Joss Whedon introduced me to the comic world with Fray, and then with Buffy, Angel After the Fall, and Angel and Faith. Oh, and the Serenity and Dollhouse comics. Basically, if Whedon writes/directs/creates something, I consume it. But not without judgment. Buffy Season 8 was, ultimately, rather disappointing. The Twilight storyline… yeah… if it hadn’t been Whedon, I wouldn’t have kept reading. Even he nearly lost me though when Buff and Angel were having acrobatic flying sex… but I stuck it out… and I’m enjoying the journey. Whedon himself has admitted he made some mistakes with Season 8, and he’s making up for it in Season 9, which I’m enjoying much more. I also enjoyed Angel After the Fall, but I’m loving Angel and Faith even more. (And I must briefly mention – of course Giles’ soul was claimed by Eyghon when he died! Brilliant development going on over there). The comics have gained their footing, and the world is expanding in great ways. And I actually think the greatest piece is the Willow miniseries I finally had the chance to read. Whedon was the exec producer, and I’d love to know how much he poured into the storyline… because everything from the Zen Caterpillar – whom we learn Lewis Carroll based his caterpillar on – to Willow’s self discovery was fucking awesome.
We’ve been watching Willow grow and struggle with magic since the early days of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She really has a chance to shine in this comic, sans Buffy and pals. On her own, we see a confident, strong witch – but she’s never stopped struggling with her Dark Willow past. The early appearance of the Zen caterpillar tells us that we’re going on a journey inwards, a mythic journey about the light and the dark (only seeming opposites; Joseph Campbell’s hero journey shows us that the hero will transcend these) and real power (it comes from within, as the Eastern traditions teach). So, of course, Marrak was Rack! I should’ve seen it coming. She had to battle one last element from her dark past – she’s already confronted her demons with Amy and Warren, so this was the last step for Strawberry to claim all parts of herself, light and dark, and give something back to the world.
This quest has been building for Willow for years, and I’m eager to see its payoff as she returns to Buffy’s comic with the Slayer’s Scythe – which, awesome sidenote, is the frickin’ counterpart to Excalibur!!
Last week, I had the awesome opportunity to attend all 3 days of WonderCon. I was going to write up a detailed blog-post, but in the busy-ness of life, it’s now a week after the Con, and you can find a million write-ups all over the net. You can probably even find video of most if not all of the panels. So, in this post, I’m bringing you a series of small slideshows highlighting all my favorite parts of the Con – including the much anticipated Much Ado About Nothing panel with Joss Whedon & his cast! Enjoy!
My husband and I are regular attendees of San Diego Comic Con. This year, we got to experience WonderCon at its trek down to Anahiem. In one word: it was awesome. I wouldn’t really say I’ve actively been bothered by the ever increasing amount of people that attend SDCC, but it was quite the pleasure to attend a smaller con where we weren’t crammed in like sardines. And I didn’t miss the presence of the big film companies and television networks. Goodies still abounded!
Peter S. Beagle
During my time at the Con on Friday and Saturday, I got into a few good panels, including one with Peter S. Beagle for The Last Unicorn, Felicia Day for Geek & Sundry, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt for Looper. I also caught just the last few minutes of a panel with Maggie Grace for Lockout. Of course, with the way news spreads these days, the big panels I’ve mentioned are already old news by the time I’m writing this. So the links I’ve included will give you good overviews of the panels. I would just like to say: my adoration for Felicia Day increases year by year, and I love what she’s doing with her new YouTube channel; Joseph Gordon-Levitt is wonderfully down to earth and encourages that people don’t have to just do/be just one thing in their lives; Maggie Grace is so stunningly beautiful in real life that the cameras can’t even capture it.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Maggie Grace
You may have noticed though that I didn’t have an article to link to for The Last Unicorn! I’m surprised this didn’t earn any considerable coverage. Aren’t all kids from 80s, like myself, excited about this?? The panel was wonderful, Beagle is amazing, and I can’t believe what the legal battles have been like! He’s working with a good team now though and they’ve got the rights back for the original film. What they’re doing can’t even simply be called remastering. They’re adding cells, revising cells, all kinds of wonders! To sum up some of the most important tidbits, I simply offer what I was live-tweeting during the event:
The rights for The Last a unicorn have been basically in turmoil for years. Beagle’s got em back!!!
