For those of you wondering who will return for Pacific Rim 2 the answer is everyone who didn’t die. Charlie Day will be back (YES!) and will play a bigger role, and so will his German scientist buddy Burn Gorman. Charlie Hunnam will be back of course, and I can only imagine Ron Perlman will pop up too. Source: Slash Films
Bill Murray will indeed make an appearance in Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot, but he will not be playing Peter Venkman. What the what? Source: Birth Movies Death
Jeff Pinkner (The Amazin Spider-Man 2, Lost, Fringe) will reportedly be writing Universal Studios remake of The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and the lead role has been offered to Scarlett Johansson. Creature is one of the best monsters and movies of all time, don’t you ruin this for me Pinkner! Source: Tracking Board
23 Jump Street is happening. And this time they’re going to med school. And Chris Miller and Phil Lord will only be producing. Source: Slash Films
It was another quiet weekend at the box office. Mission Impossible held on to the top spot, Fantastic Four was a Fantastic Fail, and The Gift made a descent showing for a film of it’s genre.
Miles Morales will be swinging at ya this fall after the Secret Wars arc is over. Not only that, but he will be the Spider-Man. No asterisk. He is the real deal. Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli will work on the book together. Bendis and Pichelli are the co-creators of the bi-racial Puerto Rican and African-American character, who debuted in 2011. Along with the news, Bendis told the story of when his little boy, who is African-American found a Miles Morales mask in the store:
“I started crying in the middle of the aisle,” says Bendis. “I realized my kids are going to grow up in a world that has a multi-racial Spider-Man, and an African American Captain America and a female Thor.”
It looks like Marvel Studios liked the first Thor movie better than the second because they are reportedly looking to get Kenneth Branaugh to return to the franchise. Thor: Ragnarok will play a big part in the development of the MCU and Marvel wants the property to be entrusted to someone they trust and feel will tell the story best. Source: Screen Rant
For those of you asking for it, which I’m assuming is none of you, a new Halloween movie will begin production next month. This one won’t even follow the rebooted storyline done by Rob Zombie a few years ago. This will be the 11th film in the original series. Because why not? Why bother keeping iconic film villains scary? Let’s just turn them all into punchlines and laughing stocks. Source: Geek Tyrant
Malcolm Merlyn, aka the new Ra’s al Ghul, will be returning to Arrow season four. John Barrowman finalized his contact and confirmed his return. Source: Comicbook.com
David Tennant, British actor extraordinaire, will be the voice of Mason Savoy in Chew, the animated series. The role was originally Robin Williams, and after his untimely death, the producers of Chew wanted tot take time before finding a replacement. Tennant is reportedly in studio this week working on his parts. Source: The Hollywood Reporter
And finally, this weekend at the box office dinosaurs still ruled the earth while Pixar fans felt some feelings with a strong opening weekend, and an indie property showed it can hang with the big boys.
The Game of Thrones season 5 finale aired on Sunday night and left audiences speechless. I won’t reveal anything here, but if you haven’t seen it yet, I will at least say that this episode is a game changer. Now go watch it.
Jurassic World opened over the weekend and was the best movie ever. Don’t believe me? It set the record for the highest global opening ever – the history of movies, making $524.1 million. The previous champion was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 with $483.2 million. Source: CNN
It also broke the US box office record for highest grossing opening weekend of all time.Jurassic World made $208.8 million domestically, beating out the previous record holder, The Avengers, which opened at $207.4 million. Source: Deadline
In other Jurassic World news, we should expect to see some sequels because Chris Pratt has already signed on to do them. Source: EW
Sony Pictures is releasing a third The Smurfs movie, and this one will be all animation and no live-action (sorry NPH) and is called Get Smurphy. Over the weekend the film title and three new cast members were announced, Demi Lovato as Smurfette, Rainn Wilson as Gargamel, and Mandy Patinkin as Papa Smurf. I can’t wait to not see this movie. Source: ScreenRant
Brad Pitt may have changed the game for modern movie studios when it was announced that he will star in a Netflix exclusive movie called War Machine. Source: Geek Tyrant
A new Doom trailer as well as game play footage premiered at E3 over the weekend. You can expect that game to hit shelves in Spring 2016. Source: ComicBook.com
Another big announcement out of E3 this weekend is that there will be a Dishonored 2. They premiered the trailer and you can expect this game out in Spring 2016 as well. Source: ComicBook.com
As we all know, Fear the Walking Dead is a prequel to The Walking Dead and takes place during the zombie outbreak. However, it was revealed over the weekend that the plan for the series is for it to eventually catch up to TWD’s timeline. And then they can do crossover episodes! Oh god I hope not… Source: EW
And finally, this weekend at the box office Jurassic World dominated, and no other new releases even graced the top five:
1. Jurassic World $208.8 million
2. Spy $16 million
3. San Andreas $11 million
4. Insidious: Chapter 3 $7.3 million
5. Pitch Perfect 2 $6 million
There was a Gilmore Girls reunion and Jared Padalecki was there, so that’s a thing.
