Comic Con Day 2 (Day 1 for us) Report

Comic Con belongs to the young. But, it sure enough goes out of its way to make you want to be at least ten to fifteen years younger.

There are few experiences as simultaneously thrilling and painful as shuffling through the crowds on the Exhibit Hall floor of San Diego's expansive convention center to make your way to a, at least, thousand-person line that seems to go nowhere. By the end of the day, your feet feel like they've been stabbed by hot needles and your back is almost numb. But, the waiting and shuffling is all worth the pain, as long as you get to see that one panel or actor or creator or toy or video game or, heaven forfend, comic book. Isn't it?

That thought crossed my mind as soon as my girlfriend, Danielle, and I missed Nickelodeon's Legend of Korra panel--yes, we're fans and we're not ashamed, mostly--because Con security cut the line to Ballroom 20, forcing us to mosey around the Exhibit Hall for almost six hours before we managed to get into a 45-minute line to access the elusive Hall H. Between missing the line to Ballroom 20 and capturing two back row seats in Hall H, we managed to find a few bright spots that made our end-of-the-day exhaustion and pain seem almost worth the trouble. Almost.

Highlights:

• Managed to score a print of a cover to the new Cyber Force #1 series by Top Cow Comic founder Marc Silvestri for a meager twenty bucks.  Check it out.

I'm partial to the multiple Crow knock-off characters. Sue me.  I was lucky enough to get this print signed by the artist after waiting in line for about 45 minutes. Standing in line with Art Hunters--those intrepid few who cross the country form convention to convention collecting sketches (some costing upwards of thousands of dollars) and signatures from comic artists--will teach you a lot about patience and devotion. Most art hunters are mega-fans with a ridiculous amount of investment in stories behind the art, and they will bicker about which storylines and characters are the better than others while hounding unshapely cosplayers for a quick picture. Devotion. Patience.

• I played a demo of Square-Enix's upcoming Hong Kong GTA action game, Sleeping Dogs. In ten minutes, I chased a bald dude with a knife through the crowded streets of Hong Kong and broke many a thug's bones. It was great. I'm looking forward to this title probably more than any other movie this summer. 
• We moseyed on over to the least trafficked section of Comic Con: the comic book vendors section. I managed to pick up a cheap hardcover of American Vampire for roughly what it would have cost to buy the same book on Amazon, which was fair.
• We snuck outside to get some air around 3pm, sacrificing the opportunity to be denied a spot in the Ballroom 20 line to see the new Green Arrow show panel. The Gaslamp Quarter just beyond the edge of the Convention Center was almost as packed as the Convention Center and navigating the streets of the Quarter is easily the same as traversing Times Square on a Saturday morning.
• After gulping down a couple of slices or charred pizza, we decided to brave the line to Hall H, which stretched from the side of the convention center to the front of the Hilton behind the Convention Center.  

Thankfully, the line moved swiftly, and we made it into Hall H in time to see the end of the Resident Evil: Retribution panel, which Milla Jovovich dominated with a spark of charisma unseen in most of her onscreen roles.

• Following the Resident Evil panel, Sony delivered a panel around three of its biggest upcoming sci-fi flicks: Total Recall, Looper, and Elysium.

• The Total Recall, a reboot of the Paul Verhoeven-Arnold Schwarzenegger "classic" directd by Len Wiseman, panel brought director Len Wiseman and stars Colin Farrell, Bryan Crnaston, Kate Beckinsale, and Jessica Biel to the Hall H stage. Here are the panel highlights:
• Wiseman spoke about building an intricate sci-fi world and differentiating the narrative of the reboot from the original and maintaining the presence of the three-breasted hooker from the 1990 original. 
• Farrell talked about his character's, Doug Quaid, search for identity as well as his efforts to distance his performance from Arnold's, a challenge I'm sure.
• Beckinsale fielded more questions than Biel, mostly centered around being a bad ass action hero in multiple movies.
• Cranston delighted with astute non-sequitirs and glib comments while also promising that his character would be different from the original.
• Wiseman also delivered an extended trailer with a lot of footage that's already available online somewhere, none of which made Total Recall seem all that more spectacular than the mindless diversion it is destined to be. (apologies for the grainyness--remember, back row seats.)

• Next, director Rian Johnson, of the impressive Brick; Joseph Gordon-Levitt; and Emily Blunt came out to discuss this September's Looper, the tale of a time-traveling assassin forced to kill his older self, who looks a lot like Bruce Willis--or is it the other way around. Highlights ensue:
• Johnson's goal was to maintain the feel a smaller film despite the scale and scope of Looper, which Gordon-Levitt echoed, and to keep the time travel elements from dominating the narrative.
• Gordon-Levitt, a frighteningly smart guy who seems far too candid and aware to be a movie star, mentioned the challenges of acting as a young Bruce Willis and echoed Johnson's appreication for narrative over spectacle.
• Blunt, also disarmingly smart and candid, shared some interesting insight into going radically against the typical hardy Brits she plays with her role as a Midwestern "bad ass", indeed the most overused word of any comic convention
• The extended trailer for Looper revealed what appears to be a fairly thoughtful yet action packed take on the time traveller's dilemma and looks to be one the better flicks to come out this fall.

• Finally, District 9 director Neil Blomkamp debuted footage from his second major film, Elysium, which stars Matt Damon as man with days to live in a future where the rich have created an exclusive space station that orbits an overpopulated, diseased Earth. 
• Blomkamp briefly expressed an unease with hawking a movie and wished to be in the "darkness" with the fans before debuting the fairly impressive, if typical sci-fi, footage. 
• Damon and co-stars Jodie Foster and Sharlto Coply joined Blomkamp to discuss the importance of creating a flick that was both meaningful and exciting. 
• Overall, the footage was solid, but not exactly revelatory, save for Copley as--you guessed it--a "bad ass". 

After the Elysium screening, we ran back to the Exhibit Hall to snag some free stuff. We did okay, but there's still two more days.