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SAN DIEGO COMIC CON 2003 (Day 2) Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4 Back to A Big Piece of Garbage Main Site BONGO COMICS PANEL Much like the first day not much went on regarding Futurama but the day did include the Bongo Comics panel which is always a fun one to attend. This years participants were Terry Delegeane (moderator), Bill Morrison, Patric Verrone, Phil Ortiz, Ian Boothby, Pia Gurreara, Scott Stimple and Jesse McKenna. They talked about what is coming up for all their titles including Simpsons, Futurama, Radioactive Man and their newest book Heroes Anonymous which got special time and I would assume is the reason for the break to an hour and half over the usual one hour panel. If you get a chance to read this I suggest you do so as the concept of it sounds very fun and it has been in development for quite some time now. Bill Morrison and Scott Gimple are the geniuses behind this idea. A big change over last year was the inclusion in discussion about Futurama within the panel. I am not sure what the reason for it last year but they seemed to ignore Futurama alltogether last year until myself and a couple of dedicated fans started asking questions about it. It may have been due to the fact that the schedule was a little off and them wanting to avoid questions about the fate of the show which was still up in the air at the time. Either way it was nice to hear the inclusion of discussion this time around and the excitement that seems to be surrounding the title these days. The Bongo Group Gets Ready to Unleash Surprises It was nice to see Patric Verrone participating in the panel and shows his commitment to Futurama. Something that I was glad to hear. Seems that once the show stopped production there were plenty of ideas that didn't get a chance to be used and he saw Futurama Comics as an oppurtunity to bring these ideas to light and to the fans. Issue 11, which is one of the best issues out there is an example of this. It also sounds like so long as he contributes ideas Bongo is happy to have him. Great news for all of us Futurama fans. Issue 14 was on sale at the Bongo booth and Patric commented on how this is something that has not been done before as the story could be read 7 different ways. How is this accomplished? Well, I don't want to give too much of it away but check the review I have up of the issue to see for yourself. Very cool and I am excited to see more stories come out from this very creative person. I can see why he worked so well on the Futurama staff as he is a quick wit, very funny and an overall nice guy. The Bongo-ites Answering Questions Ian Boothby was next to parlay what he has in store for more work on Futurama Comics. As previously reported in my short Q/A with him he did confirm he has a 4 part trilogy in the works. Yes, in the future all trilogies are done in four parts. The story revolves around all the people of the planet disappearing and the adventures that Fry, Leela and Bender go on when they are transported to various times of both the past and future. Sounds like a real winner to me. Also confirmed at the panel is the next Futurama Simpsons crossover!! This time it sounds like the citizens of Springfield will be making the jump to the future as the Simpsons and as Ian has put it - every literary character ever - will be visiting the world of the future!! Sounds like this will be hitting shelves later this year which implies it will be seperate from the regular Futurama Comics title! Two titles running concurrently is alright by me! Ian's  four part tilogy will also be coming later this year and since the new Crossover will also be coming later this year this implies to me that it will be outside the regular line. Matt Groening Makes His First Appearance on Friday at the Bongo Booth More news on the crossover front is that one of the stories Ian is working on for the Simpsons (he is the regular scribe on that comic) will be a story called Heil to the Cat. It revolves around Snowball II being elected Mayor of Springfield. Longtime readers of Futurama Comics will be scratching their heads as to why this sounds familiar. This is because this is the issue that Fry was reading in the first Crossover comic and the one where the Planet Express crew found themselves in after being attacked by the Brain Spawn. Ian and the rest must have felt that this would be a fun idea and it would tie in nicely with their other planned project which will hopefully see published sometime next year - the Futurama/Simpsons Crossover Trade Paperback!! Yes, Heil to the Cat will be sandwiched between both Crossover stories and released in bound format. Not sure yet as to the end product but I really hope they do this up real nice with a nice hardbound presentation and slip jacket cover. I believe all art will be done by James Lloyd so you know this will be