JOURNAL ENTRY: COMIC-CON 2006- MARVEL WAGES WAR & DC GIVES US GRUNDY/ NARUTO >:(
posted by: Scot Morrison
After spending five days traversing a Con floor the length of three football fields, my legs are more useless the those of Professor X pre-House M (oot Point). I’ve just poured the last couple of ounces of Captain Morgans out of my Battlestar Galactica flask and now it seems to be time to get to work. So here it goes with The Realm Toys Overall Con Review and the second "Official" Con-Commado installment since the Old "Second Official Installment" was posted last fall, and then re-postponed this past winter.
Overall, Comic-Con 2006 proved to be a pleasant surprise. The big toy manufacturers were both there, DC, Marvel and Darkhorse laid out their traditional spreads and the movie studios continued their on-going mission to conquer fandom-at-large. The “Indy” books and artists turned out in mass once again, the specialty toy companies had a few surprises of their own, and all of the other alt-culture product dealers combined to create what has definitely become the premier pop-culture/multi-media event in the world!
But if someone could take the prize for the best presentation this year, it would have to go to Marvel and all their partners. Have you been checking out the news lately, have you seen more and more civilians wearing “fashionized” camouflage out in the mall these days? One thing is certain as of late, and that is, whether you’re the President of the United States, a fashion design student at the Art Institute, or one of the “Big Two” in the comics industry – War is “IN!”
While the first shots were fired months ago, Marvel’s Civil War crossover comic event is raging hard this year, and the “House of Ideas” was there to promote and capitalize on the campaign like Erwin Rommel storming North Africa. And why not? Spidey’s unmasked, Captain America is underground, on the run and hitting anyone representing an authority figure, and the She-Hulk’s going to court and has been courted!
Couple this with the fact that the Spider-Man 3 trailer actually got more people amped up about superheroes again than the actual Superman feature movie did, Ghost Rider is shaping up to be phenomenal hit (despite Nick Cage), blood brother Blade’s new TV series is up and going, Stan Lee’s reality TV series, “Who Wants to be a Superhero” has just premiered, and the Ultimate Avengers 2 DVD was debuted at the Con with announcements that the FF, Iron-Man and the Sorcerer Supreme- Dr. Strange, animated movie DVD’s will follow, and you’re only hitting the tip of Bobby Drake’s iceberg.
On the video game front, Marvel’s Ultimate Alliance is actually pulling virtually every Marvel hero into one game -- combining the Avengers, the X-men, the Fantastic Four and all those “street heroes,” like web-head, Elektra, DD, Punisher, et all in to one game with a cast of playable characters unheard of in an industry that likes to spread its licenses around and give every B-lister a movie of his/her own. Suffice it to say, I was dazzled by Ultimate Alliance’s graphics, wowed by the action, intrigued by the story and highly amused by the characterization of the game’s stars. Spidey cracks jokes, Thor spouts grand proclamations and Wolverine’s surly attitude is readily apparent in all his cigar chomping beer-swilling glory. This is the game that will make you breakdown and buy that “next-gen” X-Box 360 or PS3 folks. Mark my words.
The greatest conquest in the war though, has to be on the action figure front. Announced earlier this year, Hasbro has acquired the rights to produce Marvel action figures on all fronts, and from what we’ve seen the Boys at the ‘Bro are giving it their all. The Spidey 3 figures are looking true to the movie images we’ve seen, the Avengers and X-men are being given a re-vamp (and let me tell you their female figures are far more beautiful than those ugly mugs in Toy Biz’s Legends line), and the Ghost Rider series is giving us a crank and launch action figure/motorcycle combo not seen since the days of Evil Kineval! Add to that a new line of Spider-Man “Origins” figures, that utilize more of a Mego/12” G.I. Joe concept, and I can say it right now- it’s time to sell your Toy Biz Marvel Legends and Select figures and make room on your display shelf for the “next-gen” of action figures.
But enough about Marvel’s dominance on the scene. Hasbro’s other lines continue to go strong. The Star Wars series is still cranking out some awesome figures that look great, and despite the fact we’re still getting re-packaged/re-painted Starfighters, Gunships, R2 units, and bounty hunters with almost every new series release, the toymakers are paying some attention to expanded universe and small screen-time characters. Scorch from Republic Commando has been one of the hottest figures out there to date, and rumor has it the rest of his unit is in the works. Also Kir Kanos and Carnor Jax are expected to be released with a copy of Crimson Empire #6. This is geekdom at it’s finest!
