The Rant Shack

(Wherein We Rant)

Mike Says:

(08/01/05)

COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL 2005 REPORT!

I am BACK from San Diego, and another amazing summer trip down to Comic-Con International. Didn't get to get this report to you last time, as I'd just gotten back from the trip the day before. But here, now, is all the stuff that happened to me on my San Diego adventure (unfortunately sans Tim this year). And if you want to see all the pics (there's a LOT), head on over to the Photos page to browse all ya please.

WEDNESDAY - JULY 13th

Comic-Con time again! Woo hoo! Best week of the year for me, both when I was actually living in San Diego (sorry, just have something in my eye) and now that I get to show up in S.D. as a tourist. Been looking forward to this all year.

Unfortunately, as previously stated, no Nice Guy table this year. Mainly a financial consideration. Tim and I felt it was better to put the cash in production at this time instead of marketing and come back strong next year. And Tim, for various reasons, wasn’t able to swing the trip this year. So it was me going solo this time. Well…almost solo!

Me and A.T. on the day of our arrival in San Diego

Turns out I talked our pal A.T. into going along with me. Not only have A.T. and I been friends for almost 20 years, and were even roommates for a while, but we’re also co-workers at the same insurance company now. Didn’t have to convince him too heavy that a vacation from car wrecks would be good for the soul. Plus A.T. is a hugely talented artist and burgeoning writer himself, and I figured being around such a tremendously creative place would be good for recharging his artistic batteries (as well as mine). So a while back, we grabbed the flights, arranged accommodations, and now, after all the wait, it was time to head south!

And we’re both so scatter-brained that we had pleasant surprise. We got the flights and took the vacations days a long time back, so for some reason we got it in our heads that we were working Wednesday and leaving on a plane Wednesday night. Just a handful of days before the trip, we got reminded that we were, in fact, flying out Wednesday morning. Not often you suddenly find out you have an extra day of vacation. So we were pretty happy about it.

So we arranged an airport shuttle, he crashed at my place Tuesday night. Naturally we were up until like 2:30 am. But the next morning, we and our baggage were up and ready to go, and we caught that shuttle to Sac International to hop a plane to San Diego, baby. Woo! At the airport and on the plane, we got to play my favorite old Con game: “Spot the Connie”. This is where you look around the gate and the people around you on the plane and try to pick out which ones are flying there for the Con. It was too easy this year. The guy in the Mighty Mouse tee shirt. The girl in the Superman belly shirt. Come on, challenge us a little! But apparently we weren’t looking THAT closely, because it wasn’t until our flight landed that we ran into fellow Sac comic creator Chris Wisnia and his wife, who were on the same flight with us. Oops! Always good to see Chris again (you might know his work in “Tabloia” and “Ojo”). We chatted a little as we deplaned, and I told him I’d drop by his table at the Con. Which never ended up happening. It was that kind of Con.

Downtown San Diego. Accept no substitutes

So our pal Russ picked us up at the airport and bitched about the amount of luggage we had (Russ prides himself on being able to pack three weeks worth of things into one backpack) and we headed for his place. A.T. would be staying there, along with our pal (and my former roommate) Aaron, who had flown in from Seattle the day before. We got to Russ’s house, hooked up with Aaron, and got to chill and enjoy the San Diego afternoon for a while on Russ’s back porch, smoke some stogies, have a couple of beers, and laugh at the incompetent golfers on the course behind Russ’s house.

Our buddy Tony showed up soon and joined us. Tony would be putting me up for the week at his new house. Up until this year (excepting the years when I actually lived in town) I had to go the hotel route, because I was unable to stay at Russ’s house due to his lack of a downstairs shower (and the joke, of course, goes “You’re going to be at a comic convention all week. Why do you need to shower?”). Tony had just moved into a new house nearby with both a downstairs shower and a spare room sans stairs, so he and his wife graciously offered me a place to crash rent-free. Score!

When evening came, we all loaded up into one car (and quickly decided we weren’t going to do that again for the rest of the week. My friends are not short) and headed downtown for pre-reg for the Con. On Wednesday, see, all the people who pre-registered get to line up and get their badges early, so they don’t have to deal with it Thursday morning when the Con starts. Plus, there’s the recent thing called “Preview Night” where they open up the floor on Wednesday night and pre-regers get to look around before anyone else. I don’t see the appeal, if you’re there for all four days that is. You’ve got four days! Why do you need an extra night to look around? Just seems like a waste to me. But then, last year, our Nice Guy table did make some sales on Preview Night, so I guess I shouldn’t bitch.

Me and Russ get badged up at registration

A.T. and I did NOT pre-reg. Very smart. I just figured, as I was showing up as an “Attending Professional”, it would be just as fast to just grab a badge on Wednesday night (professionals get to buy badges on Wednesday. Regular Con folks, if they didn’t pre-reg, have to get in the eight-hour long line Thursday morning to get a badge). I mean, usually, the line’s much faster for pros. Um…not this time? We found a line that was about an hour-and-a-half in length. Oops. The other guys were going to be able to just run upstairs and pick up their already paid-for badges. We didn’t want to make them wait all that time for us. We considered waiting until the next morning, but decided to get in line anyway and see what happened. As it turns out, what happened is that one of the volunteer people running the line realized it was going to be complicated getting me upstairs (apparently the last part of the line makes you go upstairs) and decided to just hook us up and take us up to the front. Sweet. We got set up with this woman to register us, a very nice woman who started talking about all her volunteer work with cancer research, etc. And we got our badges toot sweet. And then, confused, I asked where we needed to go to pay for our badges (pro badges used to be free, but I guess there got to be too many pros, so they started charging $25 per pro plus $25 for the extra “guest” badge each pro gets, which is the badge we were getting for A.T.). Apparently she’d decided that we didn’t have to pay. Um…okay. Not going to complain. That’s $50 more in shopping money. Awesome. So, as it turns out, we inadvertently had the wheelchair thing work to our advantage, both in avoiding the line and avoiding paying. Score!

