The Nice Guy - Photos - Comic-Con International 2005

Comic-Con International 2005

July 13 - July 18, 2005

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	Check it OUT, yo! It's Comic-Con time in San Diego!
	And here's me and our pal A.T. chillin' at our buddy Russ's house on Wednesday after our arrival.
	And our pal Aaron had flown in from Seattle to spend the trip with the boys as well, so here's A.T. and him kicking it.
	Yeah, we could get down to the Convention Center and pick up our badges. Or Aaron and Russ could just keep on playing X-Box. Whichever works. They'll never join YOU, Dooku!
	People get lined up outside the Convention Center.
	And the crowds move inside.
	And they all start heading to the lines they need to get into. I wonder what line WE need to get into?
	Oh, THAT's right. The PRO line, baby! Represent!
	Here's a shot of me and former roommate Aaron all badged up after registration.
	And one of me and our host, Mr. Russ. Welcome to fantastically nerdy island! Wait, that makes me Herve. That's not funny...
	Back at Tony's place, we had to break the news to his dog Angel that I'd been invited to stay there without her being consulted. You could cut the tension with a knife...
	And then came Thursday, and the Comic-Con could officially begin! Yeah!
	And your trusty Nice Guy writer Michael O'Connell was all ready to go with Nice Guy flyers for the occasion. Always Be Closing!
	The action figure you never thought you'd see. Stormtrooper Elvis.
	In case you were never sure if Pikachu was male or female? You can come to Comic-Con and check it out for yourself.
	So, apparently there's no Stairmaster at the Fortress of Solitude...
	Return of the Jack-i.
	Here's your father's Batman Family.
	And here's your son's Batman family. You don't actually HAVE your own Batman Family, do you?
	And here's Raven from the Teen Titans. That chick's just mad 'cause goth music sucks...
	Amongst the booths at Comic-Con, here's one for Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Animation.
	Shoppers seek out booty at the Silver Age Pavilion.
	But smart shoppers know where to go for the REAL deal. To the A-1 Comics booth to see owner (and Nice Guy backer) Brian Peets! Yeah, Brian dragged the goods, and the family, down to San Diego once again for a nice working vacation.
	Is it a good or bad endorsement when people find out Brian's selling comics to the Unabomber?
	You think I'm joking? Look at the evidence and see if you're laughing THEN, pal.
	A.T. and I take in our one panel for Thursday, and amazing hour hosted by comic form guru, author Scott McCloud!
	A.T. and Mike showing the colors upstairs at the Convention Center under the San Diego sun.
	Inspired by the Scott McCloud panel, Mike and A.T. reflect creatively and let the muse embrace them.
	A.T. does some drawing amongst the palm trees. Which would be serene and quiet if not for the S.C.A. guys having a sword fight about a hundred feet away...
	A peek at the upper deck of the Convention Center, and the Marriott hotel in the background.
	A view of the Coronado Bridge and the San Diego waterfront, as viewed from the Convention Center.
	Oh, come ON. Take a closer look at the ship. These Californians, man. They're not even trying to HIDE what they're hauling!
	Members of Team Nice Guy unite! A.T., Tony, Russ, Mike and Aaron chillin' between Con events.
	Former roommates Aaron, A.T. and Mike.
	Aaron and A.T. making the scene.
	Rat Pack contemporaries Tony, Russ, Aaron and A.T. It's all bells and whistles ta me, baby.
	While Aaron puzzles over the mysterious "I love you" text message on his cell, Tony smiles quietly, bides his time, and holds on to his dream.
	Russ and A.T. soaking up some San Diego rays.
	That look from Tony and Russ that says "We make more money than all of you put together"...
	Tony briefly collapses from Con overload, but is soon revived and begins stalking Bruce Campbell again.
	Looking for new Nice Guy fans wherever he can find them, Mike passes a Nice Guy card to one of the helpful red-shirted security guards at the Con. Of course, the new fan was quickly killed by a lava creature, but it's the thought that counts.
