Sunday, June 17, 2012

DCC: Day 2

Denver Comic Con:  Day 2

What a long day it was.

Day 2 of DCC was everything I expected it to be.  Crowded.  While the numbers didn't match CCI by a long shot, the density did, but it in no way prevented me from having just as much fun.  On the contrary, because of the reduced numbers, I knew I wouldn't have to wait as long for panels which meant more time to explore.

Cosplay:
Once again, the costumes came out and, for better or worse, at least these folks had the cojones to try.  There were some pretty amazing creations.  I saw a Gambit I wanted to molest, but he cruised through the crowd too quickly to snap a pic.  Still, I captured as many as I could with my subpar camera.  I'm hoping my friend Tony, with his super pro digital SLR will be willing to share.  For the day (and what I captured), I think the girl who rocked Miss Martian Manhunter was by far my favorite. While her costume wan't the most intricate, she embraced the whole character.

You can check out all of my DCC cosplay photos on my DCC 2012 Facebook album.

Artists and Exhibits:
I spent most of Day 2 going through Artist Alley and the Independent webcomics area.  While the merch is cool, I love to meet the people who are putting their blood, sweat and tears into their work.  These guys are the most fun to talk to.  Their portfolios are phenomenal, and I can't understand why some of them haven't been picked up by some major labels.  Remember, I've seen some pretty crappy art in my comic reviews.  Ugh.  They work for pennies and everyone is willing to do work on commission.  It's pretty amazing of them.

The other place that I'm so excited about is the DEAD Academy.  This local school is all about helping artists and budding artists learn more about comics, writing, drawing, film and fx.  They offer classes and workshops to help anyone learn more about some of their amazing crafts.  I'm definitely going to explore this more and it makes me feel good that I'm helping to support local.  Where in middle-America do you find something like this?

Panels:
I like the smaller panels like the ones at this con, because it gives you a chance to learn about just one of the people, the main focus, and your hour isn't split among several people.  I was also impressed that the "crowd questions" were far more interesting and complex than some at CCI.  People here actually listened and changed their question if it had already been asked.  Kudos, Denver.

James Marsters - Ah, Spike.  What else can you say about James Marsters, but he grows on you.  He was able to take that badboy vampire that you love to hate and turn him into a character that you loved to love.  Even since, with his roles on Smallville and Torchwood, that smile just can't be beat. And for those of you that missed it, he was sporting quite the package in his tight black jeans. Wat that a stake in his pocket or...?

The best Marsters story of the panel revolved around his "gay kiss" in Torchwood.  It seems that his fiancĂ© found it super sexy, his director found it entertaining enough to do about 20 takes and he learned one thing about kissing men: make sure you've shaved very closely.  What an awesome sport.  It's cool to see that actors can embrace the role, no matter their own orientation and simply realize, they are representing the human experience.  Period.  Another reason to love him.

Kristen Bauer - This woman is hilarious.  Whoever thought she couldn't play the hard, edgy, yet sexy female was way wrong.  I'm glad Alan Bell and HBO gave her the chance.

Bauer was able to talk a lot about her role as Pam and what she's enjoyed most about working on True Blood.  It's amazing to learn how HBO extends the filming of this show to really give it the attention and quality it deserves.  We learned a lot about filming "vamp speed" and that this season we will learn about Pam and her back-story as we have learned so much about the others.  I'm super excited to know more.  Pam has always intrigued me.

The funniest story from her panel was in working with Eric trying to perfect languages and pronunciation in Swedish and Russian.  Since Alex made such a fool of her not being able to distinguish between a Swedish and Danish word, she somehow managed to get him to memorize "I want to fuck you in the ass" in Russian as one of his lines. Really?  WHo wouldn't want to work with these people?

Best moment of the day:
At an artist's booth, I turn around to see Aaron Douglas (Tyrol from BSG) standing next to me looking at the guy's work.  The artist says to Douglas, "Has anyone ever told you that you resemble a character on BSG?" to which Douglas replied, "Yah I hear that a lot.  I think he's taller though, and better looking."  This exchange went back and forth with other people trying to convince the artist it was actually the actor.  It ended in a fun photo op and laughter, but the exchange was unforgettable.

Have an awesome Sunday, Denver Pride and Father's Day.  I'm off to catch Day 3 and some of the Pride festivities downtown.  Hope to see you there!

