From: [ric k j] at [rice.edu] (Rick Jones) Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.info Subject: Mr Jones Goes To San Diego Pt 1 (Wed-Thu) Date: Sun, 21 Jul 96 03:13:35 GMT [I tried posting this from blkbox.com, but it vanished into the ether. Let's try again.] Mister Jones Goes To San Diego SPOILER WARNINGS: There are going to be spoilers in here. I'm not going to blurt out everything I learned reading preview copies, but I am going to report on the general stuff that was revealed in panels. Deal with it, fanboys. If folks are curious about what I saw in preview copies of DC stuff, send me email. I've never been to a *major* comic con before. Local cons, sure, where I'd dive into the quarter boxes like a dolphin doing tricks for fishy-treats, and *if we were lucky*, we'd get a real, honest-to-god pro there. Mostly, Houston comic cons are a large dealers' room, where the fanboys are quickly and quietly parted from their hard earned shekels. For the past two years, I had been going to GenCon, but GenCon '95 was so dissappointing (I don't play collectable card games - and I couldn't swing a cat without hitting the durn cards) that I considered spending my vacation days elsewhere. Then, when Greg "Elmo" Morrow started working on me to go to SDCC with him, I was a pretty easy mark. Besides, I'd never been to California before. WEDNESDAY: Changes In Longitudes Anyway, with a spring in my step and cash in my wallet, I flew out to San Diego. Greg and Michael Grabois had gone ahead to do some sightseeing in SD, but my vacation time was limited, so I just left on the Wednesday before and left Monday after. The flight up was downright pleasant. Anyway, the cool breezes of San Diego greeted me outside the terminal (cool for me, the weather reports talked anbout how hot it was - in the 80's - Houston's a paved-over swamp so it was downright cool to me), and I took a cab (after giving up on the hotel shuttle) to the hotel. I met up with Michael, who then took me across the street to Horton Plaza - a gorgeous 4-story outdoor mall near our hotel. The only drawnback is that it's not intuitive as to how to get from floor to floor. Greg and Michael dubbed it the Escher Mall. Being a former Whovian, I called it Castrovalva. I spent about an hour or so in the Horton Plaza Hologram Store, and saw the amazing advances in holography in the last few years. It used to be a simple 3-d image, or maybe one that changed as you moved from side to side. Now, the movements are fluid, so that the images fluidly transform into each other, and there's multi-color holograms as well. Amazing stuff. Sated and amused, we returned to the hotel room where Greg awaited. Next step was off to the shuttle to the convention center, to pick up our Steenkin' Bodges. We ran into a bunch of people (unlike many con reorts, I'm not going to list everyone I met, mostly because I have a horrible head for names). Then, it was off to dinner, and then Elayne's party. We quickly overflowed her room at the Clarion and were graciously moved into one of the big meeting rooms by the friendly staff. This let Steve and Elayne ween out of their own party at a semi-reasonable hour (but I guess that's what happens when you get old :> ). After talking comics (gee, there's a suprise) and schmoozing for a while, the Rogues Gallery Revenge Squad (the renamed Black Ink Irregulars) and others began firing Silver Age trivia questions at each other, and we kept at that until late at night. If it had been more general trivia, I might have had a chance, but I was very much outgunned by Encyclopedia Galloway, as was most everyone else there. Thus began the "tradition" of not getting enough sleep. Thursday: Grumpy Old Farts Like Me Thursday Morning, Greg and I went for breakfast at the Cinnamon Roll Shop in Horton Plaza for their amazing cinnamon rolls (ummmmmm.....) and then it was off to the con. GenCon's a zoo. SDCC is Jurassic Park. Herds of galloping galominus in search of Silver Age deals wandered the plains, foraging amongst the booths and giggling at the taped over naughty bits in the art shows. The Dealer's Room was easily 1 1/2 times the size of the one at GenCon, and did not have the TSR castle in the middle to break the rows up. The crowd was about as dense, but the space was larger. I'd have to say, overall DC had the best "booth". There was a place for heavy duty lines for Waid and Ross to sign Kingdom Come books, but there was also a big table with lots of preview copies, and other pros sat behind those tables where we could chat with them. And, the video wall played the occasion episode of Animaniacs or Freakazoid (comics related ones, natch) in between cycles of the extended DC add. You could walk through the booth, look at neat stuff, and get out again quickly. I usually wandered in the DC booth 4-5 times a day, to see who was there, and add signatures to my sketchbook. Marvel, on the other hand, was a constant line to snake through and get stuff signed. One of the exterior walls of their booth was a video wall that showed Marvel promo stuff, including a brief bit for the new Hulk toon. And, according to one pro, the moving lights shining down on the signing table was about to induce epilepsy. I might have gone in to look at stuff, if I had been able to, but I hate long lines. I zoomed past Image (though I did stop at Homage to look at what's there). Interestingly enough, there were no bimbos in costume this year - for any company, as far as I could tell. A good sign, though it's more likely I just didn't see 'em. I did notice, looking at the new Captain America poster, that Bucky's a girl. Now, I heartily approve of more women in comics (okay, where's the check, Elayne?), but a