[C2E2 2016] brought droves of Comic fans to Chicago
Chicago’s answer to San Diego’s Comic-Con and New York’s NYCC gets bigger each year. Chicago’s C2E2 (Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo), held over three days at McCormick Place, drew droves of fans eager to attend the star-studded panels and participate in cosplay showcasing.
Guests arrived donning their best costumes, many of them homemade, embodying their favorite pop culture icons. It’s easy to lose yourself in a crowd of passionate fans as you see costumed heroes like ‘Batman’ and ‘Deadpool’ walking around you.
Chicago’s own actor John Cusack took to the stage the first day to talk with fans about his influential films, Better off Dead, High Fidelity, and Say Anything. Fans were also able to pose for photo ops with Cusack and other guests.
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Photo: Jesus J. Montero
The second day was highlighted by the Crown Championships of Cosplay, with participants competing for over ten thousand dollars in cash prizes. The second day also featured panels from Supergirl’s Melissa Benoist and Chyler Leigh. They took to the stage answering fans' questions as the new faces of women in the comic universe. Check out our photos below of Benoist and Leigh.
The final day ended with a bang as Golden Globe winner, Oscar winner, and Chicago Native Rhymefest performed from his Man in the Mirror 2.0 album, a tribute to Michael Jackson. Rhymefest also debuted his exclusive cover of the International Iron Man #1 comic issue based on his cover for the album, designed by Marco D'Alfonso has a part of Marvel's hip-hop variant cover series.
C2E2 is set to return to McCormick Place April 21-23, 2017.
[Review] Deadpool
Superhero fatigue: It's a very real thing, especially at the beginning of a year in which we'll see Deadpool, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Captain America: Civil War, X-Men: Apocalypse, Suicide Squad, and Doctor Strange representing the superhero film genre. By now, we've grown tired of the standard Marvel formula, as showcased by the less-than-stellar reviews of Ant-Man and Avengers: Age of Ultron last year. However, Fox has done their best to change not only our expectations of the genre, but for the film itself, as seen by the tone-perfect marketing campaign.
Can Deadpool rise up to the challenge with maximum effort?
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Deadpool
Director: Tim Miller
Rating: R
Release Date: February 12, 2016
Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), as we come to find out, is a merc-for-hire specializing in defending girls from their stalkers thanks to his experience in the Special Forces. His best friend, Weasel (T.J. Miller), is a bartender and proprietor of extracurricular activities at his bar where many of the other mercs and vigilantes find their next missions, and his girlfriend, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), is just as twisted as Wade is. However, he's soon afflicted with terminal cancer, making him a target of an underground lab that experiments on triggering mutant powers within humans, led by mutant Ajax (Ed Skrein) and his bodyguard, Angel Dust (Gina Carano)... you get where I'm going with this.
However, where Deadpool differs from other superhero origin films is its approach at its plot chronology. To a certain point, Deadpool tells its story in a non-linear way, allowing its storytelling to match the setting of a comic book that specializes in breaking the fourth wall and playing with its audience/readers. Undressing the film of its non-linear approach, however, reveals the standard revenge plot... but honestly, is the plot really what we're watching Deadpool?
Absolutely not. Finally, we're given a mainstream Hollywood comic book adaptation that truly allows the source material to be faithfully represented on the silver screen. Deadpool, as he's become to be known currently, is the anti-hero that fully embraces his existence within the confines of a comic book, allowing the writing to go in interesting ways... ways in which the standard mainstream superhero book wouldn't. Thusly, the comic book fandom embraces Deadpool as one of their own, someone who is a total badass that doesn't settle for the standard or takes himself seriously... as you'll see from the film's very first second.
