Escape From Reality Comics and Collectibles: July 2009

Friday, July 31

I guess I never thought about it.

In the old G.I. Joe PSA's, they always claimed that 'knowing is half the battle.'

What then, is the other 50%?

From Nerduo:

Now it makes sense! Thanks Shat!

Thursday, July 30

Stark Industries is Hiring!

A quick check of their website this morning reveals that Stark Industries is indeed hiring! You can submit an application online.

I met several HR reps from Stark while in San Diego last week, and they were kind enough to give me one of their cards so I could apply later.

The image to the left is the historical document that changed the strategic direction of the company. You can see more on their website.

Wednesday, July 29

Worst. Blog. Ever.

IGN has a feature on Simpson's CBG (Comic Book Guy) highlighting his most sarcastic quotes. My favorite:

CBG: Last night's Itchy & Scratchy was, without a doubt, the worst episode ever. Rest assured I was on the Internet within minutes registering my disgust throughout the world.
Bart: Hey, I know it wasn't great, but what right do you have to complain?
CBG: As a loyal viewer, I feel they owe me.
Bart: What? They're giving you thousands of hours of entertainment for free. What could they possibly owe you? I mean, if anything, you owe them.
CBG: Worst. Episode. Ever.

Celebrating Bob Wayne at SDCC

While pursuing a comic book initiative for my last employer, Bob Wayne from DC was kind enough to introduce me to his contacts in the industry and show me the ropes.

His sense of humor and Yoda-like advice was very much appreciated, and his love of the medium made all of our interactions incredibly exciting to the fanboy in me. Once, when I was visiting New York, Bob took the time to give me a tour of the DC and Mad Magazine offices, and it will go down as one of the high points of my comic book-oriented life!

So it was with great pleasure, and no surprise, that the CCI presented Bob with an Inkpot award last Saturday during a DC panel for his contributions to the industry and the SDCC. There was an award ceremony (more like 5 minutes of good-natured roasting) and he was his usual curmudgeony self in response (more details here).

I had the opportunity to talk with him right before the panel, and, true to form, he was quizzing me on my new business, checking what I was reading, and sharing fun antidotes about comics, the con and life in general. His enthusiasm for comics is infectious.

During our conversation, I swear no less 5 people interrupted us in the ten minutes we were talking to give him hugs, shake his hand, or to say hello. Clearly, he's a class act, and it was nice to see him be recognized for it.

Leaked Images from Iron Man 2

Spoiler TV has posted some leaked images (presumably from the SDCC Iron Man 2 panel). Check them out here.

A Visit to the Iron Man 2 Set

Marvel.com pays a visit to the set of Iron Man 2, and has some interesting observations on what might be coming in the next movie. Follow this link for more (Warning! Potential spoilers follow.)

What iGoogle comic book theme are you using?

Just in time for their sponsorship of free wifi on the floor of the San Diego Comic Con, Google has freshened up it's iGoogle page. They offer more than a dozen different comic-related themes for you to customize your start page. The range of themes is impressive and includes both cape & tights/traditional superheroes (Batman, Captain America), comic-strip standards (like Peanuts), and small press independent publishers.

Ban on Fox?

From Reuters: Due to the starlet’s omnipresence in the world of entertainment news, several men’s websites are banning Megan Fox for a day. They say they have nothing against the Tennessee-born beauty, but they are still banning her from their sites on August 4.

“Enough is enough already!” men’s website Double Viking said on its website. “Yes, Megan Fox is banging. Yes Megan Fox is delicious. Yes Megan Fox farts rainbows. But seriously, enough is enough!”

This website will be participating in the ban, if nothing more than to avoid her farted rainbows.

Tuesday, July 28

Jimmy Fallon at SDCC

Good stuff. The segment is about 8 minutes into the show.

After Action Report: Social Media Tools at SDCC

Since this was the first year that Twitter was available at the SDCC, expectations were high that the social media tool (and others) would help deliver buzz for new movies.

One company failed horribly to create positive buzz: EA's "Sin to Win" contest (overviews here and here). The use of 'booth babes' at the con is questionable anyhow, but given the family-friendly atmosphere that SDCC is trying to create, EA's suggestion to commit "acts of lust" with any vendor's staff and Tweet a picture was downright stupid. Look for major backlash on Twitter at #eafail.

From what I saw, the publishers and video game companies did a better job in creating buzz than the movie studios. Variety reports their POV here.