We headed right back to Russ’s, ordered up some pizza, and hung out and caught up for a while. But we didn’t do it TOO late. Early morning the next day, first day of Con and all. Tony and I headed to his place, where his wife, Wendy, was waiting, and they finished clearing out Tony’s downstairs office and putting my fold-out bed in there. Pretty sweet deal…the office has its own attached bathroom. That’s about par for the course for Tony’s house, a gorgeous six-bedroom place in Poway with one of the most amazing views off the back. I got my laptop hooked up into his network, got unpacked, and got myself to sleep.

THURSDAY - JULY 14th

Con time!!!

Tony and I got ourselves together and waited for the other guys to drive over and hook up with us, as we now knew we needed two cars for our travels. We loaded up (which for me included packing up a stack of Nice Guy flyers to put on the Freebie Table at the Con…hey, you don’t need a Nice Guy table to work some free Nice Guy marketing!). And then came the fun of parking downtown. Did I mention that like 100,000 people show up for this thing? Downtown gets totally overrun. A fact not made any easier by there being some Padres home games during the Con, and that the stadium is right by the convention center. We didn’t do too bad, as we realized in advance it was a waste of time to try and park close, so we found a garage that was still walking distance.

Aren't you a little rockin' to be a stormtrooper, man? Hoo-hah!

Ah, Comic-Con. Bigger than ever. Damn. They now use the entire Convention Center, which, if you don’t know that convention center, is a LOT of space. The whole lower floor was covered in tables and booths and pavilions, with video screens and flashing lights and colorful banners and booth babes in low-cut outfits. The single most bizarre marketplace you’ll ever see. You walk in, and you honestly get overwhelmed. It’s really hard to decide where to start first! Luckily, I had an edge over most there, because I’m a vet of the event. They may move stuff around a little, but I know the general layout, and what stuff’s going to be where, and what stuff interests me and what doesn’t.

And not only did this year bring the bigass floor, but a huge array of panels to choose from. As I said last year, this event is the best-kept secret in entertainment. The average person just doesn’t realize they can pay $25 for a badge for a day, and come in and spend an hour with Charlize Theron, Kevin Smith, Natalie Portman, Bryan Singer, John Landis, Jack Black, and a host of others. Not to mention casts of many popular and upcoming TV shows (I think a few more people would show if they realized the cast of “Lost” was just going to hanging out there). This year, I planned to take full advantage of the panel thing, as I really didn’t get to do much last year because Tim and I were stuck behind our Nice Guy table doing our pitch thing (only saw two panels last year).

Con Boys A.T., Tony, Russ, Aaron and Mike

But before that, it was time to grow our comrade circle. Our friends Jeff and K.C. were in town as well, and we hadn’t gotten to see them yet since K.C. flew in late the night before. Jeff flew in from Iowa, K.C. from Chicago, and they were rooming together at the Hyatt a few blocks down. So we got to catch up with them a little. And then we all roamed a little. And then, as usually happens, everyone starts thinking about lunch pretty fast. So Aaron, K.C., Jeff and I headed down to Dick’s Last Resort for some grubbin’, a stop I always like to make when I’m in San Diego. But then I had to head back to hook up with A.T. for the Scott McCloud panel. If you don’t know Scott McCloud, then you don’t know comics, beeyatch! Scott is the sort of guru of the comic form, author of such AMAZING books on the medium as “Understanding Comics” and “Reinventing Comics”, both exploring the form and possibilities of sequential storytelling. He’s actually one of the main reasons this web site exists. It was while I was at one of his panels where he was talking about online comics that I first realized I wanted to get on the web comic bandwagon, and that this would be a perfect place to start The Nice Guy. His hour of panel was both manic and amazing, with him talking a mile a minute while his slideshow ran along on the big screen. I knew A.T. needed to hear this guy. He’s completely inspiring. We were both creatively jazzed after it was over, so it was a good thing that we got into the Bruce Campbell line and the place filled up before we could get in (Russ and Tony made it in). I wasn’t too broken up about it, as I’ve seen Bruce speak before (went to a preview of Bubba Ho-Tep in San Diego that he showed up at), and A.T. and I were in a creative groove anyway. So we headed upstairs and hung out under the sun and talked comics and storytelling, while he got out his sketchpad and started drawing.

Ash and I WILL get medieval on your ass...

