tie-ins like The Simpsons Land, a Men In Black ride along with the flying train and Delorean from Back to the Future III! The big noise however was for the recently opened Harry Potter land. There's a London looking facade but walk through the doors and you're transported to Diagon Alley, an intricate reproduction of one of the films' major settings. You had sweet shops, gift shops, wand shops and stands selling Butter Beer which was surprisingly tasty and not too sweet. There's a couple rides, a fire breathing dragon perched atop a building and you can take the Hogwart's Express to the other park but it was a long wait.

Between the parks was a Hard Rock Cafe which offered double Jameson's for just $3 bucks more next to a giant steampunk chocolate factory and restaurant. Straight out of Willy Wonka, it was a truly unique establishment even if I couldn't figure out the theme of the food. I'd long heard about Island of Adventure from Wizard Magazine as in the 90's they had a Marvel restaurant with props and suits way before any studio backed film had come out. Right away we hit Marvel land which had a Hulk roller coaster, a Spider-Man 3D ride, gift shops and a Captain America diner! Cyclops, Cap and Wolverine were strolling the streets and buildings had giant images of Captain America fighting MODAK! These were truly my people. Walking further and further in there were more lands with old school comics and cartoons like Flash Gordon, the Phantom and Blondie then there was Jurassic Park and a new attraction based on Kong: Skull Island. In the back was another Harry Potter land with snow capped buildings, more gifts and several more rides. The one we went on was kind of crazy, it's a car on a track but you're in a seat hoisted by hydraulics with giant video screens taking you through various locales in the HP canon. While we didn't spring for it, Universal offers a Front of the Line pass, it's not cheap but you can also basically walk onto any ride so it would be worth it if you wanted to save half a day.

Summer Cinema: Captain America Civil War

This is a little late but remember when I told you I've been busy?! Of course we kicked off the summer cinema season with a Thursday, May 4th screening of Captain America: Civil War at The Arclight Hollywood in laser 3D. We followed it up with a 2D screening at The Chinese Theatre's luxurious but still not real sized IMAX that Saturday. My original consensus was that Civil War was a terrific Marvel film with excellent action, lots of characters, cameos and funny bits. But it wasn't a terrific Captain America film as it's diluted by the inclusion of Iron Man and needing to introduce Black Panther and Spider-Man to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Plus it's misnamed as there's more Avengers in this Captain America film than there were in the actual Avengers movies. As a Captain America fan, I've long been annoyed by Cap's use as the MCU placeholder. First Avenger was an excellent, rock'em, sock'em throwback with it's World War II setting and sci-fi tinged sensibility that set up The Avengers. While The Winter Soldier was more or less the SHIELD movie as it ended the arc of the secret organization. Then Civil War caps off The Avengers phase by breaking them up while launching two other franchises. Meanwhile, Thor and Iron Man have gotten their own movies without having to keep viewers informed of what's happening in all things Marvel land.

Upon second viewing I did appreciate the Captain America dynamic a bit more as the material with Cap, Falcon and Bucky is all solid, Cap gets to stand tall for what he believes and smooches his lovely former neighbor Sharon. You can forgive the Marvel-ness of the affair, the Giant-Man cameo was awesome, I still just wish they'd believe in Cap and give him a standalone movie. It was a little weird that Cap has now become Superman, being able to survive any fall or beating, can stop a helicopter from taking off and take punches from Spider-Man. Pretty impressive for a guy who's basically supposed to be an Olympian who doesn't get tired. But with all this interconnected blah blah blah for better or for worse, that's just not going to happen. Can you imagine if Zemo was actually Baron Zemo with ties to Cap from WWII? Instead of having a flashback sequence with Bucky performing a hit, it could have set up Cap and Zemo's feud from the 40's then cut to today, they're both back. Whether it's the original Zemo or his kid like in the comics. You then have Falcon and Cap looking for Bucky and the three teaming up to try and stop and eventually face off with Zemo's sleeping super soldiers. Could be a fantastic Captain America movie that's two hours instead of a pseudo Avengers flick that runs two and a half and is 40% Tony Stark/Iron Man.

With each Marvel star's long term contracts coming to an end, I wonder if Chris Evans will reenlist or take a break. He doesn't seem to be starving for work, given that he's only done what, Snowpiercer and directorial effort Before We Go in between Marvel films. Always in shape but if you notice, Evans is shirtless in part I, in a tank top in II and dons a tight tee shirt in III so maybe he's getting tired of the workout routine as well. While Chris Hemsworth has fallen flat as a leading man in Rush, Blackhat, In the Heart of the Sea, The Huntsman and definitely needs his Thor alter ego to keep his career going. As well as appear shirtless in about every film appearance and may be on his way to Zac Efron territory who can't find work without working out. It's no secret that Robert Downey, Jr. has made a mint from Marvel and has stated more than once that Iron Man 4 is not a priority. But a Tony Stark cameo in the rebooted Spider-Man is rumored while Civil War sets Cap up to appear in Black Panther while they could both return for the two part Avengers: Infinity War so we'll just have to wait and see.

