Comic-Con: First Night

Written by: Tony Lazlo, CC2K Staff Writer

James Cameron reveals plans for a new version of Titanic at Comic-Con.

I feel like I've been missing Christmas all these years.

My first trip to the fabled San Diego Comic-Con marks the culmination of a year spent reconnecting with my geek roots. For a good part of the last decade, I've stayed in touch with the world of geek – I mean, I help run this site, for Crom's sake – but before this year, I can't remember the last time I went into a comic book store.

That changed this year, and I've since gotten hooked on Green Lantern, a title I've always admired and name-checked in my geek life, but which I've never read regularly. Happily, the SDCC floor included a free Green Lantern comic that formally kicks off the title's big storyline for this year: Blackest Night, a battle royale among the Green Lantern Corps and several splinter corps that draw their powers from the different colors on the spectrum.

Also, James Cameron's working on a 3D version of Titanic.

I rolled into San Diego late Friday, but I managed to crash the gates in time to claim a press badge and slide into the back of hall H, where James Cameron and Peter Jackson were discussing their friendship and their thoughts on the future of movies.

Cameron likes it on the edge. No surprise.

"When it comes to filmmaking, there's a place where you know it's safe because people have already demonstrated that it's possible. That's not where I like to be," he said. "Then there's a place where it's impossible to do, and everyone knows it. But there's a zone where you can attempt something that's impossible today, but it might be possible a year from now. That's where I like to be."

Cameron also said that watching Gollum in The Two Towers gave him the courage to attempt his next movie, Avatar, a bleeding-edge, far-flung sci-fi project. (We got a chance to review an extended treatment for it. Check it out.)

Jackson said that he'd love to convert The Lord of the Rings to 3D format, but after the demise of New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. took control of the trilogy, and apparently, Warners doesn't think there's much of a future in 3D – there just aren't enough theaters.

Both Cameron and Jackson said that the advent of high-quality 3D movies will force movie chains around the country to add support for the format. Cameron also expressed support for the expansion of video frame rates from 24 to 48 per second. Accord to Cameron, increasing the frame rate of even a standard 2D movie would make it look far more photo-realistic.

Elsewhere around the Con, I spotted the usual suspects. Broadsword-wielding soldiers from Soul Calibur. The Scarlet Queen. U.S. Agent. A zombie soldier guarding a morbidly obese redhead girl on the ground behind him. The mandatory half-dozen slave Leias. Catwomen. Lightsabers everywhere. A female version of Deadpool with enormous fake boobs.

I also got a look at the Green Hornet's car. I'm not familiar with the character, but it looks pretty cool.

Tomorrow will be my first big day, and again – it feels like Christmas Eve. I'm glad to be a geek.