Comic-Con 2009 Through the Eyes of Super Geek Shawn Kelly
 By: Shawn Kelly
OK, let's just get it all out on the table, shall we? I have a confession to make: I'm a huge geek.
I'm sure that comes as no surprise to most of you, but in case some of you have been reading this column under the delusion that I am anything other than a massive geek who is obsessed with animation, comic books, movies, toys, videogames, TV, art, NASA, and of course fried chicken (which I suppose is technically my LEAST nerdy quality), then I'm sorry to break the news to you, but I am a gigantic geek.
Now, I'm not quite socially awkward enough to be considered a real nerd, and I'd like to think that I rarely wade into the shallow waters of true Dorkdom, but a geek? Yup, that's me.
So, being an avowed and unashamed geek, where do you think I was the third week of July?
In San Diego, California, of course, geeking it up with the biggest geeks this side of geekville, and loving every minute of it!
This was my seventh (eighth? I forget...) year attending San Diego Comic-Con International, and if you're feelin' you might be a geek too, I'm tellin' you right now – hop on a plane next year because there is no better place to be.
For an animator, or any artist, Comic-Con is pure inspiration! We couldn't miss our chance to geek out, so my wife and I hooked up with Bobby Beck of Animation Mentor and Glen McIntosh of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and off we went!
So, what's this Comic-Con you've heard so much about?
Picture this: 130,000 people from every conceivable walk of life crammed into one cavernous building, surrounded by the latest and greatest of every facet of pop culture. You've got video game fans, film fans, comic book fans, and art fans. You've got celebrities and paparazzi and people dying for autographs. You've got artists and authors and producers and studios. Not to mention costumes galore, with cosplayers and furries and monsters all running around together like the most elaborate Halloween party you've ever imagined.
Every day is jam-packed with nonstop panels and presentations hosted by your favorite filmmakers, game designers, comic artists, and authors. This year, a tiny sliver of what audiences were treated to included 26 minutes of James Cameron's upcoming Avatar, eight minutes of Disney's Princess & the Frog, the first look at a 3D version of Beauty and the Beast (wow!), and the first film footage the world has ever seen of what is sure to be the controversial Kick-Ass.
All the biggest "geek films" are being pushed here, with the studios hungry to drum up buzz among the world's most influential (and interconnected) film fans, whose opinions of those projects are sure to be posted all over the internet about two seconds after seeing it.
The casts of the biggest TV shows in the U.S. are present and accounted for, of course, including the gangs from Heroes, Lost, and True Blood all on hand to answer questions and show off new footage from upcoming episodes.
Of course, Animation Mentor was there as well, and we were able to host a terrific event honoring Disney teacher Walt Stanchfield. I got to kick things off with a quick introduction of Don Hahn, creator of not only iconic films like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, but producer of one of my all-time favorite short films: Tummy Trouble!
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Looking down from the podium at the people seated at the panel was an amazing and humbling experience I'll never forget. The panel included Eric Goldberg (animated the Genie from Aladdin), Tom Sito (author, teacher, animator, and all-around animation guru), Rubén Procopio (worked on Little Mermaid and is an AMAZING sculptor), and Glen Keane, whose work over the years at Disney has been one of the biggest artistic inspirations of my life!
The panel was terrific – I wish you all could have been there! We packed the house out, with plenty of people standing all along the walls, and the folks up on that stage were amazing to listen to. Don showed plenty of Walt Stanchfield drawings, and they all reminisced about their former mentor.
For an animation geek like me, it was basically Nerdvana.
And the hour following the panel was just as fun as the panel itself! We got to hang out with a bunch of alumni, the panelists were answering questions right and left from students, taking photos with fans, and signing a million autographs...so fun!
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So, at Comic-Con, you've got all of these panels and Q&A sessions and presentations happening in auditoriums of various sizes scattered all throughout the San Diego Convention Center. However, the main "floor" area of the convention is where much of the real action is, and you can truly get lost walking literally miles through the endless maze of booths and displays.
The floor area tends to be loosely organized into sections, which helps a lot with getting your bearings, but even so, I can't explain how overwhelming the full effect can be.
First of all, you've got a huge section devoted to the big film studios, all giving away freebies, blasting the trailers or footage of their latest hot flick on giant TVs, and celebrities signing autographs. Props and costumes from next year's blockbusters fill glass cases, and everywhere you turn is a line of people waiting for...well, something. You almost never know exactly what they are queued up for unless you ask, and when you do ask, you almost always think, "Man, I wish I was in that line!"
Next to the film studios are the giant booths of the TV studios, with places like Nickelodeon dominating large areas packed with kids getting a sneak peek at the cartoons that the rest of the world will fall in love with sometime next year, taking photos with costumed recreations of their favorite characters, and playing the latest games.
Lucasfilm has one of the largest booths, if not THE largest, sprawling along a huge area near the entrances. Want to play exclusive LucasArts games that no one else will get to play with for a while? Step right up. Want to meet the creators of the game? No problem! Care to check out the prototypes of this Christmas' hot new toys? Here you go. Want to watch the world premiere of the new Clone Wars season on a huge screen? Well, you've come to the right place! This booth is jam-packed with everything Star Wars, including life-sized maquettes of Clone Wars characters you can take photos with, full-sized costumes for sale, autographs from Star Wars celebrities, life-sized Lego sculptures of clone troopers, and even a "science" section where you can try out your own abilities using the force!
