Comic-Con 2013

How do you take a beloved 24-year-old NES game and update it for today's gamers while doing your best not to ruin anyone's childhood? Go behind the scenes with Austin Ivansmith (director/designer), Matt Bozon (creative director), and Rey Jimenez (Capcom producer) for an in-depth look at how a great video game is made -- from design, to art, to music, and more. Followed by a Q&A session, plus maybe a surprise or two.

Get ready for action! It's been a huge year for the two most popular video game comic titles as Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man joined together for the first time ever in this year's biggest crossover event: Worlds Collide -- and it's only going to get better! Executive director of editorial Paul Kaminski is joined by Archie Comics president Mike Pellerito, writer Ian Flynn (Sonic the Hedgehog), and artists Ryan Jampole (Mega Man), Jon Gray (Sonic the Hedgehog), and Evan Stanley (Sonic the Hedgehog). See exclusive artwork, learn about upcoming storylines, and more. All that plus attendees will power-up with a gift bag chock full of Archie Action Awesomeness! Be there!

Francis Mao (CAPCOM senior director creative services) leads a panel of CAPCOM's graphic designers, artists, and creative partners in a panel pulling back the curtain on how Capcom's incredible video game artwork is created from concept to finish. Panelists will explain the creative process and thinking involved in each creative step, as well as go in-depth on the tools and applications used to create the awesome works of art that grace Capcom video games and collateral. Followed by a Q&A session.

Heavy metal comes to Comic-Con! Khang Le (creative director/co-founder, Adhesive Games) and Mark Long (CEO, Meteor Entertainment) discuss Hawken, the free-to-play fast-paced giant mech shooter, showing how the rich universe has transcended from its roots as a game to encompass comics, collectibles, and filmed entertainment, expanding and breathing life into the larger mythology. Drew Seldin (Project Triforce) will be showing a meticulously detailed new mech premiere scale statue, Michael Kennedy (Archaia Entertainment) will reveal details of the Hawken monthly digital comic series, and Scott Robertson (Design Studio Press) will guide us through an early look at the Art of Hawken art book. Other announcements and debuts are also in store, and the audience will leave with a special gift in hand. Ignite the fight in San Diego!

An all-star panel of kids comics authors, game designers, illustrators, and educators discuss why today's heroes are often nerdy, quirky, flawed figures battling everyday challenges of social pressure and belonging, and have dropped the capes. Implications for developing the next superhero for aspiring writers, students, and educators will also be discussed. Panelists include Jennifer Holm (Babymouse, Squish), Jonathan Hamel (Tomb Raider), Scott Peterson (Batman: Gotham Adventures), Raina Telgemeier (Smile), Tim Travaglini (Open Road Media), Joe Kelly (I Kill Giants, Four Eyes, Man of Action Studios), Jimmy Gownley (Amelia Rules!), and Talia Hurwich (Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth). Moderated by Meryl Jaffe (Using Content-Area Graphic Novels for Learning, Johns Hopkins University).

Interested in a career doing voices for animation and videogames? There are plenty of people around who'll take your money and tell you how to go about it...but here's 90 minutes of absolutely free advice from folks who work in the field. Get the scoop from cartoon voice actors Gregg Berger and Candi Milo, agents Pat Brady (C.E.S.D.) and Heather Vergo (Atlas Talent) and your moderator, voice director Mark Evanier (The Garfield Show).

Len Wein (creator of Wolverine) leads his Purple Pros against comics fan trivia buffs Tom Galloway, David Oates, and Peter Svensson in a contest of trivia about characters and concepts who debuted in 1963 and celebrate their Golden Anniversary this year, such as the X-Men, Avengers, Doom Patrol, JLA-JSA team-ups, and more. Come for the trivia, stay for the bad jokes and trash talk!

Live action role playing or "LARP" is one of the oldest forms of artistic expression, and it's growing into a huge global movement. Besides being an oft-misunderstood activity in movies and television, LARP is used for psychological research, military simulation, business training, and classroom education. Our panel of experts will explain the differences and similarities between LARP and cosplay, transmedia, ARGs, jeepform, and all forms of participatory, interactive, communal storytelling. They'll trace the history of LARP and examine what's going on with LARP in other countries, including the Nordic nations, as well as in America. With Kaza Marie Ayersman (The Larp Girl), Nick Baumann (The League of S.T.E.A.M.), Dave Funk (co-founder, Larping.org), Ira Ham (Wyrd Con, LLC), Tom Miller (lead designer of Larping.org), and Lisa Schaefer (IFGS). Moderated by Aaron Vanek (Founder, Seekers Unlimited).

A goal, a good idea, discipline, and skills are only the start of what you need for your project to succeed. Knowing the basics of group dynamics, forming and then working with a group without mortally wounding each other is the difference between your project's success or failure. This panel is the one-stop place to learn the 101s of those topics. No matter which industry (comics, illustration, movies, design, animation, or costuming/cosplay), "breaking in" has never been more apt a term than in today's media. It is a full-time job, and you only have part-time hours to accomplish it. The panelists represent a broad cross section of levels of authority, departments, media, work pipelines, and sizes of organizations from a variety of media, including illustration, writing, design, animation, podcasting, and live-action filming. Topher Davila (art director, GeekdomWear.com and co-creator/co-producer, We're Always Like This), Sean Glumace (digital arts instructor at Golden West College, comic book letterer), Kevin Flessing (co-writer, We're Always Like This), Mario Martinez (co-creator, TomatoTV), Aleister Gilgrim (creative director, ICS Mobile), Brendan Creecy (Radio BrendoMan podcast), Ron Coleman (molecular geneticist and writer), Jonelle Davila (co-producer, We're Always Like This), and Chris Dickens (writer and co-creator of Vigilante Project) provide content that is a mixture of speaking, questions and some short interactive applications where the audience can directly apply the topics covered.

The pop culture explosion through gaming, comics, TV, and film has opened up new opportunities for cultural diversity; however, many obstacles still exists. In this humorous but poignant discussion, Diverse geek experts discuss breaking ethnic stereotypes and what changes need to happen for us to boldly go into the future. Panelists include Tony B. Kim (founder of Crazy4ComicCon.com), Andre Meadows (creator of Black Nerd Comedy on YouTube), Linda Le (cosplayer and designer), and Marlene Bonnelly (producer of ILikeComicsToo.com).