AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 REVIEW; SPOILERS!
By Barry Dutter

The movie AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 exists for one reason: to kill GWEN STACY.
From the very first scene, we are hit over the head with messages like “Life is too Short,” “Seize the Day,” and “Live Life to the Fullest Because You Never Know When it Could All End.”
Even Gwen’s graduation speech at the beginning of the movie seems to be more about dying than it does about living. Clearly if one is paying attention, one can sense that Gwen is doomed from the first frame of the film.
It’s a shame, really. As most critics (and more than a few fans) have pointed out, the chemistry between Peter Parker and Gwen is the best thing in the movie. If the whole point of this movie is to kill Gwen, it really casts a dark shadow over the whole thing.
But the signs were there from the start.
When photos began surfacing months online before ASM 2’s  release of Emma Stone dressed in the exact same outfit Gwen wore in the comics on the day she died, comics fans feared the worst. But the director of the movie hinted, “Watch out! All may not be as it seems.”

If Gwen wears this outfit, comic fans know what happens next.

Turns out, all was exactly as it seemed, and the makers of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 had no problem going back to the old "Green Goblin tries to kill Spidey's gal" plot that we saw in the first Spider-Man movie with Tobey Maguire.
Worst of all, Gwen's death accomplishes nothing, from a storytelling standpoint. In the comics, Gwen was killed by Norman Osborn, a powerful underworld figure who had spent years building a reputation as Spider-Man's greatest foe.
In the movie, Gwen is killed by Harry Osborn, a punk kid who just got his powers five minutes ago and somehow learned how to master a flying glider in that amount of time. There is no dramatic purpose to her death. One minute she is alive and the next she is dead.
Honestly, the only excuse I can see for doing this would be if they were planning on bringing Gwen back as a clone in the next movie. (I know it sounds lame, but it actually was a story they did in the comics a few years after she died.)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 gets off to a very weak start with a comedic action scene where Spidey tries to stop a badly overacting Paul Giamatti from stealing some Plutonium in a runaway truck. The first half of the movie is largely played for jokes, most of which are not very funny.
After so many Marvel movies that had just the right mix of action and humor, it is somewhat jarring to see a big-budget super-hero movie that is as campy as BATMAN AND ROBIN. (Electro in this movie is just as corny as Arnold Schwarzenegger was as Mr. Freeze in that movie.)
What kind of bad jokes am I talking about? Well, for starters, there is Peter’s ring tone, which plays the theme song from the 1960s Spider-Man cartoon series (a show which logically could not have existed in this movie’s universe!)

"Ice to meet you, my twin brother!"

Then there is the scene where Electro blasts Spidey using the rods from a power grid which end up playing the song “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” (Ugh!)
In one scene, Peter is walking across a street toward Gwen and is so entranced by her beauty that he doesn’t notice that he gets sideswiped by a car and accidentally breaks the rear-view mirror off the car. (Ha ha -- love makes you stupid!)
Then there is the montage of scenes where Peter Parker returns home from random nights of web-slinging and has to constantly explain to Aunt May why he is late and why he looks so beaten up.
And then there is the “hilarious” bit where Peter says he wants to do the laundry and Aunt May complains that the last time Peter did laundry, he turned all the clothes blue and red. This joke doesn’t even make any sense. If Peter Had thrown his Spidey suit in the wash, then all any white clothes would have turned purple. (Blue + Red = Purple. Do I really have to explain this stuff? Sigh.)

3 villains = 3 times the suckiness!

For that matter, the whole arc of Jamie Foxx’s character is a direct steal of the Jim Carrey/Riddler arc from BATMAN FOREVER. (Or is it the Uma Thurman/Posion Ivy arc from BATMAN & ROBIN? I dunno. Both, I guess.)
Foxx’s part is badly written and it’s unfortunate. Back in the early 1990s, James Cameron had come up with a  really interesting angle on Electro and had planned to use him as the villain in the very first Spider-man movie. Cameron’s take had Electro as a more subtle corporate villain who had figured out a way to electronically steal billions of dollars without anyone ever finding out what he had done.
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 has Electro as an insecure doofus-turned-super-villain whose plan is to, I dunno, kill Spider-Man and steal all the electricity in New York, I guess. Just really generic stuff.
But Electro is not the only super-villain in the movie. Oh no, there are two more! This movie continues the tradition of Spider-man 3, which showed us that if you have three or more super-villains in a super-hero movie, the movie will suck.

