SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD

ABOUT THE FILM: 

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD, 2010, Universal, 112 min, USA/UK/Canada/Japan, Dir: Edgar Wright. 

When lanky, apathetic Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) meets the literal girl of his dreams, the chromatically coifed Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), he doesn’t realize the lengths he’ll have to go to win her affections. Let the battle of the Seven Deadly X’s begin! Break-neck, deadpan humor and hyperbolically ADD action sequences decorate director Edgar Wright’s whirling dervish adaptation of the popular graphic novel by Bryan Lee O’Malley. With Jason Schwartzman, Anna Kendrick and Kieran Culkin.

FORMAT: 35mm

ABOUT THE BOOK: 

SEE YOU AT SAN DIEGO: AN ORAL HISTORY OF COMIC-CON, FANDOM, AND THE TRIUMPH OF GEEK CULTURE by Mathew Klickstein. Fantagraphics. 

SEE YOU AT SAN DIEGO is the comprehensive chronicle of Comic-Con International and modern geekdom itself as told through countless stories by nearly fifty of the most integral members of the Comic-Con and fandom scene. This full-fledged oral history, bursting with intimate reflections, hilarious observations, and at times, heartbreaking, often thought-provoking stories, is about how the geek at last inherited the earth and the story of the transformation of mainstream American pop culture into comic book culture over the past century.

Join some of the biggest names in fandom as they launch off at ludicrous speed into the spiraling galaxy of geek culture through the kaleidoscopic lens of the planet’s biggest pop culture gathering worldwide (clocked twice by Guinness!): the San Diego Comic-Con. With such special guests as: Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, Kevin Smith, Bruce Campbell, Felicia Day, Scott Aukerman, Stan Sakai, Sergio Aragonés, Trina Robbins, the Russo Bros., Lloyd Kaufman, Tim Seeley, Kevin Eastman, and many others — along with 400+ photos and art — the book also features forewords by Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo) and by Jeff Smith (Bone), plus an afterword by Wu-Tang Clan’s own uber-nerd mastermind RZA.

ABOUT THE PANELISTS: 

Scott Shaw! 

Comic-Con co-originator, early Comic-Con publicist, so-called “Mayor of Comic-Con” who became a legendary comics creator and animation guru whose work spanned the likes of Hanna-Barbera and a variety of series throughout the 80s and early 90s including Muppet Babies, Camp Candy, and the ubiquitous animated Fruity/Cocoa Pebbles commercials of the era.

Mike Towry 

Last surviving principal co-founder of San Diego Comic-Con; created the now decade+ running Comic Fest as a smaller, more intimate version of the larger behemoth Comic-Con has become today.

Floyd Norman 

Longtime Comic-Con habitue and geek culture icon as a pioneering animator/writer for the likes of Disney, Hanna-Barbera, Ruby Spears, Sesame Street, and Pixar; who worked on such animated classics as SLEEPING BEAUTY, ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS, THE SWORD AND THE STONE, THE JUNGLE BOOK, TOY STORY 2, and MONSTERS INC.; subject of the recent documentary FLOYD NORMAN: AN ANIMATED LIFE.

Paul M. Sammon 

Bestselling author of books on various filmmakers and films including the never-out-of-print Future Noir about BLADE RUNNER; one of three people credited with bringing Hollywood down to Comic-Con in the mid-to-late 70s.

Wendy All 

Early Comic-Con committee member, guest relations, various other duties; later became a senior toy/games designer at Mattel and Applause.

Dave Clark

Early Comic-Con committee member.

Jim Cornelius 

San Diego area artist who contributed much work to early Comic-Con days in the way of badges, promotional materials, and other mementoes, some of which have become collector’s items.

Gus Krueger 

Son of Ken Krueger (1926-2009): whose San Diego-based comic/sci-fi/adult literature store was a social hub for the early Comic-Con folks; Ken was also one of the very few “adults” in the room in the early days, helped to fund everything, and was a mentor to many of those same Con folks; son Gus is also an experience/ride designer for Knott’s Berry Farm.

Clayton Moore 

Early Comic-Con committee member, helped run Con art shows, and creates his own DIY comics/comix.

Maggie Thompson (remote panelist) 

One of the first “professional geeks” who ran Comic Buyer’s Guide with her husband Don; both of whom are “legendary” in the realm of fandom for being sage elders of the scene (Don passed some years ago); their son Stephen Thompson created Onion’s AV Club and NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts.

Jim Valentino (remote panelist) 

Early Comic-Con committee member who created comics/comix and later co-founded Image Comics, which became a bellwether of independent comics companies in the 90s and would put out such popular series as SPAWN, THE WALKING DEAD, INVINCIBLE, SAGA, KICK-ASS, and WITCHBLADE

Mathew Klickstein  

Prominent pop culture historian, having penned such books as: SLIMED! An Oral History of Nickelodeon’s Golden Age; Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons (w/ original series writer Mike Reiss); and Selling Nostalgia: A Neurotic Novel. His six-part audio documentary Comic-Con Begins, in partnership with SiriusXM/Stitcher, is available on all audio platforms and now expanded in a visually-explosive book form as See You At San Diego (2022).

Moderator: Allen Salkin  

Former NYT reporter whose work has and continues to appear in various publications such as Vanity Fair and Los Angeles Magazine; bestselling author of books on Food Network, Festivus, and Trump; prominently featured in the hit Netflix docuseries BAD VEGAN based in part on his Vanity Fair cover story.