Highlights of Comic-Con 2013: Queer Geeks and Cute Ladies in Costumes

Hello my little marshmallows. This weekend most of the East Coast suffered a massive heat wave and I sweated through hipster brunch in Williamsburg with the guy who programs the Ok Cupid iPhone app. Meanwhile, thousands of beautiful geeks gathered in San Diego for Comic-Con International. Here are some highlights (mostly about haircuts), because nerds.

Karen Gillan Shaves Her Head

Actress Karen Gillan, of Dr. Who fame (she plays Amy Pond, no big deal), showed off her new do at Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy panel. Gillan plays the villainous space pirate Nebula in the upcoming film. Like a boss, she took her wig off and threw it into the audience. No word on if she ever got it back.

Veronica Mars Movie Debuts Trailer

After an ultra-successful Kickstarter campaign, the Veronica Mars movie is in production. A sneak peek was unveiled on Friday at Comic-Con. The movie is slotted for a 2014 release.

Also, can I just squee for a moment about Tina Majorino’s queer-as-fuck hairdo? Mac has always been my favorite character on Veronica Mars, but the hair just makes her a thousand times cooler.

Avatar: The Legend of Korra Book 2 Premier

If you aren’t aware yet of Nickelodeon’s Avatar spin-off, you need to be. While none of the characters are specifically queer, The Legend of Korra is one of the first and best American animated shows to feature a feisty, rebellious, ripped-as-shit female protagonist.

The first episode of the second season (Chapter One: “Rebel Spirit”) premiered at this year’s Comic-Con. The series will air in September 2013. As always, Korra is kicking ass. Take a look at the official Book Two trailer, and read up on IGN’s review of the premier.

Firefly Online

The short-lived cult classic Firefly will launch as an online multiplayer game in the summer of 2014. Joss Whedon provided us with a cast of diverse badass women, and we can only hope the online game will facilitate the same. Players will captain a ship, and, in the words of Captain Malcom Reynolds, the objective is thus: “Find a crew. Find a job. Keep flying.” Word.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y364b2Hcq7I

Sign up now.

Ender’s Game Movie Hullaballoo

Orson Scott Card’s sci-fi novel Ender’s Game got made into a movie, set to release this fall. Unfortunately, the film’s production and publicity has been marred by Card’s anti-gay activism. In 2009, Card joined the board of the National Organization of Marriage (NOM), and threw his voice in with the religious right. Since then, Geeks Out has called for a boycott of the film.

At Comic-Con, the Ender’s Game director Gavin Hood addressed Card’s anti-gay activism:

My view is I’ve been a member of the Courage Campaign for many years and I’m a little distressed by his point of view on gay marriage. However, the book is not about that issue, so I hope people can still appreciate the book because I think he wrote a great book, and the themes and ideas in the book, I think, are universal and timeless and applicable, and I hope the book will still be appreciated as a great work of art, even though I don’t agree with the author. I optioned the book, not an author, and I love what the author said in that book.

 

Gay Spiderman “Illogical”

New Spiderman Andrew Garfield once said The Wire‘s Michael B. Jordan should play MJ in the next Spiderman film. He retracted his statement at Comic-Con, calling it “tongue in cheek,” but reassured us that Spiderman will save you even if you’re queer.

Anti-Bullying Mixer

The first annual Anti-Bullying Red Carpet Mixer and Press Summit took place at this year’s Comic-Con, focusing on LGBT and other kinds of bullying, both social and institutional.

Cosplay Women

Need I say more? Enjoy EW’s Costumed Women of Comic-Con series [Day 1, Day 2, Day 3].

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SJ Sindu

SJ has written 13 articles for us.

20 Comments

  1. As soon as I heard about the Firefly game, I started hyperventilating with excitement. I am Firefly obsessed and having been waiting for any kind of new ‘Verse content for what seems like forever. HOWEVER. I dug around for some more info, and apparently It’s being originally developed for phones. Not computers. Which sucks. I have a horrible, horrible feeling that it’s going to be awful, and tacky. I’m terrified of it being Farmville-esque, with few actual relations to Firefly.

    But, hey, fingers crossed they’ll do something half decent with it. We can only hope. I’ve signed up anyway.

    • I am so nervous about this! I really hope it turns out well. I just want it to be similar to the star trek mmo or better.

  2. SDCC has kind of annoyed me this year, more specifically Wizards of the Coast. Releasing SDCC only alt-art planeswalkers for magic: the gathering which now cost like $300. for 5 cards.

  3. I remember waiting in line at Comic-Con for hours to meet Orson Scott Card and have him sign a billion books and my home-made Dragon Army costume that I would wear to play laser tag :(

  4. When I lived in Cali, I went to Comic Con as Yuna from FF X. So, of course, I had to get my hair done like hers, which involved bringing in a picture from a game magazine and telling the stylist I wanted “my hair done like hers.” The stylist asked me if Yuna was “a princess,” so of course while she was doing my hair, I had to explain who Yuna was.

    A fond memory of that was meeting Mike Nelson from MST3K (he was really nice!), and he signed the Tom Servo I had made, once as Tom (“It’s me! Tom Servo!”) and once as Mike. ^_^

    • I mean, can we talk about Tatiana Maslany saying she identifies with Cosima the most “because of her tendencies”??? (for the uninitiated, Cosima is queer) (also for the uninitiated, what are you doing go watch Orphan Black immediately)

      • Haha yes that was cute :) (I believe she has a boyfriend though).

        I also liked Jordan’s response about representing all different kinds of people within a minority.

        Gah can this show come back now?

        • Yeah it was a super great comment, though I don’t really think it was a coming out at all :)

          Oh god there are SO MANY QUESTIONS, I need another season!! Can Autostraddle do Orphan Black recaps? There’s queer lady content after all!

        • I’ve seen interviews that suggest Cosima is meant to be bisexual.

          Dating dudes doesn’t mean a girl ain’t queer!

  5. all the non related Firefly comments are valid and awesome but lets remember that there’s a Firefly game in the works.

    WHAT IS AIR?!?!?

  6. I’m still sad I wasn’t at comic con. I just want to dress up and meet gay nerds and listen to people geek out about the things I love.

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