Championing the character, and this film's sole existence, is Ryan Reynolds, who was destined to don the red and black in a way that does the role justice, not the poor excuse that was Deadpool's now non-canon debut in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. As he's said in recent interviews, Reynolds doesn't want to play another superhero character because of his organic connection to the role that highlights and accentuates the actor's strengths. Sprinkled in are the X-Men Colossus, voiced by newcomer Stefan Kapicic, and X-Men trainee Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), who serve no real purpose beyond connecting Deadpool with Fox's ramshackle universe. Further confusion sets in when you attempt to make sense of the Fox/Marvel universe and where Deadpool fits in the timeline alongside X-Men: Days of Future Past and this year's aforementioned X-Men: Apocalypse, so do yourself a favor and just take Deadpool for what it's worth.
And its worth is a near-perfect film adaptation of a fan favorite comic book that will meet audience's expectations... and then some. I'll go so far as to say it'll be equitable in its box office returns in comparison to the projected blockbusters Captain America: Civil War, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Suicide Squad, thanks to its dedication to its source material, Reynolds' perfect portrayal of the Merc with a Mouth, and a full embracement of the R-rating that will make all superhero film fans forever curious of what it would be like to see Wolverine truly draw blood. Don't get it twisted: this may be a Marvel adaptation, but it definitely isn't meant for kids.
Deadpool is everything we wanted it to be since it was officially announced... beyond the predictable plot and shoddy placement within the larger X-Men/Fantastic Four universe Fox has attempted to create. Much like Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Robert Downey, Jr's Iron Man, Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool is the perfect casting for a role that's destined to be franchised around. Deadpool sets the bar extremely high for its superhero brethren this year, and it'll be entertaining to see just how each film compares to this instant classic.
Red Band Trailer for Deadpool's Deadly Debut
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At one point, it seemed like Deadpool was forever going to be tainted and mishandled thanks to his "appearance" in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It's so hard to tarnish an insanely popular superhero, yet Fox found a way to do the Merc with a Mouth wrong in that film.
Since then, Ryan Reynolds, who portrayed the character, has wanted to make up for the lackluster characterization by making a stand-alone Deadpool film done correctly. The problem is, the character is so rooted in R-rated shenanigans and metafictional commentary and constant fourth-wall breaking that it was seen difficult to pull off efficiently in a film, especially one that necessitated an R rating for a film franchise that has always targeted the PG to PG-13 demographic (for maximum profit, of course).
All it took was constant support from Reynolds and a leaked CGI proof of concept to finally get the ball rolling. And after its successful showing at San Diego Comic Con 2015, the film's first official trailers were released last night on Conan. I won't go too much into the trailer to allow all of you to watch it for yourselves!
The red band (uncensored) trailer is above, while the green band trailer is below. Enjoy!
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Deadpool Finally Confirmed for 2016 Release
I don't know how or when it happened, but Deadpool has been one of the most popular Marvel characters at every comic book convention I've been to over the past five years (and perhaps even longer). Given the post-modern, metafictional nature of the character, his sleek and modern character design, and all-around hysterical characterization, I can understand why there are no less than ten amazing Deadpool cosplayers whenever I venture out to enjoy my fandom. The best Deadpool cosplayers are the ones that combine him with other characters/properties, which may seem weird to non-fans, but definitely fits within the nature of the character.
I say all this because, following his appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a spin-off film starring Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool was supposed to come out shortly after that film was released. Unfortunately, it was a hodgepodge of everything terrible with comic book films, and that kind of derailed the entire X-Men film franchise until 2011's X-Men: First Class righted the ship. Nevertheless, a Ryan Reynolds-led Deadpool film faced its own problems, namely the fact that a successful Deadpool film would have to be rated R, something most comic book films would never aspire towards due to the guaranteed loss in box office returns when compared to a PG-13 film.
Hopefully, Fox has figured out exactly what to do as they announced yesterday that the Deadpool spin-off has officially been greenlit with a 2016 release date targeted. Tim Miller, who has been working on the project since 2009, is still officially on board as director, but there's no word on whether Reynolds is still on board. However, as he has been championing the film for years, it's only a matter of time and scheduling before his casting is official, as well. The film's announcement comes a few months after a CGI test scene was leaked showcasing what a Deadpool film would tonally be like. You can see that below.
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[via /Film]