WONDERCON 2005

San Francisco, CA

Also known as "The Ultimate Nerdfest."

needless to say, we were in our element.

Check out a couple of features concerning the Con:

Fumanchu will Wonder your Con

Well, I’ve just gotten back from my first comic convention, and I have to say it was great. I met a lot of cool people; saw a whole lot of neat stuff including movie sneak peeks, upcoming comic news, and all kinds of comic paraphernalia that I didn’t even know existed. First let me explain to you what Wondercon was made up of:

40% comic books
15% art or comic related books
20% random Japanese stuff
25% pornography

But if you really look at how much of the artwork, art books, comics, toys, posters, magazines, etc were pornographic, you would probably find that the percentage is higher. Now I know what you’re thinking. It like someone took an inventory of your house, right? Spooky. But no matter how much your closet mimics Wondercon, the shear volume is enough to make it worth seeing, and all in all, it’s still a small comic convention. I was very lucky to see several presentations for upcoming movies including Batman Begins, Fantastic Four, and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, all of which I am very excited about. Bit what was most impressive was the big room where it all went down.

Yes indeed, I lost myself among the rows of booths with all kind of wondrous stuff to sap my funds. I was surrounded by a jungle of nerds, all in various humorous t-shits, booth babes in familiar costumes, regular visitors all decked out to match, there was even a string quartet or Japanese girls playing video game music. Also represented was a multitude of artists and writers trying to carve their niche in comic history, or sitting atop their high seats, niches long ago etched. Such names as Alex Ross, David Nash, and Kevin Smith were in attendance. Joss Whedon’s panel was so full they couldn’t let anyone else in the room because it was a fire hazard. When all three days had passed by, I found myself with a large amount of “stuff” and absolutely no money, or anything else that could be considered a commodity. This rendered me virtually destitute, but maddeningly happy. As I looked back over the sea that was the Midwest as I returned to boring old Oklahoma, I could not help but feel a sort of connection to all others who find our mundane reality unacceptable and looked with hope and anticipation on the future of our humble craft of nerdom.

Fumanchu

 

Peblee goes to the DCU, and comes back teary-eyed.

Wondercon, though not a real word, was an incredible hodge-podge of fan-boy nonsense. As me, Robotics, and Fumanchu entered the enormous world, where nerds are kings (wait, that’s normal), and Storm Troopers, and Elves, and Spider-Men/Women (not a San Francisco joke, but a simple reference to the presence of both sexes), we found ourselves gaping in awe at the amount of high grade golden aged beauties lined the shelves, walls, and my shopping bag. Of particular interest to me was the presence of the highest graded issue of Batman 232 – a 9.8! For those of you who are dumb, uninterested, or just haven’t gotten around to find out, this issue features art by Neal Adams (Look, there he is!)

and is the first appearance of Ra’s Al Ghoul. For those of you who don’t know who either one of the above mentioned gentlemen are, shame on you. You are hence forth required to wear hair shirts and devour moles of ill repute. For the rest of you who are no doubt unable to control your bowels, yeah – a 9.8! Naturally I didn’t get a photo of it, as I am afraid that it could harm the incredible brightness of the book. Want to know how much the young lad was a’ chargin’? A mere $18,000.00. So, naturally I pulled out my wallet, showed the guy a picture of my family, and asked what the balance would be. This is where the hired cops showed up. I did not return to Wondercon that day.

But, before I get to day two, I should tell you that we three had the pleasure of meeting Alex Ross:

And the soon to be incredibly well known Mr. Raven Gregory, who created the hit series “The Gift.”

Note the placement of my head. Not only is Raven a great creator of a hit book, but he is an awesome guy. I kept going back to his booth to talk shop, and BS about this and that, we gave him a T-shirt, and he hooked us up with some excellent signed merchandise.

Day two was the best day of all, for the Grand Master Wizard of Peblestein. Why? Because I got to go to DC’s panel covering their plans, designs, and releases for the coming year. It was a star-studded event hosted by Bob Wayne, the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for DC. The panel consisted of Mark Verheiden, Jeph Loeb, Gail Simone, Greg Rucka, Geoff Johns, Bob Schreck, and Dan Didio.

The plans? How to sum up an hour and a half of hints, jokes, and honest straight forward revelations? Okay, the first thing you should know is that EVERYTHING in DC, from March until three years from now, hinges upon events occurring in DC Countdown, due in March. This book will consist of 80 pages for $1.00. It will also include art and story by various artists, and authors. It is bound to be a smash-hit, megaseller.

Following that, here’s the breakdown:

Loeb is doing Superman/Batman #19 as a one-shot, focusing on “The Girl of Steel.” Spiraling out of this issue will come a new Supergirl series of the same title, due this summer. He also said that McGuiness is returning to the book following Pacheco’s stint, and will continue on, at least through issue 25.

Verheiden is returning from Holywood to write Superman for a while, starting with issue 217. The crowd was full of laughs when, after Verheiden stated that he was going to take Supes in a whole new direction and he was asked what direction that might be, he simply replied, “Linear.”

Rucka, dealing with Adventures of Superman, stated that issue 640 would see the unmasking of “Ruin”, as well as the appearance in July of a new super villain in July’s issue.

Gail Simone is going to be taking over Action Comics, and plans to develop the characters of Lois and Lana. She said that she would like them to be seen as “people to love” rather than “just bitchy and whiny.” The artist on these books, John Burn, will also be working on a new run at the old book, “The Demon.”

Perhaps most enthralling to the crowd at Wondercon were the words of Geoff Johns. Though he spoke little his recent work on “Green Lantern: Rebirth” has earned him godlike status; and so, everyone was holding their breath to hear if he was going to say something that they could bag and board and treasure for ever. He did say that he was working on a new Green Lantern series, “Hal Jordan, Green Lantern” which would rise out of the goings on of Rebirth. He also mentioned that Pacheco is doing the art.

Rucka is also working on a book, due in March, called The OMAC Project, which Geoff Johns described as “…one of the coolest concepts ever.”

Alex Ross, while doing various covers for numerous books, will be painting a book, due out this summer, called Justice. It will, of course feature the JLA in Ross’s classic style.

There was of course much more, but this is what came from the writers that were there, so we’ll stick to it for now.

After the panel, I got to meet Jeff Loeb, who is one of my favorite writers, gave him a shirt, and got a great shot of the two of us.

Later that day we saw a six minute preview of Batman Begins, and got to see, and speak with Christian Bale. It was a very intimate meeting of just a few thousand fans, and the latest silver-screen Dark Knight. I must say that after years of hating Batman movies, this one has all the right stuff, from actors to concepts and inspiration. I genuinely hope that it comes off as a success.

Well, that’s all for now. Take care followers of folly.

Peblee