Reporting From Comic-Con: Fear and Loathing in Booth 1714
by Doug TenNapelToday the costumed conventioneers started showing up, but it’s not as big as the big event. The Saturday night costume contest that brings out a freak show of innovation and geekdom. I don’t know why but there are always a lot more Boba Fett costumes than Darth Vaders. Perhaps because the isolated nature of grown men who would wear a costume gravitate toward the go-it-alone ethic of a bounty hunter.
In a convention first, I ended up in a meeting at the Warner Brothers booth where I pitched a prime time TV show. The best thing about the convention is that instead of me having to scatter fifty meetings across the year to catch up on the usual folks to whom I pitch, they’re all in one room. Okay, it’s a big room, but somehow we’re managing to find each other.
At the Gotham Group/Darkhorse lunch party I met pals from Sony animation, Disney, Tyler Perry’s company, Warner Brothers, Dreamworks and Universal. Now we’re talking convenient, we got em’ all in a 30′ x 30′ room. I made my way through the mosh pit in front of the bar and ended up having three beers. They were free, and I left pretty wobbly. A few hours later I met with some executives from an unnamed family entertainment company that also has a theme park and rhymes with Schmalt Schmisney where they bought me two more drinks. So now I’m returning to my booth hammered.
I had a backlog of people waiting for me to sign my posters and I was hoping they didn’t notice my obviously slurred speech. I was hoping they just thought I talked like a normal idiot. As I document my slow descent into alcoholism this just became my inadvertent attempt at gonzo journalism. Enough of that.
Getting back to the Boba Fetts… I remembered hanging around with Jon Heder at the con two years ago when he got mobbed by a bunch of girls and fanboys. I mean they were tearing his clothes off and suddenly he didn’t like going to the convention any more even though he’s probably the most comic-video-game-cartoon savvy kid in Hollywood. But I’ve got your solution, Jon. You need to dress up like Boba Fett and you could walk the floor with only Boba Fett fans tearing your clothes off. Hey, I’m a problem solver. It’s what I do. I didn’t ask for this gift.
I ended the night by attending the Eisner Awards where my pal Ethan “Eef” Nicolle got robbed of an award. Don’t worry, pal, these awards are all fake and meaningless and a complete shame until we win one. Then they’ll mean everything. Patten Oswalt did a set announcing a few categories and he got some decent laughs. “Reno 911’s” Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant did a set and picked up an otherwise academic night of comic history and tributes.
Many of my Big Hollywood readers came over to play and it was great to meet you all. It was great to see a certain editor named John Nolte hang out as we swapped convention stories. Good people. Good times. Goodnight!
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25 Comments
Sounds like a lot of fun in a cool geeky way. I wish I didn't live so far away. Oh well, thanks for the updates.
I've been to the last two Star Wars Celebrations, which were a BLAST.
My friends and I are going to Comic-Con next year … definitely.
I thought that DARK MOLE was bigger in person……
Doug, as per usual… I am envious of you, looks like a fun time!!!
If only you were Mando, would you understand why there are more Jango Fetts than Darth Vaders.
Wow…I think I need to turn in my geek card.
I have no idea what that means.
Big Hollywood’s ComiCon updates…
Here are some entries two of Big Hollywood’s contributors have been writing on their SDCCI attendance…
Why are people going as Willy Wonka? I don't think there's anything remotely geeky about that…now Oompa Loompa's? They're totally geeky. LOL
Same here…
Being a big Star Wars/superhero/animation/film fan, I've always wanted to attend one. I go to California a lot, just not the San Diego area. Shame. Ah well, it will be on my "Top 100 Things To Do Before I Die" if I don't get around to it.
Seeing BigHollywood bloggers would be an added bonus.
Well, you can argue there's nothing "geeky" about Star Wars as dressing as a character there seems to be a normal trend.
