Guest Blog Post by @christyxcore

Comic-Con is my escape from reality. It allows me to dive into the pages of stories and to immerse myself in a world where I can forget about everything that really matters. Comic-Con is a stress reliever.

I had an interest in going beginning 3 years ago because I wanted to see all the cool stuff and also to meet new people that share that common interest with me. I figured I’d even get to meet some famous people. This is why I go to both the Anime Expo and Comic-Con.

I developed an interest in anime in middle school when the series Pokemon was first getting popular. This led me to discover other anime titles and that’s what started my anime/manga hobby. I have been interested in these comics ever since childhood because of the heroes I had read about and would admire. My brother was always into that stuff and he helped me go to the comic book stores and buy me comics. My favorite was X-Men at the time.

I’m a nerd when it comes to conventions like Comic-Con. These cons are my complete escape from the daily realities that exist outside the walls my own personal nerd-fest. Comic-Con is like walking through a comic book, video game, or anime; it’s like walking through a bunch of these at once.

The thing that kills the fun at cons like Comic-Con is the waiting in lines but it’s always worth it in the end. Well, except for the line for Tite Kubo, the creator of ever-popular series Bleach. There were several hundred fans and the room was tiny! A majority of the people didn’t make it in and that was a big disappointment at the con for me. I didn’t get to see the creators of one of my favorite anime series. I had been looking forward to that for weeks! I guess that means I know what to expect for next year.

However, it was awesome to see other fans of the series like myself. I felt like I belonged. I fit in with these people because we all share the common interest of one anime on the surface and probably a ton more of other series and perhaps video games and other common interests. While waiting in line alone, I didn’t feel like I was alone because all the people around me were just like me.

The biggest attraction for me was the experience of having another Comic-Con under my belt. I believe that the highlight moment for me this year was the chance to be in the same room as Matt Groening and his genius.

Why do I admire him so? I grew up on his work. From when I was a toddler to my teenage years, The Simpsons was the only show back then that I thought was funny even though I didn’t know most of the jokes as a child but I still loved the characters and those funny moments I did understand. I would watch it religiously.

However as I grew up, I moved on from The Simpsons because it just didn’t entertain me as much as it once did. I discovered Futurama before I gave up on the Simpsons and I found a new work of Matt Groening that I absolutely admire to death.

Due to his writing staff having Masters and PhDs, they write more obscure jokes that only a select crowd could understand and get. As I grew up I got more into video games and technology and then I understood some more of the jokes they made in Futurama. Not all the jokes are about video games or computers. Some are just stupid humor but done in an excellent way.

I find the theme in Futurama to be a bit more complex than The Simpsons and has somewhat better jokes than The Simpsons, at least in the newer seasons. The storyline focuses on all the characters, and they actually progress; unlike in The Simpsons where they remain the same. The relationship between Fry and Leela is always changing and growing; it’s things like this that made me move from old-school Simpsons to new-age Futurama.

 
Comic-Con

From July 24-27, 2008 in San Diego, California, was the annual San Diego Comic-Con 2008. Despite the name, Comic-Con is not limited to just comic books. It’s more like “Pop Culture Con” because the variety of things to be found and explored within the convention center walls ranges from comic books to books to anime, movies and TV shows to video games and trading card games. Anything that is nerdy and popular will find a place in the ever popular Comic-Con International.

Comic-Con is a much more different experience than the other convention I have been to this month as well, Anime Expo 2008. Whereas such a convention is dedicated to the popular Japanese arts and animation and video games with an estimated attendance of almost 50,000 people from all over, Comic-Con is a convention where there is something for pretty much anyone, regardless of tastes, and has an estimated 130,000+ attendees from patterns of previous years.

I was able to get a free badge to Comic-Con for the last 3 years due to my brother’s employment at toy company Mattel, which grants him access to Professional and Exhibitor level badges and I have been invited to go every year with him. This year, I attended Friday and Saturday (July 25-26).

Star Wars Day

This Friday was Star Wars Day, where the main theme of the convention is that of George Lucas’ treasured sci-fi movie series, Star Wars. I like Star Wars myself, but I am not a diehard fan of it. However, there were plenty of Star Wars fanatics roaming around the Exhibit Hall dressed up in costumes that came straight from the Star Wars universe ranging from stormtroopers, Darth Vader, jedis, and there was even a Elvis Stormtrooper! Yes, thats right. An Elvis version stormtrooper. Truly one of the creative ones. And finding Star Wars merchandise was not a hard thing to accomplish, especially on Star Wars day.

