The Quick and Dirty Round-up of Comic Con 2014

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I didn’t go to San Diego Comic Con and odds are that you did not go either. San Diego is a long way from home, and Comic Con costs gobs of money. But did you really want to go anyway? Yeah. Me too. It’s probably rad. But it’s also likely very hot and full of very expensive food and collectibles I don’t want anyway.

When you are not at Comic Con, the news rolls out of the building so fast and furious from those in attendance that you cannot possibly keep up. The practice I recommend during its run is tuning out the entire thing. I tend to wait it out, and when the whole thing is over, go back over the myriad articles and lists and best of’s at the 10,000 foot level and look at the broad strokes.

Which I have now done and compiled for your non-attendance review. What kind of pop culture site would we be if we did not have a Comic Con roundup?

From DC Comics:

We saw a glimpse of the first-ever big-screen Wonder Woman. Played by Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman will be appearing in Zack Snyder’s upcoming Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

It seems Wonder Woman will be standing atop an erupting volcano.

DC also released its first look at Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice itself, with the release of a 50-second long teaser, which was then apparently bootlegged by one very gutsy attendee. That bootleg leaked. People online at that moment saw it, and then it disappeared into the vapor of digital detritus.

No doubt it featured a very dour Batman looking sullenly at an unemotional Superman standing against a gray-ish backdrop of like a city with empty streets or some such thing. This is Zack Snyder after all.

Now, Marvel:

Marvel Studios announced their movie release schedule until 2019. As of now it includes zero films dedicated to a female hero but there are many open spaces (apparently five (seriously 5!!!) Marvel films will be released between May 2017 and July 2018). If they cannot find room for one in that slate, I’d be shocked.

Still, the lack of female-anchored films even ready to announce today is lame, and was something many feared in advance of Comic Con. Some folks speculate that there might be a Captain Marvel title in the later years, but for now that’s nothing but hopeful speculation (I hope it’s Katee Sackhoff). For now, we can expect that the Comics-to-Movies properties that have succeeded will continue to be reproduced in like fashion, peppered in with an occasional new character (Doctor Strange) to bide the time until Thor 3 or Captain America 3 or Avengers 3.

Speaking of Avengers, Marvel also released some footage from Avengers: Age of Ultron. Everyone seems to think it was just fucking amaze-balls, but we schmoes who didn’t make the trip to San Diego won’t be seeing that footage any time soon. Alas. This picture of the Avengers fighting robots and stuff will have to suffice.

Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn announced he will be directing a sequel to the yet unreleased Guardians of the Galaxy. This is pretty much the only piece of Comic Con news I caught on Twitter over the weekend. Here’s what I think about the news:

The wheels-falling-off-of shitshow that has been Marvel’s Ant-Man reportedly calmed a bit with a panel that featured the film’s new (non-Edgar Wright) director, Peyton Reed, as well as Studio Boss Kevin Feige, Ant-Man himself Paul Rudd, old-timer Michael Douglass, and newly revealed cast-member Evangeline Lilly. I like Ms. Lilly; that’s cool news.

Okay. Moving on.

Game of Thrones season 5 will be the first season without an episode written by G.R.R. Martin. Apparently he’s busy. Said Martin: “I have this book I have to finish.” No shit.

Also, Game of Thrones bloopers.

I am in love with The Hunger Games movies, the living role they’ve taken up in our global culture as well as their general kickassery, and thus perhaps the best SDCC arrival was the trailer for Mockingjay Part 1. Behold:

 

Fox released a 4 minute “trailer” for a Simpsons and Family Guy cross-over episode. I think this is a stupid idea and frankly it’s beneath The Simpsons to welcome the Griffins into their home. But what I think doesn’t matter, here’s the trailer (it’s underwhelming).

 

In addition to these few notes, there were about 12,378 trailers released, and movies announced and on and on, but that’s about all the pop culture updates I care about from Comic Con. But it’s not the only news worth caring about.

Finally, and most importantly, Cosplay ≠ Consent protests were held outside Comic Con, in an effort to draw attention to the widespread problems of sexual harassment that accompanies Con attendance and Cosplaying for so many women. The campaign was organized by Geeks for CONsent, which also chronicles harassment accounts from women at cons around the country.

