Best and worst of Comic-Con 2009

HERE'S THE RECENT Overheard in San Diegos

And a working draft of the background –

And a detail shot of the Elvises (Elvi?) ---

Here’s this week’s edition ---

And a detail shot of the wonderful La Paloma, most of which didn’t even appear in the comic ---

AND THE NEW Famous Former Neighbors

ATTACK OF THE 2009 COMIC-CON!!

  ‘Kay, here we are with our second annual live blog coverage of the massive mindf-ck that is the 2009 Comic-Con International, aka the San Diego Comic-Con. Sorry for the late start – technical issues, dontcha know, but I think we finally got the hamsters running fast enuff on the wheels to fire up the machines -

 If you don’t know WTF I am, you should probably consider yerself lucky - but, if yer the curious type, there are a bunch of links at the bottom of the page to features I’ve done about my own comic biz history, as a publisher and creator. 

 Photos, unless promo material or otherwise noted, come courtesy of Soo Hom, whose own local comic biz history includes a stint at the Comics Etc. retail shop in the Mira Mesa Mall. Says Soo, "I like comics and macs.  Check out my website: http://kane.mariweb.org/ "

I welcome any and all photos and messages from Con attendees, with the understanding that I’ll post good stuff here along with your web url or whatever else you want to plug. Last year, a bunch of people sent photos with no credit info, so I apologize if a pic of yours ends up here without proper crediting - now on with the show --------

THURSDAY - "OMG IT'S JOHNNY EFFIN DEPP!"

 There seems to be a massive influx of bike and trike pedi-cabs, clogging up the already congested streets and sidewalks around the center and all thru downtown,  apparently generating much ire - there's an LA Times blog about it: San Diego street controversy: Pedi-cabs chaos!

 Disney's panel thrilled with more on the upcoming Tron sequel, now apparently called Tron: The Legacy instead of TR2 or Tron 2.0 or whatever they were calling it last year. Director Joseph Kosinski talked about Daft Punk doing the soundtrack(?!?!). Jim Carrey is playing multiple roles in Disney's upcoming Christmas Carol, which seems like it could go either way, much like Carrey’s rubber face --

 The House of Mouse is really going into the 3D biz, with an upcoming Alice In Wonderland feature that will hopefully clean tarnish off the Alice legacy left by recent gawdawful albums by San Diego homegirl Jewel and neighbor-of-the-beast Marilyn Manson. Johnny Depp plays the Mad Hatter (tho a first peek at the promo shot for the movie had me convinced it was Carrot Top) --

 Director Tim Burton showed the same short clip from Alice several times, and then Johnny Depp walked out in a white shirt and dark leather vest - the resultant screams sent seven people to the hospital with torn eardrums, while two dozen more passed out from hyperventilation and the walls began to bleed...okay, maybe it wasn't all that, but Depp was really there and there really were a lot eardrum-shattering screams.

HEY - YOU WANNA SECRET PASS TO SEE A SECRET JOHNNY DEPP/WONDERLAND DISPLAY???? Then, boy, yer gonna be glad you read this blog - there's a secret room at a nearby warehouse set up by Burton with props from the movie, and you have to go down a rabbit hole to get to it...no, wait, this time I'M NOT LYING!! There's a path that goes past displays with costumes, production paintings, a Mad Tea Party display - it's freakin' awesome!! BUT --- So far, I think only select journalists have been allowed to see it -- you can only get the info on where and how to get a secret pass to Wonderland by clicking this link to Twitter @ImportantDate

I don't have anything for you on the New Moon panel with the stars of Twilight, but I heard there was a big fight over a-holes cutting into the line that began forming on the fourth of July or so (above pic may be from the melee??) I understand the line stretched all the way to National City and the room ceiling collapsed from the percussive force of women's screams, killing hundreds --- oh, all right, that one WAS a lie. I'll quit doing that ----- I DID catch a new “trekkie” type word used to describe Twilight’s rabidly hyperactive fans – TwiHards -- 

 Evil Dead hero (and sometime-Elvis impersonator) Bruce Campbell showed up at a panel for Burn Notice, a TV show on the USA Network, which sure has come a long way from Night Flight reruns and Captain USA movie nights. Bruce is only a supporting player on the program, but the star Jeffrey Donovan was a no-show due to having just been arrested and charged with drunk driving (see, you thought I was making up crap again, but that one's TRUE!).

