San Diego Dreaming

It's been called many things over the years--Comic Con, SDCC, and now, officially, Comic Con International: San Diego. (But my favorite monikers for the event are "Nerd Prom" and "Nerageddon.") It's changed from a small dealer-oriented show to the biggest pop culture...um...thing...on the planet.

It looms over fandom every year, and its arrival is anticipated by attendees and no-shows alike for the breaking industry news that comes out of it. But, today, there's really only one thing left to say about Comic Con.

It's over.

Like fifteen minutes after sprinting down the stairs on Christmas morning, all the toys are opened, some of them are broken, and everyone involved is exhausted.

Heck, when it comes to Comic Con, I wasn't there but even I'm tired this morning just from trying to keep up with all the show reports on the various news sites. Seriously, Newarama's Twitter feed was constant throughout the show, and Comic Book Resources updated, like, every ten minutes. And that's not even mentioning the five-plus hours of live coverage on G4 this weekend.

From the biggest news of the Con to what Brian Bendis ate for breakfast Saturday morning, there was no stone left unturned for the world of geekdom. If CNN was as dedicated to bringing us the news every day as the comics sites were to covering every aspect of SDCC, well, there'd be a lot more news on CNN.

And I like CNN.

But, seriously, there was tons of news coming out of SDCC--some interesting, some very much expected. From Marvel, the big announcement on Friday afternoon was that the publisher has acquired the rights to Marvelman, which, if you know comics, you know why this is a big deal. You can read about that story at The Beat.

There were exclusive movie clips, big name directors, and even Johnny Depp!

But all that stuff is covered ad nauseum on the big comics sites, and I'm sure most of you have already caught up on a good number of the goings on in San Diego over the past few days.

But, one story managed to not make it to the Newsaramas and the CBRs of the world. Instead, other than a few mentions on forums and a couple of blurbs on other, smaller comics sites and some horror film sites, the news has gone pretty much unnoticed.

And that's the story we here at Exfanding are most excited about.

On Friday afternoon, The Goon creator Eric Powell hosted a panel about his Dark Horse series, which is much-loved on this here blog. The most important news to emerge from said panel was that Powell, along with animators from Blur Studio, showed clips of the upcoming (and very hush-hush) Goon CGI movie, complete with actors' voices for Goon and Franky!

From what I've been able to cobble together from various con reports online, there were a couple of clips of Goon and Franky played for the audience, starting with a Public Service Announcement on how to kill zombies (Ha!), and including Franky saying his classic, "Knife to the eye!" line.

The voices of the characters in the clips?

Playing the Goon was Clancy Brown, who you might know from The Shawshank Redemption, as Hadley, or from Spongebob Squarepants, as Mr. Krabs (I'm told). He's also the voice of Lex Luthor in the Bruce Timm animated stuff. Obviously, since I wasn't there and the panel has not yet surfaced online, I couldn't hear him as Goon, but from all accounts it seems like he nailed it. And, from his past work, he can obviously pull off a deep, resonating Goon. Nice!

As for Franky. Well. This one rules, I must say. Mr. Paul Giamatti voiced the maniacal little knife-wielder, and received rave reviews.

Now, while both actors have pushed for the roles, there's nothing official yet, as the movie is not yet in production. But David Fincher is still producing, and he called in during the panel to see how things were going.

The panel itself was absurd and funny and dark and a little confusing, just as the book is. I really hope it shows up online at one point, because Powell's panels are always outrageous and worth checking out.

So, good news for Goon fans today, and as more info comes along, I'll drop a line here.