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By Nicholas Eskey If you label yourself a “nerd” and wear it with pride, undoubtedly you already follow Chris Hardwick’s Nerdist News. The quick witted comedian and mega-nerd took heads the podcast driven news network for nerds with a wonderful collection of colleagues and special guests, discussing everything from the current state of all things […]

You know that Negan killed Daryl on Sunday night, right? It had to be. A “beloved character” died, they already killed Glenn and they want the comics to be different from the TV show. And no one’s death would cause such pain, agony and outcry. Plus attention. The Walking Dead is in its seventh season! […]

Fan favorite nerdlebrity Norman Reedus has become an icon as the zombie-stompin' Daryl Dixon on The Walking Dead. But despite his amazing survival skills he was not able to repel a real bite attack by one of his greatest fans.

Grumpy Cat and @TheRealStanLee having a terrible #Halloween backstage @StanLeeComikaze @HotTopic #Comikaze pic.twitter.com/O0RL11eW7O — Grumpy Cat (@RealGrumpyCat) November 1, 2015 It happened this weekend at Comikaze in LA. And hundreds have had their photo taken with Grumpy Cat, only Stan Lee was allowed to actually hold the cat. When the epic once in a lifetime […]

The potential innate sadness and tawdriness of the “nerdlebrity autograph/photo op faire” aspect of contemporary “comic-cons” gets examined in this piece at The Walrus by Jonathan Kay entitled Ron Weasley Made Me Sad, in which a dad takes his kids to Fan Expo Canada and, unencumbered by the fannish enthusiasm that often overlooks just how […]

  You’ve got your mimosas.  You’ve got your fine leather goods.  How about your rare, never-before-released Neil Gaiman Stories? The American Gods and Sandman author has teamed up with The Moth, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) and Humble Bundle to present the Humble Book Bundle: Neil Gaiman Rarities.  For the next two weeks, users can pay as […]

This weekend, actor Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Lex Luthor in next year’s Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, was seen at the premiere of The End of the Tour, a film about the release of David Foster Wallace’s 20th century existential tomb of a novel, Infinite Jest.  In an interview with the Associated Press, Eisenberg was asked about what he thought of his first comic con experience, to which he replied:

“It is like being screamed at by thousands of people. I don’t know what the experience is throughout history, probably some kind of genocide. I can’t think of anything that’s equivalent.”

“I can’t think of anything that’s equivalent,” he says, as he stands in line being screamed at by fans and paparazzi, berated eternally by the strobe of 200 watt light bulb flashes.  I understand that comic con is a stressful experience for all parties, especially the talent, but come on.  Eisenberg’s statement sounds like slight hyperbole for an A-List actor– not to mention the fact that it’s an offensive statement to make in the first place.

Audi produced this short comedy advertisement with Stan Lee teaching how to do what he does best: appear in cameos in Marvel films. The short, directed by Kevin Smith with appearances by Smith, Jason Mewes, Michael Rooker, Tara Reid and, poignantly, Lou Ferrigno, sort of sums up where we’re at as a culture right now.

“I’ve studied a lot of acting methods,” Rooker says in the short. “I’ve studied the Stanislavski method, the method method, but I’ve never studied anything like the Stan Lee method.”

In case you’ve never seen a Marvel movie, Stan Lee shows up in almost all of them at some point as an old man in the background, eating a hotdog, driving a cart or pointing excitedly. Hey, it’s a living.

Stick around to the end for a call back to Marvel media when they didn’t rule the universe.

Also, Stan Lee may just have one of the most imitable voices of all times.

Seems like everyone had the same great idea at the same time: with comic-cons proliferating, and nerdlebrities making a circuit out of it, wouldn’t this be fine fodder for a realityish TV show/webisode of some kind? And wouldn’t actors who had starred in TV shows that had insanely fanatic fanbases but who didn’t get much airtime outside of that be the perfect  people to do it?

It seems both Firefly’s Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion and Supernatural’s Rob Benedict and Richard Speight, Jr had the same idea. And both have turned to Indiegogo to bring these ideas to fruition.

The Tudyk/Fillion effort launched first. It’s called Con Man and it’s already a go, with $2,386,241 raised, a bit more than the $425,000 they were going for. This is a scripted adventure about nerdlebrities who go to cons starring…nerdlebrities who go to cons.

Wray Nerely (Alan Tudyk-Me!) was a co-star on Spectrum, a sci-fi series which was canceled -Too Soon- yet became a cult classic. Wray’s good friend, Jack Moore (Nathan Fillion) starred in the series and has gone on to become a major movie star. While Jack enjoys the life of an A-lister, Wray tours the sci-fi circuit as a guest of conventions, comic book stores, and lots of pop culture events.  The show will feature all the weird and crazy things that happen to Wray along the way to these events.

Galaxy Quest without the galaxy, then. Okay maybe a little Galaxy.

In an interview with EW, the pair expanded on the idea::

Fillion and Tudyk are hoping to raise $425,000 to finance the show’s first three 10 minute-long episodes. But Tudyk says that he has written 10 scripts in all so far and that at least one later show will indeed see both actors back on a spaceship. “There’s a lost episode of Spectrum that gets released within the show,” he says. “That’s done in a funny way—but there are actual scenes of me flying a spaceship and Nathan captaining.”

Guest stars will include more Firefly alumni, Sean Maher and Gina Torres, and othr nerdlebirty royalty including Amy Acker , Seth Green, Felicia Day, and director James Gunn. Easy to see why this has raised so much money. The initial budget was for three 10-minute shorts, but I guess there will be more than that.

Meanwhile, the Supernatural effort is more of a “reality-based” show set within the world of Supernatural fandom. It too was once called “Con Man” but now it’s called Kings of Con and here’s the pitch:

$100,000 will cover production costs for the first three to five episodes, and Benedict says 10 have already been “roughly written and mapped out,” with a 10-minute teaser/pilot previously filmed. According to Benedict, “Our idea is that every episode will be a new city that we’re in — or rather, the suburb outside of that city where our hotel is! We’ve shot in our actual conventions too, so you’ll get a POV of the view from the stage during karaoke, and a bird’s-eye view of the merchandise room, the lines, the crowds, the energy… in a utopian world, we want to continue to capture all that in each episode.”

This effort has already raised $57,000 of the $100,000 requested..in fact it raised about $7k while I was writing this post, so I think this will hit its target as well. It only launched yesterday and they are aware of the rival show:

While Benedict and Speight acknowledge that the concept sounds similar to another crowdfunded comedy series inspired by two genre actors’ convention experiences (Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion’s “Con Man”), their series has been in development for over a year, and is wholly inspired by their “real life exploits within this ‘Supernatural’ convention world — with our own creative, fictional spin,” Benedict tells Variety. “While it is nowhere near reality TV, it will be shot naturalistic and play on our relationship with each other and others through scripted and semi-scripted dialogue. Rich and I have developed quite a rapport over these few years, and quite a unique, combustable and comical relationship. We’ve been to the front lines, so to speak, and have been in the thick of it, all around the world, together. Really, this show is about Rob and Rich, and the conventions will serve as a unique backdrop for that quirky relationship.”

These are not the first efforts in the “nerdlebrity goes to a con” genre. The trailblazer in this regard is Mark Hamill’s Comic Book: The Movie in which he portrays Donald Swan, a documentary filmmaker who goes to Comic-Con and meets a lot of weird people. Made in 2004, this features the state of the art autograph circuit of the day, such as Stan Lee, Chase Masterson, Bruce Campbell and Kevin Smith in cameos.

Then there was Morgan Spurlock’s Comic-Con IV: A Fan’s Hope, the 2012 actual documentary about people who go to Comic-Con. Actually, I think Bruce Campbell also made a short film about fans and fandom, but no one has ever seen it.

Huh well whaddaya know.

I have my own idea for a movie set at a comic-con, but it’s so explosive that I can’t even talk about it here. I’ll just give you the elevator pitch: Clue + Comic-Con. Interested parties can contact my agent.

Via
Alexander Jodorowsky is the visionary filmmaker behind El Topo and Santa Sangre. He’s also kind of the original “films to comics” crossover creator, since filmmaking is very expensive but comics aren’t—in recent years The Incal, Bouncer, Tehcnopreists and many other weird and wonderful books.

Kanye West is a well known collaborator with Paul McCartney.

The documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune came out in 2013!

A happy camper @WizardWorld #ChicagoComicCon ! XX pic.twitter.com/Jo4ZR63UGs

— Elvira (@TheRealElvira) August 23, 2014

Wizard World Chicago was this weekend, a now four-day extravaganza of mostly nerdlebrity stuff, but still, and it’s said to be a great place to sell art to the midwest’s large and eager fan base. It’s also the show where nerdlebrities like tweeting pictures of themselves with other nerdlebrities!

Pulling a “double Riker” with homey @jonathansfrakes at @WizardWorld Chicago. Live long and prosper! pic.twitter.com/Cak5iJ0jDh

— Bruce Campbell (@GroovyBruce) August 24, 2014

About to take the stage in Chicago with the Next Gen Cast & Tne Shat!!! #bydhttmwfi http://t.co/MLJmdagS6V

— LeVar Burton (@levarburton) August 24, 2014

Levar Burton made a pretty epic selfie with Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Michael Dorn and Brent Spiner while William Shatner looked on. You can see more of this kind of stuff in the official @wizardworld twitter feed.

Also, Stan Lee finally took the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS….but there is a surprise twist, which you may guess if you are alarmed by the idea of a 91-year-old man having a bucket of freezing water dumped on his Members Only jacket.

The Chicago Daily Herald has a photo gallery here; Bloody Disgusting a rather cursory report here.

The most interesting (to me anyway) write I found was this by Randall A. Golden who gives Wizard shows an overall good review, but explains that even when you have a ticket, getting a nerdlebrity autograph can be can involve a lot of juggling, especially with nerdlebity travel schedules getting tighter and tighter…one late flight and things can get dicey:

As celebrity vicissitudes and temperaments update minute by minute, so are the autograph/photo-op schedules sometimes changed accordingly to keep up. If the con is well run, attendees are informed as soon as possible so they can work within whatever opportunities are available. If the con isn’t well run, then you wind up with situations where a famous British actor is left in his hotel room waiting for a ride that never comes to bring him to a Q&A he can’t find on his own, while fans threaten to burn him in effigy because they have no idea what’s going on and assume it’s all his fault. Fortunately for us and unfortunately for others, that happened at some other con that Wizard World didn’t run and we didn’t attend.