The other guys joined us after a bit, and things were starting to wind down at this point (most of the big panel stuff happens on Friday and Saturday). But I was expecting a possible visit from my old pal and co-worker J.D. He had planned on coming down to see me, and I got a call through to him that confirmed he was coming. He’d bought a badge online and everything. But he wouldn’t be able to make it until after work, so, sadly, he couldn’t get to see a lot of the Con for his money. But he agreed to give me a lift back up to Russ’s later in the evening, so I stayed at the Con while the other guys called it a day. J.D. did show, and surprised the hell out of me with a special guest. I hadn’t bothered letting my friend Rebecca know I was in town because I thought she was in Europe that week. Turns out I’d gotten my dates mixed up. As they both work at the same company, he let her know that I was there and he was heading down to see me, so she blew off a family thing and headed down, too, and bought a badge on sight. Was fantastic seeing both of them. I gave them the lightning tour of the Con floor (they got there about 5:30 and the floor closes at 7:00), even introduced them to Dan “the Man” Cooney (you know, the man behind “Valentine”? Of course you know, if you read the Nice Guy site regular! Another Sac creator) at his table. We saw some sights, took some pics, then headed out at closing and walked around Seaport Village for a while. Then it turns out Rebecca and I have the same favorite downtown restaurant—the “Elephant and Castle”, the pub downstairs at the Holiday Inn on the Bay where Tim and I stayed last year—so we went over there for dinner and drinks. And got treated to a free fireworks show over the water to boot. Great night! The only problem was that I got a ride from J.D. and managed to leave my MP3.com bag in his car…which not only had Con stuff in it, but my heart pills as well. Hung out at Russ’s for a while with the guys, then Tony and I booked home again.

Mike and Rebecca, two people who know from experience that American Guinness is NOT the same as the Guinness you get in Dublin! But it's still better than the other swill that passes for "beer" in this country, so, what the heck...

FRIDAY - JULY 15th

Had to start Friday was a stop by my old company, as I had J.D. bring my bag to work with him. We swung by and he ran it out to me, and it was off for more parking fun. Now Saturday’s the REALLY big day at the Con. But with all the people this year, Friday actually looked like last year’s Saturday. NIGHTmare! People everywhere! It’s a good thing I don’t have claustrophobia problems, because when you’re sitting down and rolling around with thousands and thousands of people swarming all around you? It’s a pretty interesting experience. But, hey, one I’m used to.

A-1 Comics owner Brian Peets wheelin' and dealin' at his booth

Oh, and I had to drop in, as always, and say hi to Brian Peets at the A-1 Comics booth. Brian and his family make it down every year to the event and do some hearty sales. How he puts up with Con shoppers for four days I have no idea. When I was talking to him, some guy was yanking stacks of comics out of boxes to look at and putting them back in the wrong order.

Our first panel stop was to the Top Cow presentation. Had to go to this new comic presentation, because the comic, “Freshmen”, was co-created by SETH GREEN, baby! I’m just a freak Seth Green fan. You may know him best as Scott Evil from the Austin Powers movies. Me, I used to know him best as Oz on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Then I got to think of him more as Kenny Fisher from “Can’t Hardly Wait” (“That’s a Fragrance of Love scented candle, bitch!”). But now, he’s definitely more the creator of Adult Swim’s “Robot Chicken”, one of the funniest things to hit TV in years. So it was a chance to hear Seth rap, so we went. Very cool. And a very fun idea for a comic. Read about it at:

http://www.topcow.com./comics/62/current

Seth Green pimping his new co-created comic, "Freshmen".

Then, between panels, had to hook up with Aaron and head back over to Dan Cooney’s table, as Dan and Aaron used to be co-workers back when Aaron and I were rooming together in Sac in the mid- to late-90s. Got to hang out and rap with him for a while and get some pics. And started getting many ideas from his table for OUR table next year. That man knows how to PRESENT, yo!

Dan Cooney, creator of "Valentine", at his booth. WORKIN' it!

Back to panels! And to one of the biggest ones of the Con. Battlestar Galactica. In case you’ve been missing out, some critics are calling it the best show on television. The new one, not the old one, mind you. The new series on Sci Fi kicks SUCH monkey ass. One of the best-written, best-acted, most dramatic shows on the tube…and yeah, it’s Galactica! If you’re not catching it, you need to start. As my boys and I are big fans, we just had to make this one. Along with thousands of others. Huge draw. Cast members that showed up for the thing were Tahmoh Penikett (“Helo”), Grace Park (“Boomer”…meow…), Jamie Bamber (“Apollo”…I didn’t know he was British…), James Callis (“Baltar”), Mary McDonnell (“President Roslin”), and, eventually, Katee Sackhoff (“Starbuck”). She was late and only showed up for the last few minutes. I was hoping to see her again because she and I shared a moment two Cons ago, when they were first debuting the show. Our eyes met, she smiled at me….it was meaningful. I’m SURE she’d remember me, and those old fires would kindle again, but I didn’t get to get close enough to her. Maybe next year. But I got plenty of flaming hetero love just having Grace Park and Mary McDonnell on stage. Grace is just HOT, period (and did a great bit where she started answering her questions, deadpan, as a Cylon, talking about how we (humans) should be grateful…they could have killed all of us, but they need to leave some of us alive to serve them). And I’ve been in love with Mary for years. She’s just got this classy sexy thing going that really does it for me. And the ladies in the crowd got to get their happies, too, as they were quite pleased to see Helo, Apollo and Baltar speak up on the big video screen (those guys do not want for dates, I’m sure). The crowd had a great time without too many spoilers flying around (a few surprise tidbits, though, that were pretty cool).

Check it out, Battlestar fans! It's Helo, Boomer, Apollo, Baltar and President Roslin!

And the panels just keep on coming. This time we headed in to check out David Boreanaz’s new show, “Bones”. If you’re a Joss Whedon fan, you may remember David as Angel on both “Buffy” and “Angel”. This is his first jump back into TV since Angel ended last year. It’s a new show on Fox (so it’ll probably get cancelled after three episodes), kind of another CSI show about an FBI guy who works with a forensic expert scholar chick (played by Emily Deschanel, the lead on the show). They showed us the pilot for it first, then brought out David and Emily for questions. Hmmm. Not overly thrilled with the pilot, I have to say. But I also have this rule about never judging a show by its pilot, so I’ll give it another couple of tries before I make up my mind. David was David, as always. I’ve seen him in plenty of Angel DVD special feature interviews and such. Very funny guy. One who can suddenly go off on a tangent about his favorite things for, like, 10 minutes, as we discovered (which sucked, because Aaron was ALMOST up to the mic to ask him a hockey question, but he went and mentioned hockey and blew it for Aaron). Naturally, a lot of the questions were from Angel fans, but David graciously didn’t ask “Uh, what show is this panel about?”. Someone had to ask him about his feelings about doing another Angel project, and he answered what us fans have already heard before…only if it’s a big Hollywood movie.