Geeks for CONsent have asked for more explicit sexual harassment language in the SDCC policies, as well as better training for employees on how to identify and react to harassment when it occurs. This is a mega-important issue for Cons to address and some, like Awesome Con in Washington, D.C. and Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, have provided models for others to do so.

There’s no excuse for any Con to ignore the prevalence of convention harassment. Cosplay includes an element of fantasy, and that fantasy combined with a protective environment like comic conventions can lead to dark places for some women, and lead others not to attend at all. Take it from Wil Wheaton: cosplay is not consent.

Sean Astin and taking stories with us

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The thing to keep in mind about an event like Minneapolis Comic Con is that those gathered on panels are pros. They know how to do what they are doing. Which is perhaps why hearing Sean Astin talk about his experience being called to the bedside of those who are dying was so moving. He knows how to tell a moving story. But just because he does it for a living does not mean that the powerful stories are not powerful.

So Astin closed his comic con hour talking about death.

Prior to this portion of his panel, Austin had given a fairly routine performance. Very funny and very engaging; his fans would have had nothing to complain about had Aston not chosen a serious topic to close the hour.

But after requesting of the moderator the opportunity to end on a sad note, Astin talked about those times he had been asked to accompany people during their final moments of life because of the love those people have for the stories he’s helped tell.

That someone would do this caught me by surprise. It simply hadn’t occurred to me to have the man who played Samwise Gamgee hold your hand as you’re shuffled off the mortal coil.

In those moments, “You can’t help but be in awe of Tolkien’s language and stories, and the actors, the whole experience,” he said. “It’s very powerful. People want to take these stories with them.” No matter how many times Austin may have told this anecdote it in the past, it was a real moment of emotion for the crowd of several thousand fans gathered to hear the actor. There was a palpable response across the audience.

And it was a beautiful expression of the power of the stories we love. At no place is that love of stories more evident than at fan events like comic con. Here were men and women literally dressed in the stories they love. That we want take these stories with us, even at the end, should not surprise me.

The back pain is the worst part. Cosplaying Inspector Gadget

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The commitment required to excel in the cosplay community can be stunning.

It takes both creativity and devotion to your fandom. Cosplay is at its best when the costumes are hand-crafted with love.

The outfits can take weeks, or months, or even, in some cases, the slow process of years, adding one piece on top of another.

Which is the case with Ryan, from Brooklyn Park, MN, and his Inspector Gadget costume.

Ryan has been adding to his Gadget Cosplay for years, he told me.

He spent most of yesterday on stilts, with a circuit board on his chest and helicopter blades springing from his hat.

The hardest part of the prep, Ryan said, is just getting the pant legs over the stilts.

I assumed it would be the working siren. Or spinning helicopter blades.

Ryan’s costume won him some money, which probably helps with the headaches.

I assume there’s headaches, but I didn’t know.

So I asked what the worst part of all this was.

The back pain, he said. I believe him.

Mariah Huehner’s comic-book convention indictment is stunning

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Comic book author Mariah Huehner (True Blood, Angel) wrote on her blog Squidy Girl about her experience in the comics industry as it pertains to sexual harassment. Like Tess Fowler, G. Willow Wilson, and others in recent weeks, Huehner is contributing to the growing, necessary discussion of sexism in the comics industry. Her post is a long one worth reading, and I encourage you to do so.

But I want to highlight one paragraph in particular, on conventions. The reach of convention culture has exploded in recent years. As San Diego Comic Con continues its ballooning national presence, others around the country find their influence growing as well. Even the small cons find their way into national news at times. The bottom line is that more and more fans are attending, and ever more money is being spent on and at conventions. These events matter. Here’s Huehner, after relaying a story of being groped at SDCC:

I have not gone anywhere at SDCC or any other con by myself since, which was in 2006 or so. I don’t drink at conventions unless I am with VERY trusted friends and we are somewhere like a dinner. Never at a party of any kind. I will occasionally buy a drink that I don’t like so it looks like I’m drinking, but I don’t. I never let it out of my sight. If I do have to go someplace alone at a con, which sometimes can’t be avoided, I spend the entire time feeling anxiously keyed up, hyper aware of everything going on around me, and I tend to have a miserable time unless I can find someone I know.