There is officially no getting around the cold, hard truth: Constantine is totally and completely undeniably canceled. And it will not be picked up by SyFy, Netflix, Hulu, or Yahoo! Screen. The writing was rough at times, and recasting Zed so early on was a strange choice, but I thought Matt Ryan was an excellent John Constantine. The show had a strong, but small fan base and while the Twitter trends were exciting and Stephen Amell and Mark Sheppard’s efforts to save the show gave fans hope for a future, Executive Producer Daniel Cerone confirmed over the weekend that audiences must bid Constantine a fond farewell forever. But don’t worry guys, Gotham is coming back for season two…/cringe. Source: Comic Book Movie
Joseph Gordon-Levitt opened up about Sandman over the weekend, acknowledging why pre-production is taking so long and his vision for the film. Levitt says it will be “a grand spectacular action film, but that relies on none of those old ordinary cliches.” As in no punching, no blowing shit up. When Sandman finally hits theaters it will hopefully be like no other comic book movie ever before, since it is such a beautiful and unique property. I suppose if anyone can do it, Joseph Gordon-Levitt can. Source: MTV
BART SIMPSON IS GOING TO DIE! There, now that I’ve sensationalized the story I can tell the truth. Al Jean revealed at ATX over the weekend that after 25 years of blood lust Sideshow Bob will finally kill Bart Simpson. However, it will happen in a segment in the Treehouse of Horror episode, meaning Bart Simpson is in fact not going to die and will be around for the rest of the series. The Treehouse of Horror episodes have always been my favorite so I’m pretty damn excited to see how Sideshow Bob finally gets the drop on Bart. Source: EW
Rumors about a reboot of The Stand have been circulating for a long while now. Josh Boone is attached to direct the property and is determined to make it a top priority, and now he seems to have found an all-new way to properly address the source material. He is in talks with Showtime to direct and eight episode miniseries that will lead straight into a big budget feature film release for the conclusion. Nothing is final yet, and this is a risky move, but if it works out it may be the best way to do justice to one of Stephen King’s greatest works ever. Source: The Wrap
Jason Statham is (or isn’t) in talks to play Bullseye in Daredevil season two. Either that or he was (or wasn’t) but if there ever were talks between him and Marvel they have allegedly fallen apart because of the leak that Statham was in talks to with Marvel. See? That made no sense. Rumors are a little nuts with this one right now. Statham may or may not be in talks with Marvel to play Bullseye, but those supposed talks may or may not have fallen apart because a leak hit the Internet that they were happening. Source: Screen Rant
Apparently this was the weekend of the trailer/teaser/TV spot because we were privileged with releases from The Martian, Ant Man, Fantastic Four, and Jurassic World.
The Martian gave us our first glimpse of the film and Matt Damon introducing his team:
Ant-Man shed some light on to how this unlikely superhero will fit in with all the other big guys in the MCU:
Fantastic Four gave us the Human Torch all ablaze and stuff:
And Jurassic World gave us our final trailer before the film’s release on Friday, June 12. This one is darker and scarier, but I don’t think they can build anticipation any higher at this point:
And finally, here is the weekend box office round up. It turns out that good comedy can be action, horror movies never come in first, and I guess the ride was over for bromantics:
News that Rocked the Nerd Verse is a weekly recap of some of the biggest nerd news of the week. We cover articles published on Hush Comics and include some things we didn’t get the chance to talk about over the week. New recaps come out every Friday afternoon!
The only thing that any cares about this week: Fallout 4 is happening. Let the overanalyzing of every scene begin. Read more here.
