Some people call Comic-Con the "Nerd Prom" or the "Big Show." I like to call it the "Nerd Canterbury Tales." For one thing, the daily walk from the hotel to the convention center feels like a pilgrimage of sorts. For another, as in Geoffrey Chaucer's famous book, you're likely to walk into someone decked out in medieval finery during the trek. Of course, you're also liable to bump into a hairy dude wearing the "Slave Leia" metal bikini from Return of the Jedi. Here are the five best, weirdest, most "Comic-Con-y" moments from this year's pilgrimage.

5. Grr! Arrgh! Zombie Captain America Feasts on Geek Brains
OK, this would be a lot weirder if there weren't already such a thing as a Zombie Captain America. Which there is. In fact, if you read the awesomely spooky Marvel Comics title Marvel Zombies, you know that there's a zombie version of every Marvel superhero. But still, having a guy dressed as Zombie Captain America moaning disturbingly as you take pictures of him is... unsettling. And strangely, makes you a bit hungry for Reeeed Skuuuullll!

4. Personal Space Invader
As part of the SDCC programming on Friday July 24, Entertainment Weekly hosted a panel discussion between visionary directors James Cameron and Peter Jackson. All was going swimmingly until a dude dressed in a cheesy spaceman costume -- and wielding a giant homemade ray gun -- climbed up onstage and poured himself a glass of water. He was then escorted offstage by security. How did he make it up there in the first place? No idea. Was it all part of the show? No idea. Is this the sort of thing that makes the annual journey to San Diego totally worth it? Hells yes.

Continue reading "Top Five Geektastic Moments From Comic-Con" »

If San Diego Comic Con is "geek prom," then this past weekend's New York Comic Con is the "geek winter formal." Now in its fourth year, New York Comic Con is becoming a major source of movie previews, celebrity signings, and geek-friendly news. As a full-fledged geek myself, I'm happy to share with you my top ten moments from the dance.

10. Saturday Night Live stars tackle Spider-Man
During the Mondo Marvel panel, SNL-ers Bill Hader and Seth Meyers announced their upcoming Spider-man one-shot comic, The Short Halloween, which sees a Spidey costumer getting mistaken for the actual wall-crawler. Sounds cool, but I was hoping Hader and Meyers would follow Obama's lead and actually appear in an issue of Amazing Spider-Man.

9. Pixar debuts another winner with Up
Director Pete Doctor (Monsters, Inc.) and producer Jonas Rivera debuted clips (and a full 45 minutes) of Up, the latest Pixar gem. Hilarious and colorful, the footage indicates that Pixar is going back to straight-up comedy after the more serious Wall-E.

Continue reading "The Top Ten Moments From New York Comic Con" »

Thanks to the films of Christopher Nolan, we can all enjoy the redemption of Batman's utter coolness -- but lest we forget that the caped crusader has a long tradition of weird, embarrassing campy escapades on his resume as well, a duo of seasoned batologists have assembled the best (and worst) reels in the Dark Knight's epic career. This week, the SciFi Screening Room will present Batman Night, hosted by The SciFi Department's Kevin Maher and writer Nick Nadel.

Those of you near NYC can join your fellow Gothamites on Wednesday for trivia, prizes, Batman haikus, and a treasure chest of vintage Batman celluloid, including rare TV and cartoon episodes, Adam West screen tests, and fan-films aplenty. Expect an appearance by Batman Strikes writer Matthew K. Manning.

SciFi Scanner contributors Maher and Nadel promise to stage a veritable "This Is Your Life" for a character who is every bit as exciting today as he was in 1939 -- even if he takes himself awfully seriously these days.

If you live in the New York City area, boogie on down to the Scifi Screening Room this Wednesday night for the classic dystopian musical, The Apple.

It's Xanadu meets George Orwell in this flamboyant Adam and Eve story set in the nightmarish future of 1994 (as imagined in 1980.) Expect to see Catherine Mary Stewart mutate into a drug-fueled glam pop superstar (Hubba-hubba). If you like Phantom of the Paradise, but wished it had been made in Berlin by one-half of Golan-Globus, this is the movie for you!

The show will be hosted by The SciFi Department's Kevin Maher and Raven Snook, providing trivia, prizes, drinking games, free glitter and a sing-a-long.

Continue reading "SciFi Screening Room Presents The Apple" »

As part of this year's New York Comic Con, author and historian Eddy Friedfeld showcased a collection of footage that showed just how far the superhero genre has come.

While other superheroes were touched upon, a large focus of the panel was on Superman, the granddaddy of them all. Friedfeld unspooled footage from the still breathtaking Fleischer Brothers cartoons to the less visually stunning, though certainly exciting, Kirk Alyn film serials of the 1940s. Friedfeld noted that due to the small budget, and because kids didn't really care, the live action Superman would suddenly change into an animated character upon taking to the sky. Other highlights: The brief scene of Christopher Reeve stopping a burglar in the Richard Donnor film reminded the audience of the sly wit the actor brought to the role; a clip of George Reeves' costumed cameo on I Love Lucy, where he is oddly referred to as "Superman" the entire time.

