Same Great Cosplay, New Venue for Forest City Comicon
By Dan Brown No, that’s not me in the photo above – it’s another bald, middle-aged white nerd. The guy in the sawtooth Charlie Brown shirt is Ian Tyson. Like me, he’s a huge fan of pop culture, including such superheroes as Superman – Tyson has already seen this summer’s movie about the Man of Steel five times! Tyson is also. one of the key organizers for Forest City Comicon. If you attend the annual celebration of all things geeky this Sunday, you’ll likely see him hosting panel discussions. The timing for F3C this year – two days after Halloween – is no accident, he tells me via Facebook message. “It’s one of the reasons we chose this particular weekend at (Best Western Lamplighter Inn), with the notion being this Halloween, keep your costume on,” he explained. “I think Halloween has turned into more than just a day. It’s a whole weekend. So why not continue the celebration right into Sunday?” Forest City Comicon has always had a thriving cosplay scene. Tyson isn’t sure the exact reason. “We have a lot of great connections with our board to the cosplay community and that may certainly play a part in it. (The con) draws out really great creators and artists and people who just make incredible costumes,” he added, noting the afternoon cosplay contest attracts “everybody from the masterful ones to the little kids that are trying it out for the first time.” One outfit that stands out in his memory is from 2017, when one attendee dressed up as DC’s Hawkgirl. “She stood on stage and extended the (retractable) wings to their full span, which was significant!” Tyson recalled. “It was really incredible.” Tyson has been involved with every Forest City Comicon since it launched in 2014 at Centennial Hall. With the shift to the Lamplighter, this Sunday will be the first F3C to be held outside of downtown London. “The event features special guests, costumes, artists, exhibitors, board games, video-game tournaments, panel presentations, and more,” Tourism London boasts of the one-day show. “We’re very excited at the prospects of what’s gonna happen this year at the Lamplighter. I think the vibe will be lighter and more fun. It’s warm. It feels like summertime in there, and it’s just a great space,” Tyson said. “I think that we truly have something for everyone, and have put a really great show together this year.” Something that has been a staple of past editions of Forest City Comicon is to bring in not only actors, but also celebrity guests other than those with familiar faces. Sure, there have been performers like 2017’s Billy Boyd, who played Pippin the Hobbit in the Lord of the Rings movies. But also part of the meat-and-potatoes for Forest City Comicon have been the talented individuals who fill out the crew and cast of motion pictures and TV franchises, like voice actor Billy West, who came to London in 2016. This Sunday will see a visit by David Barclay, the puppeteer who helped bring Star Wars characters such as Yoda the Jedi Master and Jabba the Hutt to life. Barclay is also known for “all things Muppet,” Tyson says. Oh yeah, and Cocaine Bear is coming, too! That would be Alan Henry, the motion-capture artist who played the titular coked-out beast two years ago. He’s also played King Kong, as well as characters in the Marvel, DC, Avatar, Lord of the Rings, and Minecraft universes. “From our experience doing these cons, motion-capture actors are fantastic guests that have great stories,” Tyson said, adding mo-cap performers “have stories to tell. They have been on the sets of these big things that we love, major projects, and been there doing the heavy lifting.” “Plus, what I have found is they all very much seem to be fans of the work they are doing. They are into it and they love meeting fans of that work, too. It makes for great back-and-forth interactions. They are just good people and are a lot of fun.” You will also see me at Forest City Comicon on Sunday. But don’t worry, folks, I won’t feed the Cocaine Bear! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Snoopy is Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
By Dan BrownI’m not much of a Charlie Brown fan, but I freaking LOVE Snoopy.So it’s not surprising an old Peanuts strip featuring the beagle with a vivid imagination caught my eye when it washed up in my Facebook feed last week.The strip, which originally appeared on October 2, 1966, features nothing but panels of Snoopy walking. And walking. Finally, there’s a punchline in the ultimate frame, and by that point the reader knows all of human experience is contained in that one Sunday strip.Let me explain.Having been born a couple years after that strip first appeared, Snoopy and his pals have been a constant in my life, and I consider Charles Schulz to be an artist of the highest order. As an adult, I belong to any number of Facebook groups that re-circulate Peanuts strips because I like to be surrounded by Schulz’s work. For whatever reason, lately I’ve really been grooving on Snoopy’s adventures as a Sopwith Camel pilot during the First World War, particularly the time he spends out of the cockpit. It doesn’t matter to me he might be imagining the whole thing. Part of the charm is how Schulz never really made it explicit whether Snoopy’s air battles in the Great War were “real” or not. So how could something as simple as a newspaper cartoon strip rock my world? I’ll describe it to you.The strip is 15 panels long, most of them narrow. A forlorn figure with flying goggles perched on his forehead trudges along. He goes through a forest. He crosses a stone bridge.His paws tread over an unplowed field. Snoopy crosses a stream (in this panel, you can see the debt Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes owes to Peanuts). The little white-and-black dog scrabbles up and down hills.He walks by the light of the moon. He pauses under a tree as he bakes under the scorching sun. He passes through tall grass, then goes around a fence. He is alone – not even Woodstock, his best bird friend, has accompanied Snoopy on this long journey.Exhausted, he crashes to the ground. Propping himself up against a rock, Snoopy thinks to himself, “They’re right . . . It IS a long way to Tipperary.”Funny, right?But here’s the thing: Snoopy is not in Ireland. The unspoken part of this particular cartoon is he’s behind enemy lines, trying to get back to his unit in allied territory. He’s been shot down. That’s why he’s travelling even at night. He is utterly alone, surrounded by enemies who want to do him harm. The question isn’t if he will get to Tipperary, but if he will reach safety. Snoopy’s weariness at the end comes from fear as much as the prolonged hike.What can I say? When I realized his predicament, I nearly cried.The mark of an artistic genius is that he can move his or her audience. After reading this strip, I was genuinely concerned for Snoopy. The forced march is a metaphor for life.In fact, it’s not overstating the case to say I felt a kinship with the cartoon canine because the promise of mortality – that one day, we will all experience death – hangs over every panel.You might say, well it’s all in Snoopy’s head, but it doesn’t matter: The truth is the fear and exhaustion are real. They jump off the page.So you can have your so-called great art. You can have your pyramids, your Sistine Chapel, your jazz music, your abstract paintings, your orchestras. I’ll take 15 panels from Charles Schulz over all of it.Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
