Comic Con 2008 daily roundup
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There's still a solid week+ to go until Comic Con 2008 gets underway, and so far there are two things I'm seeing a lot of around the web. First and least interesting are all the sites announcing what panels they'll be attending to cover, or in the case of individuals, what panels they'll actually be a part of. IESB made their announcement today and I'll get to that in a minute, but that other trend I was talking about is one in which a lot of people are hating on Paramount for not bringing any of their big summer films to the convention in any capacityAs I said yesterday, there won't be any screenings of Abrams take on Star Trek, nothing for Transformers II, and obviously nothing for the unnecessary G. I. Joe flick that isn't going to do well, serving as a reminder to the studios what happens when you get greedy.
First of all I'd like to apologize for getting last nights roundup out so late. I can't really do them until the evening unless you want these things to have yesterdays news in them. As it is, when you see these posts in the morning, .. well I guess you're still seeing yesterdays news, but if they really were yesterdays news, then you'd be seeing news from today days ago. And that would suck. Also I wrote yesterdays roundup in the middle of a four hour and fifty minute, 15-inning All Star game which wouldn't go away yet constantly demanded my attention.
Sorry.
Beginning with the Trek/Paramount controversy; Syfy Portal, in writing about the venerable studio not bringing anything to show at this year's Comic Con, notes that Paramount did bring cuts of Iron Man last year which arguably helped to stoke up fans for what would become pretty much a franchise-sized, bona fide summer blockbuster. (I believe that while Marvel did produce the pic on its own, Paramount probably distributed it domestically.) Why they decided to hold back some very large properties this year even though Star Trek XI isn't done yet, there has to be enough shot to show off the pic to a cautious yet optimistic and willing audience, and Comic Con as we know it today isn't old enough for anyone to attribute negative press at the convention to a film or television shows failure.
Yet.
Meanwhile IESB is talking up its plans to hold a panel made up of online entertainment writers called "Masters of the Web", which is a bit ironic since entertainment blogs -- even ones as big as AOL/Time Warner's TV Squad and Cinematical -- are hardly the masters of anything other than a niche in an overpopulated blog-o-sphere that includes web giants like Gawker Media and Daily Kos. There's also some rumbling about giving away passes to an after-con party. Cinematical will be there, why won't you be? Movieweb talks about guests they'll have at the blogger panel, but they'll also be at the party (and they are giving away passes like all participants..I think.)
Lionsgate will be screening a comic-genre crossover animated flick called Hulk vs. Wolverine, according to 2snapstv.com. The writers and some other crew members will be on hand for the screening and later to field questions.
Bloody-disgusting.com is pimping a panel that I'd love to attend, on "making independent sci fi, horror, and adventure movies" to be hosted by Aint It Cool News' Drew McWeeny (Moriarty). Too bad it's only scheduled to run for 45 minutes, but this plays into what I was arguing for yesterday: fewer panels, better panels. This is going to be one of the good ones, one of the useful ones and certainly one of the most interesting.
If you're a fan of The CW's Supernatural like I am, then you'll be interested in a revised Comic Con schedule for all things Supernatural thanks to daemonstv.com. This show at least in the first two seasons didn't have a real high production value, but what they did have to work with was enough to produce a supremely entertaining series that belongs on one of the big four instead of the flailing and probably soon-to-be-dead CW.
I don't know if I posted this already, but I'm going to again regardless because this list is going to be extremely useful if you're one of the lucky few (160,000 few) that's actually going to Comic Con instead of being stuck at home reading about it, kind of like I'm stuck at home writing about it. TV Squad has a post up with every television panel's starting time, and who is going to be there. Sadly no room numbers are provided.
Entertainment Earth has several posts about action figures and other merchandise that will be available at their Comic Con booth. Flash Gordon fan? They've got you covered. Luke Skywalker in a storm trooper outfit bobblehead? Geek.
If books are your thing -- and hey, who doesn't have a thing for dead trees? -- Gold Eagle has a blog post about what they'll be offering exclusively at their booth (h/t scifichick). IDW will be hosting two panels, have a booth with several special guests available (for greeting? for signing? for flogging?) on multiple days. Check out their page for details.
I don't know too much about animation companies, but VZ Media I think has got the right idea in that they are bringing the LA Laker Girls to Comic Con, probably for no other reason than to get people to come to their booth. Sounds good to me!
Paul Levitz, president of DC Comics says there will be something very special going on in Hall H at 11:55 on Friday: "Oh, and while we're on the subject of movies, I'm not allowed to talk about some other footage I was looking at last week, but do offer to mortgage your collection to bribe your way into San Diego Comic-Con. And if you can't, console yourself by going into the exhibit hall and admiring the five-ton...oh, sorry, they're making me stop now." Sounds interesting but I doubt anything you see at Comic Con will be exclusive for more than a week or two, and everyone will be writing about it later on if it's worth talking about.
Theforce.net has a list of signing schedules at the Dark Horse booth. More comic stuff at both 1330 where you'll be able to pre-order something called "Schlock Mercenary: The Teraport Wars".
Free Wifi that'll be so saturated that nobody can use it? Sweet! DreamWorks is footing the bill for coverage everywhere except the Exhibit Hall. Be nice and step lightly, Wifi bandwidth isn't infinite.
And finally, Movieweb has the digs on where you can catch an early screening of the Lost Boys Direct-to-DVD sequel at Comic Con, 2008.
This is a series of posts aggregating Comic Con coverage from around the web. All posts can be found here.
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