Long Beach Comic Con Sunday: Programming Picks and Highlights

The Long Beach Comic Con kicks off this Friday, October 30 at the Long Beach Convention Center and runs through Halloween, Sunday, October 31. Costumes are encouraged every day, of course. But especially on Sunday with kids 10-and-under free, with trick-or-treating on the exhibit floor all day long. Plus, Sunday's the day to find the best deals on comics, graphic novels, action figures and other collectibles.
Here are some programming picks and highlights for the day:

11 a.m.-11:45 a.m.
The Art of Storytelling in Graphic Novels with Nhora Serran, Mike Buckley and Jason Casem - Seaside Ballroom B - A roundtable on graphic novels beyond superhero and other comic book type genres.


The Vigilante Project - Seaside Lobby -
The Vigilante Project is a new film and graphic novel from Yvette Avenue Productions, which offers a sneak peek of of the promotional trailer and a talk with the writers and artists.


12 p.m.-12:45 p.m.
WOMEN IN COMICS - Seaside Lobby - This panel includes artist Cat Staggs (Star Wars),  R.C. Young (writer/illustratorm Witchman) Amy Mebberson (Boom!
Studios artist on Disney/Pixar books), Rebecca Hicks (Little Vampires), and others.


1 p.m.-1:45 p.m. 
STARTING OUT : INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING/INDEPENDENT CREATORS - Seaside Lobby - A presentation for those who want to self-publish and wonder how to pull it off.  Featuring  Dawn & Clint Wolf, celebrating the
first anniversary of their creation Zombie Ranch.


Comics in Classrooms & Libraries - Room D- Comic creators Dave Roman and Raina Telgemeier discuss how teachers and librarians can utilize comics in schools and in the classroom. It's happening now all over the country, but should have been done decades ago.


2 p.m.-2:45 p.m.
“COMICS AND COMICS” - Seaside Lobby - Stand-up yuks meet fanboy and fangirl fun -  comic books, movies, videogames, role-playing, action figures, etc. The show was created by stand-up veteran Tom Franck (an appearance in Green Lantern #143 labeled him asthe top comedian in the DC universe. There's a warm-up trivia contest as well.

Interview: 'Back to the Future' Trilogy Writer-Producer Bob Gale, Blu-ray/DVD Review

A quarter-century ago, the world fell in love with a time-travel adventure about a teenager, his dysfunctional family and his closest friend, a nutty, yet brilliant professor. Back to the Future was a huge hit in the summer of 1985 and followed with two successful sequels, one dystopian futuristic, the other, well, a western with a touch of steampunk before the term was being bandied about.  
As Marty McFly, Michael J. Fox and as Doc Brown, Christopher Lloyd, became part of childhoods and also memorable characters for movie-goers of all ages. And let's not forget that car. ("You built a time machine out of A DeLorean?!!").  Many famous folks are fans. Just this past July, Family Guy and American Dad creator Seth McFarlane bought one of the Back to the Future DeLoreans, so there ya go.
While all three films have been collected on DVD before, they've now been released by Universal Home Entertainment on Blu-ray as the Back to the Future 25th Anniversary Trilogy, looking, in so many ways, better than ever and as fresh as when they each first hit the big screen. There are numerous deleted scenes that include a six-part look at the trilogy with new interviews featuring Fox,  Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Director Robert Zemeckis, Producers Bob Gale and Neil Canton plus Executive Producer Steven Spielberg, "making-of" featurettes and "The Physics of Back To The Future" with author and physicist Dr. Michio Kaku. The package is also loaded with plenty of outtakes looks at production design, storyboards, designing the mythical town of "Hill Valley," music videos commentaries/Q&As from Zemeckis, Gale and Canton
In addition to co-producing the trilogy, Bob Gale co-wrote Back to the Future with writing partner and director Robert Zemeckis and also write the screenplays for both sequels. He couldn't be more thrilled about the Blu-ray format release.



Bob Gale: "If you remember, Universal had invested heavily in HD and had, I think done a transfer of Back to the Future, which of course, turned out to be to be waste of money. We were waiting to find out if high definition was really going to take off and thought that we could, in fact, do this in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of the series' start. So a year ago, we started rattling cages, 'It's the 25th, let's get on it." Someone said, we're not going to by able to get it out July 3rd (the film release anniversary] so let's bring it out on the anniversary of the year Marty McFly went back to to the future, October 26, 1985.    