Does this look like the Rhino?

The next villain is played by Dane Dehan, who starts out as emo-Harry Osborn and then, after receiving a dose of Peter Parker’s spider-blood (?),  becomes a Green Goblin so laughably bad that it almost makes you miss the horrible Goblins from the Tobey Maguire films.
The Goblin only has one purpose in this movie, which is to kill Gwen, and he does so towards the end, so, um, good on ya, mate!

The new Green Goblin just might be the worst one yet! !

This brings us to the Rhino, who is totally revamped with so much body armor, they might as well call him “Tank” instead of “Rhino.” I have no idea why a talented actor like Paul Giamatti took this part.
Now, here’s the frustrating part about AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2. The movie didn’t have to be so bad. In fact, if you cut out all the jokes from the first half of the movie, and well, if you cut out most of Jamie Foxx’s scenes, the movie wouldn’t be that horrible.
There are 3 questions I ask of every super-hero movie. 1) Does it stay true to the comics? 2) Does it treat the hero seriously or make him out to be a joke? And 3) Does it embarass the hero or his fans?
Sadly, with ASM2, the movoe fails on all 3 counts.

Nope, this movie doesn't make Spidey look stupid at all!

But it's not all bad. There are actually things in this movie that are better than any Spider-Man movie that came before. Spidey’s costume in this movie is the most faithful recreation of the way he looks in the comics that we have yet seen on film. (Best of all? Spidey ditches the SILVER BOOTIES that he wore in the last movie!)

No more SILVER BOOTIES!

The web-slinging scenes are the best yet, and they don’t have that “fake/ video game/ CGI look” that plagued the Sam Raimi movies.
This is the first Spider-Man movie in years where Spidey does not remove his mask in the middle of a battle. You might think I’m exaggerating, but go back and watch the original trilogy. The more famous Tobey Maguire became, the more scenes there were of him going into action as Spidey, without the mask on.
I get it that if you hire a famous actor to be in your movie, you want to show his face as much as possible, but damn it, Spidey is currently the only Marvel super-hero in the movies who actually has a secret identity, so it’s nice to see that some effort is made to protect his identity.

Mask? What mask?!

The biggest flaw in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 is that it picks up on a  plot thread that never should have been dangled in the first movie. In that film, a dying Captain Stacy begs Peter/Spidey to stay away from his daughter, and Peter agrees to honor the wish of this man whom he admires so much.
So what does Peter do in ASM2? He goes back on his word, ignores the request of that dying man, and continues to pursue his relationship with Captain Stacy’s daughter - which directly results in her death.
So basically, the makers of this movie proved that they completely don’t understand the core principle of what makes Spider-Man the hero he is -- you know, the whole “Power/Responsibility” thing?

Smile, kid! You get to live while everyone around you dies!

Remember that lesson young Peter learned in the first movie about being responsible, otherwise the people closest to him could die? Yeah, it turns out he learned nothing! He makes the same mistake again in the second movie. Only this time, it’s worse, because he’s actually breaking a promise he made to a dying man in order to continue to be that same irresponsible jerk!
(There must be a special corner in heaven reserved for all the people who died because they were close to Peter. And most of them have the last name of Stacy. If I were Gwen’s  mom, I would stay as far away from Peter as possible!)
Why should this whole plot thread never have been? Because all they had to do was what stick to what happened in the comics, and this all could have been avoided.
If you’ll recall, when Captain Stacy died in the legendary AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #71, he did not ask Peter to stay away from his daughter. In fact, it was quite the opposite. He asked Peter to watch over Gwen.
So instead of going with that whole contrived “stay away from my daughter” angle, they could have gone with original “take care of her” angle, and then at least Peter Parker’s actions in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 would make him look more heroic, and he wouldn’t look like a hypocritical jerk.
Gwen makes it clear early on that being with Peter is the thing that makes her happiest, and you can see it makes no sense for a girl to break up with the boy she loves so soon after the death of her father. Unfortunately, Gwen’s rebellious spirit is what dooms her.
She might as well have a sign on her that says, “I make my own decisions in this movie so whatever happens to me, I deserve it!”
Gwen’s role in this movie is basically the same role that Gwyneth Paltrow had in IRON MAN  1 -- basically, she tries to help out the hero by throwing a switch at the crucial moment and saving the day.
I get that the filmmakers are trying to give super-hero girlfriend’s something to do in these movies besides getting kidnapped and rescued, but there must be something else they can do besides throw a switch at just the right moment. Didn’t Gwen do the same thing in the first AMAZING SPIDER-MAN movie?

