July 26, 2004

• ¡Mucha Lucha! at the Con

  First up, THANK YOU to everyone who showed up for the ML panel and movie screening this afternoon! Many apologies if you came for the panel at 1.15pm and we weren’t there. The schedule was changed at the very last minute so the panel/Q&A happened at 12.00pm BEFORE the screening.

  We talked briefly about the inspiration behind ¡Mucha Lucha! – our love for Mexican wrestling aka Lucha Libre and introduced the ‘Return of El Malefico’ movie. It was so refreshing for us to answer questions from kids who watch the series. This is the first time that Eddie and I have actually received direct feedback from kids about ML (And not from behind a glass panel at a focus-testing session!) It was also great to talk to the parents (one of whom was a huge El Santo fan )

  

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  Comic-Con thoughts - by Eddie

  Wow, where to start?  It was an awesome amount of creativity crammed into the one space – I’m sure they could have felt the positive rays eminating from San Diego, in deep space!

  Highlights?  Finally putting some faces to names I’ve been hearing for years (Scary Girl designer Nathan, the supremely talented Lynne Naylor, Animation Magazine’s publisher – the legendary Rita Street), discovering some great art I didn’t know existed (e.g., Howard M. Shum and Joey Mason’s Gun Fu),and getting some great ¡Mucha Lucha! feedback from people out there on the floor. 

  Actually the BIGGEST thrill was the Q&A we did with the kids at the ¡Mucha Lucha! screening.  Hearing a round of applause every time we mentioned ‘Blue Demon’ or ‘El Santo’ by name was very cool.  And at the end of the screening, a little girl in full Batgirl costume (who was a huge ML fan!  Come on, WB – where are the Buena Girl costumes?!?) had us pose with her for a picture, which was taken by her mom!

  Apart from Rafael’s Sonambulo booth (new issue ‘Mexican Stand-Off’ out now!), where Christa and Keith were showcasing ‘Hoodtown’, there wasn’t a big Lucha Libre presence.  It was good though, to see Kaiju Big Battel there in all their monstruous glory!

  Some Important Numbers:

  2 – Number of people spotted in Klingon outfits
  3 – Number of people in Spiderman outfits
  4 – Number of people in Batman outfits
  3 – Number of people in Wonder Woman outfits
  400 (or so it seemed) – Number of people dressed as Star Wars Stormtroopers
  8 - Amount of dollars they charged for a burger
  4 – Amount of Kaiju Big Battel T-shirts we bought
  2 – How many of our friends turned up to support us at the ¡Mucha Lucha! screening (thank you Jon M. Gibson and Ricky Garduno!)

  Overall, a great three days.  We’ll be running on the Comic-Con’s creative fumes for the next few months.  Memo to all our Animation colleagues in Australia; get yourself over to San Diego for next year’s con.  Trust me, you won’t regret it.  As well as making some great personal contacts, we also met some inspiring people that we hope we’ll be working with sometime soon. 

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  Now for some photos…

  
  rows and rows and rows…

  This morning as we got out of our hotel elevator, a guy in a full Jesus costume glided by, complete with a glowing neon halo attached to the top of his head. It was a very surreal moment. With all the sci-fi/fantasy/superhero costumes around, you don’t expect to see Jesus. Regrettably, there wasn’t time to pull out the camera…

  Anyhow, HERE are some photos we’ll remember the weekend by!

  • 2:50 am
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