Comic-Con 2007: It's a Wrap

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Here are a few of our personal highlights, low points and some of the projects we saw at Comic-Con that we look forward to catching in the future.

A farewell shot from the floor

As a newbie to "the Con," I was struck by just how friendly -- overwhelmingly friendly -- everyone was. Costumes, smiles and so much talent.  Wookies, Klingons and fairies -- oh my. And Batman and Robin, father and son John Whitt and Adam Whitt, 12.  The dynamic duo, hailing from Minneapolis, enjoyed their time in San Diego.  It warmed this photographer's heart to see them sharing a really cool experience, fully.

-- Spencer Weiner

Pow! Bam!

In the 15 years I have been writing for The Times, I have covered wildfires, riots, gang murders and plenty of other mayhem. I never got hurt. This weekend I covered a comic book convention in San Diego and I'm going home with staples in my head.

I was walking alone to my hotel after late Saturday night interviews with Neal Adams and Darwyn Cook. I was also talking on my cell to Spencer Weiner, the photographer for The Times shooting Comic-Con. Spencer heard everything that happened next.

I (literally) bumped into a young guy walking with three friends in the Gaslamp Quarter. They were tattooed and wearing the street uniform of baggy pants, white T-shirts and shaved heads. The guy started mad-dogging me, rasping threats. I told him I was just walking by, no offense meant. He got in my face, and I told him it would be stupid for us to make something out of nothing.

"You calling me stupid?" "No, I'm not." Then I stopped talking, because my mouth was bleeding. One of his buddies, standing off to my side, cold-cocked me, and the ring on his fist took a chunk out of my face. I never saw it coming. I was at the emergency room until dawn.

They stitched up the triangular gash on my face and put staples in my scalp for the nasty cut on the back of my head left when I hit the curb. The cops at the scene said this sort of incident isn't that rare, and the ER folks said I was lucky the guys didn't kick me, which might have happened if the street hadn't been packed with closing-time crowds headed home.

Today, I talked to Bill Weakley, a Seal Beach antiques dealer who nodded solemnly when he saw my face. "A guy I know came down here for a show and got jumped almost the same way. He lost an eye."

None of this gives Comic-Con or San Diego a bad rap. It's just a reminder that the real world doesn't stop when the fantasy crowds wander the city with their convention badges marking them as new in town.

-- Geoff Boucher

Not your average cup of joe

Readers of the print edition of the Onion know Shannon Wheeler's cartoons, as do readers of his syndicated strip How to Be Happy. I've been a big fan of comic book Too Much Coffee Man since it started in 1993. The character is a chubby, wide-eyed, jittery mess of a hero whose head is a huge cup of coffee. "It's made me more and more money through the years, so I'm solidly in the middle class of the comics world." At his booth, as you might suspect, there was a pot of coffee brewing. "I actually don't drink that much. Only one cup a day. But, of course, it's a very, very big cup."

The character was a goof on the ubiquitous cafe culture back home in Portland, Ore. Now the over-caffeinated hero in red tights is on T-shirts, posters and, of course, coffee mugs.

"And then, of course, there's the opera," Wheeler said.

Opera?

"Yes there was this composer that bugged me for two years to do it, and then he sent music and I thought, 'Hey, this is great.' So now we have the Too Much Coffee Man opera."

It's subtitled "Cream in the Coffee of Love." There's a staging at 11 tonight and 1:30 and 11 p.m. Saturday at the Horton Grand Theater at 444 4th Ave. in San Diego, (619) 220-9583. It's free to Comic-Con pass holders.

The story is romance: TMCM falls for a barista, but our hero's conniving foe, Espresso Guy, stirs up trouble. Plans for a sequel opera are, uh, brewing. To find out more about the Too Much Coffee Man world, go to www.tmcm.com.

-- Geoff Boucher

(photo by Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Drawn from memory

It's easy to get so caught up in Hollywood angles of Comic-Con that the original purpose of the event -- to buy and sell vintage comics -- gets overlooked.

I just wandered through the dealer's tables and looked at some fantastic old comics, my favorites being the gorgeous Mac Raboy issues of "Captain Marvel, Jr." from the 1940s. Those books had a lasting impact on pop-culture in a curious way: Elvis Presley, in his Vegas years, designed his jumpsuits, high collars and short cape on Raboy's classic hero.

If I had a bigger bank account, what would I buy today? Some original art from comics I loved when I was a kid. These are the one-of-a-kind pages drawn by the artists at the first step of the production process of comics. The market for these singular, poster-size slices of pop culture has exploded in recent years, and with such icons as Neal Adams or the late Jack Kirby, the prices go into six digits.

Good thing I left my checkbook in L.A.

