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Minnesota Fan Fest took place over the weekend at the RiverCentre in St Paul. The comic book convention was divided into two areas: the main merchandise floor (where you can buy things, get autographs, or schedule photo sessions) and the programming panels (where creators discuss a number of topics). There were four rooms, three held about 50 seats and one large room that held about 150 seats. The larger room required a bag check and metal wand to get in the door.
Here is a recap of some of the panels we sat in.
AUGUST 19
Saturday is typically the big Comic Con day. Since all the panels took place at the same time, we had to miss some or the speakers had left before their schedule time. A few of the highlights we saw was Superman Through the Ages with speaker Dan Jurgens. Jurgens actually drew in a big crowd, a lot of locals were very supportive of his current (and past) Superman works.
Jurgens, as usual, had a lot of wonderful stories about working for DC Comics, especially working on the Death of Superman. We’ve heard his stories at least three times, but it’s always new and fresh whenever he tells it.
When asked how he works differently with some artist, he said that some newer artist, he has to actually do loose layouts for the artist to follow. For veteran artists, he doesn’t bother, he knows he’ll get a great storytelling art.
The biggest draw was Jason David Frank, who played the Green Ranger in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. This guy is always mesmerizing to watch, and despite being threatened with death by a crazy fan at the Phoenix Comicon in May, the guy remained positive throughout his appearance at the St Paul show. Still, there were two fully armed police officers/security standing on the left and right of the panel room.
Frank was really excited to mention that he is playing Bloodshot in Ninjak vs. the Valiant Universe... however, fans were only asking questions about the Power Rangers.
When asked if he would go back to fighting in MMA events, he said that if he did, he would have to train for three months at least. Which meant that he couldn’t be doing social media or things he loved.
Jason David Frank is always a blast, so be sure to sit in on his panel if he’s appearing at a show in your area.
AUGUST 20
With a shorter show on Sunday (scheduled from 10am to 5pm) we mostly hung out at the panel. We were mostly excited about Garrett Wang (Harry Kim on Star Trek: Voyager). In the television Star Trek world, there’s only been three Asian lead crew members, Sulu on the original Star Trek, Kim on Voyager, and Hoshi Sato on Enterprise.
The Asian thing is funny, because there was a woman in the audience that claimed her father knew Wang’s aunt. After some back and forth questions, Wang said it must be brother “da” (the word for big) from Michigan. Another Asian in the audience led Wang on a long story about how the Chinese discovered America 70 years before Columbus, referring one of his favorite books 1421: The Year China Discovered America.
He mentioned that he was one of the first Voyager crew to sign a contract with Creation and started working at conventions. One of his first was an appearance in Minneapolis in 1995, where over 2,000 people showed up to his panel. He confessed he honestly had no memory of who else appeared at the Star Trek convention, but a fan in the audience reminded him that George Takei (Sulu) was also there. Takei was such an influence on Wang, as well as many Asian-American at the time. Wang also does a great Takei impression, and would often use that commanding voice whenever he need someone to pay attention. Oh myyy!
When ask if there were any funny stories/pranksters on the Voyager set, he said that Tim Russ (Tuvok) was very different from his Vulcan character. There was a story about how the Voyager crew had to undress for some examination and Russ had stuffed twenty socks in his underwear.
When asked if he was excited about Star Trek: Discovery, he said, “Of course, I’m excited! As with any Science Fiction shows,” but that he was worried about Discovery when head writer/developer Bryan Fuller left the series. Still, he’s optimistic and added that he’s actually more excited about The Orville (which is a Star Trek parody TV series starring Seth MacFarlane).
Before he left, he had two funny stories he wanted to tell. The first was he met a girl who watched Voyager when she was young and always thought Wang’s character was named “Handsome Kim” (instead of Ensign Kim).
The second story is how he met the real Harry Kim at an airport. Harry Kim said that for a time his crew in the Navy would give him a hard time.
Wang surprised, said, “So you’re also an ensign!?”
Kim quickly responded, “No, I got promoted!”
Laughs all around, as Wang left his table. What a delight, let’s hope to see Wang in a cameo on The Orville this September.
The Preacher Panel featured Ken F Levin as speaker. He was soft-spoken and told us the long, long (over 1 hour and 20 minutes) of how he got involved working on AMC’s Preacher. It started with his background (as a civil trial lawyer and publisher of First Comics) in 1985, to meeting Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon to option the right for Preacher as a movie. Obviously they couldn’t do it as a feature film, but ended up doing it as a television series. The rights were going to expire, and within days, they got all the right people on board.
There was a long bidding war between FX and AMC, but eventually AMC got the show after five weeks of bids and counter bids.
A lot of interesting bits about Preacher, for example, Ennis wanted Kate Winslet to play Tulip O’Hare, but she would never do something as crass as Preacher. It was agreed that they wanted someone not white in the show, and since they couldn’t change a Texan like Jesse Custer or Irish vampire Cassidy, it had to be Tulip.
