A couple of very big, well publicized film panels happened on Saturday in Hall H, which is why I think it was possible for me to hit a lot of the smaller ones without too much trouble. First stop was the Indigo Ballroom of the Hilton. Both the Marriott and the Hilton hotels, which stand on either side of the convention center, were hosting programming this year. I showed up for "The Venture Brothers," the Adult Swim action cartoon, and ended up sitting through the "Leverage" panel first.
"Leverage" is one of those shows that doesn't quite fit the Comic-Con groove. I've seen two or three episodes, and it's decently entertaining, but there's nothing really geeky about it. Timothy Hutton leads a group of con-men who have decided to use their skills for altruistic purposes, so they take on "Mission: Impossible" style jobs every week to con baddies, help goodies, and look photogenic while doing it. There was a slightly awkward moment when one of the cast members remarked that they didn't think they were popular enough to fill the Ballroom, which seats around three thousand. Judging from the number of Dr. Girlfriend and Monarch minion costumes I spotted in the crowd, I suspect they were right.
Still, they put on a good panel. Producer Chris Dowdy, and actors Timothy Hutton, Christian Kane (in desperate need of a haircut), Beth Riesgraf, and Aldis Hodge came to talk up the show. And there was also a surprise guest in the form of Wil Wheaton, who plays a recurring character named Chaos. The banter among them was great, and Wheaton forking over cash to Hodge after Hodge revved up the crowd for the return of Chaos got a huge laugh. I don't know enough about "Leverage" to get into many of the particulars of the discussion, but there was speculation about a romantic relationship between Riesgraf's and Hodge's characters, which no one would confirm or deny, mentions of actors working special skills into various episodes, and some hints of future developments. The upcoming finale of season three is promised to be the most ambitious thing they've done yet.
The best tidbit I picked up was that "Leverage" is filmed in Portland, Oregon, which is passed off for various locales across the globe, including a small island nation for an upcoming episode. Still, the visuals have a nice Pacific Northwest vibe that is reminiscent of all the shows that used to be filmed in Vancouver like "The X-Files" and "21 Jump Street." The Oregon foliage was in full display in the clip that was screened for us, from the episode that was scheduled to air Sunday evening. It had Kane's and Hodge's Odd Couple characters separated from the rest of the team, handcuffed to each other, and running around in the woods while being chased by extremist militiamen. At one point they are literally up a tree. The audience liked it, especially the fight sequence. It's a lot of fun watching this kind of footage with a huge crowd, where you can hear every little reaction multiplied a thousand-fold.
The hour went by quickly, and then it was time for true geekery to take the stage.
By far, the best panelists I saw at Comic-Con were Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer, the creators of "The Venture Brothers." They went up in front of the room with James Urbaniak and Patrick Warburton, who voice the show's protagonists, and just talked a blue streak for most of the allotted time. No moderator, no prompting from questioners necessary, though a few brave souls tried. They talked about the show, but they also took time to rag on Warburton's teenage son Talon (!) who was in the audience, ponder the possibilities of Moppet/Pupa Twins action figures, and gush over cool cars. Doc Hammer was especially good at going off on amazing tangents. At one point he spent about eight minutes extolling the virtues of a terrible decade-old Jason Patric crime film called "Incognito." You got the sense that this was just an extension of other conversations these guys had been having with each other off and on since the dawn of time. It was fantastic.
They brought us a trailer for upcoming new "Venture Brothers" episodes, claiming they'd worked all night to edit it together for us. It used the same music and same format as the Season Four trailer, with flying text at the beginning running through a list of possible names for the new season, which is apparently really the back half of Season Four that got delayed a bit longer than everyone was expecting. There is no way to describe the footage to someone with no knowledge of "The Venture Brothers," because the show has expanded from its original "Jonny Quest" spoof origins in such weird and wonderful ways, and there are so many minor secondary characters to keep track of, I'd spend half of this post just trying to explain who everyone was. Urbaniak and Warbuton confessed that they couldn't keep track of all the details, and though Publick and Hammer could, sometimes they slipped up or had to be reminded of things too. If you're not a "Venture" fan, skip the next paragraph.
The trailer went by pretty quick, but we saw scenes of Brock working with Hunter at S.P.H.I.N.X., Shore Leave and Mile High discussing inappropriate undergarments, Sergeant Hatred morosely singing about how much he missed Princess Tinyfeet with an acoustic guitar and a cringing Pete White as his audience, Pete and Billy Quizboy in some kind of "TRON" themed motorcycle-and-sidecar combo, the Monarch and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch enjoying domestic bliss, Hank back in his pre-Season Four outfit and hairstyle being teased by Doc Venture and Hatred, and Dermot getting beaten up. The money shot was the Monarch being cornered and menaced by a horde of Hank and Dean clones, zombie style. They played the trailer twice, the second time at the end of the panel with Publick and Hammer providing snarky commentary. The crowd really ate it up. The creators clarified a few details for us. Brock is still living with the Ventures, but Hatred got to keep his job as the new bodyguard, even though Brock is better at it, which is going to change the family dynamic a bit. They also promised the return of other minor characters such as Baron von Underbheit, but sadly we will not be seeing Dr. Henry Killinger in the near future.