Captain America Prep: The First Avenger

Captain America: Civil War is poised to gross a staggering $170-190 million this coming weekend and early word of mouth is only positive. Cap has been my favorite superhero since I first started reading comics as a 7 year old so seeing him become a popular culture and Marvel Cinematic Universe icon has been both gratifying and frustrating. Since 2008's Iron Man, Marvel has been creating a movie universe with intertwining stories, characters crossing over and distinct Phases to form a larger story. Civil War finds Cap at odds with Tony Stark's Iron Man over government regulation of super powered beings. To get ready for the film, I popped in my favorite MCU film so far, 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger. Coming off the heels of two Iron Man films, The Incredible Hulk and Thor, Cap seemed like the most risky solo film as the red, white and blue clad fighting machine could potentially offput foreign audiences with the name and costume alone.

Joe Johnston, the director of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, THE ROCKETEER and Jurassic Park III is in familiar territory here given the period setting and special effects driven action. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (PAIN & GAIN) craft the tale that begins and ends in the modern age but transports us back to 1942 for an origin story. The film does a great job of tying together so many elements of Captain America, from scrawny Steve Rogers becoming the subject of Operation: Rebirth, getting blasted with vita-rays to become bigger and stronger to career nemesis Johann Schmidt aka The Red Skull obtaining the Cosmic Cube, Cap's original triangle shield then Army outfit from The Ultimates to support from The Howling Commandos. Everything moves at a clip with lots of rock'em, sock'em fisticuffs and armies battling with Thompson machine guns, laser rifles and explosions galore. The cast is excellent throughout from leading man Chris Evans to fan favorite Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter with Tommy Lee Jones (especially amusing), Hugo Weaving, Dominic Cooper, Stanley Tucci and Sebastian Stan providing support.

First Avenger would gross a healthy $370 million worldwide while Cap became the center of the MCU for better or for worse. Sequel The Winter Soldier contains arguably the best action of any Marvel film and grossed over $700 million worldwide. FA still holds up as the most rewatchable Marvel flick for me as you just don't get too many superhero meets World War II Men on a Mission with a sci-fi tinge stories these days. The fights are well done with lots of punches and kicking shot in wide angles instead of up close and hyper edited. Cap is also surprisingly violent as lots of G.I.'s and baddies are shot, blowed up, thrown out of airplanes and one turned into meat sauce after meeting a plane propeller. First Avenger also has arguably the most subdued and melancholy finale as Cap crashes the Red Skull's giant ship into the arctic to save innocent lives while talking to his would be love Peggy before waking up in the modern age, 70 years out of his time. I still think it would have been more emotionally impacting if the film stuck to the comics death of Bucky as the two race a motorcycle down a runway, ramp off the end, grab onto a flying rocket then Steve's last memory is watching his best friend get blown up by a booby trapped door as he plummets into the ocean and takes an ice nap. But maybe that's just me.

Weird(cool) Panels: Captain America Man & Wolf

This installment of Weird(cool) panels is brought to you by the most action packed decade in comic books, the 1990's! By 1992, I had been reading Captain America comics for about 3 years, starting with the absolutely legendary 1980 9 issue arc by Roger Stern and John Bryne, collected as War & Remembrance. From there I started reading Cap monthly, growing up on Ron Lim's bulky and action oriented style along with Mark Gruenwald's writing which pitted Cap against The Serpent Society, drug dealers and the Red Skull's Skeleton Crew. By 1992, Lim moved on and Rik Levins took over. His art wasn't as crisp or impressive as Lim's but had an energy about it along with giving each character a long and lithe look compared to Lim's blocky and compact style. Issues 402 through 408 belong in Cap's Weird(cool) Hall of Fame because the Star Spangled Avenger becomes a werewolf! I've had the hankering to revisit the saga after seeing a new Cap action figure come with a replaceable wolf head. I don't need another Cap action figure but my lady was sweet enough to buy me the head by itself on eBay. With the majority of my comics collection is in storage in another state, WonderCon came through as my lady spotted the trade in a 60% off bin and I nabbed it.

In the crazy 6 part run, Steve Rogers aka Captain America is looking for his pilot, one John Jameson, son of Spider-Man's newspaper publishing nemesis J. Jonah Jameson. John was a decorated NASA pilot and astronaut who came into contact with a gem on the surface of the moon which turned him into a manwolf. He's now gone missing at the same time as a rash of rumored werewolf killings are happening in quaint northern Massachusetts. Going to investigate, Cap seeks out some supernatural support but Dr. Strange unavailable, so Doctor Druid is enlisted to help him on his quest. The pony tailed master of the occult agrees and the two Sky Cycle up to Starkesboro, population 932 where they're immediately attacked by a werewolf and a silver masked and haired baddie on a flying motorcycle, Moonhunter. Turns out the town has some natural lycanthropes, you know people who turn into werewolves while others are being turned into them by Dr. Nightshade and her caped, bad guy wizard boss Dredmund. X-Men scrapper Wolverine is also investigating the murders and fights it out with a horde of werewolves before being captured and injected with werewolf serum but his healing ability rejects it. Instead Wolvie gets mind controlled like the rest of the town and becomes a more feral and violent version of himself.

