by Daniel Erenberg

It was impossible for me to be too depressed today, because I was about to see two of my three modern TV idols in person. I feel as though Joss Whedon, Josh Schwartz and J.J. Abrams are at the top of the heap in terms of TV writing these days (I’m gonna go ahead and wait until Matthew Weiner’s follow-up to Mad Men to add him to this list). Abrams wasn’t going to be attending the con this year—though I was psyched for the panel for his new show, Fringe—but Whedon was there to promote his new one, Dollhouse, and Schwartz was in attendance to talk about his sophomore season slump-defying Chuck.

Chuck was first up on my list, which I was very excited about, but on my way to the panel, I passed by the line for the Dollhouse panel, which was already ridiculously long even two and a half hours before its scheduled start time. This made me nervous, but not nervous to pass up Chuck. The panel started with a long, spoiler-laden exclusive trailer for the second half of the current second season of the show, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to dip in quality any time soon. The action was kinetic, the laughter by the audience members at the jokes was completely genuine and the dialogue was in top form in the short clips we saw. Chuck was the first Josh Schwartz show that I was able to get into because I dismissed his other two as shallow crap sight unseen. But I spent the better part of August watching the entirety of The O.C. which is probably the best teen show since Freaks and Geeks, by the way, and was able to catch up on Gossip Girl on DVD before the second season began. Schwartz is three for three in my mind, so I was very excited to see him at this panel. He came with Chuck co-creator Chris Fedak and lead actress Yvonne Strahovsky, who might be the most beautiful human being I’ve ever laid eyes upon in real life. It relieved me to hear the three of them so confident that the fledgling show would be renewed for a third season, and it was nice to see fans fill up one of the bigger conference rooms in support of it. In fact, the fans seemed pretty obsessive, which made me happy, as I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one. At the end of the panel, a teenage girl who was sitting in front of me went up to Schwartz with a poster of “Atomic County,” a fictional comic book that was set up on The O.C. Schwartz’s eyes lit up and he signed it immediately. Watching that was the happiest moment of my con experience.

Until I got into the Dollhouse panel and Joss Whedon came out. Now, you have to understand. I’m pretty nuts about Joss Whedon. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my favorite television show of all time, the fourth season of Angel is, in my opinion, as good as a full season can get, I went to see Serenity three times the day it came out and I’ve watched the entireties of all three of his series more times than I care to admit. But wait. There’s more. My first internet writing gig was as a weekly columnist for Joss Whedon fansite, Slayage.com, I’ve been cited in books about Buffy and Angel by Keith Topping and Nikki Stafford, and my undergraduate thesis was called “From Dusk ‘Til Dawn: Foreshadowing in the Buffyverse.” So I guess you can say I’m pretty excited about Dollhouse. Well, Whedon brought the first act of the pilot to Comic Con, and it’s good. Not great yet, but good. Whedon’s shows are almost always growers, but this one is off to a pretty good start. There’s a bit of a cheesy dance/motorcycling sequence, but the exposition is intriguing, the characters are already well-defined, and there’s loads of metaphorical subtext, something Whedon is the best at. The show is about a place called The Dollhouse, which employs human beings that are programmed to perform specific experiences for the company’s clients. After these “experiences” are finished, the minds of the “dolls” are wiped completely clean. But one such “doll,” named Echo (Eliza Dushku) begins to remember things. It’s sort of a bleak concept for a show, so much so that it can really be looked at as a metaphor for human trafficking. Whedon also says it’s been called both a feminist perspective of a woman fighting to discover herself and a misogynist’s biggest fantasy, and that this debate is warranted and intentional. Dollhouse is ambitious and on Friday nights and created by Joss Whedon, so don’t expect it to last too long. But do expect it to be damn good. “I’m such a bitter, sad man,” Whedon told the crowd. “And this is my bitter, sad show. Welcome to it!”

After Joss was done (plus actor Tahmoh Penikett, who you may know as Helo from Battlestar Galactica, but who I barely noticed because I’m too obsessed with Joss Whedon), the entire cast of Fringe took the stage, along with writer Jeff Pinkner. The cast was animated and well-spoken, particularly the surprisingly charming Anna Torv, who is much more captivating in person than she is in the show. Wire actor Lance Reddick endeared himself to me forever by admitting that he is a big Ultimate Spider-Man fan, and Joshua Jackson responded to three Mighty Ducks references with well-timed quips about Gordon Bombay and the legendary triple-deke. Fringe has turned into quite a strong little show, so it was great to see the auditorium remain full following the Dollhouse panel.