good. Bill Morrison Signs Some Autographs and Bongo Comics Inker Phyllis Novin Chats With Fans A quick word about Ian - he is an extremely nice guy and after one of his signings I pulled him aside to get a word with him to introduce myself formally (since I have only corresponded with him through email to this point) and he was nice enough to talk over his ideas for Futurama Comics even though he had people waiting on him and whom I am sure he would have much rather spent time with. Other future plans include the possibility of an Anthology of Interest annual similar to the Simpsons Comics Treehouse of Horror series but no definite plans on that yet. Bill Morrison certainly likes the idea and since he has such a vested interest in Futurama I am sure it is an idea that will be explored at some point. I can't see it being done this year with so much other exciting and fun things happening with the title but keep your fingers crossed for next year. A funny thing about Bill Morrison - I had heard at one time or another that he does a mean CBG impersonation and when he gave us a small taste of it I can rightly say that the rumours are not unfounded. Top of Page TOYNAMI Toynami has picked up the license for Futurama and are planning to produce figures in their exclusive I-Men format. For a look at their I-Men figures please visit their site as well as email them to let them know how excited you are that they have picked up the Futurama license and are looking forward to their release. I was excited about this announcement when I heard it a couple of days before the show opened but when I saw the prototypes my excitement grew. The character selection is very cool and all figures have semi-sculpted bodies to kind of match the character (although not sculpted enough I am sure for some) but the topper (no pun intended) is the full head sculpts!! Yes, you will see Leela's pony tail, Fry's hair swoop, Zoidberg's tentacles and that classic Matt Groening overbite. Oh, did I not mention the character selection? The first wave is to consist of 10 characters and be packaged two to a card and cost 9.99. I-Men Figure Assortment: Fry/Calculon; Bender/Robot Devil; Leela/Roberto; Zoidberg/Morbo; Farnsworth/URL They are scheduled to be released in Spring of 2004 and really won't be coming with any accessories accept for the occasional item like URL's light saber and I seem to remember Leela holding something as well. A staple of Toynami's I-Men figures is that each figure comes with little magnets in their feet as well as a special embossed coin that is exclusive for each figure so that they can stand on. Another standard format for the I-Men is that each set is numbered so it sounds like there is a set production limit on these. If somebody more familiar with I-Men can fill in some of this information for me I would be most appreciative. If you are wondering why so many robuts and why no Zapp, Kif, Amy or Hermes the reason is this - the producers of the show (Groening, Cohen, et, al.) wanted each human character to be accompanied with a robut character. At least that is what was told to me by Toynami but the two pack assortment list they had at their booth is a little contrary to that. So, out of 10 total characters, half of which need to be human or at least humanoid, you can see how quickly you will run out of human characters as Fry and Leela are always a given to be released. Zoidberg, Morbo and Farnsworth are all fan favorites so they are also included in this first release which rounds out the first 5 human characters. With the commitment by the creators to doing robuts it is always possible that we will see characters such as the Robot Mafia, Flexo (my personal want), Tinny Tim, the Robot Santa and others as well as some cool non-robut characters like Zap, Kif, Mom and who knows maybe even L'rrr and Nd;Nd. I got the feeling that Toynami really wanted to explore some other characters like Zapp and Kif but were kind of hamstrung by the requirement to do the robuts so if this line does moderately well (which I think it will) we could see another wave of 10 characters and it is for sure we would see Zapp and Kif at that time I would bet. The mind boggles on how many little I-Men could be released and I think people who are not excited about this announcement now will change their minds once they see these. The sculpts, price point and character selection will do well to make this a very successful line of figures. Toynami Premieres Their Futurama I-Men Figures and Garnered Much Interest From Passer-by. I expect full mock-ups with packaging and paint will be on display at Toy Fare next year and with any luck I will be able to acquire some pics through my normal channels. If not look to figures.com or some of the other toy sites to have pictures from Toy Fare sometime in October or early next year. Top of Page Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4