By Jodi Marze, LIfestyle Editor and Hugh McDonald, contributor
The Picayune Item
PICAYUNE —
The 2012 Wizard World Comic Con was held at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on December 1st through 3rd. The convention brought thousands of comic and science fiction lovers from throughout the Gulf South.
Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee celebrated his 90th birthday on Saturday, at a panel he held, with a birthday cake and banners. Lee’s panel was hosted by Jarrett Crippen aka “The Defuser” who was the winner of Season 2 of Stan Lee’s television show “Who Wants to be a Superhero.”
Lee spoke about his beginnings in publishing as a gofer and almost accidental position in running the house after all upper management were fired. He also answered questions on the purchase of Marvel Comics by The Walt Disney Co. and indicated he was pleased with the money that Disney could inject into the production of the movies based on his characters.
“I don’t try to change the movies at all. I show up and do my cameos. If I could change something, it would be that I would have longer cameos,” Lee said.
When asked which characters he would like to see in future movies he said that movies for Dr. Strange, The Black Panther, and Deadpool are currently being developed and he would make cameo appearances in them. When pressed about his cameo in “Thor: The Dark World” (2013), he said his cameo is in a reality setting and it’s the funniest he’s ever done
Lee encouraged artists to view objectively at their work and see if it was at least as good as current professional artists.
“If it isn’t at least as good as what a company currently publishes, what do they need you for?” he said.
Sean Patrick Flannery and David Della Rocca held a panel for Boondock Saints fans. Flannery (who hails from Lafayette, La.) entertained the group by doing impressions of other actors when he answered questions. Such was the case when he answered a question on working with Billy Connoly, who he described as a genius “a genuinely good human being.” He also did an impression of Christopher Walken, who he used as an example, when he said, “in Hollywood, they say it is better to be interesting than believable and real.”
David Della Rocca answered most of his panel questions with a keychain that had recordings of the History Channel’s, “Swamp People” star, Troy Landry. Flannery also did impressions of Della Rocca much to everyone’s delight.
Della Rocca recently filmed an independent film, “Dead in Five Heartbeats,” which centers around motorcycle gangs, in which he plays “Angelo.” It appears to be based on the Hell’s Angels Oakland, Calif. Chapter founder Sonny Barger. There is no current release date available, but expectations are 2013.
Norman Reedus, who plays Flannery’s brother Murphy MacManus in Boondock Saints, currently stars as Daryl Dixon in the AMC television series “The Walking Dead.”
He participated in the panel for “Walking Dead,” and said that he originally went to try out for the role of Merle, but they liked him so much they wrote in the part of Daryl for him.
“It’s a blessing to not be in the comic book, because they can do what they want,” he said.
Michael Rooker, who plays Merle on the show said, “More of Merle’s back story will be folded into the script in bits and pieces.”
While fielding questions from the audience, he gave advice on acting to a young fan, “You’ll do it for a while... then you’ll burnout and become a doctor.”
Wizard World said their New Orleans event was a huge success and have scheduled the next Comic Con for February 7th thru 9th, 2014.