	Surprise Con guest #1! My old San Diego pal and co-worker and pal J.D. showed up to hang. Here we are posing with the Man of Steel.
	Hail to the Nice Guy, baby! This is as close as I got to being near the real Bruce Campbell.
	J.D., too, poses with the man, hoping to get a part in the upcoming Army of Dorkness.
	Did I mention that in his spare time, J.D. is the Devil?
	And surprise guest #2! Another former insurance comrade and friend Rebecca braved the Mecca of Geekdom to hang out. Here we are hanging at nearby Seaport Village.
	Still at Seaport Village, we pose in front of the Marriott Hotel.
	And here we're spending some quality time with Lego Chewbacca. He's first mate on the Millennium Falcon, in case you didn't know.A
	Rebecca, really. Not just posing with R2-D2, but a LEGO R2-D2? Nerd! I'm speechless. Really.
	Did I mention that to be in the insurance business you have to swear allegiance to the Dark Lord of the Sith?
	Here we're enjoying a couple of pints at the Elephant and Castle, our favorite pub in San Diego.
	And we even managed to find some fireworks over the waterfront at the end of the night. Cool!
	Friday began, and that meant time for some SERIOUS panel action. Here some of us stepped into the Top Cow presentation. For a good reason.
	Because SETH GREEN was there, baby! Seth co-created a new comic called "Freshmen" with writer Hugh Sterbakov.
	Here are a couple of the characters from "Freshmen"...The Squirrel and The Quaker.
	Seth and Hugh answer questions about their new book.
	Seth wonders which one of these 10 lovely ladies will make Seth Green "da man". Okay, 9. 9 lovely ladies...
	Another of the "Freshmen" characters, The Seductress.
	Check it out! It's fellow Sacramento comic creator Dan Cooney, creator of "Valentine", at his Red-Eye Press booth. Hey, watch the hand, Dan!
	Dan poses with his product. Lotsa Valentine goodies available, kids!
	A behind the scenes look at the Dan Cooney photo shoot. Aaron's hanging out, too, as Aaron and Dan used to be co-workers a number of years back.
	Dan and Mike pose for a shot, but Mike dozes off waiting for the shot to get set up.
	Mike finally wakes up, but sadly, Dan seems to have eaten something distasteful during Mike's nap.
	And it's time for one of the bigger panels of the week...Sci Fi's Battlestar Galactica panel!
	Tony, Russ and Aaron wait for the Galactic festivities to begin.
	Let's get on with some Galactica stars! First up at the panel is James Callis, who plays the perhaps confused but definitely happy Dr. Gaius Baltar.
	Sorry, it's not Richard Hatch, but doing a fine job at filling the shoes of Apollo is actor Jamie Bamber.
	Egging on her enthusiastic (read: horny) fans is Grace Park, who plays the conflicted yet HOT Boomer.
	Here's a shot of the panel, moderated by TV Guide senior editor Michael Davis. Next to him is Tamhoh Pentikett, who plays Cylon-Occupied Caprica's (tm) favorite tourist, Helo. And the then Grace, and Jamie, and President Roslin herself, Mary McDonnell (still sexy), and executive producers Ron Moore and David Eick. And the nice security lady who let me get close enough for this photo.
	Another cast shot, but this time Jamie seems to have come out from under the table.
	And a little better closeup so I can stare at Grace. Ahhhhh.
	Sadly, from this shot, it appears that his months on Caprica have left Helo with a slight case of brain damage...
	Mary McDonnell. Hail to the Chief. Her Indian name is Sits With a Mic.
	Jamie surprises us all by turning out to be British. Who knew? Well, probably most of the fans but us.
	Apollo and Baltar answer some fan questions.
	Finally showing up for the last 10 minutes or so of the panel, Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck) makes the scene.
	Katee answers as many questions as she can in her short time with the others. Is it true that sometimes a fumarillo is just a fumarillo?
	And here's kind of what it would have looked like if you were sitting at the panel yourself.
