Posted in: Comics | Tagged: comicon, Distant Worlds, Final Fantasy, san diego, sdcc

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Piderman's First San Diego Comic Con

Published Mon, 29 Jul 2013 17:00:39 -0500

*** Ashley Piderman volunteered to cover some panels for Bleeding Cool this year at SDCC. Along with those panels she sent in a few writes up that were more of a journal of a first time attendees experience. We've collected them here. ***

Ashley Piderman writes for Bleeding Cool:

I am brand new at this. Woke up extra early to get down and get my badge, that went surprisingly smoothly, then I wandered. First mistake. I ended up missing the Bleeding Cool breakfast because I was herded away from the gates and didn't know any better.

So I wandered around the upper floor, trying to find my way out to everyone. The perk of this is I figured out where the panels that I wanted to attend were located. I eventually found my way back to the room where I needed to be and settled in. I ran into Nikolai, who I found out was also there for Bleeding Cool. We nerved out for a bit and then the panel started, a very interesting talk on how conflict can affect comics. I wish I had done a bit more research on the presenters and what they were presenting, but it was very interesting and I am very happy I attended.

Next came the Geek Therapy panel which was amazing, resonated with me on many levels. The only bummer was the time that the panel ended would conflict with me getting to the Sherlock panel.

As soon as Geek Therapy ended I was off to Ballroom D, praying for some sort of miracle to get in. I consider this my second mistake. Instead of wandering around for an hour and fifteen minutes I stood in line. Granted it was cool to talk to two seasoned pros, this being their fifth and sixth con ( even though I'm pretty sure they were both nearly ten years my junior….).

I eventually admitted defeat and wandered down through all the merchandise. I somehow behaved myself and didn't bring the wallet out too many times ( gotta pace myself after all- not sure if it a mistake or a win….).

Eventually I met up with a friend that joined me from the Great White North and we wandered through the Interactive Zone after I had hit up the Join the Realm Game of Thrones exhibit.

Now I'm getting ready for the Symphony. Should be cool. Distant Worlds. Final Fantasy.

Geek Therapy: How Superheroes Empower All of Us

July 18, 2013

The panel today was a continuation of the Comics Arts Conference, which offers an academic point of view on Comics and Geek Culture.

To be honest, when I signed up for this panel, I wasn't sure what direction the Therapy aspect would go. The more I looked into this, the more excited I got. I have a history with Crohn's Disease, an autoimmune disease that nearly cost me my life on several occasions. It was during my times of sickness that myself imposed hiatus from the world of all things geeky that I realized the love for the art form that I had. This panel was pretty much perfect for me to witness.

The panels started with a rousing verse of happy birthday for panel member Frank Gaskill's son. a pleasant way to begin.

As the panel got underway each member introduced themselves to the audience and their specialties. The panel consisted of professionals working in a clinical setting with patients dealing with various states of health. Primarily mental health, but with my history with such a debilitating physical illness, it was easy for me to identify with the words that were being presented. It was very interesting to see a tool that I used as a coping mechanism during my illness because comics gave me a world to excape to, used by counsellors to interact and connect with patients. To give patients a voice and to let them see that they are not alone in their struggles.

There were many times during the presentation that the stories shared by these professionals came very close to my story and i could feel tears in my eyes thinking back to my battle.

I think even as healthy fans of comic books people are inclined to pick up a comic because they want to experience a world that is different than our own, and we take for granted that play out their action in ways that we can identify with and give us a way to relate to our own reality. That even the strongest and bravest characters that we hold dear to our hearts have their own insecurities and fears.

Comics can give a patient words that they may not be able to express on their own and gives them the ability to identify and even motivate the reader to take on whatever demons, afflictions or trials that we may be afflicted with.

I think my favourite part was being reminded that happy endings are great, but they do not last forever. The same can be said of the hard ships, they may seem rough, but they too shall be over in no time. Every day is a new day, and even Wolverine had a rough go of things.

Distant Worlds.

July 18

Tonight is the last night that I have a friend with me and I decided to save all the craziness of attending after con parties and spend the evening at the Symphony.

Tonight the San Diego was playing Distant Worlds, the music from Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy played an important part of my childhood, many an hour was spent in frustration connected to my Playstation. In my more athletic years I would sit and listen to One Winged Angel pre-game.

We ended up showing up a few minutes after eight, walked past several cosplayers, found our seats and took in the wonders of the show. All in all it was very impressive, although I could have done without the chill coming off the water.