"Bones" stars Emily Deschanel and David "I'm finally playing someone besides Angel!" Boreanaz

After that, Russ and Tony headed back to their side of town, and Aaron, A.T. and I hung out downtown at the Hyatt with K.C. and Jeff to catch up with our old pals.

SATURDAY - JULY 16th

The next day was Saturday, always the biggest day of the Con, so we made sure to head down early. There were panels o-plenty to check out! And LOTS of big lines for them. Man. It was out of control. Word is definitely starting to get out.

Some of us decided to start the day off with the ABC panel, which started off with a presentation for Shaun Cassidy’s new creation (yeah, THAT Shaun Cassidy. Da do ron ron and such. Didn’t know he went into TV? Did you ever see American Gothic? That was his) called “Invasion”. ABC is putting out for this show big time, sticking it on their MONSTER Wednesday night lineup with “Alias” and “Lost”. And I can see why. We got to see a few minutes of the pilot, which looked really awesome. This is going to be the next big show that everyone’s talking about, I think. We got to hear questions answered by Shaun, young actress Ariel Gade, and director Thomas Schlamme (who’s worked on little shows like “The West Wing”, “ER”, “Chicago Hope” and others). Hey, I’ve already got my TiVo aimed at ABC on Wednesday nights, so I’ll be checking this out for sure.

"Invasion" creator and former teen heartthrob Shaun Cassidy. Da do watch my show!

And then came the moment lots and lots of people were waiting for. The “Lost” portion of the ABC panel. I’m so hooked on that show. Tried it from the start and was hooked in the first five minutes. There’s no such thing as people that don’t like this show. There are just people who love it and people who haven’t tried it yet because they wisely realize you don’t want to jump into a show like this in the middle, so they’re waiting for DVD (and they only have to wait until September). As far as the cast goes, only actors Josh Holloway (bad boy Sawyer) and Maggie Grace (bitchy surfer girl Shannon) showed, but that was cool, because most of the best moments came from answers from writer/producers Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cruse, and Javier Grillo-Marxauch. Those guys rocked, and had all kinds of great stories. Javier writes a comic, by the way…one called “Middle Man” for Viper Comics. We got treated to video clips from some of the Season 1 DVD set’s special features, and, thankfully, spoilers were kept to a minimum. Got me excited about the show all over again. Or maybe it was just Maggie talking about skinny dipping in Hawaii…

Maggie Grace ("Shannon") raps with the fans at the "Lost" panel presented by ABC

Then came the one that Aaron and I couldn’t miss, as we’re SG-1 fans of old (we watched the pilot together when it first aired, back when we were roommates in Sac). The “Stargate” panel is one never to be missed, and this was certainly no exception. SG now has the distinction of being the longest-running sci-fi show in American TV history, now entering its ninth season (kicking Trek’s ass. Take that, Trekkies!). And this season, they’re changing things up a bit. The first cast member to come out (after producers Robert Cooper and Brad Wright) was new addition this season Ben Browder (who many sci-fi fans remember from the beloved and cut-short Farscape). Ben came right out on stage, stood up on the table, took out his camera, and started taking pics of the crowd. He’s a great guy, and loves being a part of whatever he’s working on. As the producers told us, Ben became an SG nerd as soon as he got the job, planting himself on his couch for days on end watching all of the first 8 season on DVD. The other new cast member is an old favorite actor of mine, Beau Bridges, who’s playing the show’s new general (since Richard Dean Anderson has stepped away from the show now). Another great and very funny guy, Beau told tales of his research into American generals throughout history for his role, and how be became the unofficial expert in the area that the writers would call for info.

And a couple of the old-schoolers came out, too, that being Chris Judge (“Teal’c”) and Amanda Tapping (“Samantha Carter”). I’ve seen Chris at these things before, and it’s always a crack-up that on the show, his character is totally quiet and reserved, but in real life you can’t shut him up. Hilarious guy. He not only gave Beau an impromptu rubdown during the panel, but managed to lick Amanda’s shoulder as well. It was good to finally see Amanda in person. The one SG panel I’d made it to had Chris and Michael Shanks, so it was good to hear her speak as well (good isn’t quite the right word, as I’m also hopelessly in love with her). Aaron, however, saw her at a past panel before, as well as catching her at the first Gate-Con in Canada that he decided to fly up to.

Ben Browder, Beau Bridges, Chris Judge and Amanda Tapping at the Stargate: SG-1 panel

The new guys just felt like they’ve always been part of the cast, and seemed very much at home with their new co-stars. We got to hear some fun facts and get some minor spoilers. A great panel for a fantastic show that I’ve been watching since day one, so quite an event.

After that, A.T. and I headed downstairs to the BIG room, “Hall H”. This is where all the biggest stars and events are during the Con, as it has the most seating (it’s freaking huge). We all knew we had to be at Serenity a little later in that Hall, so figured it would be a good idea to get into an earlier panel or two to get seats and wait it out. So what did A.T. and I get pretty good seats at? An hour with Kevin Smith. If you know anything about Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy, etc) you know you don’t want to miss a chance to hear him speak. The announcer even gave a warning ahead of time that it might not be a good idea to have children around, as Kevin’s panels tend to be filled with foul language and sexual themes.