It is lovely to see even young little children dressing up and showing the Star Wars spirit! There were plenty of little kids dressed up in stormtrooper or Boba Fett or jedi outfits. Even barely toddlers were dressed up and there was one particularly charming pair of toddlers that just made me stop and say ‘aww…’. It’s quite a feeling to see such young toddlers that probably could barely understand the complex storyline of Star Wars dressing up like the characters. Star Wars is a sci-fi pop culture symbol and even the new generation of children are recognizing it so.

The Dark Knight - Joker Fandom

With The Dark Knight making record breaking sales from just the two weeks that it’s been out, there has been much recognition for Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker at the convention. Finding a Joker wasn’t hard to do, just walk a bit and you’d be sure to encounter one. There is one particular Joker that was easily one of the best around and truly my favorite Joker: the Nurse Joker. I almost mistook it for the real thing straight from the movie at first sight!

I could not really find anyone that was dressed up like The Dark Knight’s Batman (just the original costume from the comic books and cartoons) or Two-Face, and saw a few Commissioner Gordons. But the majority of Dark Knight people were indeed the Joker, and it’s not surprising since Heath Ledger’s performance as Batman’s nemesis was truly spectacular.

Futurama and The Simpsons

Matt Groening and his cast from “Futurama” and “The Simpsons” did their traditional panel in Ballroom 20 on Saturday July 26. I was lucky enough to make it to the panel, as I got in the line 15 minutes before the Futurama one started, and actually got in the room.

It was pretty much just a Q&A session for both shows, the questions being provided by fans that feel the need to ask critical questions (or just plain silly ones). I found the Futurama panel to be a bit more interesting than The Simpsons, but that’s only because I haven’t cared for the Simpsons since several seasons back. But it’s all good…

One question that is of high importance in the Futurama panel was whether they would be working on getting a new season of Futurama on the air. The answer? Depending on the sales of the movies currently out (Bender’s Big Score and The Beast With a Billion Backs) and the future sales of the other two movies, and whether Fox (it was their first year at Comic Con!) would get wind of how enthusiastic fans are for the series, it could be a small ray of hope for the future of Futurama.

Another question of some importance was about the development between Fry and Leela. Of course, they couldn’t say exactly what will happen, but there will be more development between the two in the next two movies. I guess there is some more development in BwaBB, but I have yet to see this one yet (yes, shame on me) so I wouldn’t know. I plan on seeing it soon though. But yes, more development on Fry and Leela’s relationship! Also: Katey Sagal (Leela) and Billy West (Fry, Farnsworth, Zoidberg) kissed in front of the hundreds of fans! In response to the Fry and Leela relationship question. It was certainly a surprise brought on by Billy West (which I got to actually meet in person at Comic Con 2006).

The Simpsons panel was pretty much the same as the Futurama panel, except of course it was the Simpsons cast of writers and animators. They did show a clip from the upcoming Treehouse of Horrors XIX and talked about future guest appearances in the series, with plenty of surprises.

Soul Calibur IV

There was the Bandai booth which featured plenty of upcoming video game titles to try out, with the highly anticipated Soul Calibur IV being the main spotlight with its release this week on Tuesday.

People were able to sneak a peek at all the playable characters, which have returning favorites and changed characters in relation to the storyline of the Soul Calibur franchise, and additional characters, including the first armor-clad female, Hilde. The XBOX 360 version will also have Yoda and the PS3 version will have Darth Vader, and both will have stages in relation to their respectable Star Wars characters.

Also, this will be the first time in which the character’s armor will be able to break during battle, changing their appearance slowly throughout the battles. Hilde’s full body armor can break into pieces and reveal her in just pieces of cloth, which of course will just make her more vulnerable. Seems that the costumes will be more towards the realistic side, which only adds to the completely realistic graphics.

Anime fans should have been pleased to know that Tite Kubo, creator of [adult swim]’s Bleach, made a rare appearance at Comic Con 2008 as well. Unfortunately, I had lined up about 20 minutes late, because I was unable to get into the panel. I am guessing they did not anticipate so many Bleach fans, because it was in Room 7A and the line was gigantic. Perhaps the people in charge should take that into consideration for next year.

A place where nerds of all kinds collide and bond over their shared common interest-pop culture. Comic books, books, manga, anime, television shows, movies, trading card games, art, video games, collectibles. Comic-Con has got them all.

 

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Guest post for Twitter Stars by @christyxcore

Christine Chan is a student, writer, iPhone and MacBook user, gamer, otaku, Moleskine user, tech geek, and coffee lover.

Tags: Arts, Comic-Con International, Comics, Futurama, Matt Groening, San Diego, San Diego California, Simpsons

This entry was posted on Monday, July 28th, 2008 at 7:14 am and is filed under Twitter Stars Report. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.