I have to admit that I haven't played the games past Final Fantasy X, but I walked into the Orchestra playing Liberi Fatali from Eight and I knew the night would be amazing. We arrived at our seats just as the orchestra played the victory music. Very appropriate, it was a bit of an adventure getting everything together to get to the show tonight.

We sat back and enjoyed an amazing set list, we got laughs from the Chocobo theme and the amazingness that was the Operatic rendition of Memoro de la Stono took my breath away – even if there were some ill timed fireworks going off during the performance.

The highlight of the night came at the encore. From the crowd a man dressed in white came to the stage and once the crowd realized who it was there was an amazing cheer. The man in white was none other than the composer of most of the pieces that were preformed this evening Nobuo Uematsu. The conductor invited Nobuo to a solo to which he sang "Sephiroth" and the crowd response was deafening! Nobuo said that he would do better with the choir and he joined them in the back as the initial notes rang out to an amazing crowd reaction.

I was sad to see this performance come to an end, but it was well worth it.

The Single Serving Friend

July 19

I'm pretty much on my own this con experience. I say pretty much because there is always the comfort of the "single serving friend", to borrow a term from Fight Club.

I was prepared to stand in line for hours, but I didn't fully grasp just what that could mean. I tried for Sherlock yesterday, and realized that I wouldn't get in after over an hour in line. Stan Lee's World of Heroes another line of over an hour, then the half hour wait inside, the Join the Realm Game of Thrones exhibit, and then, finally once on the exhibition floor, you stand in line waiting to spend your money. Needless to say I didn't tackle the crazy that would have been lining up for Hall H.

The single serving friend has made each one of these waits just that much easier to deal with. I mean we all have something we share in common with each other, we are all super passionate about something. It may not be the same thing, but it's pretty safe to assume that somewhere in the realm of fandom your interests cross.

Just today I met a couple more first timers, another guy with a press pass, some one who has been coming to the Con since the 80's, a family, a military man and I even got to talk with Sailor Moon. Well a young woman dressed as Sailor Moon, but we were able to chat about BBC's Sherlock panel, a pleasant surprise.

As the Beatles said "I get by with a little help from my friends" and in my case this weekend the Single Serving Friends are saving my ass from boredom.

Portfolio Review Artists

July 19

Today I took a mosey through the Portfolio Review Section today after sitting through Stan Lee's World of Heroes and sat down and spoke with a couple of aspiring artists. The individuals I spoke with were both pretty cool in their own respects.

First I sat down with a gentleman named Leo, a student of Studio Arts at San Diego State. It was his first time going through the process of a Portfolio review. We were able to connect on different aspects of our childhood and what he drew on for inspiration. I was most impressed by his response to my question of "What would be your dream job?" He replied that he would love to find a job in character design that would allow him to survive while doing what he loves. That he lust lives to draw and to be able to draw for drawings sake.

The second person I sat down and chatted with caught my attention because when I sat down, she was the only girl in the row. I sat down and introduced myself and she introduced herself as Malena. I asked what her influences were. She replied that her brother was a major influence. That he has worked for the big two, and boy has he. Turns out Malena is the sister to Jorge Molina and looking to work her way through the ranks as an inker. She is currently working on a book on friedcomics.com called Pregnant Bitches of War and we chatted as I flipped through her portfolio and we continued to casually chat.

Of course the question issues that she had delta with being a woman in a generally male dominated work environment. She said that the biggest frustration to her was the constant stereotyping, that because she is a girl her portfolio would be filed with cute images or that she would be working in the manga styles.

I wished that I had just a bit more time with them, but I was already pushing it for time, as I had panels that I desperately wanted to see. In hindsight, I would have stayed a bit longer as I missed out on the panels as it was. Maybe tomorrow I'll give it another crack. Who knows who's family relation I could run into again.

Spiritual Themes in Comics

July 20

I'm not sure what I was expecting when this caught my eye, but I know I was hoping for a diverse set of opinions and discussion on the concept and role of spirituality in comics, how comics are helping address the issues raised by extremist or something along those lines. I was a bit disappointed to sit down and have an all Christian panel giving one point of view on how media can help get the Word of God out the the masses.

As a recovering Catholic, my initial reaction was to bolt, but I sat it out and gave it a chance. It was interesting to hear positive Christian views and ideas towards utilizing the medium to get their messages across, when every day leaving the con I walk past a dozen protestors telling me that I need to give up my evil ways of reading comics.

All in all, looking back, I would have rather spent my time wandering around the Exhibition floor, but I am happy I sat through it. There was no attempt to convert the audience, just frank and honest opinions on the changes we are seeing in today's world and how the panel was using comics to guide them and reinforce their faith.

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