This convention was so packed with things to do and see I only got to see three panels. The Strange Frame screening, the panel for it afterwards, and the Comic Book Live! performance. That may not seem like a lot of panels, but they were full of fun stuff. I’ll round it out with more stuff from the floor, Floppets being one of them.
We’ll start things off with those Floppets I mentioned. These are some cute little rubber badges you can get with all sorts of designs, they had original monster designs alongside Star Trek ones. They were nice enough to give me this Comikaze one, and what’s really nice is that it’s velcro so you could easily strap it on to things, it could be worn as a ring or anything you could wrap around it; I put mine on my badge.
Comic Book Live was on hand to bring the Avengers and all their post-movie problems to deal with. Tony (played by Brandon Barrick) was ready to run for president, while Nikki Fury (played by Markeia McCarty) tried to keep him and everyone else in line. Hawkeye (played by Patrick Ian Moore) and Black Widow (played by Nicki Hunter) were trying to get their edge back as world-class assassins, perhaps by taking out a presidential candidate. Bruce Banner (played by Tommy Bechtold) was venting his anger by being a jerk to everyone. Hawkeye was trying to sell radioactive bugs to his team mates, like the Wasp (played by Justine Joli) and Black Widow, which led to dangers for Tony and Peter Parker (R.I.P.). When the Avengers were having try outs for new heroes, they got a visit from a pretty Fantastic guy who was down on his luck, Ben Grimm (played by Chris Gore) with none of his rocky hide. I love when they do a themed show like this and it gets you wanting to see more adventures with this version of the Avengers; check out Comic Book Live at iO West Theater.
The big event I was prepping for was the Strange Frame screening and panel, which is where I got to interview Cree Summer. The whole show and panel took up the latter half of my Saturday, finishing off day one of Comikaze. Strange Frame is a weird movie, and it is exactly what it wants to be. The movie is simple at its heart, two lovers must fight the forces that conspire against them to reunite, but then you get into the actual story and it gets very, very complex. Set in a future where Earth is no longer a viable place to stay, humanity takes to the stars and use slavery as a way to pay off debts. Augmenting themselves with technology to be better workers, people try to break free of their servitude to live lives of their own. Parker and Naia are two such people who just want to live, love, and play music together. When their band gets too big for them to control, Parker has to make it her mission to save Naia.
During the panel it was stated that this was a movie you had to watch a few times to fully experience. I can definitely agree with that, it felt like a dream at some points. The animation is very much like something out of a dream. I feel if I had found this movie on TV I’d have been entranced to continue watching it with just how everything flows. The music in the movie is also wonderful, it’s a musical, but I found the jazzy score to be what stuck with me.
The voice acting was top notch with Claudia Black as Parker and Tara Strong as Naia. Other actors in the film are Cree Summer (INTERVIEWED!), Ron Glass, Dawnn Lewis, Alan Tudyk, George Takei, and more. A stellar cast and during the panel Rob Glass, Cree Summer, Dawnn Lewis, and Tara Strong were available at the table with the creators, Shelley Doty and GB Hajim. They all discussed making the film and what it was like to bring this story to life, and how they’d love to return to do more; here’s hoping they do.
Well that does it for this Panels and More edition of Comikaze. Finally we finish this off with a look again at the ever evolving DC Steampunk group. Here’s a real life Wall-E to play you out.
Alexander Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net