Could this be the face of J. Jonah Jameson?

The filmmakers play fast and loose with Spidey’s powers. In one scene, Spidey uses his webbing to fix a kid’s toy. Um, aren’t they forgetting the fact that Spidey’s webbing always dissolves in an hour, so as soon as that kid gets home, his toy will be broken again? Spidey, you cruel bastard!                                              We don't get to see J. Jonah Jameson in this movie, which is a shame, because he is an important part of he Spider-Man mythos. Reportedly, director Marc Webb is having a hard time casting the part. My old pal, (and former Spider-Man editor) Jim Salicrup once suggested Bruce Willis as JJJ, and I still think that's a  great idea.It would be a fun way to add some star power to the franchise.

Wouldn't it be fun if this girl became the Black Cat?

There is a girl in the movie named Felicia, and it seems like she might turn out to be the Black Cat, but apparently the scenes hinting at this ended up on the cutting room floor. The movie is already overcrowded with costumed characters, but still, it might have been fun to see the Black Cat on film, instead of the tired old plot about the Goblin trying to kill Spidey's girlfriend, which we've seen on film before. Another missed opportunity.                                                                                                                                        AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 seems to wrap up most of the loose ends from ASM1, which really makes one wonder how this could be a trilogy. Unless it turns out that Peter’s parents are not really dead (we never saw their bodies) Hey, maybe Peter’s parents could come back in the third movie and then they could die at the end, so Peter can be responsible for more tragedy. Way to learn your lesson, Peter!
ASM2 does set up a possible spin-off movie starring the SINISTER 6, but considering that fact that every Spider-Man movie has made less money than the one before it at the U.S. box office, you have to wonder if there is any audience at all for a Spidey movie where Spidey presumably barely appears, if at all.
And so, once again, my favorite super-hero is left in the hands of filmmakers who just don’t get the character. The way I see it, only possible way for them to salvage the next movie is for them to bring back Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy’s clone. Or they could have her play Mary Jane.

TOBEY MAGUIRE -- still crying!

Andrew Garfield plays Peter Parker as much less of a nerd and much more of a regular guy in this movie. In that sense, I guess you could say ASM 2 is showing Peter more as he appeared in the “clean & cool” John Romita era than in the nerdy Ditko era. I like how Garfield doesn’t play him as a whiney crybaby the way Tobey Maguire did. The only problem I have with Garfield is that he occasionally slips into his British accent and it is very distracting.
After Gwen’s death in the movie, Peter takes five months off from being Spider-Man. How convenient it is that there are no super-villain attacks in NY until the very day Peter decides it’s okay for him to be Spidey again.
(Either that, or, during the previous five months, there were numerous super-villain attacks on NY, but Peter just refused to go into action as Spidey, which means once again, he was using his power irresponsibly!)
I can’t wait till this trilogy ends and we can start Spidey over again., Maybe next time they will get it right!
The word “amazing” is tossed around a lot in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2, as in, “You look amazing!" “I feel amazing!” At one point, Jamie Foxx’s character decides that the only reason Spidey keeps getting bad press is because ol’ Web-Head needs to change his name to “The Amazing Spider-Man.” (Yeah, it’s that kind of movie.)
“Amazing” is not a word I would use to describe this movie. But I guess people wouldn’t go to see a movie called “The Mediocre Spider-Man.” Or “The Disappointing Spider-Man.”  
Perhaps a better title would have been, “The Amazing Waste of Time.”

I wish these 3 guys had been in the movie...