 Titanic director James Cameron held a panel where he showed everyone what a good choice by bowing out of the newest Terminator movie abortion, to instead create the animated feature Avatar. He showed around a half hour of footage, with star Sigourney “Ripley” Weaver at his side – the movie apparently matches live filmed actors with overlaying creature animation, which looks a lot better than similar failed "technology" used in the past by Ralph Bakshi, Frank Miller, Don Bluth and the like, to make really irritating films that are neither fish nor fowl, nor watchable -

The new Green Hornet car is on display! Here's a pic from totalfilm.com:

Looks like the kids still like inexplicable adventure card games - tho they can play any day, this week they get to play in front of 125,000 Con attendees (all of whom should be grateful that card game sales have saved countless comic shops from closure).

RUN, MARI, RUN!! Wait -- with those little bowed daschund legs, how hard could it be to escape from this unscary-looking critter?? WALK, MARI, WALK!! 

Okay, uploading more pics ‘n’ stuff next hour ---

Man, is the War ever gonna end??

 "Is that a Tricorder in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" (I thought the redshirts on Trek always get killed)

 Full Body Condom for robots, with built-in robo-tickler... -

Man, I wonder what a new set of tires costs for that ride?

 If nautical nonsense be something you wish...BUT, is he really sponge-worthy???

Save the cheerleader, save the Con...

 Who knew Stargate is actually John Bonham's old drum gong?!?!?

 The REAL Flaming Carrot is way too cool to be seen carrying his own comics around...

 I don't know what these girls are dressed as, but I bet whatever it is stars Jennifer Tilly -

First of many Metal Bikinis - but I don't remember Ike Turner being in Star Wars...(to checkout a whole website devoted to Princess Leia's steel skivvies, visit Leia's Metal Bikini )

Metal Bikinis - made for a woman, but strong enough for a man!

 Boy, the Japanese sure draw Thor strange!

 "This is your Amazon Island correspondent WW, reporting for the Sappho Channel..." (not that there's anything WRONG with that)

Are we sure these two even have anything to do with Comic-Con?

Deja Vu Showgirls have a Comic-Con booth????

 How much you wanna bet he named his penis "Cobra" too ---

 The Wasp and, um, I dunno - the Wasp's Mom?

 Soo getting stung!

Um, I think kitty had a little, er, accident between visits to the litter box - first Fergie at Street Scene, and now this. Are there no bathrooms downtown??

 Darth Vadress.

 You can make a lotta costumes from that same vinyl catsuit, huh!

How many of you remember way back when there was NEVER a line at the Comic-Con ladies bathrooms...

 C'mon, everybody sing-a-long --- "Trojan maaaaaaaan, TROjan maaaannnn..."

 Can't type, right hand busy...

 Nice, but since when do X-Men wear 50 cent knee socks?

Screw the pedicabs - how much to ride one of THOSE??

Okay, that's it for now - more soon!!! New stuff going up all day --- now play nice, pick up your toys, and turn off that light when you leave...

COMIC-CON DAY 2

Hard Rock Hotel has been the hangout of choice for a lot of attending celebs. Spotted so far has been Seth Rogen – who seems to have a cot setup near the lobby with his name on it, judging from how often he’s there – Tim Burton, Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Tales of the Beanworld creator Larry Marder (heading for the revived Spagetti Factory), actor Jeff Bridges (whose monster cowboy hat failed in its mission to disguise him), Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly (overheard telling people over and over about how he had nothing to do with the recent “sequel,” S. Darko), and Michael Hall, star of the Dexter TV show.

Brazil director and former Monty Python animator Terry Gilliam was spotted having a drink with MiniMe, aka little person Verne Troyer from the Austin Powers movies...  ... which is not quite the Bizarro World you'd imagine when you realize they have an upcoming movie, The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus.  

 If you wanna see Titanic director James Cameron get really pissed off, I dare you to be the thousandth guy today to ask him about the upcoming Hobbit movie. He says people still kept bugging him about it, and about Rings director Peter Jackson, even at the not-so-secret screening for his new sci-fi opus District 9. 

OVERHEARD IN SAN DIEGO - A WEIRD ASIDE: Cameron and Jackson did a Friday panel about the future of film – in the middle of it, some random guy walked up to the podium, snatched one of the drinking glasses off the table, and walked away with it. Security snatched him up before he got out the room door, and the guy was overheard telling them “I need the DNA [on the glass] to make a clone.”

