A full review will be up when I have a chance to read it. It was waiting for me when I got back to LA, would have probably read the whole thing on my train ride back if I got at the con.On the panel with The Lord of Evil was his daughter Marceline, some times known as Olivia Olson. Pen Ward, creator of Adventure Time, artists who worked on the book: Tony Millionaire ( Maakies) and Celeste Moreno. A surprise visit from the Ice King, voiced by Tom Kenny who laid in wait in the audience to surprise us all. The panel was moderated by Kent Osborne head of story of Adventure Time and the voice of Finn and Jake's Dad, which he was asked to talk like during the panel.
The panel started out with a short cartoon starring the Lord of Evil calling us idiots and asking us to leave as we were deemed unworthy to even look upon the book. The film ended by asking us to deposit our souls into any nearby bin. A funny short video also played promoting the book which was cute and horrible all in one. The tomb was found by a child-like race and one of it's residents read the stories to it's people. While poorly explaining characters the storyteller turned one of it's kind into cake and it's people ate the cake, almost like a scene out of Troll 2.
During the panel we learned the book came about after about a year of work starting in April 2012. When asked by Abrams to do something Pen Ward in his own real word said Martin Olson was the coolest guy he knew and asked him to do the book. Nothing about the fact that Martin Olson already did a similar book, Encyclopaedia of Hell by Satan had anything to do with it
The book was explained to have multiple levels to it. The Lord of Evil gave wrote it but gave it to Marceline to review and leave notes. In real life Martin gave it to his daughter Olivia, so all of Marceline's handwriting comes from her voice actress from the show. Another level has Marceline giving the book to Finn and Jake as she simply go bored with it. So commentary from our favourite heroes is also within the tomb. Even more to add to the book is the Lord of Evil's lack of skill in wiring for which he just used magic to complete sections of the book. This with a noted section on how much the Lord of Evil enjoys sandwiches and astounding art make it a very detailed read.
So detailed that if you look into the art of Tony Millionaire and Celeste Moreno should find the waiving snail found in every episode of Adventure Time. Tony Millionaire explained how he got most of his work done and better drawings through the help of his two daughters who would explain to him what he might be missing on the sketches he did before he finished them. Both are huge fans of the show and asked nothing, but perfection from there Dad on what he did. If your looking for other extras, Pen Ward put drawings in the corner of the pages of the book for a flip book.
The Q and A led to some crazy results with one fan claiming after reading the book that the Ice King's lost love Betty was Princess Bubblegum, dumbfounding the panel and audience who did not say if it was true our not. We learned that the hidden gingerbread man in the opening sequence of the show is suppose to be Adam Muto, head of storyboards to embarrass him by Pen Ward. A plump secret revelead that Tom Kenny, the voice of Ice King is in reality a long time friend of Martin Olson and did use to baby sit Olivia Olson, Marceline in real life. Weird coincidence? Funny enough, Olivia claim Tom doesn't remember her at all jsut like the Ice King.Be sure to pick up a copy and see the real crayon work by artist Aisleen Romano.
Olivia Olson was nice enough to take photos with her younger fans after the panel.
