As New York Comic Con gets bigger and bigger, it becomes impossible to take it all in, and no matter how well we plan for it, inevitably things don’t work out. Here is our breakdown of one of the fastest going conventions in the United States.
Thursday goals included attending the 88MPH: A Celebration of Back to the Future, a panel about DC Comics imprint Vertigo’s new #1s, attempting to get into the Viz Media/Musashi Kishimoto panel, and finishing out the day at MootCon4 to talk to people about the Game of Theories webseries. While not an entirely adventurous schedule, the sheer amount of people made it impossible to navigate the exhibit hall (or the smaller, craft/creator filled area called The Block) in a timely manner. New York Comic Con was wall to wall cosplayers in different Doc & Marty costumes (and a TON of Rick & Morty costumes as well), some so well done, several double takes were needed to make sure we didn’t accidentally walk by Christopher Lloyd himself. We had to slowly step our way to the Image booth where we met up with comic creator Ivan Brandon for a scheduled interview, before attempting to make headway toward the Funko booth, hoping to get our eyeballs on some of those exclusives! There were many promotional life-size POP! figures to promote the upcoming Smuggler’s Bounty, and it was difficult to tear ourselves away and re-evaluate our plan as the hour grew late. It was here our paths split, with Tushar checking out the Games and Education panel, Kaitlyn calling it a day, and Leia preparing for a long evening of line waiting to spend an hour in the same room as Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto, before preparing for day two.
As the weekend progressed, we saw the floors even MORE packed than before and our weary correspondents loaded up their schedule with panels. First, however, Kaitlyn and Leia wandered over to the Audible booth to try out the immersive Locke & Key experience via Oculus Rift, before an interview with Sean Lewis and Benjamin Mackey, newbies in the comic industry. Artist Alley was a sight to behold this year, with greedy fingers reaching for art prints on our way to interview Justin Jordan, and get some stuff signed.
Now despite the name “New York Comic Con,” non-comic media, like television, was there in force too. The folks at Adult Swim were up to their old tricks again with roundtables for Venture Bros, Robot Chicken, and the new miniseries airing soon, Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter. (You can check out our preview at Adult Swim at NYCC – Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter). Getting to meet TV personalities like Jon Glaser, Stephanie March, Breckin Meyer and the crazy duo of Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick went exactly as we thought it would go. Antics upon hijinks upon gut busting laughter. It was tough to get through the whole thing without addressing Stephanie March as anything other than “Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot,” but ultimately composure was kept and we found that she, along with the rest of the Adult Swim actor corps, were super cool and friendly people.
TV wasn’t the only non-comic media to make a splash this year. Video games made their presence felt too. If you had (like we did) a bit of trouble getting through the main entrance to the con floor because of a pure sea of concentrated humanity, you were probably going by the Capcom booth. Lining the booth was an army of Street Fighter enthusiasts, and it WAS possible (but not probable) to slither your way in to get a crack at seeing some gameplay from Street Fighter V. The game played faster than its predecessor Street Fighter IV, and you could see some of the classic cast like Karin making their return from the Alpha/Zero series of Street Fighter games. There was a tournament going on as well, so there was always the chance that if you went in to get schooled, it would be public on a lot of large screens.
Square-Enix decided to take the quieter route and had a media suite set up a Shop Studios, just a couple blocks away from the Javits Center. It was nice to get away from the bustle of the con floor for guided demos of their games to small groups of people, and the fact that they fed us definitely did not hurt the experience. Making the rounds through Shop Studios we saw the upcoming Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (check out our preview here), Hitman, Just Cause 3, and the finale to Life Is Strange with Episode 5. The biggest and friendliest surprise though was that Lara Croft: GO wasn’t the only appearance our girl Lara Croft made that day. The full playable demo of Rise of the Tomb Raider looked and played absolutely great.
