Philadelphia Comic-Con 2012: Avengers (and Captains) Assemble!
The big news from this year’s Philly Comic-Con was an appearance of all five television “Star Trek” captains in the grand theater. Fan questions largely allowed William Shatner to spin yarns about the undeniable sexual gravitas of James Spader on “Boston Legal,” his forthcoming Trek-themed documentary Get a Life!, and his love of horses—but in between Sir Patrick Stewart, Kate Mulgrew and Scott Bakula shined.
Even as jet lagged as Stewart was (he answered one question by stating he was meditating) Avery Brooks was nearly silent the whole program.
In fact, Stewart provided the highlight of the afternoon: a young fan said she had hugged Thor star Chris Hemsworth, but would rather have had a hug from him. Despite being advised that “we can’t allow that,” Stewart bounded from the elevated stage and embraced her.
Shatner, in another memorable moment, answered a piece of personal geek trivia. Who is his favorite superhero? “I didn’t know it, but it was Stan Lee. I was into comic books and all of those characters and then I met Stan. I am a Marvel comic boy.”
Earlier Bruce Campbell, star of The Evil Dead series, “Burn Notice,” and Bubba Ho-Tep, held a question-and-answer that was entertaining beginning to end. He started off with a contest to see who had the most impressive Bruce Campbell-themed tattoo and dazzled with a bit of topical zombie humor: “Miami used to be the face of homelessness. Now it’s home of the faceless.”
He said he spends a lot of time watching the dailies from the set of The Evil Dead remake and can’t wait until “Burn Notice” returns June 14. Lastly he left would-be film directors with this advice: “Don’t imitate anyone. Do not imitate Quentin Tarantino. Don’t imitate Sam Raimi, Martin Scorsese, or Steven Spielberg,” he said. “Create your own style based on what is appropriate for the material.”
On the exhibit floor, it was clear Avengers fever had taken hold. The split between the groups of Avengers superheroes and villains could have been a documentary titled Night of a Thousand Lokis. But Batman and Doctor Who were well represented, followed by Superman. If the relative lack of Spider-Man cosplay is any indication, the reboot may very well underperform at the box office this summer.
Next year’s Philly Comic-Con will be held at the Philadelphia Convention Center, May 30-June 2. As always, details will be revealed on the Wizard World website: http://www.wizardworld.com/home-pa.html .
(All pictures, except for the Five Star Trek Captains picture and the Chris Hemsworth/Stan Lee/CM Punk picture, were taken by Hope Proctor)
Thanks for the Crusher Creel Absorbing Man (me!) photo post, and for Cthulhu (my son),