when talking to strangers in real life just doesn’t cut it anymore

Now I know that I promised live text and video blogs from Comic-Con International 2008. But I ran into a bit of a snag. The RV park that we were staying at had no FREE wireless and my laptop battery would not last long enough to take it to the convention center where internet wireless was provided. On top of that I had trouble getting any kind of footage with my camera. Half of the footage I could get was on a corrupted tape and the rest is just unusable because of the crowds. It got to the point where I didn’t even want to bring my camera because it would be just another thing to carry around.

But don’t get me wrong, I LOVED Comic-Con. I had so much fun and pick up a lot of free swag (most just throw away crap). The only panels I attended were the Star Wars 2008 panel, the Visionary Filmmakers panel presented by Entertainment Weekly, and the infamous Kevin Smith panel. So lets get to what went down on each.

1. Star Wars 2008

First off, I didn’t even plan on going to this panel. My sister and I were waiting in the unbelievably long line for the visionary filmmakers panel which was immediately followed by the Kevin Smith panel. When they finally started letting people inside the HUGE hall H panel room, the Star Wars 2008 panel had just started. I heard the creators of the new animated movie discuss the struggles of tying together all the loose ends to make sure the story fits perfectly in the Star Wars universe, I saw the exclusive clip of the movie shown only at Comic-Con, and I even saw the first half of one of the episodes of the upcoming animated series (which looks just as good as the movie). Let me tell you… This looks to be one of the best things to come out of the Star Wars universe since the original trilogy ended. I was on the edge of my seat and so completely engulfed in battle scene they showed us, that when the clip was over all I wanted to do was watch the whole movie. The clip of the T.V. show was just as good as the movie clip. I expect big things from this new branch of the franchise.

2. Visionary Filmmakers panel presented by Entertainment Weekly

The panel consisted of Kevin Smith, Judd Apatow, Zack Snyder, and Frank Miller. Now well I can only assume that these were just four filmmakers that just happened to be at Comic-Con for a movie they were promoting, it was fun none the less. Kevin Smith is there every year and of course had made several movies aimed almost directly at the Comic-Con crowd. Judd Apatow has only directed two films but has single handedly, through his producing, found all the write people and materials to create this generations comedy all-stars. Zack Snyder has two films under his belt, he directed the re-envisioning of Dawn of the Dead and the big smash hit of last year 300. Frank Miller on the other hand has never solely directed a movie. He co-directed the adaptation of his comic franchise Sin City, but his upcoming film The Spirit will be his first solo directing job. So like I said, maybe not the four most visionary filmmakers around, but definetly the right ones for the crowd they were preaching too. Anyway, the panel was a lot of fun and consisted mostly of Kevin Smith and Judd Apatow shootin’ shit at each other and with the audience. If you would like to see for yourself here is a video from IFC on the panel.

3. Kevin Smith panel

What can I say… It;s Kevin Smith. He’s always awesome.

He brought out a few people to do the panel with, some were regulars with Kevin Smith and some were new to his whole deal. He brought out Scott Mosier, Jason Mewes, Seth Rogan, Elizabeth Banks, Justin Long, Traci Lords, Katie Morgan, and Ricky Mabe, the producer and stars of his upcoming movie Zack and Miri Make A Porno. After showing a very hilarious clip from the movie he immediately started taking questions from the audience. A variety of characters approached the mic and many many interesting questions and stories were shared. Here is a clip from youtube, almost the entire panel is available on youtube.

I also bought a few things. I picked up a few figures from the movie Hellboy II: The Golden Army. I got a Hellboy, an Abe Sapien, and a Liz figure. I also got a Roto-Bust of the right hand of doom that can will sit on my desk in Vancouver, it is very cool looking. Also, I found a new comic addiction. I picked up the first three volumes of The Walking Dead for half off and absolutely fell in love with the series that over the weekend I picked up volumes 4 through 8, and I cannot wait until November/December for the 9th installment. If you haven’t read it, definitely give it a shot. I also looked for a new copy of a Watchmen trade, but I never found one. It was sold out everywhere. I had read one that belonged to a friend of mine a few years ago but since the movie trailer that premiered with The Dark Knight I have wanted to reread it.

So I could go on and on about Comic-Con, but really it was kind of uneventful on my part. I got a lot of free stuff and had a great time, I just didn’t  manage my ime too well.