Well, that was.. something. Comic-Con@Home was either a resounding success or unmitigated disaster, depending on how you look at it. Either way, the good folks at Comic-Con International (CCI) who run WonderCon and San Diego Comic-Con gave us.. something, and for that we feel deeply appreciative.
So whether you’ve been hitting up SDCC for 2 decades, 2 years or for the first time ever, we all got the opportunity to “enjoy” Comic-Con this year, and your good friends at GodHatesGeeks break the @Home show down and even bible score it up for you…
Shout-out to the usual suspects Robert Bexar and Derek Vigeant, special guest Greg Mucino and two new to the GHG Zooms, Destiny Edwards and Frank Simonian. This was a fun — and often hella funny — show, so don’t miss out!
The year was 2005, I found myself living in San Diego, and its July. I kept hearing about Comic-Con, but had given up the idea of ever being able to attend, and — not having had many people like myself in my life — someone as deeply comfortable at the record store looking for the latest Hip-Hop to drop and the local comic book shop to pick up my orders for the week. I tried many shops, each one with its own Comic Book Guy, most who loved Metallica and heavy metal, skulls and Sandman. It never fit me. I didn’t know what to expect when looking for tickets for the Con.
In other words, there weren’t too many instances where both of these sides connected and were integrated into a sense of wholeness; it always felt like in each space, I was expected to give up the other…
As a straight up Hip-Hop Head, who also reads comics, well maybe I am a straight up comic book fan who loves Hip-Hop. Forget it; I can’t call it. Let’s try this again: I am a Hip-Hop Comic Book Geek, and as maligned as that term may be, I am, in fact, a geek. The term calls on many different meanings, but, for me, it involves someone who dives deep into their appreciation and by deep, I mean deep. Not only is it about knowledge — knowing a bit more than others about a specific topic — but calls forth the 5th Element of Hip-Hop: overstanding. This idea, of expanded knowledge, wisdom and understanding has always led the way to empowerment and liberation. This is what Hip-Hop and Comics have always served as a conduit for the communities it serves/represents. At its core, this is what the Comic-Con@Home panel was about.
As discussed by Patrick Reed, the moderator/creator of the panel, Hip-Hop and Comics: Cultures Combining, there are four major recognized Elements of Hip-Hop: DJ-ing, Emceeing, Breakdancing, and Graffiti Arts. These are the most recognized, but left out of this is the Element of Overstanding, one of the most important and the one that in many rights, connects all the Elements together into Hip-Hop Culture.
Overstanding became an ever-present, yet unspoken, theme that linked the various panelists; this felt like a straight-up record or comic shop deep dive with your peoples. Ultimate #GeekSwag. The ultimate “visual mixtape” of Hip-Hop and Comics. What was made immediately clear, was that whether a visual or narrative artist, creator or consumer, each were informing and referencing each other. In the Lab, the references were the same.
It took me a while to adjust to the format, the “new normal” that we are experiencing during the pandemic, which has forced us to do things in ways we never thought we would be doing, and Patrick, and friends who served as interviewers astutely navigated this with pre-recorded segments that were edited and put together into different thematics. Once the “codex” became apparent, it was easy to follow the flow and I appreciated the ways in which they pieced together a coherent story — the deep rooted connections between Hip-Hop and Comics.
Each panelist engaged in these “themes”, whether it is the sense of references for how to do it, connection or belonging, the ability to disconnect or find ways to connect at a deeper level; these serve as ties within each genre and serve as the connective tissue between the two. Other panelists discussed the rigors of the methodology, whether that’s artistic or narrative, focusing on the development of Master, signified by titles like Grand Wizard or Grandmaster, in both comics and Hip Hop. It’s all about the skills and techniques: methodologies that overlapped from Graf to visual arts, Djing or Emceeing. The ability to tell stories or create new ones resonated deeply with this geek. In fact, a new term emerged from writer Danny Lore – Swagger Punk – that serves as an accurate metaphor: engaging in new technologies, serving up justice, attitude; all without ever asking permission.
