A one-day Comic-Con will be held at Place Bonaventure on Sunday, December 6th 2009.

The confirmed guests: Colleen Clinkenbeard and Monica Rial (voice actresses in anime movies) and Lloyd Kaufman (American independent film director, producer and actor).

More guests will be announced soon.

Sunday, December 6th, from 11:00am to 6:00pm

Place Bonaventure, room 200-N
800, rue de la Gauchetière Ouest, Montreal (Quebec) H5A 1K6

As a prequel to this convention, please make sure to drop by the Montreal ToyCon which will be held on Sunday, October 18th, 2009. Click the banner below for more information:

ein mashup video, das wir mögen, oh ja.

girlhack

While Marvel has been hogging the headlines as of late with Marvel Studios being bought by Disney, Warner Brothers has announced the formation of DC Entertainment. Here is the full press release.

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI) has created DC Entertainment Inc., a new company founded to fully realize the power and value of the DC Comics brand and characters across all media and platforms, to be run by Diane Nelson, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, and Alan Horn, President & COO, Warner Bros.

DC Entertainment, a separate division of WBEI, will be charged with strategically integrating the DC Comics business, brand and characters deeply into Warner Bros. Entertainment and all its content and distribution businesses. DC Entertainment, which will work with each of the Warner Bros. divisions, will also tap into the tremendous expertise the Studio has in building and sustaining franchises and prioritize DC properties as key titles and growth drivers across all of the Studio, including feature films, television, interactive entertainment, direct-to-consumer platforms and consumer products. The DC Comics publishing business will remain the cornerstone of DC Entertainment, releasing approximately 90 comic books through its various imprints and 30 graphic novels a month and continuing to build on its creative leadership in the comic book industry.

In her new role, Nelson will report to Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group, in order to best capitalize on DC Entertainment’s theatrical development and production activities and their importance to drive its overall business with each of the divisions of Warner Bros.

Nelson will bring her expertise and more than 20 years’ experience in creative brand management, strategic marketing and content development and production to ensuring DC Entertainment’s dual mission of marshalling Warner Bros.’ resources to maximize the potential of the DC brand while remaining respectful of and collaborative with creators, talent, fans and source material. Additionally, Nelson will continue to oversee the franchise management of the Harry Potter property, which she has done since 2000, and also continue to represent the Studio’s interests with the author of the Harry Potter books, J.K. Rowling. Nelson will segue from her post as President, Warner Premiere but maintain oversight responsibilities of that division. (An executive succession plan for Warner Premiere will be announced shortly.)

Paul Levitz, who has served as President & Publisher of DC Comics since 2002, will segue from that role to return to his roots as a writer for DC and become a contributing editor and overall consultant to DCE. This transition will take place as expeditiously as possible without disrupting DC’s business operations.

In his new role, Levitz will be called upon for his deep knowledge and more than three-decade history with DC Comics, both as a comic creator and an executive. Besides serving as a writer on a number of DC Comics titles, he will be a contributing editor and consultant to DC Entertainment on projects in various media. Additionally, he will consult as needed on the transition and integration of the DC Comics organization into DC Entertainment and will utilize his unique experience, knowledge and relationships with the comics industry’s creative community to help achieve DC Entertainment’s goal of maximizing the value of DC properties. Further, Levitz will advise DC Entertainment on creative and rights-holder relationships, in particular regarding the legacy relationships that have been a part of DC Comics for decades.

Widely recognized and respected for his support of writers, artists and creators in the comics industry, Levitz is best known creatively for his work with DC Comics, having written most of the classic DC characters, including Batman, Wonder Woman and the Superman newspaper strip. At Comicon International in 2008, Levitz was awarded the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award as part of the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the only industry executive ever so honored.

“DC Comics and its super hero characters are truly touchstones of popular culture, and the formation of DC Entertainment is a major step in our company’s efforts to realize the full potential of this incredible wellspring of creative properties,” said Meyer. “Diane knows our studio as a creative executive, a marketer and a senior manager, and this varied background will help her effectively and creatively integrate the DC brand and properties across all our businesses. We’re also thrilled that Paul will remain involved with DC and we’ll be able to tap his expertise to help us reach our goals for this new business.”