	Hey, let's hop to another panel! Most Angel fans know that David Boreanaz has a new show called "Bones" on Fox this fall. We caught the pilot and hung out to hear David rap with co-star (actually, she's the star, HE'S the co-star) Emily Deschanel.
	EEmily and David talk about the show, and David has to sit through a bunch of Buffy/Angel questions to boot. Like he didn't know that was going to happen.
	A crowd's-eye view of the "Bones" panel. You know, nothing says "sex machine" like a "V for Vendetta" mask. Ask any lady.
	At the end of Friday, A.T. and Aaron hook up with a couple of other old pals of ours, Jeff and K.C.
	K.C. and Aaron hanging out. Can't tell from the shirt that K.C. flew in from Chicago, can ya?
	Moving on to Saturday, we get a look at downtown San Diego.
	And here's the panel from ABC showing creator Shaun Cassidy (he's now a Hardy Man)'s new show "Invasion". Here's Shaun with one of the young stars of the show, Ariel Gade, and director Thomas Schlamme
	Here's a wider shot of creator/writer Shaun Cassidy addressing the crowd.
	Shaun and the Invasioners keep rapping the fans about the new (really cool looking, FYI) show, which will join the already monstrous ABC Wednesday night schedule
	Had to get a close-up of Shaun for my sister. She was a fan.
	Speaking of ABC... Want to have a popular panel? Try dragging out the team behind LOST, baby!
	Actress Maggie Grace, who plays "Shannon" on the ass-kicking show, "graces" the big screen at the panel.
	Gonna feel bad about this, because I can't remember which name goes with which face in the writer/producers arena, but here on the panel, in some order, are co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof, executive producer Carlton Cruse, and writer Javier Grillo-Marxauch. Along with Maggie and (back, ladies, back!) Josh Holloway, who plays bad boy Sawyer on the show.
	Maggie talks about being on the show, while back in Sacramento, my friend Kevin involuntarily begins to drool.
	Yeah, yeah, Lost is badass. But it ain't a Comic-Con without a panel from the cast of the now-in-its-9TH-season Stargate SG:1 (woo hoo!). Here new cast addition Ben Browder hits the stage (next to exec producers Brad Wright and Robert Cooper) and gets a pic of the applauding fans.
	And they're soon joined by other cast members--other newbie Beau Bridges (woo hoo!), Chris Judge (indeed) and Amanda Tapping (mmmm).
	The cast raps about the new season. And Amanda spots me and smiles, because, though I don't like to brag, I am the bright star in her universe.
	A bit of the crowd view of the thing.
	Ben, Beau and Chris do some cutting up.
	Then Ben and Chris do some rubbing on Beau. It's a close cast, what can I tell you?
	Beau Bridges, aka General Hank Landry. Saaaalute!
	Jason Momoa, a new cast member on Stargate: Atlantis, comes out briefly to duel with Chris Judge.
	Beau and Chris handle some fan questions.
	This is me. And this is Amanda Tapping. Weeeeere married.
	Amanda gripes about Chris's on-set antics.
	Amanda asks the crowd if anyone's read the comic her husband writes called "The Nice Guy".
	Chris and Amanda having some fun. I believe this was right after Chris licked her. Like I said...tight cast. Could be worse. He could have been licking MacGyver...
	Another full shot of the whole SG:1 panel.
	Fans want to see under Chris's hat and make sure he still has hair. Ben is trying to help the crowd out.
	Chris proves that, yes, Teal'c still has hair.
	And a final look at the SG:1 panel, flanked by their red-shirted Jaffa warrior guard. Disguised as a nearsighted white guy.
	And then we had downstairs to the BIG panel room (Hall H) for a standing-room-only hour with Director Kevin Smith.
	Here Kevin addresses the fans and discusses how he would have remade The Passion. It involved a couple of ninjas. We'll leave it at that.
	And Kevin squeezed a special guest in at the end. He brought out the writer/director of "Donnie Darko", Richard Kelly, to talk about his upcoming film "Southland Tales".