From French Revolutionary, to astrophysicist, to Magizoologist. That’s right, Eddie Redmayne is Newt Scamander! Read more here.
The guy who directed Shrek and Chronicles of Narnia is taking on the Zombies vs. Robots movie. So it’s a kids movie?Read more here.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is remaking his favorite 80’s flick: Big Trouble in Little China is about to get a lot more muscular. Read more here.
A Community/ X-Files mash-up? Not really. But Joel McHale has joined the cast of the reboot for the latter. Read more here.
Aquaman might be really scary; James Wan, director of Saw, Insidious, and The Conjuring, will also be directing the DC film. Read more here.
Chris Pratt was very open about his emotions when reading the Guardians of the Galaxy 2 script. Read more here.
A trailer for August’s Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem released, making us realize that it should be released in October, considering it is about Halloween and all. Read more here.
The scary “Night on Bald Mountain” scene from Fantasia is going to be a full-lengh live-action film. Then thousands went to YouTube to get a refresher of the original and judge how the live-action will never live up. Read more here.
Scream: The TV Series is proving it’s worth 20 years after the original movie. And the mask made us cry. Read more here.
Fuck you Westboro Baptist Church. Wizards can marry each other no matter what! Read more here.
Get well soon, Nichelle Nichols! We at Hush Comics love you! Read more here.
The All-New All-Different Marvel Roster is here! Read more here.
And I leave you with a trailer for The Good Dinosaur, which we didn’t get the chance to add this week. It looks sooooo good.
News that Rocked the Nerd Verse is a weekly recap of some of the biggest nerd news of the week. We cover articles published on Hush Comics and include some things we didn’t get the chance to talk about over the week. New recaps come out every Friday afternoon!
Jared Leto stepped onto set on Suicide Squad as Joker and everyone is freaking out that he might be violent to Harley Quinn. It’s like they’ve never cracked a comic before. Read the full article here.
Producer Greg Berlanti revealed a better, bigger budget for his CBS show Supergirl and basically called The CW poor. Read the full article here.
Jaden Smith took Justice on a date to him prom because he wore his white Batman suit. Jelly. Read the full article here.
The Marvel Universe will begin 8 months after the events in Secret Wars as if we weren’t confused enough already. Read the full article here.
Brian Michael Bendis is not a dick, despite reports. Shockingly, he had no say in Marvel pushing the release of Uncanny X-Men #600 to October. Read the full article here.
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials has a trailer now, too. Apparently, the trailer is already disappointing fans of the books. Read the full article here.
The Pan trailer looks fit for Johnny Depp and Tim Burton. But thank god neither are attached. Read the full article here.
New Captain America 3 set photos were leaked and we learned that Chris Evans stunt double is not nearly as hot. Read the full article here.
Chris Pratt told GQ that he will be in 5 more Marvel movies. GQ told Chris Pratt that he really needed some photoshop and tanner. Read the full article here.
FOX’s new show Scream Queens looks like the perfect show for women in their late 20’s and early 30’s to watch and reminisce about all the old bitchy teen movies they used watch. (Still watch.) (This describes me.) Read the full article here.
Transformers might have a strong female in it now that Robert Kirkman is set to pen the sequels. The sequels of the sequels. Read the full article here.
Always the vigilante, Stephen Amell wears his hockey mask really well in set photos from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2. Read the full article here.
The always adorable Reese Witherspoon will star in Tink as Tinker Bell. Was there any other choice? Read the full article here.
Yesterday the sport’s world lost a friend. Stuart Scott passed away at age 49. Watch this amazing tribute to his life here. Source: ESPN
The Talking Dead – your favorite talk show – won’t be on at Sundays at 8pm anymore. But don’t fret, it will be moving to the 9pm slot, in order to give Better Call Saul the 8pm slot. Things could be worse. Source: Twitter.
The Hobbit is still holding onto the Number 1 spot in the box office with 220.77 million made. Haven’t seen it? May be a good time now that people have to work again after the holidays. Source: Fandango
Hipsters went crazy when the Jurassic World preview came out last year. Now they will have to watch the Super Bowl to see a super-sized trailer. They may actually care about the game, too. Source: ABC News
A fan made LEGO movie is making the rounds. Jordan Haro created his very own Batman vs. Superman movie, and let me tell you, it is hilarious. Source: BrickFlix
DC Collectibles will be releasing a line of Li’l Gotham figures, based on the designs of Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs. It only makes since that The Joker and Harley Quinn are the best of this series. Source: GeekDad
We listened and responded! We miss doing news articles as much as you miss reading them, so we will be attempting daily blurbs of random nerd happenings. Feedback is always welcome!