The Star Wars franchise decided to take an in between approach, setting up their Star Wars Battle Pods outside of the con floor but still inside the Javits Center, making it easy to get to and a beacon of the force as people entered the building. The battle pods let you take command of a few different vehicles from the Star Wars universe, from going on a Death Star bombing run in an X-Wing to trying to hang on for dear life on a speedbike on Endor. Either way, the ride was complete with vibration and pod shakes that one would presumably feel taking your X-wing out of the hangar.
Our last day was spent tying up loose ends, such as taking photos of the creepiest cosplay we could find, picking up more stuff to give away to you guys, and making our last stop at the phenomenal Women of Marvel panel, before shambling off home.
Be sure to check out our other convention coverage and we hope to see you guys in the future! We can’t wait for next year, and leave you with this awesome cosplay video from our friends, SneakyZebra.
In case you haven’t already, don’t forget that we are giving away a bunch of stuff for those of you who didn’t get to attend! Enter below.
Daku Con 2018 Photo Gallery
Daku Con 2018 Convention Recap!
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Nan Desu Kan 2018 Photo Gallery
Imagine, if you will, a small peaceful town in Vermont, land of the Bed & Breakfast. Now mash it up with werewolves and a neon-clad savior intent on stopping them. Now envision that whole strange and twisted scenario in the hands of Adult Swim. That is Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter, and it’s coming soon to a television near you.
This past week at New York Comic Con I got the chance to talk to some of the folks that are a part of this project to see more on what this show is all about. The show stars Jon Glaser (you know him from Parks and Recreation, Girls, and Delocated) as the titular Neon Joe, who makes it his life’s work to battle lycanthropy in this tiny B&B-laden Vermont town. Also featured are Scott Adsit(30 Rock, Big Hero 6) as a colorful local who wants to be Joe’s BFF and Stephanie March (Law & Order: SVU) who plays, in her words, the “randy lesbian mayor” of the town.
The show was recorded as “the craziest miniseries of all time,” being chunked into five 30 minute episodes with a continuous storyline, which is a bit of a departure from the deliciously random 15 minute episodes on Adult Swim that we’re used to enjoying. “It’s just like Roots,” Adsit joked about the miniseries format. “With werewolves, definitely no vampires, we can be very specific about that” March added.
But the real fun is how the show even came to be in the first place.
“I was on Jimmy Fallon’s show I think it was 3 years ago maybe to promote the finale of Delocated, another show I made for Adult Swim,” said star and creator Jon Glaser. “And I wanted to do something just dumb to amuse myself for the segment and not have a straight interview, so I took the two articles of clothing that I own and that I use for live comedy shows in New York, one of which was a neon yellow hoodie and a knit cap from American Apparel and another of which was a pair of Coors Light sweatpants. And I just paired them arbitrarily and went on the show and I just said ‘I’m really sad Delocated is over but I’m really excited about my new project it’s called Neon Joe,Werewolf Hunter and I’m dressed as the character right now. And that’s really all we have right now but we’re excited to kind of figure out the rest.’ And that was 100% made up, it was a fake idea. It was not a real idea for a TV show I had, and I kinda thought at the time I could see Adult Swim knowing it’s a joke and saying it still sounds funny, could that be a show? And I said sure, and that’s what happened. So we had a meeting and they said why don’t you write a pilot and see if it’s something.”
Yes kids. This show was born from an arbitrary joke Jon Glaser made to Jimmy Fallon. That joke became a meeting, that meeting led to a character, and now we’ll be able to see the final product on Adult Swim.
“It’s really treated like a super dramatic show – it’s a stupid comedy” he said about Neon Joe.
That one joke and idea with a crazy set of characters was enough to draw a great cast of actors for the project, all of whom were trying pretty hard to tell us things without really telling us too much of the plot. Within a twenty minute timeframe, the show was described as being an epic miniseries with tones of Don Quixote and a little bit of Batman. “I would say it’s about our hero’s epic journey to himself. To return to himself as we follow his plights and his struggles” was what Stephanie March could tell us about the character of Neon Joe. As for the plot, “By the end you will know definitively whether there’s werewolves in this universe or not” from Scott Adsit.
That comment later on sparked a bit of hilarious tension between Glaser and Adsit to the delight of everyone at the table.