	The folks behind the new horror film "Slither" had a panel after...and included among them was actor Michael Rooker (you've seen him in lots of stuff).
	But the cast member that REALLY made it happen for us Browncoats out there was Nathan Fillion...Captain Mal Reynolds of Firefly/Serenity himself!
	All right, enough with the tease! The panel we ALL came from started right after...the Serenity panel! In case you missed out, I'll sum up: Firefly, amazing TV show, Fox cancelled it, we all hated Fox, creator Joss Whedon somehow talked Universal into giving him millions of dollars to make the big screen continuation called "Serenity", we all now want to make out with Universal. And here's the entrance of the man himself, Joss "The Boss" Whedon!
	Just getting through his standing "O" and speaking to his ravenous fanatical fans (you can't take the sky from us. Seriously).
	Is it just me, or is this shot kind of disturbing on an Orwellian level?
	The Serenity cast begins to get introduced by Joss. In comes Morena Baccarin ("Inara"), who also happens to be one of the most beautiful women on Earth, thank you.
	Joss and Morena great Sean Maher, who plays Doctor Simon Tam.
	Give it up for veteran actor Ron Glass ("Shepherd Book"), ladies and gentlemen!
	Oh captain, my captain. Nathan Fillion ("Captain Mal Reynolds") returns to the stage and eggs the crowd on.
	Summer Glau ("River Tam") has joined the fray, as has Gina Torres ("Zoe"), whom Nathan is pulling the chair out for.
	Adam Baldwin ("Jayne") comes out but prefers to let his action figure accept the applause for him.
	Joss and the cast begin to address the crowd. However, the crowd notices before Joss that Joss went and forgot to introduce someone. That's what happens when you have nine main characters.
	Joss takes to his knees in apology as he finally introduces...
	The one and only Jewel Staite ("Kaylee"), whom, thankfully, my wife Amanda Tapping lets me keep as a girlfriend on the side. It's all very friendly.
	A fan asks a question of the Big Damn Cast.
	Joss, Ron, Morena, Jewel and Sean taking some questions.
	Another shot of the Big Damn Cast answering some Big Damn Questions.
	I think this is the one where Nathan was offering his services to Joss in the lead of the upcoming Wonder Woman movie.
	More cast antics. Nice shot of Adam and his action figure. Oh, and Nathan's got his up there, too.
	More of the cast. I forgot to mention....there is one missing. Alan Tudyk (the pilot, "Wash") was unable to attend the Con, which was a bummer. Now I'm wondering how they all flew into San Diego without their pilot?
	Come on, you KNOW you want more cast shots. Is it just me, or is Nathan looking like he's thinking that Adam Baldwin is just dreamy?
	Summer and Adam up on the big screen talking at the fans.
	And same with Adam and the lovely Gina Torres.
	Don't recall what Adam was demanding there but he looks serious about it. Some Mudder's Milk, mayhap?
	Nathan cracking Gina, and everyone else, up. No big surprise there.
	Nathan takes a moment to address the fans more directly.
	More rapping with the fans. I'm getting the feeling Nathan always wanted to be Dr. Johnny Fever.
	Nathan makes Gina laugh some more.
	Joss Whedon is my master now.
	Little Adam, Gina and Nathan next to big Adam, Gina and Nathan. Nice composition, don't you think?
	Jayne and Zoe addressing the media.
	Until Nathan busts them up again.
	It's Joss, Ron and Morena. See? Says so right on their name cards.
	The Tam siblings, Simon and River.
	And now...your moment of zen. Jewel Staite. Ahhh.
	Gonna need another moment.
	Morena and Jewel laughing about something.
	More Morena and Jewel. That's just what the world needs, actually. More Morena and Jewel.
	And here's Ron and Morena. The preacher and the hooker. Sorry. Companion.
	Listen to Joss. Joss knows all. Joss is wise.