“It’s no secret that DC has myriad rich and untapped possibilities from its deep library of iconic and lesser-known characters,” said Horn. “While we’ve had great success in films and television, the formation of DC Entertainment will help us to bring more DC properties across additional platforms to fans around the world, while maintaining brand integrity and authenticity. Diane is a terrific choice to lead DC Entertainment, and with Paul in his new role as a valued consultant and contributing editor, both our company and comic fans win.”

“Based on the great success we’ve had working with DC Comics to create some of the most popular and successful super hero films of all time, I’ve long believed that there was much more we could do across all of Warner Bros.’ businesses with this great body of characters and stories,” said Robinov. “The prioritization of DC and the creation of DC Entertainment is a great opportunity that reaches far beyond the film group. There are endless creative possibilities to build upon the many significant successes already achieved by my colleagues Kevin Tsujihara and the Home Entertainment Group in the videogame, home video and direct-to-platform arenas and Bruce Rosenblum and the Television Group in live-action, animated and digital series. Collectively, we have the ability to grow a body of properties highlighting the iconic characters and the diversity of the creative output of DC Comics.”

“The founding of DC Entertainment fully recognizes our desire to provide both the DC properties and fans the type of content that is only possible through a concerted cross-company, multi-platform effort,” said Nelson. “DC Entertainment will help us to formally take the great working relationships between DC Comics and various Warner Bros. businesses to the next level in order to maximize every opportunity to bring DC’s unrivalled collection of titles and characters to life.”

“After so many roles at DC, it’s exciting to look forward to focusing on my writing and being able to remain a part of the company I love as it grows into its next stage,” said Levitz. “It’s a new golden age for comics and DC’s great characters, and I hope my new position will allow me to contribute to that magic time.”

DC Comics will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2010 (NEW FUN COMICS #1, the first DC comic, began publishing in 1935), at which time more explicit details regarding DC Entertainment’s corporate and management structure, film and content release slate, creative roster and business objectives will be unveiled at a multi-faceted anniversary celebration and press conference in the first quarter of the year.

Current DC properties in development and/or production at Warner Bros. Entertainment include:

– “Human Target” is being produced by Warner Bros. Television for a mid-season debut on Fox.

– “Midnight Mass” is in series development at Warner Bros. Television for consideration for the 2010-11 season.

– “Jonah Hex,” Warner Bros. Pictures’ supernatural Western starring Josh Brolin, Megan Fox and John Malkovich, recently wrapped production in Louisiana.

– “The Losers,” Dark Castle/Warner Bros. Pictures’ action-adventure drama starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans, began principal photography mid-July in Puerto Rico.

– “The Green Lantern,” Warner Bros. Pictures’ next big superhero tentpole release, recently cast Ryan Reynolds as the titular character. The film has a projected second quarter 2011 release date.

– “Lobo,” based on the DC Comics anti-hero, has Guy Ritchie attached as a director; Joel Silver, Akiva Goldsman and Andrew Rona are producing for Silver Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures.

– Warner Premiere’s direct-to-platform DVD animated release of “Green Lantern: First Flight” debuted July 28.

– Warner Bros. Animation currently produces “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” which airs on Cartoon Network.

– Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released “Batman: Arkham Asylum” on August 25, a dark, action packed videogame adventure for Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system, PlayStation3 computer entertainment system and Games for Windows.

Prior to being named President, DC Entertainment, Nelson most recently served as President, Warner Premiere since its founding in 2006. Warner Premiere is a Studio-based production company which develops and produces high-quality, direct-to-DVD and short-form digital content, including the highly successful line of DC Universe animated DVD titles, and also pioneered the development of the motion comics category. Under Nelson’s leadership, Warner Premiere functions as a full-service production entity with its own resources and release schedule, furthering the Studio’s mandate of being a destination for both established and up-and-coming talent to create stand-alone properties as well as experiment in new media.

Before that, Nelson served as Executive Vice President, Global Brand Management, Warner Bros. Entertainment, with the primary responsibility of working cross-divisionally and throughout Time Warner to maximize and optimize all the various windows and outlets available to the Studio’s signature franchises, brands and event properties on a global basis. In this post, Nelson’s primary focus was the management of the Harry Potter brand, which she has overseen since the brand’s launch at the Studio in 1999. These efforts have helped drive the success of the brand to become the most successful film franchise of all time, as well as a respected consumer property that has generated billions of dollars for the Studio.

At Global Brand Management, Nelson and her team of more than 15 employees worked in all media and platforms to support a number of other key franchise properties, including “The Matrix Reloaded,” “The Matrix Revolutions,” “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight,” “Happy Feet,” “Polar Express” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” among others.

Prior to overseeing Global Brand Management, Nelson had served as Executive Vice President, Domestic Marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures. Nelson rose quickly through the ranks, having also served as Senior Vice President, Domestic Marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures and prior to that, Senior Vice President, Family Entertainment, Warner Bros. Corporate Worldwide Marketing and Planning. She was also Vice President, Worldwide Corporate Promotions, a post to which she was promoted in March 1998, after joining the Studio in September 1996 as Director of Worldwide Corporate Promotions.

Nelson came to the Studio from Walt Disney Records, where she served as Director of National Promotions. She is a graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications.

Lukas Eggen

[Marvel] es una mini-Disney en términos de propiedad intelectual. Disney tiene personajes mucho más blandos y reconocibles, mientras a nuestros personajes se les conoce como héroes de acción. Pero en Marvel ahora estamos en el negocio de la creación y marketing de personajes.

Ron Perelman, propietario de Marvel entre 1989 y 1991

En el día de hoy se ha desatado la noticia del año: Disney ha comprado Marvel por aproximadamente 4.000 millones de dólares. Según una estimación de The Comics Chronicles ésta cifra se corresponde con el total de unidades vendidas por Timely-Marvel en toda su historia y equivaldría a la venta de más de 1.000 millones de comic books al precio actual.

El precio incluye la emisión por parte de Disney de 59 millones de nuevas acciones que serán recompradas durante el próximo año. Los actuales propietarios de Marvel no serán integrados en los órganos directivos de la corporación Disney, a diferencia del caso Pixar. Esto perjudicará en primera instancia al valor por acción de Disney que espera recuperar en 2012. Se prevé que los detalles de la fusión se completen hacia finales del año en curso, a excepción de una intervención de las autoridades reguladoras de la competencia.

Con un catálogo de 5.000 personajes y varias de sus películas entre los 25 estrenos de mayor recaudación de la historia del cine, Marvel ocupaba el cuarto puesto en la lista de marcas mundiales con un valor estimado de 5.700 millones de dólares mientras Disney ostentaba la primera posición con un valor de 30.000 millones.

La división de publicaciones de Disney es la mayor editora de libros y revistas infantiles del mundo con 441 revistas publicadas y 120 millones de libros infantiles vendidos cada año. Publica en 85 lenguas y 75 paises. Las facturación de Disney el último año, 2008, rondó los 36.000 millones de dólares a lo que Marvel añadiría 700 millones. A esperas de que la unión sea mayor que la suma de las partes, Time Warner continuaría manteniendo su superioridad con una facturación de 46.000 millones.

La reacción del mercado ha sido muy favorable para Marvel cuyo valor bursátil ha subido un 26% mientras el de Disney bajaba un 3%. The Wall Street Journal considera excesivo el precio pagado por Marvel debido a la inestabilidad del valor de sus marcas en función de las modas.

Probablemente, Marvel se incorporará al segmento de productos de consumo de la corporación pero mantendrá su independencia y su sede en Nueva York: no habrá una supervisión editorial. Según declaraciones de un portavoz de Disney: No se trata sólo una compra de licencias de personajes sino de una compañía, incluído su capital humano. El comunicado del acuerdo de fusión apuesta por proveer contenidos con marca de calidad, la innovación tecnológica y la expansión internacional. Se trata de una apuesta a largo plazo.

La faceta cinematográfica del acuerdo es muy prometedora en cuanto Disney es propietaria, entre otros, de Touchstone, Miramax y Pixar. No obstante, se ve limitada por los contratos en vigor con Paramount (Iron-man, Thor, Capitán América y Los vengadores), Sony (Spiderman) y 20th Century Fox (X-men/Wolverine, Daredevil, Fantastic Four/Silver Surfer) que serán respetados en su vigencia aproximada de 5 años. En este campo, el interés inicial parece centrarse en el mercado de venta de DVDs.

Aún en el terreno audiovisual, el acuerdo resulta mucho más prometedor de inmediato en la penetración del mercado televisivo. Disney controla la ABC (televisión generalista en abierto), la ESPN (deportes) y el Disney Chanel (canal de pago) pero, en un mercado publicitario a la baja, la esperanza parece estar puesta en el recién creado canal por cable Disney XD orientado a una audiencia juvenil masculina, tal como escribe Paul Bond en The Hollywood Reporter:

Entre las razones clave para el acuerdo está el deseo de Disney de atraer al público masculino en el mismo grado en que ha conseguido atraer a las chicas jóvenes. Recientemente se creó el canal de televisión Disney XD para replicar el éxito de la compañía en atraer a las niñas con princesitas, hadas y Hanna Montana.

