I know, it’s kind of weird, but bear with me on this:  I have something to say about Marvel Comics.  Really.

This weekend, I was lucky enough to get a trip to WonderCon out San Fransisco way.  It was incredible fun, lots to see and do, but I had to admit that something felt off.  As if something was missing.  But since I did get in under the field of “the Press”, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about it here.  The last two panels I sat through on my last day was the Resident Evil 3 panel with Oded Fehr and oh yeah, that schitzo chick on Heroes.  After a half an hour of zombie fun, I was promised by my program a Spider-Man 3 panel.

Don’t get me wrong, I actually love the Resident Evil movies as the ‘based on a video game/action fest’ movies they are.  The second one had an incredibly fun audio commentary track with Oded Fehr and Milla Jovovich and is pretty much the reason why I own it on DVD.  Anyhow, they gave the two actors a rough clip from the film and sent them out to deal with the wolves of a slowly gathering fan crowd.

For their part, both Fehr and Larter were incredibly gracious and friendly, taking odd questions from the audience and intro’ing their clip with gusto.  As they were winding up, people were coming in eagerly.  The Spider-Man 3 panel was close at hand.  It said so, right in the program.  “Spider-Man 3… the most anticipated movie since, well Spider-Man 2.”  Big picture of Parker revealing the black costume.  Considering the caliber of the other two panels, I was stoked.   You see, this was the ONLY ‘official’ Marvel panel at the con.

Oh, sure, there were some fan run things like an examination on New York City and the Marvel Universe, even a spotlight on Jeph Loeb, but nothing official.  Nothing to look forward to.  Nothing real.  WonderCon was a pretty great convention and I couldn’t think of a reason for Marvel to leave it behind, especially after all the promotion they would want to do for the post-Civil War status quo.  As a self-proclaimed ‘Marvel Zombie’, I felt a little cheated, especially considering how nice the DC Nation panel was, how awesome it was to talk with Dan Didio, how many buttons they handed out (ooh, swag!) and how available they were throughout the con.  I was starting to worry:  had the west coast fans been forgotten by the House of Ideas?  Were we alone after the events of Civil War?

The panel starts, but not with Spider-Man.  No, we’re introduced instead to David Schaub, the director of animation from Sony Pictures Imageworks, who gives us in essence a power-point presentation with clips about their CG animated “documentary” about surfing penguins, Surf’s Up.

I’m not saying surfing movies aren’t cool, I’m not saying penguins aren’t cute, but…  the HELL?  The panel was only scheduled for 30 minutes and it’s split between two movies?   And it’s pretty much every DVD commentary or special on “the magic of computer animation” you may have ever seen.  “The Waves are a character!” “Famous actors lending their voice!”  If computer animation wasn’t an industry, this panel could be quite informative.  As is, I was not only bored since I’m a fan and I’m hearing everything you always hear, but I’m waiting for Spider-Man 3 and a glimmer of hope.  The longer it went the more I thought about global warming.  How penguins might have to surf soon.  How much I missed Spider-Man.

It takes 21 minutes of a 30 minute panel to explain what looks to be a fun movie for kids, but nothing new under the sun.  The crowd got a bit restless at minute 15, but shouted itself down to be polite.  I think we were all hoping for something special.  Finally, Mr. Schuab is gone and we get a taped message from Avi Arad.  He looks to be wearing a Venom shirt that migh have been drawn by SKottie Young, so hope is on the rise!  Sam Rami is finishing the movie and cannot be there, more hope!   Avi Arad thinks this is an  amazing movie, third time’s the charm, I’m nearly on my feet.  This is it!  The Zombie rises to the fore!  Marvel represents at WonderCon!  It’s all very hush hush on the clip, since it’s an ‘exclusive’ to WonderCon, so all recording devices must be turned off.  I nibble my nails in anticipation.

It was at most, four minutes, maybe three, all I had to reaffirm my faith.  Funny, since it started out in a church (even reminded me of the first Web of Spider-Man cover) where Eddie Brock Jr. is asking God Himself to kill Peter Parker.  Cut to Dr. Curt Connors trapping a lively black ooze under a glass, telling Peter Parker that “it seems to like you”.  Cut to Big Daddy Norman Osborn over Harry Osborn’s shoulder, telling him “You know what you must do”.  Cut to narrow alley flying chase between Harry on a glider and Parker in the black suit, where flying bladed pumpkin bombs are thrown.  Some scenes from other trailers are used (bomb exploding in Harry’s face, Parker walking away, Peter asking for Mary Jane’s help), and then…

Peter Parker ripping off the suit in a bell tower and Eddie Brock looking up from below to whisper in shock, “Parker!”  Peter moving from sight, but going back to tearing the suit from himself, purging himself of the evil and flinging to the ground.  Below him, Eddie still stands there and the suit drips down to latch on to his shoulder.  In a panic, he tries to pull it from him but more and more falls from below until he’s on his knees, trapped in the black.  Pause for dramatic effect, his face whips up into the familiar visage of VENOM!  Large mawed, but no detachable Todd McFarlane jaw… not yet.  Cut to logo, cut back to Spider-Man in the trusty red and blues looking around, only to be caught by the head by black hands and pulled up and out of sight.

The crowd goes wild.  They play the clip again.  Marvel has made it’s mark on WonderCon.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 7th, 2007 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Marvel, Movies, News & Views, The Fifth Color, Version 1.0 Blog@. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.