Indiana Comic Con Diary

Last year's Indiana Comic Con was both a wild success and a debacle. The Con organizers, expecting a modest crowd, only secured two small halls for their convention. Indianapolis, hungry for nerdy Comic Con goodness, swarmed to the Indiana Convention Center and created gridlock that led to thousands of people being turned away from the con. Immediately after the end of the Con, organizers laid out plans for this year: a vastly expanded space along with brand new guests, including the legendary Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), the up-and-coming Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and others. Film Yappers Joe Shearer, Ben Johnson and Evan Dossey invaded the Con for 2015. Here are their thoughts on Comic Con.

Joe: I have to say the first day was busier than I expected. Last year I wasn't able to get press passes, so I was going to pay to attend this convention. I was greeted on that day by an ungodly large line. I met some friends who said the officials told them it would be at least two hours before they got in ... if they got in at all. I decided against waiting in line and went home, disappointed

This year, however, no such problems. The organizers rented out Halls F-K, giving up plenty of space to roam around, and with a bunch of halls devoted to panels, there was plenty to do.

I met Film Yapper Ben Johnson and my friend Dax Meredith, who were my running buddies for the day. Ben was going to check out a panel involving "Game of Thrones" vet Rory McCann while Dax and I checked out the exhibit hall, the "main drag," as it were, for the convention. This is where all of the vendors are located, as well as the celebrities (at least those who aren't doing a Q&A and those who have arrived); there were few there at this point.

Still, the Con was much busier than I expected. Today was Friday the 13th, so there was, of course, a cosplay Jason Voorhees running around, as well as a "Super Freddy," which I believe came from "Nightmare 5," easily the worst of the films.

The highlight of the exhibit hall had to be the life-sized Rancor in the back. It was a statue, but its owners had installed speakers in its mouth so it could emit roars, as well as screams of fear from its victims. People were taking pictures with it, so I snapped one as well before we moved on.

We hit a few nearby comics bins, picking through the $1 books. I'm a rather casual "Spider-Man" and "Walking Dead" fan, while Dax is rather serious about his "New 52" collection. We heard numerous complaints about the Rancor's sound systems from the vendors in the comics booth. "Don't worry," I said to them. "You only have to put up with it for two more days." The vendor chuckled, and we all went back about our business.

Dax found some comics and I did, too, as we went up one row, then down another. After an hour or two, we decided to take a break and dashed over to a concession stand for a Coke and a seat before heading to our first (and, for me, only) panel of the day.

The panel was social issues in comics, and Ben was still there, having sat in on at least one or two other panels. On this panel were Amy Radcliffe, Denny O'Neill, Mark Waid and Christy Blanch. It was a rather interesting discussion about times when comics pushed the envelope, specifically with O'Neill, who is something of a legend. He had some great stories about the days when it was a badge of shame to be a comic-book writer, and at one point lost his train of thought, exclaiming "I'm 75 years old!" When the panel broke, so did we. I walked around the Exhibit Hall for a few minutes, snapping a few pictures before heading home. Shortly after I made it back, I got a call from Dax, who said he picked up a New 52 Batman #1 for $7 from one vendor, then turned around and flipped it for $40 to another. SCORE!

Ben: The first day at Comic Con was pretty busy, especially considering it was a weekday. That means either the locals are taking off from work to check it out or that the con is also drawing in a large out-of-town audience making a weekend of it in downtown Indy. Either way, it bodes well for the future of this convention. Gone were last year's issues with too little space; the Indiana Comic Con now sprawls over two exhibit halls, the main show floor, and over a dozen rooms set aside for panels and and other events.

First up for me was a Q&A with Rory McCann, the Scottish actor best who plays Sandor Clegane, a.k.a "The Hound" on HBO's wildly popular "Game of Thrones." McCann's character on the show is brutal, misanthropic, and tragic -- a complete 180 from McCann, who during this session proved to be warm, charming, and very funny. McCann comes from humble roots, working in high rise environments as a building painter and cutting down trees in his native Scotland. He got his break in acting after a director saw him showing off in a documentary on forestry workers, where McCann made a impression with his impressive singing voice while swinging from trees. From there he has gone on to play one of the most popular characters on "Game of Thrones," but despite the fame that comes with that, he has not changed much. Check out this audio clip as McCann explains, in his endearingly funny way, that he hasn't seen much of "Game of Thrones" partly because he has trouble watching himself on screen and partly because he doesn;t have cable TV or a DVD player:

[audio mp3="http://www.thefilmyap.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/rory-mccann-final.mp3"][/audio]

After the Rory McCann Q&A, it was time for my first panel discussion of the convention. The panel on "Gender and Comic Books" was moderated by Christy Blanch (comic book scholar at Ball State University) and included Amy Chu (writer, "Wonder Woman,""Girls Night Out"), Jae :Lee (artist, "Batman/Superman"), Amy Ratcliffe (writer, Starwars.com), Mark Waid (writer, "Captain America,""Daredevil"), and Thom Zahler (writer/artist, "My Little Pony,""Love and Capes"). Here is some video of Christy Blanch's introduction to the panel:

This panel was great and touched on a lot of great points about the topic of gender in comics. Gender equality is a subject that has become increasingly important in our cultural conciousness, and it is no different in the comic book industry; in fact it may be more important given the impact comics have on the perspective of young people.

To hear the entire discussion click on the audio clip below:

[audio mp3="http://www.thefilmyap.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Gender-and-Comic-Books-final.mp3"][/audio]

After the panel on gender, I stuck around in the same room for the panel on "Social Issues through Comics." Joe describes it above so I won't recap, but I will say it was a delight listening to comics legend Denny O'Neill, a name I saw printed in many, many of the DC comics I read growing up.

After a break for an early dinner, I finally walked the exhibit hall to check out all the artists, costumes, toys, jewelry, and of course COMICS they convention has to offer. Here are some photos I got of the sights on the floor at Indy Comic Con: