New York Comic Con 2009 Wrap-Up

Here are 5 things I learned at the New York Comic Con this weekend …

1) The Watchmen movie is going to ROCK! We got to watch the first 18 minutes of the movie, as well as a 30 second scene from somewhere in the middle, and I have to say, any reservations I might have had this time last year were completely dispelled. Just as he did with 300, Zach Snyder has done a fantastic job of making this film look and feel like a comic book brought to life. And in this case, it’s almost as if he’s used the comic pages themselves as the storyboards, duplicating panels down to the last detail. Dave Gibbons himself was there to talk about it, and it was clear that he couldn’t have been more thrilled with what Snyder had done with the material. March 6th can’t come soon enough.

2) Turns out there’s a Wonder Woman movie coming in March. No, not a live action movie — a direct-to-DVD animated movie, which we got to watch in its entirety on Friday night. Starring the voices of Kerri Russell as Wonder Woman and Nathan Fillion as Steve Trevor, it tells Wonder Woman’s origin story, from the moment she was molded out of clay to the moment when she accepts her role as a hero in the world of men. The film was surprisingly more funny and more “adult” than I expected, with more decapitations than I could count, and a little something our friend Hildy cleverly termed “Amazombies”. So probably not appropriate for pre-teens, but by the same token, much more entertaining for adults.

3) Torchwood‘s Eve Myles is cheekily demure … or demurely cheeky. Take your pick. She and season 3 director Euros Lyn were there to discuss Torchwood: Children of Earth, the 5-episode mini-season that will air later this year. The season will be one extended story, very dark in nature, dealing with an alien threat to all the children in the world. With the Torchwood team downsized after the deaths of two members last season, most of the action this season will revolve around Captain Jack, Gwen, and Ianto, with Gwen’s hubby Rhys becoming the unofficial fourth member of the team. Eve Myles could not have been a more delightful panel guest, eager to answer audience/fan questions in the most hilarious ways possible, and encouraging folks to visit Wales, where she is from and where the show is set.

4) I’m still not as interested in the new Terminator: Salvation movie as I’d like to be. We got to watch an extended trailer of sorts, with a variety of sequences from the film. And while it looked fast-paced and effects driven, with an array of awesome looking Terminator models in all sizes and shapes, I’m still not entirely sold on the idea that the story itself will be satisfying … or that Christian Bale’s marble-mouth narration won’t drive me insane. I guess we’ll find out in May. According McG, the director, the narrative revolves around Kyle Reese’s coming of age, John Connor’s rise from soldier to leader, and the birth of the T-800 model Terminator that Kyle will need to save Sarah from in the first movie.

5) SciFi Channel is apparently running low on marketing funds, because they didn’t represent themselves at all this year. In the past, they’ve run not only a panel, but also a screening of the most recent episode of Battlestar Galactica. This year, not so much. Which was disappointing. I was hoping for maybe a special Caprica trailer or something. But at least I got to meet Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol) at an autograph table on Friday. I actually might not have made a point of talking to him, if not for the fact that he and I happened to be wearing the same exact Office-inspired “Bears, Beets, Battlestar Galactica” t-shirt. So yeah … I did the stereotypical geek thing, and had my wife take a picture of us standing next to each other …

Beyond these things, the convention was a blast, as usual. Our group (me, Freakgirl, Charlie B, and Space and Time publisher Hildy S) decided to attend Friday and Saturday this year, and were exhausted enough — both physically and monetarily — by those two days that we chose not to attend Sunday. Which was a hard decision, because we ended up missing the Joss Whedon/Dollhouse panel as a result, along with some others. But I’m sure the details and possibly even full video of that panel will find its way online this week. Hey, check me out, fisting fist bumping Batman himself …

Also a bonus for Freakgirl and I was finally getting a chance to meet, chat, and dine with the Nerdy Bird herself, Jill Pantozzi. At last year’s con, Jill was just a blur in a Zatanna costume, and in the ten months since, she and I have become great blog buddies. But it was nice to step out from behind the blogs for a couple of days and get to meet face-to-face. Thanks to her, we scored great front-row seats for the Torchwood panel. And congratulations to her for scoring a gig writing for the Comic Book Resources website. Be sure to scroll down for links to her NYCC columns on CBR …

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19923

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19947

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19974

Con photos courtesy of Freakgirl and Charlie B