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Part 1 / Part 2 Back to A Big Piece of Garbage Main Site
Unlike last year though the traffic was not that bad and the Comic-Con staff really had their act together this year as there were no lines to get in. At least none that I was aware of. If you tried to get in last year you remember what a nightmare it was waiting in line anywhere from 2-3 hours just to get in the show! Not so this year. Even on the first day (Thursday) there was no line to pick up pre-registered badges. For those who skipped this years Con because of that don't next year! Or do what I do and pre-register beforehand so the only thing you have to worry about is picking up your badge.  They brought back the raffle again but ran it a little more smoothly this year. It was the same deal as last year - buy an item, get a raffle ticket. Buy 10 items get 10 raffle tickets. Unlike last year, however they only posted the numbers at the end of the day and you did not have to be present to win. You just had to come back to pick up your prize. They only gave away one prize each day and you can see it at right - a very cool Bongo Friends t-shirt with Simpsonsized (what no Futurama versions - come on just add an antennae and you are all set!) versions of all Bongo folks. Try as I might I was not able to win one of these bad boys and oh how I wanted to be a Bongo Friend! There was not much in the way of new Futurama news as most of the stuff that they talked about was stuff we already knew about. The Time Bender Trilogy is fast approaching a close, early next year will see the release of the second Futurama/ Simpsons Crossover and following that the regular series Futurama Comics will pick up again with a story by Patric Verrone. Nice to see another story from him as he has done a great job in the few stories he has written so far. Even though there was a lack of new news it was nice to see Bongo include discussion of Futurama Comics within the panel again. A few questions arose regarding the erratic schedule of the series and Terry reiterated that the intricate backgrounds make production of the series much more difficult to produce than say the Simpsons and even though the title is running on what amounts to a quarterly basis when combined with the Crossover next year we will get some form of Futurama Comics every other month.
During the course of the panel Terry made sure to point out all the other Bongo contributors in the audience and give them their due recognition. He also said that more of the Bongo staff will find their ways into Bongo Comics. Check for an appearance by some of your favorite Bongo Friends next year in the Patric Verrone scripted issue of Futurama Comics when a certain robut makes his way to a certain comic book company. One of the last people Terry pointed out was Matt Groening who then joined the panel and was available for questions. I really enjoy seeing Matt take part in the Bongo panel as the size of the audience makes for a much more intimate setting than say the Simpsons or Futurama panels where it is a huge hall with a ton of people in attendance. Matt always seems to draw a crowd wherever he goes and his attendance in a smaller panel like this makes him more accessible for questions and I would assume gives him the opportunity to communicate better with fans than when he makes appearances at the Bongo booth, signings or the aforementioned panels. The downside to him being on the panel is that automatically all discussions and questions from the audience focus in on him. SIGNINGS 
I think one of the lowlights of the Con was stopping by the booth that Billy West had. Not that I don't admire his work and all that he has done on and for Futurama but I just did not like the way he had his booth set up. Very prominently on display in front he had large cardboard cut outs of Fry and Zapp Brannigan but guess what? He would not sign anything that was not related to his CD unless you bought one of them for $10.00. This made me a little upset as I was still stinging from last years show when he did not show up for a scheduled signing and this after I and other fans waited in line for a good hour both before his scheduled time and after. I don't begrudge his decision to focus on his music at the Con and I say more power to him - but don't lure me and others in with pictures of past work and then not honor that. Needless to say I did not get his autograph or even a picture. 
Another signing that I was looking forward to was the JLA animated series voice talent but the Wonderful World of Animation were charging $10.00 for a signature unless of course you bought one of their animation art pieces in which case all the signatures were free. As I missed Phil LaMarr at this signing last year I was really looking forward to this years but at $10.00 I had to pass yet again. Both of these examples really illustrate the differences between say the good folks at Bongo (Matt Groening in particular) and others. I have never paid for any of their autographs and gladly wait in line for over an hour just to get it. As Matt said at the signing on Saturday when he saw the huge crowd lined up for him (signings usually go for only an hour) he would stay as long as he could to meet as many fans as he could. Makes you feel good as a fan when you hear stuff like that.
Sure enough around 1:30 there were already about 15 people lined up and so we decided to go ahead and get in line as well which meant a good hour and a half wait. We had plenty of freebies that we had picked up that morning from around the Con so we figured this was a good time to go through them and decide what was trash and what we wanted to keep. We talked briefly with some fans who asked us where they could get Futurama stuff and I directed them to the Bongo booth (Doy!). Slowly, the signing table began to fill up with Bongo folks. Along came Ian Boothby, Bill Morrison and David Silverman (Simpsons animation artist) but still no Matt. When he did come in he made sure he stopped by the end of the line to say to people there who had a good chance of not making it to the front of the line by the end of the time limit. He then made his way to the front of the line and took his seat and the show was on the road! 
Lucky for us we were there for the whole group signing and most people were just there for Matt because the attendants let us through early. It was only 1 item per person which was all right by me. I was just expecting Ian to sign his name to both my issues of the Futurama/ Simpsons Crossover but Ian pulled a fast one on me as he did sketches on both copies as well as signing his name. A Homer on one and a Bender on the other. Bill signed some Simpsons Comics for us (he had already signed my copies of the Crossover some time ago) and since the line bogged down a bit before getting to Matt we were able to chat a bit with him while waiting. He really is a nice guy and later over the weekend at the Bongo booth we caught up with him again (third time for the weekend as a matter of fact) and this time he drew a sketch of Nibbler on my just purchased Futurama Comics 18! When we finally got to the front of the line Terry Delgeane from Bongo Comics really surprised me by introducing me to Matt and letting him now how I spend way too much time at the Bongo booth at each Comic Con. Matt acknowledged it and continued to furiously sketch and write as there were still plenty of people left and miles before he slept.
One cool thing they have also been doing on a regular basis the last couple of years is that the Bongo booth is always decorated with large poster size reproductions of upcoming comics like the covers to Futurama Adventures, Treehouse of Horror, Simpsons and Heroes Anonymous (read this book it really is fun!). At the end of the Con Matt will usually sign all the posters at which point they go up for sale! I do not believe it is generally advertised and the cost of them can be pretty steep but it is a cool one of a kind item to get if you are a fan of any of their work. I purchased one (50ft. Bender battles 50ft Zoidberg) a number of years ago and it has been framed up on my wall ever since then. I know I have mentioned this before but the Bongo booth is always staffed with artists, writers and staff so they are always accessible to the fans and they run signings off and on over the entire four day weekend. For this and other reasons they make the weekend fun for me and I want to extend a big Thank You to all the Bongo Friends who do such a great job with fanboys like myself and do it with a smile! |
