Another Comic-Con…

It’s July, and once again, it’s the week of the annual San Diego Comic-Con. And once again, I’m not there. The annual mecca of comic and pop culture once again rolls on without me, as it has since time immemorial, and I do as I always do, watch the news roll out from home.

Granted, Comic-Con isn’t quite what it once was. I agree in large part with my buddy Adam, who earlier today made a very succinct post about how other media have taken over the event from comics, and calling upon creators to make an effort to visit the smaller regional cons for the sake of the vast majority of fans who just can’t make it to San Diego. That would be wonderful.

Still, I want to go. It’s one of those things I think everyone who loves comics wants to do, at least once. Maybe once will be enough and I’ll never want to go again, who knows. (Yeah, probably not, but it’s possible.)

But at any rate, it won’t be this year. So if you’re there, help out the rest of us. We live in a world of Facebook and Twitter, so post pictures of awesome displays and cosplayers, tweet the news at it happens, and let the rest of us all know exactly what we’re missing.

I promise, if I ever make it, I’ll do the same for you.

San Diego Comic-Con Day One: I’m still not there

So as I mentioned yesterday, the San Diego Comic-Con is raging like a wildfire out there in California right now. I’m not there, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to watch the news with a sharp eye and a wistful heart. This is the first day, but there are a few interesting tidbits already jumping out at me…

• IDW Publishing and DC Comics are producing a six-issue crossover miniseries, Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes, written by Chris Roberson with art by Philip Moy. I’m psyched, and I have a feeling my Uncle Todd will find this interesting as well.
• Speaking of crossovers, Archie Comics has announced an upcoming storyline where Archie and the gang from Riverdale will have to battle monsters from another dimension alongside legendary rock band KISS. Yes, you heard me. Archie. Meets. KISS. Mike Bellamy may finally have to buy an Archie Comic. (Or rather, four of them, it’s a four-part story beginning in Archie #627.)
• One of the books that was apparently getting wiped out during the New 52 DC Comics Relaunch is coming back. Nick Spencer’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents will return in November with a new #1, despite the fact that the writer is under an exclusive contract with Marvel Comics. Looks like he kept a loophole in there.
• IDW is also going to be doing a sequel to this year’s Infestation crossover. G.I. Joe and the TransFormers will be back for round two, but Star Trek and Ghostbusters are being replaced with Danger Girl and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• The Man of Steel, director Zach Snyder’s relaunch of the Superman movie franchise, has been pushed back from a release date of December 2012 to June 2013.

There have been other things announced, of course, but these are the things that have caught my attention so far. I’m hoping that I’ll get a chance to sit down with Erin this weekend while we’re in Maine and record a Showcase episode about the announcements.

2 in 1 Showcase Episode 130: G.I. Joe-A Real American Hero

With the movie coming out soon, the boys line up to talk about the past, present, and future of G.I. Joe. We talk toys, we talk cartoons, we talk comics — we talk about our favorite stories, the worst interpretations, and Chase explains why he doesn’t allow his friends to play with his toys. In the picks, Mike chooses Supergirl #43, Blake digs Doctor Who: Room With a Deja View, and Chase selects Amazing Spider-Man #600. This week’s graphic novel pick: Spider-Man: Torment. Don’t forget our “Give Mike a Title” contest! Contact us with comments, suggestions, “Ask Chase Anything” questions, or anything else at Showcase@Comixtreme.com.

2 in1 Showcase Episode 130: G.I. Joe-A Real American Hero
Inside This Episode:

Plus: Chase and Blake have a chat about some of the announcements and tidbits from the San Diego Comicon — Tron: Legacy, the lineup of James Robinson‘s Justice League of America, a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film, and talk about new developments for Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Green Lantern on the screen. But the bulk of the talk this week is about what may be the last-ever Lost panel in San Diego. What was revealed? What was hinted at? And Chase uses the clues to lay out his theory for Season Six of Lost!

Week in Geek #28: The Last Lost Panel?

Plus: Blake takes a look at the newest entry in the DC Universe Animated line, Green Lantern: First Flight. How does it stack up to the other movies in the line? How does it stack up for Green Lantern fans? And is it worth your DVD dollars?

At the Movies Episode #8: Green Lantern-First Flight

Oh, I wish I were in San Diego…

One of these years, Erin and I are going to make it to the San Diego Comicon. Yeah, it’s huge. It’s grown so big that it’s barely fun anymore. It’s hardly still even about comic books. But it’s still the biggest Geek mecca there is, where comics and movies and television and videogames and cosplayers and artists and filmmakers and people who got lost on the way to a Padres game collide. And yes, every year when the convention begins, I sit here, absorb the news as it leaks into the internet, and wish I was there.

But since I’m still in Ama this weekend, I thought I’d just fire off a few of the interesting tidbits that I’ve heard announced from all over thus far.

