Atlanta Supercon — think DragonCon with a smaller wingspan — has its first outing this weekend. But Jay Wade Edwards knows what to expect.
"I love going to these conventions," he says. "It's people with very, very specific tastes coming together with people who create what they love. I've never seen so many geeky people so happy."
Edwards knows his "cons." As producer of "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," the surreal, naughty and way strange cartoon on Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim," he's been on plenty of panels at events like DragonCon. He and several of the writer-creators and voice actors for the hit cartoon, which is made in Atlanta, will be at Atlanta Supercon this weekend.
"I go to DragonCon every year," says Edwards, taking a break in his editing suite in Midtown, an office outfitted with a large tapestry of a velvet Elvis. "I would be going as a fan if I didn't have to be there on panels professionally."
Although Atlanta's annual DragonCon includes almost every form of pop culture to ever generate intense fandom, Atlanta Supercon will focus mainly on comic books, animation and anime, says promoter Mike Broder.
He's been running Supercons in Florida for three years, and is now expanding to Atlanta. As at DragonCon, many of the fans dress up in elaborate costumes. But this show will be smaller (a few thousand at most, says Broder, compared with DragonCon's 50,000-plus), and probably attract a slightly younger crowd.
Guests include actor Brian O'Halloran ("Clerks"); James Urbaniak of "The Venture Brothers"; comic artists Jim Cheung and Don Kramer; Samantha Newark ("Jem and the Holograms"); and most of the writers and voices of "Aqua Teen Hunger Force."
"Hunger Force" is the rather disconnected adventures of an anthropomorphic milkshake, meatball and container of fries. Edwards has been with it from the show's slightly wobbly beginning in 2000 through its success as the highest-rated original cartoon on "Adult Swim." Also working at "Adult Swim's" production headquarters in Midtown are "ATHF" co-creators Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro.
A former carpet factory on Williams Street — the street name is the production company logo for the cartoon — "Adult Swim" HQ is now a vast repository of toys and knickknacks and bizarro decor, the kind of place where they leave up the Halloween decorations and repurpose them for Christmas, hanging tinsel on dangling bats.
For Supercon, Edwards says he plans to bring plenty of clips that fans have not seen, such as footage from a new DVD set due out in December, and snippets from next season's episodes, which start in March.
