I’m traveling down to Comic Con today for another five days of insanity. I’ll be there the entire time, mainly walking around the “dealers room” (exhibit hall), or hanging out at the Asifa Hollywood booth (#1534) – which is right in-between the Ralph Bakshi booth and the Spike & Mike booth, across from Bill Plympton’s and Animation Magazine’s booths, creating a little “animation alley”.
On Thursday at 12:30pm I will be joined by Leonard Maltin in Room 8 to interview Comic Con Guest of Honor Gene Deitch. We will be discussing his entire career – including Terrytoons and Tom Terrific – but especially Nudnik, which Deitch has a new book and DVD to promote. If you are going to Con, please join us!
On Friday at 11am I will be at the Insight Editions booth (#1134) where I’ll be signing my previous books, hanging out and talking cartoons (and giving a preview of my forthcoming Spongebob book). Meet me there!
At 2pm Friday Ruth Clampett will be at the Asifa Booth to sell and sign copies of her new book – “a romance fiction set in an animation studio” called Animate Me. I highly recommend it!
At 8:15pm on Friday night, I’ll be screening the 10th Anniversary retrospective edition of my Worst Cartoons Ever! show. Yes, Mighty Mr. Titan, Captain Fathom and Paddy Pelican will all be there. It’ll be in Room 6BCF. You’ve been warned!
As for the rest of the con – there are numerous panels of interest, many opposite each other. For example, how do I decide between these two on Friday that are essentially happening at the same time:
5:30pm – 100th Birthday of Walt Kelly, the creator of Pogo, with Jeff Smith (Bone), Paul Dini (Batman), comic historian R. C. Harvey, Maggie Thompson (ComicBuyer’sGuide), Carolyn Kelly (co-editor of the Complete Pogo series and Walt’s daughter), and moderator Mark Evanier (Groo the Wanderer). Room 8.
5:45pm – The Making of Roger Rabbit led by producer Don Hahn and the voice of Roger Rabbit himself, Charles Fleisher. The panel includes animation masters Andreas Deja and James Baxter, animator/writer/historian Tom Sito, and special effx wizard Dave Bossert. Room 6BCF
Here are a few of the numerous animation related panels I hope to crash:
Friday: 5:00pm – Legendary Animators of the Classic 60s Cartoons – with animators Bob Singer (character and background designer, Bugs Bunny/Scooby Doo), Art Leonardi (designer/director, Pink Panther), Willie Ito (layout artist/Bugs Bunny, Flintstones), and Iraj Paran (character and title designer, Super Friends, Josie and the Pussycats), sharing their vast experience shaping animation history and creating hundreds of classic characters and cartoons we love. Room 9.
Saturday: 6:00pm – Spotlight on Leonard Maltin – interviewed by Mark Evanier. This ought to be good. I’ll be there sitting in the back. Room 5AB
Sunday: 2:00pm – Disney Afternoon Reunion – It’s been more than 25 years since Disney Afternoon debuted on television screens, and this panel reunites Tad Stones (creator, Darkwing Duck, Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers), Jymn Magon (DuckTales, Talespin), Bob Schooley (co-creator, Kim Possible), voice actors Rob Paulsen and Aaron Sparrow (Darkwing Duck) in Room 7AB
If you are going to be on a panel or at a booth, feel free to post where you’ll be in the comments below. If you know where the hot parties are – tell me about them. Otherwise I’ll have to hang out with these guys:
Jerry Beck is a writer, animation producer, college professor and author of more than 15 books on animation history. He is a former studio exec with Nickelodeon Movies and Disney, and has written for The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He has curated cartoons for DVD and Blu-ray compilations and has lent his expertise to dozens of bonus documentaries and audio commentaries on such. Beck is currently on the faculty of CalArts in Valencia, UCLA in Westwood and Woodbury University in Burbank – teaching animation history. More about Jerry Beck [
Say hi to Gene Deitch from his fans back in New England!
Pretty sure the Robin on the far right of your trio is burt ward’s stunt double. If only he was at the con. Now that would be a panel!
Hope you have fun. I haven’t gone in ten years. It seems like it’s a little out of hand now, but that could just be the media.
Funny you should mention POGO, because I’d found a very old VHS tape that was given to me, and this tape starts off with the rarely talked about special or film, “POGO’S BIRTHDAY SPECIAL”, no doubt made around the time that Chuck Jones spent at MGM, and it even includes his own voice, along with June Foray; anyone heard of this? I can’t recall who gave this to me, but it might be something you can ask about if you’re at the POGO panel, or whenever you’re asking about MGM cartoons that should be on DVD or blu-ray. It isn’t the grandest cartoon I’ve ever seen, but I did note Jones’ own voice here a couple of times, but it has never come up in Chuck Jones retrospectives.