Meanwhile back in New York we get an appearance from Steve Rogers' former love, Bernie Rosenthal, whom he met in War & Remembrance coincidentally. Bernie is back in town trying to get back together but Steve had been seeing former criminal and thief Diamondback unofficially. In the meantime, Bernie screws up as she's taking a walk with Avenger butler Jarvis and Steve's old friend, Dennis Dunphry, a former pro-wrestler turned superhero sidekick D-Man. D-Man was recently found in suspended animation up in the arctic and has been a mute near zombie ever since. But he does hit the gym with Cap, bench pressing 8500 pounds! Anyways, Jarvis has to bolt then Bernie loses sight of Dennis who wanders off in Central Park. Back in Stakesboro, Cap is captured and injected with the wolf serum, turning him into Cap-Wolf! From there he has to try and maintain his humanity, organize his fellow wolf captives and lead a revolt. Wolfsbane from X-Force makes an appearance, as does her leader Cable, the giant shoulder padded and gun toting soldier from the future. Adding to the WeirdCool-ness, Dr. Druid has some interesting mind powers like being able to levitate Cap out of trouble and heal his slit throat by sheer force of will. It's like that yoga Dhalsim does that lets you spit fire.

CapWolf leads the prison escape, faces off with Dredmund and grabs the Moongem. In a kind of random showdown, Cable and CapWolf get stymied by a giant rug wrapping them up which Wolverine then slashes through to set them free. Turns out the alpha wolf in captivity is John Jameson, who has been trying to find a way to be as super heroic as Cap and the Avengers after being an astronaut was no longer enough in the modern age. Man & Wolf is a fast and fun read which a familiar but enjoyable set up of a small town taken over by an evil baddie, experimenting on the locales. Throw in a found on the moon gem that turns you into a wolf, Cap spending half the issues as one, cameos from Wolvie and Cable and you've got yourself a quirky yet well executed change of pace. You even get some Infinity Gauntlet/War spillover as Captain America's evil darkside manifests into reality and tries to kill him. I don't know how Cap was selling back then but the issues were running twice a month which I'm pretty sure is a good thing.

Supporting Mark Gruenwald and Rik Levins you had Danny Buldanadi, Steve Alexandrove, Don Hudson and Ray Kryssing on Inks, Joe Rosen and Bob Sharpe doing Lettering, Gina Going and Arianne Lenshoer Coloring then Pat Garrahy, Barry Dutter, Ralph Macchio and Mike Rockwitz Editing. While it's been 15 years since I first read these issues, they were still pretty fresh in my mind. It was funny going back and realizing that Cap was picking bullet slugs off his armor, not the slimy bugs and as a 10 year old wondering why those things you see on the sidewalk would hurt. Reading up on the issues, I found out that artist Rik Levins went into video games after spending 3 years on Cap then started teaching at Full Sail University. Levins sadly passed away in 2010 from complications of cancer. Thanks to Levin and team for providing me with childhood adventure that has made for positive lifelong memories.

WonderCon! Saturday & Sunday

This was a very chill con for us as once you've been to 22 shows in a year and start putting on your own events, seeing the same vendors and panels just doesn't carry the same can't miss cache. It's more about seeing con-rades, soaking up the energy and having an excuse to hang out somewhere you usually don't. The weekend was more of an in town vacation, a stay-cation if you will or in our case, a con-cation. WonderCon was just a gateway to live the Happy Hour and Hotel life as we didn't focus on the show but it was just a part of the long weekend. Starting with dranks, pizza and Batman V Superman in 4DX to the show, to video games at 82, more show and over to Hollywood for Silent Rage then our final day at the Con before heading home. Walking around sold out Saturday, WonderCon only felt crowded at certain intersections and in one case when a bunch of Star Wars cosplayers stopped traffic to parade through. I wanted to crash straight into their little ego trip but the lady requested I didn't. Another attendee next to me said something along the lines of "they're cosplayers, not f*cking royalty", exactly my friends, exactly!

Looking at the map I thought we only covered about half the floor Friday but I was wrong and we had taken in about 2/3 already. So we checked out Artist Alley, Small Press and more vendors. Capcom had Street Fighter V tournaments going on and I talked to a guy working the floor who should have been in Ken costume as he had semi-long blonde hair and was in shape. We flipped through more graphic novel boxes that were 60% off cover price and picked up some Ka-Zar and more Captain America. Cosplay wise there was an excellent Hellboy walking around with plenty more Reys, a couple of them men, along with Deadpools and Disney princesses galore. Like Friday we had oh so many panels lined up like Spotlight on John Romita, Jr., Star Wars VFX and more but like Friday, didn't attend a single one. Timing just didn't line up for us and we didn't feel like sitting around the convention center waiting. So it was back to the hotel for some relaxing and Captain America: The First Avenger on FX. I cracked up that with BatsSupes in theaters, cable had Man of Steel, Batman Begins, Spider-Man and more in rotation for the weekend.

It was another late night as we ventured to Hollywood for Cinematic Void presenting Chuck Norris flick Silent Rage and Dammaged Goods co-presented. Coming back to L.A. Live I was feeling ravenous but Yard House was jammed and most of the other joints had closed the kitchen at 10:00 PM. We ended up at the overpriced Mexican spot but it hit the spot before crashing out at 1:00 AM. Looking out the hotel window we soaked up the neon soaked view where you could see a Jesus Saves sign as well as the Eastern Building, you know, from Predator 2?! I woke up at 7:00 AM Sunday and contemplated taking a swim to get loosened up as I was creaky and sore from working out, walking and not getting a ton of sleep but opted to stay in bed and watch YouTube videos instead. Including an episode of the not good 90's USA Network Street Fighter cartoon set in Final Fight's Metro City. After an all star breakfast that included coffee, bites of a croissant and protein bar, it was back to the convention center for Sunday, which sold out as well.