“It’s Glaser sensibilities,” Adsit said about the show’s humor, “and Glaser is a brilliant original voice in comedy as far as I can see. Everything filters through him and he’s so incredibly funny in this role he’s created for himself. It’s really really a pleasure just to be on the set and watch him work through this script that’s really funny, and he’s really good at it.”
I also got to speak with Steve Cirbus (Delocated, Gotham) and Steve Little (The Heart She Holler, Adventure Time, Eastbound and Down), who play the town’s sheriff and janitor. The sheriff has almost a buddy cop relation with Neon Joe, with Cirbus agreeing with me (one sec while I praise my own ballerdom) that their relationship is akin to Commissioner Gordon and Batman. Steve Little had his own fun story on why he joined the cast:
“I had a good time on The Heart, She Holler, then I got an email about this and then I forwarded it to my manager because sometimes like you get something called Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter and you don’t know how to even process that. And then my manager was like ‘Oh! I love this!’ – you know, a testament to her.” He’d never worked with Glaser before so he wanted a second opinion, watched Delocated and jumped in.
Do yourselves a favor and watch this amazing trailer from Adult Swim:
Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter starts on December 7 and will play one episode per night through the 11th at midnight. Seeing a cast that has this much fun together with a plot as wonderfully twisted as this is, I can’t wait to start watching.
Tushar Nene
Staff Writer
@tusharnene
Daku Con 2018 Photo Gallery
Daku Con 2018 Convention Recap!
PAX South 2019: Splitgate Arena Warfare, World of Horror, JackQuest, and Disjunction
PAX South 2019: Jump Force, Skellboy, A Fold Apart
PAX South 2019: Devil May Cry 5, Young Souls, Magequit
Nan Desu Kan 2018 Photo Gallery
We saw so much at New York Comic Con this year and it was hands down one of the best conventions that we’ve covered. We were lucky enough to sit down with the creators and stars of Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty and learned all about season two of the multiverse-spanning super-hit.
Sarah Chalke (Beth) and Chris Parnell (Jerry), who finished recording for season two, were first timers at Comic Con and were excited to learn about convention staples like con-funk and the dreaded con-plague (which has felled several of our Sub-Cultured writers already) as well as meeting fans in bathrooms. Both actors had a lot to say about their respective characters, the grounding and responsible adults in the admittedly fantastical show. However, big things are happening to the Smiths in season two and Sarah and Chris delighted by bantering in character.
Sarah: We get to get in on the crazy in season two
Chris: Yeah, we get to go on some adventures on other planets and go to other dimensions on other planets.
Sarah: We have a lot of trouble in our marriage and so Rick suggests that we go for couple’s therapy off-planet.
Chris: Everything goes really smoothly.
Chris: In season two I sort of fight for Pluto still being a planet. The denizen’s of Pluto really appreciate that so they bring me to Pluto and they sort of hold me up on a pedestal and that’s kind of fun and good for Jerry. He needs to be built up and supported. And it’s good for me, Chris Parnell, because I need that too.
Sarah: It’s sort of like work and doubling as therapy.
Chris and Sarah also had a lot to say about their characters’ marriage and growth in the next season:
Sarah: Well, right from the pilot we kind of have a terrible marriage. I’m a horse heart surgeon and he thinks that’s not really a doctor and I find that unbelievably offensive. It kind of just goes downhill from there in season two and that’s why we go off planet for couple’s therapy. But there’s some real moments of tenderness in this season.
Chris: There are indeed. It’s messed up, the marriage, but there’s some genuine affection.
Sarah: Off-planet they kind of get to envision and create mythological creature of what is going on in your subconscious of how you see the other person. So neither of them know what is going to come up. So Jerry, to Beth, is a spineless worm-man while he sees her as a giant warrior-queen-cyborg. I got to do a bunch of Xenobeth voices and I don’t know what they’ll end up picking. That’s one of the funnest things about this show. There’s really no limits to where it can go and what you’ll get to try as an actor. If you’re on a set and you ask to do another take there’s like one hundred crew members waiting for you but in the sound booth you can do one line ten different ways in under a minute. It’s such a fun and creative way to get to work, especially in a show like this where the characters are actually going to other galaxies.
