'Avengers Forever' artwork by John Byrne.

Three film lovers. Two comic-book fans and a comic-book know-nothing. One question: Do movies belong at comic conventions?

Patricia Donohue, DFI Presentation Coordinator: I would say films have a part in a comic con because there are lots of good movies based on comics. But we’re in the Middle East and comic culture is less established here, so if a convention is too heavy on movies, it’s not going to generate an interest in comics. People will just go to see a trailer for the next ‘Iron Man’ or go to see famous people. We comic-book lovers struggle to get access to comics. I love MEFCC because it has comics that I can buy and guests who are interesting – especially this year.

Nicholas Davies, DFI’s Senior English Editor: But doesn’t it offer them a different context? Watching comic-inspired movies with comic fans?

PD: It’s a good introduction, but if they overdo it then they lose the chance to build a comic book audience in the Middle East. We all want a comic-book store – there’s Book World, but that’s just a bookstore with a comic-book section. We want to build a community, introduce people to comics – which you can do with movies, but I would be happy if for the first few years they would just show clips. Maybe show movies people don’t know are based on comics so you’re still educating them.

ND: Examples?

PD: ‘300’ was based on a comic. ‘Kickass’ started as a comic. ‘Wanted’. That writer in particular writes comics to be made into movies. ‘Wanted’ is a terrible movie but a really good comic.

300

ND: I like that movie.

PD: I hate it. You should read the comic. The comic is really good.

ND: I don’t really like comics.

PD: Well you should like them.

Alexandra Fredricks, DFI’s Senior Coordinator of Programming Operations: If you start to show people the source, you start to educate the audience. I was never really a comics person. I’m not really into superheroes but I love vampires and crazy slashers and zombies. That’s how I started – I said, ‘Oh, this TV show I’m really into is based on a comic – I’m going to read that.’ And now I’m more obsessed with the graphic novel than with the show. So it can go both ways, but I think there needs to be an identified interest. I think if you show the film but then instead of a celebrity with the movie, you bring in the writer or the artist or something like that.

PD: It’s about seeing that thing you love and finding out where it originally came from. TV is huge right now in picking up comics and there are a lot of comics that are rumoured to be turning into TV shows. ‘Walking Dead’ was turned into a show. I heard rumours of ‘100 Bullets’ being turned into a show. I think there’s one called ‘The Sixth Gun’. What else would I want to see on TV?

AF: I want ‘Buffy’ back on TV, people.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

PD: See, there you’ve got something that started as a movie, then was a TV show and then a comic book.

ND: Are there other examples of that?

PD: Anything connected to Joss Whedon. ‘Firefly’ is in comics, ‘Angel’ is in comics. He is the biggest name I can think of who has crossover in film, TV and comics. What he did with ‘Avengers’, what he did with ‘Buffy’.

AF: Going back to films at the comic cons … the artistry that goes into making a comic book is needed for films. It’s like storyboarding – the big establishing shot and then the action. I’m a big ‘Alien’ buff and when I went to Dubai I picked up a book by the artists who worked with Ridley Scott. It’s a comic book that is the film in a graphic novel, using the original artwork. It’s interesting how the two forms can blend. They’re very connected.

We’re not sure we managed to answer the question with any great clarity. Suffice it to say that interest in comics is raging as always. We think it’s safe to conclude that any introduction to comic culture is welcome. See you at MEFCC!!