Hasbro also honored the Stormtrooper costuming community by making the official 501st Stormtrooper figure available as a show exclusive this year. Sure it wasn’t much different from a regular Stormtrooper figure, but it’s a nice nod to the fact that Lucasfilm isn’t so License protective to deny the fans their fun, and frankly how much less visually appealing would our Con’s be without the 501st costuming club mulling about en masse. Clones rock, ‘nuff said.
Speaking of Lucasfilm, Steve Sansweet conducting his annual Star Wars panel this year, and besides showing us some spectacular video game work from LucasArts, announcing Star Wars Celebration IV will actually be held in a place people want to go in May of Next Year- Los Angeles! He also let us know that Lucasfilm is proceeding with their animated Clone Wars work, as well as the (~~shudder~~) live action TV series.
Now before everyone groans like a Wookie, let me tell you poor Steve was immediately confronted with the Star Wars Holiday Special complaint. And here’s the “answer.” Apparently good ole Georgie boy had nothing to with that debacle, and he WILL be heavily involved in this new TV series.
We still think the concept of live-action Star Wars on TV is anathema for a movie license that redefined the movie industry, but we’ll just have to say the Galactic Senate Oversite Committee’s ruling is still out until we see some preview footage (which Steve couldn’t give us). Give us Vader, Troopers and Droids and you may have a chance. Sing a “Lifeday” song once, show us some lame Cirque du Soleil action or have half your show spoken in Wookie, and your deader than Alderran
That all said, what are we leaving out? Oh yeah, the Axis powers in the “War.” Namely DC Comics and Mattel.
Let me speak to DC first. Other than fixing DC hotties, Power Girl and Huntress’ origins, the whole Infinite Crisis was really a flop on par with House of M. “52” is really half assed as well, and Barry Allen is still MIA (though it really is only a matter of time). Combine this with the cancellation of the Justice League Unlimited cartoon and an extremely lukewarm response to the Superman Returns movie (don’t get me wrong this was an awesome movie for those of us who grew up with the first two Christopher Reeve flicks) and you just have nothing on the DC front.
Even at the Mattel booth, the big push was Naruto (again don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of Akira and Ghost In a Shell, and anime in general – if it’s dubbed), but what the hell is a Naruto – “I don’t even care.”
All DC gave us superhero fans this year was Solomon Grundy, and who is Solomon Grundy, anyway. Well if you’re not a Green Lantern fan, and a Golden Age Green Lantern fan at that, or raised on the 70’s Challenge of the Super Friends, or caught one of his brief appearances elsewhere, you probably have no clue. This was a piss poor choice for a Con Exclusive to say the least.
Take into account that the latest DC push is to proclaim a lesbian Batwoman as the next biggest thing (pandering and pointless and it won’t pan out folks), and you just have a poor marketing team helming the DC/WB/Mattell consortium. Fire those jokers and bring back the guys responsible for hiring Jack Nicholson as the Joker, creating the Animaniacs and developing Batman Beyond. This group has just become stupid…’nuff said.
Well, enough DC/Mattel bashing, time to address the biggest problem with the show this year, and that is…This thing has just become MASSIVE. This year saw about 107,000 attendees and there really isn’t much physical space in the San Diego Convention Center to expand anymore. Even preview night on Wednesday, traditionally less trafficked, seemed more like a Friday night of years past. Popular panels are becoming standing-room-only, if you don’t line up hours ahead of time, and there just isn’t time anymore to move about freely and find those show exclusives you’re looking for. We’re simply talking Kamino Cloning facility crowded here folks.
Rumor has it the Con organizers even refused admission to anyone on Sunday who hadn’t previously purchased a ticket to the show, and that they plan to raise the prices next year to weed out the lookie-loos. While we hate to hear this since we want to see our industry grow and more people become involved, we have to agree that without expanding the show space into perhaps some of the nearby mega-hotel ballroom areas or some other fix, this needs to be done. The invasion of mainstream Hollywood, expansion of Anime and Manga, and the ever growing gaming (video/card/tabletop) industry, has made the San Diego Comic Con much more than the humble comic book and sci-fi show it once was.
Well, having finally filed my second official “Con Commando” field report, this is Scot, signing out. We’re locked & loaded and moving on to the next objective…