[snip]
11:40 a.m.: The Evan Peters line has largely vanished, but he’s still not there. We join the autograph line for Famous Actor #2, whose first signing is scheduled for 12:30. We learn from the guy in front of us that Evan Peters’ flight was delayed. The showrunners were now expecting to arrive around
3:30. To those couple hundred disgruntled fans who’d been waiting in vain in his line since 10 a.m., WWC volunteers passed out numbered cards for them to bring back later and redeem for first dibs on Peters upon his arrival.

Meanwhile, Famous Actor #2 arrives a half-hour early for his signing in high-flying spirits. Advantage: us.

1 p.m.: Mandatory lunchtime.

1:30 p.m.: We join the autograph line for Hot New TV Actor, across the way from Evan Peters’ booth, whose front space is occupied by a few lonely wanderers. While we’re in line, the distant, overhead lights flicker as thunder roars outside. Adding two and two, we suspect in hindsight that weather may have affected Peters’ flight plan. TV Actor arrives half an hour late, but she’s cool with everyone in line.

Comic Con @wizardworld Important Video message for today Saturday the 23 of August. Jb http://t.co/E1lzJItlhe

— John Barrowman News (@Team_Barrowman) August 23, 2014

As far as vicissitudes go, John Barrowman just plain overslept and missed his flight and made this very apologetic video. He surpassed even that later on though, with the PSA about the poopy potties of the Rosemont Convention Center

I used to go to Rosemont every year (although haven’t been in a decade) and I always found the toilets pretty clean and usually empty. So I dunno what is going on now—I hope this was a one time number two thing — just because you have to stand in line is no excuse not to flush the toilet.

So far, I’ve only found one — Billy Tucci! Tragically, Tucci did not call out other comics folks, so the charity meme has not yet spread to out part of the world. But let’s give Billy a hand for doing it!

In case you missed it, the ice bucket challenge is meant to draw attention to ALS, aka Lou Gehrig disease. When called out, you must either dump a bucket of ice over yourself or donate $100 to the ALS Foundation. Most celebs who have been doing this do both. You make a mideo of yours;f getting dumbed on, and call out someone to take the challenge next at the end of your video.

It’s a fun way to while away the summer—somehow I don’t think this would be as popular in November. People who have done it so far include Lady Gaga, Robert Downey Jr., Justin Bieber (he didn’t actually use ice), Steven Spielberg, Carrie Underwood, Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez, the NY Mets, the NY Jets, and a bunch of nerdlebrities folks like Tom Hiddleston (very popular),

Chris Pratt, Nathan Fillion, James Gunn and Stephen Amell.

I found Dave Bautista’s by far the most impressive however.

When we look back at the summer of 2014, will it be as the time that famous people dumped ice on themselves? In these turmoil filled days, it’s nice to have something giving and fun and silly to talk about.

Meanwhile, comic folk, step up!

UPDATED: OK OK, I missed Brian Bendis:

Who calls out Fraction and Oeming.

And Frank Tieri, although I can’t find his video,

who called out Scott Snyder:

I’m told Dynamite’s Nick Barrucci also took the challenge.

So NOW we’re getting somewhere!

[Editor's note: just to finish things up, we know what it's like in the trenches for us regular folks, but what is Comic-Can like for a celebrity? For the second time, actor James Urbaniak was gracious enough to pen a Comic-Con diary for us, cracking the door a bit on the glamour and glitz of life in the green room. Probably best known as the voice of Dr. Venture on the Venture Bros, Urbaniak has appeared in everything from American Splendor to The Boxtrolls. He can currently be heard on his podcast, Getting on with James Urbaniak. These are his con adventures.]

Dream: I am in a room full of food. Mike Tyson talks to Sponge Bob. Nearby, Leonard Maltin eats a sandwich.

Oh wait, it’s not a dream, I’m in the Adult Swim green room at Comic-Con. This is the room at the Hilton Bayfront where anyone on an Adult Swim panel hangs out before or afterward. Mike Tyson (who stars in an upcoming Adult Swim animated series) is talking to Sponge Bob (well, Tom Kenny) and Leonard Maltin is floating about. It’s not a dream, but it does feel deeply symbolic. Of what, I have no idea.I ask Leonard Maltin if he knew Pauline Kael. He explains that he never met her but talked to her once over the phone.

Maltin is moderating a panel with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. Also on the Maltin panel is Jack McBrayer, whom my girlfriend Sara Pocock had noticed peripherally in an elevator earlier that morning when we’d checked into the hotel. She was adjusting a wedgie at the time (she tweeted about this so I’m okay to bring it up). Later in the green room she officially met him and mentioned that the three of us had earlier shared an elevator while she shimmied to adjust herself and he replied with the same artless Southern enthusiasm as 30 Rock’s Kenneth “Oh yeah, I remember! You were dancin’ in your blue jeans! This is my first time here. It’s craaazy!”

We took the train from LA early that Friday morning. At the platform there was guy in a Flash t-shirt, a guy in Superman t-shirt, guy in a Star Wars t-shirt and a boy in a Magneto helmet. While boarding I heard a guy say “Should I change into my Sailor Moon suit on the train?” I think he was joking. Near the food car, three middle-aged people dressed as Power Rangers asked me to take their picture.