teenage female sidekick named "Bucky" just sounds... well... dirty to me. Maybe I'm just a freak. Also, it seems that Sue Storm broke her spine and got a really bad wedgie in the FF's crash. That's gotta hurt. PANEL: DC Comics / Art and Storytelling (Kelly Jones, Dan Jurgens, and Steve Dillon) Basically, a discussion of how artists tell stories. However, since it's hard to do so without being Scott McCloud or having slides, they mostly talked about the state of art in comics today. The gist of it is: there's a lack of craft in the comics industry that's been growing in the last few years. "Hot" artists are going for the money shot, and not paying attention to the flow of the story. And there's a severe dearth of inkers coming up the pike. Nobody wants to ink these days - somewhat understandable, but a good inker can make or break pencils. Not only that, but good editors are getting harder to find. It used to be that the editors were folks who used to write or draw - now it's just as likely to be some guy who used to work in a comic book store. The other big gripe is that artists are getting more worried about their action figure lines than the lines on the page. During the comics explosion a few years ago, pretty much any chimp who could draw a good panel was given a comic, a huge check, and then we never heard from them again. Most of the audience just nodded and agreed with the panel, myself included. PANEL: An Homage To Nobility In Comics (James Robinson, Brent Anderson, Kurt Busiek, Parl Smith, and Terry Moore) FYI, Paul Smith (like Gil Kane) looks like he drew himself. Anyway, I didn't catch it until Greg pointed it out to me, but these are all the Homage Comics folks. It's okay, because I'm going to be getting everything Homage has on it's plate right now (all 3 of 'em, two of which I was already getting before Homage formed). Anyway, the topic was about nobility in comics, and how it's mostly gone these days. Like me, they were grumpy about how comics were more and more about guys putting on tights and shooting each other with Big Guns and vague motivations. As Kurt said, the X-Men used to be about putting on an "X" and showing the world that not all mutants were Magneto. Now it's just about poorly drawn lines in the sand and the line between good and evil mutant is harder and harder to see. All of them want to put a more noble aspect in their characters. Kurt's doing it with Astro City. He pointed out that, after #1 came out, he got letters wondering when Samaritan was going to go postal on us. Kurt: "He doesn't *have* a breaking point - that's the point." Folks like Samaritan are heroes, and heroes don't crack. He also wondered, when did calling someone a Boy Scout become an insult? On a slightly different tack, James Robinson believes that heroes should have flaws (i.e. Hourman's addiction to Miraclo in Golden Age) to make them more human, but that the true nobility comes in doing the right thing at the right time. In the end, heroes do the right thing, even if they stumbled along the way. *But*, he and Paul Smith are working of a series of mini-series (because of Paul's slow output) called "Leave It To Chance", about a family of occult protectors of a city. The role of protector has been handed down from father to son for hundreds of years, but now, the Protector has a daughter. He figures that it's not too bad, she'll grow up, and he'll train *her* son. The daughter - Chance, a teenage girl, (drawn in the Kitty Pryde mode, not the busty Image Cheerleader) has a different opinion. She and her familiar (a small dragon named St. George) are going to prove to her father that she's got the right stuff. It sounds like a lot of fun. If Robinson, Smith or Mike Mignola are out there: Hellboy - Leave it to Chance Crossover. Think about it! [As a side note, I'd like to congradulate Greg for not strangling James Robinson or even frothing during the talk. Greg's still very bitter over Robinson's handling of the Golden Age characters.] And, even farther down the spectrum was Terry Moore, who did believe that there is a breaking point (i.e. the first Strangers in Paradise arc stemmed from one scene: Francine's nervous breakdown in the park - what would cause it and what would come out of it), but that the comics industry has gone way out of line when it comes to the violence in comics. He writes more realistic stories about people in the real world (or at least the world of crime fiction), but believes that heroes should indeed act like heroes. PANEL: VALIANT HEROES RELAUNCH (Fabian Nicieza, Kurt Busiek, Doug Wheatly, Jeff Gomez, Art Somethingorother, and Kevin Macguire) Now, Elyane said that Fabe is usually a lot more upbeat at these talks. If that's so, I now know where Speedball came from. He was already pretty bouncy - I shudder to think what it'd be like if he was "on". Anyway, the old Valiant Universe is getting relauched in a new one. For those of you who were fans of the old Valiant stuff, the links between the new and old universes will be explained, starting in the X-O Manowar/Iron Man crossover. Anyway, here's the new titles. I wrote down the writers, but not the artists. That shows my prejudice, and the fact I can't take notes as fast as Fabe zings out the creative teams at Warp 3 or so. X-O Manowar: Starting in October, Waid and Agustin The alien suit of armor has been bouncing around since caveman times. Putting it on gives you all kinds of powers, but you eventually become a "Kentucky Fried Person" as it burns you out. The last guy to wear the suit was a Nazi in WWII, and after he went foom, the Americans studied it, trying to stop the KFP problem. In the present day, a crack programmer thinks he has it licked, and the