There are those who say disparaging things about Comic-Con
International. Who will tell you that this 4 ½ day-long pop culture event has
just gotten just too big & too crowded. Which makes it kind of impossible
to enjoy.
Well, while I have to admit that – no matter where you go
inside of the San Diego Convention Center over the course of Comic-Con – you will
invariably encounter a crowd or a line …
Photo by Noe Valladolid
… But what do you expect from an event that annually draws
135,000 eager attendees down to San Diego? You bring that many people together
in one place and it just stands to reason that things are bound to get a little
crowded.
But the upside is … With that many conventioneers under one
roof, you're bound to run into an old friend or two. Like – say — James
Silvani and Amy Mebberson from BOOM! Studios, who were signing & selling copies of
their first joint sketchbook.
Photo by Noe Valladolid
Not to mention former-Disney-Animation-director,
now-Dreamworks-Animation-darling Chris Sanders …
Photo by Noe Valladolid
… who had a variety of prints, sketchbooks, magnets &
vinyl available for purchase at his booth.
Photo by Noe Valladolid
Now some entertainment industry insiders will tell you that –
on the heels of Walt Disney Studios having spent hundreds of thousands of
dollars over the past three Comic-Cons to promote "TRON: Legacy," only to then
have this Joseph Kosinski film underperform at the box office – the Mouse deliberately
decided not to do much by way of promotion at this year's event.
The only problem with this story is … Well, if "TRON: Legacy"
was such a disappointment, why then were there so many cool TRON-related
collectibles …
Photo by Noe Valladolid
… available for purchase at this year's edition of Comic-Con
International?
Photo by Noe Valladolid
More to the point, if Disney were deliberately downplaying the
promotion of future projects & productions at this year's Comic-Con, then
why was there a big display for next May's "Avengers" movie out on the
convention center floor?
Photo by Noe Valladolid
Not to mention that elaborate booth which had been set up to
help promote ABC's new hour-long drama for the coming TV season, "Pan Am"?
Photo by Noe Valladolid
Speaking of television … One of the more popular displays on
Comic-Con's show floor had to be the one that the Disney Channel had put
together for Phineas & Ferb. Over the course of this 4 ½ day-long event,
thousands of people queued up to tour Perry the Platy-bus …
Photo by Noe Valladolid
… not mention getting on line to purchase …
Photo by Noe Valladolid
… special limited-edition Perry the Platypus vinyl figures.
Photo by Noe Valladolid
There seems to be a lot of Phineas & Ferb merchandise in
the pipeline these days …
Photo by Noe Valladolid
… Though the stuff
that seemed to be getting the biggest reaction from Comic-Con goers was tied to
that soon-to-air Disney Channel Original Movie, "Phineas and Ferb: Across the
Second Dimension."
Photo by Noe Valladolid
Though given the number of people who stopped to take
pictures of that Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated blimp which was tethered over
this booth …
Photo by Noe Valladolid
… and/or that set of wooden Perry the Playtpuses …
Photo by Noe Valladolid
… which ringed the performance space at this Disney
Channel-sponsored booth …
Photo by Noe Valladolid
… it was pretty obvious that the San Diego Convention Center
was filled with Phineas & Ferb fans this year.
Which isn't to say that there weren't other Disney
characters on display at this year's Comic-Con that also got plenty of
attention. Take – for example – this statue of Jessica Rabbit which was on
display at the Sideshow Collectibles booth.
Photo by Noe Valladolid
In the time that it took Noe to get a decent shot of this
collectible, he must have seen a dozen men stop and take a hard look at this
statue of that "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" character. And each of these guys
basically had the same exact expression on their faces …
Photo by Noe Valladolid
… as they tried to figure how something this top-heavy keeps from falling over.
Yeah, there are a lot of great reasons for attending Comic-Con International 2011 (among them
seeing some of the fantastic fan-made costumes. Like this one of Turnip-head
the Scarecrow from "Howl's Moving Castle") …
Photo by Noe Valladolid
… but sometimes you just need to get out of the San Diego
Convention Center. Get away from the crowds and the craziness for a while.
Luckily, this year, right across the street from Comic-Con was
Tr!ckster …
Photo by Noe Valladolid
… the anti-Comic-Con, if you will. The event that was far
less corporate & slick, with the emphasis then being placed on individual
artists like Pixar veteran Jeff Pidgeon …
Photo by Noe Valladolid
… and the kooky crazy characters that this writer,
storyboard artist and animator has created all on his own.
Photo by Noe Valladolid
Which isn't to say that – once you wandered away from the
San Diego Convention Center – you were entering a Comic-Con free zone. Far from
it, in fact. All over San Diego over the past 4 1/2 days, there were these
stand-alone exhibits hyping individual projects & productions. With one of
the more intriguing being found on 6th Avenue in the Culy Warehouse.
Which had been transformed into the Marvel Monstergeddon : Super Hero Smash Up
showroom.
Photo by Noe Valladolid
For those of you who don't know: Monstergeddon is this
one-time-only event that Marvel Entertainment and Feld Motor Sports are teaming
up to present on July 14, 2012. The interior of San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium will
be transformed into a landscape straight out of the Marvel Universe …
Photo by Noe Valladolid
… while monster truck versions of your favorite Marvel
characters (like this 10,000-pound version of Captain America) …
Photo by Noe Valladolid
… will perform amazing motorsports stunts while they do
battle with automotive versions of Marvel super-villains.
And while Marvel Monstergeddon sounds like a fun off-site
event for the 2012 version of Comic-Con International, if I had to pick a
favorite from this year's assortment of
away-from-the-San-Diego-Convention-Center venue, it would have to be the
Cartoon Network Pizzeria …
Photo by Noe Valladolid
… which transformed the Ciro's Pizza on Market Street into a
celebration of that super-popular CN series, Adventure Time with Finn and Jake.
Photo by Noe Valladolid
Best of all, on Saturday afternoon, the Cartoon Network
Pizzeria was the stepping-off point for the Adventure Time character parade.
Which featured appearances by Finn …
Photo by Noe Valladolid
… the Ice King …
Photo by Noe Valladolid
… even Lady Rainicorn.
Photo by Noe Valladolid
Which seems like a pretty colorful way to close
out JHM's coverage of Comic-Con International 2011.
Special thanks to Noe
Valladolid for providing the images that were used to illustrate today's article.