Wednesday, September 17, 2025

ATL Comic Convention 2025: An F-Bomb from Kiefer Sutherland & A Conversation about 'Brick'

 

I Dig Crazy Flicks with @CatBusRuss

Bonus Episode: ATL Comic Convention: Day One - The Panels Awaken

Faux book cover featured in John Carpenter's "In the Mouth of Madness"

CatBusRuss's three star (at best) accommodations are not too far away from the Georgia World Congress Center, so not having a good time at his first ATL Comic Convention would be a difficult task. Our host was able to perhaps make new friends, or at the very least frenemies, as he sat in on four panels and served as a panelist for "Knives in My Eyes: 20 Years of Brick".

The panel dedicated to Rian Johnson's debut feature were for the true Johnson fans, so just CatBus and the "Blood Orange" comic co-creator, Tim Avers. Tim also took part in a panel dedicated to "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" alongside friend of the show Bryan Young and "The Last Jedi's" novelist Jason Fry. These three had panels all throughout the day, so I am not questioning their fandom towards the mind behind "Episode VII". Hell, Fry has Rian's phone number.

The "Brick" panel will be released as a "I Dig Crazy Flicks" podcast in a few weeks, so not having an audience allowed the two to have a great conversation about the feature. In the end, people were coming in for the "Tron: Heading Back to the Grid (CatBusRuss took part in that at Indiana Comic Convention and it is on this podcast feed.)" panel, so Tim and Russ did get a chance to sell this under seen gem to an audience before running to their next obligations.

CatBusRuss obviously attended the "Star Wars" panel that was mentioned. ("The Force Awakens" panel also featured Maggie Lovitt, the lead news editor for "Collider") and Jason & Bryan's panel about Luke Skywalker's character in "The Last Jedi". The two remaining panels were back to back-to-back in the same room. This double header was opened with a panel about the film adaptation of "V for Venedetta" and hosted by filmmaker Mario DeAngelis and featured LiteraryHypeWoman Stephanie Carr, and novelists Kris Bird and Hollis Jo McCollum. Mario then hosted a celebration about the art and life of David Lynch with Shawn Eastridge from the "Missing Frames" podcast and Tim Avers.

Because some listeners do not want to hear about an event they cannot attend second hand, CatBusRuss hopes to make up for that by reviewing John Carpenter's "In the Mouth of Madness". An ironically fitting film to choose because its title may explain any first-time comic con attendee's first experience.


Episode 229 - ATL Comic Con 2025 with the Only Guy to Get an F-Bomb from a Young Gun

Movie Poster for -The Hidden- from ricochetgon on Pinterest

Either celebrity involvement has finally come to "I Dig Crazy Flicks with CatBusRuss" or cease and desist letters are in the podcast's future. As they say, any press is good press.

Friday, the podcast professional CatBusRuss was a panelist for just one panel, "Knives in My Eyes: 20 Years of 'Brick'". Saturday, he got to sleep in because the only panel he "needed" to get to was "Young Guns Spotlight with Kiefer Sutherland and Lou Diamond Phillips". When you ask the only question that gets one of the stars to say the four-letter F-word, you would call the day a win. But the Peorian went on to conquer his shyness by meeting Bai Lingand hopefully learned some new means to still make "Main Event of the Dead" a thing as he attended a panel about selling a comic book to the movies studios with Producer Rick Alexander and Comic Book Legend Steven Grant.

To not seem too nerdy, Russ also attended the Atlanta United vs. Charlotte FC match at the Mercedes Benz Dome. Of course he bough a custom CatBusRuss jersey. He had not spent too much on the show floor, so a souvenir was needed from this trip. That would at least fit in his suitcase.

Sunday was CatBus's big day, and of course it started early. Caffeine and sugar were needed to recover from the soccer match and early morning rewatch of "The Crow". Was he going to be prepared for the "30 Years of the Crow Panel" having not watched the 2024 remake? How much anxiety would this bring him with that being his last panel?

CatBus did his best to hang with "Star Wars" experts when discussing "20 Years of Revenge of the Sith" with the crew from the "Full of Sith Podcast", but left feeling he might not be as attuned with the force as he thought. He got his momentum back with the debut of his new panel "1985 Triple Threat Match: Stallone vs. Schwarzenegger vs. The Cannon Group" with the help of director Mario DeAngelis and novelist Hollis Jo McCollum. With that kind of confidence, he was sure to kill at "The Crow" panel with Streamer Faydra Black...until...

FanX decided since they had the creator of the comic book creator, James O'Barr, and actors Bai Ling, Rochelle Davis, and Laurence Mason to represent the film at the convention, this became a spotlight panel. Could the CatBus hang with this level of talent, or at the very least, not make too much of an ass of himself? Was his "Fire It Up" chant too much?

This ended up being a very heavy weekend for a middled-aged podcaster in the best kind of way. He had to take a break in this recap to catch his breath and gather all the business cards of the coolest vendors from the show floor. Hopefully, you will enjoy his review of 1987 sci-fi action classic, "The Hidden". Please excuse his mispronunciation of Kyle MacLachlan's name.

 

Follow me on Twitter @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.

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