San Diego Comic Con 2012: Event of the Year or Bloated Media Scene?

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Parent Category: Expos and Conventions

Category: Previews

Published on Friday, 06 July 2012 03:38

Written by Renzo Adler

From its humble beginning in 1970 in a hotel ballroom, the San Diego Comic Con has gone from the largest comic book-related event in the US, to contender for one of the largest all-around entertainment events.

At the San Diego Convention Center (111 W. Harbor Dr., San Diego, CA 92101) from July 12th - 16th, 2012, Comic Con will again be gracing us with news from industry giants and comic authors. In recent years however, many have griped that the event has become too bloated and is now more about movie studios pushing hot new properties instead of a con where you can meet comic book writers and artists.

Massive lines for films like Twilight and Avatar lead to old time fans feeling jilted and crying out that whatever popular property they feel the most ire towards has “ruined” comic con. Having never attended SDCC myself, I can only observe this from afar.

But there are still plenty of very interesting authors, writers, and artists that come to SDCC, and the fact that it’s a world renowned event has also lead to many international artists and writers attending, giving the whole affair a more global feel.

However, it still feels weird to me when I hear people that have never once uttered a word about comics ask me if I’m going to SDCC. Then they say something about how Sheldon on Big Bang Theory is so funny and I just become blind with rage, but that’s a diatribe for another time.

There are some eagerly awaited bits of movie news that will be at SDCC this year. Legendary Pictures will be doing a teaser for the new American Godzilla movie and hopefully do a little damage control on the bloated 1998 bomb with Matthew Broderick. Along with Godzilla, Legendary has another film about fighting giant monsters that it will be previewing: Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim.

It’s interesting how in a decade where Japan hasn’t produced a major giant monster movie since 2004’s Godzilla Final Wars, an American production company is doing two major big-budget films in the genre, not to mention this could be del Toro's big comeback after having to leave as director of The Hobbit and his proposed At The Mountains of Madness film with Tom Cruise was canned.

The Weinstein Company will be holding a special panel for Django Unchained that will be attended by Quentin Tarantino and cast members. The line for this panel will surely be a bloodbath as fan-boys and members of the press clash over seats. Who knows, maybe someone will get stabbed like at the panel for Jon Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens back in 2010.

Disney will be doing a panel for three of its upcoming animated pictures;Tim Burton's  Frankenweenie, Oz The Great and Powerful, and Wreck-it Ralph. Panelists include Tim Burton, John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, and Wreck it Ralph director Rich Moore. I am really looking forward to Wreck it Ralph since it looks like the first videogame related film to treat the medium with some respect rather than be a cheap and pandering cash-in.

Cartoon Network will have a panel for the hit animated series Adventure Time, with series creator Pen Ward and Tom Kenny, the voice actor of the Ice King. I was a freshman in college when the original Adventure Time pilot started making the rounds on the internet, and I’m happy to see how much the series has grown.

A fascinating combination of heavy-hitters from the worlds of comics, video games, and animation, the panel for Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two will feature developer Warren Spector, and writers Marv Wolfman, and Peter David along with Disney archivist Becky Cline.

My old boss and President of Troma Entertainment, Lloyd Kaufman, will be helming the Tromatize Yourself panel, along with Mick Garris, Ron Jeremy, Anina Bennett, Paul Guinan, Chris Brandt , Pat Swinney Kaufman, and moderator Mimi Cruz. The discussion will be on how to market yourself and your art.

Even though Sega has been struggling with widespread layoffs in recent months, they have one hell of a guest. In conjunction with the Gearbox developed Aliens: Colonial Marines internationally acclaimed concept designer and visual futurist Syd Mead will sign limited prints of his concept art of the USS Sulaco, featured in the movie Aliens. Mead's credits include work on Aliens, Blade Runner, the Mobile Suit Gundam series, and just being an all around god of sci-fi art.

Comic Con is large enough is  to even house its own film festival, The Comic Con International Independent Film Festival.

Now in it's 13th year, the CCI-IFF focuses on genre-related entries, including action/adventure, animation, comics-oriented, documentary (related to pop culture topics), horror/suspense, humor, and science fiction/fantasy. Fan films are a genre of films that have existed for decades, yet often receives little attention.

Fan films are in a way the purest form of love for cinema. Often times they’re made by adventurous amateurs or professionals looking to have some fun and tell a story simply because they truly love it (or maybe they just thought it’d be cool to see Batman fight an Alien and a Predator, like in Batman Dead End, which premiered at the 2003 SDCC). The Festival includes a special awards program and re-screenings of the award-winning films. This year's lineup has international flavor, with submissions from:

• Canada
• Chile
• France
• Germany
• Israel
• United Kingdom
• United States

While many people debate whether or not the San Diego Comic Con still has heart, there is certainly no doubt that this is the largest comic book/sci-fi/fantasy/horror/gaming event in North America.

To learn more, go to: http://www.comic-con.org/

The San Diego Comic Con
July 12-16

San Diego Convention Center
111 W. Harbor Dr.
San Diego, CA 92101

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