Two Hearts! Who knew there was a Last Unicorn coda?!?
Tour upcoming with Peter Beagle for Last Unicorn in theaters!!!!
“It’s not real until there’s a lunch box.” Peter S Beagle, re: upcoming merchandising of Last Unicorn
Last Unicorn soundtrack illegally released in Germany. They never had the rights. Real soundtrack will be released!
Animation history. Regenerating Last Unicorn. More frames per second, new backgrounds. Re-record soundtrack to meet surround sound.
“I never thought of the book or the movie as for children.” Last Unicorn, Peter S Beagle
Some crazy German owns live-action rights to Last Unicorn & hasn’t done anything. In 2015, rights go back to the US company & should happen!
One last tidbit for my fellow Last Unicorn fans. Here’s a short vid I shot of Beagle discussing when he originally wrote the story:
I also saw a panel with Milla Jovovich promoting Resident Evil 5. I haven’t seen any of the films, but the 3D scene I watched from the upcoming film absolutely KICKED ASS! It was a full scene, not just a trailer. Jovovich was in all black in an all white room fighting about a dozen zombies. The 3D was spectacular. She completely kicked ass. It was a visual delight.
And finally, I went to the Mike Mignola panel with my hubby, the world’s biggest Hellboy fan. You can read his write up here on the blog for his podcast, Monkey in the Cage.
In addition to the panels, the other great element of Cons exists on the showroom floor. There’s more goodies to buy than you could ever afford! And there’s artists. Lots of brilliant, wonderful artists manning their own booths, ready to sell you original prints and autograph them for you. I think that’s one the best gems at a Con. It’s fun to see artists you already know and enjoy, but it’s also fun to meet new artists and discover new work!
One of the first artist I saw at the Con was Nidhi Chanani, whom I first discovered at last’s years SDCC. I purchased a small piece from her and had it autographed. Her artwork is so happy, beautiful, and inspiring that I’m on her e-mail list for my daily Nidhi fix.
Nidhi Chanani "Reading Light"
I also visited one of my other favorite artists (whose booth I’ve stalked at Comic Con for years), Lynn Hunter. I picked up a small original illustration, and we also had a great chat about her upcoming work, including an alphabet picture book for children.
Lynn Hunter
Then I had the pleasure of meeting Georges Jeanty, one of the artists for the Buffy comics. I just so happened to be wearing my Nikki the Vampire Slayer tee. He rightly assumed that was my name as well, and asked if I had seen the recent cover with Nikki Wood on it!! I’m a bit behind on the comics and actually hadn’t see. I gave the appropriate fan girl squee, bought it, and had it signed.
Georges Jeanty
Buffy Season 9
I visited the California Browncoats booth and got this new piece: a bracelet that holds a USB drive! I didn’t hesitate to spend the $25 for it because I can always use more Browncoat memorabilia for my wardrobe, and the money they raised this year is going to Equality Now.
My inner child was delighted at the Immedium booth. I had the pleasure of meeting Jennifer Wood, designer and illustrator. She lives in close enough proximity to the university I teach at that she said if we could work out schedules next time I’m teaching children’s lit., she would come talk to my class! Amazing! Her new book The Year of the Dragon looks adorable! (Though I’ll confess to spending money frugally at the con and not indulging in it… yet. I really could have spent my whole budget at this booth). The other great person I was pleased to meet at this booth Oliver Chin, publisher of The Octonauts (and author Tales from the Chinese Zodiac). Who knew my niece’s favorite TV show was first a series of books?!? Great stuff! Beautiful illustrations! And such friendly artists!