It was still pretty easy to navigate without much of a crowd so I played some Street Fighter V, redeeming my horrid performance at 82. V has vibrant design and color along with pretty smooth gameplay, lots of new moves and specials that I had no clue how to execute. But my days spent at the arcade in the 90's served me well as I won two matches and stepped down to do some more walking around. Right next door was the Capcom booth who had a deal too good to turn down, two soft tees for $15! We saw a guy get turned into the purple faced, big chinned Thanos at a cinema make up school booth and did a little people watching out in the main lobby. Outside, an Easter Egg hunt was supposed to start but the little plastic shells were already out so we picked up a few that had candy and Halloween style trinkets inside. The J.W. held on to our bags after check out and we watched security shoo away some little punk kids trying to sell candy. I say punks because they were warned that they couldn't sell on the premises, started cursing then walked up to us acting like angels. A suit clad official walked them off and told them it wasn't worth it when you could tell they wanted to try and be punks. Our last Uber ride for the weekend took us home and back to reality as con-cation aka our new age version of summer vacation for pop culture loving adults came to a close.

WonderCon! Friday

Badge check in was quick and painless but then a line built up by the doors. Why? Because the exhibit hall wasn't open yet! I don't know how the 12:00 PM opening time slipped by me after I had just read through the Quick Guide but here we were with an hour to chill so we just walked back to the hotel for some relaxing. After a noon cocktail we headed back to the show. This is the first year they're testing out RFIT, a crowd tracking dealy where you swipe your badge going in and out. Horrific visions of broke down technology and bottlenecks filled my mind but it was fine. We'll see how Saturday goes though as that's when the crowds really show up. I believe the exhibition space for WonderCon is smaller than last year and it definitely felt spread out as you had registration in one hall, a few program rooms in a random hallway, the exhibit hall, more panel rooms upstairs, big media presentations at the Microsoft Theater across the street, etc.

 

We crisscrossed aisles checking out toys, comics, pins, action figures and the like. Nothing too new to the convention scene but half off trade bins weren't crawling with people so we flipped through several booths. I don't go to these shows with goals for items to purchase anymore but I did have my eye out for Captain America: Man & Wolf, a 90's multi-part collection where Cap turns into a werewolf. I have single issues in my collection but those are halfway across the country. While most booths have graphic novels in long boxes you have to flip through, one had them displayed horizontally so you could just skim the spines and voila, the lady picked it out for me. Nintendo had a booth set up touting a new version of StarFox! The polygon filled flying game with animal pilots I played on the N64 in the 90's. You also had a booth for the new Ninja Turtles flick (Knock knock, you're about to get shell shocked!), IDW, Nerdist, DC, Sideshow Collectables and many more. After a couple of hours on the floor, we were famished and headed to the Yard House for Happy Hour. Sure beats waiting in line for a food truck out in the sun!

Panel wise we had a list as fall back options but our first one, a reading of James Cameron's unmade Spider-Man movie treatment, ended up being changed to some 1950's sci-fi flick so we bounced. Spotlight on Jim Lee would be good but we've seen the guy multiple times and run into him randomly around shows. I wouldn't mind seeing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows presentation but this comfy hotel bed has me in it's clutches. Rey from Star Wars was hands down the most popular cosplay of the day, transcending all ages and even genders. I actually had to look to find a Dead Pool. A fun start to the weekend/con-cation. Maybe we'll hit Eighty-Two for some video games as seeing a statue of super yoked Ryu has me hankering for some Street Fighter...

Gotta See! Jack Kirby's Comic Book Apocalypse

It was a hot one on Saturday and we ventured into the red zone, traveling up to Northride and then Santa Clarita where temperatures broke triple digits. California State University Northridge is hosting Comic Book Apocalypse: The Graphic World of Jack Kirby through October with a Panel Discussion happening on Saturday, September 26th at 1:00 PM. This past Saturday was a Public Reception with light refreshments and many a comic book creator in attendance to pay respects and check out the exhibit. There were a few ties and blazers but I opted for a badass shirt filled with Kirby art that several attendees appreciated. Kirby of course is one of the premiere names in comic books. Known for his exciting, action packed and cinematic visual style, the New York born and World War II serving artist would be hugely responsible for the success of of Captain America, the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor, the X-Men and many more. The exhibit was awesome with three rooms of art, sketches and photos from each era of Kirby's career. Giant banners showcased Darkseid and The Silver Surfer while original comic issues showed off cover art. With Stan Lee, Kirby co-created many of their flagship titles before jumping ship to DC Comics then moving on into television and film. I grew up on his macho and explosive work with Cap and other Marvel titles but seeing the exhibit made me realize I need to check out much more of his work, particularly New Gods. Good thing there's two decent sized comic shows coming up this fall. Until then, hail to the king, baby!