Mission accomplished.

Kevin Smith is a repeat offender. I repeat, he WILL offend again...

Smith fans went wild as he came in, and it was just an hour of him on the mic taking questions and talking about upcoming projects and such. Let’s see, what were some highlights? There was the “Passion” thing. Someone asked if he’d taken any flack yet for calling his upcoming Clerks sequel “Clerks 2: Passion of the Clerks”. He talked about it for a while, then said he hoped that instead of wanting to sue him, Mel Gibson would try to get back at him. “I’ll show him. I’ll make a ‘Passion’ sequel and call it ‘The Passion 2: MallChrist’”. He started talking about his problems with the Passion film when we all started hearing shouting. Turns out there was an evangelical guy in the crowd who’d had enough and was yelling at Kevin that Jesus died for his sins. Being Smith, he wanted to hear what the guy had to say, and told him he knew that, and was happy about it, but just didn’t think the most interesting thing about Christ was his death, which is what the whole “Passion” film was about. He then started talking about how he would have done the film. He would have started with the crucifixion, Roman guards standing all around as the nails were driven in. And then, two ninjas would have dropped in on ropes with uzis and started blowing centurions away, and one would have gotten up on a ladder with a hammer and started pulling the nails out. As he pulled Jesus over his shoulder, Jesus would have said “Wait, aren’t I supposed to be dying for the sins of the world?” And the ninja would say “Not on MY watch.” You get the idea.

The panel was basically lots of Smith fans getting up on the mic and trying to sound cool for their hero. One guy helped provide a highlight. He talked for a minute about being a huge fan and then said, “Actually, my father blames you for the way I turned out.”

“Why?” Kevin asked. “Because I f****d your mother?”

The audience laughed and applauded for a bit, it finally died down, and the guy said, kind of awkwardly and sadly, “Actually, my mother’s dead.”

Deadpan, Smith shrugged and asked, “And who do you think f****d her to death?”

That wacky Smith. You’d never know it’s the same guy who made “Jersey Girl”. And no, he’s never going to get through a write-up without the writer having to bring up “Jersey Girl”. It’s a just punishment.

He provided a nice surprise at the end when he brought out writer/director Richard Kelly, the genius behind “Donnie Darko” (best role Patrick Swayze’s had in years…), who talked about, and showed stuff from, his upcoming film “Southland Tales”, a movie that brings together the performances of Sara Michelle Gellar, The Rock, Sean William Scott, and Kevin Smith. With a cast, and a director, like that, this one PROBABLY shouldn’t be missed.

Actor Michael Rooker on the panel for "Slither", wondering what the Hell happened to his career.

After Smith, the Universal panel began, and the big draw of that, of course, was Serenity (yeeha!). But they wisely made us wait, and started things out instead with a presentation of the new horror film “Slither”. The bad news? Its writer/director is James Gunn, the man who wrote “The Specials” (one of the worst films ever made) and BOTH Freddie Prinze Scooby-Doo movies. Well, he did write the Dawn of the Dead remake, which I liked a lot. But the good news is, the movie looks like a lot of fun in a ridiculously gory old-school way, and it’s got a cast filled with people I like, who were there on stage with him First, there’s Elizabeth Banks, a classically fetching actress who played Betty Brant in both Spider-Man films and turned a great performance in Seabiscuit (hey, I just remembered…Emily Deschanel from “Bones” played the snotty receptionist in “Spider-Man 2” who wouldn’t pay Peter for the late pizzas…), hard-working macho actor that you’ve seen in EVERYTHING (“Eight Men Out”, “Days of Thunder”, “JFK”, “Tombstone”, “Replacement Killers”) Michael Rooker, less familiar to you but you’ve seen him too actor Gregg Henry (“Payback”, “Body Double”, and Firefly fans know him best as Sheriff Bourne in the episode “The Train Job”), and none other than Captain Malcolm Reynolds of Firefly/Serenity Nathan Fillion! You can imagine there were a few cheers when he came out, as 99% of the audience was just sitting through this to get to the Serenity panel. A short presentation, a very fun trailer, and a movie that’s sure to go straight to DVD and then straight to the $3.99 rack at Wal-Mart.

And then came Serenity!!!

The man, the myth, the master, Firefly/Serenity creator Joss Whedon greets the ravenous Browncoat fans

If you’ve read any of this web site before (or looked in the right-hand border) you know that Tim and I are HUGE Firefly fans. Back when I was living in San Diego, when Firefly was still on the air, Aaron, Russ, Tony and I used to get together on Friday nights at Russ’s place, catch the new ep, and then head out on the patio for a cigar to talk about it after. We LOVED that show. And we had to sit back and watch as Fox screwed it. They showed all the eps out of order, they pre-empted them often, they did very lousy marketing, and the numbers kept dropping every week. Finally, as a Christmas gift halfway through the season, Fox cancelled it, and the last episode they ever showed was the two-hour pilot that they, for some reason, decided NOT to show at the START of the series. We went through denial with the rest of the fans, hoping that some other network would pick it up, but it wasn’t going to happen. When we heard that all the episodes (including the three unaired ones) were actually getting released on DVD, we were ecstatic, figuring that was the last we were ever going to see of our show, but at least we were getting all the eps.