After Fringe I walked over to the Life On Mars panel but it was too depressing because only about a quarter of the room was full, and everyone seemed to be milling about during a screening of this week’s new episode. It was awkward, so I left. And that was the last thing I cared about, so I left the Jacob Javits Center entirely. On my way home, I saw Bill Hader on the street. I later found out that he was at Comic Con today to announce a new Spider-Man comic that he is co-writing with Saturday Night Live head writer Seth Meyers.

I like Comic Book Conventions. It’s a place where awkwardness and lack of social skills just aren’t noticed or given a second thought. It’s accepted and even encouraged. I think every attendee has been picked on at one point or another. But no one gets picked on at Comic Con. We just geek out for three days. And what could be better than that?

Tags: chuck dollhouse Geeks new york comic con
February 8, 2009 at 11:36pm ∞

by Daniel Erenberg

Like the middle chapter of most trilogies, the second day of Comic Con felt a bit like filler, killing time until the grand conclusion. I woke up in better spirits this morning (though still not great) and walked over to the Javits Center with my head held medium-high. There were only two Saturday panels that I really gave a shit about and those were Cup O’ Joe, a regular Comic Con affair, which is, basically, just a chance to listen to Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada answer fan questions, and a spotlight panel about J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of Babylon 5 and a guy whose comic career has included excellent runs on Thor and The Amazing Spider-Man.

When I got to the con, I went straight to the Cup O’ Joe panel and was pleased that Quesada wasn’t the only man on stage. Marketing guru Jim McCann was, of course, there. He’s been ever-present at Marvel panels for quite some time now. He’s aware of all the goings-on at Marvel and can usually answer questions other panelists cannot. He’s also charmingly flamboyant and frequently makes references to Disco-era superhero, Dazzler. In addition to McCann, Publisher Dan Buckley was there to answer business-related questions, Talent Manager/Writer C.B. Cebulski (X-Infernus) showed up quietly and writer Brian Michael Bendis was there for snark and swearing. The very large conference room was filled to capacity and it was a wonderful panel, even if Bendis probably ended up answering more questions than Quesada did. The one big reveal at this panel was a sort of re-jiggering of the Ultimate line of books, with Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic Four getting cancelled and the line getting cut down to four books with all-new first issues. Bendis remains on Ultimate Spider-Man with new artist David LaFuente, who did some beautiful work on the most recent Ultimate Spider-Man Annual, Mark Millar will return to the Ultimate Universe to launch Ultimate Avengers, with the always reliable Carlos Pacheco on art, and Jeph Loeb will stay on for a new volume of The Ultimates. The fourth book has not been announced yet. I’m geeking out about this as I’ve been fairly obsessed with the Ultimate line for years but, with the exception of the consistently brilliant Ultimate Spider-Man, it’s been in dire need of a reboot for quite some time now.

When I left Cup O’ Joe, I went up to the floor for a bit to see what sort of inexplicable music Marvel had playing in their booth. This time, it was “Bombs Over Baghdad,” by OutKast. Hm. Then I began to casually girl-watch a bit, but every remotely good-looking girl at Comic Con seemed to just be there to accompany her much nerdier boyfriend. I did see one cute girl dressed as Mary Marvel, but then I remembered that I’d seen her last year and she was also dressed like Mary Marvel then. And do I really want to be with someone who will continuously dress like Mary Marvel? Wait. Now I’m second-guessing myself. Anyway, there’s a lot to perv out to at Comic Con this year. I’m a 22 year-old male geek. I can’t help but get a little turned on by a somewhat good-looking girl dressed as Poison Ivy or Black Canary. What can I say? I’m unapologetic.

When I went back down to search for the Straczynski panel, I was told that it was cancelled due to Straczynski’s nomination for a British Academy Award for his work writing Changeling (which, by the way, wasn’t nearly as good as the comic book maxi-series he began this year, The Twelve). So, I decided to go to the DC Universe panel, which turned out to be fairly fun. There was a ridiculous line, which security kept kicking people off of, and I overheard these three super-geeks talking about how they’d like to perform an actual crucifixion on Grant Morrison for his work writing the awful event mini-series Final Crisis, which just ended last week. Then, the panel mostly focused on the aftermath of Final Crisis. They even had a timeline chart to try to explain just what the fuck was going on in the unholy mess that was Final Crisis. But, oh well. It didn’t really illuminate much to me. But Flash: Rebirth, by Geoff Johns, sounded like fun, so I’ll probably pick that up.

