Show Notes

The second day of the convention wa sby far the best in years with celebrity interviews, big annoucements and the Gold Bond working in overdrive. Let’s not waste any time, download the podcast and clickthrough to read out report and check out the photos!

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Dressy Bessy

We thought things were happening before, but we had not yet begun to geek. Day two, Saturday, was a day of many notable happenings. What seemed like nothing but an ordinary day turned out to be one of our best ever days at the Con. Weary from travel, lack of sleep, and a lot of walking, things started off a little slowly Friday. But they would pick up.

We walked around the convention floor in search of adventure, and came upon one of iFanboy’s absolute favorite writers, Greg Rucka (who managed to pimp Antony Johnston’s Wasteland from Oni), We spoke with Greg for a little while, and he proved to be as interesting as we’d hoped.

Just after that, we spent a little time with comic writer and bon vivant, Joe Casey, over at his Man of Action booth, expertly located directly across from the plush double carpeted DC Pavillion. We talked a little bit about the fact that Joe never appears without sunglasses in public, and that he’s now an indie creator god. Yet, most embarrassingly, Josh could only remember the title of Godland, and forgot the name of his new book from Boom Studios, Black Plague. Joe then blogged the experience right on Man of Action’s website.

Then it was off to panels. The program scheduling really started picking up today, so we’re all going to be spending a lot more time in the panels from here on out.

Conor: Ron and I hit the JLA/JSA panel in one of the main hall rooms. As with all of the DC panels, Dan DiDio held court from the moderator’s podium over a panel that consisted of Justice League of America writer Brad Meltzer, Justice Society of America writer Geoff Johns, and editors Eddie Berganza and Steve Wacker. Geoff Johns actually came running in late from the Warner Home Video panel to announce that he and Richard Donner would be writing Action Comics together in the fall. A lot of the audience questions revolved around who would be on the rosters of the JLA ans JSA. One thing we can tell you: definitely on the JLA: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and The Red Tornado. Most likely on the team: Hal Jordan and Bart Allen. Possibly on the team: Cyborg and Power Girl. Definitely not on the team: J’onn J’onzz. Definitely on the JSA: Alan Scott, Jay Garrick, Mr. Terrific and Obsidian. I’m not sure how Alan Scott and Mr. Terrific are going to run Checkmate and be on the JSA, but we’ll see…

Josh: My wife and I were incredibly excited about our first panel of the day: The Battlestar Galactica panel. We got there early, to make sure we didn’t miss out on seating, and completely by surprise, we happened in on what has easily been my favorite panel so far. Warner Home Video did a panel on the different versions of Superman available, at least ostensibly. They trotted out the original Lois Lane, the 2006 Jimmy Olsen, the 1978 Jimmy Olsen, and Kryptonian criminal and former boxer, Jack O’Halloran. But then they announced the arrival of a new DVD of Richard Donner’s version of Superman 2, featuring an all new re-edited version, restoring 80% of what Donner originally shot before they took him off the project. After showing the new intro, better linking the first and second films, the grand master himself came out and said some words. If you’ve ever listened to the commentary on the Superman DVD, you’ll know he’s terribly interesting to listen to and has a really great gruff voice. Then they played a fantastic clip they lost from the original release where Lois thinks she has Clark’s identity figured out. I’d explain it, but it would be worth it to wait and watch the DVD. I think it’s going to be really good, and outshine the original release by a long shot. Incidentally, someone asked about the new movie, and Donner couldn’t have been more complimentary. He specifically mentioned that he was a fan of the superkid, and really liked the way that they Singer portrayed the relationship development between Lois and Clark. So the folks complaining on the internet might think it’s not in the spirit of Donner’s movie, but Donner does.

Then it was off to the Battlestar Galactica panel. Show creators Ronald D. Moore and David Eick were joined by cast members Edward James Olmos, Lucy Lawless, James Callis (Baltar!), and the guy who plays Master Chief, whose name is not listed, as he was not planned. It was relatively uneventful, but definitely entertaining. However, someone needed to stop both Olmos and Lawless from giving away plot details from next season, because someone might have wanted them, but I didn’t.

