by Mary Anne Butler, Reporter
Stan Lee’s World of Heroes is a new youtube channel for all things Stan, fandom, and entertainment.
Aside from the lady (who I won’t name) completely TAKING OVER the round table interviews and hijacking EVERY PERSON TO SIT with us, it was such a fantastic experience getting to listen to Mark Hamill, Adrienne Curry, Peter David, Jayce Hall, America Jones, and Bonnie Burton talk about the new youtube channel.
Mark Hamill was asked a lot of questions about his recent discovering of twitter, at his daughter’s insistence, and uses the social site primarily to promote his upcoming film “Sushi Girl”, directed by Kern Saxton. He is still unsure of what type of content he is after for the new youtube channel, but Hamill will be hosting an unnamed podcast and encouraged fans to tweet at him suggesting a title. He talks a bit about his various voice projects (A cartoon for Disney, Metalocalypse, and How To Train Your Dragon) and totally floors me when admitting a small part of his inspiration for the vocal speaking style of The Joker was the head Blue Meanie. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, do yourself a musical history favor and watch Yellow Submarine.
He goes on to talk about the progression of the laugh. THE LAUGH. He was doing “Amadeus” on Broadway before the film came out and every night, would try a new OUTRAGEOUS laugh. He used much of this experience in playing at madness to influence the different cadences used to portray the Clown Prince of Crime’s outbursts. Oddly enough, Tim Curry originally played the role (before it passed to others including Hamill) and was apparently one of the first picks to voice The Joker on Batman the Animated Series.
Adrienne Curry talks about her costume for the day, Raptor Jesus. She explains the character to the unfamiliar “I come from an internet meme from about 7 years ago. I was born 90 million years BHC (before human Christ) and I went extinct for all your sins.” It would also appear one of her passions in fandom is costuming and props, citing her story during the panel about seeing the Darth Vader costume from “Empire Strikes Back”, touching it, then licking her finger so “it would always be inside of her”.
If you don’t know who she is, a quick rundown: Winner of the first cycle of America’s Next Top Model, a reality tv show created, produced, and hosted by former supermodel Tyra Banks; an avid fan of music, movies, video games and comics; two covers of Playboy magazine; several runway shows, commercials, and music videos along with appearances in tv and other reality shows; and is the currently separated wife of actor Christopher Knight who played Greg Brady on the Brady Bunch tv show (1969-1974).
She is one of the executive producers on her new show, “Super Fans”. Billed as a nerd-centric ‘Hoarders/American Pickers’, Adrienne travels the country to check out collections, projects, and otherwise amazing lengths fans will go to in the love of their various fandoms. She says several of those approached for the show were nervous about coming across as crazy and being ridiculed for their passions, but Curry did her best to reassure them that wasn’t going to happen. The show is scheduled to start in September.
Bonnie Burton is a former Content Developer for Lucas Online, StarWars.com Senior Editor, staff writer for Star Wars Insider magazine, lead writer for The Official Star Wars Blog and hardcore DIY crafter. Her “marriage” to hardware heartthrob R2-D2 at the Star Wars Celebration Convention in Florida made headlines with the exchanging of restraining bolts instead of rings. Burton is also the founder of Grrl.com, and the author of The Star Wars Craft Book along with articles on Wired, Geek Monthly, and Yahoo! Internet Life.
Armed with her trusty sidekick, Admiral Sackbar (no really, it’s just what it sounds like. A sack puppet made to resemble Star Wars character Admiral Ackbar) and a purse full of googly eyes, she’s ready to turn everything into a craft (including her panel name tag). Her show on SLWoH is called “Geek DIY” and will be centered on ‘geeky crafts’, with special guests and various themed episodes.
America Young’s addition to the channel will be the scripted comedy, “Geek Therapy” where individuals either seek out help for their fandoms/obsessions and how to interact with the regular populace, some are court ordered to appear, and others are newcomers to geek culture and don’t know how to cope. Young is also a co host of the talk show “Mask and Cape” which will help fill in the blanks for fans who might not have all the info for upcoming superhero films. She continues to talk about how the show is meant to help ‘normal folks make the transition into the geek world’, and how she really likes the current influx of newcomers to the lifestyle.
With a comic catalogue under his belt with titles such as The Incredible Hulk (12 year run), Aquaman, Young Justice, Supergirl, and tv writing credits Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force and Space Cases, Peter David has some surprises in store for viewers. A scripted show about a superhero who becomes a joke in the community and spends most of his time hanging out in a bar for superheroes and supervillains. His commentary during the panel described it as something akin to “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, only better and funnier.
Don’t miss Fan Wars, very much a People’s Court show where fans bring their dockets to Jayce Hall’s court to sway an expert jury as to whom would win in a superhero match up. All those comic book store battles about who would take down whom have FINALLY found a platform to make their arguments heard. The honorable judge (Hall) told us there WOULD BE APPEAL episodes, where previous loosing parties have the chance to sway towards a different outcome.
To quote Peter David and sum up SLWoH: “As a Marvel reader since the 1960s, it is in fact Stan Lee’s World of Heroes, and we’re all just living in it.” Make sure to subscribe to http://www.youtube.com/user/worldofheroes
[nggallery id=7]
Click here for our full gallery on Facebook
Excelsior your true believers to ComicsOnline.com for more Stan the Man, more Comic-Con coverage, and everything geek pop culture!