Very soon, our comprehensive review of the Best of 2014 will be making its way to you all. Articles of awesomeness, and podcasts to boot. This is all new to us, so stay tuned! When it all goes live, you can find it here.
Tekken has further diversified their cast with the announcement that a new character named Shaheen (Translates roughly to “God of the Falcons” in Arabic) from Saudi Arabia will be added to Tekken 7, debuting in Japan in arcades next month. Source: Twitter
The fighting game we’re all really excited for, Mortal Kombat X, has released some details about characters and gameplay. We now know that the story takes place 25 years after the events of Mortal Kombat (9) and will feature a relatively aged Kung Lao, as well as an online Campaign mode that allows you to forge alliances with different MK factions. The game comes out in April. Source: Pelaaja magazine and AeroGrunt.
PlayStation Plus members, rejoice! Free for PS4 this month is inFamous: First Light. I don’t regret paying for it when it came out, but it’s definitely worth your time now that it is free.
A $50 LEGO set just dropped today that includes a Batman mecha-suit and, get this, a Wonder Woman invisible jet! Grodd does not stand a chance. Source: LEGO.com
I bet you didn’t know that Hawkeye writer Matt Fraction is actually a great guy in real life? If you visit WeLoveFine.com right now, you can purchase Hawkeye gear that supports Futures Without Violence, an organization dedicated to the eradication of violence against women and children (violence against men is still encouraged).
Thanks to 3D printing, is there really stopping anybody with a lot of money from becoming Batman? A collaboration of 3D printing companies say “Hell No!” Check out their prototype of the Arkham Origins Batsuit. Source: 3Dprint.com.
TV season is out to heat up with premieres of Agent Carter (1/6/15), American Horror Story (1/7/15) and Archer within the next week. Get your DVRs ready!
Athletes are modern day super heroes, and Marvel has created a documentary to show why. If you like sports figures as much as you like your comic book characters, check out their new documentary, 1 of 1: Genesis. Source: YouTube.
Phil Noto, artist of Black Widow, has put together a series of throwback, photo-realistic variants for various Marvel books set to come out in February. Source: ComicsAlliance.
The new Daredevil series on Netflix is gonna be bananas; we already knew that. What I didn’t know is that Marvel TV exec Jeph Loeb (yup, the guy that wrote Batman: Hush) is going for a vibe kind of like HBO’s The Wire. I don’t know how that will translate into Matt Murdock’s life, but those words can never be bad. Source: EW.
Get your best People’s Eyebrow on, because finally, Hush Comics has come back… to Denver. It was just one year ago that we stepped in the Colorado Convention Center for the Second Annual Denver Comic Con and our eyes were open to what Hush could do. After the local convention blew us away, we started venturing to other conventions around the country – well, as much as our budget allows. This year, we were a well-oiled machine. We were handing out cards and stickers (hit us up if you want one because we have a few extras!), mingling with fellow con-goers and doing almost everything there was to be done. We took a bunch of pictures of cosplayers, attended a bunch of panels and even got to interview some of the hottest artists at the convention, all of which you can find at the links below.
In this article, you will find one of the most complete Denver Comic Con 2014 experiences on the web, all of which came from a diverse team (see Special Thanks To at the end of the article) of nerds that we have the pleasure of calling our own.
Click on the link to take you to all of our Denver Comic Con 2014 articles
The City
The Mile High City is home to the fastest-growing city of nerds in the country. In only its third year, the estimated attendance of nearly 75,000 people has sky-rocketed it to the fourth-largest comic book convention in the WORLD, right behind San Diego, New York City and Toronto – cities with at least four times the population than that of Denver. Google “Nerdiest cities in America,” and there’s a good chance you’ll find Denver on any given list.
