SDCC Jillarama

I did all of my reporting from San Diego Comic-Con for Newsarama last week and obviously didn't have much time to post about it again on my blog. If you were following my twitter you may have caught some of them already since I was writing live but if not, here's a rundown of them all.

First up was last week's Hey, That's My Cape! I preemptively talked about geek girls and women in genre roles since the two panels I was going to be on at the show were going to be talking about that.

And here's the panel coverage:

Newsarama On the Ground at SDCC 2010 LIVE - Myself and two other Newsarama reporters gave our first impressions preview night of the convention via Twitter.

DC Focus: Geoff Johns - A spotlight on the Green Lantern mastermind and DC chief creative officer.

Entertainment Weekly: The Visionaries - A spotlight in Hall H on fan-favorite creators J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon.

True Blood panel and Q&A session - An amazing ten panelists were up on stage for this one. Anna Paquin said "Sookie" like Bill and made everyone's day.

Green Lantern: Emerald Empire - GL writers, artists and editors gathered to discuss upcoming events in the War of Light.

Screen Gems: Resident Evil: Afterlife - I tried not to scream out MULTIPASS as Milla Jovovich and the cast spoke about the new movie along with her husband, the director.

DC Focus: Premiere Teams - Creators got together to discuss what's coming up for the teams of the DCU like the JLA, JSA, JSA All-Stars, Teen Titans and R.E.B.E.L.S.

L.A. Times Cameo

Believe it or not, I'm STILL recovering from San Diego Comic-Con. So although it's a week late, here's a little something of mine you can check out until I get my new convention posts up - my debut in the Los Angeles Times!

More specifically, Hero Complex, their geek blog run by Geoff Boucher. You may remember there being a bit of an uproar last year over the LA Times' Girls' Guide to Comic-Con. Myself along with several other ladies wrote our own, more realistic guides and felt pretty good about that. But we weren't done.

After some nice back and forth between Geoff and my pal Geek Girl Diva, we decided to pool our resources and give people (not just girls) a guide they could really use. (And don't worry, even though I posted this late it's useful for most cons, every year.)

From contributors:

Amanda Schuckman (@eruditechick) AllThingsFanGirl.com
Elisabeth Rappe (@ElisabethRappe) Cinematical.com
Jill Pantozzi (@TheNerdyBird) TheNerdyBird.com
Katrina Hill (@actionchick) ActionFlickChick.com
Kristin Rielly (@geekgirls) GeekGirlsNetwork.com
LoquaciousMuse (@loquaciousmuse) AllThingsFanGirl.com
Geek Girl Diva (@geekgirldiva) GeekGirlDiva.EntertainmentEarth.com

Here's COMIC-CON 2010: San Diego insiders share their survival tips (and ninja tricks).

And yes, that's me in the first photo with my friend Molly from last year's SDCC. :)

10 Tips for Getting Some Action at SDCC

​You bought your ticket to San Diego Comic-Con months ago and now it's finally here. The Mecca of Nerds. Geek prom. Basically, home away from home. You've planned your schedule carefully so you're guaranteed to get the most out of your trip and are putting final preparations in order.

Comfortable shoes? Check. Your four best superhero t-shirts? Check. Sketchbook? Check. Condoms? Che... wait, what are you going to need those for? You're not getting laid. Or are you? Here's a few tips for the geeks and geekettes that will hopefully help you get some action for the first time at Comic-Con. Or, you know, the first time ever.

It's my latest at Topless Robot and yes, it's a guide for both boys AND girls. And no, I'm not saying you should go to SDCC with the aim of getting laid, it's just some suggestions that might help you along if you're inclined to do so. Or not even that much, a nice kiss is always acceptable too. :)

Check out my 10 Tips for Getting Some Action at SDCC!

Did you pick up Super Friends #29 this week?

Well you should have, because I'm in it!!!

I know! I'm just as surprised as you are. And more than that, I'm seriously GEEKING OUT. In case you had any doubt it was some other girl in a motorized scooter wearing a Red Lantern costume, click on the image to view full size. Yup, that says "Nerdy Bird" on my basket. :) By the way, sorry it's such a bad pic, my scanner is broken.

There's not much story to tell here except that I know the artist who works on the book, Stewart McKenny, and I had NO idea he was doing this! I'm absolutely honored though. The image is on page two and part of a bigger convention scene. I don't usually read Super Friends but I may have to start buying it for my nieces. This was a very fun issue writer by Sholly Fisch so go pick it up for that if not for the chance to see me in there for yourself.

