You can help improve the NYCC!

The New York Comic Con will be coming up on it's fourth year this February 6-8. Anyone who's attended the three previous installments knows it's improved with each year but they still have some kinks to work out. Now you have a chance to help.

Lance Fensterman who runs the official NYCC blog, Medium at Large, is looking for fans to volunteer for a focus group of sorts. In his own words:

I'm organizing a NYCC Confab next Wednesday in NYC (most sane people would call it a focus group, but that just seemed lame - plus I won't be behind a one way mirror) and I'm looking for fans with ideas and opinons about the show to help us make it better. What do you get out of it? Free lunch, free weekend pass, plenty of time to thumb wrestle with me and the pride to know that you helped build a better NYCC in 2009.

This sounds like a great idea, unfortunately I won't be around next Wednesday to participate but I thought I'd spread the word. He says space is limited so contact him soon through the blog if you are interested.

Dead On Arrival - X-Files Review

Back in April I attended a Comic Con panel with X-Files creator Chris Carter and writer Frank Spotnitz. I didn't stay very long after viewing the trailer for The X-Files: I Want to Believe, because they weren't giving out any answers regarding the films plot. It was frustrating but I chalked it up to them having some really phenomenal ideas they didn't want to spoil. I was wrong.

It almost physically hurts me to admit I didn't love the new movie. I'm a huge X-Files fan and while I didn't think a new movie was actually warranted, I was excited about it none-the-less. For the record, I did like the movie but it was littered with too many issues to ignore for fanboy's (girl's) sake. I never begged for another X-Files movie but there were TONS of fans who did. Unfortunately, they didn't put their money where their mouths were. The X-Files: I Want to Believe took in only $10 million it's opening weekend and it's total to-date is a measly $19.7 million. I viewed it the second weekend out, on a Friday, and there were only eight other people in the theater. Ouch.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe should just have been called "I Want to Believe," because at it's core, that's what this movie was about. Unfortunately Mulder's continuing quest for proof of the paranormal and Scully's, for God, wasn't enough to support the plot. Actually, I'm still on the fence as to which was meant to be the main plot and which was supposed to be the sub-plot. 

The film plays like one long and extremely slow-to-get-to-the-point episode. I knew going in this wasn't going to be about aliens but it wasn't until almost the end of the movie that I realized what it all amounted to. Here it is: A possible psychic, in the form of a pedophile ex-priest, (Billy Connolly) leads FBI agents, including a newly re-recruited Mulder and Scully, to a group of Eastern European, I use the word doctors loosely, who've been abducting women, one of whom, unluckily for them was an agent, with a rare blood type in order to use their bodies to transplant an (ill? crazy?) man's head onto. Got it? Ok, I didn't say it was simple or easy. Did I mention there was a two-headed dog?

The prominent abductor was played by Callum Keith Rennie from Battlestar Galactica who certainly has a way with creepiness. He would have shown brightly had this been a plain old horror movie. Actually the (main?) plot was so bizarre it probably would have played much better if it had been a horror flick instead. I see what they were going for, something simple that had nothing to do with aliens but was still scary. They know how to do this, look no further than the unforgettable Home from Season 4 and you'll be convinced, they just got it wrong this time.

I was going to talk about Amanda Peet and Xzibit here but they were completely forgettable characters. Robert Patrick and Annabeth Gish could have easily reprised their roles here instead to please fans.

Now the fun stuff. Chris Carter makes a cameo near the end of the film as do real-world names on Mulder's cell phone. The actress who played Mulder's young sister in the series, Vanessa Morley, also appears but as an FBI Agent in passing.  Mitch Pileggi shows up to help save the day near the end. It would have been nice to see more of him. We get to see Mulder and Scully in bed with each other looking like a real couple. Nothing sexual although Mulder makes an amusing inuendo. They even discuss "their son" William during the course of the film. If you sit through the bizarre music video of a credit sequence you get one more treat. Mulder and Scully in a rowboat near a tropical island looking very content. It's kind of wishy-washy but it's a cute nod to the fans when they wave goodbye to us.

In the simplest terms, I Want to Believe was a disappointment. I didn't have any expectations going in but that didn't really help. Great character exploration just wasn't enough to carry this one for me. In a perfect world where I get to choose what kind of X-Files movie should be made it would be nothing like this. 

