WonderCon celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2016. Attendees got a chance to see DC reveal its upcoming Rebirth series, meet special guests from the industry, and visit a large variety of vendors and artists in the exhibit hall.
00:01 – Rocketeer talks about loving jet packs as a kid and who he thinks would make a great Rocketeer if the franchise was rebooted
01:28 – Bad Girl (No More Heroes) likes that her character is a psycho despite her cute dress and mentions getting photobombed by Big Bird
04:12 – Knights Who Say Ni (Monty Python and the Holy Grail) sends a special St. Patrick’s Day message to all
05:35 – Zombie Snow wants to do special effects makeup and shares her influences
07:30 – Vulcan Zombie Red Shirt is another fun mashup and introduces a term to me: “bi-fi” (Stars Wars AND Star Trek fan)
09:29 – Chowder is known for eating and talks about running in the rain to avoid messing up his makeup is a big fan of Guillermo Del Toro
11:30 – Joker would actually prefer to be Flash
13:05 – A steampunk fan caught my attention with a creature on her shoulder and talks about the convention scene in her neck of the woods.
15:03 – Spade Slick is much less known figure but still shows up at WonderCon
16:51 – Soranik Natu (Green Lantern) would love to see more of the Green Lantern Corps talks about meeting a man with a green lantern wedding band
19:25 – The Mad Masker and Samara (Mass Effect) are very impressive. The Mad Masker talks about the most complicated mask she’s made
23:03 – Batman likes his character because he is relate-able and is trying his hardest to stay away from trailers. Batgirl talks about photobombing and tackling someone, on accident of course. Check out his site: http://batmandeathwish.com/
25:13 – I try to get find gold every day and this was probably it for day 2. A gender bender Batgirl gets lots of folks to take his picture. He owns it and knows that’s what people like. I had a problem with the recording so some of this fabulous interview gets cut 🙁
27:50 – Rick Grimes (Walking Dead) was kind of to talk to me after being harassed by another cosplay fan for various poses.
29:47 – The Riddler loves the intelligence of his character (and also the neurosis aspect). He’s a big fan of Jim Lee and particularly loves the way he makes the Justice League look
32:02 – Ang (Avatar the Last Airbender) loves his characters development and talks about getting some spotlight with the music composer of The Legend of Korra
33:51 – Super Skrull really made me laugh and you can see how much I lose control of the camera. Check out his Facebook page
36:00 – An avid convention fan talks about his love for comics and creators
37:46 – Jar Jar Binks stays in character. I don’t even know what happened here
As promised Day 2 photos, so many things to see! Day 3 photos coming soon!
The Green Lantern: The Animated Series debuted this weekend. For those who are unfamiliar with the Tales of the Green Lantern, here’s a short snap shot – fearless test pilot Hal Jordan is chosen by the ring of a dying Green Lantern to be the first human inducted in to the Green Lantern Corps. The Corps is comprised of beings throughout the universe that are chosen because they have the ability to overcome great fear. They maintain order in their sector of the galaxy, in short, intergalactic cops. The Guardians of the Universe are their “bosses” who are the oldest beings in creation, and have designed the GL Ring to be the most powerful weapon in the universe. It allows its bearer to create anything that their mind can will in to existence.
Here’s the short of what happened in the hour long pilot episode; Hal (voiced by Josh keaton) is testing a jet for Ferris Aircraft when an earthquake happens, he loses the jet to save a train. Carol Ferris gets mad at him, he promises to make it up to her with a dinner date, but then his ring calls him to OA. Hal transforms in to Green Lantern and is space bound. He’s being reprimanded by the Guardian council when a GL Ring flies in, it’s the ring of a now dead Frontier Lantern. Who are they? The Guardians give a quick explanation and dismiss the hearing. Ganthet shows Kilowog (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) and Hal this experimental spaceship that’s got artificial intelligence and a power battery. Hal and Kilowog then “borrow” the ship and go in search of what killed the Frontier Lantern.
They discover that there are Red Lanterns and they combat them while saving Shyir Rev (voiced by Kurtwood Smith), another Frontier Lantern, from certain death. Returning the wounded Shyir to his home planet they’ve accidentally led the Red Lanterns to this peaceful colony planet. The Red Lantern leader, Atrocitus (voiced by Jonathan Adams), sends down a probe that will destroy the planet unless the inhabitants hand of the Green Lanterns. A valiant fight is fought that ends with *SPOILER* Shyir’s death and Kilowog saving the inhabitants.
The AI ship along piloted by Hal and Kilowog have a captured Red Lantern named Razer. They set out to find more Red Lanterns in the cosmos.
The good; the fight scenes were great, once they started going. This being mainly a kids’ cartoon, it got a lot more violent that I thought it would. Much like The Clone Wars of late, so that was surprisingly unexpected. The sound effects are great and the use of constructs really complimented the excellent sound. Having Kurtwood Smith voice a GL was a nice treat, almost casting against type for me, but it worked.