 

Con-Man: D23 Expo '15 Saturday

Saturday was a big day at D23 Expo as the live action panel was expected to unveil news on Star Wars, Captain America: Civil War, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Jungle Book and many other titles. People waited in line on concrete floors and in sweltering heat for 12 hours just to get a seat. I don't do that. Instead we headed over when the show floor was to open but there was a huge queue of people who didn't even know what they were waiting for outside the front sitting in the sun. I'm pretty good with crowds and lines and found us a door that lead us straight into the exhibit hall, no fuss, no muss. But seriously, why were so many people waiting outside to get in if doors were already open? Walking around some more we passed the TV stage where various casts were being introduced, we just happened to catch a glimpse of Ben Savage and players from Girl Meets World.

We braved a short line at the Disney Dreamstore with event exclusive shirts, toys, artwork and the like before checking out more of the floor. Mattel had a diorama of Cars Land set up while Ed Asner was back at it, signing autographs and meeting the fans. We were just in time for the Feast poster sale and signing with artist XYZ and grabbed one for a friend. The lady received an alert that some con going group had just dropped off a Big Hero 6 swag bag, even though we were on the other side of the hall, I managed to navigate us over to the Limited Edition Print zone where lo and behold, the bag was still there. Since we were nearby we jumped in the queue for Disney World's Pandora from Avatar attraction. A video featuring producer Jon Landau looking nearly unrecognizable welcomed you, promoting the wondrous vision of the future land that will include floating mountains and an entirely new eco-system to experience. Past the video was a diorama of the park along with some statues of Pandora's wildlife and finally a Na'vi bust for photo ops. I have no clue how floating mountains will work but I won't put it past James Cameron and Disney's Imagineers.

Cosplay was consistent throughout with Pixar's Inside Out being the clear fan favorite. There were a few Woody's from Toy Story, a Dick Tracy, lots of Princesses and outside we saw what was probably one of the most clever and memorable; a Buzz Lightyear from the Mrs. Nesbit tea sequence from the first movie, complete with missing arm. News started to trickle out that Star Wars Land had been officially announced, a Drew Struzan exclusive poster was handed out, Chris Evans and Anthony Mackie flew in from Germany for Cap, Stan Lee announced Soaring Over the World along with an Iron Man ride in China and Orlando Bloom is coming back for the fifth Pirates flick. While it would have been fun to see live, it was all online 5 minutes later complete with slews of press releases.

Con-Man: San Diego '15 Preview Night

 
Are you ready?! It's finally here! San Diego Comic-Con is upon us and all is right in the world! We arrived into Downtown San Diego aka The Gaslamp District aka Con Central, grabbed some Jameson during Happy Hour then moseyed on over to the Marriott to check in for Volunteering. Warner Brothers always has a heavy presence at SDCC and this year they're pulling out all the stops for...Conan O'brien? The funny host of late night is doing four show tapings and moderating a Hall H panel. Conan was plastered on the train and adjoining hotel. Next it was time for Preview Night, where you walk the exhibition floor with many less people than the rest of the week. It wasn't too crowded and I surprisingly made back and forth across the floor twice. I had no real plan in mind except to check out the Hollywood stuff first for any exclusive giveaways then walk through the comic and swag portion.

Mattel ended up being my first stop as they always have a great set up of He-Man and The Masters of the Universe. There's a semi-secret pop-up shop in The Gaslamp which requires a Skele-token for entry, which I was able to snag a few of. Lionsgate was promoting the last chapter of The Hunger Games but only had posters for American Ultra to hand out. Legendary was promoting the upcoming Warcraft movie and right behind them was the one and only Tim Bradstreet displaying his awesome art and manning the RAW Studios booth. Co-founder and kind of weirdcool Thomas Jane is scheduled to attend the show as well as a panel on his new SyFy series, The Expanse. The Brad is always a chill dude and RAW usually has guests, comics and art aplenty. Artists turned brands like Alex Ross, Jim Steranko, Frank Frazetta, Art Adams and Jack Kirby were all well represented on the floor. Speaking of artists, I ran into one of my absolute favorites towards the end of the night, one Mike Zeck! Zeck had a stellar run on Captain America in the 80's and was also responsible for some terrific The Punisher action and multiple memorable G.I. Joe covers. I picked up Raw Fury, his art book and told him how his Cap was the one I grew up with. All in, a nice enough guy that I wish I could express what his work meant to me as a comic book reading youth.

Neca always has an awesome display along with Con exclusives. This year you had a Pacific Rim set up joined by mother fudging Arnold in Commando, new Rambo figures and as always, the ever popular Predator. I grabbed their set of mini-figures from the surprisingly short line. Last year Mondo had some exclusive Batman: The Animated Series vinyls up for grabs and this year went Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with mini-metal pins. I grabbed Leonardo, the calm, cool leader who's always ready for a scrap. Lots of comics around going for a couple bucks up to a few grand. Vendors with 50% off graphic novels is always an alluring rat trap but I have enough comics to last me a while...Over by Capcom and Nintendo's video game exhibits I wandered upon Whedonopolis. Great folks I plan to work with in the future.

It was a great start to four days of chaos, walking, reuniting with friends, partying, panels and a diet consisting of turkey, swiss and spinach or bologna sammiches along with Jameson and the occasional pretzel dog. Thursday marks the start of SDCC officially with a multitude of panels on deck for your viewing pleasure. So far my day should consist of Peanuts, Street Fighter, He-Man & G.I. Joe, Jim Lee, movies from 1985 and the 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF MIAMI VICE! See you at the show!

