Another Damn Comic-Con Recap (part 2)

In addition to the wild, costume-encoated geekery on the floor, Comic-Con is also rife with late-night parties with actual booze, actual loud music, real women who know how to dress (a rule that is less hard-and-fast for the men; there are still a lot of jeans and t-shirts even at the classier parties), and, on some occasions classy celebrities. The Geekscape people were able to get me into a late-night party at the top of a swank hotel with all the things mentioned above. It’s too bad I was so exhausted, or I would have enjoyed the party more. As it stood, there were people in ghoul costume wandering about terrorizing the guests. We had some big stars there as well, and I was able to meet (briefly) and take a picture with the wonderfully polite Ray Wise. Amazingly enough the comic book god Stan Le also appeared, but he was, naturally mobbed by fans. I did see his face through the crowd, but I was in no mood to battle my way to him. I left shortly after arriving and passed out on the floor of my hotel room. Floor-sleeping is a familiar practice to those who attend this event. Luckily I only had two roommates (as opposed to the Comic-Con average of eight), so it wasn’t so cramped.

On Friday, I attended the panel for Famous Monsters of Filmland, the famous film magazine founded by the late, great Forrest J. Ackerman, that predates pretty much all genre magazines by decades. It was one of the first horror magazines that detailed the making of monster makeup, the cultural presence of movie monsters, and that celebrated the joyous fear of going to be scared in the dark at your local movie theater. As a result, it had a large hand in inspiring the horror luminaries you and I grew up with, including John Landis, Stan Winston, Tobe Hooper, Stephen King, Danny Elfman, et al. FM is old-school, fun, creepy, wonderful. Another gift for my 8-year-old nephew. On the panel were the current publisher of the magazine, Philip Kim, editors Ed Blair and Mark Dooley, as well as one of Ackerman’s old friends, Joe Moe, and, as the surprise guest, Academy Award-winning monster maker Rick Baker. While the panel was a bit dry (it sounded more like a marketing pitch session than an actual celebration), it was still fun to hear grown men talk passionately about monsters, and take for granted that creatures, paintings of creatures, and the proliferation of creatures, was still pertinant to the geek community.

Forrest J. Ackerman (nicknamed Uncle Forry) famously amassed a huge collection of movie memorabilia, which he displayed in his enormous house, called The Ackermansion. When he died in 2008 (at age 92!), his collection was in danger of being scattered, and, indeed, much of it was auctioned off to pay some of his lingering bills. Much of it, however, remains either in the hands of his friends, or at the Forrest Ackerman museum in Northern California. A bit of trivia: Forry ghostwrote a number of lesbian romances, and was granted the title of Honorary Lesbian by the Daughters of Bilitis, an early gay rights group. That’s amazing. He was also fluent in Esperanto.

Over the course of the weekend, I was able to give a few interviews, which were, I must admit, my first ever. I was nervous, as I didn’t know most of my subject, and since most of the panels at Comic-Con are about promoting upcoming projects rather than celebrating the old, I hadn’t seen the TV shows or movies in question. With what professional aplomb I could muster I dove into the following:

The Vicious Brothers are a young filmmaking team (who, I was dismayed to learn, are not actually named “Vicious” and who are not actually brothers) who directed the upcoming feature film “Grave Encounters,” a found-footage horror film about a ghost-hunting reality program camera crew that finds actual ghosts in an abandoned mental hospital. That’s a nifty idea, and is being compared to hits like “Paranormal Activity” and “The Blair Witch Project,” but with more gore, and more moneyshots of the creatures. The brothers themselves were well-dressed, looked to be in their early 20s, and were clearly bored with this interview process that had been going on for hours. One of the brothers spent most of the interview playing with his water cup. When I asked them about their film, they launched into a well-rehearsed spiel about what it was, and they even gave dates as to when it would be available. They only really ever lit up when I asked them my specially designed warm-up question: “What was the first record you bought with your own money?” When one of them said that they got a Fugazi record at age 9, I came to the sad realization that these two kids, who had already made a horror movie, and who were dressed better than anyone at the con, were way, way cooler than me. Good luck, fellas.

