Englishman In San Diego

This is an interview conducted by Leonard Sultana for An Englishman In San Diego, on Friday 18th April 2014, and is another in a series of interviews titled ‘Icons Of Con’! Now, that might seem like a rather grand title but we feel that the subjects that we get to talk to – con commentators, comics industry insiders and pop culture celebrities – are worthy of the title: those who return to San Diego each July, not only as invited guests but also as dedicated fans, just like us. After our first interview subject, journalist/writer/SDCC panel host Geoff Boucher, spoke to is, he had such a great time that he recommended a number of his friends to talk to me, including this episodes guest, life-long comics fan, executive producer of the modern era of Batman movies and long time Comic-Con attendee, MICHAEL USLAN. Now, two things frustrated me about this interview: one, time constraints – and technical limitations on Michael’s part! – meant this took place as a transatlantic phone interview. We try to run these as Google Hangouts which allows me to see the face of the person I’m talking to and, hearing how animated Michael got during this interview, it would’ve been lovely to see that on screen. Secondly, the job that pays the bills when this interview took place for me is I work as a DJ on an evening and, when Michael was free to do this interview, it was late afternoon GMT and really only left me twenty or so minutes to talk to him. As it happens, I gladly ran late for my evenings gig as the time just flew by, listening to Michael’s stories of attending the first con’s on the planet as a boy growing up, meeting his personal heroes and eventually being able to bring ‘his’ Batman of the Big Screen to San Diego for the first time. Speaking to Michael Uslan, this is ‘ICONS OF CON’.