>
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.
Read on »
When I walked in, one of the masters of horror was having his makeup done after what may have been a particulary brutal TV interview. One that had Clive Barker calling it "a different form of torture."
I was hoping our talk would be better, and it was. The man who brought us "Hellraiser," "Lord of Illusions" and "Candyman" was actually a nice guy. As a long-time comic book collector, he counts himself among the faithful here at Comic-Con.
"I spend $200 every Wednesday on comics," says Barker. "I'm not just here saying I'm a comic book fan; I'm a comic book freak!"
Like-minded freaks will also enjoy the new "Jericho" video game that Barker also helped design. A first-person shooter, it also adds supernatural elements. You play the ghost of a character that is killed 20 minutes into the game! That character then possesses others around them, using their different attributes (like telekinesis and pyrokinesis) to take out the bad guys.
Understanding story structure, Barker believes that games nowadays must have a certain level of "sophistication" and "passion" to succeed and surpass the "sameness" that occupies many of today's shooter-type games.
"The passion of novels, the passion of comic books, [and] the passion of storytelling is being poured into this game," says Barker. "The game allows for a length of storytelling that you can't get in movies."
The storyline, the graphics, the gameplay, and even the music all had Barker's stamp of approval.
-- Jevon Phillips
Matt Groening — along with various producers, animators, directors and Yeardley Smith, the voice of Lisa Simpson — took the stage today in Hall H. Groening expressed a deep gratitude to the audience for the overwhelmingly positive response to the new movie (no “Worst Episode Ever” here) and thanked us by showing us a scene deleted from the movie, in which a truck driver discovers that Homer, while hitching a ride, has eaten the entire truckload of sausages. The panel spent their time answering questions about their favorite characters (Groening’s is Ralph Wiggum), discussing the future of the show and leading the audience in a sing-along of the “Spider-Pig” theme song. They hinted at plots and guest stars for the upcoming season and even played a raw, unfinished clip from this fall’s Halloween episode.
— Andrew Hiltzik
Read on »
Joel Silver's producing "Whiteout," with Kate Beckinsale; "The Invasion," with Nicole Kidman; "Speed Racer"; "Return to House on Haunted Hill"; and a new TV series, "Moonlight." And that's just the slate of projects that are being touted at Comic-Con.
Silver, the "Matrix" man, was whisked from here to there by his assistant while at the show. I, and a few other roundtable folks, caught up to him after his presentations of "Return to House on Haunted Hill" and, before that, "Whiteout," for a very quick interview.
One of his newest endeavors, which stems from the Oct. 16 DVD release of "Return to House on Haunted Hill," is the use of navigational cinema -- a process of filmmaking that makes it possible for the viewer to help choose the outcome and decisions that the character must make. Silver, with director Victor Garcia, introduced the concept to a panel, then told the select group of journalists about the technology's benefits.
"This is definitely a new idea, and I don't think it'll work with everything," Silver said. "The actors were very confused."
"We are always trying to be cutting edge, and we're always trying to be cutting edge. We're always trying to do things that other people aren't."
He recounted a story about how he went to the movies as a child and the audience had to vote on which way the story would go by pressing red or blue buttons. Navigational cinema should make him feel right at home.
-- Jevon Phillips
 Michelle Ryan, television’s new “Bionic Woman,” got on a roller coaster that no one totally prepared her for by coming to Comic-Con, and costar “Battlestar Galactica’s” Katee Sackhoff did not help prepare her for the crush.
“Yeah, I didn’t know it was this huge,” said a beaming Ryan in her English accent, winding down from numerous broadcast interviews. “We’ve [she and Sackhoff] been meaning to go out for drinks.... We’re going to have to have a few girly nights out.”
In terms of the show, Ryan shied away from looking at the original too much.
“I’ve seen a few clips but not much. I see this as an entirely new project.”
Though the show hasn’t aired, it’s being touted as a hit. Ryan knows that it’s a big deal, describing the show as being in the “big leagues,” with the same TV format that she’s used to but bigger budgets, bigger sets, more producers and a more fast-moving production.
