One had to stop and remember that this was merely Thursday, and yet the crowds were more like the height of manic activity on a Saturday. Costumes, in their various bits and pieces of colored fur, feathers and sparkly things, were everywhere, and this year, Robot Caveman has now graduated to a booth. With stuffed toys and all. (Robot Caveman has become a staple of Comic Con year after year, and even tho his tin foil and duct tape is looking charmingly ragged, the Comic Con experience would not be quite complete without him.)
Beginning with Preview Night the night before, the Con was just teeming with people, both on the Exhibit Floor and up in the ballrooms and meeting rooms. The Torchwood panel was in one of the large smaller meeting rooms and the lines – an ever-lengthening characteristic at Comic Con – went around the meeting-room block. The most obvious thing about the Torchwood panel was that not only did everyone know about Torchwood, but that 95% of the audience had already seen the entire first seasons, by means downloaded or ‘friends in the UK’. The other obvious thing is that James Marsters was, at that very moment, wrapping up his shoot as a guest on Torchwood. Through the wonders of the internet, most in the audience knew that as well. Noel Clarke, who along with his role has Mickey in Dr. Who, is also a writer for Torchwood, had to a field a lot of questions regarding Captain Jack’s ‘omnisexuality’, which he did in a cheerfully non-informative manner.
Whedonopolis.com conducted press interviews with the producers just before the panel, which will be posted post haste after the con.
Back on the floor, we revisited various booths – Dark Horse Comics, IDW Comics, Sideshow Collectibles, Diamond Collectibles, all of whom have been terrific doners to Whedonopolis’ past and future charity fundraisers. All of them have been cheerfully displaying our flyers for the 10th Anniversary screening of Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s musical episode “Once More With Feeling”, with a bonus screening of “Restless”, and surprise visited by various crew/actors/production people. There is some concern that the venue may now be too small, considering the huge number of flyers being handed out, but the rooms cannot be changed. Depending on who and how many show up, we’ll have to pick a bigger venue next year.
In the afternoon, Maria and I camped out in the press rooms, waiting on round-tables and one-on-ones with the cast of “Hatchet” (Tony Todd, Mercedes McNab) and the producers and writers of Superman: Doomsday, which stars the voices of Adam Baldwin and James Marsters. In depth articles and pictures will follow in the days after the insanity of Comic Con.
Afterwards, we schlepped the few blocks into the Gaslamp Quarter and met up with the remainder of the Whedonopolis crew at Fred’s Mexican Restaurant to ruminate the events of the day over giant margaritas.
