After I returned from one of the greatest events ever…when I told some people that I went to the Comic-Con, it’s shocking that most of them have never ever heard about it.
So I figured it’s necessary to tell the world about what I think Comic-Con is all about, not some wikipedia definition of the event.
This is my take on it. If you don’t wanna read it, then don’t… But if you want to be enlightened, then by all means, read away and please don’t forget to share your opinion in the comment section below.
At the HAROLD & KUMAR 2 Booth, NPH’s Unicorn was there
The last weekend of July 2008 was unlike any other weekends, no sir. Every year, there’s a phenomena happening in Southern California region, much bigger and stronger than all other events combined.
And this year I got to be a part of the culture for the first time ever. It was none other than THE SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL!
It was held at the San Diego Convention Center, big enough to carry about 150,000 visitors, literally. From the opening day on Thursday to the closing night on Sunday, the place was packed like a bar full of alcoholic construction workers after a hard day’s work, not a very pleasant visual example, I know.
I live only two hours away from San Diego, so my friends and I decided we should just go there and back every day instead of staying in a hotel. By the way, hotels in San Diego are ridiculously expensive. I would have to sacrifice one of my legs just to get a decent affordable room for one night..
Comic-Con is not a Film Festivals, it’s the gathering of Comic book geeks, gamers, superhero freaks and movie buffs from all over the world. The movie industry knows how popular this event can be every year so the studios cooperate with Comic-Con Int’l to arrange panels in the biggest hall in the building. Panels provide the environment to promote upcoming movies to the Comic-Con fans, mostly movies that involve superheroes or some sort of cool powers. In those panels, each studio would not only show never-before-seen footage or clips from the movies, but they would also bring out the stars and the filmmakers of those respective movies. Cool stuff, huh?!
This year, Paramount Pictures didn’t participate in the event (party pooper!) resulting in the fans not being able to see anything about the upcoming Star Trek movie or Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.
But at least other studios still cared about the fans. WB brougt the whole gang of Watchmen movie, SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT brought the whole cast of the upcoming movie adaptation Twilight in front of screaming teenage fans. UNIVERSAL was proud to show case Jason Statham and his friends from the upcoming Death Race movie. LIONSGATE with Sam Jackson from The Sprit and Ray Stevenson and Julie Benz on Punisher: War Zone. FOCUS FEATURES got Steve Coogan to speak about his new comedy Hamlet 2… and many, many more.
To us geeks, it was like Christmas in July.
Lou Ferrigno signed a photo of his olden days TV series ‘The Incredible Hulk’
The best part is that each panel allows Q&A session, so people could come up to the mike and ask their favorite big screen heroes anything.
I wanted to ask Rhona Mitra (At the panel for Underworld 3) for her phone number and if she wanted to hang out with me that weekend but the security would’ve tackled me to the ground and labeled me stalker if I’d done that.
For those who were not into movies, they could go comic-related panels. Other halls would world renoun comic artists speak to their loyal readers. Teh Great Stan Lee was there and also Frank Miller among hundreds of other Comic writers and illustrators.
Me and the cast of INDIANA JONES franchise, well, they’re wannabees
So there was something for everyone.
If a person was not interested in either, he or she could always go to the Exhibit hall. In this precious humongous space were hundreds of booths that are comic-related. Movie studios would have booths as well. Each of them had unique ways of attracting visitors to check ‘em out. One video game booth had porn star Tera Patrick show up to sign autographs and promote the latest cool and violent video games. Another booth was about selling shirts, and some booths would have giveaway prizes and awesome contests.
The dude from Pirates of the Caribbean Movie
Here’s the awesome part, many people there, including yours truly, wore costumes. Superhero, comic-book related costumers.
I dressed up as The Spirit one day and then I looked The Punisher on the other day. My friend, Dexter got the coolest costume which he built himself, Dexter was the MySpace man.
One of the dudes who works with the actual Tom of MySpace was there and he complimented Dex’s costume and he would tell Tom about it. Now that’s rad!
Many hot lookin’ girls were there in their sexy costumes.. Princess Leia, the ghostbusters girls, lots of Wonder Woman girls.
Comic-Con is the place where you can be a geek and you’d have no trouble fitting in. It truly is an amazing event.
I could go on and on but here’s the thing.. you’ll just have to experience it for yourself.
Next year, San Diego International Comic-Con will be held on July 23 -26, 2009
If I were you, I’d register as early as Next year’s April, before it’s too late.
Be a part of the history, be a part of Comic-Con!