I also interviewed the two lead actresses and the two creators of the Canadian cult TV program “Lost Girl,” which, again, I haven’t had the chance to see, but has, if the attendance of the show’s panel was any indicator, already amassed a passionate cult following here in the states. “Lost Girl” has already elapsed one season, which will soon air on the Sci-Fi Channel (I refuse to call it “SyFy”). The show is about a young woman named Bo who has spent her youth in orphanages and on the streets, desperately trying to avoid having sax, as every man and woman she sleeps with seems to die. She eventually learns, from others with the same problem, that she is a supernatural being called a Fae, and that there is an entire underground of succubi and incubi living in big cities. Bo must learn to temper her sexuality and live as a human. While a series about a bisexual succubus casually boinking everything that moves sounds like fodder for a late-night Cinemax softcore exploitation romp, talking to the stars, and especially to the shows’ creators (Michelle Lovretta and Jay Firestone), I learn that a good deal of heart and brains went into the program; this is not a show about titillation. This is a show about using fantasy conceits to deal with deeper issues of human sexuality, and trying to grow into a sex-positive mindset in a sex-negative world. It could just be really good marketing, but I’m sold on this one.

Anna Silk, the show’s star, is shyly gregarious woman whose polite demeanor and soft-spoken courtesy stands in direct contrast to the vamp she portrays on screen. Since I wasn’t yet sure of this show was about mature adult sexuality or tawdry adolescent thrills, I asked her about her sex scenes, and how she felt doing them. She, however, is a professional, and declared that the sex is part of her character, and choreographing the nitty-gritty isn’t so important as how her character feels about it. She also gave a lot of details about her character’s story arc, and how things will change for her come the second season (which is already airing in Canada). Evidently she is going to have a love triangle with the show’s male hero, and the show’s human female lead, where she sleeps with both. How refreshing to have a character in a whose open sexuality is part of the story, and is treated naturally. How many shows can you think of that have this? “Torchwood.” That’s the only one. Maybe “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” but that show was a little too jokey for its own good.

I also interviewed Emmanuelle Vaugier, who plays The Morrigan on “Lost Girl,” the show’s villainess who serves to tempt Bo to The Dark Side. Vaugier was playful and open, and openly declared that she loved playing a villain, as it allowed for some joyous overacting. She talked about how the sex scenes on her part were more about dominance than anything, and she was happy to be a sexually empowered woman. When I finally got a chance to interview the show’s creators, it was clinched that thought and personality went into this project. Michelle Lovretta said that she wanted a show that bucked the conventions of heteronormativity, and approached fantasy and sex with an adult eye. Jay Firestone was proud that creatures like Fae are actually based on real mythologies, and that the other creatures encountered in the show (although the show will remain vampire-free) are also.

So it seems “Lost Girl” is poised to be the next big thing in the underground. It could last ten seasons. Even if it only lasts three, it seems like it’ll be one of those shows that lives on in the cult circuit forever, and the stars will be answering questions about it in 40 years’ time. It’ll be the next “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” but without the flip attitude. Like “True Blood” without the stupidity. I asked both actresses how they felt about being cult icons in decades. They were enthused about the notion, and desperately desired it. I hope they get it.

I then attended a press conference for the new show “Femme Fatales,” based on the magazine of the same name, which, in contrast to “Lost Girl,” really is titillation for the sake of it, and will use whatever excuse it can to undress its female stars. No problem. There’s a place for that. Specifically on Cinemax after hours, when it’ll air. I talked to the show’s creators, Mark A. Altman and Steve Kriozere, and they compared it to other anthology shows like “The Twilight Zone,” and famous film noirs like “Love Me Deadly.” They were not lecherous or weird, and have a lot of faith in their product (I suppose they’d have to at a press conference), although they were not apologetic about how glaringly blunt the show it. They tried to eschew that by pointing out how certain characters will occasionally recur throughout various episode, giving us the impression that the stories all take place in the same universe. Sounds to me like one of my favorite guilty pleasures when I was 16.

A few of the show’s one-time actors gave a few words. Robert Picardo (once of “Star Trek: Voyager”) was in a wacky mood, as he would tell jokes and grin and giggle with the press, happy to talk about doing a nude scene, even though he’s not a 20-something young lady. He even took us back in his career to obscure hits like “China Beach” and “Gremlins 2: The New Batch.” I admire people who seem to know where they stand within the pop culture firmament, and Picardo certainly knows. When I asked where we could get his CD (which was an oddball tribute to Trek fans, as he sang old standards with Trek lyrics), he quickly evaded the question, and sopke instead about a sitcom pilot he’s working on about a failing adult magazine. Picardo is actually a very funny guy, so I’d love to see a comedy from him.

