EPIC SDCC 2013 Entry!
Thursday morning, I had intended to see a panel early on, but I decided instead to do all the fun stuff on the Exhibit Hall floor that I thought would get crowded later on. I waited my turn to play a demo of "Pikman 3" on the Wii that was one of the most adorable and non-threatening video games I've ever seen; the central character was a tiny space traveler who, with the help of lots of flower-topped little people, collected gigantic fruits and fought menaces like large beetles. I wasn't that great at it, but the Nintendo employee cheerfully assured me that for someone who'd never played the game, I was doing pretty well. I got three fabric stickers for my trouble, and it was time well-spent.
After that, I stopped in at Elephant Eater comics, where I got to see Ryan, my awesome friend who I've seen once a year for five years running now. His latest work is a contribution to an amazingly detailed little 'zine about pinball collecting and culture. So it was cool to pick that up and chat with him about his new baby boy.
Cartoon Network had a giant Ice King's castle in the center of the floor, and I lined up to see what the interior set dressing looked like. It was not disappointing at all: inside were the Ice King's minions/penguins, including Gunther, with his stolen Magic Wishing Eye, and another penguin playing the drums. I have to go recover my photo from the CN Facebook website, which I keep forgetting to do.
In the afternoon, I went and listened to a panel about special effects work in movies. It started off in a very depressing way, with the panelists describing how the work that they do basically isn't done in the U.S. any more because other countries (most notably the UK and Canada) offer better tax incentives and subsidies. This was very dry and really depressing. I was on the verge of getting up and leaving when the talk switched to the panelists' individual creative ventures, and then everything changed: enthusiasm! Artistry! Interest! The Q&A time proved even better, when one questioner made an active connection with another that was mutually beneficial, and the entire room applauded. So, yay for that!
Then I went back down the Exhibit Hall floor, where I met an amazing artist, Ruth Sanderson, who illustrated "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", a book which I remembered immediately, but hadn't considered in years. The following conversation ensued:
Me: I love your work! The colors remind me of the Russian religious icons I teach in my Humanities class.
Her: Well, actually, I am Orthodox, and I have painted icons, so you're exactly right about my sources there.
Me: (!!!) Wow, really? That's so cool! No wonder they're so luminous.
Her: Thank you. That's how I pictured this story coming to life.
When this sort of thing happens, I love SDCC. :D
After this, I reconnected with ashears and we headed over to a mixer for a comic arts company that she was interested in. It was outdoors and unexpectedly cold. I eventually told her I'd guard our stuff while she networked, and ended up on a couch off to the side talking to a screenwriter and a journalist, so that worked out for the best. But it was exhausting, and I was glad when we hopped onto the trolley to go home.
When Friday morning rolled around, I was still debating with myself whether or not to attend the Defiance panel. Yebisu and I had been enjoying the show very much until the finale, which was probably one of the worst 43 minutes of television programming we'd ever seen. (In one fell swoop, it squandered all of the dramatic tension and character development that had been building for the entire second half of the season.) I decided I *had* to go and see what was up, and if any of my pet theories would be proven right. And... they sort of were, but not exactly in the way that I expected.
The good stuff about this panel was that the actors appeared to have a great time, photographing the audience with their phones and cracking jokes with each other like old friends. I'm a sucker for shows with strong ensemble casts, and this one clearly has a good rapport with the crew and support staff. I liked hearing their stories of shooting particular scenes and, for the actors who play make-up-intense characters, not being recognized on set out of makeup. They were thrilled by the fannish response to the show, and Julie Benz even stepped off stage to take a picture with a fan in a homemade hellbug hat. (A monster from a particular episode.)
But come Q&A time, even though everyone around me had been complaining about the finale, no one actually asked the question of "what the hell was that?!". The showrunner swore up and down that the whole thing had been intentional, and that we would be pleasantly surprised by the events of Season 2, which is a year away. I left with the distinct impression that my suspicion about the SyFy higher-ups meddling with the show and its format had been correct, but that no one would ever complain about that on-record. The ambitions the showrunner has for Season 2 (more world building! every character starting from scratch! more this! more that!) are huge, and I'm not sure they can be confined to a 13-episode season. I really want this show to succeed, but after this panel, I'm not sure what to think overall.