BuzzFlick: Gin and Jurassic Park III

Jurassic World opens tonight and I have my overpriced ticket for Cinemark's version of Fake IMAX. Gotta get my time in at the new Playa Vista location before Whole Foods opens and ruins it for everyone. Unlike AMC or The Arclight, Cinemark does not offer any kind of reward program so any money you drop there does not get anything back for you. Anyways, everybody has seen Jurassic Park but I missed III in theaters and watched it on DVD once so it was time to revisit. With some No. Ten Gin from Tanqueray I got ready to head back to 2001 and while finishing the bottle I observed the following:

- Opening scene is a guy and a kid para sailing near the Jurassic Park Islands. Hey, the guy is Davis (Mark Harelik) from hit 90's sitcom Wings! Name of the company is Dino-Soar. CLASSIC.
- Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and Dr. Alan Grant (mother fudging Sam Neil) aren't together anymore?! When the hell did this happen?!
- Sam Neil, you da man. Grant role was offered to Harrison Ford?! Think of that!
- Alessandro Nivola as Grant's sidekick aka Pollox Troy from Face/Off! Tongue sammich anyone?
 - Whoa, 2001 3D printer prototype for raptor skull whistle!
- Practical raptor sitting on plane, gah!
- Movie is pretty violent with some nice thrills and scares. Nice mix of CGI and puppets.
- That dinosaur was like, "gonna have to roll it"! (Plane cabin to get the humans out)
- It's like a reverse horror movie, instead of sexually promiscuous getting deaded, guys with guns do. Or like Predator...no sport!
- That little kid Eric (Trevor Morgan) is from The Patriot! You know? The Patriot? Where Mel Gibson is the best dad in the universe? Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin's final collaboration? Hold on let me find you a clip. (Pauses to watch Mel Gibson being a fucking awesome dad)
- Aliens reference with the tube in the lab and the dead specimen not being dead!
- William H. Macy from Tim Allen's Wild Hogs ladies and gentlemen!
- Tea Leoni, so awkward hot in Bad Boys, you hear 3 is being written by Joe Carnahan?
- You climb K2 brah? You know Michael Biehn and Matt Craven, brah?
-  Joe Johnston directed, hell yeah! Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Jumanji, The Rocketeer, Captain America and Hidalgo with VIGGGGGOOOOO!
- John Diehl from Miami Vice! Eaten! This movie is pretty violent!
- Michael Jeter from Tango and Cash! Synthesizer! Gun boots! RV from hell!
- Man Tea Leoni needs to listen to Dr. Grant and stop being dumb.
- Uh that dinosaur just broke Jeter's neck after they already mauled and stabbed him to death. Shit.

- Allegedly cost $93 million to make and grossed $181 in the states and $363 million worldwide. Good enough for #9 for the year behind the likes of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Rush Hour 2, Mummy Returns, Pearl Harbor and Ocean's Eleven.
- Way better than Lost World by lack of Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) and his annoying ass daughter.
- Aliens again with little kid living in duct hiding from creatures.
- That is one big can of pork and beans.
- Malcolm was high on himself and everything about chaos..."fuck Jeff Goldblum".
- That dinosaur was straight eavesdropping! They seem so mean and bitter and...human in this!
- Oh man Pollux is hiding something, maybe it's some nitro, get it out of the sun!
- Aw shit. Literally. Walked into the wrong bird cage...
- Can't believe Pollux just left him like that! Oh he's actually rescuing The Patriot kid...
- Dr. Grant just Van Damme'd that Pterodactyl with a crescent kick to the face!
- That pterodactyl just turned and looked into my soul.
- I feel like I'd leave my shirt untucked if I was running for my life from killer dinosaurs and just saw my friend get pecked to death by a bunch of asshole dinosaurs. But that's why he's Dr. Grant and I'm some guy blogging and dranking.
- Majestic stegosaurus shot with Jurassic Park theme, awwwoooo!
- Digging through steaming piles of shit looking for a lifeline satellite phone, it's like a reality show waiting to happen. Red faced unicorn dinosaur just showed up too and leaves.
- Barney is on TV. Kids love that purple dinosaur. Like they love Jean-Claude Van Damme.
- I wonder how many full size animatronic dinosaurs they built for this show. Where are they now?
- Punch that raptor, Tea Leoni! Establish dominance!
- The Navy and The Marines showed up, where the hell is Michael Biehn?!
- Oh shit the dactyls are out and headed to your house!
- Alexander Payne co-wrote?! Mother fucking Sideways up in here. You ever drink red wine with Sprite and or Coke? Really gives it some effervescence.
- Larry Franco produced. Kurt Russell's former brother in law, producer of Tango & Cash, Big Trouble In Little China and Batman Begins.



Well that was a fast and surprisingly exciting and slightly harrowing 90 minutes. Bring on World!

Summer Cinema: Avengers Age of Ultron

It's not technically summer but according to Hollywood, it sure as heck is as Avengers: Age of Ultron hit theaters last night to the tune of $27 million bucks and an anticipated $200 + million weekend. After a surprisingly substantial happy hour at P.F. Changs, we joined the legions of graphic tee clad movie goers for a 7:00 PM showing in 3D. Trailers for Batman Vs Superman, Jurassic World, Ant-Man and Tomorrow Land got us going even though there were 3D trailers mixed in with no warning, come on Arclight!