With all of the time she’s spending becoming Jamie Sommers, I asked her if there was anything she wanted people to know about Michelle Ryan’s persona.
“I’m really close to my family,” Ryan said, knotting her fingers together to show their solidarity. “And I have a really bad sweet tooth.”
Photo: NBC
-- Jevon Phillips
 Last year, I walked into the press room for “Heroes” and was able to interview a majority of the show's actors in a semicircle. This year, I’ll be lucky if I’m able to get a glimpse of the back of Hayden Panettiere’s head. Luckily, I found the flying man alone.
Adrian Pasdar, who’s also promoting a new movie he’s in entitled “Home Movie,” is not like his "Heroes" character, the ascending (politically and altitude-wise since he can fly) Sen. Nathan Petrelli.
"I don't really seek the spotlight as you can see," Adrian said, pointing over to the Comic-Con media rush that was surrounding costars Zachary Quinto and Ali Larter. Adrian sat at a table, almost anonymously separate from the other cast members, but he willingly spoke about his character's ambiguous motivations.
"He [Petrelli] exhibits a morally liquid change," Adrian says. "He hasn't fallen on the side of good or bad. He's never really been bad, though maybe wrong at times."
For Adrian the actor, times have changed a bit since last year's convention.
"Last year, we were looking to talk to anybody who wanted to talk to us. This year, the degree of secrecy is a lot higher in what we can say."
So what can he say about this season?
"No matter who your favorite character is, the things that are going to happen in this season will be exciting to the point of being numbing for fans," he says. "This season is not about defining them by their own behavior ... there's a lot more at stake."
Photo: Associated Press
-- Jevon Phillips
It's easy to spot Andre 3000 from a distance, so when I saw him walking through the Gaslamp Quarter this morning I jogged to catch up.
"It's a gorgeous day, man," said the hip-hop auteur, who is at Comic-Con this afternoon to promote his animated series, "Class of 3000," on Cartoon Network. Andre is a natty dresser, and on Saturday he was resplendent in yellow trousers, a checkered summer jacket and a vintage Brooklyn Dodgers cap.
Andre is a Renaissance man with the Grammy-winning music of OutKast, with his fledgling film career and as executive producer of the cartoon series.
"I grew up loving 'Looney Tunes,' which of course had great music, and 'Peanuts' and 'Fat Albert.' Those were the standards I had going in for this series," he said.
As Andre walked toward the convention center, fans shouted out his name, but he politely declined to stop for photos and autographs: "Sorry, guys. If I do one I have to do all of them, and I'll never get where I'm going."
The soundtrack album for "Class of 3000" hit stores this month. Every episode has a music video by a different art director, and it's clear the Atlanta rapper is enjoying the endeavor.
"When I grew up in Atlanta, we weren't too fortunate, but I had a friend that had comics so I would look at his. I drew my own adventures for the characters. My favorites to draw were Wolverine and Colossus. I always thought I was going to be an artist, maybe a painter. But whatever you love when you're a kid, it comes back to help you later in life, even if it's not in the way you expected."
— Geoff Boucher
When I was a kid there was no comics character I loved more than Batman, and the main reason was Neal Adams.
Adams, the top superstar artist of the 1970s, had a graceful, almost photo-realistic style that, for the first time, made Gotham City a place you believed was real. I got to spend a couple of hours with Adams and his wife, Marilyn, Friday night and it was an extraordinary treat for a grown-up fanboy.
Adams was not only a sublime illustrator, he was a lion for artist rights and, with his burly build and tough-guy talk, it struck me that he is the comics world's answer to Marlon Brando -- a brawny poet with a social conscience, a shining star of his generation who always clashed with conformity and took headstrong excursions from the predictable career path.
Read on »
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
|
|
Blogs
Our Bloggers
Sheigh Crabtree usually speeds past San Diego on her way to Tijuauna in search of clay monkeys. She will be covering Hollywood's looming shadow at the event, and seeking female-friendly graphic novels.
Jevon Phillips will be writing about booths, panels and the fan aspects of the show. Luckily, he will not be entering the Masquerade as Afro Samurai.