Continue reading "Superman Overpowers Fellow Superheroes at New York Comic Con" »

New York Comic-Con starts today here in the city, where most of your faithful Sci-Fi Scanner writers are based. So it stands to reason that you'll be getting a ton of coverage. What you won't be getting, and perhaps wouldn't know if you've never attended a Comic-Con (New York, or otherwise), is how many people will be dressed up as Star Wars characters.

There have always been Star Wars comic book adaptations. And now, we're in the middle of a Star Wars comic renaissance: With no new movies being made, and Lucasfilm essentially in a licensing frenzy, Dark Horse Comics has been releasing titles set in all corners of the Star Wars continuity. So in and of itself, Star Wars having a presence at a Comic-Con is not objectionable.

What is a problem is the amount of Star Wars dress up at Comic-Con.

Continue reading "Expect Star Wars Cosplayers to Overrun Comic-Con" »

If you live in the New York area, check out the latest installment of The Sci Fi Screening Room. Last time we hosted an evening of all things Incredible Hulk. This Tuesday it's KISS Night as Kevin Maher (host of The Sci Fi Department) and Rob Gorden (host of Spike TV's Geek Ray Vision) present Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park.

The made-for-TV movie was produced at the height of KISS-mania (1978). It follows Star Child, Cat Man, Space Ace and The Demon as they use their super powers (!?) to battle their robot clones and save Magic Mountain Amusement Park from a bitter former employee. The film co-stars Anthony Zerbe (the ghoul leader in The Omega Man) and features appearances by Brion James (Kowalski from Blade Runner) and Don Steel (the DJ from Death Race 2000).

Continue reading "KISS NIGHT Is Gonna Rock 'n' Roll All Night" »

Everyone knew the day would come when the robot armies would converge on Washington, D.C. I assumed it would happen after the field of robotics had accidentally stumbled upon a firmware upgrade for sentience, at the trail end of an era of violence that would have washed the streets of this proud nation in blood. The Robot Revolution has to kick off sometime.

As it turns out, robots have converged on Washington far earlier than I anticipated. As part of the Kennedy Center's "Robotopia Rising" exhibit, hundreds of adorable, non-murderous robots are on display doing the most innocuous of robotic activites, such as dancing, walking up stairs, playing the trumpet, and having monotone yet provocative cyberchat exchanges with Japanese salarymen.

The excellent And I Am Not Lying blog has a detailed write-up: "As astounded as I was during the Asimo demo, I couldn't help but think "this is how it starts. Now they're cute and helpful, and we all kinda want one. Later ... who knows." It was like being in the boardroom of OCP 2 minutes before the ED209 freaks out, or in the first 30 minutes of the first "V" movie. Right now, robots are fairly delicate and any robot uprising could be quelled with a Super-Soaker and a Louisville slugger."

Welcome the Cute Plastic Overlords: 'Robotopia Rising' at the Kennedy Center [And I Am Not Lying]

When a famous director or actor dies, there's a clear sense of loss. Less so when a cinematographer, or lighting expert, or set designer, or wardrobe designer kicks off. But for sci-fi fans, the loss of John Alvin, who passed away last Wednesday, will be palpable. You've probably never heard his name, but chances are you have some of his art hanging in your house or adorning a T-shirt or lunchbox. You've definitely seen his work: Alvin was one of the most iconic poster designers in Hollywood history.

The stretched forefingers above a gloaming earth from the E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial poster was by Alvin, as were the iconic posters for Gremlins, Blade Runner and The Goonies.

If you're looking for more of Alvins' work, his fan site has a complete image gallery. For more info, check Cinematical's poignant tribute to one of the unsung Hollywood heroes of sci-fi.

Remembering Movie Poster Artist John Alvin [Cinematical]

Here at The Scanner we're big fans of Kaiju Big Battel, the live wrestling show that combines Japanese Monster Mayhem with American sportsmanship. In case you missed it, watch our video visit to the November show.

Their new event, themed "New York Blackout," takes place this Saturday night at New York City's Webster Hall. I'm curious to see how the Kaiju team hosts a post-Cloverfield show. The gimmick this time around is that each of the wrestling matches will introduce a mystery black box that contains a surprise, which could be anything from a mystery weapon to a prize for the audience.

At the last show, long-time-loser Call-Me-Kevin was the underdog in the main event. He shocked audiences (and himself) by becoming the Kaiju Champion. This time he'll defend his title against The Grudyin -- a mutant, feral gorilla-monster (see photo.) Good luck, Call-Me-Kevin!

For tickets and further info, visit the official Kaiju website.