Bond at Comic-Con 2004
Comic-Con International is the largest pop-culture event in North America. 
The 4-day event draws an estimated 50,000 hardcore comic book and movie fans to the San Diego convention center each year. Of course, the BIG news out of Comic-Con this year was the live announcement of the title of the next Star Wars film (Revenge of the Sith). While Eon and MGM has been mysteriously reluctant to do any presentation on James Bond at past cons (the mind boggles at how popular the Aston Martin would have been sitting on the convention floor in 2002), there were a few special companies that kept 007 from being completely absent from this year’s 35th annual event…
SIDESHOW COLLECTABLES
Sideshow had a stellar display of all their licensed figures — from James Bond to Star Wars, from Buffy to Universal Monsters. As first reported by CBn, Sideshow revealed their upcoming 1/4 scale (18″) Pierce Brosnan as James Bond figure (which stood back to back with the 1/4 scale Sean Connry figure) and their upcoming Wai Lin figure from Tomorrow Never Dies. These new figures for 2005 were surrounded by some of the other current and upcoming 12″ 007 figures.
+ Click to Enlarge
Sideshow Figures featured at Comic-Con:
- 1/4 Scale Sean Connery as James Bond
(Pre-order for Oct/Nov/Dec 2004) - 1/4 Scale Pierce Brosnan as James Bond
(Pre-order for Mid 2005)
- Licence to Kill
– Timothy Dalton and Sanchez - On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
– George Lazenby and Blofeld - Thunderball (Pre-order for Sept/Oct 2004)
– Sean Connery - GoldenEye (Pre-order for Aug/Sept 2004)
– Pierce Brosnan, Alec Trevalyan and Xenia Onatopp - Tomorrow Never Dies (Pre-order for early 2005)
– Wai Lin
Since Sideshow’s next 12″ figure is to be Wai Lin from Tomorrow Never Dies, it’s possible that the next Bond figure will be Pierce Brosnan for that same film. Seeing as there is a Bond figure for each of the 007 movies that Sideshow has made a figure for so far, this is not such a shabby bit of speculation. Perhaps he’ll be in his HALO jump suit? (wink).
Speaking of Pierce Brosnan’s Bond. 007 fans have been wondering why Brosnan’s GoldenEye 
figure has the same head as the Die Another Day figure. While at Comic-Con, CBn got an answer for you. Typically, Sideshow does a new sculpt with each figure, even if it’s the same actor, in order to capture the different nuances of appearance in each film. But unlike Connery and Moore, who have given Sideshow blanket permission to create their likenesses, Pierce must personally approve each and every likeness Sideshow plans to produce. This can be an expensive and time-consuming process; 
sometimes requiring several sculpts before the actor is satisfied (as was the case with Sarah Michelle Gellar and their Buffy figures). Sideshow also runs the risk that an actor could suddenly have a change of heart and pull the license altogether. So with an approved Pierce sculpt in hand, Sideshow must weight the pros and cons of “going back in.” And did Pierce really look that different in GoldenEye?
ELECTRONIC ARTS
EA Games had a booth there as well, but there was no sign of GoldenEye: Rogue Agent even though the 007 game is to be released later this year. Dan Lamorena, an employee of EA who was working at the EA booth, told us that because The Lord of the Rings was a more prominent presence at Comic Con EA chose to put their effort into promoting their new game The Lord of The Rings: The Third Age. Understandable.
EA’s James Bond Games from the EA Store:
- Goldeneye: Rogue Agent (Pre-order for Fall 2004)
– GameCube, PlayStation2 and Xbox - Everything or Nothing
– GameBoy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation2 and Xbox. - NightFire
– GameBoy Advance, GameCube, Mac, PC, PlayStation2 and Xbox. - Agent Under Fire
– GameCube, PlayStation2 and Xbox.
METRO GOLDWYN MAYER
MGM, the entertainment company who works along with Eon/Danjaq to bring us the James Bond films, actually made an appearance at Comic-Con to promote their new shows Dead Like Me, Stargate Atlantis and their new direct to dvd movie Species III (having a girl in a glass case really brings a lot of traffic to your booth! Purrow!). This was quite a surprise to see them at Comic-Con as in the past they’ve tended to be a little standoffish when it comes to fans. This represents a positive move on their part. Will MGM promote Bond 21 at a future Comic Con? We sure hope so!
Also on hand were an assortment of licensed Chitty Chitty Bang Bang toys from Stevenson Entertainment Group. These toys are based on the new musical stage play, the Eon Productions/MGM film (the only non-Bond film Eon has ever produced), and the novel by Ian Fleming. These toys are set for release in Spring 2005.
TITAN PUBLISHING GROUP
Titan Books is the English speaking world’s leading publisher of licensed Film and Television publications and Graphic Novels. They have begun to reprint the daily express comic strip adaptations of the James Bond Ian Fleming Novels.
Titan tells CBn that the recently announced Goldfinger graphic novel (the cover art revealed here for the first time) has been delayed due to a schedule change at the company.
Purchace The 007 Graphic Novels off Amazon:
- The Man With The GoldenGun
– Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com - Octopussy
– Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com - On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (Pre-Order for Sept. 1, 2004)
– Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com - Casino Royale (Pre-Order for Jan. 2005)
Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com - Goldfinger (Pre-Order: date not confirmed due to schedual change)
– Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
+ Click to Enlarge