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY REVIEW
By Barry Dutter

I promised myself I wouldn’t do this.
Whenever a new Marvel movie comes out, I always have to complain about how they made too many changes from the comic and how much better the original story was in the comics.
But with Guardians, I have never read the 25-issue series (from 2008-10) that the movie is largely based on, so I figured I’d have nothing to bitch about. I mean, the only thing I have read recently is the first few issues of the relaunched GUARDIANS series written by Brian Michael Bendis.
That series (from 2013) starts off with an all-new origin for Starlord… And guess what -- that’s right, it’s better than the one in the movie. But isn’t the origin in the movie basically the same? Not exactly.
The comic begins with a space alien coming to Earth, impregnating Peter Quill’s mom, and then taking off, leaving behind only an awesome ray gun.
When young Peter is about 11 years old, some evil space aliens come down and attack and kill his mom. Peter must then try to fight off the aliens, and then venture off into space to explore the mystery of who and where his father really is.
Like I said, a stronger start to the story. The movie gets bogged down with some hokey back-story between Quill and his mom, which only made me think how the greatest stories in all of literature are generally about fathers and sons, not mothers and sons.
Once you get past the origin of Starlord, though, GOTG is basically in uncharted territory. The writers of the film were free to plot their own path , and not have to worry about incurring the wrath of disgruntled fans, since, the GUARDIANS OF  THE GALAXY comic has never really had any fans.
And in this, they mostly succeed, crafting a lively space romp that feels like a lost action comedy from the 80s. (It's kind of BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA meets THE LAST STARFIGHTER meets BACK TO THE FUTURE meets GREMLINS meets TRON!) 

But more than anything, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY is a salute to the classic pop songs of the 70s.
That was a canny choice for writer/director James Gunn, who was faced with the difficult task of crafting a movie about a group of super-heroes that not only have most people never heard of, but most comic fans don’t even like them or read their comics.
To make it even more challenging, this was the first Marvel movie that, by its very nature, could not feature cameos by any of the big Marvel stars like Robert Downey Jr..
Gunn knew he would have to give the film some kind of hook to reel people in. He figured the best way to accomplish this was to have the main character, Peter Quill, bond with his dying mother through a love of pop culture that audiences could easily relate to.
But what type of pop culture for them to bond over? A shared love of movies? TV shows? Video games?  No, it had to be music.
Music is the easiest way to win an audience‘s favor, especially when you bring back beloved pop tunes from the past. For older movie-goers, there is the irresistible lure of “remember when.” And young people could find themselves bopping and singing along to songs that came out before they were born.
But what type of music to use in the movie?
There were so many options available. 50’s Doo-wop. 60’s British Invasion. 80s New Wave. 90s Grunge. 2000s pop like the Spice Girls and Britney Spears.
But no, Gunn knew the perfect music to pick for his film. It had to be 70s pop, specifically one-hit wonders. Why 70s pop? Because like the Guardians themselves, the music of the 1970s was goofy, silly, fun, and had a charm all its own. It was also some of the greatest pop music of all time.
There was plenty of silly bubblegum music in the 50s, and things got really “groovy” in the 60s. But the best pop songs in the 70s were just about having fun.
Put on a song like “Hooked on a Feeling” or the Raspberries’ “Go All the Way,” and it just puts a smile on your face and makes you want to dance.
That was the mood Gunn wanted for this film.
He wanted this to be Marvel’s first out and out comedy, and there was no better way to indicate this than by loading up the movie with as many bouncy 70s tunes as possible. (It could be argued that parts of Iron Man 2 and 3 are very comedic, but GOTG is the first Marvel movie to maintain that tone all the way through.)
The first trailer for GOTG was set to “Hooked on a Feeling,” and from the get-go, that sent a message to movie-goers that this would not be your typical Marvel movie. If the other Marvel movies were Classic Rock (note the use of a Black Sabbath song in IRON MAN), this would be more like a K-Tel collection of pop hits.
GOTG begins with Quill as a child in the 80s, listening to a mixed tape made for him by his mom, who wants to share with him the music she loved from the 70s. (Quill’s mom was pretty cool. If my mom had made a similar mixed tape for me, most of the songs would have been by Barbra Streisand and Elvis Presley!)
On the night of his mother’s death from cancer, Quill is kidnapped and taken into space by Yondu, a galactic fortune hunter (with a Southern accent!) who has come to Earth and chosen to take this boy at this time at the request of the boy’s never-seen father. 
The film then jumps 26 years to show Quill has grown into a young man who is still listening to the same Walkman he had on him when he was hijacked into space. The film never explains how Quill’s batteries in his Walkman could still be working so many years later. Also, that mix-tape of his is in surprisingly good shape considering he apparently listens to it every chance he gets!
The grown-up Quill is now a galactic treasure hunter who decides to rebel against Yondu and keep the latest treasure for himself. We are never really sure why this happens, but we can surmise that Yondu is not such a nice guy and maybe Quill harbors some resentment toward him.
Quill fancies himself a powerful being called the Starlord, but it is not really clear if this is a name that other people actually call him or just a nickname that he made up for himself that never really caught on.
The soundtrack includes one of the all-time best 70s songs, a little piece of sonic ear candy called "Go All the Way" by the Raspberries. I must confess, I was hoping to hear some similar bands like Sweet or Badfinger, but alas, those memorable bands are slighted in favor of some lesser artists. As Quill goes on a quest for a mystic gem, he listens to the Redbone song “Come and Get Your Love” on his Walkman. Not one of my favorite 70s tunes, but it works here. Later, as the Guardians go into battle, the Runaways' song “Cherry Bomb” plays.
This is the only real musical miscue in the film. I was around in the 70s and I never heard that song played when I was growing up. I never even heard of the band The Runaways until decades later.
I think a better choice here would have been an actual hit song that really defined the era. A song like “December 1963 (Oh What a Night), or “American Pie” or  “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” or “Crocodile Rock” or the Bay City Rollers classic “Saturday Night.”
Well, I guess I can forgive Gunn for using a more obscure song instead of just taking the lazy way out and sticking “YMCA” or “Stayin’ Alive” in there…
I can’t review GOTG without mentioning one thing I have in common with Peter Quill I, too, have a love of