One of the ever-present themes is about connection, finding and/or creating ways to be your fully authentic self. Murs and Pharaohe Monch both talked about finding empowerment at the intersections of Hip-Hop and Comic culture, a place that hadn’t been realized previously.
In my younger years, I felt that sometimes, like Monch and Murs, each space by itself felt like living in some kind of limbo — stuck behind the veil as W.E.B. articulated; instead of this space of belonging, empowerment and community that was and has always been there. Both Hip-Hop and Comics has served as a place for integration, for searching for and finding an authentic self.
David F. Walker, author of the upcoming The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel, correctly states that in many ways both Hip-Hop and Comics, came from the same place — the margins of society. Both have been viewed as “low brow” and both having risen to the heights of popularity and a truly global reach. You need only look at Hip-Hop’s expansion from Germany to Japan or how Marvel’s Black Panther was received in Korea, to see the truth in this.
Lore, Ayala, Likwud, Walker, and Czarface’s Esoteric connected one of the most under-appreciated elements of both cultures: the desire for Justice, whether that is fighting against Thanos or Darkseid or if is fighting racial and gender oppression; the villain isn’t always a maniacal menace, hellbent on world domination, but sometimes it’s your neighbor actively working to maintain the system of racism. This connection is what drew many panelists and those of us who are part of these cultures, I know it’s what first drew me to Public Enemy and the Uncanny X-Men.
Jump back to 2005, I decided to buy a single day pass, not having any idea how big Comic-Con was and not knowing anybody in my new home who was into my weird combination of interests, not knowing what my experience would be inside. From the jump, I ran into some dude with the best Jon Stewart Green Lantern cosplay I had seen to date; but more importantly as I roamed the main hall, I came across two brothers – The MadTwiinz — creators of BlokHedz — also from the East, specifically Boston.
Now, mind you these guys were behind the table. I had walked through the entire main hall, and well.. I hadn’t seen many faces that look like mine. Here were two creators, from the same place as me and selling copies of the greatest connection between Hip-Hop and Comics I had ever seen. Blokhedz is literally the story off a 17-year old skater and rapper with the ability to control reality through his rhymes. Full MFing stop.
In the matter of a few minutes I had encountered my peoples; we are from the same region of the country but we met here, nearly 3500 miles away from home at SDCC, and we spoke the same language. Of course, I walked away with the full limited edition, signed by both Twiinz. The singles (aptly named “Thinking of a Master Plan”, “Paid in Full” and “Pump Up the Volume”) with a copy of their about-to-be-released (and in fact one of only a few) sculpted action figures of Essence, the dope ass around-the-way girl, complete with bamboo earrings who hopefully will help Young Blak follow the path of righteousness.
For me, this panel – exposing the deep connections between Hip-Hop and Comics represents over 30 plus years of struggle. In one moment, like my first day at Comic-Con, my existence was validated, I felt connected to a larger community. I had the same experience that I felt while listening to this panel. The connection runs deep-deep and each of the panelists drops knowledge, wisdom and understanding, in other words they connected the 4 Elements with Overstanding. 4.25/5 Limited Editions.
-Tyson Rose
WATCH HIP-HOP AND COMICS: CULTURE COMBINING RIGHT HERE!!!
Wise man say: “forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.”
It has been 30 years since the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film (and really, let’s be honest, the best one) and Comic Con@Home decided to bring us, what I’m sure they thought was a cool idea, the producer Kim Dawson and writer Bobby Herbeck – and that’s it. When I saw that this panel was going to be held, I leapt at the chance to cover it.
Writer Bobby Herbeck
This should have been a much cooler panel than it turned out to be. There were some cool little tidbits thrown out — such as how the director of the movie Steve Barron directed Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” music video, and because Herbeck was working at Golden Harvest, they had a slew of martial artists at their disposal. But, for the most part, the panel falls flatter than Shredder’s nose dive into the trash compactor. There were so many people that could have been involved: Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Judith Hoag, Elias Koteas, Josh Pais, David Forman, Corey Feldman, Robbie Rist, James Saito, anyone else involved in the movie.