Chris: I don’t know if we go to other galaxies, that’s a long way. We go to other planets, other star systems and dimensions but not galaxies.
Sarah: Well Beth isn’t as bright as Jerry because even though she is a surgeon it’s just for horses.
Okay, Smart-guy Jerry, but did you get a job this year?
Chris: Uh, I don’t think he’s gotten a job thus far. Not that I recall. I think he’s still struggling with that. She’s got her job though, thank god.
Sarah: Yes, keeping the whole family afloat.
Ah, family. Beth’s soul-sucking leech of a family. Will Beth finally break free of them or learn to find satisfaction in her brood? What’s funnier?
Sarah: I mean, there’s definitely been a lot of humor in the tragedy that is their marriage and that it’s not going well. I’m rooting for them. If they divorce, well between the two, I’m the one to go. They’re keeping Parnell. I had to audition from a weird cabin in Canada over the phone with Justin and Dan to get this job, so let’s go with together.
Well we’re glad to know that Beth and Jerry are getting in on that adventure action!
Chris: Yes, oh yes.
Sarah: We do. That was kind of one of the things that Justin and Dan wanted to explore more in the second season, taking the show a little more interplanetary.
Chris: But not intergalactic.
What do the stars want to see for their characters going forward?
Sarah: I would say more of the times we got to go to other planets. It’s awesome.
Chris: I would like…
Sarah: Not galaxies. Planets.
Chris: Thank you. We could be in other galaxies. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have made such a point of that. It’s possible I guess. It’s just so much further away. You know, I’d like for Jerry to have some opportunities to be a stronger figure just because it’s more fun to play a variety of things. Anything that’s different than the meek little struggling, insecure Jerry is…
Sarah: And I’d like Jerry to stay as meek as possible in his meek box.
Chris: Not his Meeseeks Box.
It’s shocking to think that despite their steamy chemistry, the two record separately.
Sarah: We always record separately. But sometimes Justin will do both voices. That’s like my favorite thing is to hear him, it’s insane. I remember hearing both voices and then finding out that he did both of them.
Chris: I didn’t know either.
Sarah: I knew he was Rick but I didn’t know he was Morty. It’s bonkers. He’s ridiculously talented.
Chris: Justin directs the sessions almost exclusively. We do Archer solo. It’s like at these kind of things that we get to see each other so it’s really fun but having recorded show where it’s every body, it’s just takes up the whole day and doesn’t make it any better, I don’t think, unless it’s really improv based.
Both Chris and Sarah have played some other well-known characters like Cyril on Archer and the insecure Elliot on Scrubs . What is it like to play such different characters?
Chris: I guess the difference is that Jerry has got a family and he’s supposed to be helping to support the family, which he doesn’t. And then Cyril is just more on his own and caught up in his own thing. That’s a really incomplete and unsatisfying answer to your question.
Sarah: I think that’s what has been fun about Beth is playing someone so strong and kind of a bitch and just treats Jerry like shit. I think that owns what you look for like doing something totally different than what you’ve got to do before. More than that is animation, it is the funnest way to work. I’ve always been so obsessed with the art of animation. I’m so fascinated and when I come to record, they’ll take us upstairs to see the storyboards and process and how it changes. Sometimes in animation they’ll actually video you recording and they’ll use the movements of your mouth when they draw. I mean, I was a lot more like Elliot and a lot came from my life and the writers would use it in the next episode. I had an art smock that doubled as my bib at the lunch. The wardrobe department one time was like “Do you mind wearing *this* because we’re running out of scrubs in your character’s line.” And I did, and then I fell asleep on a sharpie. So there was a little bit of me in her.
But what about the important question: Any chance of seeing Chris or Sarah on Community Season Six?
Sarah: I would love to! I love that show.
Chris: I would love to as well. They have such a tight cast, I don’t know if there’s room for me.
