Fellow LDSO member and friend Mor.Evil-1, attended the Wizard World Convention in Los Angeles this past weekend (held from March 17th-19th). He dropped by the Slave Labor Graphics booth, who are the publishers of the upcoming TRON: The Ghost In The Machine comic, coming in April.

Here's what Mor has to report:

Unfortunately, Louie De Martinis, Landry Walker, and Eric Jones were not there when I attended. Who are these dudes, you ask? Only the creators of the TRON comic series, that will be debuting this April 2006!

Yes, in case you have not heard, TRON: The Ghost In The Machine will finally be released in April.

In light of the fact that the TRON dudes were absent, I was able to chat with Roman Dirge: Cover Artist of the newly released Haunted Mansion comic. Since I am a huge fan of anything Mansion related, I picked up the first two issues. And he totally signed them for me, most nice of him.

Anyway, I asked him about the TRON comic. (Also informed them that there is a strong following, still playing and creating materials as best we can, for the TRON 2.0 game. And that many of us have waited very long, for the release of the comic.)

I proceeded to tell him about the lack of BVG support for the game, when he asked me "What is BVG?" (had to laugh at that). But I told him it was Buena Vista Games, and then he got it. It did seem quite a shock to him that the game was "vaporware", since the comic was just getting released.

As we continued to chat a bit more: two other SLG employees then opened a notebook, and seemed to be taking notes regarding our conversation. At that point I thanked Dirge for the comics -- and due to the apparent stares I started to receive from the two dudes -- I then went over to look at the original script for the TRON comic, and left it at that. I mean, you really can't rave about another comic: when the dude who is the cover artist for that other comic is standing there trying to promote his own, you know?

All I can say, is Dirge confirmed that the comic will be released for sure next month. And that TRON fans will love the comic, for sure. I can add that the inking is fantastic, and the storyline doesn't look half-bad.

The story does take place after TRON 2.0, where we find Jet all messed up from his experience in the system. Apparently he can't even be around any tech stuff, and lives quietly without any. However, something wants him back in the machine again.

Before I continue, I just wanted to say that I apologize for leaving out mention of Eric Jones as co-writer of the comic, back in my Just How Well Did TRON 2.0 Do, Anyway? article. Mea culpa.

I'm of two minds, when it comes to the direction that the story in the comic will take. On the one hand, having Jet become averse to technology is an interesting angle to run with. You'd think that Flynn, Alan, and Jet would at least have some kind of baggage lurking in their subconscious minds, after their experiences inside the "electronic world". On the other hand, this idea kind-of clashes with the ending of the game. Jet didn't seem too stressed-out or disturbed by what had happened to him, in the game's ending cutscene. But I guess you could argue that his experience inside, took time to really sink-in.

I found Mor's comments about how, apparently, some of the SLG employees were not aware of the TRON 2.0 game being "vaporware" (I'd use the term "abandonware", myself) -- both amusing and surprising. You would think that all the people at a company publishing this comic -- whose story is in large part based on the TRON 2.0 game -- would be keenly aware of the sales and support data for all previous TRON merchandise, and keep themselves informed.

Of course: BVG picked the worst time ever, to shut down their Multiplayer servers. Just when TRON is back on the radar screen again, with Kingdom Hearts 2 and the TRON comic right over the horizon. Just when people might find out about and buy the game, because of the comic. But logic never does seem to apply, when you are talking about BVG.

Thanks again to Mor, for providing this scoop!