There's a large video game area showing the latest and greatest in upcoming games for computers and consoles. Artist's Alley has scores of artists from all over the place doing sketches for fans and selling small sketchbooks of their work. A massive section devoted to designer toys has the hottest new vinyl figures, sculptures, maquettes, anime figurines, and dolls that are often being signed by their creators. Sideshow Weta has an enormous booth that dominates the center of the hall, where they reveal their upcoming slate of hyper-detailed sculpted maquettes (announced this year: Transformers maquettes! Woo hoo!).
All the comic book studios have huge booths where their top writers and artists not only make exclusive announcements, but sign books for adoring fans. And then you've got row after row of the most incredible independent artists selling their books, meeting their fans, and drawing/painting masterpieces as you watch!
Another booth that is always worth a visit is the "Profiles in History" booth, a company that hosts auctions for memorabilia of all kinds, and this year they did not disappoint! They were jam-packed with props and costumes from Lost, as well as from Transformers 2, and a wide variety of other films. For me, the coolest thing they had on display was Michael Jackson's illuminated glove he wore on tour back in '84. Wow!
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Of course, Marvel had a huge presence, as always, and had four of the Iron Man armor costumes from the upcoming Iron Man 2 on display at their booth. They looked amazing, but they weren't the only ones to bust out with some big imposing displays! Hasbro had a full-sized Bumblebee statue standing next to this year's "Bumblebee-i-fied" Camero. Fox had a full-sized AMP suit from Avatar, which is a huge battle-mech piloted by soldiers in the film. G4 had a raised platform that they were broadcasting live from, and Olivia Munn's army of Attack of the Show fans brought that section of the convention to a gridlocked standstill more than once as security scrambled to get gawking fans to continue moving down the aisle.
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I guess what I'm saying is there is a LOT going on. Everywhere you looked, there was more eye candy than you could absorb. It's absolutely sensory overload – and it's just plain awesome!
This year was certainly the most crowded the show has been. Everything about this year's 'Con was bigger. The crowds were thicker, the geeks were geekier, and the lines were longer.
The lines...holy moly. There were some seriously long lines. You had to line up by 6 a.m. to see the stars of Twilight do a Q&A and present some New Moon footage...a presentation that began at 1:45 p.m.! My wife and I were in line for almost three hours to see the True Blood panel (which was awesome, by the way), and I heard that some people actually camped outside overnight to get in early to see Avatar!
Luckily, there are so many interesting people so standing in line is rarely boring, especially if you're obsessed with photographing as many people as possible, like yours truly.
The other great thing about Comic-Con is that no matter how crowded it is – and the aisles in the convention hall DO get unbelievably crowded – the people there are almost unfailingly polite and kind. In eight years, I've never seen anyone shove someone out of the way or get into an argument. Costumed guests are invariably patient with the endless photo requests from amazed attendees, and the crowds backed up behind the photo-in-progress are just as patient as they wait for their opening to get by. How many places in the world could cram 130,000 people into one room for 4 ½ days and not have it turn into a nightmare?
I think the people there just tend to be genuinely excited and friendly, and it's a really great vibe.
In fact, a growing trend seems to be people carrying around "Free Hugs" signs, and I even watched a "hug line" spontaneously evolve into a line of people – some costumed, some not – all offering free hugs to the crowds walking by. Someone would take them up on their offer, hug each person in the line (which grew to well over 20), and then head off to see whatever surprise Comic-Con held for them around the next corner. A couple times the huggers even decided they wanted to be huggees and hollered out for a "group hug," and were instantly swarmed by their enthusiastic peers.
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For those of you who aren't big huggers, this stuff probably sounds pretty weird. And in person, well, it is weird, because strangers hugging each other just isn't something you'd normally see. But then again, neither is a girl dressed in a full-body wolf costume or Mrs. Fields Cookie Stands being staffed by professional models.
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If it's "weird" you're looking for, Comic-Con has plenty of it (for me, the weirdest thing I saw was the tall clown-woman in the spiked dog collar and spikey clown nose – I think I did a triple take as my brain tried to wrap itself around what it was seeing), but most everything is harmless and creative fun, and some of the "weirder" aspects of these wildly creative and friendly people, such as the line of huggers, is downright touching in a way.
So, why am I talking your ear off about a comic book convention? Well, obviously it's become a lot more than just a comic book convention, but beyond everything else that it has evolved into over the years, it consistently remains the most artistically inspiring event that I get to attend each year.
Animation is tough. We all know it. If you're reading this, you're either animating, learning to animate, or (hopefully) both. It can be draining! We put a lot of ourselves into our work, and while it may not be physically taxing the same way, say, coal-mining is, it's mentally and emotionally taxing on a level that many, if not most, jobs simply don't have to deal with.
It's important for us to stay inspired. As much as possible, as often as possible, and in as many ways as possible!
If you can't make it to something like Comic-Con, then seek out inspiration anywhere you can find it! It might be in books, it might be in writing, or it might be in sitting at the beach staring at the ocean.
For me, I find it in a lot of places (including all of the above!), but nothing quite recharges my Geek Batteries like Comic-Con!
I had a blast, made some new friends, hung out with some cool students and Animation Mentor alumni, met some honest-to-God heroes of mine, found some incredible new artists I hadn't heard of before, saw some amazing new film footage (keep an eye out for Kick-Ass next year! Whoa!), and took a couple thousand photographs because everywhere I turned was something new and fascinating.
For those of you who made it to the 'Con, I hope you had as much fun as I did! Thanks again to those of you who made it to our Disney event (saw a bunch of you getting autographs and drawings from Glen Keane afterward! Cool!!!) , and I hope to see more of you in San Diego next year!
Shawn :)
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