The movie would absolutely not exist without Dawson and Herbeck; all respect to these two men, as they fought to get the movie made, but if Comic-Con couldn’t anyone else, they should have kept this a lot shorter. An hour of these two talking ended up feeling a little longer than it should have. A tight 30-minutes of these two would still have been pushing it, but it would have been a little better and more concise.
These old bats are done yappin’. YAY!
And that is why this is such a shame. This is Comic-Con, and it’s the Ninja Turtles. Two giant entities like this and the 30th anniversary is *cue the whomp whomp sound* a giant let down. I saw this film a few months ago here in Houston on the big screen for the anniversary, and the film still holds up.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie holds such a special place in a lot of our hearts, mine included, that something like this deserved so much more. This panel is for hard, hard, hardcore fans only, and even then it’s been tough for me to sit through it. 2.5/5 Turtle Bibles.
The HBO Max and Cartoon Network Studios: Infinity Train panel is an interesting one. They chose to give you a peek into the writer’s room rather than having members of the voice cast involved. The panel consisted of writer/moderator Lindsay Katai, series creator Owen Dennis (also the voice of Sad-One), supervising producer Madeline Queripel, and writers Alex Horab and Justin Michael.
There was a lengthy discussion about how the writers were chosen for their jobs and how they all came together. During Katai’s first interview, Dennis and MaQeripel asked her what type of programming she watches. Katai replied, “I like sci-fi.” When pressed for specifics, she mentioned Star Trek. When pressed further for which Star Trek she was a fan of, she said Voyager. This resulted in Dennis and Queripel throwing their hands up and spinning around in their chairs in celebration.
Justin Michael came back with a list of things he wanted to happen on the show in one of his first interviews. Horab’s writing samples were said to be so drastically different from one another. Dennis said that Horab had one that was from the perspective of a toaster. Dennis said that he knew Infinity Train was going to be an eclectic kind of show, so he thought someone would be valuable who had lots of weird ideas about lots of different things.
Katai asked Dennis when he knew he wanted to make the show an anthology show. It was a choice made halfway through the first season. They were really happy with the story they told in the first ten episodes. Dennis said they worked really hard to tell a tight story in those ten, but Cartoon Network wanted 20 episodes. Dennis stated that there was a desire to not have any filler, so the choice was made to explore different characters and themes more thoroughly in later books/seasons.
Most of the writers seem to hate coming up with new ideas for train car ideas. Michael has pages, but Katai isn’t a fan of the puzzles involved for moving from one car to another. Horab made a good point that it isn’t always about solving a puzzle, but it’s often about emotional growth.
Owen Dennis made a special video devoted to multi-plane effects used for the animation of Infinity Train. Multi-plane photography is typically an animation cel being placed on a background. A simple animation of Atticus walking is a loop of eight cels. The multi-plane effect/camera originated in the 1930s, but it’s done digitally now. In real life, the objects in the foreground move faster than objects in the background. The multi-plane effect is a series of layered backgrounds shifted slightly to seem more realistic. Dennis is quick to point out that it’s been utilized throughout the show even though we probably haven’t noticed. He then showed a montage of some multi-plane sequences from the show.
Book 3 was announced a few weeks ago. The writers discussed that fan speculation has been frustrating since some of it has been spot-on. Entire seasons have been guessed and laid out by fans in the past. The new season will revolve around returning characters Grace and Simon from the Apex car along with two new characters; a little girl named Hazel and a big, blue, imposing creature named Tuba. It was noted that Hazel is the youngest character to be on the train thus far.
When naming new characters, the process is basically the writers yelling possible names until one sticks or feels right. Michael said that Hazel is likely to be more mature and intelligent than we may be expecting a girl her age to be. Fans knew Grace and Simon would return for Book 3, who were teased in Book 1 and introduced in episode seven of Book 2. Thus far, the point of the show has been to get the number each character on the train is assigned down in order to get off the train. However, Grace and Simon only want to see their numbers rise. Alex Horab then talked about everyone making mistakes on the show. What these characters initially think isn’t always the case.
