Comic-Con Panels I’d Attend: Friday

In addition to the Friday Night Fights, I continue my list of panels I’d like to attend at this year’s Comic-Con. According to the official program, today is supposed to be “Star Wars Day”, and a lot of panels related to George Lucas’ epic took place today. So would I have gone to any of them?

10:00-11:00 DC Talent Search 2— Learn what DC Comics looks for in artists and how to improve your chances of becoming a working professional!

I’m listing these because if I missed one, I’d attend the other. By the time most of you read these articles, the events are over, but if you don’t know what to check out by now, you probably didn’t go, either.

10:00-11:00 Batman: The Brave and the Bold Screening and Q&A— Gotham takes over San Diego as Diedrich Bader (Surf’s Up), the voice of Batman, returns to Comic-Con alongside John DiMaggio (Futurama), the voice of Aquaman, and executive producer Sam Register (Teen Titans), producer James Tucker (Justice League Unlimited), producer and story editor Michael Jelenic (The Batman) and voice director Andrea Romano (Superman Doomsday). Fans can catch the world premiere screening of the upcoming “Mayhem of the Music Meister” episode—featuring the voice of Neil Patrick Harris (Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog) as the Music Meister—and enjoy a lively discussion and Q&A with the show’s dynamic creative team.

I just want to see new episodes on the network. Lately it’s just been movies or other shows. Correction: live action movies or other shows. On Cartoon Network. *sigh*

10:00-11:00 From Fan to Creator: Goal Setting for Creative Types— Which side of the convention table do you want to be on, artist or fan? And what’s keeping you from getting there? If you have an idea in your head that you’ve had trouble bringing into reality, you might benefit from this fun and practical goal-setting workshop, designed specifically for the Comic-Con crowd. Teacher and coach Douglas Neff offers simple, proven techniques for achieving your most important goals. Whether you want to write your own screenplay, draw your first comic, or shoot your independent film, you’re sure to get something useful from this informative and energizing workshop.

There’s a convention here in Connecticut next week, and I hope I can get into similar panels there. If I get to go. I need to find out how dedicated I actually am to this writing thing.

10:30-11:30 LEGO and BrickJournal: Brave New World— See what grown-ups and “big kids” are doing with LEGO today and what fuels them to never put the brick down!

I find it amazing some of the things artists have made out of LEGOs these days. And yes, I mean ARTISTS. You can make statues out of more than just stone or plaster. Elitists! It’s not the tools. It’s the talent!

10:30-11:30 VIZ Media: Shonen Jump— Get the latest updates on the world’s most popular manga magazine, plus the first look at new content and not-to-be-missed events. As a special treat, comics legend Stan Lee talks about the new series Ultimo!

I’m still wrapping my head over Stan Lee making manga (or at least manga-style comics), but I’m curious why he went with a name owned by a Marvel Comics bad guy.

11:30-12:30 Disney Press: Comics and Graphic Novels— Jordan Mechner, Prince of Persia creator and writer of the upcoming Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time graphic novel, and artists Todd McFarlane (Spawn), Cameron Stewart (Seaguy), Bernard Chang (Wonder Woman), and Tommy Lee Edwards (Daredevil) for a discussion and Q&A session. Plus, get a sneak peek at the upcoming Prince of Perisa: The Sands of Time graphic novel, and an advance look at the book’s connections to the secrets within the upcoming Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time movie. Panelists will also look into the future and announce some of Disney Book Group’s upcoming graphic novels for 2010.

The only reason I’d go is to find out what the slagging heck McFarlane is doing at a Disney comic panel. Has anyone read the stuff he writes? Also, he’s supposed to be at an Image Comics panel at the same time, so I’m thinking someone just messed up the copy here.

11:30-12:30 AMC: The Prisoner— Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ), Jamie Campbell-Bower (Sweeney Todd, The Twilight Saga: New Moon), Lennie James (Jericho), writer Bill Gallagher, and Vlad Wolynetz (VP, production, series & movies for AMC) discuss the making of AMC’s miniseries The Prisoner, a re-imagining of the 1960s cult classic by the late Patrick McGoohan, premiering in November on AMC.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the old series, but it does have a certain charm. I saw a preview in IO’s “Video on Demand” listings, but all it did was promote who is working on it, rather than the story itself. Normally, that doesn’t inspire hope, but The Prisoner was such a strange show, pretty much anything would be a spoiler at this point.

11:30-12:30 Selling More Comics & Graphic Novels: A Forum for Publishers— Publishers large and small: What makes some comics sell better than others from a retailer perspective? How do you make your comic stand out, get new customers for your book, and get retailers to notice?

That’s what I’d like to know. Especially certain titles.

12:00-1:00 Star Wars Day: The Clone Wars: Behind the Mic!— Season Two of Star Wars: The Clone Wars is coming in hot, and you can believe that the talented voice cast has something to say about it!

I know a number of Star Wars fans have issues with this series. They suck. This is a fun show, even if we know the tragedy to come. And by tragedy, I mean Episode 3, not so much it’s events. 🙂

12:00-1:00 The Great Transformers/G.I. Joe Crossover— Giveaways and announcements pack this panel with more excitement than Snake Eyes versus Starscream! If you’ve ever enjoyed G.I. Joe or Transformers, then come on down and learn about all the cool new things going on with both—from comics to video games to cool movie prop memorabilia!

I think you all know why I’d attend this.