Los parques temáticos representan otra cara del poliedro. Disney controla la primera red mundial pero Marvel está sujeta a un acuerdo con los parques de la Universal. Por parte de Disney hay un interés muy pronunciado en este punto por la caída de público a causa de la crisis económica.

En cuanto a la vertiente editorial, la única mención en la conferencia de prensa de Marvel/Disney al negocio editorial fue ésta:

¿Existe algún beneficio para Disney en el mercado del cómic?

Tenemos un robusto negocio de edición infantil. Ellos tienen un exitoso negocio de comic-books. Se intentará ampliar la presencia de ambas compañías en la edición. Ahí hay posibilidades.

El principal aspecto en que este acuerdo puede ampliar las posibilidades de los cómics de Marvel es en la distribución. El mercado directo seguirá siendo gestionado por Diamond con toda probabilidad pero en relación a las grandes cadenas de librerías norteamericanas Marvel contará con el apoyo de Disney que distribuye a través de Harper Collins, perdiendo Diamond ésta importante fuente de ingresos a partir de octubre de 2010.

En relación a los cómics de los personajes de la corporación Disney actualmente, la compañía mantiene una serie de licencias con BOOM! (Los Teleñecos, Los Invisibles…) y proyectaba una línea de novelas gráficas bajo un sello de nueva creación, Kingdom Comics. Los clásicos del Tío Gilito, Donald y compañía eran publicados hasta ahora por Gemstone, propiedad del dueño de Diamond, que se encuentra en serios problemas financieros.

Entre los años 1994 y 1997, Marvel ya editó los cómics de Disney con excepción de los patos. Por su parte, los clásicos Disney siempre han sido publicados por editoriales diferentes a la propia corporación (Dell, Gladstone…) a excepción de un breve periodo durante la presidencia de un injerente Michael Eisner con resultados muy insatisfactorios para la propia compañía.

En cuanto al mercado internacional, la absorción no afectará de inmediato a Panini, Egmont y otras editoriales que publican los tebeos de la nueva corporación fuera de Estados Unidos.

La emergencia de esta nueva compañía deja inmejorablemente situados a los cómics Marvel para hacer frente a los dos principales retos de futuro de la industria del cómic norteamericano: el salto al formato digital y la competencia asiática en el mercado doméstico e internacional.

Por nuestra parte, solamente añadir que igual que Marvel complementa a Disney por la vertiente masculina adolescente, Disney complementa a Marvel por la vertiente infantil y femenina. Cabe esperar en el futuro mayor atención a la prestada hasta ahora  a estos dos sectores, especialmente el femenino, en competencia directa con el manga. En cuanto a los temores de Disneyficación parecen conjurados a corto plazo, la futura “sinergia” demostrará si esta promesa se cumple finalmente.

ACTUALIZACIÓN:

Zona Negativa entrevista a José Luís Córdoba y Alejandro Martínez Viturtia de Panini:

Pregunta para Jose Luís. Aunque ya han avisado por activa y por pasiva de que las licencias y acuerdos que tuviese Marvel con terceros no se verán afectados, para tranquilidad de los lectores de Marvel en España ¿me podrías confirmar que la publicación de Marvel Comics por parte de Panini Comics en España no sufre peligro a medio ni largo plazo?

- Por un lado hay contratos vigentes que se deben cumplir y por otro una relación a nivel mundial que supera con creces las relaciones Disney-Planeta, que son locales. Por ejemplo, en España nosotros somos los editores de las revistas Disney (High School Musical, Hannah Montana, Playhouse, Cars y Campanilla) y ese volumen de negocio es más importante que el de los cómics, pero además debes pensar que Panini es el editor de todas las colecciones de cromos de Disney en todo el mundo. En realidad, en el sector editorial y a nivel global Disney tiene dos socios estratégicos: Egmont (para todo lo que son cómics y revistas con personajes clásicos: Donald, Mickey…) y Panini. La verdad es que en teoría esta adquisición refuerza nuestra posición en Marvel. En cualquier caso, insisto, las dos empresas se administrarán por separado y no cambiará nada: Planeta seguirá con los cómics Disney y nosotros con los de Marvel y con las revistas.