Age of Ultron opens up at Baron Von Strucker's secret castle lair out in the woods where he's used Loki's alien powered scepter to enhance European twins Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Now Wanda (Scarlett Witch in the comics) can do crazy stuff with her mind while Pietro (Quicksilver) is super fast. The Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, The Hulk and Hawkeye) have been looking high and low for the scepter and finally retrieve it but not before they're all mind jacked by Wanda. They have individual visions of their past and futures, not all of them sunny. Back in NYC, science bros Tony Stark and Bruce Banner try to unlock the power of the scepter before it's returned to Asgard. They're also working on some artificial intelligence to create a "suit of armor" for the world which goes haywire and becomes Ultron, a huge robot with a twisted sense of humor who wants to destroy the Avengers and then the world. Lots of banter, action, hero team up smash moves, a little romance and world trotting follows. It was nice to see all of the characters getting things to do (Hawkeye becomes a much more central character) and there's some nice bromance between Cap and Thor and even Iron Man. New characters The Scarlett Witch, Quicksilver and The Vision are used to various degrees, basically there to fill a function and add some special f/x mayhem.

I had conflicted feelings watching Avengers, it was big and entertaining but it just wasn't that engrossing? Between the non-stop quips and jokes, as is Marvel's style to provide laughs but also cuts any tension, then the random stopovers and realizations (they get beat up then go to a farm house a la Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Splinterrrrrr!) or the ending where they fight a bunch of Ultron Storm Troopers and...direct civilian pedestrian traffic. Hmmmm. Thor goes on a random side mission while Quicksilver was used to much more effectively in X-Men: Days of Future Past. There's something very unheroic about a gearing up scene where a guy grabs a pair of Adidas sneakers..."Do you know karate? You do karate, man?" Double hmmm. We also get an Asian character! Who doesn't do much then goes away...Anyways, I was also pulled out of the movie by the absolutely sub-par 3D non-experience the Arclight provided. Their glasses are heavy and bulky and it was so dark with the glasses on I literally kept flipping them up to see people on screen with actual skin and flesh tones instead of a gray haze. Just another reminder that Hollywood hasn't figured it out. I'd like to see the flick again on a bigger screen and in 2D.

Con-Man: WonderCon 2015 Sunday

Although total attendance for WonderCon is less than half of San Diego, the great alternate show still managed to sell out 3-Day badges as well as Saturday. I always tell people who are discouraged by the coordinating commitment that is SDCC to check out WC as it's a fantastic show in it's own right with plenty of swag, comics, art, games, panels and special events to keep you busy with little of the headache. Sunday we rolled in for the annual Nerdist panel as they keep expanding and have recently moved into new office space. New shows, podcasts, even an improv class is on the way. We found some better convention center food near the arena with sammiches and fajita bowls next to burgers and hot dogs. Some more walking around the floor led to more flipping through comic boxes where it became Liefield Sunday with a haul of The New Mutants as well as finding the last issue of the 2004 6-part mini-series relaunch as well as the Shatterstar mini-series. Back to the Arena we went to catch WB's The Flash panel that had cast members Danielle Panabaker, Candice Patton and Carlos Valdes joined by executive producer Andrew Kreisberg. A cool sizzle reel played first showcasing some end of season craziness featuring the Rogues teaming up as well as Gorilla Grodd and another crossover with Arrow. The panel was a lot of fun and they mentioned an Easter Egg I missed. Apparently in a recent episode where you see The Flash fighting Professor Zoom with his mom in the middle, the Flash emblem has a white circle around it versus Gustin Grant's current red. What does that mean? That there's still a mighty big chance that John Wesley Shipp will be revealed as an alternate Flash from the 90's show and give us what we all want! YESSSSSSS!

Some fun cosplay included a Predator and a female Terminator along with a first sight for me, U.S. Agent! When Captain America gave up the mantle under government pressure, Johnny Walker stepped in, a former pro wrestler who had been suped up by the Power-Broker but was also kinda crazy. When Steve Rogers battled and defeated Walker for the title, Walker donned the black Captain outfit Steve adopted during his non-Captain America crime fighting. Thus becoming The U.S. Agent, a more aggressive and maybe psycho version of Cap who would butt heads with Cap's buddy and West Coast Avengers leader Clint Barton aka Hawkeye. The dude was surprised as nobody knew who he was but he looked great. Coolest swag of the day had to have been the comic book and movie themed rugs that included Cap's shield, the Millennium Falcon, Han frozen in carbonite and Space Invaders. I feel like we should have picked one up cause it would have really tied the room together...

Some more walking around Artist Alley and we decided to call it a day. It was another great show and some big news hit at the very end as Comic-Con International announced that they would be moving WonderCon to the Los Angeles Convention Center in 2016 over the March 25-27th weekend. This year that would put it up against Seattle's Emerald City Comicon on the west coast but ECCC is expanding to 4 days in '16 and moving to April 7th-10th. It'll be cool to have WC in downtown but I dunno, Anaheim's a lot easier to get around than downtown. There's also only 5,000 some hotel rooms within walking distance of the convention center compared to 13,000 in Anaheim and 11,000 in San Diego. There's not much to walk to as L.A. Live will quickly be overrun and the surrounding area doesn't make you feel uber safe as gentrification is butting up right into Skid Row. It's only a one year contract though as Anaheim is scheduled to undergo renovations and expansion. The show has moved before, starting in Oakland, moving to San Francisco then down to Anaheim. It will be interesting to see if there's an uptick in Hollywood studio presence since it's literally in their neighborhood. Until then, see ya in San Diego!