Some creative uses of social media I witnessed:

DC Comics offered contests before panels - you could text to win limited edition Green Lantern figures.
The Attack of the Show panel encouraged people to Tweet why AOTS is awesome, and prizes were given out at the end of the program.
If you were at a panel, adding "AP" (for 'at panel') to your Tweets gave your info more credibility.
Retweeting info helped drive buzz. Most of the people I spoke with were RTing rather than creating new content.
I saw a lot of bloggers with their netbooks out and posting live info (almost providing a complete transcription of the panels). This was nice when I was double-booked and had to make a choice between programs. (Flickr then provided the photos for panels I couldn't attend.)

As a con attendee, it was fun to keep an eye on the #sdcc Twitter feeds to see what was cool and exciting. While eating, resting or waiting for a panel, I kept up on all of the new information from panels I couldn't go to. In short, I was able to multitask the programming and stay up to date on what was happening real time.

I Tweeted anything that looked cool or exciting as well, but had many technological issues that prevented me from doing so. There were many spots within the hall that prevented me from getting data or cell coverage on my phone.

Here is the grab bag of phone tools I tried to use throughout the con:

e-mailing pictures and posts directly to this blog using Gmail on my android phone.
SMS'ing pictures and posts to this blog via my phone's messaging tools
Using Pingdroid to status update Facebook and Twitter at the same time
Leveraging Ping.fm (any time a new blog post would go up, it would automatically feed my Twitter accounts (danielscotolson and efrcc)
Using the following Twitter apps on my android phone (in order of preference): TwitterRide, I Tweet!, Twidroid, TwitteRx, Twit2go
Using Bloo to update Facebook status.

It was interesting to see how each of the programs worked (or didn't) based on my phone's battery levels or data reception throughout the day. Performance-wise, I was very disappointed with Ping.fm's post errors as most of the the links it provided were dead (I need to research to see if it was Pingdroid's fault or an issue with the RSS feeds going through ping.fm).

Monday, July 27

Nerd Rave at the AOTS Panel

At the conclusion of the Attack of the Show panel Friday, each audience member was given a glow stick so they could participate in the first ever (?) nerd rave. Now, thanks to the Interweb (which is a series of tubes), you can feel like you are there!

(I was standing just to the left and in front of the camera. I was too cool to break out the light stick since I thought the bit would be over in a few seconds. As it awkwardly continued on, I reluctantly joined in on the festivities).

Tron Legacy

Wow.

Teaser Trailer for Iron Man 2 from SDCC

Saturday, July 25

Day 3 at SDCC

Too tired to post pictures individually. Here's a photo album of pictures I took today.

Statue 2

Statue 1

Larry holding court at the Animation State of the Industry Panel

Friday, July 24

Insert your own punchline here

Does this R2 unit make me look fat?

New Video Games

There were huge lines in front of this game, and there were just as many adults as kids waiting in line. This is the new Lego version of Rockband, and it is due to release in December. The song list that I saw was impressive, and had the best variety of bands to date.

Note how the notes are represented on the fret board with little Lego bricks.

I think this will be my favorite version in comparison to all the Guitar Hero and Rockband editions to date.

Pretty cool pre-alpha build of Iron Man 2. The programmers and design team were showing off progress to date.

More random photos

A constant danger at the con: photo opportunities of someone famous. A major traffic jam was created as everyone realized the cast from The Big Bang Theory was signing at the WB booth. Note the camera phone use.

It was nice of WB to put screens up of what was going on. It created more of a traffic jam.

The cast of 24 clogged up the works too.

This sign was made out of Legos.

Marvel Animation Panel

Looks like the FF will be joining Iron Man Armored Adventures on Nick Toons this fall.

Random pictures from around the convention floor

The crowds were not as bad today due to the interest in panels and other programming held in other rooms.

I thought this was a person in costume at first.

Lots of R2 units running around today.

AOTS Panel

The Attack of the Show panel was probably the most underestimated event today. I was surprised that the waiting line to get in stretched around the entire floor. Unfortunately, I was stuck close to the end of line with no chances of getting in.

Luckily, Larry had gone to the previous panel held in the room (Nick Jr.) and, like half of the room, did not leave when that panel dismissed. He texted me saying he had a seat waiting, and then got me past the security people and let me in through a side door. As I went in, I got to see Kevin, Olivia and Blair Butler getting prepped for the event. They were Tweeting and making jokes, and seemed to be surprised at the energy of the waiting room (it was loud and obnoxious).