Having already had one serious alien-themed film in 1998, I would have gone for something on the lighter side. Besides those really intense creepy episodes during the run of the series, my favorites were always the one's that involved subtle (sometimes not so subtle) humor. The Post-Modern Prometheus and Bad Blood from Season 5, Dreamland 1 & 2 and How the Ghosts Stole Christmas from Season 6 and even Sunshine Days from Season 9 are perfect examples. Those episodes were amusing but still involved something unexplainable that was classic X-Files. But alas, I'm not in charge of making any further X-Files films and after this, I highly doubt anyone else will be either.

Smack one, save one, put one in prison.

I never did like that Lana Lang. Always lurking. Popping up every few years to remind Clark she's still alive. Oh, and by they way, not married anymore! Hint, hint Clark. The other woman, the poor man's Lois Lane if you will, saved by Superman time and time again. This time Lana, it's personal.

Superman/Batman wrapped up it's K arc today with #49. Stop reading now if you don't want to be spoiled. At Wizard World Philly Shane Davis hinted at a surprise ending that no one had yet picked up on. Well here it is: Lana Lang is a bitch.

If you haven't been following the book, Superman and Batman have been hunting down every piece of kryptonite on Earth in order to destroy it. They thought they were done until they found a rather large deposit in the possession of the U.S. Government. Eventually they discovered the kryptonite had been sold to them by LexCorp. Makes sense right? Only, Lex hasn't been running his company since he's been on the prison planet, Lana has.

Superman confronts Lana while Batman storms the building to figure out where the source of the kryptonite is located. Lana explains she was doing it for the greater good. LexCorp was in the hole and thousands of people depend on the company for survival. By arming the government against one of her oldest friends she was saving people. You know who else saves people Lana? SUPERMAN!

Batman finds the deposit of kryptonite they were looking for and Superman tells Lana it's over. Not so fast. She tells them there isn't one deposit, there are thousands and any attempt to go after them will force her to press a button which would release the kryptonite into the atmosphere as dust. Essentially she'd cover every inch of the planet making it unlivable to Superman and his super relatives. He calls her bluff and...she presses the button.

Clark is obviously crushed and immediately heads to the JLA Satellite for refuge. Luckily this catastrophe has a solution. Toyman (Toyboy?) Hiro has self-replicating spider-bots that clean on the microscopic level. They've got Earth clear of kryptonite up in no-time. In exchange Hiro got honorary membership in the JLA and a date with Powergirl.

Clark will probably never trust Lana again, nor should he, but he still knows there may come a time he might need to be taken down and he entrusts Batman will the last piece of kryptonite. On the last page we see Batman placing the kryptonite next to every other color kryptonite he's in possession of. No surprises there.

While reading Catwoman #80 today it hit home that the series has been canceled. I'm still really upset about that and suggest fans write to DC to get her back. It worked with Manhunter right? I actually didn't know when exactly it was set to end so I checked and we've got two more issues to go. The picture above will be the cover for #82 and has Selina looking more Audrey Hepburn than ever.

I'm not the only one who knows how important Catwoman is. In this weeks DC Nation column art director Mark Chiarello tells us the story behind "The Real Power of the DC Universe" poster that was given out during the NY Comic Con. Apparently Catwoman was never supposed to be in it and Adam Hughes took it upon himself to add her after repeated attempts to convince Dan Didio she should be included. I always thought it was a cool idea to have her there standing out as the only one dressed in black. But anyway, it's a fun story that's worth a read.

AAAAAND the creepy award for the week goes to....drumroll please...RED TORNADO!

Justice League of America #22 was focused on getting Red Tornado back into a body instead of drifting in the JLA computer. He's been a little depressed, granted, but while talking things over with his wife Kathy he tells her he watched Kendra and Roy having sex recently. Ewwww! Skeevy! Oh and the best part is, instead of Kathy yelling at him for being a peeping-tom, she jokes about how there's gotta be some porn on the JLA computer he can watch instead. Huh? Makes you wonder what else he's been watching...

DC Comics at the NY Comic Con - One Liners Galore

"How many people here want to know what's going on in the DC Universe?" That question was posed by Sr. VP/Executive Editor of DC Comics Dan Didio at the start of Friday's "DC Nation" panel of the NY Comic Con. It was met with a decent amount of applause and lots of laughter when some of the DC editors raised their hands. After two DC panels I'm still in the dark about what's going on in Supergirl but at least I now know lots of new and exciting things about to happen in the DCU. Here's some news from both.