12:30-1:30 DC: Batman: New Dynamic— Now that the Battle for the Cowl has ended, what adventures lie ahead for the new Dark Knight?

Insert “Bruce Wayne returns” joke here.

1:00-2:00 Archaia/The Jim Henson Company: The Perfect Publishing Partnership— Learn about the fantasy titles the publisher has in store, including a new Mouse Guard volume (with creator David Petersen), Artesia (with creator Mark Smylie), Okko, and Primordia. Then find out more about the partnership The Jim Henson Company and Archaia have formed to create comics and graphic novels based on such beloved properties as Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, MirrorMask, and Fraggle Rock, as well as all-new, original concepts!

And that’s where they have me. The Dark Crystal is one of my favorite movies, and Fraggle Rock was part of my late childhood.

2:00-3:00 Spotlight on Dwayne McDuffie— In his website’s infamous Ask The Maestro column, he’s answered thousands of questions about the creation of comics and TV. More recently, at the DC Comics Forum, he’s answered at least one too many. Now’s your chance to ask him anything you want, live, and see if he can’t get himself in any more trouble.

I wonder if they tried to get Rich Johnson to host this panel. 🙂 McDuffie has been involved with a lot of shows I enjoy, and I would like to hear what he has to say about the Justice League controversy that cost him the gig he was supposed to be perfect for.

2:30-3:30 State of the Animation Industry— ASIFA-Hollywood’s annual overview of trends in the animation industry. In this turbulent economy, how is the animation industry faring? Can games take up the slack? Is 2D coming back?

I’d be happy to see syndicated cartoons come back. Some of my favorite cartoons were syndicated, and with so few cartoons showing cartoons (and the two supposed main sources now showing live action, Cartoon Network and Toon Disney/Disney XD), kids are ready for some more choices. Have you ever tried to do homework while playing a video game? It’s not as easy as during the commercials of Voltron.

3:00-4:00 Impact University: How to Write and Draw Comics and Graphic Novels— Some of the biggest names in comics teach you what it takes to make it in comics and graphic novels.

I try to pick their Free Comic Book Day offering up every year. (Sadly, my store didn’t get it this year.) They’re pretty informative.

3:30-4:30 The Care and Feeding of a Series— Readers love series and the opportunity to revisit their favorite characters and worlds. Moderator James Frenkel (senior editor, Tor Books) leads a discussion of what it takes to meet the readers’ exacting standards when writing a series, whether in one’s original universe or someone else’s.

I can think of some professional writers who could use this.

4:15-5:15 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles— This look at the whole spectrum of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (from comics to toys to TV to movies to video games) celebrates the 25th anniversary of the world-famous brand. Moderator Gary Richardson (CEO, Mirage Studios) discusses the evolution of the Turtles with those people instrumental in the characters’ incredible success.

Sadly, I’d only be able to catch a little bit of this, in favor of…

4:30-5:30 Spotlight on Landry Walker and Eric Jones— The creative team behind SLG Publishing’s Little Gloomy series and the recent Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade for DC Comics discuss all of their work, past and present, including the upcoming run on Batman: The Brave and the Bold series. Landry Walker and Eric Jones discuss the pitfalls of working on all-ages books as well as developing their own properties for animation.

There’s a Marvel Animation Panel discussing Iron Man: Armored Adventures and others, and a  Buck Rogers panel that will even have Gil Gerald sitting on it. As much as I love both shows, meeting Landry and Eric in person would be more interesting to me.

5:15-6:15 Lucasfilm: Star Wars Spectacular— Get all the latest news from the Star Wars universe—including some of Lucasfilm’s most tightly guarded secrets—in an all-new show format! Special guest hosts G4’s Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira grill a galaxy of guests from The Clone Wars and beyond, including supervising director Dave Filoni, plus voice talent from the show and more! See a live table-read of an exclusive new Clone Wars script—leading directly into the series’ second season! Find out about the worldwide Star Wars Concert Tour, the latest Star Wars games from LucasArts, upcoming DVD (and Blu-ray!) releases and more! And become a part of Star Wars history with your own Saga stories and movie memories! It’s an all-new, interactive Star Wars Spectacular!

G4 will actually air this on Saturday afternoon just before their live coverage begins. Only one day this year. That’s sad.

7:15-8:15 RiffTrax Live— Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett RiffTrax.com, Mystery Science Theater 3000) perform a live, hilarious riff to a classic short! The panel is hosted by Veronica Belmont (host of Tekzilla on Revision3 and Qore on the PlayStation Network). Join the gang for fun, laughs, and the latest news from RiffTrax.com, the site where MST3K-style humor meets mainstream movies, TV shows, and vintage shorts! At RiffTrax.com they don’t make movies, they make them funny!

Who wouldn’t want to sit in on this? Boring people.

8:30-10:00 Star Wars Fan Movie Awards— The Star Wars Fan Movie Award Ceremony at Comic-Con International is always entertaining, and often studded with surprises. Each year the top prize, the George Lucas Selects Award, is chosen by Star Wars writer/director George Lucas, and finalists wait with anticipation to learn who will win industry and audience recognition and the coveted Star Wars-themed trophies. The Movie Challenge, sponsored by Lucasfilm and Atom.com, is in its eighth year. Don’t miss the most entertaining Star Wars fan-made movies out there!

Want to bet I’d find some good Saturday Night Showcase entries in here?

So fewer panels than yesterday, but I do need to eat. Not that it matters, since I’d have to be at two or more panels at once, and I can’t go anyway. More tomorrow.