What an amazing day it was today! My body is already showing signs of fatigue, but that has yet to stop me from enjoying every minute of the convention. There are good vibes in the air at the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) and everyone is getting them. Everyone I’ve encountered, from professionals to exhibitors to fans, have helped make this perhaps my best Comic-Con ever.
On our way home, Darran and I chatted a bit over what we’ve enjoyed the most about the 2nd day of Comic-Con (though it’s his first and my second and a half). One thing that we both liked was the creativity in this years cosplayers, mixing genres and coming up with new costumes that we haven’t seen before. Darran enjoyed the three panels he attended, all dedicated to improving his craft as an artist.
Go ahead and listen to us go on in the short audio clip below, if you want to hear what we thought.
You can listen to this episode on our Comic Issues channel at Anchor.fm!
Attending Comic-Con as a member of Pixelated Geek opened up a whole new side of the convention to experience. This is why Con this year is shaping up to be my best yet. The chance to speak with creators and actors that I could only refer to in the third person is amazing. I won’t get too specific, as we’ll be having articles coming up soon to cover each event in more detail, but I got to meet people who have helped define my childhood and others who have put me in awe of their talent.
My morning started out with a press panel for the upcoming Green Lantern: The Animated Series show that will be coming to Cartoon Network soon. I got to speak with some of the producers about the show, including the legendary Bruce Timm, the man who helped bring Batman into my life with the animated series of the 90’s, and managed to get some hints about what we can expect from the show.
The show will focus on Hal Jordan, the first human Green Lantern, and explore many different alien worlds, each significantly different from the other while building a larger overall story. We can expect to see Hal battling with some other guys with… anger problems?
My day continued on after Green Lantern and I got to hang out with some friends I don’t see enough of. Unfortunately for them the one panel that they wanted to see all day, The Big Bang Theory, had a line so long that even showing up 4 1/2 hours early in line didn’t help them.
Honestly this is still a disappointing aspect of Comic-Con: Hall H and now Ballroom 20 get filled with so many squatters for later panels that other people can’t make it into the panels that they really want to see. It’s a problem that’s existed ever since more movies and television came to Con with larger presence. It’s awesome that we get to see and interact with the people who make the shows and movies that we love, but at what cost?
The second press event I got to participate in was for the upcoming ThunderCats cartoon, also on the Cartoon Network. Now we’ve already spoken a little about the show and how much we love the pilot on our previous podcast, but today I got to find out what it takes to create an epic show like that.
These interviews gave me what became the highlight of my day: an interview with Larry Kenny, voice of the original Lion-O from the series in the 80’s. Kenny was as awesome as you could ask, engaging in all of my questions and even letting me join in with him for a ThunderCats Ho! I also got the chance to talk to one of the shows producers as well as the beautiful Emmanuelle Chriqui, voice of Cheetara.
After getting a little more floor time, and speaking with some very cool Steampunkers, I made it to my final press event of the day.
DC’s newest direct to video animation, Batman: Year One comes out in August. I spoke with co-director Sam Liu, Ben McKenzie (who’s voicing Batman/Bruce Wayne), and the only person so far to make me feel a bit flustered, Katee Sackhoff. Once again everyone was amazing to interact with– Year One seems to be in good hands with this crew under Bruce Timm’s guidance.
Liu told us that the movie aims to retain as much of Frank Miller’s original’s atmosphere as possible. My interview with Sackhoff, who portrayed Starbuck in the new Battlestar Galactica and will be voicing Detective Sarah Essen in Year One, was a high point for the day. Everyone there had a deep understanding of their characters and seemed eager to put in their all. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing Batman: Year One.