I had not attended a Comic Book Convention in about 11 years, I believe. This was indeed an eye opener. My God, how times have changed. Wondercon used to be solely about the comics and the artists who make them, and the local artists. These days, it is still comics and artists, but now there is a massive Hollywood presence that simply was not there back in the olden times.
The biggest differences at Wondercon 2009 were the panels. There were so many cool panels on Star Trek, Terminator, Watchmen, Star Wars, you name it. Even Bob Wilkins had 2 great panels. I could not make up my mind on what to attend and sometime left one in the middle to attend another.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
First, take a look at this killer video Mark Day put together:
So, I started on Friday with grueling physical therapy on my knee, which underwent ACL replacement and meniscus repair a few weeks ago...so I knew this would be a painful weekend of being on my feet all day with a backpack...but it had been 11 years!
I took BART into the Mascone Center in San Francisco and was immediately pleased with what I saw. The last Wondercon I attended was in Oakland, at the Hyatt I think, and the scope of this one was much bigger. The great thing about Friday was, everyone was working! I practically had the whole place to myself!
By the time I got there and got my ticket it was already 12:30, so I didn't have a lot of time to walk the floor before the first panel I attended; "Sit Down, Shut Up". A new animated TV show for FOX by the creator of "Arrested Development", Mitch Hurwitz. The panel featured:
Josh Weinstein (The Simpsons- writer) Will Arnett (Arrested Development, 30 Rock) Kenan Thompson (Saturday Night Live) Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants- voice) and, best of all: Henry Winkler (Happy Days)
It was a great panel. They showed a clip of the show and it really looks like a treat. The did a great job with getting some funky designs. They also do something I have not seen an animated show do; all the backgrounds are live action photographs. Because the designs are visually interesting and are usually doing funny things they get away with it pretty well. Of the clips they showed, it totally looks cool. And the voice acting is top notch.
Unfortunately I did not have a real camera with me, so I used my phone, which was pretty crappy quality wise, but at least you get the idea. Check it out:
The whole panel was very entertaining. Really funny and spontaneous. Henry Winkler even went into his "Fonzie" mode, threatening to come to our houses and break our knees if we did not watch the premier. He was asked the inevitable "Jumping the Shark" question, as it was his very performance that created that euphemism. He brought up the fact that he is the only actor to have literally jumped the shark twice: once on Happy Days and again on Arrested Development.
Mitch Hurwitz probably had the best line though. When introducing his new show he started by saying "I made this show about teachers. Becasue teachers are so inportant and so valuable to our society that we are willing to pay them literally thousands of dollars per year."
Nice. And true.
Will Arnett, Kenan Thompson and Tom Kenny all had some great one liners. Tom Kenny went into the SpongeBob voice, by request of course.
Below is some video.
Here is Henry talking about his character:
...more...
Wow, I did not realize how much of this stuff is on Youtube. Amazing.
Moving on, I then traveled upstairs to the panel of the owner of Flying Colors Comics in Concord. If you have not been, go check it out. It is a fantastic store and the owner, Joe Field, is a truly great guy. He created "Free Comic Book Day" and knows everything about the business. Joe was on this panel with Brian Hibbs, who owns the Comix Experience in San Francisco. He was really funny and very informative.
Between the two of them I learned a lot about the comic book retailing business that I did not know before. This was a very informative and interesting panel for anyone interested in the comic book industry. The best question, however, came from Joe to Brian: "What is the weirdest thing that has happened to you as a comic book owner". The responses were truly unique. Perhaps I will post them here some day.
The next panel I hit was called "The Once & Future Trek!". This was great fun, they showed some clips of the original series cast in what looked like a commercial possibly from Canada? The also played a clip from the old animated series. They talked a lot about the new film and the re-imagining of the franchise. It sounds like they are staying true to the die hard fans, keeping in alignment with canon, while trying to attract a new generation of fans. The movie looks like a real treat!
Next, I hit the floor. Artist alley had changed the most from what I had remembered. There were a lot more big names than local artists. I saw Ernie Chan, Tony DeZuniga, Sergio Aragones, Wendy Pini, just to name a few. Classic artists along with the newer generation. It was a real treat to see these people I have admired for so many years. All of them terrific people.
Jim Lee was sketching, and I swear to God it is uncanny how fast he draws. It's as if he's possessed or something...and all the work is amazing! I watched him doing a sketch of Havoc, from the X-men, and you almost couldn't even see his hand. Truly amazing to watch him work, really. Plus, he is a super nice guy and very gracious.
Here he is drawing at his panel on Sat:
Plus, this is cool, he draws a Joker on this guys laptop computer...pretty cool stuff:
Also, I got to chat with J Scott Campbell. He seemed to be the only artist whose entire line of people was women. Appropriate I suppose, considering he draws great sexy women. Like this:
He is an extremely nice guy as well, and a truly great artist.
I did the walk with the "celebrities", including the guy who played the Storm Trooper in "Star Wars" who said "These aren't the droids we're looking for". I've been waiting literally years to meet him, what a treat! Nice guy too!
I did see Carrie Fisher's booth, but she was not there on Friday. As luck would have it I'd miss her on Saturday. But, I'm sure I'll meet her one day.
I did get to meet Mark Hamill, here he is doing his "Joker" voice from "Batman the Animated Series" for a fan:
His booth was really swamped...I could hardly get this picture of him...
People were complaining that he was charging for his signature, but I don't blame him. These same people will sell these items signed by him on ebay for 20 times the price...
Next, I really wanted to go to the Bob Wilkins panel, which was showing the documentary "Watch Horror Films; Keep America Strong", but by the time I was done walking the floor it was 6:30, only a half hour to closing time, and I'd missed it. Plus, my knee was killing me by this point. So I walked back up to Market Street and took BART back across the bay.
That was Friday. Great fun.
I'll tell you about Saturday next time.
Until then,
I think Captain Kirk is pondering some serious questions about his masculinity.
Sgt. Ervin Romans 