The panel ended with the world premiere trailer for Book 3 along with a streaming date of August 13 on HBO Max. The first two books/seasons are already available. Lindsay Katai mentioned that the titles for the first two books are The Perennial Child (Book 1) and Cracked Reflection (Book 2). Owen Dennis then revealed that Book 3 is called Cult of the Conductor. When asked about the future of the series, Dennis stated that they have at least eight different ideas and themes of where future books/seasons could go. They even have plans to dive into other mediums like comics, but the show won’t go any further unless everyone watches the show on HBO Max.
I’m behind on Infinity Train and need to catch up. I’ve only seen the first book, but I doubt I’ll be able to revisit it and the second book before the third premieres next month. This was exactly what I’d want from a Comic-Con panel. It provided behind the scenes information, had video of the animation process, teased what lies ahead for the series, and gave fans something new to tide them over until the new season premieres. This was a 45-minute panel, but it was fun and detailed without feeling long or boring. It basically renewed my interest in the show, which is always a good thing. 4.5/5 Never-ending Bibles.
Of the many panels that were available for viewing during SDCC@Home 2020, one touched upon a new favorite bounty hunter in a galaxy far, far away: The Mandalorian aka Din Djarin. However this panel wasn’t about the series as a whole, or a preview of the upcoming Season 2, but rather a look into his gadgets. Brought to us by podcast team FGGGBT or “Fascinating Gadgets, Gizmos & Gear-based Tech”, The Brain Trust team features Daniel J. Glenn, Dr. Michael Dennin and Ben Siepser.
Using real world, modern day technology and science, this group came together to theorize the inner-workings of his assorted tools. The group was pretty high energy and had a good grasp of the topic at hand, that being of Mando and Star Wars. Combined with their backgrounds, they were on track to cover all of Djarin’s wonderful toys.
TRACKING #
First up, the panel discusses the tracking fob given to bounty hunters to track their targets. Glenn brings up the fact that we have similar tech, albeit short range, with RFID and chip tracking, but the real question comes with tracking long range across the galaxy. Dennin suggests something along the lines of resonant frequency, in that everything has its own and could be tracked in that manner.
Siepser agrees, but recalls a certain race in Star Trek that actually created a grid of sensors across a portion of their galaxy to track their citizens, and that this could be a similar situation given the Galactic Empire’s aim for control over the galaxy in Star Wars. Perhaps they have sensors or use communication arrays planted all over that are used to coordinate approximate locations for ships and beings. The tough part was explaining how they can be tracked to a pinpointed location, given that they aren’t just walking around with chips implanted, as people would just remove them to not be tracked.
FIRE IN THE SKY
This was followed up by a few well known gadgets and fan favorites. Some of these, such as the jetpack and flamethrower, were a bit easier to explain. With the ‘pack, Glenn points out that this is an actual existing gizmo that has been researched and tested for decades, and recently there was a man in Dubai that did just this. His usable pack isn’t compact like the Mandalorian’s, but it’s proof of product.
Flamethrowers have also existed for a long time, but the trick here was explaining the size and containment of propellant. Siepser mentions that napalm was used as an example of such existing technology, but it was pointed out that it’s less of a fire being thrown and more of a substance that is spewed and lit on fire: gelified gasoline which requires a tank or container. Oddly none of them remembered that both Boba and Jango Fett (sharing the same armor) had this same device which had visible lines run from the gauntlet to the back pack. Mando’s might be more contained, yet I think the answer is a shared propellant in the backpack.
Mini-rockets is another that is a bit more explainable in propelling the “rockets”, and the lethality is a bit harder given their size. Dennin points out how technology is getting smaller and smaller, suggesting existing explosives or lethal projectiles could be made small enough to bring reason to this tech. Of these four classics, carbon-freezing was the one most thoroughly discussed. The name itself suggests being frozen, and was sort of backed up by Han being visibly cold when coming out of the carbon-freezing chamber in Return of the Jedi. The trio kept along these lines and looked into existing science for explanation.
