On Thursday, Hall H attendees got a peek at
Iron Man and based on the comments by fans leaving the panel, they were fairly impressed and looking forward to the film. But the 6400 fans of Hall H gave their biggest reception to Lenard Nimoy who made a surprise appearance to announce that he will be donning Spock's ears again for a new
Star Trek film by J.J. Abrams.
The highlight for my day was hearing George Romero speak to a packed house about zombies. Romero talked about his upcoming zombie film, Diary of the Dead. The film will combine zombie horror with social commentary as he has done in all his past zombie movies. The latest target for his particular insight will be the YouTube-media saturated generation. When he was asked about the upcoming zombie walk, he said "It doesn't do any good unless you eat people." To which a fan replied, "It is tourist season."
Romero said that the film that influenced him the most was Michael Powell's fantasy The Tales of Hoffman. He said that when he was living in New York there were only two people who checked out the print of The Tales of Hoffman : he and a young Martin Scorsese. The two never met at that time but at one point he and Scorsese had talked about doing a TV show. When asked about any upcoming projects he had he only made this tempting teaser: "I have a balls out zombie comedy thing but that's all I can say."
Romero will be signing during the entire Convention at the Avatar Booth.
Best overheard remark from attendees: As a couple was discussing how to traverse the entire convention floor to get to a particular booth on the opposite side, the woman asked if they dare try to walk through the crowded dealers' room or use the more open lobby. The man said they should walk through the dealers' room, to which the woman said, "Okay, we'll just have to hold tight to each other." And yes, it was a massive sea of humanity but all of the people I encountered seemed to be having a great time.
Here are some photos.
Who says Scout Troopers aren't helpful? An example of one costumed character being kind to another as a Scout Trooper stopped to help someone who was dressing as Pokemon's Pikachu deal with the costume.
Did you say you were looking for the Lost Ark? Well you can find it at Hasbro's booth. You can also find a special edition droid called R2KT, a kind of pink R2D2, that was made in memory of a young girl who died of cancer. Part of the proceeds will go to the Make a Wish Foundation.
Having a booth next to G4, which was broadcasting live from the Convention floor, was a bit crazy. They drew big crowds as they brought in celebrities and promised costumed Con-goers of appearing as background color in the shots. Here Rosario Dawson talks about her panel on a comic she's producing.
In case you don't know, artists can bring a portfolio of their work to the Comic-Con to have it reviewed by top companies such as DC and McFarlane. Here are some artists waiting in line. This is just one of the things that Comic-Con does to help aspiring artists. There are also panels to help young artists, writers and filmmakers.