After my last panel of the day I decided to just wander the floor for a bit. I stopped by the bootleg stand where I bought the complete series of Daria last year and this year I considered picking up both Karen Sisco (an underrated gem, starring Carla Gugino) and Rocko’s Modern Life before moving on. There was a big T-Shirt booth and I’m a T-Shirt whore so I ended up buying four: a Fantastic Four shirt, an X-Men shirt with a “Danger Room” warning on it, a Serenity shirt and an X-Files shirt with Fox Mulder’s “I Want To Believe” poster emblazoned across it. So day two actually turned out pretty successful. Day three should be even more fun, because it’s the big TV day. I’m gonna try to hit the panels for Chuck, Dollhouse, Fringe and Life On Mars before the end of the day. And I may even go back and pick up Rocko because it’s kind of been calling to me the past couple of hours.

More tomorrow…

Tags: geeks comic con new york comic con
February 8, 2009 at 12:47am ∞

by Daniel Erenberg

For the second straight year, your intrepid reporter is going through a breakup during the New York Comic Con. So, for the second straight year, going into the Jacob Javits Center, I wasn’t excited. I was depressed. And not only about the breakup, mind you. Something sort of personal that had been building up for the last couple weeks came to a strong head this morning. So, on the way to the convention center, alternating between The Blow, Modest Mouse and The White Stripes on my iPod, I decided, “Fuck life.” It’s comics time.

Unfortunately, when I got to the Javits center, I thought it was the wrong day altogether. The huge sign out in front read, “New York Times Travel Convention.” I was stumped, but I went in anyway. It took me about a half hour to finally find the Press Room and, by this point, I was even more pissed off than I had been already. This was also causing me to be annoyed by the awkward fanboys walking about dressed as their favorite superheroes, something I’m usually quite charmed by. But I guess I learned that when I’m in a bad mood, a Green Lantern with back acne is not going to cheer me up. Dammit. Maybe a trip to the con floor would do the trick.

I first stopped at the Marvel Comics booth because I used to work there and I wanted to see if I could find anyone I knew. Alas, it was all new interns that I wasn’t familiar with. The odd thing about the Marvel booth, which is unlike any of the other comic companies’ booths, is that they blast music. And the music is odd. The first time I went around, I heard “No One,” by Alicia Keys. Later in the day, it was a cover of “The Boys Are Back In Town,” by Everclear. This just confused me. Who picked this music? I must know!

Next up was the DC Comics booth, which was a much more satisfying time, because amidst all the creators signing books, Green Arrow and Black Canary artist Mike Norton was sitting there with no line in front of him. I dig the dude’s work, so I walked over and told him that, engaged him in a conversation about previous Green Arrow artists (notably, Phil Hester), and had him sign my program. Things were looking up. Finally. Now how about a panel?

The first panel of the day that I wanted to sit through was called “Superman: Building A Better World.” Unfortunately, in trying to get to the panel, I accidentally walked to the wrong part of the building and nearly entered a panel called “Focus On Africa,” from the stupid New York Times thing. When I finally found the correct room, just to make sure I knew where I was, I asked an attendee called Alex Clabering and he confirmed to me that I was, in fact, in the right place. “Why else would I be here?” he asked. I didn’t quite know what to say to that, but he kept talking anyway. About Superman, fittingly. He tried to explain to me the histories of the Nightwing and Flamebird characters who are taking over for Superman in Greg Rucka’s Action Comics, but I still didn’t get it. The panel started late because of sound issues, and when they started, only one mic was working. Great start!

The panelists were Geoff Johns (writer, Adventure Comics and Superman: Secret Origin), Rucka, James Robinson (writer, Superman), Jamal Igle (artist, Supergirl), Sterling Gates (writer, Supergirl) and Matt Idelson (senior editor). The panel was sort of somber and sparsely attended. I assume this had something to do with the recent end of the big DC event comic, Final Crisis, which was not well-received by fans. Mostly because it was a steaming pile of shit. (When one fan said, “I love Final Crisis,” one of the panelists replied, “You’re the one guy!”) The reason I was excited for this panel, though, was the recent finale of the Superman crossover, “New Krypton,” which got me more excited about reading Superman than I’ve been since I was a kid. This series resulted in the creation of a new planet called New Krypton, which is entirely populated by Kryptonians from the bottle city of Kandor. This may not make sense to you, but it opens up some very series questions for Superman. At the end of the day, is he Clark Kent: American, or is he Kal-El: Kryptonian? It’s an interesting thought that will be explored this year in the maxi-series, “World of New Krypton,” by Rucka and Robinson. Weirdly, Superman’s presence in that series means that he won’t be appearing very much in Superman or Action Comics. Some fans at the panel seemed dubious about this prospect, but it excites and fascinates me. My favorite panelist here was the very droll Robinson, who gave the finger to those same dubious fans.