Just think about what this says. Re-read it. This is a powerful account of how bad things have become.

If you are a convention organizer, be it SDCC or DragonCon or any of the small cons across the country, I hope Huehner’s words sting, and burrow into your head. I hope you read them and do not assume that your event is different. Even if it is.

This is the “madhouse that is conventions” as experienced by women, in reality, in the comics industry. That’s not going to work. Do something.

The Women of Marvel ‘make people uncomfortable so that my daughter doesn’t have to!’

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Captain Mavel #17-special issue Oct/2013

This past Sunday was the Women of Marvel panel of the New York Comic Con. Word was the line for the event winded down hallways and was as well-attended as any at the convention.

The panel featured 9 of the artists, writers and editors currently in Marvel’s employ: Kelly Sue DeConnick, Sara Pichelli, Janet Lee, Stephanie Hans, Jeanine Schaeffer, Sana Amanat, Lauren Sankovitch, Emily Shaw, Ellie Pyle, and Judy Stephens.

The panel brought some news and exclusive art, including a cover for the new She-Hulk ongoing title (which looks simply awesome). The panelists discussed issues of gender, comics, and culture that are important not only to comic fans, but to our culture at large.

During the panel Q&A session, the artists fielded a series of questions that directly touched on representation of females in comics. As a new dad who worries about how to raise a son who will be kind and respectful of women-and who’ll also value comic books-I want to see comics and comic culture remain a space where creative and moving stories are told, while always increasing the scope and diversity of those stories.

There’s much richness and value in our comic and superhero stories, and the women of Marvel know how it important what they’re doing is. Important for girls to find representation in the comics, and equally important for boys to find more than a respite for male fantasy.

How women and men are represented in media like comic books-especially the violence they engage in-has a lasting impact. And that impact grows every year as the reach of comic books expands ever further into broader cultural avenues like film and television. The stories told and images of men and women portrayed in comic books matters.

The world is filled with so many stories to tell, from so many different perspectives, that to limit our intake to any one would be tragic. And so the women of Marvel work for the future women of Marvel, to continue expanding the diversity-not as a buzzword but as an actual reality-of comic books. As DeConnick told the women in the audience who hoped to enter the industry: “You will make stories that make you feel connected to others and the world and we will need that from you. Don’t be afraid. Start now.”

Read the full panel at Bleeding Cool, but a few highlights are below:

Q: My friend, who happens to be female, and I, argue that I make too much of a big deal over female representation in comics…

Kelly Sue DeConnick: She’s wrong! It is a big deal. I am willing to make people uncomfortable so that my daughter doesn’t have to! I was Smurfette on the Avengers panel yesterday and NO! That’s not good enough. I appreciate and I am proud of the progress that’s being made and I don’t want to sweep it under the table. But this job ain’t done. Nobody sit down!

Q: Talking about representation of women, women of color and everything—what’s the most important message you’d like people to get?

Amanat: We’ve all felt like outsiders in our own way, and you can use that medium to address people who are outsiders and show that everyone actually is on the same playing field. I feel very lucky as a minority in a minority (medium), I try to use the books to be inclusive. I have some unannounced books coming out in a few weeks that I hope will do that.

DeConnick: I think that the message is that no one is “other”. That white males are not the “default human being”. There is no such thing.

What do you get with the price of admission?

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When purchasing a ticket to a performance, you are entitled to only this: viewing a performance. Perhaps it’s time for a reminder.

This seems to be getting lost in the ether of the internet and fan culture. As the distance between fan and artist appears to decrease (social media, right?), the benefits of paid admission appear to increase. Audiences claim previously inaccessible rights to the the artists we love. In addition to purchasing tickets and recordings and all manner of occasional products for sale, we can now follow their daily status updates, blog posts, photo-sharing, etc. Tweet at them and threaten our pets if they do not respond.

Our investments in celebrities now appear to purchase admission into the personal lives of strangers.

Take last night’s Fiona Apple concert in Portland, Oregon. According to Stereogum, the show-Fiona Apple and Blake Mills-was going quite beautifully, until a member of the audience decided she had access to the personal life of Fiona Apple. As you would expect, this right had not been granted.