That Writer Guy:  The three films now cross several generations. Kids who watched them in the '80s are now adults and their children have seen it on home video. Parents who took those kids in the '80s are now grandparents.  What do you see as the appeal? A number of factors at work?


BG: It's part of the pop consciousness now and such a goofball thing, too. Part of the strength of the appeal of the movies is everybody can identify with the characters, everybody knows these characters. Marty can't figure out his parents, his father's a nerd set upon a bully and the intimidating bully isn't really as strong as he seems; there's the lovesick girl [his mom in that past] and Doc Brown, who's somebody of ground and wisdom and little bit of insanity, too.  We're telling a human story about somebody's family.  I think what keeps the movies interesting from generation to generation is all  over world is that moment we finally comprehend our parents were children, too.  We see it in old photographs, the clothes last year that don't fit, that evolution of finaally finding out how sex works and we go, 'No way my parents could have done that."  We realize "my parents could have done that," my parents were children, the must have had a first date. And the movie totally captures that and just connects. 


That Writer Guy:  We've seen DVD, Blu-ray releases where special effects were given upgrades, scenes were added. What were the feelings about that kind of approach?


BG: What we did with the DVD and Blu-ray is we went back to the elements.  Seeing a release print made from negatives, some of the earlier elements, like in Part Two, some wires you can see, so we took those wires out. That would have been part of the process of making movies.  But we did not enhance anything. We improved some color corrections. We took the two-track Dolby sound and mixed it in surround and it now sounds better than it did in 1985. But other than that, we didn't change anything.

That Writer Guy: There are plenty of great behind the scenes bonus feature material, including the scientific possibilities or impossibilities of the science in the films from Dr. Kaku. 


BG: Universal said, if we're going to do this, do it right and I've got to give these guys credit. Truth it, we didn't have much money to do new supplemental stuff, we didn't have the budget. So Universal spent the money to do it all in Hi-Def.  These people are fans of the movies. Kaku is a fan.  I've read his books. This guy's a people are fan sof the movies...kaku fan of movie, read his book, this guy's got a TV show on Discovery's Science Channel. 


If you talk to people about the series, each person has a favorite; some love the original film, others the second one, which like many trilogies is somewhat 'dark.'  And then there's the whole western twist with the final movie. When people meet you, what kind of questions do they ask?


BG: Each film has it's own personality, how great is that? But they also ask, is there ever going to be a part four?  No.  Then, it depends on who they are. A little kid might ask how did we get hoverboard ot fly and how does he get one? Everyobdy has favorite movie, a favorite part of one of the movies and we do get asked a lot of questions.  But it's always is there going to be a Part 4?  But without Michael J. Fox?  Who wants to see it without him?  WE told the story we wanted to tell and at the end of Part 3, we say this is the end.  History has shown us that some of these franchises that go back too many time, the results aren't that satisfying. What Back to the Future 4 would be in everybody's minds would be so much better than what we could put on the screen or so different that we'd rather do new original stuff.


That Writer Guy: I've seen some boards talk about how an animated series would work again [there was one in the early '90s]. Also, isn't there a new game on the way?



BG: Yes. Telltale Games has a Back to the Future game coming out sometime this winter.  Christopher Lloyd is doing the voice, Michael J. Fox recorded some of his lines to be used. These guyrs are really fans of the movies, working hard to capture the spirit of them in this game. This is going to be pretty good. I haven't seen the actual game, but in terms of what they've been doing conceptually, trying to pull of a game, it's not Part 4, but it's sort of like trying to take a melody and give it to a jazz ensemble and they riff on it. That's what's happening here.  


The Back to the Future 25th Anniversary Trilogy is available now on Blu-ray as well as DVD and from that flux capacitor and gigawatts to Mr. Fusion, it's a multi-part adventure well worth visiting again. Pick it up at your favorite local store or get it here. 

Halloween Tales and Other Scholastic Storybook Treasures on DVD for Children

Halloween is, of course, big-time fun for children of all ages, including us grown-ups still much in touch with that inner child (some might say too much, but we like it that way, right?). 
With the holiday of costumes, ghosts, goblins, witches, monsters, and yes, super-hero and other outfits, too, there are wonderful tales out there for kids.  And the Scholastic Storybook Treasures series of books on DVD series has released The Halloween Stories Collection. 
With readings by the Elle Fanning and Calista Flockhart, the tales here include "A Very Brave Witch," "By the Light of the Halloween Moon," "The Teacher From the Black Lagoon," "The Witch in the Cherry Tree," Maurice Sendak's classics "Where the Wild Things Are," and "In the Night Kitchen" and other delightful tales, none of which are really scary at all for little one. It's more about oohs and aaahs. 
And looking ahead to holiday gifts for children beyond toys, sets such Treasury of 100 Storybook Classics and the new Treasury of 100 Storybook Classics 2 make for wonderful compliments to those beloved books that have now spanned generations. Other recent collections include Adventures At School (""Crazy Hair Day," "How Do Dinosaurs Go To School?") and the silly play of Five Little Monkeys (jumping on a bed, of course), which is also a sign language DVD. 
For families taking a holiday road trip with toddlers, the Sing-Along Travel Kit - The Wheels on the Bus - is just the thing to keep that small one or small ones occupied. The special set includes 15 stories on two DVDs, a 13 song CD, 34-page activity book, crayons and also travel tips for parents. 

Guest-Posting: The History of Halloween and Celtic Traditions

Halloween. A time of festivity. Children squeal with delight and run down the streetlight lit walkways with bags full of sweets and colorful costumes which depict every type of monster, superhero, or animal one could possibly dream up. Halloween has come far from it's pre-Christian beginnings yet some of its traditions are still held onto by unsuspecting participants.

The ancient Druids were believed to be the founders of a holiday that went by the name of Samhain. Some say that Samhain was a holiday that stemmed in the celebration of a Celtic god of the dead named Saman. His official role was “The Lord of The Dead”. He was said to release evil phantoms and spirits upon the land, that would terrorize humanity.

The Pagans believe that Samhain is actually a Celtic celebration for “summer's end”. It's said that ancient Celtic people believed that the summer ended on October 31, thus they celebrated the beginning of a new year, or cycle on the following day, November 1. The ancient Celtic people started celebrating holidays the evening before, hence celebrating on the 31st of October.

Traditionally, Celtic people who celebrated Samhain, would gather at night on October 31st and set huge bonfires that they would then burn sacrifices of crops and animals in to honor various Celtic deities. This was seen as a payment to the Gods and Goddesses. The burnt offerings were a way of giving the gods their fair share of the year's crops and herds.

The fire also represented a way of “cleansing”, a way of preparing for the new year by parting with the energy or material of the previous one.

The Celts would also dance and sing around the bonfires dressed in colorful costumes. The dancing was a way of honoring the deceased, since they also believed that on the eve of Samhain the spirits of the dead would be set free to wander from the underworld. Though the dancing and singing was meant to honor not only the Gods and Goddesses, but also the spirits, there was believed to be a need for protection from malevolent, evil spirits that meant to harm during their release from the realm of the dead. That is where the need for costumes came into being. By dressing up, the Celtic people would frighten off these bad spirits and not endure any harm or attacks by them.

The creation of Halloween has its beginnings rooted in the destruction of a pagan tradition, like so many other holidays that are celebrated in the present day. Pope Boniface IV created a holiday by the name of “All Hallows Eve” that was to take place on October 31st. Most scholars believe that the Pope was trying to make an easier transition from the pagan ways of the Celts to the Christian ways of the church. Several other holidays were created to bridge the divide between church and pagans such as “All Saints Day” and “All Souls' Day”. These church sanctioned holidays became muddled into one holiday (All Hallows Eve).

As people began to immigrate from the Celtic lands of Britain, Ireland, and Scotland, they brought their traditions with them. In Britain, All Souls' Day was celebrated by giving pastries known as “soul cakes” to the poor in exchange for prayers to the deceased relatives of the givers. It is believed that this is where the practice of “trick-or-treating” evolved from.

So, as you can see, Halloween is a combination of ancient practices that have melded into one secular holiday that is celebrated by many. It would seem safe to say that although this holiday started out with religious and traditional influences, it has become a holiday of pure fun...a holiday for amusement. This year when out trick-or-treating or dancing at a party with that “hot vampire” remember that you are actually participating in some very old traditions that stretch back more than 2000 years.

Have fun and enjoy your Halloween.

-- Marcus Twyman

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Marcus Twyman is a Horror/Dark Fantasy writer who is currently pursuing a publishing deal for his first manuscript. He's an avid music lover and addicted to writing. He loves the thrill of writing a story that sets one's teeth on edge and enjoys getting goosebumps from a well written tale. He runs his own blog and loves getting feedback on the short stories that he posts there.

More info on Marcus can be found by visiting his site http://www.nebukhetscry.blogspot.com