First we’ll get out of the way that they all agreed the carbon coating was a perfect means to restrain the detainee as well as protect them from harm during transport. As does happen in the real world, handcuffs and similar restraints only work to a point and sometimes are defeated, allowing the detainee to escape even if momentarily. However, the sleep (or hibernation) process is one that apparently science has already been testing, with scientists looking for a sort of “sleep” button that can trigger hibernation in creatures that normally do not hibernate at all. They have found they are able to trigger this and actually caused rats to sort of hibernate.
Next up was explaining the freezing process. Dennin points out that while freezing isn’t touch, the trick was to not burst the cells during the process. Siepser follows by mentioning flash-freezing, possibly using something like liquid nitrogen. The group goes back and forth a few times with this, ultimately agreeing that this would be very tough to actually make happen without hurting the being inside.
Further devices included the Amban Sniper Rifle, which has a disintegration outcome from its projectiles. Denning suggests resonant frequency again (which seems to be his favorite go-to, and is brought up with pretty much every gadget discussed), using this to disperse the molecules enough to break their bonds. Siepser agrees, but focuses on the energy required to make this happen, noting that we can see the Mandalorian actually use a cartridge to supply ammunition for this weapon. He suggests the Amban possibly being plasma-based.
Another was the magnetic bombs that the bounty hunter uses to attach to a surface and blow it up. The group discusses not only the method of attachment, pointing out that it can’t be magnetic since it sticks to non-magnetic surfaces, but also looks into the ability to cause such an explosion. They toss around the points of stabilizing the chemicals and having an activating agent to set them off, and how TNT in the old western days was very unstable; yet, they never come up with something in modern day technology to explain it, as the size is too small to contain enough to cause the explosions seen in the show and movies.
And of course they come around to his choice of coverings, the beskar armor plating. The discussion here revolves around its protective properties and value. Dennin mentions.. resonant frequencies, and notes that he regrets not mentioning it during the carbon freezing. The point: metal reflects light because of the wavelengths, suggesting the resonant frequency would be why it deflects blaster bolts. While Siepser agrees that beskar has some sort of resonant affect, he points out that we eventually see some sort of electronics underneath the armor, which could be used to amplify the metal’s properties and provide a sort of shielding, similar to electromagnets and magnetic fields. They discuss the ability to “tune” this ability in the metal, and that the metal itself has its own inherent properties. This is why beskar’s still valuable even without such gadgetry to enhance it.
The Brain Trust wrap things up, acknowledging the challenges of Mando’s amazing equipment existing in the modern day real world. Here are their fav tools from the show:
Dennin was up first mentioning Baby Yoda’s floating cradle (how as this not discussed?)
Siepser follows up with IG-11, the assassin droid that becomes a protector for said child.
Glenn closes with his choice being the flamethrower, which is notably a fan favorite for years since we first saw Boba Fett.
For the most part I enjoyed this panel, although I think it helps being a huge fan of Star Wars. The group does a decent job of passing the topic around and getting everyone’s take and opinion. I also love the idea of looking into how things are made and work, so that made the watch easier. That said I did wish they placed everyone in a 3-picture gallery view, rather than jumping back and forth between speakers. Unfortunately this looks to be how they do all their pandemic-stricken videos. 3.25/5 Bibles.
-Patrick Obloy
For anyone interested in these sort of discussions, you can find the FGGGBT shows here. They do these Zooms on a regular basis, many times at conventions in their own panel such as this one, and discuss all sorts of topics to explain the inner workings of things from movies and comic books. This should make Episode 52, with their last one being about Star Trek Voyager.
Like many who’ve never been to San Diego, this is my first Comic-Con. So of course, it’s COVID time, so its Comic-Con@Home. When the boss asked me to review The Relationship Between Pro Wrestling and Comics panel I was psyched. I figured it would be awesome. But I was psyched out. Like, this is gonna be cool… Sike.