It was all over too soon, and the panel wrapped up with everyone dressed as a "Venture Brothers" character being called up to the stage for an impromptu costume contest, with newly released action figures as prizes. I wish I could have stuck around to watch, but there was no way I was missing the one event that played a huge part in my decision to come to Comic-Con in the first place. Just to be safe, I went over to room 6DE and sat through the panel that took place immediately prior. Again, I got the strong sense that most of the attendees were not there for that particular presentation, which featured cast and crew from three of Cartoon Network's current and upcoming action shows, which is kind of a shame because I did enjoy it.
As a diehard animation fan, I like keeping an eye on current kids' cartoons though I don't watch any of them regularly anymore. I knew who most of the creators who came to the panel were, even if I didn't know their new shows. Glen Murakami, Dwayne McDuffie, and Genndy Tartakovsky have all worked on cartoons I watched back in the 90s, so it was good to see that they were still turning out new programs. Murakami and McDuffie were there to promote "Ben 10: Ultimate Alien," the third incarnation of the popular "Ben 10" franchise. Tartakovsky has a new one set to premiere in fall called "Symbionic Titan," which looks like a cross between "Voltron" and "Dexter's Lab." Easily the most impressive of the bunch was "Generator Rex" from a couple of creators who are known collectively as Man of Action.
Now I love a lot of the work that Glen Murakami has done, especially the shiny anime-flavored confection that was "Teen Titans," but I don't think his style works with "Ben 10." I saw a few random episodes of the original show with the ten-year-old version of the protagonist, and found it a little obnoxious, but fun and well-made. The "Ultimate Alien" series with the teenage Ben looks terrible by comparison. We got a trailer for the big movie-length season premier set for October 10th (10.10.10. Get it?), and I found the simplified designs and limited animation really sub-par. There were fans in the audience who seemed to enjoy it though, who grumbled over the news that Ben was getting a new love interest, and perked up at the promise of more backstory about one of the secondary characters. Who knows? Maybe the writing on the show is better than the visuals.
"Generator Rex" looked much more interesting. It was described as darker and more intense than the norm for Cartoon Network, which came through in the clips we saw. Man of Action created the original "Ben 10" and "Rex" has similar production values and graphics. Except this time the hero is a little older, so the action could be more visceral. From the questions the fans were asking, though, I got the sense that the real draw might be the characters. One girl wanted to know if Rex was a Latino character since he speaks Spanish occasionally in the show. Her ecstatic reaction when they confirmed it was the best moment of the panel. And it took me a little while to realize it, but I recognized both of the voice actors who made appearances - Daryl Sabara from "Spy Kids" is Rex and his mentor is voiced by "General Hospital" regular Wally Kurz.
I was curious about "Symbionic Titan" because Tartakovsky created it, and it looks different than anything else he's done. This is his take on the Giant Robot genre, complete with anime-style transformation sequences where the fighting mecha combine into bigger brawlers. The main characters are a pair of aliens who crash on Earth and take on the guise of human teenagers. Between the Giant Robot fights, they'll be discovering the joys of high school and adolescent angst. I'm pretty ambivalent about this one. I didn't see any of those great stylistic touches Tartakovsky brought to "Samurai Jack" or "The Clone Wars," but that could just mean he's taking a different approach to the visuals this time. It feels too early to tell.
Finally there was one moment in the Q&A after the "Generator Rex" presentation that deserves mention. An audience member asked why there weren't any shows on the Cartoon Network action lineup starring a female character. The panelists quickly pointed out that there were strong females in the ensembles of their shows, but the point was a good one and I agree with the sentiment completely. They don't make cartoons for girls anymore like they did back in the 80s, the heyday of "She-Ra" and "Jem" and "My Little Pony." But nobody seems to have a problem with making cartoons, especially action cartoons, aimed squarely at boys. The girls are a bit left out these days, and it's not right. Cartoon Network was the home of the Powerpuff Girls for all those years, so we know they can feature girls if they want to. And I'm glad someone got up and said it. We want them to.
After the panel was over, as I suspected, very few people left the room. Next up was one of the legends of science-fiction, and my favorite author: Ray Bradbury.
To be continued tomorrow.
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