Entry tags:

batman, eureeka, gen con, hancock, san diego comicon

Comicon wrapup, and next comes Gen Con!

This image to the left was a last-minute snapshot from one of the aisle signs that was soon carted away as the last of 2008's San Diego Comicon came to a close. Plans are already afoot for next year, including new trades and comics from me, and hopefully entirely new banners printed for the occasion (grin). I mean, c'mon. At least measure the number first if you're not going to even match the ink...

Sorry for the abrupt vanishing act from the web, by the way; I'd intended to follow up some more on Saturday/Sunday, but things got a bit rush-rush around the convention, and Cristi apparently got some bad seafood along the way (luckily, it was the last day we were in California, and she did some recouperation on the plane and ride home). And as busy as I was with my digital camera, there's always shots you miss, darnit.

Anyway, it's nearly time for Gen Con Indy, and we'll be at booth 1621. Once again, I'm rolling to see if I can score some bread pudding (or as I call it, "French Toast Loaf") from the Ram Restaurant & Brewery before it's all gone (which happened, I believe, at about 12:05pm on the first day of the con last year).

A few movie reflections, both a little behind the curve. First, I finally saw "The Dark Knight," and it was one of the better yarns told about Batman (in non-animated form. I'm still a big "Mask of the Phantasm" fan) to date. The only thing that seemed "off" was Bale's "Bat-Voice," which got to be a little forced at times, but that's just a quibble. The Bat-Pod/Cycle was better executed than I'd expected (if one can be said to choreograph a motorcycle, whoever did it for this one deserves an award) and it's really a shame we won't see Heath Ledger's "Joker" again; he nailed it as well as Mark Hamill did in the animated series.

The wife and I also got to see "Hancock." After coming out of this movie, I wondered why there was all the hate towards this film I'd read about earlier. True, it wasn't a ground-breaking superhero epic, but I don't think it deserved all the scorn it recieved. I'd say I liked it better than "Superman Returns," but "Hancock" had the advantage of not being a remake of an earlier film being presented as a sequel. Will Smith's hero was even given someone to fight, albeit an eventual "ally," and while the real villain was barely a blip in the plot, he arrived at a critical moment, making his threat believable. But Jason Bateman is the real reason to see "Hancock," I think; His public relations act composed my favorite bits of the film. So I'd call this one a decent rental, or a movie you probably wouldn't regret seeing in the theater, especially if nothing else was playing in time for you to not miss your flight out of San Diego. :)

"Eureeka" came back for a third season this week, with the usual "science gone wrong" plot device (not that there's anything wrong with that). The show's point, however, seemed to be the setup of a new villain and adding the tension of a main character possibly going to prison. I'm willing to give this one a pass so long as they follow through on the plot threads left over from last season. It does seem a shame that "the Artifact" seems to no longer be in play, but who knows? And, as was pointed out in the comments in the last post, SciFi has picked up Amanda Tapping's webisode-series "Sanctuary." For those who have seen it, what do you make of her British accent? Good? Bad? Better than some of the American ones in Doctor Who?

- We've got blob-slicing aplenty in Amorphous+. Achievements are there to be earned, but frankly, I can't even get past a SMALL nest without getting eaten or "slimed" to death.
- I posted the "Cake Wrecks" blog last week, but they've added a pretty cool one. Shaken, not stirred.
- George Lucas can't leave well enough alone, and he's already 'enhancing' "Raiders of the Lost Ark".
- Whether or not one belives in vampires, many cultures did, and archaeologists are digging up the results. In other vampire news, I think I've run across Dracula's dining room table.
- A fan-favorite filker and FUMP fraternist has fallen afoul of fickle fate. In short, Tom Smith is in the hospital sans insurance and could use some help. Donate and get a tribute MP3 collection to the man who gave us "Zombie Blues".
- My theory was that the recent California earthquake was due to all of us comiconners leaving the area too quickly. It turns out that the gods just wanted to mess with Judge Judy.
- An interesting interview with R. Stevens of "Diesel Sweeties" fame as he talks about leaving print syndication because he earned less money doing it. Is this a paradigm shift to the web? An inability of print editors to bring webcomic "edge" to their papers? Both? Neither?
- The Battle reminds me a bit of the "Bowmaster" series, but with a more mechanised setup.
- Die-hard "Law & Order" fans will have to admit that the California sunshine sure has been good for former D.A. Adam Schiff.
- Here's a distracting little side-scroller SHMUP called Intrusion. Gotta love low-gravity planets.
- Lastly, how about a quick trip to Broadway with Comicon: The Musical?