	I thought the camera only added 10 pounds. Look like it adds about 30 feet, too.
	A look at the cast up on the big screen (you can see them on the big screen again on September 30th, you know...).
	Soon to be the biggest stars in the 'Verse.
	A shot from my actual seat (once I stopped rolling around taking pics and getting sent away by security). We didn't do too bad. You ought to see how many people were behind us.
	Adam telling the fans how much we're all appreciated. It's mutual, big guy.
	The cast has a laugh.
	Jewel and Sean. Back off, dandy! She's mine!
	And, in closing, a shot of Gina (meow) and Nathan.
	Check it out! Actual Nice Guy fans! Jessica and Suzi spotted me roaming the convention center and came up and said hi, so we had to get a pic. They're both Browncoats as well. Jessica's decked out in her Zoe costume. Suzi actually got to be an extra in the Serenity film. How cool! Look for her in her blue wig when you see it.
	A couple more old friends showed up on Saturday night to say hi. Kaye and Ben pose here with K.C., Jeff, Aaron and me.
	Hey, Mom, Aaron's on 91X! Here's Aaron co-hosting his hour of music on 91X's "Resurrection Sunday" on Sunday morning. Afterwards, Aaron was killed by "video". Was that joke too 1982?
	Sunday morning, last day of the Con. Sundays are officially "kids day" at the Con, so you see some kids in line here.
	You're familiar with biker bars? This is what a wheelchair bar would look like, if they had them.
	K.C. and A.T. enjoy the last day of the Con...and the fact that there are only two letters in each of their names. You know you can spell "T.A.C.K." if you put them together and run it backwards? Weird!
	The upper level registration are is starting to thin out by Sunday, since not a lot of people are registering at that point...
	In a nice peaceful spot outside the upper floor, K.C., Aaron and Russ relax and reflect.
	The boys from Chicago, Seattle and San Diego talk a spell.
	Mike and K.C. enjoy the Sunday afternoon San Diego weather.
	Throwing caution to the wind, we decide to store Russ within 10 feet of that door.
	Let's take a last look at San Diego. Can you SEE why I lived there so long?
	Another look at the beautiful San Diego waterfront.
	And another look at the Marriott and the convention center roof that makes it look like they filmed Logan's Run there.
	Winding down with Aaron, Russ, Tony, Tony's daughter Emily, K.C. and A.T. (who's armed with Nice Guy flyers for last minute marketing).
	Tony, Emily and A.T. relaxing.
	Emily shows off some of her purchases to A.T. and K.C.
	And A.T. starring as...the Blue Beetle! Coming soon.
	Last-minute shoppers wander as we take off from the Con.
	And the crowds begin to leave after four fun-filled days of spending, paneling, and Klingon lifestyle seminars.
	Know what? Just going to let you make up your own caption for this one.
	Back at Russ's for the post-Con bbq, Anna relaxes amongst all the nerds.
	K.C., Russ and Aaron take care of the meal prep.
	Hello, chief? Yeah, it's A.T. Hold the front page! I'm tailing a whopper of a story! A show-stopper? Boy, and how!
	Mike and Tony enjoying some bbq lounging.
	Russ's dogs, Wile E. and Anna, accept their master's command.
	Always obedient, they seemingly do his bidding.
	However, Angel comes by and whispers to Anna not to fret, that the word will be given soon and the Day of the Dog will dawn on all mankind. Await the signal, sister.
	Humans Russ and Tony laugh carelessly away, unaware that the revolution is closer than anyone dare imagine.
	Tony thinks for a moment that he saw Angel wink at Anna, but quickly puts the foolish idea aside. Anna merely waits.
	The bbq fun winds down as Tony, Aaron, A.T. and K.C. enjoy the last of the vacation.
	Wile E.
	And how does A.T. spend his last day in San Diego? Playing City of Heroes at Russ's, baby!
	A.T., Mike and Russ enjoy some last patio time on Monday before the Sacramento boys hop on their plane and leave paradise behind. Until next year, that is...