Some Photos from the Show

The First Chilean Superhero

Marko Zaror is a badass. Big and tough, he moves like lightning, but possesses a sense of humor like Jackie Chan. If there's any justice, he'll gain at least a portion of Chan's fame when his films get some attention here in America. "Kiltro" and "Mirageman" were screened at the Comic Con, and they are extremely entertaining martial arts films that are cult classics waiting to be discovered. I'll have reviews of them soon, and they'll be released this year by Magnet, the new genre division of Magnolia.

A Hasty Retreat

Unfortunately, my leg is not much better this morning, so I won't be making it back to the show. That's really disappointing for me, because though Kids Day in the past has been a somewhat sleepy day for the con, this year it was loaded with panels on upcoming films, including the new "Harold and Kumar," Brendan Fraser's "Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D" and "Igor," with John Cusack. I'll have to console myself with the fact that this was easily the best of the three NY Comic Cons so far for film fans, as there were plenty of interesting panels, entertaining appearances and lots of fantastic world premieres. Overall, it makes me look forward to next year's show already, even if it is shifting back to February.

I'll be posting good photos (as in not liveblogged from my phone) and thoughts today as I wrap things up. Thanks for reading.

A goodbye and an apology

I'll be leaving now, and will unfortunately miss the Starship Troopers 3 panel. Unless things improve, tomorrow is out as well you see, I slipped a moment ago, and now, something is wrong with my leg. Nothing life changing, but walking is difficult and painful.

Sorry bout that.

Eva Mendes sure is cute

At the panel for "The Spirit" Frank Miller, Eva Mendes and company (with Kurt Loder as moderator) presented us with the trailer for the film, and it basically rocked, looking a lot like "Sin City" which is just fine. In her flowery Spring dress, Mendes stood out to be sure, but then, so did Miller, who dressed like The Spirit.

Best quote:
"However many great actors there are in Hollywood, they don't turn out a lot of 'men.'" - Frank Miller, on the difficulty of casting The Spirit

2nd Best:
"When he turned around, I'd take it. I have a whole collection. E-Baaaaaaaay!" - Eva Mendes on the drawings Miller would make on the set to help direct

Speed Racer Gets Slow reaction - Batman is Betterer

The kid who plays Spridle intro'd the trailer to "Speed Racer" but the fan response was so so. It stood in stark contrast to the wild applause that met the new trailer for "The Dark Knight," which will reach the general public in about two weeks. What's in it? Just what you'd hope for (though no two-face.) The Joker is now truly frightening.

If you weren't excited about the new Hulk movie

You should have seen the clip they just showed here. It was of a certain fellow making a very special cameo. I can't post spoilers via mobile, so I will put the identity in later. But most of you have probably guessed already. Treat yourself to a drink.

OK...I was quick to judge

At a panel on the new Hulk movie, with director Louis Leterrier, Tim Roth and others, they showed a few unfinished clips from the film, one of which sees the Hulk battle a pre-Abomination Emil Blonsky. Looks pretty damn good, but man, they overdid it on the wire-Fu.

By the way, producer Kevin Peige (sp?) Said he'd like to see an Avengers movie, and that the status of Iron Man. And Nick Fury in the film will have to wait til the film opens.

By the way, Leterrier is a riot and seems to have earned some faith from the fans. Plus, the whole thing was recorded, so expect it on the DVD. In case it doesn't, ask me who the special guest was some time.

NY ComicCon Rates

Exclusive clips from LucasFilms and Universal point to one thing...After three years, the NY Comic Con has arrived and is a player in the movie game.

Jolie Pictures

Say whatever you want about Timur Longrussianlastname, but the man knows how to deliver an action scene. A shootout/chase scene from "Wanted" shown at the ComicCon makes this a must-see if the talk to action ratio is better than "Night Watch."

Battling Uphill

LucasFilms debuted a minidocumentary about the new animated Clone Wars that looks fantastic. Look for it to appear on StarWars.com soon.

Robot Chicken on DVD

"The great thing about DVD is, you don't need to watch the whole thing" - Seth Green

Why is that? Because the DVD Extras feature Breckin Meyer shirtless playing with LifeSavers.

On the positive side, They showed a clip of George Lucas in therapy from the DVD that was damn funny. July 22nd in stores.

Geek Love

LucasFilms packed out the main room for a presentation on Star Wars and Indiana Jones. First up was Star Wars, with talk about the release of the new animated feature film in August, the weekly series coming this fall, and the new video game, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, coming September 16. The trailer for the game is rather impressive, showing off the enhanced force powers of Darth Vader's secret apprentice.



The new 3rd volume of Young Indiana Jones DVDs got a mention, noting it will feature an impressive 30 hours of documentaries according to the presentation. Of course, the new Indiana Jones is the reason most were in attendance, with a chance to watch the trailer on the big screen being a major draw. Not surprisingly, they took the opportunity to promote a new book on the films, and a new rerelease of the Indy DVDs. Plus, they showed a trailer for the new Lego Indiana Jones video game, which looks great.



On hand to talk about Star Wars were the creators of Robot Chicken, Seth Green and Matt Senrich, who spoke about the origins of Robot Chicken and the influence Star Wars has been on them, a point made obvious with a montage of clips from the Star Wars episode.

Day Two

Lines look longer than last year, which should result in a brutal crush once we're in the hall. It's also much warmer (last year the show hit in February), which should also not be a good thing.

Donkey Punch

Magnolia's got a new genre division called Magnet, and one of their upcoming releases is called "Donkey punch." What's it about? Exactly what you think. Can't wait to see the poster.
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More X-Files?

Per Carter, there's opportunity to consider more X-Files after the film. Moderator: "Sequel announced!"