After close to 90 minutes of Apple and Mills trading off songs and, as they put it, “working shit out,” someone in the first balcony yelled out, “Fiona! Get healthy! We want to see you in 10 years!”

Apple, understandably, looked aghast, then hurt, then furious. She unleashed a torrent of vitriol at the unseen member of the peanut gallery. “I am healthy! Who the fuck do you think you are? I want you to get the fuck out of here. I want the house lights on so I watch you leave!”

That might have been the end of it — the house lights did come on, and the shouter did eventually depart — but the anonymous commenter decided to get one last shot in: “I saw you 20 years ago and you were beautiful!”

There was no coming back from that. Apple insisted she was done, spat her frustration into the microphone, and fought back tears. She pulled it together enough to perform an understandably intense version of “Waltz (Better Than Fine)” that she sang through sobs. But the wellspring of feelings burst forth again. She raged, empathized, apologized, and departed. Show over.

Photo from Flickr user: Studio Haven

Setting aside the terrible nature of these comments, fans of Fiona Apple know the singer is a sensitive performer. Her many personal struggles are publicly known, and those struggles have made their way on stage in her performances for years. Her live show walks a delicate balance, not to be decided by the whim of a fan. Only the most entitled ticket-holder would think that he or she, among all those who’ve paid to see her sing, has access to these parts of Fiona Apple.

These kinds of stories are too common in these times. Fans have access to ever more of their idols. And not only online. Actors, singers, celebrities of all kinds are turning out for ever more public events, conventions after convention if you work in almost any genre of film or television, signings, public appearances, concerts, etc.

As long as performers bring paying audiences, we will have to constantly remind fans: your admission buys you a performance, an autograph, a memory of your own. It does not entitle access to the personal life of a stranger. You’re a fan. Not a friend. Seems like that should be obvious.

The Fiona Apple story reminds me of another less recent story. From Wil Wheaton.

Wil Wheaton engages his admirers. It’s one of the great things about Wil Wheaton. He’s highly active on the internets (to say the least), and attends all number of conventions (I mean, he’s a Star Trek alum…), not to mention the always expanding convention cycle, personal appearances, concerts, signings for his writing. He’s the kind of man whose fans feel they know personally. This trait so defines Mr. Wheaton that it even informs “Wil Wheaton”, the character he plays on The Big Bang Theory. And I get it; I’m a fan. He’s very funny and engaging and he makes the effort to be present for his fans.

But really. I don’t know Wil Wheaton. I’m just a fan of his. I’ve no right to his personal life. Unfortunately, that’s not how everyone sees it.

A few years ago Wheaton blogged about the less savory interactions that come with being a convention celebrity.

When we walked out of the SyFy party on Saturday night, a pack of people — probably 12 or 15, I’d guess — appeared out of nowhere, and surrounded me. They shoved pictures into my face, thrust pens at me, and made it so that I couldn’t even move. They separated me from my friends and my son, and, quite frankly, terrified me.

Let’s stop for a second and think about this: in what kind of world is it acceptable to surround a person you do not know, separate them from the people they are with, and essentially trap them?Maybe in crazy entitled psycho world, but not the world I live in.

The story has a happy ending (Felicia Day to the rescue). But it’s a seriously messed up story.

The gap between the autograph hounds and the Fiona Apple heckler is not that great. These are stories of individuals, fans, who have paid their dollars (for tickets or books or collectibles) and as a result believe they are entitled to the person, not just the performance, or the performer.

Whether this impulse for personal access results from the internet and social media, or has always been an unfortunate element of celebrity, it’s a dehumanizing impulse. Built around the idea that fame means public, and public means public ownership, the entitled ticket-holder risks a great deal more than embarrassment or rebuke.

They risk taking from the rest of us the touching encounters and personal experiences that celebrities like Fiona Apple and Wil Wheaton do share with their fans, and which create in popular culture a salve that many seek in stories and music and fandom. They risk forcing our artists away from us, removing what makes those we chose to admire special to each of us: a chance to look through a window uniquely distinct from our own.

Just remember: you can look, but you cannot climb in through the window. You have no right do so.