After the Defiance panel, I went to check out the stuff outside and grab lunch at Ralph's. There was a huge "Ender's Game" installation with a fast-moving line that I decided to check out on behalf of my brother-in-law. The display was sponsored by House and Garden TV, and that was just plain strange. The vaunted sets on the inside included the most generic living room I've ever seen, and some outer-spacey-like seats... yeah, I was a bit lost. One of the workers asked if I was having a good time, and I had to say, well, I'm not sure what I'm looking at, so maybe? I got BIL a small freebie, the significance of which I have no idea. I think it would have mattered a lot to me if I'd been a fan of the original work, but it left me cold.
I headed back in after that for a panel on the publishing process from an author/agent/editor/publicist standpoint, and that was fascinating. I will blog about it in much more detail later on!
Saturday morning, Yebisu and I headed down to the Convention Center... only to find out that the panel with Jim Butcher that Yebisu really wanted to see was already full.
... damn.
We dithered for a few minutes and decided we'd camp out in Room 8, where Richard Kadrey, another one of Yebisu's favorite writers, was scheduled to be speaking and my #1 to-do thing was happening later in the afternoon. No matter, we thought, we can just watch the other stuff, no problem!
... can you see where this is going?
The intervening panels between the time we got there and Kadrey were pretty dull. Both of them were spotlights on influential artists who were active in the 60s and 70s, and who both started their talks with the words, "Well, I'm sure you're all familiar with my work." I don't think it would have killed either of these two men to make up a powerpoint with their most famous art pieces and talk a bit about them. There were a few interesting side stories, one about copyright law, and one about tricking the higher-ups in Marvel to ignore a certain plotline in a Doctor Strange by impersonating a southern preacher, but that was it. It felt like a long two hours.
But then Kadrey spoke, and Yebisu got to ask him a question, and that was great! And the room was filling up by this point, and that was good...
...except we had to sit through a presentation about Marvel Mini-mates before the Adventure Time panel, and that got really boring in a hurry. Mini-mates are cute, but I'm not a collector, and there are so many of these damn things I can look at before I get tired of them. The presenter obviously was trying hard, and joked about most of us being there for Adventure Time, and asked if we were willing to buy Adventure Time Mini-mates, which I guess I'd be willing to, fine, whatever.
But finally that nonsense was over, and then it was the Adventure Time Encyclopedia panel and it was GLORIOUS and FUNNY and AWESOME and everything I'd been hoping for. Two of the voice actors, Martin Olson and Olivia Olson (Hunsen Abbadeer and Marceline), had collaborated on large parts of the book, in consultation with Pendleton Ward and the writers of the show, and what I saw of the book looked really fun and amazing. Tom Kenny (the Ice King) was also there, and he did a dramatic reading from the book in character. (If you go to my Flickr link at the bottom of this entry, I got some of it on video.) Then there was Q&A time, and it was fabulous, too:
Small Child: Can there please be an episode soon where Finn and Jake fight an army of killer robots?
Pendleton Ward: Hhmmm.... (long pause)... Maybe. I like that.
And:
Mother with a video camera: I'm here on behalf of my seven-year-old son, who hates lines.
(Pause for laughter and applause) Mr. Olson, it would make his day if you could sing the song about killing ants.
Martin Olson: Well, I don't see why not. (Sings) Stomping on the ants, scooping up their souls, stomping on some ants and scooping up their souls!
But best of all, a parent got up and thanked the entire cast and crew for, "making a show that I can watch with my kids and we're able to talk about on a daily basis." He also thanked them for the recent, hard-to-watch serious episodes, and that provoked a lot of applause, too. It was so cool to see everything I love about the show in one place. :) So the entire wait and boring stuff that came before was well worth it!
As Sunday morning rolled around, Yebisu was determined to attend more panels, and I spent the morning wandering the floor trying to do all the things I'd not gotten to. I was able to buy some teeny, adorable prints from Katie Cook, who looked exhausted. I tried to compliment her work and be encouraging without sounding like a crazy person/stalker, and I think I largely succeeded. I then made the cardinal mistake of buying two awesome, heavy books, only to realize that I'd have to carry them for the rest of the day. (No regrets, though, because they are AWESOME books!) I hung out with A. for a while, and we people-watched quite a bit; Yebisu joined us and then set off again, and A. went for a Pinkberry, and by that point, the event horizon of "too much" loomed high for both of us. We left a little early, but that was for the best; I've never tried to leave much later than 3:30 for fear of the trolleys being completely and utterly filled.