Gail Simone filled us in on what's coming up in Wonder Woman. "Some of the best scientists in the entire world have the mathematical formula to take down Wonder Woman, so we're going to create a new Rogues Gallery for her," she said. As if that wasn't scary enough she followed it up with this, "Someone believes the Amazons are a failed experiment and is going to create their own Amazons. However, we are going to have a new Wonder Woman -- who is a man." No one in the audience knew quite how to respond to that so Didio asked if we liked their working title of The Manazons. It was a resounding no from the audience. One fan yelled out, "It sounds like a drag show!" Here's hoping it doesn't stick.

Peter Tomasi and Geoff Johns

Senior Coordinating Editor Jann Jones has been working hard on comics aimed at kids. She introduced a new six issue mini-series on the way called Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade. "We have a real commitment to taking our characters and making them really accessible to young kids," said Didio. And yes, 8th grade Supergirl will have a super cat.

The subject turned to the new Blue Beetle. After the crowd hollered that most of them read it, Didio admitted it is one of their weaker sales but, "one of the books that has the most support right now." Senior Story Editor Ian Sattler announced something different that would be happening in May. "Blue Beetle #26 is actually entirely in Spanish with English script in the back of the book," he said. Sadler and Didio said it is a good spot to jump on board. Blue Beetle is one of my favorite books so I was concerned about it's sales. At the second panel I decided I'd ask a question to see if I could help things along. Basically, I figured most people who weren't reading the book were big fans of Ted Kord and were still sour over his death during Countdown to Infinite Crisis. I stated that fans could still see him in recent issues of Booster Gold and asked if he was sticking around for good. "I can't tell you that," said Geoff Johns. What can I say? I gave it a shot. Speaking of Booster Gold Johns said that in issue one-million, "We find out who Rip Hunter is."

Of course the panel would finally get around to discussing Batman R.I.P. When asked directly by a fan if Batman was going to die, Didio put it to the panel. Keep in mind, most of their answers were in jest so there's no way to tell if they were telling the truth. Though by process of elimination one of them has to be right, right? Here were their varying answers:

Ian Sattler - "Someday."

Peter Tomasi - "Mmm could be?"

Geoff Johns - "Uh, no."

Sean McKeever - "Absolutely yes."

Jimmy Palmiotti - "Twice."

Gail Simone - "Of course."

Keith Giffen - "God willing."

Bob Wayne - "Not in a movie year!"

Jann Jones - "Mostly?"

Grant Morrison, J.G. Jones and Gail Simone

During the second panel the writer of Batman R.I.P., Grant Morrison, got a chance to speak. Didio asked him what that stood for and Morrison replied, "'Rest In Piece' apparently -- but he doesn't." Morrison sounded excited that this would be the culmination of all his Batman work. "Basically if you miss this one, you miss your chance to say goodbye," he said.

Geoff Johns announced that in the JSA Annual in July, called "Welcome to Earth-2", Power Girl finds herself back home there. Jimmy Palmiotti then announced some of the biggest news of the day. He and Justin Gray will be working on a new on-going series with art by Amanda Connor called Powergirl. "It's one of the books we've been asked for the most," said Didio, "I'd just like to say, we heard you. We just wanted to get the right team, the right style and the right jump-off point." Hooray for Powergirl!

About forty-minutes into the first panel and numerous questions being directed at Geoff Johns he finally decided to say, "You know what's weird, is that most people call me 'Geoff Johns' instead of Geoff." That didn't stop the fans, they kept calling him by his full name. Though one younger fan finally just said Geoff, with emphasis.

Gail Simone, Geoff Johns and Stephan Roux

In the second DC panel, just before she had to leave, Gail Simone delivered what was probably my favorite news all weekend. "We are doing a new Secret Six, ongoing," she announced. She anticipated us asking who the six would be, "Catman, Deadshot, Scandal, Ragdoll -- an A-list Batman villain -- and a new character that I've created with Nicola [Scott]." She revealed the new characters name is Jeanette and she has a secret that even the Secret Six do not know. She added, "It is going to be literally, the most ballsy DCU comic out there and it's going to be done by two redheaded women. So how cool is that?" Pretty cool if you ask me.