Only at Comic-Con ----------

 Also spotted at the Hard Rock was either Joan Jett or the actress portraying her in an upcoming Runaways movie, Kristen Stewart of Twilight. Whoever it was wore a cool Minor Threat shirt that’d look just as good on either of ‘em --- (update – MTV.com says it was Stewart, who has apparently embraced her inner punk)

Still looking for someone who went to the Daughtry concert at the Hard Rock on Friday night, but so far all I’ve heard is that Stan Lee was dancing and his toupee flew off ---

 Have you ever heard of motion comics?? I hadn’t until today – comics like Watchmen are being adapted by artists who partially animate the actual original artwork over static background levels, kind of like a video Viewmaster – there are also motion comics featuring Superman, Batman, and even Peanuts comics – here's a link to info at zibb.com about the Watchmen: Motion Comic .

 There are also all-new motion comics - Stan Lee was promoting one he’s creating for Disney called Time Jumper, which went on sale today on iTunes and will soon also be a phone ap. I looked it up online, and here’s a link to a videobusiness.com article about  Time Jumper or checkout www.TimeJumperComics.com.

 The whole digital comic delivery thing is pretty much coming into its own for the first time here at this show – Bluewater Productions launched iPhone apps for their biographical comics about political players like the Obamas, Sarah Palin, Colin Powell, John McCain, etc., plus licensed stuff like their upcoming Logan's Run comic series. 

Bluewater is working with Comixology.com, who just launched a new digital comic store online, as well as an e-reader designed for the iPhone comics. The comics can be viewed full-screen or panel by panel – brave new world, indeed.

The Comixology app (available thru Apple’s App Store ) will include other publishers such as Slave Labor, Image, Moonstone, and Arcana. One creator, Robert Kirkman, will be offering his Walking Dead and Invincible comics EXCLUSIVELY thru the app.

Kamikaze has an iPhone ap that will soon include underground comix like Zap and Weirdo, and all-adult comics from a variety of publishers whose lusty wares formerly hid in dusty boxes under the comic shop cash register, while on the other end of the electronic marketing spectrum, Archie Comics  - who paper sales have dwindled to only a few thousand copies per title per month - is wisely offering a huge stash of back issue archive via a new digital comics store.

Even Google is getting in on the action, with new custom drawn theme pages going online today by bunches of artists, from bunches of publishers – if you saw the Google startup page this morning, you saw a terrific hero collage by famous former neighbor Jim Lee, the one-time Mira Mesa teen who went on to draw the Punisher and co-found Image Comics' La Jolla Studio!

Here’s a link to the Google layouts featuring around 50 comics artists  --- 

As for Watchmen: The Three Disc Director's Cut Amazon-dot-com exclusive edition, the cool mofo actually comes in this amazing display box featuring the Owl ship!!!! You can only get it thru Amazon, tho. There's actually a bit of a brou-hah-haa a-brewin' at the Con about these retail exclusive DVD packages, which seem to me akin to bands like Guns 'N' Roses and the Eagles making exclusive deals with specific retal chains, or DC Comics doing its distribution exclusively thru Diamond Comics - if people are buying 'em, why not keep making 'em??

Didja know Nicolas Cage, Samuel Jackson, Donald Sutherland, Charleze Theron, and Kristen Bell have a new animated movie coming out later this year? Okay - didja know the movie is a new version of the wonky old Astro Boy cartoon?

 See, you think I'm lying again, but I sh-t thee not!!! There was a panel all about it - man, you'd think Cage would quit doing comic movies, especially after Ghost Rider and aging and balding himself right out of his one-time plan to play Superman ----

Cage is also in the upcoming comic-geek movie Kick-Ass, with the kid who played McLovin' in Superbad as a comic fan-turned-superhero (seen in pic above). Every word true. Seriously! Footage was screened, people cheered, and it's coming to a theater near you, whether you like it or not --- sorry, McLovin', but let's hope Cage invested those National Treasure paychecks wisely....

Okay, gotta take a break - more later!

DAY 3 - (loading photos over the next hour or so - check back shortly)

Line to get in today, even WITH passes - like you need a traffic cone to tell you it's "SLOW"!

 Man, must be hot in those getups -

These look more comfortable - for Comic Con, anyway!