Celestino J. López detalla las películas pendientes de la casa de las ideas en Marvelmanía:

Lo más relevante, y que sirve de resumen de toda la presentación, es que los acuerdos con terceras partes (las productoras cinematográficas Sony y Fox, que tienen las licencias de explotación en salas de Spider-Man, la primera, La Patrulla X y Los Cuatro Fantásticos, la segunda) quedarán tal y como están en el momento actual (…)

Las películas de La Patrulla X han recaudado, en su conjunto, más de 1.200 millones de euros en la taquilla global, mientras que los tres films de Spiderman han ingresado cerca de 2.000 millones de euros en las salas de cine de todo el mundo. Y Marvel Studios ha ingresado más de 300 millones de euros sólo con dos películas, la de Iron Man y la de Hulk (…)

Marvel Studios continuará la producción de todos los films que tiene preparado para los próximos años, y sin intromisión por parte de Disney. Se trata de Iron Man 2, que se estrenará el  7 de mayo de 2010; Thor, el 20 de mayo de 2011; The First Avenger: Captain America (título provisional), el 22 de julio de 2011, y The Avengers, que lo hará el 4 de mayo del 2012. Además está confirmado el estreno de Spider-Man 4 para el día 6 de mayo del 2011, y está pendiente el comienzo de la producción de X-Men Origins: Magneto, Wolverine 2, Young X-Men y el reinicio de la franquicia cinematográfica de Los Cuatro Fantásticos (Fox), así como Spider-Man 5 (Sony) que ya tiene guionista, pero no fecha de estreno prevista.

Un apunte histórico por nuestra parte. El cómic norteamericano invadió por primera vez el mercado europeo en la década de los 30 del siglo pasado capitaneado por cabeceras de populares personajes de Disney: Topolino Giornale en Italia (diciembre de 1932) Le Journal de Mickey en Francia (octubre de 1934) o Mickey en España (marzo de 1935). Para darnos cuenta de su importancia, éstas publicaciones normalizaron en el cómic europeo el uso del globo para representar las palabras. A día de hoy los personajes de Disney siguen siendo los tebeos más populares en buena parte del Norte de Europa incluyendo de manera eminete a Dinamarca y Alemania.

—

ICV2 analiza los efectos del acuerdo en las diferentes divisiones , especialmente en  el negocio editorial:

Si Disney sigue el ejemplo de Pixar pondrá a Marvel al cargo de las novelas gráficas que publicaba a través de su división editorial o, al menos, intentará usar a Marvel para ayudarlas a llegar a las tiendas especializadas. Parece probable, aunque no inevitable, que Disney recupere las licencias otorgadas a  Boom y Tokyopop según expiren.

Reuters se centra en un aspecto que no habíamos tocado: los juguetes. Marvel tiene un acuerdo con Hasbro hasta 2017 pero su principal rival, Mattel, es propiedad de la Disney.

Para hacer memoria, llegamos a través de Tom Spurgeon a un reportaje de 2005 en The New York Times que desgrana el intento frustrado de Michael Eisner de fusionar Marvel con Miramax.

Por último, señalar la posibilidad de que Disney decida montar su propia convención de Historieta en Estados Unidos, especialmente tras la reciente cooptación de la Comicon por la industria Hollywood.

ACTUALIZACIÓN 3: Marvel/Disney, La historia se repite

W A N T S.

photo: Toydirt.com

Well if you liked Alien Hominid, The Dad n Me flash game or Castle Crashers you will like this new game…Game 3#

Here are the latest vids…

Xplay video…:

http://g4tv.com/videos/40782/Hands-On-Behemoths-Game-3/

Extra Xplay stuff

http://g4tv.com/videos/40797/The-Behemoth-Game-3-working-title-Direct-Feed-Walkthrough/

Gameplay Video 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j8TwsTC-fI&feature=player_embedded

Hope you liked that!

~Xtr4M1nty~

Matt Furie has a few California shows coming up chock full of his drawings of bizarre characters that he somehow conjures up.

Show Details:

“Monster Family” Oct 9-25th at Beams T Harajuku, “Future Colors of America” at Giant Robot San Francisco in August, “Boy’s Club” #3 at San Diego Comicon in late jury, “Neighborhoods”group show at 111 Minna in Sept. 2009

More art and an interview over at Fecal Face.