I was saddened to learn that Catwoman is getting canceled. A fan said he heard a rumor online and Didio confirmed it saying, "Catwoman is canceled, but that doesn't mean you won't be seeing the character in the DC Universe. By the next day of course news of the books demise had spread and by the time the second panel rolled around there was one very angry female fan who go up to demand an explanation. "I heard you're canceling Catwoman and I'm pretty pissed off about it. I just wanna know what's gonna happen to her," she said. Ian Sattler fielded this one, "She'll be in the Batman universe." But she quickly replied, "That's not good enough." She left unsatisfied with their answers and scared the panel so badly Didio felt the need to ask the next fan to, "Please be nice to us."

For the record, I did ask about Supergirl after my Blue Beetle question. I asked them what was going on, because I had no clue. Ian Sattler told me to hang tight, "Supergirl is gonna be a lot closer linked to Superman and Action shortly." Johns decided to add, "Supergirl is gonna be intricate, the character in the book is intricate to all the Superman plans for the rest of the year."  He continued to say she was an important character to the DCU, "We've got a story that's gonna kinda tilt her on her head but in a good way." I'm happy to hear that obviously because I think Supergirl deserves a lot more attention than she's gotten lately. But did you notice none of them actually told me what's going on right now in Supergirl? Nothing to do but wait I guess.

Grant Morrison

I think a good place to end would be with the fan who asked if Zatanna would be showing up anytime soon. After a few jokes about how she was sitting in the front row, i.e. me, Didio replied, "Reign in Hell and possibly something with Paul Dini coming very soon." Sounds good to me.

NY COMIC CON Day 2 - 2 yaD NOC CIMOC YN

Tada! Well, that's what magicians usually say anyway. As you can see, my second day at the NY Comic Con was in costume. Zatanna to be exact. I wouldn't really call myself a cosplayer. I dressed up as Poison Ivy last year but that was only because that was my Halloween costume that year and I spent enough time on it to warrant wearing it multiple times. I did Zatanna this year because it was relatively easy. I didn't have to make anything for it and my boyfriend already had the top hat for me to borrow. Plus, dressing up is loads of fun! I might skip the costume next year or at least dress as someone who wears, you know, pants.

Saturday was filled with lots of people and lots of picture taking. For me, scooting around the show floor was practically impossible. I couldn't go five inches without someone walking into me, stopping abruptly or asking to take my picture. After a while I just gave up and hung out with my friends by the entrance. I kept it lighter on the panels this time around. I went to the second DC panel, "DCU: Countdown to Crisis," but as I mentioned yesterday I'm holding off to report on those two alone.

"Spotlight on Grant Morrison" was my second panel of the day. I got a front row spot (lucky for me my seat travels with me) and settled in for what I knew was going to be a great time. Comic book art historian Arlen Schumer compiled a ten minute introduction made up entirely of quotes from Grant interviews and a slideshow of art from his books as well as a few shots of Grant himself. My personal favorite had to be the one with the kitten on Grant's shoulder. I just about melted. Anyway, kudos to Mr. Schumer on a well thought-out and outstanding introduction. Plus, he liked my costume.

DC Editor Eddie Berganza also sat in but didn't get a chance to talk after the crowd started in with their questions for Grant. A fan asked him what his plans were after Final Crisis. Besides some creator owned projects he's working on he said, "I'm gonna keep doing Batman for a while. Superhero comics I think I'll take a little break. I'll try and rethink what I want to do with them and how I feel about them." Speaking of Batman later on Morrison said he'd be taking him, "To the grave." He was asked, of course, about the upcoming Batman R.I.P. He continued talking about the part he's working on now, specifically Batman getting taken down. "When we begin to suspect the identity of the villain, I think it's the most, like I said the other day, it's possibly the most shocking Batman revelation in 70 years," he said.

There were quite a lot of questions concerning Morrison's drug use through the years and how it affects his work. Surprisingly he announced he was straight-edge until he was 30-years-old but then, "I kind of decided to treat myself as a laboratory and to become something else. I wondered how much you could mess with your own personality. So I just started to do all the things I never done before." He even went so far as to admit, "I became like a Tranny for a while, I used to dress up like a girl once in a while. And I was beautiful at it!" That particular statement was met with extended laughter and applause. As to the drugs themselves, "I don't do so much of that anymore," said Morrison.