Then we got home and our feet ached and complained, but it was all tolerably awesome and great. Another year, another Comic Con! XD
General Thoughts:
~ The fundamentalists were more vocal and more... uhm, personal, this year, for lack of a better word. Last year, they just yelled about Jesus, but this year, their attacks were more Comic Con-specific, like the guy with a megaphone who shouted at all and sundry, "Don't let your souls be enslaved by comics!" (It took some willpower not to shout back, "Too late!") There were counter-protests, of course, and those looked unpleasant to referee. I tried to thank as many of the law enforcement people as I could when they weren't working or concentrating on other things; one of the transit security police officers looked surprised when I did, and confessed that he really wished he could go to the Con himself. (He wanted to meet Stan Lee for real, not just pay for an autograph.) As usual, even in the hoards of people, I never felt unsafe or afraid for my physical well-being once, and I think the SDPD is responsible in a large part for that.
~ For some reason, the crash after this Con was especially hard this year. The real world, as much as I love it, doesn't seem quite as interesting for the first few days afterwards, and today was no exception, with mundane chores and problems looming large.
~ There was a lot of zombie stuff--costumes, toys, images, etc.. It was not fun for me. I wish this trend would run its damned course.
~ There were times when the Exhibit Hall didn't seem as crowded as usual, and I couldn't figure out if it was actually truly empty, or I had just gotten really, really good at making my way through the knots of people. It is a lot easier when it's just me, and I tend to stay out of the central scrum of the big companies and their lines, but I could have sworn there were times when there were swathes of empty space, and that's an oddity.
~ The overall theme of this year's Con ended up being something along the lines of, "Crazy Contradictions!" It was personified best in the juxtaposition of the Christian Comic Arts Association booth next to the Killer Zombie Bunnies booth in the Small Press area. Comic Con often leaves me with the aftertaste of sweet and sour. On one hand, there's a pure interest in comics and reading that makes my heart sing, but on the other, there's a crass commercialism that manifests itself in the crazy-long lines for the exclusive toys and vinyl collectibles that makes me alternately groan and grumble. Comic Con is the only place where I can wear my Kate Beaton t-shirt and people not only compliment me on it, but also want one themselves. Comic Con is also the place where my phobia is everywhere, all the time, and I have to make compromises with myself to get past it, but it's also the place where many, many people I admire (both real and fictional) are front and center, and I can draw on their words and examples to give me strength. There's beautiful art, and there's the cheesiest of cheesecake, side by side; in fact, there are Charles Dickens-esque contrasts every two feet or so. It's sublime and ridiculous, and I love almost all of it, even as I realize that what I love is what some other attendees hate. But that's the beauty of multiple fandoms, and when they're all present and not in conflict, it's just completely awesome.
Pictures are here, updated with Saturday stuff. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera on Sunday, so no extra photos. Still, lots of good ones, though. :)
After that, I stopped in at Elephant Eater comics, where I got to see Ryan, my awesome friend who I've seen once a year for five years running now. His latest work is a contribution to an amazingly detailed little 'zine about pinball collecting and culture. So it was cool to pick that up and chat with him about his new baby boy.
Cartoon Network had a giant Ice King's castle in the center of the floor, and I lined up to see what the interior set dressing looked like. It was not disappointing at all: inside were the Ice King's minions/penguins, including Gunther, with his stolen Magic Wishing Eye, and another penguin playing the drums. I have to go recover my photo from the CN Facebook website, which I keep forgetting to do.
In the afternoon, I went and listened to a panel about special effects work in movies. It started off in a very depressing way, with the panelists describing how the work that they do basically isn't done in the U.S. any more because other countries (most notably the UK and Canada) offer better tax incentives and subsidies. This was very dry and really depressing. I was on the verge of getting up and leaving when the talk switched to the panelists' individual creative ventures, and then everything changed: enthusiasm! Artistry! Interest! The Q&A time proved even better, when one questioner made an active connection with another that was mutually beneficial, and the entire room applauded. So, yay for that!
Then I went back down the Exhibit Hall floor, where I met an amazing artist, Ruth Sanderson, who illustrated "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", a book which I remembered immediately, but hadn't considered in years. The following conversation ensued:
Me: I love your work! The colors remind me of the Russian religious icons I teach in my Humanities class.
Her: Well, actually, I am Orthodox, and I have painted icons, so you're exactly right about my sources there.
Me: (!!!) Wow, really? That's so cool! No wonder they're so luminous.
Her: Thank you. That's how I pictured this story coming to life.
When this sort of thing happens, I love SDCC. :D
After this, I reconnected with ashears and we headed over to a mixer for a comic arts company that she was interested in. It was outdoors and unexpectedly cold. I eventually told her I'd guard our stuff while she networked, and ended up on a couch off to the side talking to a screenwriter and a journalist, so that worked out for the best. But it was exhausting, and I was glad when we hopped onto the trolley to go home.
