By James Hancock July 10th, 2015
Today’s adrenaline rush is a distant memory and I am rapidly fading, but I am determined to get this post up before tomorrow’s Comic-Con madness gets its hooks into me. I apologize in advance for any and all mistakes that are above and beyond my usual incoherent ramblings. Today was another amazing day at San Diego Comic Con (see my Day 1 rant here) and I am still processing the highlights. For years I have dreamed of getting into the legendary Hall H to see a panel. Most people get in line the day before at 5 pm and spend the night in tents just to have a fighting chance of getting in, but I’ve always felt that I would miss too much of the convention making that kind of commitment. Today, not only did I get into Hall H, I got to see a movie play on the big screen that has my name on it as producer alongside my producing partner Adam Rackoff, our new short film by Indie animator Bill Plympton, The Loneliest Stoplight starring Patton Oswalt. We owe a huge debt of thanks to Ron Diamond for squeezing us at the last minute onto his animation panel and best of all was that the panel took place just before the panel for The Walking Dead meaning that the 6500 seat auditorium was packed to capacity with rapid Comic-Con attendees. I spend a lot of my time as producer bluffing my way through the role but today was one of the rare moments where I could simply sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labors and earn a Comic-Con memory that I will hold onto for a very long time.
Sitting with Bill Plympton in Hall H before screening our film ‘The Loneliest Spotlight’.
After the screening in Hall H of The Loneliest Stoplight we headed back to the Bill’s booth to try and push our new Blu-Ray for Cheatin’, a Blu-Ray that is for now only available exclusively at Comic-Con. Friday at Comic-Con, the action at the convention intensifies dramatically and a large part of the fun of hitting the convention with Bill Plympton is meeting his friends that swing by to say hello. Filmmaker David Silverman (Monsters Inc., The Simpsons Movie) came by with the very lovely Penthouse Model Sarah Hunter and I had a blast hearing Bill and David talk shop about directing animated films along with other random topics.
Bill Plympton, Sarah Hunter & David Silverman.
The real pleasure for me today was meeting one of my all-time favorite human beings and arguably the greatest comic book writer working today, Grant Morrison. Having seen his panel yesterday, his new projects were fresh on my mind and I was already buzzing with excitement over his presence at the convention. But as I was working today at the booth, I spied him not ten feet away talking to some friends. I initially tried to resist the urge to act like a crazed fan but eventually I succumbed to my geeky passions and forced myself into his group to introduce myself. He could not have been nicer and laughed that the two of of us side by side resembled eggs boiling in a pot. I likely came across like a serial killer but I tried to play it cool and not spontaneously start weeping with excitement from getting to talk to the man.
Meeting one of my all-time favorite writers, Grant Morrison.
At 4 pm, the real work began with Bill Plympton’s official panel where he showed a variety of clips and trailers from films he is working on as well as The Loneliest Stoplight. I usually go into his panels in a state of blind panic in that for the last few years I have taken over the responsibility of playing his clips during his panels. For several years we’ve had horrible problems getting our footage to play on DVDs. Thankfully this year, I put all the HD files on my laptop in advance and teamed up with a real pro who played our clips without a hitch. The main attraction was Revengeance, a film that Bill is working on with animator Jim Lujan and I’ve linked their teaser trailer below. Bill and Jim have an amazing chemistry and I look forward to seeing the finished film.
After the panel we headed back to the booth and en route I was lucky to bump into a cosplayer that I recognized and had met last year through one of Bill’s friends. Once again she was dressed as Power Girl aka Kara Zor-L and she thankfully agreed to pose for a pic.
I closed my day with a special treat for myself by attending the world premiere of Bruce Timm’s new animated movie Justice League: Gods and Monsters (see my review here). I had to sit through about an hour of iZombie panel in order to guarantee myself a seat but the wait was well worth and I had an absolute blast.
Bruce Timm’s ‘Justice League: Gods and Monsters’.
Heading home I bumped into what I first thought were more religious zealots but they turned out to be promoting a new A&E series that is a prequel to The Omen, a show called Damien. Apparently they joined the usual obnoxious throng of religious protesters that lurks about the convention every year and handed out their literature as if they were actual Satanists. I love that kind of viral marketing especially when it skewers religious extremists who do nothing but interfere with the flow of traffic in and out of the convention.
Classic viral marketing.
So that’s all I have for now. I have no idea what I am doing tomorrow but I have to rest before my bones turn to sand. Good night all.
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