Sarah: Jerry…There isn’t.
Chris: Sorry. Sorry, Beth
Sarah: Keep your dreams where they belong. Squashed.
And now the most important question: Do you look at your dogs differently after the Lawnmower Dog episode?
Sarah: Totally! I have a chocolate lab named Lola because she walks like a woman and talks like a man. She’s like this tiny lab who’s the runt of the litter, this tiny little nugget with this really deep bark. My neighbor’s thought I had a rottweiler. She was from this charity event during the first season of Scrubs. She was being auctioned off to support children with autism. I fell in love with her as did everyone else in the room so the bidding was insane. Finally I gave up at the end and the whole cast put their hands up and got her for me. She was our Scrubs mascot and would come to the hospital every day.
Chris: So sweet. I’m not being facetious. I’m being sincere.
Sarah: I don’t trust it. I’ve seen sincerity.
Chris: You wouldn’t know sincerity if it bit you in the ass.
Sarah: Fuck you, Jerry.
Thanks Chris and Sarah for sitting with us! Check out part two of our interview with Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland in a bit and be sure to check out season 2 of Rick and Morty in summer of 2015
Rick and Morty and Cosmicism
Steven Universe comes to Funko
Fictional Feasts– Ice Cream Sunda(y)
How Steven Universe Helped Me Like Things Again
Cerulean City Comic-Con Announces Guest Line Up!
Movie Review: “Big Hero Six” One Month(ish) Later
I had to quadruple check my sources on this one, because rumors to this effect have been flying, for the most part, since Toonami went off the air in the first place. This time, though, the Good Word comes straight from the horse’s mouth, which is to say it comes straight from Adult Swim’s twitter account.
Five days ago, the official Adult Swim twitter made the official announcement that officially states Toonami is finally, officially, coming back to our airwaves. The announcement came along with a promotional image (see featured image) and the hashtag #toonamisbackbitches. (more…)
Colorado Anime Fest Wrap Up
Viz Media Announces Free Streaming Anime!
Sub Cultured is Headed to Colorado Anime Fest!
Aniplex of America to Stream New Slice of Life Comedy, Slow Start, on Crunchyroll in January 2018
Nan Desu Kan 2016 – Recapping Rocky Mountain’s Biggest Anime Convention!
BOO-It-Yourself Halloween Costumes – Misa Amane
I didn’t get any salt shakers with loose lids, any texts saying “Zomg I’m pregnant *snicker*“, or a swift kick in the nuts yesterday so I should count my blessings. But Cartoon Network…. you sons of bitches.
Cartoon Network resurrected Toonami for the day just to make me feel nostalgic and then rip it out of my hands. Tom was brought back. DBZ too. ….DBZ!!!!!!!!!!!
If you would like to watch all the April Fools Toonami bumpers, here is a video.
Please enter the url to a YouTube video.Also in April Fool’s related news, www.flixist.com was “taken over” by Jeff Goldblum and www.deviantart.com was taken over by cats and they took the admin hostage and demanded 15, 000 cat related works of art to release him. Surprisingly, 15, 000 cat related art pieces were met my mid-day. Impressive.
Anyone punk you?
Colorado Anime Fest Wrap Up
Viz Media Announces Free Streaming Anime!
Sub Cultured is Headed to Colorado Anime Fest!
Aniplex of America to Stream New Slice of Life Comedy, Slow Start, on Crunchyroll in January 2018
Nan Desu Kan 2016 – Recapping Rocky Mountain’s Biggest Anime Convention!
BOO-It-Yourself Halloween Costumes – Misa Amane
Sunday will mark a great milestone in the Robot Chicken life story, one that few television shows ever actually reach. Sunday night’s episode will be the 100th of the series, and the cast and crew have been celebrating all week with online events related to their limited run “Chicken Love Cam.”
Please enter the url to a YouTube video.
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Daku Con 2018 Convention Recap!
Colorado Anime Fest Wrap Up
A Quick Run Down of Free Comic Book Day
September’s Twitch Giveaway!
