Okay, mock away, but as a punk kid in the early 80's I discovered Metallica and I have stuck with them ever since. Yes, through the 'Black' album and 'Enter Sandman' and 'Load' and 'Reload'. Their hardcore metal cred may be tarnished but I still love James Hetfield's growl and their musicianship is unmatched as far as I'm concerned. They never turned into Spinal Tap like most metal bands seem to, eventually, a parody of themselves. They also know when their brand needs sprucing up which makes them media savvy and good businessmen as well rockers.
It was the weekend of the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, a celebration of genre entertainment in it's many forms and fandom in general. Booths and booths of comics and related merchandise plus artists, writers and celebrities from comics, animation, movies and tv were on hand to meet their fans. There were a few highlights for me. A writer's panel with three excellent comic talents, Greg Rucka (Wonder Woman, Checkmate), Bill Willingham (Robin, Fables, Shadowpact) and Mark Waid (Kingdom Come, Brave and the Bold, Legion of Superheroes). Mark Waid was a bit pessimistic about the future of superhero comics, he said quote, "DC is selling comics to the same 120,000 people and eventually they are going to all die..." That may be true but based on how packed the con was and how many kids were there, I don't think the market for the superhero genre has dried up yet. There was also a Battlestar Galactica panel with Tricia Helfer. Although she wouldn't give up the identity of the final Cylon, we did find out that the spin-off series Caprica had been green-lighted. Apparently this is going to take place 50 years before the events of the current show. And last but not least, I had a chance to meet and talk briefly with George Takei of original Star Trek fame and now currently Heroes. A very funny, nice man. Loving his work in Heroes. That's it for this comic geek, if you get a chance check out the Calgary Expo next year. Everybody needs to experience a comic convention once in their lives, really.