A few of my own AWESOME MIX tapes of 70s music.

70s music. I spent a good chunk of the 90s making mixed tapes containing all my favorite music of the 70s.
The big difference between Quill and I is that  I actually grew up with the music of the 70s, while Quill had it passed on to him second-hand. My proudest possession is a complete set of the 25-volume CD set, Super-Hits of the 70s. I listen to it often. Even the terrible songs like “Run Joey Run” and “Convoy” bring a wave of nostalgia over me.
If any space aliens ever came down to take me away, the one thing I would bring with me would be my 25-set collection of 70s hits. (We’d have to stop by Target and pick up a CD Walkman, if they still make those things!)
The music of the 70s is so timeless, when you hear a band like the Raspberries or Badfinger or the Jackson Five, it just puts you in a good mood. Like I said, bravo, James Gunn, for figuring out a way to incorporate so many beloved 70s songs into one movie
GOTG is much more light-hearted than most Marvel movies. In the climax, when Star-Lord challenges the villain, Ronan, to a dance-off, you almost think the movie is nutty enough to go for it. (Honestly, I think the perfect ending to the film would have been a “Battle of the Bands” between the Guardians and Ronan’s gang, with each band playing one classic 70s hit. With the loosey-goosey feel of the the movie, an ending that comes from a Saturday morning cartoon show would have been a perfect fit.)
The movie is well-cast. Chris Pratt proves himself a likable everyman as the hero. Zoe Saldana adds yet another sci-fi character to her belt, thus ensuring she will be welcome at Comic Con from now until the end of time. Bradley Cooper does a fine job as Rocket, though I must admit it was odd when Rocket refers to Saldana’s character as a “whore” in one scene, since Cooper and Saldana famously dated in real life! Vin Diesel grunts effectively as Groot. And Dave Batista has big muscles as Drax the Destroy
GOTG is not a perfect movie but it is lightweight, harmless fun. Coming off the depressing MAN OF STEEL and the ultra-serious WINTER SOLDIER, GOTG was a refreshing change of pace.
Still, I wish the film were more clever. When Howard the Duck makes a cameo in the post-credits sequence, you think, “Here’s a chance for the writers to give this guy a memorable zinger.” But they can’t think of anything interesting for him to say.
My suggested line? Have Howard say, “It’s about time I got out of there! It feels like I’ve been in limbo since 1986!”
Movie-goers have embraced the Guardians, welcoming them alongside the pantheon of great Marvel heroes. Now GOTG fans are eagerly awaiting the inevitable future teaming with the Avengers. But for me, the legacy of GOTG is that it introduced a whole new generation to songs like “Hooked on  Feeling.” (The soundtrack to the movie debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart.) 
A sequel to GOTG has already be announced. One assumes that part two will give us that father-son dynamic that was missing from part one, and it will pick up the 70s tunes where the original left off. (Quill even got a new mixed tape at the end of the first one!)
I am looking forward to seeing which songs get picked for GOTG II. All I know is, if I don’t hear some Badfinger in the next one, we are gonna have a problem!