• Gary Oldman, Commissioner Jim Gordon in the two most recent Batman movies, says that filming of the third movie is going to take place next year with the movie to be released in 2011. This is awesome news, although a little surprising considering that Christopher Nolan, the director, hasn’t ckpblicly stated that he’s signed the deal to make it yet. I don’t think anyone doubted that he would, he just hasn’t.
• The second season of the highly-awesome Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon series will feature a lot more characters from across the DC Universe, and two very special guest-stars. Julie Newmar, Catwoman from the old Adam West TV show, will make an appearance as Bruce Wayne’s mother, Martha. And Neil Patrick Harris, who is awesome in virtually everything, will appear in a musical episode of the show. That’s just sweet.
• Disney’s Tron 2, or Tr2n, has been renamed Tron: Legacy. I love the original movie, and I’m glad they’re doing a sequel instead of a remake. The new movie will apparently focus on Sam Flynn, son of Jeff Bridges‘ character from the original movie, searching for his missing father who disappeared mysteriously 20 years ago.
• Also from Disney, Robert Zemeckis — director of the upcoming Jim Carrey A Christmas Carol, has hinted that there may be a sequel to his classic film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? This gets me a bit nervous. Although he says the 2D characters from the original would remain 2D, he also hinted that there would be 3D animated characters as well, and so far, I’ve been disappointed in his 3D efforts. While there were some visual treats in both The Polar Express and Beowulf, Zemeckis has a real “Uncanny Valley” problem that he’s yet to overcome. Maybe A Christmas Carol will change my mind.
• Still from Disney, Boom! Studios has announced a few more products based on their new license to the classic characters. They had already announced the return of Mickey Mouse and Friends and Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories. Now they’ve confirmed those two titles will be joined by Donald Duck and Friends and Uncle Scrooge, as well as a hardcover edition of the epic Don Rosa story The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. If you never read this story before, do it. Do it as soon as this book comes out. It’s one of the finest comic book stories of all time.
• Just a wee bit of Blackest Night news, Geoff Johns has announced that he’ll be writing a Blackest Night: Flash miniseries starting in December, with art by his oft-time collaborator Scott Kolins. I’m glad to hear this — these two work really well together.

That’s really it so far. Two more days — well, two and a half, the day’s not over in San Diego — and I’ll be anxiously watching every bit of news.

Anticapatory Awakening

My alarm clock almost never wakes me up.

Yeah, I set it. Yeah, it goes off. By when I know I’ve got to wake up at a certain time, my brain does a number on me. It wakes me up early. It happens nearly every day — I wake up before the alarm goes off, knowing full well that it’s going to go off soon. The frustrating thing is when it goes off: there isn’t enough time until the alarm clock rings for me to really get back to sleep, but there’s too much time for me to go, “heck with it,” and get up anyway, knowing I’m sacrificing a few more sweet, precious moments of limited coherence before beginning the day.

Let’s say I get up an average of 10 minutes early on most weekdays. That’s 50 minutes of potential sleep I lose a week. Times 52 weeks in a year, minus the weeks where I’m on vacation, plus those days during the summer I had to get up for class… minus the time I was sick… carry the four…

I miss out on a lot of sleep. Sleep that I rightfully deserve.

Anyone else have this problem?

Stuff from San Diego

So if you’ve listened to this week’s 2 in 1 Showcase podcast, you heard Chase and me discuss all the announcements that were made at this weekend’s San Diego Comicon — or at least, those announcements that had been made at the time he and I recorded, at about 10 a.m. Saturday morning. That means we missed out on about two more days of announcements. Here are a couple of cool things that got me excited that we didn’t have a chance to talk about:

• DC Comics, which in the past has incorporated the heroes from defunct publishers like Quality Comics, Charlton Comics and Fawcett Comics into their universe, has announced two more “universes” that will be folded into the DCU: the characters from the 1990’s Milestone Comics imprint, and the heroes from MLJ Publishing, a company that was renamed after its most popular character after he drove the superheroes into obsolescence: Archie. What does this mean? Well, the Milestone guys are going to make their return in the pages of Justice League of America, which is written by Milestone co-creator Dwayne McDuffie, which is awesome. The Archie heroes will be reintroduced slowly in the pages of The Brave and the Bold, written by J. Michael Straczynski. Will Static finally join the Teen Titans? Will the Comet encounter the Green Lanterns in the depths of outer space during the Blackest Night? The next time Doomsday is tearing up Metropolis, will Icon and the Shield join the call to action alongside Superman? Man, I really hope so.
• LOST fans: this year’s panel was noticeably tight-lipped, but there were a couple of tidbits I found interesting. While the show won’t abandon the flashback/flashforward format entirely, season five will evidently change the structure and find a different way to tell both on-island and off-island stories. Not sure what that means yet, but I’m intrigued. Also, “Octagon Global Recruiting” spent the whole contention screening people who wanted to volunteer for the Dharma Initiative. At the beginning of the panel, they announced five names and took them of the room. At the end, one of the “recruits” ran back in and played this video:
  
• Geoff Johns, the writer who has made Green Lantern the definition of “Awesome” over the last few years, will stay on the book after his “Blackest Night” event is over. And he’s also going to work his magic touch on a new miniseries, Flash: Rebirthwith his frequent collaborator Ethan Van Sciver. The two have never made a bad book together. (And very few separately.) Oh yeah — and he’s working with James Robinson and Sterling Gates on something called Superman: New Krypton. Can’t wait.
• New movies announced: Tron 2. Robocop 4. Hmm. I’m more excited about the former.
• Joss Whedon’s online musical, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, was a smash hit. A DVD is planned before the end of the year, along with more comic book tie-ins with Dark Horse Comics(who did an online comic at their Myspace page), and there are plans for a sequel afoot.
• Hardcover omnibus of the original Golden Age Captain Marvel story, The Monster Society of Evil. I’ve been waiting to read this for years.
• Blake really, really wishes he could have been in San Diego.