Hey folks, Ambush Bug here. While I continue to recover and transcribe all of the stuff I did and said at the 2012 San Diego Comic Con, I am fully aware of the fact that some of the world didn’t go to this year’s entertainment mecca. For those who thought that all San Diego consisted of was Hall H and cosplay, this little series of reports are here to prove you wrong. Roving reporter James Coville attended a ton of comic book related panels and was nice enough to pass them on to me so I could share with all of you. So even though you missed out on the con this year (or just wasted your time in line for Hall H), but here are a few panels that reminded folks why the world Comic still exists in the title Comic Con.

So sit back and listen to the extremely interesting and informative recordings from the con. And maybe if you stew a concoction of ass and turnips to sniff while watching, if you close your eyes, it’ll be just like you were there at the panel itself!

Enjoy!
 

Charles Brownstein gives a bit of history of comics and censorship and what the CBDLF does to fight it. He talks about specific issues with the problems of crossing the Canadian Boarder. With him was Ryan Matheson who talked about his horrendous ordeal when the border authorities deemed an manga chibi parody on his laptop to be child porn and tried to get him to confess to the "crime." Matheson talks about the various head games that were played on him while in custody and how eventually all charges were dropped when it was clear they didn't have a case.

 

Moderator Gary Groth does an interview with Gilbert Shelton and talks about his career. He had a number of pieces of artwork and got Gary to talk about them throughout the interview. Among the topics were origins of Wonder Worthog and Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, talked about working with Harvey Kurtzman and how he knew Janis Joplin, said he used to do graphitti and had a potty character he would spray on billboards, and the how and why he ended up living in France. Shelton also answered questions from the audience.

 

Ted Naifeh talks about what comics he loved as a kid (and still does with one particular character), how he got private art lessons as a kid, talked a bit about his parents and where they worked, his artist influences. Ted spoke a lot about Courtney and designing her as well as the new colour editions of her books. The audience also asked questions about various aspects of Courtney and her world, from particular characters reappearing and potential stories about Courtney as an adult. This panel was moderated by editor Jill Beaton.

 

On this panel we have a few inker/artists who talk about their work and inking. The panelists are Mark Schultz, Rudy Nebres, Gary Gianni and Andrew Farago was the moderator. Klaus Janson was supposed to be on the panel but was not able to make it for some reason. The group talked about how they got into the industry and their influences. Part way through Rudy was given an inkpot award. A large number of the audience were artists themselves who asked technical questions about inking which the panelists, particularly Rudy, answered for them.


 

Look our last group of panels for your listening pleasure tomorrow!