One of the greatest qualities of the nerds here in Denver is how diverse they are, making comic cons here a hotbed for the Mile High community. A hardcore Star Wars fan might know all there is to know about but know nothing of Doctor Who and comic books, or vice versa. This diversity usually leads to tons of pocketed groups, meaning that there is always somebody that you can strike up a conversation with pretty much anybody at any time about anything. Most convention goers I have spoken with are nice enough to tell you about their respective fandoms.
The city of Denver isn’t actually all that big, but several large suburbs make up a fair percentage of the land and population. Thanks to years of construction projects, navigating the city from any particular section is fairly early when taking the RTD Light Rail system. The best part was boarding the train with a ton of cosplayers, decked out in their extravagant costumes, sitting right next to people who had no idea Comic Con was even going on. Also, if you wanted to drive, you don’t have to roll the dice on a spot downtown or settle for an expensive lot; there were plenty of parking spots across the street from the Colorado Convention Center at Metro State University.
If you’re staying downtown, there is plenty to do on the weekends. One of the nerdiest attractions is the 1UP bar, a full-service bar that has a plethora of old-school arcade games like Mortal Kombat II, Tron and Paperboy – even a real-life giant game of Jenga with 2 x 4 blocks of wood. The Pavilion area on 16th street is also quite the fantastical place, full of street performers, eateries and shops to pass the time. Theater nerds can geek out at the Denver Center of Performing Arts, which hosts a variety of plays and events all year long.
There are multiple comic book stores in the metro area, and additional ones in surrounding suburbs. Each shop offers a different experience and has a specialty of sorts. All C’s Collectibles in Aurora is a great place to find sports cards, coin collections and back issues. The shop has been in business for over 25 years and is the go-to spot when I’m on that side of town. I Want More Comics is an up and coming store in Northglenn (about 10-15 minutes of highway North of downtown) that has a lot of trade paperbacks and unique collectibles. It’s hard to spend less than an hour per visit there. The store we go to for books is Mile High Comics, which has four locations in the metro area. Their Glendale store on Colorado Blvd is pretty much home to me, where Aaron and Jay always hook us up with our weekly books and specialty figures. Mile High’s Jason St. warehouse is just that – a warehouse, and the biggest comic book emporium in the world. Whether it’s a rare back-issue, an out-of-print trade or a toy you didn’t know you needed, you can find just about anything in the world of nerd at that warehouse.
Denver is a city that makes itself very accessible to nerds, and is very accepting of the culture, in general. It’s one of the contributing factors that makes it one of the best cities in the country for young professionals, hipsters, and relocation. The continued diversity of people Denver gets only adds to the attraction of events like Comic Con. The best part is that the event hasn’t even been saturated; there are still thousands of people who either couldn’t go or need to be converted. Denver is a nerd gold mine right now, and it’s great to see how many people are striking big in the Mile High City.
How Denver Comic Con Works:
Let’s be honest; last year’s Denver Comic Con was poorly organized. It wasn’t DCC’s fault, either. There was just no way to prepare for the explosion of attendance that happened between the inaugural year, which saw a modest 28,000 people attend, and 2013, where attendance ballooned to 63,000 people – making it the fifth largest convention in the world after only two years. The problems were more logistical than anything, and this year was a great reaction to the issues that plagued the previous convention. The entire exhibitor’s hall was organized in a much more logical fashion, volunteers were actually informed of what was happening, and people were actually let in the doors when the Con opened.
Our buddy Zak Kinsella and Midspace writer Nick Salmon at their panel
Some nifty Denver Street Art
Even the trees are crocheted in Denver
Fiona Staples hard at work
Jim Cummings put on a show for us… er, I mean the kids.
This year, DCC saw a reported 75,000 attendees flood the convention center. Some were looking for autographs and art sketches, some were looking to go to panels and look at cosplayers, and some were just so absolutely lost in the chaos that they walked the exhibitor’s hall like a group of Amish at Best Buy. I would venture to say that a majority of the attendees knew what they wanted to do and how to get there. Artists and creators were located at the back of the hall, while retail shops and displays took up most of the front. Off to the side was the celebrity signing booths, where various celebs took to signing for large blocks of time. Meanwhile, panel rooms were sprawled out on the first floor. Convention food could be found in multiple places, and aside from the $4 bottles of water, it was reasonably priced and tasted delicious.
Due to the fact that we had a team of BAMFs (Nightcrawler or Pulp Fiction – either analogy works) networking, attending panels, and taking some great cosplay pics, we were free to do so much more than before at a convention. For others, it was a bit more difficult. Due to the small size of the Main Even and Mini Main Event panel rooms, it wasn’t uncommon to wait for an hour just to get a seat in a panel. We noticed the same thing when it came to getting a sketch from an artist or an autograph from a celebrity. At that point, it’s all a matter of prioritization. There were definitely things we didn’t get to do or see over the weekend, but I feel like had they been our top priorities, they would have gotten done.
There is so much cosplay going on at the Denver Comic Con that it punches you right in the face as you walk in the doors. The sheer volume was amazing. I’d guess that I saw more people dressed as Harley Quinn here than I did people dressed up altogether at Houston’s Comicpalooza. From Dragonball Z to Dark Crystal, the diverse crowd really made for a thoroughly entertaining game of Guess Who? People we talked to said they came to DCC specifically for the cosplay, and the hard work put into their costumes proved their validity – especially in the contest winning Mr. Freeze. The dedication didn’t just stop at costumes. Colorado Movie Cars had a fleet of nerd-inspired vehicles for attendees to look at, including the Ghostbusters‘ Ecto-1, Knight Rider‘s K.I.T.T., Bumblebee’s Camaro, Herbie and the TMNT Party Wagon, which it has become my new goal in life to build. There were also two Batmobiles in the house (Burton and West) and the Umbrella Corps Dodge Magnum.
This year also brought in some big name guests. Since the convention was created to promote Comic Book Classroom, a lot of the guests are people that we grew up idolizing as kids, like: Kevin Conroy (the voice of Batman in Batman: The Animated Series), Jim Cummings (the voice of Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and Darkwing Duck), Adam West and LeVar Burton. We were all there to see somebody different, and our varying experiences were all equally cherished. The love didn’t stop there, though, as we were able to get some astonishing artwork and keepsakes from our favorite people in the nerd world.
Leila del Duca sketch
Patrick Gleason Damian sketch
Patrick Gleason Batman sketch
Georges Jeanty Faith and Vampire Buffy sketches
Fiona Staples Alana sketch
The Two Blue Beasts battle it out
Meet the Press!
Hush Comics was lucky enough to receive media passes to DCC, and we felt like we were treated with great respect. Not only were we able to get priority seating for the popular panels, but we were also granted access to the exhibitor’s hall before the doors opened. Both days we snuck in early, we were there to interview artists. We were able to sit down for an extended amount of time and speak with Georges Jeanty, who just ended his run on Serenity: Leaves on the Wind, and Yanick Paquette, who’s currently working on Wonder Woman: Earth One. Both were complete gentlemen, and the formal interview quickly turned into a completely casual back and forth. We were even able to request a commission from each of them of our favorite characters making a hushing gesture and they turned out amazing! Check them out below:
Yanick Paquette Swamp Thing sketch
Georges Jeanty Buffy sketch
Like at Comicpalooza, we were lucky enough to give away a couple of 3-Day passes to a lucky Facebook fan by the name of Jumoke Emery, who is a great guy getting to enjoy his first Comic Con. Here’s his account of the weekend:
So I have a confession to make: This was my very first Comic Con experience. Mostly I spent it wandering around starry-eyed, high-fiving awesome cosplays while not the least bit tipsy off of Brews Wayne. I was most excited for the panels, yet managed to miss every single panel that I stood in line for (P.S. Comic-con lines for panels can be ridiculous, and I’ve decided that the fire marshal and I aren’t friends). However, I still had a blast! Being among my fellow geeks feels like home, now the only debate is whether I’m John Stewart or Power Man for next year’s Con. Shout outs to Hush Comics for helping me have an amazing Father’s Day weekend!
Aside from the great interactions we had with people, it was such a joy to be able to tell people what we’ve built over the past year. It’s not the shiniest website on the web, but the hard work and hours of writing feels validated when we get such great feedback from people we randomly meet and strike up conversations with. I can only expect that we will continue to grow, adding more quality writers and covering more ground than we do now. Thanks to everybody that made this a fun and fruitful experience. See you next year!
Special Thanks to:
Jacob Robinson: You may have seen him dressed as Ash Bender at DCC, or just noticed his stylish mustache and dreads. Jacob wrote multiple panel articles and
Jené Conrad: Although Jené had to leave for the weekend to attend a friend’s wedding, she was an integral part of getting set up for the convention, and was not shy at all about networking with others on Hush’s behalf.
