SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON 2003 – DAY THREE

The third and busiest day of the con, Saturday can be the best in terms of programming and things to do, but it can also be the worst in terms of the huge number of people attending and the difficulty in walking around.

We spent the majority of the day in panels, but we did manage to take some pictures.

Click to read more about our day and the sights and news we took in.

We started the day at the Marvel panel with Joe Quesada, Editor in Chief, and J. Michael Straczynski and Brian Michael Bendis, writers of the top Marvel titles relating to Spider-Man. The panel was strictly Q&A and at the early time, the room was still packed. There was a lot of discussion around the comics but despite Marvel‘s “not breaking news in San Diego” policy, there was some news broken: Bendis announced that iFanboy fave Alias was ending at issue #28. He made it clear that it was not being cancelled, rather he was just “done with the title.” A new title called The Pulse will launch. It will be a PG book and feature Jessica Jones, Ben Urich, and J. Jonah Jameson and will be about stories within the Marvel Universe. Bendis also revealed that he will be introducing new characters in Ultimate X-Men, including Ultimate Angel and Ultimate Dazzler. The panel came to an end as the crowd started to swell in anticipation for the next panel, about Smallville.

Kevin Smith returned to San Diego and got the biggest room at the con to preside over. He did his usual story telling and answered a lot of questions for the amused audience, which has seen him do this year after year, but it doesn’t matter because it’s always worth watching. Smith is a great storyteller and a naturally funny guy who really connects with the con crowd .

After Smith, we staked out our seats for several hours of movie related programming. First was New Line Cinema’s presentation for Freddy vs. Jason and The Lord of the Rings. To be honest, we just sat around waiting for Freddy vs. Jason to be over so we could get to The Lord of the Rings. The wait was worth it, as the LOTR presentation was fantastic. Richard Taylor and others from the WETA workshop brought armor and costumes on stage for display and explained how the thousands of props were made for the movies. Then it was a parade of stars as Dominic Monaghan (Merry), Andy Serkis (Gollum), Elijah Wood (Frodo) and Sean Astin (Sam) took the stage. The crowd went nuts as the cast chatted about the Gollum experience as well as some brief tales from the filming of the movie. And then the moment that most of the crowd was waiting for came. We were shown three minutes of footage and behind the scenes interviews for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. It was amazing. Fans will be able to see it and more in the upcoming DVD release in August.

After New Line, Sony took the stage to present for three movies: Underworld, Hellboy, and Spider-Man 2. Underworld is a new movie coming in the fall about a war between vampires and werewolves starring Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman. Ron flipped out when he found out that the cast was present for the panel, as Scott Speedman was on Felicity which was one of his favorite TV shows. Once the shock wore off, we realized that Kate Beckinsale didn’t notice the camera focused on her was projecting on 4 large screens in the room. Therefore, she didn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes and generally looking like she didn’t want to be there… a lot. Again, we patiently waited for the Underworld panel to end, as they moved right into Hellboy, starring Ron Perlman and Selma Blair. We were treated to some clips and footage from the upcoming comic book adaptation directed by Guillermo del Toro. Mike Mignola, Hellboy creator, was on hand to answer questions about the movie production and the journey it took from comic book to film. Once Mignola finished, the big finale for began. Producers Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin informed the crowd that director Sam Raimi was home sick and unable to attend the panel, which brought a groan from the crowd. But the unveiling of the poster of Doctor Octopus and a scene from the upcoming Spider-Man 2 got the crowd cheering. Alfred Molina, who plays Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man 2, came to the stage and joined Arad, Ziskin as well as special effects god John Dykstra (he worked on Star Wars) for some Q&A from the crowd.

We ended the day at a panel hosted by the suite of talent that creates Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. The creators behind programs such as The Brak Show, Home Movies and Aqua Teen Hunger Force were on the panel and provided lots of laughs. They rolled a tape of clips of the shows hosted by Brak. We were delighted to hear that come November, there will be new Space Ghost Coast to Coast episodes, which made going to the panel worthwhile.

All in all, the day blew by. I don’t know if it was the hours spent sitting in the same room for panels, or if it was the mass amount of people, but next thing we knew, we were calling it a day and heading out for some meat. A fine way to end the busiest day of the con.

Comments

  1. Great report guys!

  2. I read this at the Pulse:

  3. Oh yeah – I saw that. It was ultra brief though and it was way early.