2009 Comic-Con: Partying & Touring

Luke Y Thompson is covering the Con for DHD with an emphasis on Hollywood:

The hot party ticket annually is the “Wrath of Con” party, this year sponsored by IESB.net and TNA wrestling, which put a big 6-sided ring in the middle of the Hard Rock courtyard. Festivities kicked off with the presentation of super-fan awards to Zack Snyder and the writing duo of Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Both got video tributes, but it was notable that while Snyder’s featured actual quotes from the geek blog sites, Orci/Kurtzman’s was full of made-up testimonials, like one from Shia La Beouf saying they almost made it believable he could land a girl like Megan Fox. It also made clear that they’ve written some real clunkers. Eagle Eye? Legend of Zorro? Don’t remind me of those. Seen in attendance: Don Murphy, Kane Hodder, James Duval, Ryan Phillippe, Robert Englund, Kurt Angle. The band Daughtry performed live, and while I’m not a huge fan, it was inoffensive enough jock-rock.

The highlight of the night, though, was a TNA wrestling match between the Motor City Machine Guns – two Detroit high-flyers in Hot Topic-esque shorts – against “Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels and Suicide, the latter a favorite of my 7 year-old brother because he wears a full-body black and red suit with a skull mask. Wowing the crowd with fancy double-team moves, and occasionally spilling out into the audience, the match was a hit all around. The MCMGs picked up the win, with all four men slightly breaking character and raising each other’s hands at the end.

Earlier in the day, Disney opened up a preview of their ALICE IN WONDERLAND touring exhibit, featuring full-size sets of the rabbit hole, tea party, and Red Queen throne, along with miniatures of the Hall of Doors, and the palaces of the Red and White Queen, as well as many props and costumes. Descriptions do make the narrative sound somewhat conventional – it seems there’s a big final battle between good and evil, with Alice donning battle armor and the Mad Hatter picking up a sword to fight by her side. The Carroll books were never so much about good versus evil, and both red and white queens had their eccentric flaws… but such is Hollywood.

It isn’t clear what the touring schedule will be for this, as our guides didn’t know. It’s great fun for free, but unless it’s expanded I’m not sure it’s worth paying much for.

Thursday night parties included a Lionsgate shindig at which, in honor of the upcoming GAMER, participants could sit in a chair and watch themselves being given a lapdance on a computer screen. Also a MySpace party at which we got a live solo acoustic performance from the lead singer of Panic at the Disco. Great drinks, nice view…but no food.

Also, during the WB panel, I sat beside Galen Walker, producer of the upcoming new TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES movie. It will be live-action, and the Turtles will not be pure CG, but costumes with facial features enhanced by CG, like the WILD THINGS. It will be a bit of an origin tale, but with a new twist – the ninja masters are from a very modern Japan rather than the feudal-style dojos usually depicted in previous versions, and he said the emphasis will be on the theme of a father raising four adopted sons specifically to kill his arch-enemy (yes, that’s Splinter and Shredder we’re talking about). Could be decent.