Fan film winners: They might surprise you

We missed out on seeing any of the films in the Comic-Con International Film Festival, but here are the winners: 

• Action/adventure: "Razor Sharp"
• Animation: "Fission"
• Comics-oriented: "Rocketboy"
• Documentary: "Moebius Redux: A Life in Pictures"
• Horror/suspense: "Eli"
• Humor/parody: "Zombie Love"
• Science fiction/fantasy: "Man vs. Woman"
• Judges’ Choice Award: "Moebius Redux: A Life in Pictures"

With Jean "Moebius" Giraud's "Moebius Redux" being the big winner, here's a tease (actually just the intro) to the Heavy Metal magazine co-founder's winning film. Maybe we can get more later.

Card gaming can be Chaotic

Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! seemed to take the world by storm, both as anime and later as marketing juggernauts, each with a card game at the center of the melee.  Now another 4Kids Entertainment property stands poised to reach into the wallets of parents everywhere when it is released in September: Chaotic.

Already a TV show, the Danish TCG (trading card game) incorporates the same type of basic structure with monsters battling and energy points that can be lost as the fight wears on.  Chaotic, though, takes a more interactive approach, according to the news release:

Chaotic's revolutionary feature is its patented alphanumeric code technology. In the cutting-edge, multimedia Chaotic Trading Card Game, each paper trading card has its own code that not only ensures that virtually no two cards are alike but also enables players to upload their collection of Chaotic cards free to battle and trade online at the Chaotic Trading Card Game portal.

Crazy, but definitely one of the most inventive ways to draw young eyes to the website and create online communities, which will then be able to take advantage of the chats.  I got to take a test run of the basic card game without all the multimedia bells and whistles.

Comic-Con 2007: It's a Wrap

>
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.

At the end … free hugs, anime and complaints

On Sunday, the stars and stargazers have mostly left, except for those who came for Nicolas Cage. But there was still activity in the convention center and an enterprising fashionista from Poway, right, who made this dress out of one of the highly prized Warner Bros. bags.

The anime rooms were at about 75% capacity, still showing many programs that may not ever air on U.S. TV.  A group of people near the rooms displayed handwritten "free hugs" signs, and commenced to squeezing passersby.

The Browncoats –- fans of “Buffy” and “Firefly” creator Joss Whedon -– congregated in a room as raffled prizes were dispersed. Last year, the space was big enough to accommodate the group, but this year there was at least three times the number of people who could comfortably sit in the room.

And then there was the final talkback -– Comic-Con’s feedback session where the fans are allowed to express their complaints, or compliments, to an assembled group of Comic-Con show runners. More than 20 people paraded in front of the microphone with various amounts of frustration and praise.

The positives: an excellent shuttle service (could use more stops), great disabled-access folk, a general feeling that the crowding had subsided on Saturday in contrast with last year’s craziness (though the same number of people showed up) and kudos on keeping the show relevant and continual. The negatives: courtesy not being enforced (cellphones, line cuts), strollers in the aisles bruising up ankles and calves, giveaways being gone too quickly (not a function of the Con, actually), being hassled by the elite security personnel and the debacle at Ballroom 20 that left possibly hundreds of "Heroes" fans out of the panel. An aside to Ballroom 20 were numerous complaints about the announcer. Both her style (someone called her a "'hot-pants-wearing show guide") and her tone were questioned: Many called Erin Fetters' dry wit and sarcasm demeaning, as if she were talking to children and name-calling. I wasn't offended by her comments, but I can see how another opinion could be reached.

-- Jevon Phillips

The Cages' lovefest

Nicolas and Weston Cage are the archetype of a father-son relationship. With Weston's long black hair and goatee, he doesn't look much like his movie-star dad, but the closeness of their relationship was on display in Ballroom 20 as they presented "Voodoo Child," their first collaborative effort and a comic book being published by Virgin Comics.

Cage, a well-known comic-book proponent, reared Weston with images of superheroes.

"We had them all over the house," said the senior Cage. "They were even framed and hanging [on] the walls."

And the opportunity to create and produce a comic book is not lost on the younger Cage, who is 16.

His friends "say it's pretty radical." Weston says. "I mean, it's pretty awesome for somebody my age to create a comic book."

"Voodoo Child" writer Mike Carey described the book, which centers around New Orleans, as having supernatural horror and even political themes. But the main character is something we may not have seen yet.

"There's actually not enough of him left to even be a zombie. He's more like a living shadow."

An EMT from New York and a paramedic from New Orleans who happened to be in the audience each thanked Nic -- for his work in "World Trade Center," and his general support of post-Katrina New Orleans.

Here's the article on Nicolas and Weston Cage that appeared in the print edition of the L.A. Times

Photo: Spencer Weiner / LAT

-- Jevon Phillips

There are comics here, too

Back to the 'Futurama'

Matt Groening took the stage again later in the day on behalf of the long lost brother of “The Simpsons” — “Futurama.”

Groening was joined this time by John Di Maggio (Bender), Billy West (Dr. Zoidberg and others), Katey Sagal (Leela), Maurice LaMarche (Kif, Calculon and others), director Dwayne Carey-Hill and producers Ken Keeler, Eric Kaplan, and David X. Cohen. Cohen actually began the panel with an announcement that, it seemed from the response, was the most exciting made this year at Comic-Con: the return of “Futurama.”

Cohen presented the audience of fans with a never-before-seen-in-public five-minute trailer of “Bender’s Big Score!” the first of four “Futurama” movies to come. It’s hard to describe the energy that filled the room. You could feel that it was the dream come true of everyone there (including Yours Truly). Suffice it to say that the modest crowd of Ballroom 20 was louder than any I heard in the 6,500-seat Hall H the whole weekend — even for the “Iron Man” trailer.

The panel spent most of the time answering questions, but the highlight of the event was a live reading of the brief, complementary comic book that greeted each audience member on entry. Next year will also see the move of the syndicated episodes from Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim to Comedy Central, to be joined by the movies rehashed into half-hour episodes. Fans should be extremely excited by the return of the show, and I think we can expect great things from the show that one fan audaciously described as “better in its 4-season run than the whole run of ‘The Simpsons.’”

--Andrew Hiltzik

Liv Tyler speaks Elvish for the fans

A fan asked Liv Tyler to speak in Elvish and she obliged in silky, dulcet tones. Another fan came up and told Tyler not to be embarrassed about speaking Elvish in public. The fan added that she had a tattoo written in the Tolkein tongue.

"Oh, really?" Tyler said. "What does it say?"

The answer: "Not all who wander are lost."

Tyler is here promoting "The Strangers," a new horror film directed by first-timer Bryan Bertino, in which she co-stars with Scott Speedman.

-- Sheigh Crabtree

Hey, Wolfman, Mummy -- you're falling behind!

It’s really something when part of the attraction of an event is the attendees themselves, and at Comic-Con, they all come out.

Can you sign this for my 'friend'?

What would a comic book convention be without autograph signing booths?

Oddly enough, the most popular autographs this afternoon weren’t even directly related to comic books. Nick Frost (“Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz”) had a booth, as did Debbie Lee Carrington, the diminutive actress from “Total Recall” and “The Drew Carey Show” (she was Mini-Mimi).

The longest lines belonged to Katey Sagal, memorable to the general public as Peggy on “Married With Children” but to the Comic-Con crowd as Turanga Leela from "Futurama" and Rosario Dawson of “Sin City.”

--Andrew Hiltzik