--Geoff Boucher

An original drawing for sale at Comic-Con of art by Jack Kirby, characters trademarked by Marvel Comics. (Photo by Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

The view from the easel

If you stop by the Marvel Comics booth right now you can chat with artist Ron Lim, who draws "The Fantastic Five." (If you don't follow recent Marvel history, that would be the Fantastic Four plus Franklin Richards, the son of Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman.)

I remember Lim best for his work on the Silver Surfer and wanted to know what he thought of seeing the character hit the movie screen this summer. "It was just great to see; I thought CGI was fantastic. It's a little strange to see a character you drew up there."

I told Lim about a conversation I had a few months ago with Frank Miller, who said he's had some conflicted reactions when he's seen some of his contributions to the Batman mythos up on the movie screen without credit or compensation.

"Sure, yeah, I think artists now are pretty used to that. The company owns it once you do the art, and people take that and use it in a lot of ways. But it's such an exciting time to be in comics, there's so much going on. And this today: I knew it was going to be huge; I wasn't ready for this. It's unbelievable."

--Geoff Boucher

'Star Wars' day at Comic-Con

Artist's Alley spotlight: Heather Theurer

Heather Theurer has been an artist for a long while, but only recently did she start doing fantasy landscapes, and only recently did she become a Comic-Con regular.

Five years ago, Heather had a friend who knew a friend who knew someone with a connection to Comic-Con. She was primarily an earthy wildlife painter when she was persuaded to give fantasy a try.  She did, and it's been successful.

"My dragons fly [off the shelves]. The horses, though, they will always sell," Heather said. "I did a bunch of fairies once, and that didn't do too well."

Despite the comraderie and general goodwill amongst the Artist's Alley denizens (one patron recounted a tale about how some artist he'd never met needed a place to stay, so he took him to his house), it is tough to get a slot in a Comic-Con booth.  One prerequisite is that you be published first, but Heather acknowledges that knowing someone always helps.

"Artist's Alley is free, but it's a fight to the nail to get in here," Heather said. "I guess it's also good to be liked."

And liked she is.  Sales have been good over the last few years.  She continues to create wildlife paintings and landscapes, and has no regrets over adding fantasy to her repertoire.

"I do what I love, and that's just about everything."

Two paintings, "Pharoah's Own" (left) and "An End to Kings" were displayed in her booth, and are available.

Photos: HeatherTheurer.com

-- Jevon Phillips

Doors open, and DC starts strong

Booth signings? Already? Well, there's a lot to get through, so you may as well start early. That's what DC did.

No sooner had the doors opened and thousands started to stream through than DC's booth was instantly full of folks looking for giveaways and looking to get the John Hancock of any of their booth stars: Tony Bedard, Matt Sturges, Mark Buckingham, Bill Willingham, Jason Aaron, Gail Simone and Jim Calafiore.  DC is starting strong.

The three most-talked-about items on the floor? A huge yellow, black and red Warner Bros. bag that has a "Smallville" promo on one side and the upcoming "Superman: Doomsday" on the other; a bag from the Scholastic booth of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"; and a cardboard shield given out for the DVD release of "300.

Photo: Spencer Weiner / LAT"

-- Jevon Phillips

Going postal with Marvel ... or DC?

There are choices that must be made in life. Beatles or Stones? Pepsi or Coke? Leno or Letterman? Paper or plastic? Ginger or Maryann? In comics, the classic divide was obvious: DC or Marvel? The cold war between the two publishers and their universes isn't what it used to be for a number of reasons (the writers and artists move around more now and each publisher has "borrowed" attributes from their competitor), but fans still enjoy the argument of which is better. Which brings us to the U.S. Postal Service. We heard from Mark R. Saunders, a spokesman for the agency, who seemed pretty excited about these new Marvel stamps (download images) that will dedicated at Comic-Con and go on sale nationwide this Thursday.

"We’re printing a quarter billion stamps and one million stamped post cards. That’s the same as we did last year for the DC Comics stamps. "

While Elvis still tops as No. 1, DC Comics super-hero stamps came in at No. 5 last year. It will be interesting to see if Marvel can top that."

In other words, can Marvel stamps lick DC's stamps? Sorry. Couldn't resist. Click below for a rundown of the stamps which feature character shots and covers. Jack Kirby, Frank Miller and Gil Kane are some of the artists that we would happily attach to our phone bill. The character shots include Spider-Man, Hulk, Captain America, the Silver Surfer, and Wolverine, as well as two female characters: Elektra and Spider-Woman. Boy, there's one place DC definitely tops its old rival: Marvel never did come up with a Wonder Woman of its own, did it?

--Geoff Boucher