I thought the Willy Wonka character was kind of cute. I hope to God that's a chick…
I went as Glenn Miller from the "Glenn Miller Comics" of the 1940s.
You know I become concerned when writers borrow something like a title from a well known author like Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. I almost equate it to someone going to your article and cutting and pasting it to another page and calling it their own, with little regard for your work and creativity. Did you know besides Fear and loathing in Las Vegas which is one of the Doctors most popular and most recognizable of titles Dr. Thompson also had Fear and loathing on the campaign trail, he also used that particular title and saying in several of his articles for Rolling Stone magazine. So when I see it being bantered about by more secular non-gonzo reporters such as yourself, I find it offensive and showing a lack of creative on your side. If Dr. Thompson were alive today I’m sure he'd call you a rotten swine of some kind and probably wave a pistol in your filthy mug and rip you to sheds within an inch of your life. So may I suggest you pick up a Thesaurus and find your own damn tag line and quit stealing other peoples!! You low down filthy swine. My god man show some respect for the good Doctor and show some originality for Pete sakes, cause like the good doctor says “Anything worth doing is worth dong right”
What ever happened to imitation being the sincerest from of flattery?
A simple sense of humor might do as well.
Excuse me, typo – meant form, not from … obviously.
Perhaps Big Hollywood can hook up with the SDICC folks and have an intellectually diverse panel on comics, hollywood & politics. I'd love to see Breitbart, Klavan, Nolte and maybe Jonah Goldberg go head to head with the folks from Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and the various studios present.
But since I saw the Con being described as the Cannes of comics and Sundance of science fiction, that's about as likely as Leonardo DiCaprio & Al Gore living as if global warming really mattered.
I thought the Willy Wonka character was kind of cute. I hope to God that's a chick…
The one on the left, I mean.
I also like the four-foot-eleven Darth Maul. Now there's a real badass.
OK Doug…
Which of the "Big Hollywood readers" showed up in costume?
I want names. Well, internet pseudonyms will do.
<edit>
What was John Nolte dressed as?
Yes, the liberalism of comics, syfy and pop culture in general. It amazes me, going to a comic book store and seeing Spiderman mtg Obama. How about Obama and Michelle gracing the covers of Wizard magazine. Look comics, syfy and videogames have always been my escape from the real world, especially from the evils of the Obama presidency. Now even my beloved pop culture fixes have been usurped by "The One". That's "The One" Obama and not "the One" Neo.
I agree with DCrandall, a Big Hollywood booth at Comicon would be awesome. Klavan, Breitbart and Goldberg would be awesome. May I also suggest Mark Steyn, he has a great point of view on the wussification of CPT America.
No pix of Princess Leia in her slave costume?!?!. What kind of Comic-Con report is this?
The urge for grown men to dress up isn't just confined to comic, sci-fi/fantasy, or gaming culture. Look at all the guys who dress themselves from head to toe for their favorite sports team. Case in point: when GenCon is held in Indy, it's in the same complex that the Colts play in. The first year the Con was in Indy, there was a pre-season Colts game scheduled on the same night as GenCon's Saturday evening costume contest. It was extremely amusing to see a guy dressed in head to toe blue and white, including face-paint and fizzy blue wig, look over at a, yes, BobaFett walking the other way and comment, "Freak!"
I think you're going to have to go further than simply man in isolation to explain a grown man's (or woman's) need urge to dress up. Personally, I think it has to do with being young at heart and wanting to recapture that feeling of youth and childhood for a short time before havng to grow up again, but that's just me. And I spent a day wandering that same GenCon in full kimono.
Start saving your pennies for Celebration V next year too. We just don't know where it is yet.
Mando = short for Mandalorian, the ethnic group/race Boba Fett and his pop Jango Fett belong to. Mandalorians are mercenaries and bounty hunters extraordinaire.
Here you go:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/starwarsblog/sets/72...
THAT is a panel I would see.
Pay attention kids, you're about to get an education, heh heh.
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