MegaCon Day 2

I was at the three day comic convention held in Orlando annually known as MegaCon. Saturday was a very full day and here are my impressions:

The first panel I wanted to attend was cancelled but only after we got to the room and were ready to attend. There was no prior announcement, despite the fact that the start of panels were being announced on the public address system, which is a nice way to remind people of the panels they planned on attending so they don't miss them.

THE ART OF THE COVER was a talk by several very established comic book artists talking about what went into making a comic book cover the last line of the marketing of a comic. They talked about how comic book covers had evolved from explaining the story that would unfold within the pages of the magazine to an effort to get the magazine to shout "Pick Me" off the lineup that is now how retailers display them. They shared some great tips for aspiring artists while telling of their working relationships with editors and above.

EVERYTHING STAR WARS: Steve Sansweet moderated a Q&A with Jeremy Bulloch, Peter Mayhew, Maria de Aragon, Dave Barclay, and Ray Park. Steve and Jeremy began with verbal sparring until Ray Park arrived. Ray was the most physical of them and he entertained people moving from place to place on the two room stage. Of course there were plugs for the upcoming Celebration V in August.

SKIFFYTOWN STORY TIME, SUPERHERO RADIO DRAMA recorded a live radio broadcast for kids using costume performers and the audience. They later held a panel on COSTUMING YOUR OWN CHARACTER. They shared techniques that allowed them to create their unique costumes, which they could live in all day at conventions, on a modest budget. These tips were similar to some of the ones imparted yesterday by the 501^st in their prop creation panel. Keep your eyes open while shopping, particularly at thrift stores, and be ready to tear apart items to get the effect that you need.

There are many areas of SF fandom where I think the practitioners need to come together and either help each other out or teach the techniques that each has learned. This is one of the reasons that OSFest is a science fiction convention with something for everyone. We are trying to learn from other groups and share what we know. The MEGACON UNIVERSAL COSTUME CONTEST could have used a little planning help from the people who put on costume contests at literary conventions, like Worldcon. The costumes that were presented on stage were well made, but with a little effort in staging the event, they could each have shined. They had to share the stage with tables from the prior panel and had no theme music unique for each of them. The judges and MC did a good job, but the lack of a masquerade planning meeting with the contestants was evident. It was a good show, but it could have been a spectacular one.

You know it's a late night when Cthulhu puts in an appearance. HAMLET: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO by Willie's Wenches was an adult oriented comedy performance of Shakespeare's' Hamlet, complete with filked Disney songs. It was a very bawdy but entertaining performance to end the evening. A Cthulhu hand puppet was part of the cast.

Trudy's Comment: Not all that late, John, since after Hamlet, we had to walk 6000 miles back to car, drive back to the resort, and we still got there before 10 PM. I don't think Megacon did anything past 9 PM.