A year ago here at borg we previewed the first look at Marvel Studios’ new series WandaVision, and based on the unusual trailer we asked the question: What audience is WandaVision aimed at? The series at last began this weekend on Disney+ and two half-hour episodes in, I’m no closer to answering this question. In any other time that hasn’t been sidetracked by a pandemic, audiences would have already seen the big-screen release of Black Widow by now. The commonality is that each is a story focused on characters that have already been killed off in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We won’t know until this summer about the prequel movie with Scarlet Johansson returning as Natasha Romanoff (killed off in Avengers: Endgame), but it is a welcome sight to see the return from the dead of Paul Bettany as cybernetic superhero Vision (killed in Avengers: Infinity War) reunited with Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch aka Wanda Maximoff in this short, nine-episode mini-series. But here we don’t even know when it takes place in relation to the Avengers movies.
Two episodes in and you’re going to ask: What the heck did I just watch?
Excelsior! Legendary comic book writer, editor, actor, producer and publisher Stan Lee will be making a special appearance at Wizard World Comic Con Des Moines tonight and Saturday, May 20. The most iconic and well-known of all comic book legends and the spark that lit up the current heyday of comic books and comic book movies, Mr. Lee has done it all–the man behind Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, and hundreds of other characters, he is a member of both the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame. This weekend he will greet fans, pose for photos, sign autographs, and conduct an interactive Q&A at the Iowa Events Center as Wizard World Comic Con celebrates its third year in Des Moines.
Mr. Lee will be joining fan-favorite genre actor John Cusack, another late addition to the headliners appearing at this year’s event. Cusack’s impact on a generation of moviegoers can’t be overstated. Most first saw him as a kid in Sixteen Candles and Stand By Me. He became a household name in teen flicks like The Sure Thing, Better Off Dead…, and One Crazy Summer, but it was Say Anything… that made him a star as the lovable Lloyd Dobler, the boyfriend with the boom box. His adult drama work resulted in many cult classics, like Eight Men Out, The Grifters, Grosse Pointe Blank, and Pushing Tin. Films like Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway, Clint Eastwood’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Spike Jonze’s Being John Malkovich, and Robert Altman’s The Player proved he was the real deal, and later films High Fidelity and Hot Tub Time Machine proved he’s willing to return to his roots as the everyman good guy that audiences love.
John Cusack and Charlie Sheen in the baseball film classic Eight Men Out.
This weekend Cusack joins a big pantheon of celebrities including Eight Men Out co-star Charlie Sheen, plus Dean Cain(Lois & Clark, Supergirl),James Marsters and Emma Caulfield(Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Marina Sirtis (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Kane Hodder (Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th), Holly Marie Combs and Brian Krause(Charmed),Barry Bostwick(Spin City),Micky Dolenz(The Monkees), and more.
The convention will be held at the Iowa Events Center at 730 Third Street in Des Moines, beginning May 19, 2017, opening at 4 p.m. and continuing until 9 p.m., Saturday, May 20, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, May 21, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
A full list of Wizard World Comic Con Des Moines programming is available here (subjects, guests, times and rooms subject to change). For more on the event, visit the convention website here.
Never been to a comic book or pop culture convention before? Always wanted to go to San Diego Comic-Con but you don’t have the vacation time available or the funds? Planet Comicon is next weekend in Kansas City and although it isn’t as big as SDCC, it is a great way to get a complete three-day convention experience centrally located in the Midwest, ideal for a last-minute road trip for the family or a car full of friends. It’s less than 8 hours by car from Dallas, less than 7 hours from Minneapolis, a little more than 7 hours from Indianapolis, and a little more than 8 hours from Denver. And you don’t need to buy advance tickets–you can purchase them at the door.
So why make the trip? How about meeting Jason Isaacs, the latest captain of a Star Trek television series and star of the Harry Potter movies (and great TV roles)? Want to compare notes on Doctor Who companions with Catherine Tate (in her first U.S. convention appearance) and Billie Piper? Want to talk Arrow and Torchwood with John Barrowman, or have another chance to meet Arrow star Stephen Amell? Are you a Hellboy and Star Trek fan and haven’t yet met Ron Perlman? It’s the Star Wars 40th anniversary–how about meeting the newest actor to portray Darth Vader, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story actor Spencer Wilding?
Are you a Browncoat? Firefly’sSummer Glau is scheduled to attend, and Supernatural’sJim Beaver. Do you want to talk 20 years of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with Emma Caulfield? Are you a fan of Lost Girl and need to get your fae fix with Anna Silk, Rachel Skarsten, Zoie Palmer, and Emmanuelle Vaugier?
Want to buy comics, books, or sketches from some of the best creators from across the country, like one of the all-time greats, Howard Chaykin, or Timothy Zahn, creator of the new novel Thrawn? Click here to see everyone you can meet at Artist Alley. Do you collect busts of superheroes and are missing some key characters? Check out thousands of square feet of dealers selling everything from action figures to T-shirts to limited edition prints and toy lightsabers. Whatever you collect, crazy or not, if it’s related to TV, movies or comics you’ll likely find something there. And that’s just part of your day. There will also be panels, and cosplay is always a highlight of the show.
If you don’t include fantasy films, it’s not easy to come up with many pure science fiction genre romantic comedies. Fantasy genre romantic comedies are plentiful, with great movies like Princess Bride, Splash, Enchanted, and Ella Enchanted fitting the bill. There are also some good science fiction romances out there, the best being Somewhere in Time and Time After Time, and even more science fiction with some major romance elements, like Paycheck, Gattaca, Blade Runner, Logan’s Run, The Island, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and The Empire Strikes Back. But you need to dig deeper to find a romantic comedy that is also full-fledged science fiction–a film focused on a future technology, time travel, time loops, parallel worlds–there’s not a lot of overlap there. Groundhog Day comes to mind as both a science fiction romantic comedy and a fantasy romantic comedy. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, with its future technology of allowing a couple in a doomed relationship to erase their memories, would fall squarely into the science fiction romantic comedy realm, although definitely it’s the darker side of romantic comedy. Each of the Back to the Future movies have enough romantic comedy as an element but are not generally thought of as romantic comedies. Spaceballs is a science fiction comedy with a romantic thread that parallels Han and Leia in The Empire Strikes Back. Ghostbusters is also a sci-fi comedy with a romantic thread and maybe even Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home qualifies.
Maybe there are fewer science fiction romantic comedies because Hollywood thinks it needs to market science fiction to men and romantic comedies to women, so a science fiction genre romantic comedy is unlikely to be a financial success. But to find a solid romantic comedy science fiction flick, you’re left with the equal part fantasy Groundhog Day and the dark Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Until you happen to stumble across the 2009 filmTiMER. You might never hear about TiMER unless you track independent movies in film festivals, which never get to the point of having previews in theaters or in television. Or you see that it is available for streaming on Netflix.