-Frank Black in the movie? "No."
-For anyone not in the know, the film is PG-13 (or at least, that's the goal.)
-The story was written after the series was completed (not part of a long-range plan)
-Billy Connolly is in the film, along with Amanda Peet and Xhibit (though the last two may be jokes)
-Will we ever meet Scully's baby daddy or Mulder's sister? Per Carter, Mulder's sister is dead, and he's the father.
-Carter is blown away by the ambition of "Lost"

Overall, an entertaining panel and a solid trailer. I really do want to believe.

Chris Carter talk about...OMG it's the trailer!

The trailer is light on details and heavy on atmosphere, as you get plenty of arctic moments, Mulder and Scully and that wonderful theme music. When it kicks in, the crowd went nuts.

When getting grilled by the fans, Carter was elusive.

-The film is set 6 years after the series.
-The film is a stand alone story, not part of the alien mythology.
-Lone Gunmen in the film? "Deny everything."
-Mulder & Scully' relationship in the movie? "I don't know."
-Scully' family in the film? "No,,,but there may be references."
-For the DVD...unrated material? "We don't know yet, still editing. When Blu-Ray come out though, it should be really cool. We don't know what we can do though."
-Wildstorm is launching a new series of X-files comics, which will be announced tomorrow.

Bonus story: In his last year of life, Dean Martin found comfort in watching The X-Files, according to his daughter.

More maybe to come...

I could listen to Bakshi all night

On "Cool World"
"I wanted to cast Drew Barrymore. I wanted a hot young girl and they gave me an old woman...what's her name...Kim Basinger?"

By the way, he's written "Wizards 2," but he can't get it paid for.

If Stan Lee is your cuddly old grandpa, Bakshi is your grandpa's nutty uncle who doesn't get invited to holidays. What a fantastic appearance.

Don't F with Ralph Bakshi

Holy F. Ralph Bakshi just went OFF. He was asked about the "protests" surrounding his controversial "Coonskin," which set him off, as he basically yelled at the moderator for calling it a protest, then flipped on Al Sharpton for not supporting Barack Obama. Per Bakshi, no black man doesn't like "Coonskin" and no black man shouldn't vote for Obama. Politics is part of everything kids.

French People + Animation = Gar-Fail

The State of Animation panel, with Mark Evanier and JJ Sedelmeier, covered how animation has changed technologically, and the difficulty of animating fat cats with the assistance of the French. Comparing the power of CGI and stop-motion, they made some great points and kept things entertaining. Great job guys.

Make Mine Manga

Stan Lee and Hiroyuki Takei (Shaman King) announced a collaboration on a new character, Ultimo, which was released today in Japan, and will be translated and published in English in Viz Media's publications. Lee was his usual fun self, joking about his grasp of Japanese and the differences between Eastern and Western comics. "If I had to compete with [Japanese manga,]" said Lee, "I'd be out drinking."

Mid-day Movie

Taking in a screening of a documentary on "The Spirit" creator Will Eisner, "Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist" It's a pretty interesting film, if a tad slow, and features interviews with his contemporaries, as well as Stan Lee, Frank Miller, Michael Chabon and Kurt Vonnegut. If you get a chance, check it out, as it takes interesting tangents into topics like racism in early comics and the Wertham agenda against the industry.

French Frights

After Dark is looking to recapture the success of French horror import "High Tension", with a Gaelic fright flick of their own, Frontiers. To say it's bloody is an insane understatement, and the unrated status is well-earned (after an NC-17 rating kept it out of theaters.) A short special run will hit theaters May 9th, before hitting DVD four days later. Unfortunately, the DVD will arrive sans extras.

Catch the Infection

A&E gets the award for creative marketing, for their push of the upcoming "The Andromeda Strain," a two-part miniseries coming soon. Atrio of military-looking folk in outbreak gear passed out bottles of antibacterial gel, in front of a fog-filled tube in which you could watch a trailer for the show. The mini-series, which is somewhat new ground for the channel, looks pretty good, for fans of man against a seemingly instoppable disease stories.

Hellboy, Hell Yeah

This is the Angel of Death. That's all you need to know. This flick looks amazing.

Ed Norton's never looked so angry

Boy...this Hulk movie does nothing for me so far.

A New Take on Porn

"Just Boobies" According to the Terminal Press creators, that all the porn you get in their new visions of classic porn like "Debbie Does Dallas," "Deep Throat" and "Johnny Wadd." Honestly, this really looks like it could be interesting, as they took the movie's premise and threw out everything else, to create something brand new. Plus, in a reverse tie-in, the artist did a new cover for the classic "Candy Stripers."

More Exciteded

Watchmen figures. Never in my life did I think we'd get a movie, and now, there's toys!

Maybe I'm behind on my Iron Man

But when did Shellhead drive a convertible?

In the Loch

The Loch is a family-friendly adventure based on kids books, and the comic comes with a cgi animated short with the characters. Looks pretty nice for an indie family project.

Oh Silly Comiccon

Instead of letting the pros and press in the main entrance, like last year, we've been herded into a rather small hallway, and will need to take a single-width escalator to enter the hall.

Moo.
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New Digs

Sure, it's just the other side of the Javits, but it looks like it may be bigger this year.
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Sure it's early...

But Superman is WIDE AWAKE.
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The Force is Plastic With This One

Vogue International apparently makes wonderful things.
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On the Rails Again

Day one of the NY Comic Con... I'm riding on the wonderful LIRR train. To NYC, which is taking a route I've never seen before. I won't lie... That's making me a tad nervous. One of my fears is ending up somewhere I don't want to be because I got on the wrong train or missed a transfer. I always think I'm going to sleep my way to Speonk (a town I believe is just west of London, England.)

Looking forward to see what the ComicCon has in store for all us geeks.