Oh Captain, Our Captain Nathan "Mal Reynolds" Fillion makes his grand appearance

But we, and the entertainment world, didn’t count on two things. One, the unbelievable sales of the DVDs that tore Amazon.com UP. And two…Joss Whedon.

We all thought WE were in denial. Joss Whedon, the show’s creator, REALLY had it bad. He got it in his head that his cancelled TV show should become a big-budget big-screen motion picture. Uh, okay Joss. Love ya, buddy, and I’m with you, but let’s try a LITTLE dose of reality. Much as I’d like that to happen, it’s just NOT going to happen.

Wait a minute…it’s HAPPENING?

How he did it I’ll never know, but Joss talked Universal into giving him 60-plus million dollars to basically continue his show on the big screen. It was unthinkable. We all thought it was a cruel tease at first when the rumors of this deal first started hitting the net. But it wasn’t. He got the green light, and before we knew it, the script was done, the cameras were rolling, and “Serenity”, the movie risen from the ashes of the show, was actually getting made.

Joss takes to his knees after realizing he forgot to introduce Jewel Staite

If you don’t know the passion of Firefly fans (or “Browncoats”, as we’re known), you need only visit the message boards, head to local “shindig” parties around the country (and the world) where fans get together and mingle, or come to one of these Comic-Con panels. Last year’s panel was mind-blowing. It all still felt like a dream at the time, and yet here came Joss on stage, and he brought out the entire nine-members cast of our show with him. An ovation for the ages. He even brought along a special trailer made up just for Comic-Con with some of the footage they’d already shot (they were still in the middle of shooting last summer). It was almost evangelical. And it was proof positive that it was really happening.

Joss and the whole Big Damn Cast: Ron Glass, Morena Baccarin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, Adam Baldwin, Gina Torres and Nathan Fillion (Alan Tudyk was sadly unable to attend the Con)

This year’s panel didn’t have to make any promises. The movie’s done, and ready to go (release date is September 30th), and the trailers are already out (as are some action figures). So once again, Joss came strolling out to thunderous applause, and quickly started introducing, once more, the cast. Morena “Inara” Baccarin (owwww) came out first. Then Sean “Simon Tam” Maher. Then came Ron Glass (“Shepherd Book”). Then Sean’s on-screen sister, the crazy but loveable (and deadly) “River Tam”, played by Summer Glau. And then the Captain himself re-appeared, Nathan Fillion, egging the crowd on as they adored him. Then Gina “Zoe” Torres. And then the man they call “Jayne”, fan favorite Adam Baldwin (holding up his action figure for the camera as he walked on). We all knew that Alan Tudyk (“Wash”, the pilot) wasn’t going to be there, but as Joss started to speak again, we all knew (as did the rest of the cast) that there was someone missing.

Okay, so when you have such a large cast, sometimes you can forget people. Joss went and forgot to introduce the GORGEOUS and talented Jewel Staite, who plays ship’s mechanic “Kaylee”. Realizing his embarrassing error, Joss introduced her and got on his knees as she came out, and hugged her waist apologetically as the crowd cheered her. He then walked back the podium (still on his knees) and started the panel proper.

Summer Glau and Adam Baldwin up on the big screen

BIG love-fest, let me tell you. All mutual. These are two groups—cast and fans—that truly love and need each other. Everyone got a chance to say some words on the mic, and Adam often used his time to talk about the amazing fans that made all this happen. Nathan, to no one’s surprise, was the comedian again. The man is a born ham and lives for an audience. A personal favorite highlight of mine was when a fan was suggesting Joss cast Gina Torres as Wonder Woman in the upcoming film he’ll be writing and directing, and Nathan got on the mic and suggested there might be OTHER cast members who might be interested in the role (hint hint). He even got up and did a Lynda Carter twirl for Joss to show he had the moves for it. It was great hearing set stories and fan stories from all the cast. And hearing from Joss how he, very seriously, didn’t think these actors were meant to play these roles but BORN to play them. We got interesting questions from fans like how each of the actors thought their characters would die (Adam: “I think Jayne would die in his bunk”. You have to have watched the show to get that joke). The usual questions got asked, like how each actor differed from their characters (Gina, apparently, is much more “girly” than Zoe). And aside from all the talking, there was some spoilerizin’ to be had in the form of a couple of scenes from the film! Russ and Tony both did the same thing they did when the Serenity trailer come on before a movie they saw…closed their eyes and covered their ears. A lot of people want to go totally spoiler-free into this. Me? Couldn’t resist, had to watch, didn’t feel that spoilerized. Wow. The scene they showed showcased how much bigger the effects budget is. Daaaaammmnn.

Adam Baldwin and Gina Torres having fun with the fans. Either that or they're on Mystery Science Theater 3000.

It was the one panel we all knew we couldn’t miss at the Con, and was well worth the wait. We can’t until the big opening night at the end of September. Heck, I’m even flying back to San Diego for the weekend to see it with my old Firefly gang, as we all promised we’d see it together when we first heard it was going to be a reality (and really, who wants to fly to Sacramento? Screw that, I’m going there!). Man, I wish every fan of every forgotten TV show that went south before its time could get a chance like this. And if we’re lucky and a LOT of people see it and it makes lots of money, then we’re slated to get two more films out of it. A Big Damned Trilogy. But one thing at a time. Let’s start with “Serenity” and see where she takes us.