Saturday, June 16, 2012

DCC: Day 1

Day 1: Denver Comic Con 2012

When you go into something based on your experiences with something much larger, you tend to be...stunned.  When I arrived at the Colorado Convention Center last night around 3:40 (registration started at 4), I found a line wrapped around the building. Somewhat expected.  When I made it through registration in a half hour and discovered I had another hour and a half to wait until the Exhibit Hall opened... unexpected.  So in the interim, I did some listening, exploring and some picture taking.

The kid behind me in line and his friend in her "slutty shorts" were talking about all the people who had dressed up.  He insisted he could have been Deadpool, and he could have been a better Deadpool than all the other Deadpools he had already seen, since there were so many Deadpools and so many varieties of Deadpools, he just didn't have time to make a costume in the last six months.  Then, noting all the people dressed up, he said he was going to go home and put together a costume to wear on Saturday.  I'm sure it will be better than anyone else's.

Costuming:
There were some great and not-so-great costumes running around, but I applaud anyone who is willing to step out there and take a risk dressing up.  One thing that got me worked up right away though: "If you're going to cosplay, don't get annoyed when people stop and ask you for a picture."  The first group of people I encountered, when I praised their costumes and asked for their pictures, rolled their eyes, slumped their shoulders and acted completely put out.  Hey kids, it's 4:45 on Day 1.  You better get used to it or change into some street clothes.  I got their picture anyhow to show what grumps they were.

There were some outrageous Iron Men robots, a very brave Aquaman, a Powergirl with boobs to rival those in print, and a cute Batwoman working a booth who had clearly never done anything like this before but looked great nonetheless (I took her picture for you, Mr. Kane).

I think my favorite so far were the Robin, Red Hood, Nightwing trio I saw running around.  I don't think they were all together, so it made the encounter that much more incredible.

You can check out all of my DCC cosplay photos on my DCC 2012 Facebook album.

Exhibit Hall:
After waiting a bit and re-feeding my rockstar parking meter, I got "in line" for the exhibit hall. After experiencing lines at CCI, this one was easy peasy.  Strangely, I got in line directly behind two friends, Craig and Tony and spent the rest of the time there with them.

Having learned a little from San Diego, I wandered the Exhibit Hall not trying to see everything.  Since it was a relatively small hall in comparison, I knew I'd be able to come back and explore more.  I found some great items that I will return for this weekend and decided to avoid Artists' Alley totally.  I want to spend a great deal of time there on Saturday.

Yes, I left a little early and didn't partake in any "around the town" events, but got a solid foundational feel for the rest of the weekend.  Given the size and Sunday's repeat panels, I may not go back for Day Three, but Saturday is always the biggest day at any con.  It will definitely be worth the trip and all the money I'll spend in the hall.

And of course, I hope the panelists will be good too.


Friday, June 15, 2012

Denver Comic Con 2012

It's about time...

That's been the tagline on a lot of the publications put out by the organizers of Denver ComicCon 2012, the Queen City's inaugural "official" Comic Convention. And I agree.  It IS about time.

Since I heard about this con after my curiosity with the Comic Book Classroom, I became excited.  There have been cons ALL OVER, but never in my town.  Denver always seems to be the last to get anything (feel the self-pity?), so there's no way I was going to pass this one up.  I bought tickets almost immediately.

And then I found out it was the same weekend as Denver Pride Fest. D'OH!

But who am I kidding?  I have been to more PideFests than I can count, and if I'm really going through withdraws on Sunday, Civic Center is barely a half mile away.  Forget it!

I'm going to Denver Comic Con!

I figured that I'd document the experience.  Why not?  It's Denver's first con and it's only my second after going to ComicCon International in San Diego last July. Sure I've been to StarCons and StarFests in the past, but this is really the first Comic-centered one.  Since those are the focus of everything I do here, I'm obliged to at least mention it, right?  Right!  Expect to see more.

So DCC2012 will get it's fair share here.  I'm excited about the guests (even though some of my "must sees" have canceled), excited about the artists and especially excited about the cosplayers.  I haven't done the whole dress-up thing since I was a "blue shirt" at StarCon in high school, but I'm dying to do it again.  My new Fanboy friend Rafa has been my inspiration.  Maybe next year.  Until then, I can snap lots of pics.

And who can pass up the SuperBigBlueBear?  I hope they have the real one dressed up too.

Later skaters.  I'm off to the Convention Center.

photo courtesy of facebook.com/DenverComicCon