Let’s get right into this shit-show. First off, how old are these guys and why do they all look like they’re in their mom’s basements?? Holy frickin’ nerd. Aren’t these guys professionals? Pretty sure Flobo Boyce (Afterbuzz TV) said that he worked for NXT. Oh, okay. Some of them work for comic companies. The Massacre Twins‘ Francis Szykowski looks like a 40-year-old virgin. Look at this dude’s room. What a mess. You guys couldn’t find clean, empty walls or at least a room where we can’t see how horrible they live. If you saw these dudes live at a Comic-Con and thought they didn’t get laid, this panel confirmed your beliefs.
Hey ladies, he’s single!
The next thing I noticed was how bad the quality of this whole jam was. I’m guessing they did it over Zoom and that explains the rotating camera views. Biggest observation: not one of these guys own a decent camera and microphone. FFS, step your game up. You’re supposed to be professionals. I hate Moody for making me watch this. I hate you, Moody! Hell, even my own podcast doesn’t get 100 listens a week, but I own a Blue Snowball Mic and a really good camera and my YouTube channel and podcast both look and sound miles ahead of this squash-match.
Ugh. Is this what Comic-Con panels are usually like? I get that.. this is about the perceived connection between wrestling and comic books, but do we really need to hear what got these jobbers into wrestling and comic books? I really don’t see the relevance, especially since their “theories” did nothing to bring the job squad more credibility. Was CM Punk not around?
Not even Phil could’ve saved this.
I don’t even know where the panelists are coming up with these comparisons. People think WWE when they think wrestling and people think superheroes when it comes to comics. That’s what you’re going with? Jesus. With these theories, we could compare wrestling to movies or TV series or novels or any F’N form of storytelling. I hate you, Moody! If I’ve ever hoped for a “fuck finish”, it would be with this panel. Just be over already.
OK. What wrestling does First Comics News‘ Rik Offenberger watch? Storytelling has gotten better? Really? Really? … REALLY?? Do these guys even watch wrestling today? I’m pretty sure they don’t. I’m not even sure half of them can pay their internet and cable bills, given their living conditions and the quality of their equipment. Next year they should just put the Apostles on a panel. I promise you it would be more entertaining than this. Oh, and it would make a lot more sense too.
Think AEW could use ANOTHER manager?
And now we’re getting political? It’s probably the most entertaining part of this panel so far and I still don’t agree 90% of what they’re saying. Host Joshua Waldrop (Red Guerilla Media) needs to have more control and keep things going in the right direction. Oh wait, this entire thing feels like it lacks direction, so never mind.
Now we’re into something that I totally agree with. There are too many “copycat” characters and tribute acts and the move away from “offensive” characters has really hurt the business. There is a lack of originality. I can get behind this five-minute segment. Granted, it was five minutes out of an hour, but I gotta give the panel some credit. At least this wasn’t entirely shit. Aaaaaand of course, it goes off-topic again and needs to be reeled back in. These guys could screw up a wet dream. And on top of that, I still don’t see the comparison here with comic books, but maybe I’m just bored, or maybe I’ve had a better time watching recent weeks of RAW. I’m going with the latter.
It’s a good thing I’ve been writing this article while watching because I probably would be asleep by now. I’ve had a few laughs at the ridiculous ideas they’re trying to sell me on. Do these guys actually really watch wrestling? And did the black guy lose his connection? I feel like he was barely on this thing. That’s racist. Every time one of these guys brought up a good point, they killed it by letting their stupid show and saying something that would make any actual wrestling fan cringe and discount their entire opinion. Someone needs to tell everyone on this panel that they should invest in good mics and better cameras. I’m glad this thing is over. Hopefully at San Diego Comic-Con 2021, these guys aren’t in the same room on a panel doing this again.
If you didn’t watch this panel, I envy you and advise you to continue to not watch it. If you did, you might just be a masochist. I’ve always wanted to attend a Comic-Con and sit in on a panel. This is not what I expected and that’s not a good thing. I’ll chalk this shit show up to COVID-19 and just move along. Oh, and by the way, I still don’t really see a connection between wrestling and comic books that can’t be attributed to any other type of storytelling as well, so there’s that. I’m just glad it’s over. I hate you, Moody! 1/5 Bibles.
