Last weekend on August 20th and 21st distributors, vendors, collectors, and fans gathered for the ultimate pop culture fusion experience of East and West at the Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention (STGCC). This event included Nintendo, Hot Toys, Lucasfilm, Marvel, and DC Comics as well as an army of cosplay fans where individuals dress up in costume and accessories to represent their ideals. Majority of these costume characters are from anime series as well as movies like Predators and Star Wars.
Godaizer
The STGCC also hosted films and panels so creators can showcase their work. The first one was an animated 18 minute short by Singaporean director and producer Hillary Yeo called Godaizer. The film is about an old man and his grandson using a decommissioned robot to defend their country against an awakened monster. The film was short and sweet allowing the action to speak for itself since there were no voice actors. However the disappointed followed afterwards when there was no question and answer session with the director.
DC Comics Paul Levitz
Former President and Publisher Paul Levitz without his signature mustache represented DC Comics at the STGCC and he is best known for his work on The Legion of Super-Heroes. During a panel spotlighting on him, Levitz describes his love of the giant cast of the Legion of Super-Heroes which provides a complexity of stories and increases his secret knowledge of what will happen next.
Levitz was the co-creator of the Huntress who is set to star in a limited series beginning this October. Starting in Gotham City the Huntress uncovers a human trafficking ring leading her to Italy and culminating with the largest price on her head by the end of the series.Levitz describes the Huntress as someone who is driven by attitude.
Levitz also briefly spoke about his book 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking and describing it as a museum in book form. He also answered a question from an audience member asking him how he begins a story. Levitz answered by always asking what is the tone and the driving goal.
Comic Creators East Meets West Panel
On Saturday Marvel Comics’ Senior VP of Creator and Content Development C.B.Cebulski was the moderator bringing together today’s talent from across the globe including American writer Paul Levitz, British writer Kieron Gillen, Hong Kong artist Stanley Lau, Malaysian artist Sonny Liew, and Filipino artist Stephen Segovia.
Kieron Gillen of Uncanny X-Men arrives to the panel dressed as the John Travolta character from Saturday Night Fever. Stephen Segovia encouraged upcoming Asian artists by expressing good stuff translates over boundaries while Paul Levitz encouraged writers to keep writing and to build a body of work including blogging. Levitz believes writing is like hitting your head against a brick wall until it breaks – that is when people know you have talent.
Levitz shared a story of how Watchmen writer Alan Moore caught his attention by writing a letter to his home describing Levitz as the greatest editor in America and how Moore is the greatest writer in England. The letter led to Moore beginning his run in Swamp Thing.
Marvel: Your Universe Panel
On Sunday an all-star international panel of talents dedicated to Marvel Comics provided their feedback hosted by C.B. Cebulski. The stars included British writer Kieron Gillen (Uncanny X-Men), Stephen Segovia, Leinil Yu (Superior),Carlo Pagulayan (Planet Hulk), Mico Suayan, Harvey Tolibao, and Ben Ang who was discovered at last year’s STGCC.
Kieron Gillen believes the hardest person to write is the X-Men Storm who has varying experiences as a thief, goddess, and a leader of the X-Men since it is hard to pin point her point of view. Filipino artist Harvey Tolibao who was responsible for the drawing the STGCC Captain America#1 variant cover believes the hardest character to draw is the X-Men Jean Grey as the Phoenix.However due to his thick Filipino accent, the panel and the audience members believed he said ‘Penis’ instead of ‘Phoenix.’
Room for Improvement
Unlike the comic conventions like the San Diego, Baltimore, and the upcoming New York Comic-Con, the STGCC had a sparse representation of the two comic publishers Marvel and DC Comics. One would have hoped the digital age of comics would bring more writers and artists from the two publishers to push their books into the international markets. Their comic movies foreign grosses such as Iron Man 2 and the Dark Knight represent nearly 50% of their total box office take according to Box Office Mojo.
Disney who currently owns Marvel Comics made over $1 billion worldwide for Toy Story 3. Nearly 61% of the total came from the international markets. If comic publishers established the same culture on comics as they do on their movie franchises then the comic book industry would not be on a declining trend however it is easy to say it than to do it.
Luckily numerous vendors took advantage and sold their toy-related movie and television series products including Transformers, Thundercats, Star Wars, He-Man, X-Men,and many more. Overall the experience was a buffet of past and present fusion of pop culture building enough momentum for next Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention in 2012.
