Two weeks from today, we'll be staggering around the San Diego Convention Center on not enough asleep, trying to make the best of the waning hours of the 2012 Comic-Con International and wishing it could go a few more days, if only to put off the arduous trip home to wherever we came from. We will also be attending events on its Sunday programming schedule, especially the ones below that involve me…
10AM-11:00 – The Annual Jack Kirby Tribute Panel
There might not be a comic book industry were it not for Jack Kirby…and if you don't know who that is, you really don't belong at this convention. Each year, his friends and co-workers gather to talk about Jack and his work and to marvel (no pun intended) at the length and breadth of his influence, not just on comics but on TV, movies, and all the arts. This year, the dais will include Herb Trimpe (Incredible Hulk), Stan Goldberg (Marvel colorist), Paul Dini (Batman), and Charles Hatfield (Hand of Fire), all chatting with moderator Mark Evanier (Kirby: King of Comics). Room 5AB11:30AM-12:45 -Cartoon Voices II
It's the second of two panels this weekend featuring folks who supply the voices of your favorite animated characters. Moderator Mark Evanier will interrogate them about how they do what they do, ask them how they came to do what they do, and make them demonstrate what they do. Their ranks this time will include Dee Bradley Baker (American Dad, SpongeBob SquarePants), Rob Paulsen (Pinky and the Brain, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Audrey Wasilewski (The Garfield Show, My Life as a Teenage Robot), Jim Ward (The Avengers, The Fairly OddParents), Gregg Berger (The Garfield Show, Transformers), and Misty Lee (The Garfield Show, Spider-Man). Room 6A2:00-3:00 Cover Story
Comic-Con's annual discussion about the art of the comic book cover. Mark Evanier interviews special guests Charlie Adlard (The Walking Dead), Tim Bradstreet (The Punisher), Becky Cloonan (Conan), and Mark Schultz (Xenozoic Tales) about their cover work, including design, execution, and what worked – and didn't – on some of their very own covers. Room 25ABC3:00-4:00 The Business of Cartoon Voices
Have you ever been interested in a career doing voices for animated cartoons? Every year, voice director Mark Evanier (The Garfield Show) gathers together experienced actors and folks involved in casting and hiring and presents an informational panel on how the business works and how to avoid the most common mistakes of aspiring voice performers. The odds are against you, but they might get a little better if someone speaks the truth to you about what to expect and why. Room 25ABC
One correction on the above: Jim Ward is moving from the Sunday Cartoon Voice Panel to Saturday, swapping places with Fred Tatasciore. So Fred will be on the Sunday panel. Also, I think I'm on another panel at 1:00 that mysteriously fell off the schedule. I'll let you know if it falls back on.
And I'd like to call your attention to my 3:00 panel, which I think is actually running until 4:30. My buddy, the late Earl Kress, and I were annoyed about some of the folks going around and exploiting young, wanna-be voice actors by charging them vast sums of cash for useless classes and useless coaching. To try and do something to stop this or at least whittle it down, we started this annual panel which is designed to give beginners some real, pragmatic info for free. I'm bringing in a couple of agents and some voice actors (I think we'll have Debi Derryberry, Rob Paulsen and Gregg Berger) and maybe a casting director to explain the biz and answer questions. These are not folks who'll say to you, "Oh, sure. Give me money and you'll have Billy West's career before the week is out." If you're interested in this field and in hearing truth as opposed to a sales pitch, check it out. This is one of my favorite things to do at the con because I can see that it actually helps people.
I'll tell you more about some of my other panels in the days before the con, fewer and fewer though they may be.