Ya podemos echar un vistazo a nuevos poster  de ‘Avatar’, la esperadísima nueva película del productor, escritor, director, visionario y casi salvador del cine norteamericano… James Cameron. A falta de ver un primer tráiler, que está tardando más de la cuenta en salir, tenemos que conformarnos con imágenes como éstas, que consiguen poco más que alargar aún más nuestros colmillos, o desesperarnos, si tenemos en cuenta todo lo que falta aún para ver la película en el cine. Recordemos que la fecha del estreno es el próximo 18 de diciembre.

La chica del cartel, debidamente modificada para la ocasión, es la actriz Zoe Saldana

El avatar de Sam Worthington

Y para terminar les regalo una imagen del rodaje

¿Bueno y que esperabas? Estos tipos no sueltan mucha info que digamos asi que conformate con esto.

By Keith McDuffee / TV Squad – 24jul09

SOURCE

Another hangar-like room, room 6CDEF (obviously four rooms put together) was what housed the rest of my evening’s panels. First up: HBO’s True Blood. What’s so odd about this is how, immediately following, Showtime has Dexter. Go figure.

Many people arrived early, enjoying the new characters of Street Fighter IV in the panel before True Blood. The line getting in over an hour before was insane, looping around multiple long corridors and seemingly never stopping to gain length. How they’re able to get everyone in without people standing is a mystery.

Here are some key highlights from the panel discussion. More details to come later.

In attendance: Alan Ball, Charlaine Harris, Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Ryan Kwanten, Rutina Wesley, Sam Trammell and Nelsan Ellis.

We were shown a trailer for the show, which premieres September 7. I already saw the full leaked pilot (sshhh!) so only a little of this was new to me, as they showed what was clearly from later episodes.

* Harris is working on the 9th book in the series right now.

*We don’t learn why Sookie is telepathic this season.

*Alan Ball said the show will be true to the book as much as possible without making Paquin work every single day on the set, as the book is entirely told in first person by Sookie.

*Stephen Moyer and Ryan Kwanten are a couple more possible nominees for the ‘Outsourcing’ award next year.

*Many of the questions that moderator Lynette Rice asked can be answered if you read some of the books in the series, even the first book.

*Lafayette runs a gay porn website in the show, unlike in the books, and to that Harris said: “I’m good with it.” That got a laugh out of the crowd.

*The casting of Quinn. Harris said he’s her “personal homage to Vin Diesel.”

*Will we see Bubba on the show? Alan Ball said he didn’t want to give that away, so read into that what you want.

*Nancy Oliver and Alan Ball are two writers from Six Feet Under who moved over to this show to write, though nobody else as of yet, at least.

*They’ve got three more days of shooting and then the season is wrapped.

*Asked about fan reaction, Alan Ball said he doesn’t have time to read what people think online and see what they think. He simply went on to say he’ll try very hard to be true to Harris’s vision in this series and takes fans of the books seriously.

*The first season will basically be book one and not transgress into the second book, at least for the most part.

*Ball mentioned that Katrina is in the first episode, but since it appears in book #5 as a present-day happening, Alan Ball says they will deal with that if/when they get to that book in the series.

*Maenads (sorry I’m not sure of the spelling) will appear in the first season, though they don’t appear until the second book. Other supernatural characters introduced in the books will appear or it’s planned that they will appear throughout the series.

NB : Here are some videos from the ComiCon 2009 panel (thanx to cjanus)

I spent Last weekend in San Diego attending the biggest Nerdfest (myself, proudly
included) in the World, COMICON! I already knew from my experiences last year that
I would have to fight my way through massive crowds, overexcited fanboys, and long
lineups. And I was right. Once I set foot into the convention center it was packed.

Walking through the main exhibit hall was overwhelming. Every Hollywood studio,
Comic book publisher and Video game company were in attendance promoting their latest and greatest product. That was where crowd control became a bit of a problem because swarms of people were unwilling to move due to the free schwag being given out and the impromptu celebrity sightings. People were even lining up 3-4 hours in advance,
to see their favorite panels. We missed the panel for both Iron Man 2 and Smallville due to the lineup which snaked around the whole convention center.

One particular section at the event I spent most of my time at was in Artists Alley where
I picked up a few sketchbooks for inspiration. I ran into some of my old instructors from the Animation Academy - John Nevarez, Jose Lopez and Stephen Silver. They each manned their own booths and were selling their sketchbooks. Please check their blogs out and buy their books. I HIGHLY recommend their work!