A few more of my MIX TAPE MASTERPIECES!

“IT’S KIND OF A NERD THING:

A LOOK BACK AT COMIC CON 2014

By Barry Dutter

“I can die now!”
These are the words that I overheard spoken by a teenage fan in a Supergirl costume as she excitedly set foot in the San Diego Comic Con for the very first time.
My first thought was, “My, how times have changed!” When I first started going to cons in the early 1980s, you rarely saw any girls at Comic Cons (or, for that matter, any girls reading comics, anywhere!)
And you certainly never heard a female fan enthuse so rapturously over her arrival at said con.
Think about her statement. “I can die now.” Basically she was saying that if her life ended right there, at that moment, she would be fine with that, because she knew that one of her biggest dreams in life had just come true.

Why can't Marvel & DC heroes just get along?

That’s right -- the greatest fantasy of this young girl was to put on a  costume and attend the largest gathering of pop culture enthusiasts ever assembled under one roof.
That’s how big Comic Con has become. It’s not just a back-issue marketplace any more. It’s a life-altering event. It’s every movie-TV show- comic book-video game-book-etc. coming together in the same place at the same time. It’s not just a place you go; it’s something you aspire to.
In fact, Comic Con is now so hard to get into, simply acquiring a ticket to is like a rite of passage for young people. The ticket-buying process for Comic Con is now so convoluted, I’m not even sure how to go about getting one.
Used to be you just ordered a ticket online or on the phone, and that was it. But now, the Con has gotten so big, traditional methods don’t seem to work any more.
I suppose that is part of the appeal of Comic Con -- the fact that it’s so hard to get into. For all the lucky  fans who get in, there are millions of people across the country who wish they could attend, but cannot.
Those left behind are filled with envy at what they are missing.
I’m fortunate that as a former Marvel Comics employee, I still have some connections in the industry. Last year, a writer friend of mine got me in for free. But my con experience was such disaster, I decided I would never go to Comic Con again.
Basically, everything went wrong for me in 2013. I live only two hours from San Diego, in North Hollywood. But I chose to drive the most popular highway into San Diego, and so my two-hour ride turned into 4 hours. Finding a parking spot took another hour. And I was there on Saturday, generally the busiest day of any con.

This gal nailed her ZATANNA costume!

The place was so crowded, I found myself getting pushed and shoved as I tried to move from one end of the convention hall to another.
The ride home, later that same night, took another 4 hours on the crazy-busy Interstate 5 highway. In short, it was the worst con experience I’ve ever had.
Needless to say, I decided that Comic Con 2013 would be my last. It was just too big and it simply wasn’t any fun.

A really big BATMAN!

And so I was done with the SDCC. Or so I thought!
Then, in late June of 2014, I received an email from a Facebook friend who offered me a free ticket to all 4 days of the next con.
As fate would have it, I had several days free around that time. But having a  four-day pass gave me the chance to do it differently this time. For one thing, I could go early and avoid Saturday altogether. I could book a hotel, stay for a  night, get a good night’s rest instead of making that crazy commute twice in one day.

This year it was all about the GUARDIANS!

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense to try Comic Con one more time -- and this time, I would do it right!  A coworker even recommended an alternate driving route, where I could avoid that crazy-busy highway.
So it was decided, then. I would attend Comic Con 2014. 