When Friday morning rolled around, I was still debating with myself whether or not to attend the Defiance panel. Yebisu and I had been enjoying the show very much until the finale, which was probably one of the worst 43 minutes of television programming we'd ever seen. (In one fell swoop, it squandered all of the dramatic tension and character development that had been building for the entire second half of the season.) I decided I *had* to go and see what was up, and if any of my pet theories would be proven right. And... they sort of were, but not exactly in the way that I expected.
The good stuff about this panel was that the actors appeared to have a great time, photographing the audience with their phones and cracking jokes with each other like old friends. I'm a sucker for shows with strong ensemble casts, and this one clearly has a good rapport with the crew and support staff. I liked hearing their stories of shooting particular scenes and, for the actors who play make-up-intense characters, not being recognized on set out of makeup. They were thrilled by the fannish response to the show, and Julie Benz even stepped off stage to take a picture with a fan in a homemade hellbug hat. (A monster from a particular episode.)
But come Q&A time, even though everyone around me had been complaining about the finale, no one actually asked the question of "what the hell was that?!". The showrunner swore up and down that the whole thing had been intentional, and that we would be pleasantly surprised by the events of Season 2, which is a year away. I left with the distinct impression that my suspicion about the SyFy higher-ups meddling with the show and its format had been correct, but that no one would ever complain about that on-record. The ambitions the showrunner has for Season 2 (more world building! every character starting from scratch! more this! more that!) are huge, and I'm not sure they can be confined to a 13-episode season. I really want this show to succeed, but after this panel, I'm not sure what to think overall.
After the Defiance panel, I went to check out the stuff outside and grab lunch at Ralph's. There was a huge "Ender's Game" installation with a fast-moving line that I decided to check out on behalf of my brother-in-law. The display was sponsored by House and Garden TV, and that was just plain strange. The vaunted sets on the inside included the most generic living room I've ever seen, and some outer-spacey-like seats... yeah, I was a bit lost. One of the workers asked if I was having a good time, and I had to say, well, I'm not sure what I'm looking at, so maybe? I got BIL a small freebie, the significance of which I have no idea. I think it would have mattered a lot to me if I'd been a fan of the original work, but it left me cold.
I headed back in after that for a panel on the publishing process from an author/agent/editor/publicist standpoint, and that was fascinating. I will blog about it in much more detail later on!
Saturday morning, Yebisu and I headed down to the Convention Center... only to find out that the panel with Jim Butcher that Yebisu really wanted to see was already full.
... damn.
We dithered for a few minutes and decided we'd camp out in Room 8, where Richard Kadrey, another one of Yebisu's favorite writers, was scheduled to be speaking and my #1 to-do thing was happening later in the afternoon. No matter, we thought, we can just watch the other stuff, no problem!
... can you see where this is going?
The intervening panels between the time we got there and Kadrey were pretty dull. Both of them were spotlights on influential artists who were active in the 60s and 70s, and who both started their talks with the words, "Well, I'm sure you're all familiar with my work." I don't think it would have killed either of these two men to make up a powerpoint with their most famous art pieces and talk a bit about them. There were a few interesting side stories, one about copyright law, and one about tricking the higher-ups in Marvel to ignore a certain plotline in a Doctor Strange by impersonating a southern preacher, but that was it. It felt like a long two hours.
But then Kadrey spoke, and Yebisu got to ask him a question, and that was great! And the room was filling up by this point, and that was good...
...except we had to sit through a presentation about Marvel Mini-mates before the Adventure Time panel, and that got really boring in a hurry. Mini-mates are cute, but I'm not a collector, and there are so many of these damn things I can look at before I get tired of them. The presenter obviously was trying hard, and joked about most of us being there for Adventure Time, and asked if we were willing to buy Adventure Time Mini-mates, which I guess I'd be willing to, fine, whatever.
But finally that nonsense was over, and then it was the Adventure Time Encyclopedia panel and it was GLORIOUS and FUNNY and AWESOME and everything I'd been hoping for. Two of the voice actors, Martin Olson and Olivia Olson (Hunsen Abbadeer and Marceline), had collaborated on large parts of the book, in consultation with Pendleton Ward and the writers of the show, and what I saw of the book looked really fun and amazing. Tom Kenny (the Ice King) was also there, and he did a dramatic reading from the book in character. (If you go to my Flickr link at the bottom of this entry, I got some of it on video.) Then there was Q&A time, and it was fabulous, too:
Small Child: Can there please be an episode soon where Finn and Jake fight an army of killer robots?