Now, if I can just make it into an issue of Batman...

Hey, That's My Cape! - The Stuff of Legend Is Aptly Titled

A younger me might have thought my toys coming to life was creepy but...who am I kidding, I still fear that happening. Luckily, The Stuff of Legend from Th3rd World Studios mixes a good amount of magic and whimsy into their tales to keep things from going into Child’s Play territory. So far at least.

If you missed it’s debut last year, now’s the time to jump on board. The first volume, The Stuff of Legend: The Dark, debuted at #2 on the New York Times best-selling paperback graphic novels list and Volume II, The Stuff of Legend: The Jungle, Part 1 is in stores today.

Find out why I think it's so awesome in this week's Hey, That's My Cape! at Newsarama.

Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III

Man your battle stations. Prepare your action figures. The Robot Chicken crew is back with a third Star Wars spoof and they've brought along Geoff Johns and Zac Efron. Wait a second...Zac Efron??

The Hollywood Reporter announced the team is readying their third installment which will debut December 12. "We're telling more of a linear story this time that covers the series from start to finish," said co-creator Seth Green of Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III.

So what role is Efron playing? Well, that would be the future Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker. Original C3PO Anthony Daniels also joins the cast along with Donald Glover and Cleveland Show co-creator Mike Henry. Billy Dee Williams and Ahmed Best return in their famous roles of Lando and Jar Jar.

"We wanted to take the Star Wars universe and see if through the eyes of our Robot Chicken: Star Wars Emperor Palpatine, Darth Vader, Boba Fett and Gary the Stormtrooper," said co-creator Matthew Senreich. "We'll still flip around the universe but we'll get a unique perspective from the bad guy side, from people who just want to rule the universe."

The special is being penned by a slew of it's usual writers plus frequent guest writer Geoff Johns. No word yet on if he'll try and stick a Green Lantern joke in there seeing as how the story takes place in space. :)

Either way, you can be sure we'll hear more about it at next Friday's Adult Swim panel at San Diego Comic-Con.

A Rose by any other name...

...would still kick your ass six ways from Sunday. And that's why I'm cosplaying Rose Wilson, aka Ravager, at San Diego Comic-Con in less than two weeks!

I've been keeping this one a secret from pretty much everyone, that is until last Friday when I finally announced it on Twitter (See what you miss by not following me?). I'd actually been giving periodic hints here and there and letting people guess but you'd probably agree, this certainly wasn't the obvious choice for me. It wasn't until I posted this picture that a few people got it.

Let's just say, I'm psyched. Rose is such a badass and so is her costume. My talented friend Beth (Amber, the Superhero Stylist) has made the clothing portion of the costume and I've fashioned or purchased the rest. It's come out better than I could have hoped for and I think it's going to be a big hit, especially since you don't see Ravager cosplayed often.

I *may* post a preview picture if my photographer brother and I can get our schedules together between now and SDCC but here's a shot of my swords to wet your appetite.

I'll be dressing as Ravager Saturday of the con but I also have two other cosplays planned for both Friday and Sunday with groups, neither nearly as complicated as this one but both really unique ideas. And I'll be doing a breakdown of how everything was put together post-con like I did last year with my Red Lantern costume.

And no, in case you were wondering, they are not real swords. That would be very dangerous for grabby fanboys everywhere.

Has Boobs, And a Potty Mouth

A lot of comic book characters have been made into cartoons. I watched Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men all the time growing up. Now that I'm an adult ::clears throat:: I should probably move on to more adult things. Like cartoons with sex acts and curse words. Well I'm in luck. Jimmy Palmiotti presents The Pro: Animated. (ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, NO WAY IN HELL IS THAT LINK SAFE FOR WORK)

If you've never read The Pro by the talented team of Palmiotti, Garth Ennis, Amanda Conner and Paul Mounts, let me tell you, it's a delightful read. A gal raising a baby, in a crappy apartment while turning tricks to make the rent wakes up one day to discover she's got superpowers. The resident heroes try to recruit her but she doesn't mesh well their cookie-cutter image.

Embedding was disabled or I would have posted it here but definitely head to YouTube to watch it because it's brilliant. Palmiotti says it's a Kickstart Production but relayed on his Facebook page that the animation itself was done by Titmouse Inc. (Oh the irony.) and they've captured the look and feel of the comic perfectly.