Back in the green room, Maltin is telling a story about his Bullwinkle watch. I say hello to Dan Harmon. My colleague from the Thrilling Adventure Hour, ubiquitous voice actor John DiMaggio is now conferring with Tom Kenny about Mike Tyson. (BTW DiMaggio’s mother and my father both taught special ed in the same school in the 70s but that’s another story.) I meet Robert Smigel. Rob Corddry is there. Travis from “Clueless” walks by. “Oh my God,” says my girlfriend. “It’s Travis from Clueless.”

I am there for the Venture Bros panel. Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick enter the room, dandified as usual. Jackson in seersucker, Doc in one of the personally tailored suits that fit his narrow frame like a second striped skin.

“Hello boys!” I exclaim. I ask Doc how his train ride was. He takes the train from New York to San Diego (he doesn’t fly; ear issues.)

It’s a classic Venture Brothers panel. The boys go off on peripheral tangents and lightly chastise anyone who wants details about the upcoming season. (Jackson does allow himself to reveal some of the season’s upcoming guest stars. Google it.) 

They show a video of Jarvis Cocker referencing the Venture Brothers in a Pulp concert. After the clip I tell a story about how a drunk guy in a bar once mistook me for Jarvis Cocker. For some reason the context of a Venture Brothers panel this highly amusing anecdote doesn’t land so I bring it up about three more times during the course of the hour. Pointless tangents are a hallmark of our panels.

After the panel Sara and I make our way to the Convention Center past the zlpline and the giant half a Homer Simpson head that protrudes from the lawn between the hotel and the center (promoting FXX’s “Every Simpsons Ever.”) And here it is, the Center, “the floor,” the belly of the beast. We pass beneath the banner reading “Welcome to Comic-Con International” in not-quite-Comic-Sans. The last time I was here, two years ago, I saw a group of Venture Bros cosplayers as soon as I walked in. History repeats itself.  There, as if waiting for me, are the Monarch, Dr. the Mrs. Monarch, Dr. Venture, Pete White and Dr. Henry Killinger. Someone gently admonishes me to get out of the way of their photographer. This dark irony is not lost on one of the players who says “He’s on the show!” I take my own photo of them.

Sara and I begin the gritty work of walking the floor. We stop by the tables of various artist friends. Mike Mitchell, Drew Friedman, Shannon Wheeler (illustrator of Mark Russell’s “God is Disappointed in You,” for which I recorded the audiobook) and the legendarily eccentric Tony Millionaire, who is wearing someone else’s nametag. “Using a pseudonym?” I ask him. He removes the tag as if he hadn’t noticed, crosses out the incorrect name and then, in a very slow and careful hand, writes “TONY MILLIONAIRE.” Good thing I said something.

Cosplayers abound. Of particular note are a very convincing Drogo and Daenerys. They are uncanny physical matches. “That Drogo could really pull off Brock Sampson,” I think to myself.

Sara runs into an old friend named Zoe from the CalArts animation program who tags along. After a couple of hours on the floor, we are ready to recharge at the bar at the Hilton (the Odysea). Sitting on the deck looking overlooking the bay, we observe a helicopter land on a yacht. This over-the-top metaphor for the corporatization of Comic-Con is a bit on the nose but we’ll take it. More rounds are bought. Our LA friends David and Augusta Avallone show up. Jackson Publick makes his way over.The aforementioned Mark Russell joins us and I meet the author of my audiobook for the first time.

I have a panel for the Thrilling Adventure Hour that evening (the LA-based old time radio-style comedy show/podcast has a crossover performance with Welcome to Night Vale the next night). This panel is a bit less randomly freewheeling than the Venture Bros panel and I keep irrelevant anecdotes to a minimum. 

Panel done, it’s back to the Odysea where a Disney party and a fan-organized Venture Bros costume party are happening simultaneously. I spy a group photo about to be taken of a couple dozen Venture Bros cosplayers and I jog over and slide into a crouching position in the foreground right before the click. It’s about 10 pm and Sara and I are both hungry and tired. We tell friends at the bar that we are going to our room to order some dinner from room service and will be back. In the room, we both fall asleep while waiting for the food. While eating dinner, Sara sleepily says “You know…we don’t have to go to a party tonight.” We conk out and are asleep by 11:30 pm. Day One is over. I dream of Leonard Maltin.

Up the next morning for a Venture Bros signing. Jackson and Doc are always in great form at these one-on-one interactions with fans. Of the three of us, Doc has the most impressive signature.

After the signing, Sara and I wander Artists Alley.  We meet the delightful Paul Guinan, creator of the fictional Victorian robot Boilerplate. We chat with my old friend Todd Stashwick, actor and co-creator of the online comic “Devil Inside.” (We played a pair of pervy bad guy friends on an episode of “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” many years ago.) Making our way outside, we go to the nearby Disney Infinity Pop Up Shop where Sara’s old CalArts classmate, “Gravity Falls” creator Alex Hirsch is signing posters. I get two for my 8-year-old boy/girl twins; it’s their favorite show.

We ping-pong back to the Odysea where Rob Corddry and his wife Sandra are at the bar. Corddry and I get into a deep discussion about novelty records (Weird Al had the #1 song that week).  