govt is ready to give it a try. I am assuming that things go wrong. Shadowman: Starting in November, Mature Readers, Garth Ennis 1-4, Delano 5+ This one was already in the works before the reboot. Dead folks wait around in the Deadside before going to their final reward or punishment. Some of them escape the Deadside (which is rather like a beat up old bus station) and go back to the land of the living. The guy who brings 'em back dead is Xero, the Shadowman. Ninjak: November, Kurt Busiek It's Spider-Man meets the Last Starfighter, meets Mortal Kombat. Denny is your average 16 year old who spends too much time playing Acclaim's hot new video game, Ninjak. But there's a story hidden in the Ninjak game, and when Denny solves the puzzle, he gets the ability to transform into a handsome, _adult_, butt-kicking martial arts master of mayhem. But he also has to stop the "Dark Dozen," the villainous servants of Lord Akuma. On his side is the centuries old monk who now works for Acclaim, and used the video game as a way to find a Chosen One to stop Lord Akuma. Oh, and Denny has to deal with Acclaim's lawyers who want him to cease and desist since he's violating their trademark. Turok: December (quarterly), Fabian Nicieza Centuries ago, Turok, a Native American tribesman (I didn't write down the exact tribe but it's a real one, unlike Chakotay's Generic Indian Tribe) accidentally opened up a gateway to "The Lost Land" a temporally squajed up place that's home to sentient dinosaurs. With the gate open, the dinos can come to Earth. The descendants of Turok have dedicated their lives to stopping the invasions. Enter Joshua, a college student about to get an offer from a professional baseball team. He discovers all that family destiny stuff was true and has to fight intelligent dinos. Troublemakers: December, Fabe A drug company got tired of making band-aids and new cough syrups. So they went into genetic experimentation to make a better person. Their creations just hit puberty, and chaos ensues. Fabe described it as "The Challengers of the Unknown meets the Power Pack." Every issue is a self-contained story, as the Troublemakers go out to investigate paranormal stuff for the company. They are: Blur (who controlls the EMF, and can mentally link into machines, including the security cameras in their HQ), Rebound (who controlls gravity and was described as Calvin with superpowers), Calamity Jane (who has luck powers that she can't control too well), and XL (who is like the old JLA villain Paragon - anything you can do, he can do better). Magnus - Robot Fighter: January, Tom Peyer Magnus is the "ultimate Luddite". In the far far future, humanity turned Earth over to the machines, and sat on the couch to watch TV for the rest of their lives. A bunch of people who think that's wrong gave Magnus super powers, and sent him back in time to prevent it. Once he's here, he has to figure out what he needs to do to stop his timeline from occuring. Eternal Warriors: February (Quarterly), didn't write down the writer Essentially, it's the Nine Princes of Earth. There is this huge dysfunctional family of Immortals who are shaping Earth's development. Some want to rule humanity, some want to let them die. Quantum and Woody: February, Priest with Mark Bright on pencils They're the dysfunctional Batman and Robin. Two childhood friends who grew apart come back together as adults to solve their parents' murder. In the process, they get super-powers, but have to touch their technobabble bracelets once every 24 hours or they'll die. Eric decides to put on a mask and become "Quantum." Quantum then asks Woody what he wants to be called. Woody gets right up in Quantum's face and shouts "WOODY!" Apparantly, Woody's role in the Valiant Universe is to rag on all the other heroes. Should be funny. Trinity Angels: March, Kevin Maguire A famous archeologist accidentally opens a Pandora's Box of "gremlins" who are spirits that possess folks and turn them into super-villains. The three daughters of the archeologist are also given powers by the MacGuffin so they can recapture the gremlins. It's on a slow enough schedule that Macguire can hopefully keep up. (*cough*Strikeback*cough*) Bloodshot: March, Lem Kaminski It's Terminator meets Frankenstein meets Oliver Stone. A guy is killed for getting too close to a conspiracy. But he comes back due to (and I quote) "internal submicroscopic yat-a-ta yat-a-ta." Bloodshot's out to discover who he was, and what's going on. In addition to the Valiant Heroes re-launch, Acclaim is also reprinting Classics Illustrated, and handling the license properties Sliders, Waterworld, and Quantum Leap (written by Waid). They're also doing a crime fiction line: Armed and Dangerous by Bob Hall, Gravediggers by Mark Moretti (about unsolved crimes from the NYC police files) and Grackle. LEGION DINNER After that, I braved the dealers room, schmoosed with people, and went to the Legion dinner, at some yummy California Pizza Place. (Special Kudoes to Sidne Ward for being the unofficial organizer of the dinner - not to mention most of the other unofficial rac get-togethers over the weekend.) We dashed back to the Convention Center to catch the fireworks, and missed 'em all. We wandered the pier for a while, and then sat down in some hotel's Lounge to discuss the Legion. For the most part, that is. My new definition of hell is, at 1:00 AM, being trapped between Greg and David Goldfarb while they discuss Sailor Moon and Japanese linguistics. Love ya guys. :> -- Rick Jones "You want to tell me who to shoot?" [r--k] at [blkbox.com] "Christ, I don't know. Everybody but me, I think." [M--r--k] at [aol.com] --Hawk & Spenser, Valediction http://www-ece.rice.edu/~rickj/