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Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Comic-Con Fan Report part 4
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Hey, I get HaloScan to work on my blog. They came up with some automatic install wizard so I just had to click a "next" button a few times. I didn't know it would erase any of the comments I did get, which sucks. Still, when every door closes another one opens. I hope you take advantage of the new and easier comments section.
Anyway, more Fan Report. I plan to do a few today. In this one I’ll go over the Marv Wolfman: From Idea to Script and The Jack Kirby Tribute panel.
The first thing I remember of the Wolfman panel is what I heard making my way there. I noticed a few of the costume people expressing regret about coming to this gigantic event in their elaborate outfits. The heat was getting to everybody there, but I think those in costumes felt it the most. Still, I was glad to see people sticking to their guns (or lightsabers in some cases) and still being in their costumes. Hell I think people should talk in the voices of their characters. Example:
“Yes, you in the pirate costume, do you have a question Pia Guerra?”
“Arrr. Do ye know when will be seeing more of Yorrick’s land-lubbin’ mother in thar book?”
I got to the Wolfman panel which (as Wolfman pointed out in the beginning) was pretty well attended seeing how the Warner Bros. showcase of Batman Begins and Constantine. Wolfman is a shy, quiet guy and he apologized ahead of time if he wasn’t being that good an orator. While he had to check his notes a bit early on, I think he did a fine job of explaining how a story can become more than just good but something the viewer or reader will really remember and appreciate. He did this in a humorous way of deconstructing films everybody knows like Star Wars: A New Hope, Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, Raiders of the Last Ark as well as going over his own work in Spider-Man, Tomb of Dracula and New Teen Titans.
He talked about why theme in a story is important because a good story has to be about something. He applied Star Wars’s theme of a young man finding his role in life to different settings to illustrate this. The great thing I got out of this presentation was how Wolfman said if you deviate from the norm you can still be a success. He gave Wrath of Khan as an example. A Syd Field type of instructor would tell you that you need to have Kirk and Khan meet face to face. But that never happens, does it? For once I finally got to go to a writing class that wasn’t about certain formulas designed to make you a good writer (in reality, a mediocre one) but one that asks the students to apply critical thinking to their favorite works so they’ll know what they want to write. I hope a lot of people got something out of this panel.
Up next was the Kirby panel. I got a seat pretty close to the front for this one, which was very well attended. Mark Evanier hosted Steve Rude, Paul Ryan, Dave Gibbons, Walt Simonson and Mike Royer for this panel. Things got started with an appreciation of Kirby’s family and friends. They even gave out plaques to honor those who have been friends of the Kirby family. Evanier got started with the hosting duties soon after that. You can tell he used to write for variety shows because he doesn’t mind slipping in the occasionally corny joke with a delivery that tells you he knows it’s corny. He's pretty funny, I liked his line about Julie Schwatz being re-incanated as the old guy in the Six Flags commercial (hey, they are both WB properties). For anyone of you that has ever met Mike I’d say that Evanier actually reminded me of an older version of him.
The panel talked about the first Kirby book they’ve read. When Simonson gave a vague description of an Atlas monster book someone in the crowd was immediately able to identify it as Journey Into Mystery #72. These were people who knew their Kirby.
Due to the presence of Mike Royer the panel talked about inking Kirby (on the dais Royer, Gibbons and Rude have had the honor of inking The King). Royer talked about what it was like inking an artist where every line was so perfect in where it needed to be. The panel also spoke highly of Joe Sinnot.
Someone in the audience brought up a recent issue of Fantastic Four where God was revealed to be Kirby himself. Evanier said that while Kirby knew that the creators who did put him in their work as tribute meant only respect; he was worried about a big company like Marvel owning his likeness. Gibbons talked about on his recent run on Captain America and how he gave Kirby a bit cameo. Evanier quoted Roz Kirby when she saw a Kirby cameo in a book, “there’s another tribute we’ll never see any money out of.”
Ryan, Rude and Simonson talked about the times they've worked on Kirby characters. Rude said he drew Kirby characters the way Kirby drew them becuase that's he feels that's the way they should look. Simonson had a slightly different view. He said when he was working on Thor he decided to take the Kirby influence he strongly felt and use that to come up with his own work. He said it was as if he's standing on Kirby and Lee's shoulders. Ryan mentioned how Kirby's humanism was just as important to him as his dynamism. Ryan talked about when he was working on Fantastic Four he tried to heed how Kirby would apply the same level of craft to the man on the street as he would to, say, the Human Torch or the Thing.
Also mentioned were some reprints DC and Marvel have coming out. Besides the Marvel Visionaries book coming out I mentioned in posts before, DC is going to start reprinting Kamandi. I don't remember if they said whether it would be in Archives format or in trade paperback like the Fourth World stuff, but either way we’ll get some Last Boy on Earth comics.
Later on in the day I’ll talk about hitting the convention floor one last time as well as the Aaron McGruder panel. Then the Eisners, which made me glad that I live in a world with beer. See you then.
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