Hey, it's R2D2! Oh, wait, just a trash can --

I didn't know those things came giftwrapped! Orange you glad Soo brought his camera?

Sooo many "horny" jokes, but I'm gonna go with "I'm here for industrial-strength arm wax...."

 "Rotsa ruck getting in without a badge, Scoob!"

Dogs AND cats, all getting along...

She's a sweet kitty, but she tears up the furniture - and wears it on her wrists."

Nice costume, but her magic lasso looks more like a magic tassle. BTW, have you noticed few costumed attendees display Con badges? I wonder if you can just show up in costume and walk in and out for free???

The Penguin, as played by WC Fields??

 "Your Con badge, please."

Soo runs afoul of security...

Soo runs afoul of Mulder and, uh, Bluto from Animal House??? He's carrying a beer tap....

The Scully is dead-on, but Mulder looks more like Jimmy Olsen.

This guy wouldn't look so happy if he knew these two are about to do a Klingon Deliverance on his ass! "You gonna Kerbachuukkt, boy!"

You don't see many original Trek series Klingons, huh?

"Yoda ain't signin' no damm autographs!" Y'know, I think these guys are from Spaceballs, not Star Wars!

The cast of the hit beach film "How To Stuff a Metal Bikini." Hey, Leia, no fraternizing with the stormtroopers!

Not really a metal bikini - more of a metallic pantsuit ---

Now THAT'S how to sell some metal bikinis!!

Watch out, Leia, that guy plunders booty for a living!

What's black and red and velcro all over?

Is there a Ms MilkMaid comic or something?

Or did these people just get lost on the way to a Renaisance Faire?

"Yeah, Mervyn's was having a sale on green fanny packs...."

"Ma, I can't find anything good to read..."

And you though pigeon crap was nasty.

The perils of BoTox -----

The perils of monster inbreeding ---------

Dude's got a Batarang stuffed down his Bat-Britches!

C'mon, that's not even a costume! That's my bug exterminator!

"I'm Mother Nature - of COURSE they're all-natural!"

Conehead Fight!!

"That's MY Twilight DVD, bee-yatch!!"

Birdeye views of the main floor ---

Those Anaheim cops take themselves sooooo seriously ---

Uh oh, captured by John McCain!

Comic-Con does indeed make for some (VERY)strange bedfellows -----

Evil Henchmen: The Next Generation

For some reason, I'm humming "One of these things is not like the other..."

There's actually a Boba Fett Helmet manufacturer and website?!?! Too cool!

"I'm feeling a little light headed..."

The Friendly Giant ain't feeling very friendly any more---

Today's WTF - a damm cracker, promoting Ask Blackie?!?!?

Whose idea was it to bring Playmates to Comic-Cons (and how can I THANK them)???

When underachievers make Con costumes, Part 1....

Harley Quinn and, uh, Mrs. Green Giant???

A LOT of people are talking about how great the Green Lantern: First Flight animated movie was when it was screened on Thursday. I’m glad to hear they scheduled a repeat screening for Sunday – it’s another production from Bruce Timm, who has done a great job with the Batman and Superman TV cartoons. At the first screening, Timm had over 4,000 people there chant the “No evil shall escape my sight” Green Lantern oath together, which apparently will be a Guinness-certified world record. The Lantern film is out on DVD at the end of the month ---

  Another upcoming DVD cartoon Superman & Batman – Public Enemies will be short ‘toons with lots of the DC characters, including a Jonah Hex cartoon short written by splatt-author Joe Lansdale. Dare to dream of a Bwana Beast or Kamandi: Last Boy On Earth 'toon?? It’ll be in stores around the end of September ---

  Now then, Joss Whedon’s newest TV show Dollhouse = it took me awhile to get into the debut season. Starring the actress who played Faith the Vampire Slayer in Whedon’s Buffy series, it’s kind of about mercantile Stepford Wives of the Future, with a secret organization that rents out programmed humans whose brains are emptied and refilled of skills and life histories like they were hard drives.

Which, essentially, is what brains are. But the open question is what happens to the soul if the rest of whatever makes up a person is digitized and stored away in the Dollhouse “attic.”

