Saturday was about the only day I had free and I was able to get a badge for that time. It is of course the busiest con day and I would compressing a weekend of activity into a single day. I was over by the badge check in, Hall E, but there was a line at the other end of the Anaheim Convention Center. Here’s the thing about Wondercon, there are long lines and waits, but you will be able to accomplish the reason you are queuing up. The line went back to Hall E, into another queue, and then finally I got my badge. Then, waited in another line to enter the con. In other words, these big cons require a certain amount of patience. Cosplay, there were a few Aquamen and Meras, a good number of Captain Marvels, and of course Harley Quinns. My favorite was a Dr. Harleen Quinzel, but I missed taking her pic. So this con entrance opens to Artist’s Alley and I found another consideration. Creator signing times. Of course, I’m used to creators taking breaks, but this is something new. There is multiple signing times and for the most part you have to either be dedicated to spending your day there or lucky to be at the booth during signing times. I had only a single day, so I was carrying around books for no reason.
 |
| Wondercon, Anaheim Convention Center, photo by the author. |
My goal for the day though was the Warner Bros. Pictures autograph session. They kept it a secret, but there was massive Shazam! banners on the front of the con and of course there was the movie premiere the last night. I found out that I had to pick up a wristband at Hall E at 1:45 p.m. so that time needed to be set aside. I set certain booths on my phone, checked it, but basically did the Con Floor Sweep. Choosing an aisle and making my way from one end of the con to the other, looping around to check the next side. My usual retailer wasn’t there so this con was all about the variants. Graffiti Designs, who keep a good stock of shirts, also had foil variants for $15; this is my usual high end for variants until this time. There was a foil variant of Shazam! #4 by Jim Lee, another Jim Lee cover for Detective Comics #1000, and an impressive Sandman Overture #1 3D cover. I also picked up some variant covers from Tom King’s booth mostly because they are pre-signed and I wouldn’t be able to get them signed by him. Still, the covers that really captured my eye were by an artist I haven’t seen before, Natali Sanders, you can get comics and prints from her website, Dark Silver Studio.
 |
Missing Link panel; Chris Butler, Arianna Sutner, John Craney, and Nelson Lowry, photo by the author.
|
Another great part of the con was the photo ops. There was the Stargate, a ramp leads up to the Stargate where you can take your pic, it also was a booth for Stargate Command, a digital service that offers Stargate content. Next to it was Missing Link! There you can take pics with Link, Sir Lionel Frost, and Adelina Fortnight! I saw them walking through the con for breaks. I love taking pics with all of the Laika characters. They seem to have as much fun meeting fans. I then went to find the Missing Link panel, this was in the new North building of the convention center. There was writer and director, Chris Butler, he wrote the screenplay for Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) and also ParaNorman (2012), Arianne Sutner, Laika’s Head of Production and producer, John Craney, puppet production supervisor, and Nelson Lowry, production designer. Butler noted that Adelina was styled after the Gibson Girl, a 19th century promotional standard created by Charles Dana Gibson. His initital drawing of Link was described to him as a “hairy avocado with legs”, funny! Sutner said a week’s work would result in a minute or two of film! Missing Link was said by Craney to be the first movie where Laika successfuly used miniatures. There were figures of Link, Sir Lionel, and Adelina that were placed on the table. A short scene was shown from the film, the characters face the villain while a storm tosses the ship. There is some hilarious scenes of shifting perspective, Inception (2010) has nothing on Sir Lionel, an incredible panel!
 |
Godzilla: King of the Monsters panel; Zach Shields and Michael Dougherty, photo by the author.
|
Later in the day was the Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line panel at the arena. The first up was Annabelle Creation which is coming out on June 28th. There was a video introduction by director and writer Gary Dauberman. He was written the Annabelle films and also the It movies. There was a trailer, a few times I felt shivers, it features the daughter of the Warrens, Judy (Mckenna Grace). Grace was in Captain Marvel this year. Her babysitter is played by Madison Iseman who was also in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017). Her character goes to the Warren’s Occult Museum in the basement. We see all of the artifacts from the other movies. This when things go wrong and Annabelle unleashes every evil force from the basement! I won’t spoil the scene with Judy, but it is great terror! Then, there was the panel for Godzilla: King of the Monsters, out on May 31st. On the panel was co-screenwriter, Zach Shields, and director and co-writer, Michael Dougherty. The director was asked about Mothra and he said “Mothra is not a giant animal, she’s a goddess.” A clip was shown of Ghidorah, not hidden in shadow, fully shown rising from the ice. Then, unleashing lightning blasts from each mouth!, Dougherty noted that each head moves independently not puppetered. Godzilla appears to take on Ghidorah. This was the best.
 |
Shazam! panel; Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, and David F. Sandberg, photo by the author.
|
Afterwards was the Shazam! panel so let’s rewind a bit to the autograph session. At the DC booth, they passed out copies of the Shazam! special edition comic book that will be available at AMC theaters opening weekend. There was also the Shazam costume on display at the booth. The autograph session had the filmmakers sign a Shazam! poster. It was great to see the director David F. Sandberg, I mentioned it was great to see the humor in the movie, he added that there were horror elements. Then, I saw Asher Angel and said he was charismatic in his scenes. I told Zachary Levi that it was great to see a real life superhero and he gave me a fist bump. Also, at the table was Mark Strong and Jack Dylan Grazer. This same group was at the Shazam! panel. Sandberg said when “The studio called me I was finishing up Annabelle: Creation.” Levi mentioned that one of the best parts of the movie for him was “getting to be a real life superhero without being killed by Cate Blanchett.” Very funny. Angel said about Billy Batson, “He’s really not the nicest kid at the beginning of the movie.” Grazer discussed his character, “I love Freddie…I incorporated a little bit of myself.” Levi greeted a fan, “Hi, Charles Bartowski” since he was dressed up as his character from Chuck. The fan asked him to compare superspy to superhero. This was a bit surprising since this question could also apply to Strong who was also a superspy in the Kingsman films. It was a fun panel and a great way to end Wondercon. A very tiring day, but a memorable convention!
#WA2019, #wondercon, #MissingLink, #AnnabelleComesHome, #GodzillaKingoftheMonsters
No comments:
Post a Comment