Robert Michael: Most of the photography of the convention you see was taken by either Adrian or Robert. He also wrote a few of the big panels, like The Oatmeal and Arrow. Robert was the utmost professional and we are lucky to have him on the team
Robert LOVES reading
Alyssa Mitchell: This girl is a machine! She came to the convention after pulling night shifts, and was an absolute pleasure to be around. She’s Robert’s girlfriend, so it makes sense she was always at work – whether it be pushing the Hush name, taking media duties or helping us plan out the day.
Charlotte Renken: Our newest writer is a straight-up prodigy. We sawn her passion for cosplay inspire others in real time, and we’re lucky her unique voice has found a home at Hush Comics.
Lewis Brown: This phenomenal artist is one of our favorites in Denver. Check out his Facebook page. He’s extremely humble and personable, and he spent a lot of his time at the con doing free work for the non-profit Aurora Rise. Definitely make yourself familiar with his work, so that one day, you can tell people you knew who Lewis Brown was before he made it.
Scott McCauliffe: Scott has had the most unique experience at DCC among us; he has been an artist at the con, a patron, and this year, a member of the press. He was able to make it for Father’s Day, and his article on his experience is one worth reading.
Evan Lowe: Evan couldn’t be here in person this year. He was busy completing a rigorous course to get his Master’s Degree in Social Work! The only thing he requested was a picture of Lou Ferrigno. I’d like to think we delivered. Now that his courseload has slowed down, expect more from him soon.
Sherif and Adrian: We had to throw a little love our way… mostly so I could post these pictures of us.
Adrian Interviewing Georges Jeanty
Adrian Interviewing Georges Jeanty
Sherif and Adrian with The Batman, Kevin Conroy
Sherifs signed BTAS collection
TMNT Party Wagon!
Sherif with the Adam West Batmobile
Robert and Sherif sitting down with Yanick Paquette
Sherif and Fiona Staples. No lie!
Tips for Future DCC-ers:
Buy your passes early. Even if you end up not going, you can definitely sell the passes on Craigslist or at the door. When we originally bought 3-Day passes a few months in advance, we paid $55/pass. Compare that to the daily rates of $40/day they were charging the week of the con, and you’ll be face-palming yourself for not capitalizing on the situation earlier.
Before the convention starts, make a list of things you want to do, and plan it out according to which days things are happening. If you plan things out, there’s a good chance you can get to it all.
Cosplaying is amazing, but what’s even better is wearing comfortable shoes. You will spend hours walking, standing, rinsing, repeating. On a similar note, please do shower and wear deodorant. Yes, people will know it’s you, and they will judge you for it. DCC even put on a satirical PSA about “Con Funk” to reiterate the dangers of not valuing personal hygiene.
If you get cold often, bring a sweatshirt in the convention center; it might be 90 outside, but it’s likely refrigerated inside.
Know where the Guiry’s booth is. Grab any sleeves for prints/pictures you need to avoid getting them all smashed up.
Come prepared to buy stuff: artists prints, doo-hickies, collectibles, and of course, comic books. Also know that you will be having to bring or send this stuff back home with you. Some of the best things to prepare are:
Comic book portfolio: holds approximately ten issues for signing and collecting.
Poster tube or picture hard-sleeve: don’t let those prints/signatures get bent. Trust me, hiding it in a book will not cut it.
Know where a nearby FedEx is to ship back the really valuable stuff
Take a fair amount of cash with you. A lot of the booths and special events only accept cash – not to mention cash only parking lots in the surrounding area – so avoid getting caught cashless when a good opportunity arises. There are ATMs available around the convention center.
If you have time to leave the convention center, there are a lot of great, relatively inexpensive places to chow down nearby. Some of our favorites are: Cheba Hut,Snarf’s and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. (kinda pricey, but worth it if you’ve never been).
Over-estimate the time it takes to get anywhere. Denver is largely a commuter city, so plan accordingly.
Prior to going to the convention center, make a to-do list of what you want to accomplish and decide what is realistic.
