For some, it is Valhalla; for others, it is a seething, roiling, chaotic pit of humanity. For many, I suspect, it’s a phenomenon just slightly more indecipherable than Naked Lunch. It is San Diego Comic-Con, and documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, with the help of Stan Lee, Joss Whedon, and aintitcool’s Harry Knowles, has endeavored to crack the code in COMIC-CON EPISODE IV: A FAN’S HOPE. Rallying a massive production unit and focusing in on a handful of attendees that include a couple of aspiring artists, a costumer seeking to catch attention with her ambitious creations, and an old-school vendor wondering whether there are any comics left at the con — plus celebrity interviews from the likes of Kevin Smith, Guillermo del Toro, and Seth Rogen — Spurlock cuts through the myths of obsessive behavior, social awkwardness and bad hygiene (although there’s plenty of that, as well), to create a more human portrait of the people who have found pleasure and fulfillment in the worlds of genre media, and the event where they can let their geek flags fly.<\/p>\n
Click on the player to hear my interview with Spurlock.<\/p>\n