Shyir’s death caught me by complete surprise, I mean – it’s a cartoon for kids, they would find a way out, but nope, they didn’t. And what’s more, they brought in Kilowog’s backstory, which you’d only know from reading the comics. That was a great emotional moment coupled with a nod to the comics, wonderful.
The action – once the fighting and combat started, they had some nice sequences.
The bad; Hal goes in to space way too quickly, and it seems like the whole series will be space bound. Which I’m not too keen on. The whole relate-ability to a character will be gone. It should be about Hal trying to balance his day job with his romantic interest in Carol coupled with space emergencies and Coast City dangers.
This is just the pilot episode, but it looks like we’re losing the who secret identity thing, which to me is a kid’s fantasy, to be completely passed as having no impact in anything, while actually saving the world. With the Green Lantern you not only have that but you also have the will to create anything you can imagine, which is essential for growing kids where they play in their imagination almost everyday.
From a production standpoint I see why they went in to space though, space is easy to animate, and when they land in a “combat zone” it’s usually rocks and desert like. For some reason the animation still looked flat to me, overly simple and not detailed. Which makes me think that Hal will spend all his time as GL in space fights.
One more thing, and this is way too nitpicky, but they really really simplified Hal’s hair. Much like Superman, Hal has a certain hair style. Which makes me think that they’re going for a medium between the comics and Ryan Reynolds…
Overall, I will have to give this a couple more episodes before an official verdict is rendered. But for now, I’m leaning toward passing on this series. It needs to decide what it wants to be. Go all the way like Justice League Unlimited with the serious aspects or go for tongue and cheek the way of Batman: The Brave and The Bold.
Comikaze was a triumph! It’s hard to overstate our satisfaction with Comikaze Expo. We were amazed by the dedication of the volunteers and the very huge turnout of fans.
There were so many things and people to see and here are some of the highlights (listed in no particular order):
Here are things we thought that could’ve been better (listed in no particular order):
Despite the minor complaints, it was a great outing and we look forward to seeing this event next year! Likewise Mark has been posting quite a few videos we took as well. Enjoy the crazy amount of photos we took that weekend! Photos were courtesy of Danny and myself and have been combined for your entertainment.
Comikaze Expo is the largest multimedia pop culture convention in Los Angeles. This unique event brings together the best in comics, gaming, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, anime and all other cult programming. Comikaze took place November 5-6, 2011 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and offers a slate of innovative programming, panels, contests and other activities that provide fans access to their favorite artists and creators in this adventure-packed weekend.
Please go to the official Comikaze Expo page for additional information.
On March 16 to the 18th 2012, Anaheim, CA is getting a new tenant and its WonderCon! Traditionally in San Francisco, Wondercon finds itself having to either cancel the show or move due to renovation at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. In reaction to WonderCon announcement, ReedPop’s C2E2, which has been waiting to announce dates for its own show in March 2012, will now seek alternative dates while Wizard World has announced that it will postpone its April 2012 Anaheim show to help alleviate an overcrowded calendar.
“It certainly was not our wish to move,” commented David Glanzer, director of marketing and public relations for the nonprofit event. “However, when faced with the prospect of canceling the show for a year or moving locations, after careful consideration we decided to keep WonderCon on the 2012 calendar at a venue that could accommodate our needs.”
Though I am a bit sad to know they had to move, I am happier to know that its moved significantly closer to home
For more information go to WonderCon Home page
Doomsday is coming August 31st, 2011 to the DC Universe! It’s the end of the universe as we know it! Sorry this isn’t the character named Doomsday, but this is a reboot of many of the franchises out there. How many you ask? Try 52 brand spanking new series! Okay so many of them are from the same franchise like Batman (Batman, Detective Comics, Batman: The Dark Knight, and Batman and Robin just to name a few). But you do have a name like Jim Lee as co-publisher! Likewise some folks get new shiny costumes!
Yes those are blue tights on the bottom, not red.
But what does this really mean though I’m not quite certain. Does this destroy 70 years worth of lore and streamlined to newer folks, or perhaps a different way of retelling a story without having to dig through priceless comic books that can’t be opened to retain its sell value? I can’t help but reflect what Marvel tried around mid 90s by rebooting various comics like the Fantastic 4 and the Avengers after Onslaught.. the idea was scrapped of course and any mention of it was considered an alternative reality. Perhaps the same may occur if it doesn’t do well and we’ll consider it Earth 3 or something.
Rebooting isn’t technically anything new, folks die one day and then resurrect the next time following (Jason Todd comes to mind), but a whole universe is another story! Some may find some form of success like the “Ultimate” series from Marvel, others may not. Smallville seemed successful (to some extent, but that was TV). It does raise questions about the current storyline that exist right now, do they continue or just a dream and filler for the reboot. Is Dick Grayson back to being Robin or does he continue on as Nightwing? Which Green Lantern is coming back first, Hal Jordan or John Stewart or do they both represent different sectors of the Green Lantern corp? In the end I can’t help but think of a computer when something goes wrong, the first question that comes to mind from any technician was, did you try restarting? Was it really broke in the first place? Guess time will tell.
For more information go to DC’s 52 Page