Now it's just a short, not the entire comic, but hopefully they'll be able to do more cuz I sure as hell would love to see it.

Web Comics to Help the Gulf Coast

Yup. That oil leak in the Gulf is still goin' strong. Even if it weren't, there's still an enormous amount of cleanup that needs to be done. A lot of people have been doing their part but one woman has organized something right up our alley, a web comics auction!

Carly Monardo gathered donations from some wonderful web comic talent and put them all up for auction to benefit the relief efforts. One hundred percent of the proceeds will be donated to the Colbert Nation Gulf of America Fund, which is being managed by The Baton Rouge Area Foundation. Here's Carly's own words about how she decided to put the auction together:

The idea to organize this auction came from my friend Thomas Bayne - the animatic director on Venture Bros. After selling a number of original Venture production drawings to raise money for the Gulf Coast, Tom expanded his efforts and launched an even bigger auction of artwork from a variety of cartoons. I thought it would be great if we got the same thing going for web-comics.

There's over 30 artists participating in the auction including Dean Trippe, Anthony Clark, Kate Beaton and David Malki! You can go to the auction hub right here which will give you links to each individual artist's work or you can see them all on this ebay page.

Check it out, spread the word and bid!

Hey, That's My Cape! - Comic Movies: Superheroes vs. Indies

It can fulfill dreams you’ve had since childhood or it can cause you to burn your entire comic book collection in effigy. It’s...The Comic Book Adaptation.

We've already had several comic book movies this year and there are tons more on the way but what makes for a better transition to screen: "tights and capes" or "everything but?" That's what I'm discussing in this week's Hey, That's My Cape! at Newsarama. Go check it out and join in the discussion!

Tada, Tonner!

San Diego Comic-Con is notorious for showing you things you can't have. At least not yet. That's what I came to realize when I took my first trip there last year. I'd been hearing about those light saber chopsticks FOREVER and knew they'd be there with loads of other crap I didn't need but would be buying anyway. Turns out, they weren't for sale yet. Not even close, all you could do was look at them. And you wonder why I'm a Trekkie...

Anyway, Tonner always has a heavily trafficked booth on the show floor with their latest and greatest dolls out for collectors to get their hands on but I'll be honest, they've never really done much for me. That is, until now.

Exclusive from Action Figure XPress, it's a Zatanna Tonner Doll with possibly the cutest top hat you've ever seen. Though at $174.99 you can see why even if I found them appealing, I wouldn't be a collector. (This particular doll is not an SDCC exclusive, just exclusive to the company, who have a wicked Lion-O statue on their list of SDCC exclusives picked out for the show.) They've got an interesting description for her character, check it out:

Zatanna is a powerful sorceress whose abilities are apparently genetic. As a tribute to her father and as a focal point, she usually casts spells by speaking verbal commands backwards. She has also proven capable on many occasions of casting spells by speaking normally, and, in rarer occasions, the ability to use magic for simple tasks without speaking.

It kinda sounds like trying to describe comics to someone who doesn't read them. "So, she can do this...or so we think. And she does this, but not always, and sometimes she does it this way." Regardless, it's my Z, I think she's beautiful and if the company wants to send me one of the 300 they have I'll gladly accept it. :) This on the other hand...

I've admitted to liking Twilight, it's my shameful-not-so-secret, but this is going to new heights. And I do mean that quite literally. LOOK HOW HIGH HIS HAIR IS STICKING UP! What's sad is they're not far off, it's probably like, to scale or something.

Get Your Torchwood Fix From Tommy Lee Edwards

Fans of the hit BBC show Torchwood have been dying to see what comes next since the epic five-part saga that was “Children of Earth.” Their impatience was finally rewarded last month when it was announced the show would be moving to the paid cable network Starz here in the United States. But with a general airdate of Summer 2011 set for new Torchwood, where can a fan go to get their fix? Titan Publishing has an idea. How about a Torchwood comic book?

Debuting at this month’s San Diego Comic-Con, the Torchwood comic is being written by Captain Jack Harkness himself, actor John Barrowman along with his sister Carole Barrowman, and artist Tommy Lee Edwards (The Question, Marvel 1985) providing the illustrations.

I caught up with Edwards before the big convention to ask him all about bringing the popular show to life and his work with another British entertainer. Read the full interview at Newsarama!

Oh and, HAPPY 4TH OF JULY (in advance)!!! Have a safe and enjoyable weekend! :)