Hey, and speaking of fans…after the panel, back on the main floor, I got spotted by a couple of real live Nice Guy fans! And ones who are Browncoats as well. Suzi came up and said hi, along with her daughter Jessica (who was dressed up in her Zoe costume). Suzi has discovered the Nice Guy after getting one of our flyers after the first Serenity panel last year, back when we were having Firefly Week on the site. She and I had written a few e-mails back and forth last summer, and she had lots of great stories to tell me about being an actual extra in the movie (how cool is THAT?). We posed for a pic, and they asked if I’d been able to see one of the preview screenings that have been going around for the flick. I had not. Turns out there was one that night, and Suzi could have even gotten me a ticket…but alas, not only did I have plans with friends coming in from L.A. that night, but I’d made my promise to my old Firefly gang. Wasn’t going to see it without them! Great offer, though, and great to run into both of them. Nice reminder that there actually ARE Nice Guy fans out there (it’s a surprise to Tim and I every time that happens).

Nice Guy fans in the house! Jessica and Suzi posing with Mike, who, trapped in denial, still wears his Doug Flutie jersey with pride

Speaking of my friends from L.A., Ben and Kaye came into town and met up with us, so Aaron and I headed over to the Hyatt and spent the evening with them, Jeff and K.C. Yes, we did end up skipping seeing Tenacious D playing live to do so, but we didn’t feel too bad about it since we found out that Russ, Tony and A.T. checked out the line and realized they never would have gotten in, so they didn’t go either. Would have had to line up for hours. And would have missed Serenity! And, more importantly, would have missed a chance to see Ben and Kaye again, which now only happens once a year. A great time was had by all, and Aaron and I managed to get back to our crash pads before it got TOO late. We had to, because Aaron had something pretty special to wake up for Sunday morning…

SUNDAY - JULY 17th

How random is THIS? We have this station in San Diego called 91X. On Sundays, they have something called “Resurrection Sunday” (all 80s music). And on this show, they have this thing called “Hey, Mom, I’m on 91X!”. This is where an 80s music fan e-mails in with a playlist of 20 songs they’d play if they were on the show, and someone gets picked, and that person gets to come in and co-host their hour of music (with songs selected from their playlist) with host Steve West. So a while back, Aaron (who still listens to 91X in Seattle via internet) e-mailed in with his list and said he’d be in San Diego that weekend for the Con. It wasn’t until he got into town that he got a call on his cell from Steve West and found out he’d been picked!

Aaron gets on the radio on Sunday morning on San Diego's 91X

So Sunday morning I woke up in my room at Tony’s and tuned my laptop in to the 91X broadcast, and there, and 8am, was Aaron on the radio. What a kick! Aaron’s no stranger to radio, as he did a couple of years of college radio back in his San Diego State days when I first met him, so he had no nerves to worry about. It was way cool. He got to do an hour, got some quality talk between songs, and even inadvertently schooled Steve on some music points, pulling out some knowledge from album liner notes (you don’t play Aaron when it comes to 80s music, baby). So Aaron not only got a trip to San Diego, but got to get back into radio, if for only an hour. The really sweet part was that I e-mailed our pal Martin back in North Carolina about it. Martin’s one of our regular Con buddies but couldn’t make it this year due to having some heart surgery. So not only did Martin tune in, but he sent an e-mail to the station during the show, which Steve West read on the air, giving Aaron and chance to give a shout out to Martin. Great way to start the last day of the Con.

Sundays are pretty light at the Con, event wise. The panels are there, but less star-studded. It closes a couple of hours earlier. And it’s also “Kid’s Day” every year, so that’s when people bring all the wee ones in for kid-centered stuff, like drawing classes and cartoon panels and things (and try to steer their vision away from the booth hookers and naked fantasy woman art for sale). It also tends to be my shopping day. I was solo for a while on Sunday, as 1) Russ and A.T. were going to sleep in some, 2) Aaron was busy being radio guy, and 3) Tony was going to a local bookstore to track down Bruce Campbell to sign his copy of “Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way”. So Tony took daughter Emily (he’d be taking her to the Kid’s Day stuff at the Con after) and dropped me off at the Convention Center before taking off. And my mission began.

Granted, it was the 60s, so my memory may be slightly hazy, but I don't remember Catwoman being that freakishly gigantic

I’d gotten a call from my sister, Shelley, during the trip, and she mentioned that she’d been unable to find any Invisible Woman Fantastic 4 movie action figures for my niece, Danielle (of course you can’t find them! They’re invisible! That joke got used a lot that Sunday…). I guess they either made too few of them, or horny fanboys snatched them all up to act out their Sue Storm fantasies with. Either way, she couldn’t find any in Denver, and asked if I could look around for them at Comic-Con, as it seemed like a logical place to find them. And what a GREAT idea on my part to wait until Sunday!

Yeah, both variants of the figure are a PAIN to find. I kept rolling around the VAST dealer floor, checking booth after booth, being told by one vendor after another “No way. No one has those”. But I was on a mission, and prepared to make use of my razor-sharp detective skills. I went all OVER that place, getting possible leads from vendor A that vendor B had some a day or two ago, only to find vendor B sold out but pointed me toward vendor C. After about two hours of this and a LOT of turns around the center, I FINALLY found one guy who had the partially-invisible variant. And then, a while later, I scored and found like the LAST fully invisible Sue Storm in the building. One left. Just sitting there. So what happens? This booth doesn’t take credit cards, and I’m out of cash. DOH! Had to rush out to the always-frightening ATM line in the main lobby, got some cash, and rushed back. Still there. GOOOOOAAALLL!! Walked away with both of the much-heralded figures, warmed by the knowledge that they wouldn’t be sitting on some fanboy’s shelf, kept in pristine condition and sealed in a baggie, but instead torn open by a 6-year old, played with, and then chewed on by her beagle Lizzy until they’re left in so many mangled bits. Now THAT’s what you do with action figures!