My next panel was Marvel’s X-Men panel, which was packed to the brim with panelists and fans alike. It was quite an uncomfortable panel, because Chris Claremont, who wrote all of the main X-Men books for decades (including a remarkable 300-issue run on Uncanny X-Men), was in attendance for the classic fans and seemed to consistently look upon what was currently being done with his characters with complete disdain. I don’t understand why though. The X-Men books have been wonderful in the last year or so, almost down the line. This includes the ultra-violent X-Force, by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, the thoughtful X-Men Legacy, by Mike Carey, the powerhouse Uncanny X-Men, by Matt Fraction and the time-travel mindfuckery of Cable, by Duane Swierczynski. A few major announcements were made at this panel, the most notable being a New Mutants relaunch penned by the always-reliable Zeb Wells, an X-Force mini-series called Sex and Violence and a new Claremont book called X-Men: Forever, which Claremont pimped out for an uncomfortably long time. (Note: Don’t get me wrong. Chris Claremont is one of my favorite writers of all time and he wrote the first comic book I ever read. But, jeez, is he cantankerous!)

Marvel’s Dark Reign panel was next, which dealt with the aftermath of the Secret Invasion event, which involved the villainous Norman Osborne basically becoming the head of the Marvel Universe. I was psyched for this one, because it included the brilliant Brian Michael Bendis, a writer who I’d never seen in person before. Turns out, he’s a lot shorter and heftier than I thought he was. But no matter. He rules. Hard. And he was easily the funniest and most thoughtful member of the panel during the inevitable Q and A section. The announcements here included Jonathan Hickman (Secret Warriors) replacing Mark Millar on Fantastic Four in September, which I think is an inspired choice, and two new mini-series, Dark Reign: Young Avengers, by Paul Cornell and The Hood, by Jeff Parker. Cornell, as it turns out, was my favorite member of the panel. I’ve never read anything by him before, including his struggling ongoing series, Captain Britain and the MI:13, but I’m going to start. The guy is cartoonishly British, in the most charming way imaginable. I wanted to be his best friend. I’ll definitely be picking up that Young Avengers book.

For the next one, I needed something a bit more thoughtful, so I went to the Vertigo panel (Vertigo is often branded “the HBO of comics,” to give you an idea of what they’re about). Editor Karen Berger was the head panelist and she seemed so excited by everything she was announcing that it made me want to read it all. But first thing’s first. Air writer, G. Willow Wilson was there, and she looked adorable. She’s an odd girl, that G. Willow Wilson. She’s less than four years older than I am, but she’s a Muslim convert, which causes a very sexy and exotic way of dressing, and one of those cool nose rings that attaches to the ear. And Air is pretty brilliant, by the way. Oh my God. Within five minutes of the start of this panel, I already had a crush. Meanwhile, Berger kept making great announcements, like the expansion of Vertigo’s graphic novel division, featuring provocative upcoming books like How To Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less, by Sarah Glidden, which concerns the famous “Birthright” trips to Israel. Two new ongoing series were also announced, but wait. I’d started making eyes at G. Willow Wilson. And, what was this? Was she making eyes back at me? I smiled at her. I thought I saw the glimmer of a smile back. What the fuck was happening? But, yeah. Ongoing series. One, by Mike Carey, is called The Unwritten, which is inspired by the real-life Christopher Robin Milne, and wonders whether its main character is real or a fictional creation. The second one is by the great Peter Milligan. Called Greek Street, it’s a modern take on Greek tragedy and it sounds wonderful. And, while Marvel is raising the prices on some of its most popular books by a dollar (to 3.99), Vertigo is offering the first issues of all of its new series (plus, Air #7) for a dollar! Now they have the right idea. So, as the panel was ending, I decided to go talk to G. Willow Wilson. But a bunch of fans mobbed her so I left. Dammit. Depressed again. So I decided to skip the final DC panel and go home, because who really cares anyway? Final Crisis really did suck.

More tomorrow from Comic Con…

Tags: comic con new york comic con jacob javits center geeks
February 7, 2009 at 1:29am ∞