Jeff Fahey is a well-known cult actor who has appeared in ’90s horror flicks like “The Lawnmower Man” and “Body Parts,” and, more recently, was in Robert Rodriguez’ brownsploitation flick “Machete.” He is also in an episode of “Femme Fatales.” I was always curious why Fahey, who is a striking actor, and a talented one, didn’t work more often, and it turns out that he’s been out of the country doing humanitarian work in dangerous areas. Some roles he had to turn down because he was in Afghanistan or Darfur. He was calm, quiet, completely collected. Not one to rattle. When I asked him about his cult status, he only remarked that kids like me, who once liked “The Lawnmower Man” are now becoming filmmakers, and hiring him again. What a class act.

Final on the roster for “Femme Fatales” was Vivica A. Fox, as sassy as ever, and more playful than any of my interview subjects. She talked about the Vivica Fox Brand, and how she’s carefully constructed an image for herself over the years, which is why you haven’t seen her as a shrinking violent, or as a weepy wannabe. She wants to be tough, and always plays tough. This is the woman who, after all, had a killer fight scene with Zoe Bell and Uma Thurman in “Kill Bill.” She was pressed in pink, and, even though she’s in her 40s, still looked like she was 25. An enthused young black woman was sitting next to me at the press conference, and she and Vivica spent most of the time trading tales of female empowerment. This reporter was clearly thrilled to be in the same room as Ms. Fox.

I was assigned the interview with the cast and crew of an upcoming film called “The Knights of Badassdom,” which, like “My Name is Bruce” and “Paul” before it, envisions a group of nerds using their nerd know-how to deal with a real-life fantasy situation; in this case Steve Zahn and his D&D buddies accidentally unleash a real succubus from Hell, and have to use their knowledge provided by Gary Gygax to defeat it. It sounds cute, and provides justification for living the D&D lifestyle, and I’m sure it’s great. I missed the interview and the panel for this, as I lost track of time at a midday party hosted by a friend of mine. Sorry, Geekscape editors, but the whirlwind of events swallowed me for this one.

My favorite part of the Comic-Cons I’ve been lucky enough to attend, however, has been merely wandering the convention hall floor, perusing the various exhibits and booths. And while the enormous studio-backed booths (complete with celebrity autographs, and million-dollar displays) are all well and good, the real soul of Comic-Con lies in, where else?, the actual comics. Only about a quarter of the convention floor is devoted to comic book publishers and retailers, and it is here where you’ll find the highest levels of passion, the weird back corners of the comic form, and the magic that drew you to comic books in the first place. It’s here that I found back issues of The Monkees’ comic book. Where I got to thumb through creaky old pages from the 1960s and 1970s, being sold by chubby 50-something men, willing to haggle with you on the price. It’s here that you’ll find precious bootleg videos of long-unavailable movies and TV shows (I bought a copy of “3 Dev Adam,” the Turkish ripoff flick to feature Captain America and Santo fighting an evil Spider-Man). It’s here that you’ll meet the smaller artists who have attained moderate success, but aren’t necessarily household names. You’ll get your trinkets, your t-shirts and your toys. This is the beating heart of the con. The Hall H panels are just its fancy hairdo.

It was here that I got to meet Doug TenNapel, the creator of Earthworm Jim, and hardworking author of comics like “Tommysaurus Rex,” “Creature Tech,” and “Earthboy Jacobus.” TenNapel is a friendly and lanky fellow who will shake your hand, and is happy to discuss comics with you. I bought a copy of his book “Ghostopolis,” and briefly discussed Christianity with him; TenNapel does indeed include Christian themes in his comics, but he’s not one of those insufferable Jack T. Chick types who preaches and proselytizes, and sets his comic is a bland, bland world of ultra-clean and ultra-boring Christian nabobs. He actually bothers to write intriguing sci-fi stories with magic powers, weird bug monsters, occasional bouts of violence, foul language, and still incorporate prayer. I mentioned I talked to some of the other Christian comic purveyors at the con (I have a twisted fascination with Jack Chick), and he screwed up his face. If the story is boring, he said, then it’s actually anti-Christian, isn’t it? As Hank Hill once said of Christian rock: “You’re not making Christianity better. You’re making rock ‘n’ roll worse.” TenNapel makes Christianity better, and he makes excellent comics.

It’s also out on the floor where you’ll see the grand parade of endlessly creative costumes. Some people work all year on entire Iron Man suits, just so they can wear them to con. And while the con is littered with “clever” t-shirts and fans with cat ears, you’ll find a high percentage of people who put detailed and loving attention into their obscure character outfit that was on that one alternate version of that one game from eight year ago that nobody played, but that the people at the con totally understand.

For those people, this is home.