I woke up early Thursday morning and  drove that alternate route and made great time. I found a cheap parking lot about a  mile away from the con. (I didn’t mind walking to save $50.00 per day on parking!)

The first thing I saw when I arrived in San Diego!

And my first full day of the con, Thursday, was not very crowded at all. In fact, I found I could easily walk from one end of the exhibition hall to the other. Artists and booths were easy to find. And best of all, lines were fairly short.

The FROZEN gang performed a few songs!

It was completely they opposite of my experience the year before. If you ever have the chance to go to Comic Con on a Thursday, you should go for it. Many people have to work on Thursday and can’t make it to the con. This means the lucky ones who do show up get to enjoy short lines and wide open aisles. It’s a whole different con experience than going on an over-crowded Saturday.

Hands down, my favorite costume from SDCC 2014!

In my three days at the con this year, I encountered people from all walks of life. A young man with a severe stuttering problem. Another twenty-something fan with a skin condition so bad, it changed the color of his face to a purplish hue (and no, he was not a cosplayer.)
There were people in wheelchairs. Old people. Young people. Fat people. Skinny people. Blacks. Whites. Latinos. Asians. Straight people. Gay people.

That's' top model ADRIENNE CURRY in the Catwoman suit!

There were fans and pros of every stripe. And they were all treated as equals. Nobody at Comic Con judges anyone else. It’s a place where people who are looked down on, people who are shunned or mocked in everyday life, can all come together and be united in their love of all things geeky.
And they all came for different reasons.
Some came to meet their favorite celebrities. Others came to catch panels on upcoming movies and TV shows. One Facebook friend of mine camped out for many hours outside the infamous Hall H to ensure that she would get a seat for a panel on an upcoming movie.
A few people actually come to buy comic books! After walking the exhibition hall of Comic Con this year, and seeing displays from all the major movie studios, TV studios and toy companies, I must say it actually came as a bit of a shock to find some old-fashioned comic dealers selling comic books. (Remember them?)

Girl Spy Vs. Girl Spy

It’s unfortunate that comics play such a marginal role at Comic Con these days, but the fact is, all the major publishers were there, with awesome displays, special edition comics, and chances to meet their most popular writers and artists. So if you want to focus all your time on just comic book stuff (as I tend to do) at the con, you can spend your days doing just that and still not have enough time to do it all.

Batman collage at the DC booth

In fact, one of my biggest frustrations about Comic Con is that so mnay of the comic pros there are not listed on the Web site or in the Artists Alley section in the Comic Con program book. (Examples: Walt Simonson, Tony Moore, Grant Morrison, etc.)
But I was thrilled with the all-star line-upo of talent that was there. It was like a Who’s Who of comic greats: Neal Adams. Steranko. Rob Liefeld. Adam Hughes. J. Scott Campbell. Kevin Eastman. Sergio Aragones (who I spent 3 days looking for and never did find). Stan Sakai. Brian Bendis. Amanda Conner. Jim Lee. Scott Snyder.  And so on.

Lego Rocket Raccoon & Lego Groot!

Stan Sakai sketches YOSAGI YOJIMBO!

When I go to Comic Con, I’m just there to get signatures and sketches from comic book writers and artists. I really don’t care about meeting the casts of movies or TV shows. I’m not willing to brave the crowds of Hall H. (Although I will admit, it was kind of neat when the support staff started blocking off a path because, “the cast of the Expendables is about to come through.”) That is just one of things you can only hear at Comic Con!
Some people came just to cosplay. Out of 130,000 attendees this year, I have no idea how many were in costume, but I’m sure it numbered in the hundreds, if not the thousands. And the costumes did not disappoint. Fans in Southern California are very skilled in the art of creating inspired costumes.

Batman movie costumes at the DC booth

I remember when I first started going to cons back in the early 1980s. The number of cosplayers was also quite small in those days. You might see a small handful of guys dressed as Batman or Spider-Man, but they were definitely in the minority.