Pendleton Ward: Hhmmm.... (long pause)... Maybe. I like that.
And:
Mother with a video camera: I'm here on behalf of my seven-year-old son, who hates lines.
(Pause for laughter and applause) Mr. Olson, it would make his day if you could sing the song about killing ants.
Martin Olson: Well, I don't see why not. (Sings) Stomping on the ants, scooping up their souls, stomping on some ants and scooping up their souls!
But best of all, a parent got up and thanked the entire cast and crew for, "making a show that I can watch with my kids and we're able to talk about on a daily basis." He also thanked them for the recent, hard-to-watch serious episodes, and that provoked a lot of applause, too. It was so cool to see everything I love about the show in one place. :) So the entire wait and boring stuff that came before was well worth it!
As Sunday morning rolled around, Yebisu was determined to attend more panels, and I spent the morning wandering the floor trying to do all the things I'd not gotten to. I was able to buy some teeny, adorable prints from Katie Cook, who looked exhausted. I tried to compliment her work and be encouraging without sounding like a crazy person/stalker, and I think I largely succeeded. I then made the cardinal mistake of buying two awesome, heavy books, only to realize that I'd have to carry them for the rest of the day. (No regrets, though, because they are AWESOME books!) I hung out with A. for a while, and we people-watched quite a bit; Yebisu joined us and then set off again, and A. went for a Pinkberry, and by that point, the event horizon of "too much" loomed high for both of us. We left a little early, but that was for the best; I've never tried to leave much later than 3:30 for fear of the trolleys being completely and utterly filled.
Then we got home and our feet ached and complained, but it was all tolerably awesome and great. Another year, another Comic Con! XD
General Thoughts:
~ The fundamentalists were more vocal and more... uhm, personal, this year, for lack of a better word. Last year, they just yelled about Jesus, but this year, their attacks were more Comic Con-specific, like the guy with a megaphone who shouted at all and sundry, "Don't let your souls be enslaved by comics!" (It took some willpower not to shout back, "Too late!") There were counter-protests, of course, and those looked unpleasant to referee. I tried to thank as many of the law enforcement people as I could when they weren't working or concentrating on other things; one of the transit security police officers looked surprised when I did, and confessed that he really wished he could go to the Con himself. (He wanted to meet Stan Lee for real, not just pay for an autograph.) As usual, even in the hoards of people, I never felt unsafe or afraid for my physical well-being once, and I think the SDPD is responsible in a large part for that.
~ For some reason, the crash after this Con was especially hard this year. The real world, as much as I love it, doesn't seem quite as interesting for the first few days afterwards, and today was no exception, with mundane chores and problems looming large.
~ There was a lot of zombie stuff--costumes, toys, images, etc.. It was not fun for me. I wish this trend would run its damned course.
~ There were times when the Exhibit Hall didn't seem as crowded as usual, and I couldn't figure out if it was actually truly empty, or I had just gotten really, really good at making my way through the knots of people. It is a lot easier when it's just me, and I tend to stay out of the central scrum of the big companies and their lines, but I could have sworn there were times when there were swathes of empty space, and that's an oddity.
~ The overall theme of this year's Con ended up being something along the lines of, "Crazy Contradictions!" It was personified best in the juxtaposition of the Christian Comic Arts Association booth next to the Killer Zombie Bunnies booth in the Small Press area. Comic Con often leaves me with the aftertaste of sweet and sour. On one hand, there's a pure interest in comics and reading that makes my heart sing, but on the other, there's a crass commercialism that manifests itself in the crazy-long lines for the exclusive toys and vinyl collectibles that makes me alternately groan and grumble. Comic Con is the only place where I can wear my Kate Beaton t-shirt and people not only compliment me on it, but also want one themselves. Comic Con is also the place where my phobia is everywhere, all the time, and I have to make compromises with myself to get past it, but it's also the place where many, many people I admire (both real and fictional) are front and center, and I can draw on their words and examples to give me strength. There's beautiful art, and there's the cheesiest of cheesecake, side by side; in fact, there are Charles Dickens-esque contrasts every two feet or so. It's sublime and ridiculous, and I love almost all of it, even as I realize that what I love is what some other attendees hate. But that's the beauty of multiple fandoms, and when they're all present and not in conflict, it's just completely awesome.
Pictures are here, updated with Saturday stuff. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera on Sunday, so no extra photos. Still, lots of good ones, though. :)