Comic-Con 2009 Edition
PICTURES
Comic-Con, for the uninitiated/people with lives, is a yearly event where fans of different fantasy media, be they comics or anime or whatever goes on in parents’ basements these days, come together. The event happens in a few cities, but the one that generates the most buzz is held in San Diego (surprising when you consider how much sunlight California has). So obviously Con goers are going to make elaborate costumes and bring cardboard tubes spray painted red and green and have lightsaber battles. It really shouldn’t be that surprising—it’s California. Conan the Barbarian runs the state for God’s sake. And yet every year, I’m blown away by the geek chic on display. Here we’ve got a 600-image-deep gallery of costumes. There’s some Batmen and some guys dressed as robots and people with tall white hair and swords and why is there an appendage on that girl’s back and I’m going to have nightmares tonight. Where’s my Ambien?
TRAILER
Comic-Con’s not just a four-day Halloween—the expo has become a place for major studios to unveil teasers for big upcoming projects. Tron Legacy, first mentioned four years ago as a sequel to 1982’s Tron and due out next year, had a trailer unveiled. It features one of the original’s famous lightcycle races, where one person wins by cutting the other off and having them crash into the wall of light that the bikes produce. I wish the lightcycles in Tron were real, because I would buy one. I would drive it on the LIE, and when soccer moms gabbing away on their cell phones to their girlfriends that “HEY LINDA GUESS WHAT! TOMMY PAINTED A PICTURE OF ME IN SCHOOL AND GAVE ME FLOWERS FOR HANDS AND GREEN SKIN!” cut me off, I would return the favor. Besides that, it’s been confirmed Daft Punk will produce the movie’s soundtrack.
VIDEO
Lost always has an awesome presence at Comic-Con—a good chunk of the cast and its writers come every year and hold lengthy discussions about the plot and entertain endless fan questions. Past years have had teasers that were so exciting, they would hand out deodorant sticks before showing them (OH MY GOD IT’S THE ISLAND!). But for the show’s final year (Lost ends this May), the teasers are 100 percent smoke monster- and polar bear-free. Instead, they’re commercials for things in the show. Like one for Oceanic Airlines, the one that crashed in the first episode—it’s funny because it’s unsafe! Or one for the character Hurley opening a fried chicken chain—it’s funny because he’s really fat! Or the actor who plays Ben reading the final page of the show’s script, which sets up a scene where Sylar and Parkman from Heroes are standing outside a burning tent—it’s funny because that show sucks!
TRAILER
The first photos for Tim Burton’s take on Alice in Wonderland hit the Internet about a month ago, and even knowing that they would be incredibly weird, they were still very, very weird. Like Tara Reid post-breast surgery weird. Johnny Depp, sporting orange Don King hair, layers of hobo clothes and the Mad Hatter’s hat, looks like he just got off a year-long bender with Amy Winehouse. Mia Wasikowska, as Alice, looks like Dakota Fanning circa 2020. And Anne Hathaway…is Anne Hathaway. It’s not that Alice doesn’t look like a cool movie, it just seems like Tim Burton being Tim Burton for Tim Burton’s sake. So at Comic-Con, Burton was there and brought out Depp and the place went nuts and they showed this trailer and yadda yadda everybody’s gonna see the movie anyway. Thanks Comic-Con! See you next year (from a safe distance)!
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