That evening I play a Western robot space outlaw in the Thrilling Adventure / Night Vale show. Mingling afterwards in the lobby, I spot David Rees and Ken Plume (for whom I will be participating in various DragonCon events next month). Afterwards, Sara and I go to a carnival-like Adult Swim party in the PetCo parking lot across from the Convention Center. There’s a fun house (one room features a large reclining man dressed like a baby) and a “Meatwad Dome,” a large domed tent-like structure where you lie on the floor and a psychedelic planetarium show hosted by Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s Meatwad is projected on the ceiling. The word is overused but one can only call it trippy. This party in a parking lot also features free t-shirts, free ice cream and free warm beer (they ran out of ice). We run into a ton of people. This is the parking lot to be in tonight.

We stagger across the street to the Hilton (holding a “Black Jesus” candle that a hipster Santa offered me in the funhouse). The aforementioned Todd Stashwick, artist Denis Calero and our friend the writer Deric Hughes have a floating party every year they call Slam Con and, since all roads lead to the Hilton this year, that’s where they’re at. But the Odysea is closing and the guests are dispersing. The road of excess leads to the palace of sleep.

I have another Venture Brothers signing on Day Three at the Entertainment Earth booth (manufacturer of Venture Bros action figures and shot glasses). A small curtain has been set up in front of our booth table and Jackson, Doc and I are formally revealed when the signing begins. When the signing is finished, the curtain closes. Jackson laughs at the absurdity. I, an old theatre actor, feel warmly at home.

The rest of the day is spent browsing the floor. We make a couple of purchases at the Fantagraphics table and head back to pack for the train back to LA. Our driver to the train station says she’s been shuttling people back and forth between the Center and the train station all weekend but she’s never been to the Con herself. Had Jackson Publick not offered me the role of Dr. Venture in the Venture Brothers one evening in a New York bar over ten years ago, it’s likely I may never have made it here either. As the train brings us back home, I bid goodbye to the weird, waking dream. Somewhere Leonard Maltin smiles.

[Follow James Urbaniak on Tumblr and Twitter.]

Will every single comics creators be at a show this weekend? Since we know comics culture is booming I thought it might be interesting to check out just WHAT is happening around this nation of outs. I got most of these from Convention Scene but it didn’t include the biggest show, Big Wow.

If you’re going to one of these shows, feel free to report back to us here! We’re keen to hear about comics culture around the world.

• Big Wow Comic Fest in San Jose, CA

With WonderCon moved south this is the biggest mainstream comics event in the Bay Area now, and I hear good things. Guests include Charlie Adlard, Sergio Aragones, Art Adams and Mike Mignola. If you’re going please let us know how it went.

• SpringCon in St, Paul, MN.

This is the show that was encroached by a Wizard event, but based on the comments here it has a loyal following. Over 250 guests including Dan Jurgens, Peter Gross, Ursula Murray Husted and Silver Age artist Liz Berube. The poster promises 100,000 sq ft of extreme comic book action. Oh yeah!

• Motor City Comic Con in Detroit, MI

This one runs three days in Novi. Guests include William Shatner, John Barrowman, Jon Bernthal, Milo Ventimiglia, Scott Wilson, Burt Young, Karl Urban, Jason Momoa, Lee Majors, Lindsay Wagner, Chris Claremont, Mark Waid and many more. As you can see it’s become more nerdlebrity focused. Time was when Motor City was one of the marquee events on the comics schedule (it’s been running for 25 years) but it’s way more regional now.

• Dallas Comic Conin Dallas, TX
This is run by the same folks who put on the HUUUUGE Fan Expos in Toronto. This company was acquired last year by a larger event company, a change I should have paid more attention to. According to the guest page, William Shatner will also be at THIS show. I guess he likes to travel??? The guest list is all nerdlebrities, but a small pop up tells m that Len Wein will be there for comics types. A believe this show is descended from the old Dallas Fantasy Fair, also a long time comics event classic.

• SC Comicon in Greenville, SC

Proving there are enough Nerdlebrities to go around, Lou Ferrigno will hulk out at this show, along with Van Jensen and Robert Venditti and other guests. The show is run by Borderlands Comics & Games, and it’s only $10 to get in for the day.

• SuperFan Comic Con in Toronto, ON

It’s Victoria Day Weekend for our friends in the north so this runs Saturday-Monday. Lucky bastards. Guests include Mike Grell and Dyl Klöepfer who is billed as “Young cartoonist from a small town in Canada.” Hugs! And also…LOU FERRIGNO??? Do these nerdlebrities have doppelgangers? Margot Kidder and the guy who played the SOup Nazi will also be on hand. I don’t know much about this show, but Toronto is a crowded market.

THINGS I LEARNED MAKING THIS LIST:

• Nerdlebrities can be in two places at once!
• Conventions should make sure to put a LOGO or POSTER conveniently located in the PRESS section of their site.
• Despite what I have posted above, not every single comics creator in North America will be at a show this weekend.

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Setting up the TV pilot for a Flash TV series, The CW appear to have cast actor Grant Gustin – best known for his roles on Broadway and on Glee – as Barry Allen. The character will appear in three episodes of the second season of Arrow, before heading off to a pilot for a show of his own.