Dollhouse IMO at first played too much with Mission Impossible/Charlie’s Angel identity-swap adventures but, by the end of the season, much more was revealed about the more metaphysical and philosophical aspects of the storyline, especially as to the nature of the soul and the fluid morality (or lack thereof) of all involved ---

  Sooooo – at the Con, they screened the unaired 13th Dollhouse episode, Epitaph One. BUT, you don’t want me to spoil anything by revealing what it’s about, do you? You DO? Well...it takes place in the future, within the long-abandoned Dollhouse, beneath a city that may also have been destroyed. You’ll have to get the season one DVD set (out at the end of the month) to see it –

Whedon did reveal that Alexis Denisof, the actor who played Wesley in Buffy and Angel, will be in the next season of Dollhouse, as will (possibly) Summer Glau from Whedon's short-lived Firefly series.

 Everyone is saying that Gary Oldman slipped up in his panel, by mentioning that a third Christian Bale Batman film is slated to begin filming in 2010. Is that really a big surprise?

 White-haired Harry Potter actor Tom Felton Twittered that someone chased him to his car, not for an autograph but to ask for a part in a movie!

 The Prisoner is one of my top favorite TV shows – the short UK sixties series was created by and starred Patrick McGoohan as essentially his spy character on Danger Man, kidnapped after “retiring” by an unknown group who force him to live in a surreal island “Village” where he’s fed psychedelic drugs and where everyone is known only by their number…or something like that. Patrick’s character was renamed Number Six.

 An official Prisoner “sequel” was done by DC Comics almost two decades ago, the only time McGoohan had ever authorized and consulted on a continuation before his death in January, and there’s a Jack Kirby-drawn Prisoner comic that was never published but has turned up in partial form in fanzines and online (and below, but thumbnails only).

 There was a great spoof on the Simpsons, too, tho I have to wonder if the majority of Simpsons viewers ever even heard of the Prisoner ---

Well, the Prisoner is coming back to TV as a six-episode mini-series, and a nine minute preview was screened at the Con.

 Ian McKellen (X-Men’s Magneto) plays Number Two, who – in the original series – was usually played by a different actor in every episode (“I am the new Number Two” each show would begin). James Caviezel (Passion of the Christ) plays Number Six – the show airs on AMC in November.

 Deadheads unite!

Above and below - When Underachievers Cosplay, Part 2

Darth Maul-ing the co-eds!

Good lord, a guy could do Shakespeare from that balcony!

 SuperMom!

Prince's new backup singers...

MY new backup singers!!!!

Sandman creator Neil Gaiman may finally finish his Miracleman saga! The huge storyline wasn’t quite half done when publisher Eclipse went outta business in the early '90s.

The character was originally a UK comic in the ‘50s known as Marvelman, tho the name had to be changes in the U.S. due to Marvel Comics raising a stink. Alan Moore revamped the old character into a world much like his Watchmen comics, and then Neil Gaiman took the story even further into Gods VS Men territory –

Well, Marvel announced at the Con that it bought the rights to Marvelman, aka Miracleman. It’s not clear if the out-of-print comics by Moore and Gaiman will be reprinted, nor have I heard anything about Gaiman’s take on all this – at one point, HE claimed to own the Miracleman character, but Marvel says it bought the rights from Marvelman’s original creator, Mick Anglo ---

 There’s a new Stargate in town – Stargate Universe will feature an all new cast. At their panel, they told the crowd that when they first went to the Stargate booth down on the main floor, Stargate’s own booth operators didn’t recognize them, and they were even asked if they wanted to enter a raffle to win a guest spot on the show!

 Saturday’s Iron Man 2 panel with director John Favreau kicked off with what was purported to be the first trailer for part two, but was actually a gag reel – when the lights came on and Iron star Robert Downey walked out onstage and called the trailer “bullsh-t,” all 6,000 or so fans in Hall H exploded with glee!

Favreau’s son was in attendance, enjoying his 8^th birthday – jeez, can you imagine being a kid whose Bday falls during Comic-Con, where your dad just happens to have a date with IRON MAN!?!? Downey had everyone in the room sing happy birthday for the kid who was, at least for today, the luckiest kid in the world --

As for the REAL footage, about five minutes were shown, including a bit with comedian Gary Shandling as a U.S. Senator demanding Downey’s head on a plate. WTF – Gary Shandling???? Then there was villain Whiplash, played by – have you already heard this one? – Mickey Rourke, aka the Wrestler!! THEN there was the catsuit-clad Black Widow, as portrayed by – no, really – Scarlett Johansson.