Con-Man: WonderCon 2015 Saturday

A little late but here comes my wrap up of Saturday at WonderCon this year. Last year Saturday was packed, like felt similar to San Diego packed. With organizers expecting 60,000 attendees this year I was prepared for the crush but honestly it wasn't too bad. The first panel I wanted to check out started at 10:00AM, same time the exhibit hall was supposed to open, but by the time I got there at 9:45, everything was flowing. In a new development, turnstiles and gates were installed outside the convention center so the religious protestor types couldn't mingle too much with attendees. I wonder what their schedule is like, I mean there's crowded sports events every weekend, do they show up to those?   

Superman: The Richard Donner Years Celebrity Super Reunion kicked things off with a massive guest list that included actors Margot Kidder, Valerie Perrine, Diane Sherry, Marc McClure, Jack O'Halloran and Aaron Smolinksi. Sarah Douglas got a flat tire on her way while producer Ilya Salkind was running late and eventually missed the panel. CapedWonder founder and Superman expert Jim Bowers co-hosted and there were several behind the scenes photographs projected to go with the panel. Apparently a book is in the works so I'll be sure to keep my eye out for it. Much love was directed to Donner for making the crew like family during their years together and for being an excellent director who handled each actor individually. Kidder was told to cut loose while Superman Christopher Reeve needed more precise direction which Donner provided. A great story came up when Marlon Brando thought the crew could use a rest but the producers balked at the cost it would take to do so. When pressed for the day to day cost of the shoot, one of the producers answered $350,000 to which Brando said he'd pay. Not sure if that day off actually happened...It was a great panel made even better by a video of Donner who couldn't attend because of Easter weekend and family commitments. A very heartfelt tribute to the films, cast and crew, Donner is always the man.

I wanted to check out Capcom's panel but it was filled and a line had already formed for the session afterwards featuring some podcasting type. That is one of the frustrating parts of these big shows, you never what kind of crowd is going to show up for a panel and then you get people just waiting through one for another. Anywho, some more walking around the floor followed and it wasn't too bad. Maybe the aisles were bigger so there was only congestion in a few spots. Walking around Artist Alley I spotted Captain America and Silver Surfer artist Ron Lim as well as his 90's Marvel mate Rob Liefield. Lim is one of my favorites as I grew up on his Cap work, I wish he would sell some postcards, buttons or some kind of swag so I could support him. Maybe I'll commission a full on Cap sketch to go with the quick freebie he did for me at another show. It was time for Warner Brothers' panel in the arena. Last year WB, Fox and Universal trotted out the likes of Bill Paxton, Gareth Edwards, Simon Kinberg, Gary Oldman, Andy Serkis and Luc Besson but this year film was way subdued with only WB showing Mad Max clips and San Andreas. The Mad Max scenes and trailers look great though; visual, violent and a bit weird. San Andreas director Brad Peyton and lovely co-stars Alexandra Daddario and Carla Gugino were on hand to discuss the film but energy was really lacking. The trio talked about a lot of the practical f/x employed but watching the clips it still looks like a CGI fest and I can't say I'm all that pumped for the flick. Just me? Afterwards we met up with The Arnold Fans maestro Randy who was in town for WonderCon and a fan meetup. It was great to chat with him and here's hoping we collaborate on something in the future.

The bar at the Hilton was SLAMMED so we headed to the Marriott for some snacks and dranks. A couple of whiskey gingers, mac n' cheese and a burger later we were energized to hit the floor again. We checked out Inside The Writers' Room, a panel assembling scribes from shows like Hannibal, The Big Bang Theory, Terminator, The Flash and Firefly. It was an informative session talking about what exactly is a writer's room, how it's good to either know what you want or what you don't want, having to recast actors, writing for certain actors, feeding you formulaic stories without making you feel it's not (cough, Mad Men, cough) and whatnot. We snuck out towards the end to check out Tarzan, John Carter, Doc Savage, The Shadow and Alley Oop: The Martian Legion Arrives! A look at the work of Edgar Rice Burrough's and a new book featuring his most famous creations along with other popular pulp heroes. Burrough's set up shop outside Los Angeles and the town of Tarzana was born. The ranch is now an archive as Burrough's threw nothing out, including a letter from Theodore Roosevelt denying Burrough's membership to The Rough Riders! Several Burrough's projects are in the works as the Tarzan live action movie is in post production, a TV mini-series is in development and a new novel by comic book distributor Jake "Buddy" Saunders is ready for release that teams up John Carter and Tarzan with The Shadow and Doc Savage?!

Even more walking around and we hit up some dolla, dolla bins, ya'll where I picked up some awesome Wonder Man, Incredible Hulk, Sgt. Rock and The Shadow comics. Also got one of those little Mystery Sci-Fi figures looking for The Rocketeer but got a frigging E.T., Damme it! Better luck was had with some Avengers mini bobble heads where we got Captain America, naturally, cause I'm charmed. A fun but tiring day, apparently we walked about 7 miles, phew!