As the SD10 schedule drifts out, the big movie panels are shaping up, and one of the biggest comic book movies at this year’s show is surely RED, based on the Warren Ellis/Cully Hamner miniseries. Dame Helen Mirren, Bruce Willis, Mary Louise Parker, and Karl Urban will all be on the Hall H panel for RED as will creator Warren Ellis and director Robert Schwentke. But in the excitement, it was noted that one person was missing, artist Hamner.

Some deemed this a snub, although there have certainly been lots of comics creators who have been left off the big Hall H panels when their movies were discussed. Several years ago Steve Lieber couldn’t even get in to the WHITEOUT panel due to overzealous security — but it is a bit of a sad comment on our times.

Hamner has remained silent in the hubbub, but via Twitter, he has just announced a VERY happy and appropriate outcome:

Hokay. This is going to be a tweet in a few parts, so please bear with me. Re: the RED SDCC panel/Where’s Cully brouhaha from yesterday, Some of you may have noticed how quiet I was on the subject all day. I was basically trying to keep my trap shut until I knew what was happening, first, & how (or whether) it would resolve itself before I said anything. Certainly didn’t expect such a clamor & I surely do appreciate that people cared so much that I be on the thing. It really meant a lot that so many of you felt that it was important. Thank you! Anyhoo, I’ve been in contact with Summit, & as I understand it, it was an oversight in that the announcement of the SDCC sked had to go out on that day & Summit had not yet been able to finalize the details yet. It was unfortunate, but just one of those things where everything happens at once and gives the wrong impression. So I just wanted everyone who made the effort to have me there, that I WILL BE ON THE PANEL with everyone else. The problem/misunderstanding/whatever has been resolved. It’ll be probably my only comment on this, so you heard it from the horse’s mouth. Thanks, everybody!

One more thing: After all this hubbub, let’s make it a FULL ROOM, okay? ;)


With the happy ending unfolding, and Hamner’s word of wisdom ready to entertain the 6,500 strong crowd in Hall H, it’s a sure sign that studios are getting always more savvy about keeping the creators in the loop — it just looks too crappy when they don’t.

1 COMMENT

  2. Nice that he’s on the panel, but it’s clear from the trailer that the film has only a passing resemblance to the comic book.
    Plot, tone and characters are almost completely different.
    It looks great, and very funny. But its a adaptation of the comic in the thinnest sense of the word