Comic book superstar J. Scott Campbell

What a difference a few decades makes!
Many longtime comics fans and pros express bitterness at the amount of attention fawned on the cosplayers in place of actual comic book writers and artists.
But let’s face it, the cosplayers are more colorful that the average comic book creator and they are more fun to photograph. They do add a whole other layer to an event that would otherwise not be that different from any other type of fan gathering around the world.
Essentially, what the cosplayers do is give the mainstream press an easy hook to hang their story on. So as much as some comic fans might piss and moan about the cosplayers, the fact is, they do bring more attention to the cons from the outside world.

Magneto and his 2 daughters

Excuse me, do you know the way to Comic Con?

Overall my experience at Comic Con 2014 was a very positive one. I was there for the first three days of the con. (Yes, I did stay for Saturday, despite my best instincts!) It did get very crowded on Saturday, to the point where there were large areas where the flow of people stopped in both directions. It began to get more and more frustrating to try to navigate through the crowd. I really began to miss how easy and sparse things had been only two days before.
For me, the low point of the con came on Saturday, when I stopped to take a picture of a cosplayer and a passerby brushed past me so fast, they accidentally knocked my cell phone out of my hands and on to the floor (and they kept on moving).  At that moment, I knew that Saturdays were not for me.

The view from the DC hospitality suite

The high point came that same day when my old pal, Superman writer Scott Lobdell, got me into the DC Comics hospitality suite, where they had delicious sandwiches and snacks, and an awesome view of the convention floor. It was fun seeing the con from this unique perspective.
Later, as I was wandering through the crowd, I overheard a nerd talking on his cell phone to another nerd. He was discussing some nerdy movie or TV show and he said, “It’s kind of a nerdy thing.”

Hot girls + Hot car

Hmm. “Kind of a nerdy thing.” That could sum up just about any of the exhibits at Comic Con. They’re all nerdy things, but they’re our nerdy things. And for four days every year, we get together and immerse ourselves in all things nerdy.
For the past few years, people have been saying that the geeks have inherited the Earth, but I figured that was just a catch phrase for the mainstream media to latch onto.  As a guy who grew up with nerd culture and who has been part of it for over 40 years, I guess I didn’t realize how deeply immersed in nerd culture the world has become until I went to Comic Con 2014 and saw it with my own eyes.

Artist ADAM HUGHES sketches VAMPIRELLA

For me, the biggest change over the past 30 years is the fact that girls at cons are now embracing geek culture just as passionately as guys. These days, girls make up about half of the attendees at the average big con. I’ve even heard reports of some huge cons having more females than males, which really makes me wonder, “Where were all these female comics fans when I was in high school?”                                                             
Girls aren’t just dressing up in sexy costumes at Comic Con. They are proudly calling themselves comic book fans. They are showing up on opening weekend of all the new super-hero movies. I guess it was the Twilight franchise that really got women to start attending Comic Con a few years back, but the studios, networks and comic book companies have figured out a way to keep the ladies around, even after the sparkly vampires have gone.
Which is a good thing. Because having real girls at Comic Cons -- not just super girls drawn on paper-- makes it better for all of us. It takes a hobby that has traditionally been associated with lonely, awkward males, and makes it more socially acceptable.

Your beloved blogger meets his twin!

In some ways, I’m very different from the stereotypical Comic Con attendee. I don’t cosplay. I don’t wait in long lines for anything. I’ve never watched Game of Thrones or True Blood. I skipped the last 2 Hobbit movies. I don’t play video games (not since Ms. Pac-Man in 1983!) I never cared for Buffy the Vampire Slayer or The Dark Knight movies.
But in the end, it doesn’t matter. As noted above, everyone goes to Comic Con for different reasons. I go there to interact with comic book writers and artists and I get great enjoyment out of doing so.
The two biggest news stories to come out of Comic Con this year were 1) model Adrienne Curry in her Catwoman costume beating up a pervy fan who had just molested one of her friends, and 2) a bunch of cosplayers dressed as zombies attacking the car of a  deaf family after the driver panicked and accidentally ran over a ghoul during the annual "Zombie Walk."
A super-villain slugfest? An actual zombie attack on the streets of San Diego? Once, stories like this were the stuff of fantasy. Now they're happening for real. Truly there can be no doubt: the geeks have taken over the world!

San Diego --a beautiful setting for a Comic Con!