Ken F Levin could probably talk for another eight hours, but eventually his time was up ... and Bob Layton took over the room. The former Iron Man co-writer and artist also had a lot to say about his days in the comic book industry. He made it clear that he no longer work in the industry, and pulled no punches on why he left: “It’s a failing business.” He cited that during the hey-day, circulation for a title was 120,000 and that was considered not good. Nowadays, he stated that the average title sells only 15,000 copies.
While it may or may not be true, Layton does paint a bleak picture of the industry. When a fan ask how he can break into the comic book world, Layton said he’s been out of it so long that he really didn’t know how anyone can break in. He told us how he got in, it was just timing. He was over at Marvel Comics trying to show off his portfolio when he overheard John Romita Sr was trying to get someone to ink an entire issue of Iron Man in four days. Layton said he could do it and took the original pages to Neal Adams’ Continuity company and asked all the inkers there to help him finish the book. “Ink everything, except for Iron Man, and the beers are on me!” he said.
In record time, he was able to deliver the Iron Man issue for the deadline. And a week later, he got a book (Champions) sent to him to ink... and a steady job with Marvel Comics after that.
When asked about Jim Shooter (who co-founded Valiant Comics with Bob Layton), he had nothing good to say. The impression I got out of hearing him talk about Shooter, was that Layton didn’t get a square deal out of Valiant... and eventually the company was sold to a video game company, Acclaim (who would also publish the popular Turok video game series).
Although at times, Layton seemed jaded, but after working in the industry for over 30 years, you have to cut him some slack.
Boondock Saints co-star Sean Patrick Flanery was a lot of fun. He came off as a very hard-working blue-collar guy, who also acts. He said he’s worked all his life, anything from digging ditches to retail, but there is no job like acting, “There’s no job in the world that people will walk up to you and say, ‘Great job!’,” adding “I’ve already been overcompensated for my work!”
He had a great story about his only appearance on Criminal Mind as the character Darrin Call. There were, how can I put it, two rednecks at a convenient store in Riverside, California, who spotted Flanery buying a Pay Day. The two were big fans of Darrin Call, as it was the only show they had on their broken VCR for the last four years.
He had a lot to say about his book Jane Two and said that we can read his personal thoughts on his blog shineuntiltomorrow.com.
Here is a recap of some of the panels we sat in.
AUGUST 19
Saturday is typically the big Comic Con day. Since all the panels took place at the same time, we had to miss some or the speakers had left before their schedule time. A few of the highlights we saw was Superman Through the Ages with speaker Dan Jurgens. Jurgens actually drew in a big crowd, a lot of locals were very supportive of his current (and past) Superman works.
Jurgens, as usual, had a lot of wonderful stories about working for DC Comics, especially working on the Death of Superman. We’ve heard his stories at least three times, but it’s always new and fresh whenever he tells it.
When asked how he works differently with some artist, he said that some newer artist, he has to actually do loose layouts for the artist to follow. For veteran artists, he doesn’t bother, he knows he’ll get a great storytelling art.
The biggest draw was Jason David Frank, who played the Green Ranger in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. This guy is always mesmerizing to watch, and despite being threatened with death by a crazy fan at the Phoenix Comicon in May, the guy remained positive throughout his appearance at the St Paul show. Still, there were two fully armed police officers/security standing on the left and right of the panel room.
Frank was really excited to mention that he is playing Bloodshot in Ninjak vs. the Valiant Universe... however, fans were only asking questions about the Power Rangers.
When asked if he would go back to fighting in MMA events, he said that if he did, he would have to train for three months at least. Which meant that he couldn’t be doing social media or things he loved.
Jason David Frank is always a blast, so be sure to sit in on his panel if he’s appearing at a show in your area.
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Panel Room 10 |
Panel Room 11 |
Panel Room 12 |
Panel Room 13/14/15 |
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Eddie McClintock
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| Comic Book Trivia |
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Marvel vs DC Comics
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Dark Tower
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AUGUST 20
With a shorter show on Sunday (scheduled from 10am to 5pm) we mostly hung out at the panel. We were mostly excited about Garrett Wang (Harry Kim on Star Trek: Voyager). In the television Star Trek world, there’s only been three Asian lead crew members, Sulu on the original Star Trek, Kim on Voyager, and Hoshi Sato on Enterprise.
The Asian thing is funny, because there was a woman in the audience that claimed her father knew Wang’s aunt. After some back and forth questions, Wang said it must be brother “da” (the word for big) from Michigan. Another Asian in the audience led Wang on a long story about how the Chinese discovered America 70 years before Columbus, referring one of his favorite books 1421: The Year China Discovered America.