The three-episode arc of Arrow, during which hopefully Diggle will raise an intrigued eyebrow at the thought of a super-speed character showing up, will be written by showrunners Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, along with producer/writer Geoff Johns. Say, that name sounds familar…

Gustin, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, understandably commented:

I’m unbelievably excited. I’ve been a lifelong fan of DC Comics, so I can’t be more honored and can’t wait to get started.

And on his Twitter yesterday, he left the following message:

Last day of vibin’.

— Grant Gustin (@grantgust) September 12, 2013

Which, now, has been proven untrue. Ha! I hope you clapped your hands in applause after reading that amazing, ridiculously researched joke.

So…. if there’s to be a Flash TV show AND a Flash movie, does that mean we’re getting Barry in one… and Wally in the other? Or are we going to have simultaneous Barrys on our hands?

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HOW has no one ever thought of this before? Putting William Shatner and Adam West—the two most mellifluous, self mocking and endearing of legendary nerdlebrities—together on stage:

It was “The Shat” and “The Bat” for the first time ever on a stage together Friday night at the Salt Lake Comic Con, and their presence was enough to make every geek’s brain in the room explode.

William Shatner, aka Capt. James T. Kirk from the original “Star Trek,” and Adam West, who played the Caped Crusader in the 1960s cult television show “Batman,” sat down for the history-making event at the Salt Palace Convention Center, swapping stories about their start in Hollywood and their individual journeys to become pop culture icons. The one-hour event, which cost conventiongoers an additional $50 to $500 per ticket, was held on the convention’s main stage and drew hundreds of fans.

We’ve been suggesting for over a decade that someone should put this duo together in a TV movie as old time detectives on one last case…who wouldn’t enjoy hearing them attempt to prove who has the bigger diction? Frankly, we’re shocked that it took the SLC con to finally put this dream team together.

It is not, though, the first time the two worked together. In their strapping youth, West and Shatner were both in an Alexander the Great tv project that never got off the ground, but this did not provide the interplay that this autumnal event did.

At the SLC event Shatner, 82 and West, 84, joked and riffed on everything from hip replacement surgeries to that long ago pilot. And Shatner ended trying to get West to agree to appear with him on the Big Bang Theory—it’s not the venue we’d pick, but someone needs to make this happen while it still can.

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A powerful looking Ron Ely, star of the TV’s “Tarzan”(1966-1968) and “Doc Savage: Man of Bronze” (1975) spellbound his audience at WonderCon Friday, relating his fight with a wild tiger.  According to Ely, “The Script read: Tarzan sees tiger, Tarzan fights tiger, Tarzan and tiger walkaway in opposite directions with mutual respect.” Instead of firing the writer and walking off the set as would likely happen these days, the actor concerned himself with how to achieve the scene. Contacting the San Diego Zoo, Ely and his producer’s were able persuade Zoo officials to detour a recently captured tiger from India to the set of “Tarzan” in Burbank.  Gaining the big cat’s trust by his attending every feeding,  Ely and the Tarzan production crew took precautions to insure no one would be hurt.  By forbidding a gun on the set, Ely was also insuring the tiger’s safety.

“When we were set to film I hit him on the nose and he gave me a look like ‘Is that the best you got?’ I hit him again and he ignored me. There was only one other thing I knew to do to rouse him–if I turned my back.” Sure enough, the tiger went flying over Ely’s head to pounce and they wrestled. “To a tiger, its just play,” Ely said with equanimity.  Much to Ely’s own astonishment, the scene came off as written.

You can enjoy Warner Bros. Archive Collection of “Tarzan” and “Doc Savage” available at http://www.wbshop.com/category/wbshop_brands/warner+archive.do.

Also being released by WarnerBros. Archive Collection: “Bomba, the Jungle Boy” (1949) and “The Adventures of Superboy, Season 3″ In coming months there will be additional releases of other Boomer generation Televison shows.  One such is “Maya,” starring Jay North.  The star of “Dennis the Menace”, now a teen, searches the jungles of India for his missing father aboard an Elephant named Maya. The show was a milestone for TV at its time in that it was filmed on location in India.

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While the Nerdist Industries’ arena event at WonderCon this year was ostensibly about the future of the Youtube based pop culture conglomerate, and, indeed, plenty was said about upcoming projects, the question and answer period really expanded into a call to arms for fans to help directly determine the future of pop culture.

Nerdist founder Chris Hardwick took the stage, joined by panellists Paul Provenza, Troy Conrad, and Matt Bennett, on March 31^st, in the lead up to the season finale of The Walking Dead. Hardwick’s job as host of Talking Dead meant there was plenty of frisson in the audience about the upcoming show, and Hardwick teased, but didn’t deliver, spoilers on the show’s finale several times. In fact, he informed the audience that he was about to “get into a car to film Talking Dead” following his WonderCon appearance. Envy at his early viewing of the finale was palpable.

While Hardwick has a cult following as host of Talking Dead, and also from plenty of Nerdist projects, his presence live is even more dynamic, bringing with it plenty of his stand up comedy background. Since it was also Easter Sunday, Hardwick opened with a relevant quip: “That’s one person who came back from the dead and didn’t do it to rip someone’s heart out. Just put the love in it”. About a thousand attendees found this hilarious. Hardwick showed a promo video preview of upcoming Nerdist projects, often punctuated by applause and cheers from the audience when they recognized an anticipated segment or a celebrity guest coming up on a project, and followed by discussing several of the projects in a little more detail with his panellists.