A more modern Batman cast. See, in the latter, more civilized age, we're MUCH more into bondage...

Hooked up with K.C. and A.T. after that. Jeff had already left back for Iowa at this point (K.C. would be leaving that evening), Tony was still at the book thing, and Russ and Aaron had gone to the Padres game. We hung out and got some Nice Guy flyers out to people. After a bit, Russ and Aaron made it back (not a long trip, since the Padre stadium is across the street), deciding that the game was too far gone for a Padre comeback. A.T. took off to do some shopping for his kids, and K.C. decided to make one last round on the main floor, so Russ and Aaron and I found a table on the upper floor, outside, and relaxed with some cigars. It had been a long Con, so it was nice to just kick back a little on the last day and chill out. The autograph area was through the glass doors near our table, and I could see through to the table where Erin Gray was signing. Had a little flashback there, as, like most boys my age, I was in love with both her and her disco hot pants when Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was on TV. Happy to report that at 55, she’s still smokin’.

K.C., Aaron and Russ kicking it in the new "sweet spot" we found for celebrity close encounters

We made a very interesting discovery sitting there. We’ve been coming to this thing for years, but only now discovered that the spot where we were sitting is the area that security leads celebrities through on their way to their panels. As we sat and smoked, Russ was looking back over my shoulder and saw a group coming our way, flanked by the red-shirts. He mentioned this and asked aloud if this was anyone we should care about. I started turning around as they got right up on us, and Russ said (in his voice that carries), “Hey, it’s Spiner.”. I finished turning around, and found that the cast of the upcoming series “Threshold” was walking by us, which includes Brent Spiner (Star Trek’s “Mr. Data”, in case you’re not a geek). Having heard Russ, Spiner looked over and acknowledged, us, smiled, and said “How’s it going?”. Having mad conversational skills, and I nodded and answered “Pretty good”. And they kept on going, off to their panel. In the quick look I had, all I saw besides Spiner was Peter Dinklage (star of “The Station Agent”), but I’d later learn that the group also included Charles S. Dutton (star of the TV show “Roc”), Carla Cugino (from lots of stuff, most recently Lucille in “Sin City”), and producers Brannon Braga and David S. Goyer. Then, a few minutes later, the whole cast of the show “The 4400” comes walking by on the way to their panel, too. Me, I don’t watch that show, but Aaron and Russ do, so Aaron recognized them and said, “Hey, the 4400” and started clapping for them, so Russ and I joined in. The cast seemed to dig that and cheered back at us as they passed. So all these years, I never knew that if you just want to check out celebs up close and get to say hi casually instead of sitting in an audience of thousands, you just have to sit at that table and have a cigar. Huh. Now we know.

Soon we were rejoined by K.C. and A.T., and Tony and Emily showed up after doing their Kid’s Day run. Emily got a good-sized bag fulla stuff and was showing it all to us. The joint was starting to shut down, and we’d all done what we needed to do and had our fill of Con fun, so we figured it was time to take off. As K.C.’s flight would be taking off later in the evening, we figured we had time to get him back up to Russ’s place for some barbecue to bid him farewell, so we loaded up in our vehicles and said good-bye to the Convention Center for another year.

Mike and Tony waiting on some barbecue at Russ's on post-Con Sunday

We regrouped at Russ’s for an evening of burgers, beer, smokes and Con reflection. Soon it was time for K.C. to head for the airport, so we said our goodbyes and Aaron drove him there. By the time Aaron was back, everyone was about ready to call it a night, so Tony and I headed back to his place so I could get all my stuff packed up for my departure the next day.

MONDAY - JULY 18th

And then the end came. Got all my stuff packed up and ready to go, and Tony and I headed back over to Russ’s place, where my travel sidekick was staying. Fortunately, we had gotten stuck with an evening flight (weren’t taking off until 9:25pm) so we still had all day to hang out. Tony got suddenly hungry and decided to treat us all to In and Out burgers, so we lunched on the patio as I tried to absorb as much S.D. weather as I could before getting back to Sac, where, in case I didn’t mention, it had been 105-107 degrees every day while we were gone.

A.T., Mike and Russ chilling out before heading to the airport, where two of these poor saps would get shipped back to Sacramento

We decided to watch a Firefly episode, the panel having gotten us in the mood for it, and we picked a good one (“The Message”) because it turns out it was one that A.T. had somehow skipped over on the DVDs and hadn’t seen. Then we had to watch “Team America” since Aaron hadn’t seen it before, which is always good for a laugh (“Matt…Daaamon.”). Ah, but the day rolled by quickly, and soon it was time to pack it in. Said my goodbyes to Aaron and Tony, though I’ll be seeing them again at the end of September for Serenity. A.T. and I hopped into Russ’s car, headed down to my favorite airport in the world, and hung out and waited for our flight. And got depressed. We really didn’t want to head home. We’d had a fantastic week in a fantastic town, and it was a shame that it had to end. But, at least we had a great week, with hopefully enough good memories to tide us over during our return to Hell-like Sacramento temperatures, more totaled cars and screaming claimants, and our year-long wait to do it all over again.
We’ll be back, San Diego. See you in ’06.

DISTURBING INTERNET IMAGE OF THE WEEK

I don't care what age we are, the truth is the same: We're men, we don't really care if they're fake.

AIN'T NO ROOM FOR THE SUMMERTIME BLUES!

Still a good chunk of summer left, so hang out with us and enjoy it as the Nice Guy Pool Party rolls on. See you next time!

Michael O'Connell - Writer and Websovereign

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