And then it was time to roam the floor once more. We spent a bunch of time walking around looking for something to do and didn’t have much luck.

But then Ron looked over at Josh and said, “Isn’t that Joss Whedon?” A quick nod and we tracked him down like animals, ambushing the man, and leaving him no choice but to talk to us.

We scampered back to the home base at the DC Booth to tell Conor and Gordon the Intern of our conquest. After getting the words out, we noticed a commotion starting up. Everyone was taking pictures with some young guy in a baseball cap.

Wait a second, is that Bryan Singer?

Crap, let’s talk to him! We pushed our way through crowds of children to secure a short but satisfying conversation with him. He was smart and cordial, and friendly to all the people trying to grab a piece of him. By the time we got out of there, it had grown from a crowd to a mob, and was promptly approaching a stampede.

After those thrills, we found ourselves remembering the poorly scheduled 52 Panel from 6-7 PM. This one featured Dan DiDio moderating a panel of editor Steve Wacker, writer/all-stars Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, and Greg Rucka, and artists Chris Batista and J.G Jones. Strangely enough, while we’ve had our issues with the 52 series, this panel was a hell of a lot more entertaining than the Civil War panel from Thursday. We’re here to tell you that if you take Greg Rucka to task, you better be able to back it up. A reader challenged the DC staff that while the characters were pretty diverse, both they and the creators could stand to be more diverse. Rucka took offense to that, and while he started off politely, he basically told the guy that the story and character are most important, and “tokenizing” characters only makes the story worse, and they wouldn’t do it. Then, out of nowhere, Grant Morrison starts in on the guy saying that he’s not a white male, but rather a Scot, who’ve been oppressed by the British for centuries, standing at one point to scream into the microphone as the panel chortled. It seemed like he was trying to be funny (funny accent and all) but he was visibly seething for a little bit, and actually apologized for his outburst at the end of the panel. Other than that, there was a lot of talk about how they work on the book, and the unique challenge that this book presents.

And if that’s not enough for one day, we’ll just never be able to make you happy. See you back here tomorrow!

Gordon the Intern’s Special Report

Day Two –

So, another full day on the con floor – wowza. I was supposed to have the day off – but, sadly, my buddy got bronchitis, so the museum and beach were out… con floor was in. So what was the plan for day two? More of the same…

I wandered aimlessly around the floor searching for more “booth babes” (Thanks again for another interview, Kristin!) and more things to make fun of. The difference today was the insane amount of people. At one point I sent a text message to my bosses saying “I cannot even walk down here.” I think there were twice as many people. Seriously.

I attended my first panel today. It was a screening of the new show Heroes and some words with the cast. I actually bailed after the show…but I did get some pictures of the cast, just no words. Lovin’ the press pass – I feel like I can walk anywhere. I lost my pen as I scampered out early. Karma I s’pose.

I should note that before the Heroes screening there was a Star Trek meeting in the room – so I was fortunate enough to catch the last 30 minutes of that torture. Here are the notes that I took – “WHERE AM I?” – “GOD SAVE MY SOUL!!!” – “MAKE IT STOP!!!” It was terrible. I had no idea.

In the evening I went to another panel. I mostly went because I did not want to walk around for another hour. The panel was called “DC 52” or something. It was full of dork jokes that I didn’t get.

All in all it was a good day. Pictures are updated – and there should be a special picture section coming in a few days…

Tomorrow is going to be crazy. I hope I don’t get trampled. I just need to survive until the iFanboy party tomorrow night!!!

Gordon the Intern

OVERHEARD AT THE CONVENTION

– When you called me I was right about to meet Richard Donner!

– Pickachu? Pee-who?

– You can do all three of us at once. It will be more fun!

– Have you ever even seen this show?

PHOTOAPALOOZA

Ron: My left shoulder hurts. alot.