Have you ever had a time where you got together with family for a holiday or a reunion, and sat around a table and had one of the craziest and uncontrollable conversations you could imagine, since you are so very close but never see one another? Well then you most likely know exactly how this panel went. A lot of attendees seemed to think it was out of control, but honestly it did just seem like a bunch of family members getting together with an audience. Shatner tried to control the whole panel and ask questions but with The Next Generation cast feeling so comfortable with one another, he just melded into that and was acting like the crazy uncle to the TNG family.
Once questions began, we sometimes got full answers and other times they moved on before the entire answer was finished, for example Michael Dorn was asked how he liked working with his fellow cast members as directors. He went into almost each one but ultimately described them using one word, sometimes followed by a story. Dorn said that Jonathan Frakes was loud, Gates McFadden was like a dancer because she had everything organized perfectly and seemed to glide from place to place, and for LeVar Burton he said “No” because of a time Dorn had done a take wrong and the way LeVar told him to change his action seemed like a person rolling up a newspaper and tapping a dog on the head saying “NO.”
The next question was about how influential Star Trek has been to the world and how it has changed the way we live from our technology to our entire culture and because of this, what are the best inspiring stories they have heard from fans. Gates McFadden told a story about a man who thanked her for helping him in his childhood because he was in foster homes that continually changed so everything in his life changed a lot but the only constant was that he got to watch Star Trek and felt like these characters were his family since they were always there for him. Definitely an awesome story which really gives a different look at how film, television and the entire entertainment industry makes people violent. Another good story that they all commented on was that of an amputee they met who had a wonderful spirit and during his recovery Star Trek and how they portrayed everyone in Starfleet even those with disabilities. The young man credited Star Trek as the reason he had the courage to continue. Now is when Marina Sirtis interrupts and says, “Man… Things just got real, how about a joke?”
If you saw the Gargoyles panel, you may have known what was probably coming and of course it was a joke about the French (hey, she is British, so of course it was about the French) This led to a more lighthearted discussion about what was the worst thing about their experiences on set. Michael Dorn wished his make-up was just for a movie and not a television show, and he mentioned another time his make up ended up with no eyebrows, which if you know Worf you will know how weird that may look. An obvious answer was that LeVar Burton hated his visor, not only could he hardly see a thing, but the actual vizor was screwed into his head to fit and the pad would press right against his temple and it gave him headaches all the time. At this point Shatner leaned over to Michael Dorn and asked if anyone had sex on the set, after a long and awkward pause, LeVar Burton raised his hand and said, “Yes, there was sex, but not between us.”
Going back to fan questions, everyone was asked their favorite villain and all at once they respinded, “Q”, but quickly Gates McFadden added in that she thought the Borg were excellent and that she would say those were her favorite, then Jonathan Frakes also mention the Romulan leader as a favorite for him. After this we got question like “Why are you so awesome?” to William Shatner, and acting advise, where LeVar Burton had a great answer saying, “Don’t. I say this because I try to talk everyone out of being an actor, because if I do, you were never meant to be.” Definitely deep and 100% true as this exact experience (just replace LeVar Burton with Futurama) is why I stopped acting.
Possibly one of the funniest moments was when they asked the person who asked William Shatner why he was awesome to ask a real question and he asked how old they were. All of them reacted the way just about the way everyone does to that question, children aside, but Marina Sirtis got up and walked up to him and make him correct himself to ask the women how young they were. We then get an announcement Shatner has to leave early to catch a filght, which left me kind of wondering, then why did you schedule him to be here? But the panel continued and the only real interesting things that happened were an anti-bullying conversation where a lot of personal stories were told by a bunch of the cast members where Marina Sirtis said that you should let it bother you, where Michael Dorn quickly added that sometimes it is more than just words, so always make sure you can take care of yourself and try as hard as you can to be peaceful but always make sure to be able and defend yourself.
The conversation moved to Michael Dorn’s run on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Worf. Marina Sirtis lets out a huge grunt and says ,”Deep Sleep Nine, or as Jon calls it, Deep Throat Nine.” It basically just covers the, “what is your favorite?” and “what is your least favorite questions we already have and always have at any panel. The panel ended on a sour note as we hear one question is left and some rude woman asked what all the women thought of playing such stereotypical girly girl roles for Star Trek. I don’t really want to go into much more because if you know what Star Trek even is you should know how absolutely ridiculous that claim and question is.
Hush Comics 