Who cast this thing, John Waters????

 Johansson came out for the panel as well, as did Sam Rockwell (who plays Justin Hammer) and some guy from Marvel. Thor and Captain America are the next Marvel heroes going to the movies, and then maybe everyone all together for an Avengers flick – dare to dream, I say!

SATURDAY STAR WARS PANEL – LIVE REPORT AS-IT-HAPPENS

‘Kay, I’m watching the Star Wars panel, where the first big plug is for an upcoming SW In Concert tour with a live orchestra playing the Star Wars music along with a giant screen projection of the movie.

 “You can get a sense of how the design of the music plays into the images,” says Lucas in the promo short being screened as I type this – the concert show actually features MULTIPLE screens, with giant laser lights doing light saber-style moves. Cool!

 Anthony Daniels aka C3PO just walked to the podium to start things off – he’ll host the concert tour, and he’s talking about the rehearsal and how massive the production was. He also “reveals” the first line he’ll speak in the shows, for which tickets go on sale in August. Not hard to gues…“A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”

Now Steve Sansweet (sp?) from Lucasfilm is at the podium – not for long, tho. He just brought out the guy and girl who host, I think, Attack of the Show on the G4 network, and they’re dressed as Luke and Leia, battling with toy light sabers.

Almost no applause, and even less so now that they’ve taken to the podium and begun to babble.

They’re making jokes, clearly – and badly – scripted, but I can hear crickets. The natives are getting restless. Now I hear boos ------

The dude just said “Enough of my rambling” – effin yay! – and now they’re showing a film interviewing celebs and fans about their first exposure to Star Wars. Ehhh ---- oh, I see, they want us to go to the Star Wars Stories website and tell our own stories. I’ll pass ---

Now LucasFilm Marketing Manager Matt Shell is being introduced – again, no cheering. Just a lot of muttering – and not a single laugh as the lame G4 girl jams a mullet wig onto his head while he tries to announce a new Star Wars game, called The Force Unleashed. He says some of the actors from the film will take part, but the G4 girl keeps interrupting him and screwing with the stupid wig – the crowd is ready to lynch her. Me too. Where’s the giant hook????????

Crap, now the G4 yahoos are babbling again –  ah, finally, they’re gonna show a trailer for the game --- (but the duo are STILL babbling, even as the promo starts – jeez, somebody kill their mics!)

I don’t play vidgames, but the graphics for this one look pretty advanced. As the late comic kingpin Don Thompson once said, "If you like that sort of thing, this is that sort of thing."

 ‘Kay, now Dave Filoni from the Cartoon Network SW Clone Wars series is coming out, and he got some applause. Some of us think the cartoon is just a cynical attempt to squeeze more milk from the Star Wars teat, but many in this crowd seem to like it. He’s telling us about upcoming DVD and BluRay releases of the ‘toons, all 22 eps plus 7 director’s cuts.

Unfortunately, it looks like the G4 idiots are gonna stay onstage and moderate this whole thing. Which is NOT sitting well with the crowd.

The full Clone Wars cartoon panel is now seated onstage, including Anthony Daniels, James Taylor (cartoon Obi-Wan voice), Tom Kane (cartoon Yoda) ---- their script table reading is cool ‘nuff.

But the hosts are about to be tarred and feathered ---- they’re STILL interrupting and babbling about how cool this and that is, and something about that stupid wig again ----

Sorry, but this is getting too painful to watch – I’m outta here ----more tomorrow/Sunday!!

THE ROCKETEER AND OTHER FAMOUS '80S COMICS BEGAN RIGHT HERE IN SAN DIEGO - Here's a detailed history of local Pacific Comics, who recruited comic superstars like Jack Kirby to create one of the first successful indie comic book lines. Pioneers in the fight for comic creators' rights and royalties, former employees and operators reveal how they did it, and what went so terribly wrong...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/08/pacific-comics-the-inside-story-jay-allen-sanford

THE KOMPLETE KISS KOMIX KRONICLES - Comprehensive collection of stuff I’ve done about working with Kiss on a comic book series in San Diego, along with a bunch of never-before-seen artifacts from the Kiss Komix archives AND an article by Kiss comic author Spike Steffenhagen, offering his own very-different take, ala Rashomon, on the same events I describe in my essay...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/12/komplete-kiss-komix-kronicles