I said earlier I knew I was in for a great time. That became blatantly obvious when Grant decided to tell a joke about two Nuns and a Donkey. A fan asked about a reference to it in the script for Arkham Asylum and wanted to know if it was a real joke. He was reluctant to oblige at first telling us he was horrible at telling jokes, which in the technical sense he was. He started off with the punch-line but the way he told it was probably even funnier than if any other person had done it in the correct order. "That's the only joke I know and I still can't tell it," he said. We don't mind Grant.

A fan asked if Morrison would ever consider writing an autobiography, "Nah, you wouldn't believe it," he replied. He said that comics were more like real life to him anyway, "Have you seen this South American dwarf? Have any of you guys seen that thing? That's the world we live in, it's nuts, it's filled with gaps and weirdness and strangeness. So I'm actually trying to be realistic in my stuff." In case you have no idea what he's talking about, check out this article from The Sun.

After Grant Morrison's panel I made a failed attempt to get inside the "Voice Actors and the City" panel which was in one of the smaller rooms and had so many people they flowed out through the door. I was really looking forward to getting into that one seeing as how I do voiceovers but alas it was not meant to be. I took a trip back upstairs to see if the show floor had gotten worse since I last saw it. It had, so I stayed near the entrance and got this great shot of Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett.

The Venture Bros. had their first panel at NYCC last year. It was small but popular. They decided to invite the guys back this year. They weren't nearly prepared for them. A line so long had formed outside their designated room, employees soon realized they needed to make a switch. They put us in the room that was used for the DC and Marvel panels and that was currently reserved for an Eli Stone panel. Sorry Eli, but you've got nothing on the Ventures. 

Ken Plume (yes I just linked you to his wiki entry, get over it) moderated this years panel with Doc Hammer, Jackson Publick, Mike Sinterniklaas, and James Urbaniak in attendance. I missed last years more intimate setting that allowed me to chat with the guys afterwards. It was standing room only this time around and even that had to be cut off shortly after the panel started. It's no wonder, the four guys showed up in semi-coordinated outfits that made them look like winners of Best Rock Album at the MTV Video Music Awards.

A video previewing clips from season three was shown. There were parts set to the usual Venture Bros. music (a soundtrack is finally in the works) and parts with dialogue. Inevitably at things like this you miss the best parts because people are still laughing about the last bit but it was still great obviously. The guys could probably talk amongst themselves for hours but eventually got around to taking questions from the audience. The guys said they had prizes to give away to the questions that entertained them the most. One asked if Kim was going to be back this season. Doc replied, "I have a theory on Kim. A lot of her stuff is cut out and I think the only reason people love Kim is because people want to be, or be with Kim." He continued, "What happened that she was awesome? She's like Triana's dopey friend. She's hot, admit it!" That fan, you might have already guessed, did not get a prize.

A prize did wind up going to a very unique couple. They were dressed as the Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend. What made them stand out was the fact that they asked Doc Hammer to perform their wedding ceremony. And they were serious, the girl had their invitation in hand. Doc quickly jumped in with questions like; "Where is it?" "Is it, like, an over-night thing?" "Are we gonna be on a boat? Cause I get mighty sea-sick." Finally there needed to be an actual response, "I'm gonna give you a tentative maybe," Doc said. He took the invite and in exchange gave the girl a random DVD.

Of course, for any fan of cartoon voice actors, the thing you wait for is the moment they slip into the character you know so well. More often than not, for whatever reason, it never happens. A fan asked James Urbaniak to give us a pick-up line in his Dr. Venture voice and end it with a "meow".  I had the forethought to record this one on video:

Someone near the end of panel asked why Brock can't disable a simple chastity belt, referring to the one Molotov Cocktease wears. "Obviously he can do it but that chastity belt is a symbol for her virginity. It's not like a physical shield that he can't get through. When she opens that and gives the divine bounty of her delicious crotch to Brock, she will open up that symbol." The fan still seemed unconvinced so Doc jabbed, "What is stopping you from having sex?" Getting more riled up as he went along he bellowed, "Brock can pull the thing off with his teeth! And he will! Swallow it whole and then go back for seconds." I barely recovered from that one.

Well, there you have it, Day 2 of the NY Comic Con. Since I avoided the show floor for most of the day I missed most of the posing opportunities with other costumed folks. I had a lot of pictures taken of me earlier in the day though, if you have any please send them along to me. Fortunately on my way out I caught some of Batman's Rogue gallery plus another Zatanna!

Stay tuned tomorrow for my DC panel coverage!