{"id":19495,"date":"2003-04-15T18:33:25","date_gmt":"2003-04-15T22:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=19495"},"modified":"2025-06-26T19:30:46","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T23:30:46","slug":"atlantacon-2003-report-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=19495","title":{"rendered":"AtlantaCon 2003 Report, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Preview in new tab<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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So where did we leave off? Oh yeah…<\/p>\n

I’m at AtlantaCon<\/b> with my son, Mike<\/b>. I’ve picked up sketches from Jason Alexander<\/b>, Andy Lee<\/b>, and Cully Hamner<\/b>. Adam Hughes<\/b> will have my sketch ready on Sunday. Believe it or not the day gets even better!<\/p>\n

How? Glad that you asked! Well, let me tell you…<\/p>\n

AtlantaCon<\/b> and Chud.com<\/b> have teamed up to present a special screening of Equilibrium<\/b><\/em>\u00a0followed by a Q&A session with writer\/director, Kurt Wimmer<\/b>. Seating was limited, but I was able to get two tickets.<\/p>\n

The only thing that I knew about the movie was that it starred Christian Bale<\/b> and Taye Diggs<\/b>, was scifi set in the future and received good word of mouth. I figured we’d be in for an entertaining evening even if the movie was just “ok.”<\/p>\n

The screening was set for 7:30. Everyone was to get there by seven. Mike<\/b> and I arrived at 6:40. A crowd was already forming. Mike<\/b> and I ended up next to Nick<\/b> from Chud<\/b>. We had a nice conversation. I was pleased to learn that he knew of StalloneZone. <\/b>He was also a Stallone fan.\u00a0Nick<\/b> said that we were in for a very cool film with Equilibrium. <\/b><\/em>\u00a0It was a movie that he was really proud to help promote. I also spoke briefly with Jen<\/b> who has set up a very nice Equilibrium <\/b><\/em>fan site.<\/p>\n

Soon it was time to go in. Mike<\/b> and I took seats in the middle of the last row. People continued in and the theater was nearly full. Nick<\/b> thanked us all for coming and that Kurt Wimmer<\/b> had flown in from LA to attend the screening. Kurt<\/b> had brought drinks and chips for the crowd!<\/p>\n

As Mike<\/b> went down to get a couple of sodas Cully Hamner<\/b>, Phil Noto<\/b>, Brian Stelfreeze<\/b>, and Karl Story<\/b> came in.\u00a0 They sat directly in front of us. When Mike<\/b> came back and saw them sitting there a giant smile came across his face. [For those of you who aren’t comic fans, this would be like driving to a basketball convention and having Michael Jordan<\/b>, Vince Carter<\/b>, and well, you get the idea, sitting in front of you.] Right before the movie started a gentleman and his young son took seats next to Mike<\/b>.<\/p>\n

The movie started.\u00a0 It immediately took you to another place. It’s our world, but in the near future. The opening scene is so cool and so well done that I knew we were in for a ride. Then comes the action and – MAN – it is AWESOME! I loved Christian Bale<\/b>‘s work in Shaft<\/b><\/em>\u00a0and Reign of Fire<\/b><\/em> but Equilibrium<\/b><\/em>\u00a0shows that he is a star. Taye Diggs<\/b>, Emily Watson<\/b> and Sean Bean<\/b> are also excellent… but the real star of the show is Kurt Wimmer<\/b> who wrote and directed it.<\/p>\n

Kurt<\/b> has also written other screenplays including The Recruit <\/b><\/em>and The Thomas Crown Affair<\/b><\/em>. After the movie ended Kurt Wimmer<\/b> was introduced.\u00a0 He went to the front of the auditorium for the Q&A session. It was the guy sitting next to Mike<\/b>! Mike<\/b> looked at me like he couldn’t believe it… watching the movie with the Gaijin<\/b> guys and<\/u> the director of the movie<\/b>!<\/p>\n

Kurt<\/b> was really entertaining. He spent an hour answering questions about the film. After the Q&A ended a group of us [including Brian Stelfreeze<\/b>] stood in the lobby discussing how cool the film was. The dvd will be out in May. My advice is to pre-order now. I think this baby is a sleeper.<\/p>\n

Sunday arrived. The final day of the show. The main question on my mind: Would Adam Hughes<\/b> be able to get to my sketch? As we walked in I heard John Higashi<\/b> yelling, “Craig<\/b>, come and see what Adam<\/b> did for you!” Needless to say, I was excited. Adam<\/b> had created a very, very cool drawing of Sly<\/b> dressed for an audition as Superman<\/b>. I absolutely love the idea and execution. Adam Hughes<\/b> is da MAN! I got a picture of Adam<\/b> holding the sketch and thanked him.<\/p>\n

Phil Noto<\/b> was setting up. I checked to see if he would be able to fit me in. Unfortunately Phil<\/b> was booked solid. He said he would do something for me and asked if I would leave him my address. I did and offered to pay for the sketch in advance. Phil<\/b> said we’d settle up once he was finished with it. Believe me, it will be worth the wait! [Next on my list will, hopefully, be Brian Stelfreeze<\/b>!]<\/p>\n

Mike<\/b> and I then went over to see Dan Brereton<\/b>. We discussed a Stallone<\/b> sketch. Dan<\/b> was leaning towards a Rocky<\/b>, but as he looked through my reference book he mentioned that he really liked Nighthawks<\/em>.<\/b> Whatever he wanted to do was fine by me. He said to check back in a couple of hours.<\/p>\n

Mike<\/b> and decided to visit some artists one last time. Mike<\/b> got a headshot of Batman<\/b> by Phil Hester, <\/b>a\u00a0Batman<\/b>\u00a0by Dave Cook<\/b> of Splatter Comix<\/b> and a Batman<\/strong> by Tim Flanagan<\/b>. Our final stop\u00a0was with Jacen Burrows<\/b>. Jacen<\/b> was doing some really interesting sketches. Mike<\/b> got one for his sketchbook. I asked Jacen<\/b> if he’d be interested in doing a Sly<\/b> drawing for me. He said he would, but that he’d want to do it at home. We agreed on a price and Jacen<\/b> said he’d have it to me in about a month!<\/p>\n

Mike<\/b> and I then headed back over to Dan Brereton<\/b>‘s table. The piece was finished. It was a knockout! Dan<\/b> had opted to do Deke DaSilva<\/b> from Nighthawks<\/em>!<\/b>\u00a0I got a picture of Dan<\/b> and his lovely lady, thanked him. It was time Mike<\/b> and I got back on the road for home.<\/p>\n

It was a great show. I’ll post pictures of the artists and their artwork later this week. Mike<\/b> and I hope to return next year. Maybe we’ll see you there!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Preview in new tab So where did we leave off? Oh yeah… I’m at AtlantaCon with my son, Mike. I’ve<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":912,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,17,56,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-celebs","category-comics","category-movies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/912"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19495"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39221,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19495\/revisions\/39221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}