ROCK 'N' ROLL COMICS: THE INSIDE STORY - In 1989, San Diego's Revolutionary Comics ("Unauthorized And Proud Of It") launched Rock 'N' Roll Comics, featuring unlicensed biographies of rock stars, most of which I wrote. Some performers, like Frank Zappa and Kiss, were supportive, while others like New Kids On The Block considered our comics akin to bootlegs and sued. In June 1992, publisher Todd Loren was found dead in his San Diego condo, brutally murdered...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/12/rock-n-roll-comics-the-inside-story

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK VS REVOLUTIONARY COMICS - The inside story of how a hugely successful boy band tried to sue local-based Rock 'N' Roll Comics over an unauthorized biography of the group, sparking a court case that established, for the very first time, first amendment rights for comic books. Illustrated by comic superstar Stuart Immonen (Superman, etc.)...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/13/new-kids-on-the-block-versus-revolutionary-comics

OVER A MILLION CARNAL COMICS ARE IN PRINT - Here's how and why we made some of the top-selling erotic comics of all time, right here in San Diego, including what Gene Simmons has to do with it all, backstage tales of porn stars, and more confessions of a comic pornographer...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/08/carnal-comics-the-inside-story-jay-allen-sanfor

COMICS AND CENSORSHIP - DON'T BE AFRAID, IT'S ONLY A COMIC BOOK - A local-centric history of comic book censorship, and the fight for the rights of comic creators...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/06/comics-and-censorship-a-local-centric-illustrated

TWILIGHT ZONE AND STAR TREK WRITER GEORGE CLAYTON JOHNSON PRESENTS - The inside story of a local horror comic book series featuring Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, plus sci-fi king Larry Niven, Zap Comix co-founder Spain Rodriguez, Matthew Alice artist Rick Geary, Vampire Lestat painter Daerick Gross, yours truly JAS, and many more...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/05/deepest-dimension-terror-anthology-twilight-zone

THE BIRTH OF IMAGE COMICS: INSIDE STORY OF A LOCAL PUBLISHING POWERHOUSE - Illustrated tale revealing how Spawn creator Todd McFarlane and local comic artist Jim Lee (the Punisher, etc.) conspired to create the ultimate creator-owned comic books...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/03/the-birth-of-image-comics-an-illustrated-history

 Down the Slippery Slope - Arrested For the Crime of Viewing Manga

On March 30, 2004, when Dwight Whorley found the Japanese website of Fractal Underground Studio via Yahoo and clicked on a couple of the thumbnail images... ( http://comipress.com/special/miscellaneous/down-the-slippery-slope-the-crime-of-viewing-manga )

"Before It Was The Gaslamp: Balboa's Last Stand" - Cover story 6-21-07: In the late 70s/early 80s, I worked at downtown San Diego's grindhouse all-night movie theaters, for the owner of the Pussycat Theatre chain, Vince Miranda - this detailed feature recalls those dayz, the death of the Balboa Theatre, etc.

More Before It Was the Gaslamp

"Battle Of The Peeps" - feature article about a weird gig I had in the mid-'80s, running a strip club called Jolar, for the nation's second biggest pornographer, Harry Mohney (Deja Vu Showgirls founder).

More Battle of the Peeps - An Insider History of San Diego Porn Shops

"Field Of Screens" - Cover story 7-6-06: Complete theater-by-theater history of San Diego drive-ins thru the years, including a few which screened X-rated fare for awhile.

More Drive-In Theaters in San Diego: Complete Illustrated History 1947 thru 2008

"Pussycat Theaters - When 'Cathouses Ruled California" -- for the first time, the detailed inside story of the west coast Pussycat Theater chain of adult moviehouses, which peaked in the '70s but later died out. Told by those who actually ran the theaters!

More Pussycat Theater History: When Cathouses Ruled CA

  More Music on the Reader Website:

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Like this blog? Here are some related links:

OVERHEARD IN SAN DIEGO - Several years' worth of this comic strip, which debuted in the Reader in 1996: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/overheard-san-diego/

FAMOUS FORMER NEIGHBORS - Over 100 comic strips online, with mini-bios of famous San Diegans: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/famous-former-neighbors/

SAN DIEGO READER MUSIC MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/sandiegoreadermusic

JAY ALLEN SANFORD MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/jayallensanford