Bennet’s new series, currently being filmed, entitled Nerdy Jobs, a play on Dirty Jobs, got particular attention. The series will involve him visiting nerdy “cool” companies like tech industries and comic book shops to give an insider’s view of working there. Hardwick pondered what Bennett would find to say if he visited NASA for the show: “Uh, sorry about your funding?”. Another big push for Nerdist is the launch of a comedy combination of stand up and improv based on the British series concept Setlist, a competition that will tour around the world. As a veteran of stand up, Hardwick was particularly enthused, commenting that forcing stand up comedians into an improv situation is like “looking for the God particle of comedy”. His request to the audience about the upcoming new shows: “Please don’t feel compelled to say horrible things IN ALL CAPS in comment threads”.

This led Harwick to speak for a moment about Youtube as a venue for hosting programming. Though delivered in a comically serious tone, the message had some bite: “No longer do companies tell us what to watch”. It was the first of several comments that indicated that Hardwick still has a lot to say about the role of open access and its giant-killing capabilities in relation to big media. Nerdist Industries, he said, is going to be expanding, but not along the lines of some of their peers on Youtube, who branch out into “piles of channels”; instead, they are aiming for a “hyper-curated partnership” with 6-8 channels and plenty of intensive “cross promotion”. They are also considering a move, based on fan request, to try out video podcasts, though Hardwick is a little skeptical of why people would want to watch them. Demand has been high enough that he’s prepared to yield to the experiment. Upcoming guests for the video podcast will include Seth Rogan, Steve Young, Scott Adsit and “surprises” too. Nerdist will also, finally, launch a major app to link to its content and, even more surprisingly, will be venturing into filmmaking following their purchase by Legendary Entertainment. They hope to work as producers on smaller budget films in this new role.

While Hardwick was delivering his energetic spiel, Provenza interjected, “Do you ever sleep?”. It was true, Hardwick looked a little peaked. “I have a robot heart”, he intoned, and continued on to the question and answer period. Questions began with a repeat offender from SDCC who Hardwick had once hugged in the past for his super fandom regarding Superman. “Comic Con is about getting super freaked out about stuff you love”, Hardwick reminded the audience (and he would deliver another hug later to a girl dressed as Wario in sympathy with his own Mario Brothers t-shirt). Harwick was then asked what he would do if his girlfriend was found to be “patient zero” in a potential zombie apocalypse. “Oh, I’d shoot her in the fucking head. That’s what you do for your loved ones”, he said without hesitation, to much hilarity, and added that he hoped she’d do the same for him.

He seemed pretty serious about that topic, but not as serious as he became immediately after the question on the subject of open access production. “There is literally no excuse for you not to pursue things that you love now. You are living half a life if you do not pursue the things that you love”, he said, referring to the tools now available for fans and pop culture creators alike. When a middle school teacher asked him for ideas to keep her students interested in pop culture in their newly formed lunch club, he gave a very invested answer, repeating that the most important thing the teacher could do for them would be to get them to “make things”, whether videos, or other media. “Teach them to be creators vs. consumers”, he pleaded, to much approbation from the crowd.

One of Hardwick’s winning qualities that keeps him from drifting too far from his fanbase  due to his ever increasing media success is his earnestness, often placing himself in the role of the fan once more. He described himself as a “lamprey” feeding off the “giant sperm whale” of pop culture products and feeling grateful, trying not to “impose” when working with actors from major shows. The Nerdist panel emphasized again that Hardwick still sees himself as an outsider in the mainstream, and an insider to “nerd” culture, no matter how many celebrity friends he accrues. That lends credence to his requests and his advice that fans continue to interact directly with the things they love through becoming “creators” too.

Photo Credits: All photos in this article were taken by semi-professional photographer and pop culture scholar Michele Brittany. She’s an avid photographer of pop culture events. You can learn more about her photography and pop culture scholarship here.

Hannah Means-Shannon writes and blogs about comics for TRIP CITY and Sequart.org and is currently working on books about Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore for Sequart. She is @hannahmenzies on Twitter and hannahmenziesblog on WordPress.

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While nerdlebrities are a big draw at comic-cons these days, as we’ve noted in the past, trying to throw a celebrity-only show can be a dismal affair. But with the rise of nerd culture, autograph shows seem to be picking up, even on the local level. For example: while going through our mail, we found a press release for a show called The American Music & Pop Culture Expo. Sounds promising. The event was held this past weekend in a Hershey, PA gymnasium and headlining guests included Bronson Pinchot and Butch Patrick. If that was not enough to excite you:

Other guests, who will be appearing at the expo, include Paris Themmen (best known as Mike Tee Vee in the classic film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), Matt Hardy (professional wrestler), Geri Reischl (best known as Jan Brady from Sid & Marty Krofft’s Brady Bunch Variety Hour), David Orange (best known as the Sleepy Klingon from the motion picture Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country), and Triston Johnson (Zombie Barn Walker from AMC’s hit series The Walking Dead).

Is that really what is has come to?

“Hey Dad, what did you do in the 80s?”

“I was a sleepy Klingon, son. They need 40 winks or it’s the Doomsday Machine over and over again.”

