Writer Gail Simone And X-Men Animation Headline Full Uncanny Experience Program
by Austin Gorton
The Uncanny Experience, the immersive X-Men-based fan convention in Minneapolis, recently announced its full programming schedule for its upcoming third show. The program includes traditional Q&A-style panels with X-Men creators like Uncanny X-Men writer Gail Simone and Magik writer Ashley Allen, celebrity panels featuring Tyler Mane (Sabretooth) and a 25th anniversary celebration of X-Men: Evolution, and classroom-style presentations focusing on specific corners of the X-Men’s long publishing history.
Some highlights for me include:
X-Music: A Requiem for Xavier’s Dream (11AM Saturday) – I’m a big fan of film scores, and this panel which takes a deep dive into the music scoring some key moments from animated and live-action X-Men (including Ace of Base’s “Happy Nation” in X-Men ’97 and Beethoven’s 7th in the otherwise underwhelming X-Men: Apocalypse) stories should be a fun look at the way music can make something good, better, and even elevate something…not so good.
The Secret Lore of Otherworld: Classic Captain Britain Stories You’ve Never Been Told (1PM Saturday) – Captain Britain is one of those characters with a goofy relationship to the X-Men: not technically a X-character (or even a mutant), but one with strong ties to the franchise thanks to the involvement of writer Chris Claremont in many of his stories and his appearances in books like Excalibur. He also represents a corner of the X-mythos with which I’m less familiar, making this panel all the more intriguing.
“Jack Kirby: Father of the X-Men!” (Sunday 11AM) – The X-Men are generally considered one of the lesser creations of the famed Stan Lee/Jack Kirby collaboration, but they’re Lee/Kirby creations nonetheless, and it’ll be fun to see the King, who is often overlooked in terms of discussions of significant X-Men artists, in the spotlight at this show.
Savage Land 101: From Amphibius to Zabu (Sunday 3PM): Chad Anderson, host of the Graymalkin Lane podcast, is a veritable fountain of X-Men knowledge, and an entertaining presenter of that knowledge to boot. So much so that, even though the Savage Land isn’t one of my favorite settings for X-Men settings, I don’t want to miss his panel.
For a full breakdown of all the Uncanny Experience programming (and to order tickets), check out their website.