Another cool experience was seeing James Jean and picking up his new book “Kindling”.

And of course, it’s always great to see Leonard Nimoy (Spock!)

I had a great time although I was bummed out to miss the Iron Man 2 Panel. Can’t wait for next year!

Check out my Flickr page for more pics!

Alright, folks, sorry you had to wait so long for this but here, finally, is my report on Comic-Con.  So the Thursday morning of our panel, I woke up early and went to join the rest of the Platinum crew to offer my help and was quickly drafted into service that I thought would only be hauling a few boxes but turned into a full day’s worth of work.  (Sometimes it stinks to be a nerd who is in shape.  People will take advantage of you.)  So after hauling several hundred pounds of posters from our hotel to the convention center I was already drenched in sweat and it was only 9am.

At this point, I got re-introduced to all the great journalists that I had met down in New Orleans.  You see, we were kind of piggy-backing on someone else’s panel, although there was a very strong and logical connection there.  The panel was actually called “Masters of the Web” and it featured some of the best web journalists around.  Guys like Robert Sanchez (www.iesb.net), Ryan Rotten (www.shocktilyoudrop.com), Jeremy Smith (www.aintitcoolnews.com) and many others (sorry, guys, can’t name you all).   Most of the panel had been invited down to be zombies on the set of Dead of Night a few months before.   So, in a way, the entire panel featured our “cast”.

Anyway, after a great discussion by the guys about web journalism that occurred as I handed out posters to people walking in (Yeah, not sure how that became my job, either.  Just the guy who can’t say no.) which Kevin moderated, they finally introduced the rest of the cast of Dead of Night, including Brandon, Sam, and Anita and producers Gil Adler and Scott Mitchell Rosenberg.  Lot’s of flash bulbs went off for a few minutes and then they settled in for a few questions.  The first one was a bit of a shocker where someone from the audience asked about Anita’s rumored relationship with Megan Fox.  Strangely, it wasn’t a rumor I had ever heard before, and I’ve got about 7 zillion Google Alerts, autosearches, and about everything else under the sun for everyone included on this film and I’ve never heard anything about that.  Don’t know how I missed that one.  The following questions ranged from people wondering why we had made certain changes to a really nice one about Brandon’s and Sam’s friendship.

Then we showed a bit of footage which left the standing-room-only panel room exploding with applause.  I actually was amazed at how well the footage got a reaction from people.  I mean, I was pretty sure it was good, but I’m a little too close to know whether or not others are going to think so.  I think from that reaction that people are going to be happy with it.  (And I’m working every day to get the Powers That Be to release the footage for me to post it here.)

Then we made our way into a separate press room where 7 or 8 journalists were invited in for a more private Q&A.  Included were folks from some great Italian publications, so the questions were pretty hard hitting and direct, but I’m pretty sure even the Italian journalists left that room with a picture of people who care about and understand the property and really want nothing more than to make a movie people will enjoy.  I won’t scoop the reporters by posting any questions they might have asked, but I’ll sure as heck post their articles the moment they are available.

Finally, our day ended with an autograph signing by Brandon, Kevin, Sam, Anita, Gil and Scott in the main autograph hall.  There was a line a mile long the waiting for us when we got there.  As you may remember, they were only signing Dead of Night posters, which, unfortunately, left some fans a little disappointed but it was a decision that was beyond our control.  Still, a lot of fun was had by all, I think.  It was really nice to see the whole gang interact with the fans, posing for pictures, joking around, asking questions.  It was hands down the friendliest, most relaxed signing I had ever witnessed.  It felt more like people who had know each other for years getting together than a bunch of strangers looking for autographed.  I think we have just THAT cool and down-to-earth a cast, but, like I said earlier, I’m pretty close to all this.

Overall, it was a fun, fun day.  Was really nice to see everybody again.  I think my favorite moment had to have been when I was getting Brandon, Sam, and Anita out from amongst the chaos after the panel and they, all three almost simultaneously, realized that this security guy who was shuffling them along was me.  As if almost rehearsed, I got a “Dan, what are you doing here?” from each one of them.

Now I want to hear from who else was there.  Any good stories from those of you that made it to the Con?

-Dan Forcey

Development Exec/Former Stunt Guy/PTS (Part Time Security)