As for the Zombie Barn Walker— did you SEE how many zombies were in that barn????? How do you know it was really him?

We have nothing against those who brushed with fame using the scrapings from the fame lint remover to make a buck or two but…give us working cartoonists any day. No matter how dismal the comics industry may seem at times, it’s got to be better than being known as the third Romulan from the left.

So how was the event? Chris Mautner of Robot 6 went and seems to have had a good time.

The event itself was a bit like a schizophrenic flea market. At one table you might find a gentlemen selling vintage toys. A few steps away someone else might be selling vinyl records. Across the way someone else might be selling dolls, or hot sauce, or antiques or a mish-mash of stuff that suggested they had recently cleaned out their basement. One inventive gentleman was selling light switches with decoupaged Marvel comic book characters on them.

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Jim Rugg does an alternate cover for Tom Neely’s comic about Henry Rollins and Glenn Danzig as a bickering old married couple. A new volume Henry and Glenn Forever & Ever is upcoming.

This is the kind of variant we can get behind!

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Well, this is certainly one of the most British things I’ve ever heard. Please whistle the theme tune to The Archers while you read this article.

Yesterday Neil Gaiman announced on his blog that BBC Radio 4 have gathered a stunning collection of actors to record a radio adaptation of his story Neverwhere, which was first seen on television in the 1990s. Co-written by Lenny Henry, the story was sort-of simultaneously adapted into a novel by Gaiman, which was subsequently rewritten and adapted into radio plays and, well, all sorts of stuff happened with it, really.

This adaptation for radio, however, has managed to gather an incredible line-up of actors – several of whom sent this message across to Gaiman, which he shared earlier:

Which sight excites you most? Manly David Harewood? Game of Throne’s Natalie Dormer? James McAvoy? Giles from Buffy? Benedict Crumpetpatch? Hold on tight, because this photo only skims the surface of an utterly incredible cast.

Also appearing will be Andrew Sachs, Sophie Okonedo, Christopher Lee, Don Gilet, Johnny Vegas, Bernard Cribbins, Lucy Cohu and Romola Garai. And that’s still not all! Gaiman also teases that there will be a few other secret cameos and appearances tucked in amongst everything else. Zoinks.

Scheduled for release as a 6-episode series in 2013, Neverwhere will be produced by Dirk Maggs. Okay, you can stop whistling now.

Surprise! It’s Shia LaBeouf and his girlfriend Karolyn Pho, who handles the business side of LaBeouf’s Campaign Book comics publishing company. LaBeouf is making a Lars Von Trier film called NYMPHOMANIAC which may require him to film actual sex acts, which is a step up from the torture and blinding and other miseries which actors in Von Trier films must often endure. Whatever happens, we’re sure Shia will make a comic about it.

“The step from superhero to gay man isn’t a big step, is it?”

– Superman Returns star Brandon Routh on his new role in PARTNERS, a new CBS sitcom about hilariously mismatched roomates, one gay one straight. Routh actually plays the wacky neighbor as near as we can make out.

The quote was spotted in a Hollywood Reporter piece that asked Superhero Stars: Does a Comic Book Film Help or Hurt a Career? in which it was decided that

* starring in a crappy superhero movies doesn’t do much good for your career (Ioan Gruffud)

* starring in highly entertaining huge hits seems to help your career (Robert Downey Jr.)

* but sometimes starring in a horrible horrible superhero movie doesn’t hurt you either (George Clooney)

Apparently con crud cut a wide swath through the nerdlebrity contingent at this year’s show.

However, one negative note to come out of the event’s conclusion is the rampant outbreak of an illness. Some celebrities even publicly mentioned coming down with the communicable bug, such as long-time MythBuster’s figure Kari Byron stating that she needed a break due to coming down with “the Comic Con cold.” Wil Wheaton, of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Big Bang Theory fame, even amusingly dubbed the illness “ConSARS.”

Yet another carnival! This one, as we understand it, is set up next to the Gaslamp Hilton in that area where the Scott Pilgrim Experience once stood. It’s a video game arcade set up by ShiftyLook. Details below, but the pr notes that the Shifty Look panel will feature Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub and an announcement so…add it up.

Facilitated by NAMCO Entertainment Inc. of Chicago, the ShiftyLook Freeplay Arcade boasts Pac-Man, Galaga, Dig Dug and over a dozen other arcade games. Located across the street from the San Diego Convention Center at the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quater’s beautifully spacious terrace, the arcade will open at 12:00PM daily and close at 6:00PM on Thursday, 10:00PM on Friday and Saturday, and 8:00PM on Sunday.
 
Kicking-off the convention on Thursday night will be ShiftyLook Presents the Most Retro Comic-Con Party (Ever!), taking over the arcade and entire terrace of the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter, with ShiftyLook partners, press and comic creators present for a night of festivities. Although not open to the public, fans can follow along via the official Google+ Events On Air page: http://goo.gl/i6TZ9 for constant photos and video throughout the evening.
 
Special events will occur at the ShiftyLook Stage all weekend. Visit shiftylook.com or its social media outlets for the complete stage schedule prior to the convention. Fans can share photos of the ShiftyLook Freeplay Arcade and/or stage at the official Google+ Events page: http://goo.gl/OPAoB for constant photos and video throughout the weekend.