He mentioned that he was one of the first Voyager crew to sign a contract with Creation and started working at conventions. One of his first was an appearance in Minneapolis in 1995, where over 2,000 people showed up to his panel. He confessed he honestly had no memory of who else appeared at the Star Trek convention, but a fan in the audience reminded him that George Takei (Sulu) was also there. Takei was such an influence on Wang, as well as many Asian-American at the time. Wang also does a great Takei impression, and would often use that commanding voice whenever he need someone to pay attention. Oh myyy!
When ask if there were any funny stories/pranksters on the Voyager set, he said that Tim Russ (Tuvok) was very different from his Vulcan character. There was a story about how the Voyager crew had to undress for some examination and Russ had stuffed twenty socks in his underwear.
When asked if he was excited about Star Trek: Discovery, he said, “Of course, I’m excited! As with any Science Fiction shows,” but that he was worried about Discovery when head writer/developer Bryan Fuller left the series. Still, he’s optimistic and added that he’s actually more excited about The Orville (which is a Star Trek parody TV series starring Seth MacFarlane).
Before he left, he had two funny stories he wanted to tell. The first was he met a girl who watched Voyager when she was young and always thought Wang’s character was named “Handsome Kim” (instead of Ensign Kim).
The second story is how he met the real Harry Kim at an airport. Harry Kim said that for a time his crew in the Navy would give him a hard time.
Wang surprised, said, “So you’re also an ensign!?”
Kim quickly responded, “No, I got promoted!”
Laughs all around, as Wang left his table. What a delight, let’s hope to see Wang in a cameo on The Orville this September.
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Panel Room 10 |
Panel Room 11 |
Panel Room 12 |
Panel Room 13/14/15 |
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Monsters of All Size: All Age Comics
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Harry Potter & the Panel of Fandom
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Comic Book Cosplay
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The Preacher Panel featured Ken F Levin as speaker. He was soft-spoken and told us the long, long (over 1 hour and 20 minutes) of how he got involved working on AMC’s Preacher. It started with his background (as a civil trial lawyer and publisher of First Comics) in 1985, to meeting Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon to option the right for Preacher as a movie. Obviously they couldn’t do it as a feature film, but ended up doing it as a television series. The rights were going to expire, and within days, they got all the right people on board.
There was a long bidding war between FX and AMC, but eventually AMC got the show after five weeks of bids and counter bids.
A lot of interesting bits about Preacher, for example, Ennis wanted Kate Winslet to play Tulip O’Hare, but she would never do something as crass as Preacher. It was agreed that they wanted someone not white in the show, and since they couldn’t change a Texan like Jesse Custer or Irish vampire Cassidy, it had to be Tulip.
Ken F Levin could probably talk for another eight hours, but eventually his time was up ... and Bob Layton took over the room. The former Iron Man co-writer and artist also had a lot to say about his days in the comic book industry. He made it clear that he no longer work in the industry, and pulled no punches on why he left: “It’s a failing business.” He cited that during the hey-day, circulation for a title was 120,000 and that was considered not good. Nowadays, he stated that the average title sells only 15,000 copies.
While it may or may not be true, Layton does paint a bleak picture of the industry. When a fan ask how he can break into the comic book world, Layton said he’s been out of it so long that he really didn’t know how anyone can break in. He told us how he got in, it was just timing. He was over at Marvel Comics trying to show off his portfolio when he overheard John Romita Sr was trying to get someone to ink an entire issue of Iron Man in four days. Layton said he could do it and took the original pages to Neal Adams’ Continuity company and asked all the inkers there to help him finish the book. “Ink everything, except for Iron Man, and the beers are on me!” he said.
In record time, he was able to deliver the Iron Man issue for the deadline. And a week later, he got a book (Champions) sent to him to ink... and a steady job with Marvel Comics after that.
When asked about Jim Shooter (who co-founded Valiant Comics with Bob Layton), he had nothing good to say. The impression I got out of hearing him talk about Shooter, was that Layton didn’t get a square deal out of Valiant... and eventually the company was sold to a video game company, Acclaim (who would also publish the popular Turok video game series).
Although at times, Layton seemed jaded, but after working in the industry for over 30 years, you have to cut him some slack.
Boondock Saints co-star Sean Patrick Flanery was a lot of fun. He came off as a very hard-working blue-collar guy, who also acts. He said he’s worked all his life, anything from digging ditches to retail, but there is no job like acting, “There’s no job in the world that people will walk up to you and say, ‘Great job!’,” adding “I’ve already been overcompensated for my work!”
He had a great story about his only appearance on Criminal Mind as the character Darrin Call. There were, how can I put it, two rednecks at a convenient store in Riverside, California, who spotted Flanery buying a Pay Day. The two were big fans of Darrin Call, as it was the only show they had on their broken VCR for the last four years.
He had a lot to say about his book Jane Two and said that we can read his personal thoughts on his blog shineuntiltomorrow.com.
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Garrett Wang at Minnesota Fan Fest (20 August 2017) |
