The Venture Bros. : Convention Do's and Don'ts for Fans

Shannon Cottrell

Adult Swim's cult hit The Venture Bros. was back at San Diego Comic-Con this year. Friday's panel featured show masterminds Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer along with James Urbaniak, the voice of Dr. Rusty Venture, dressed like it was 1991 and ready to premiere a new music video from band-within-the-show Shallow Gravy. That night, a party Quality Social in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter featured a set from Flying Lotus and a Venture Bros. costume contest. The following day, Publick and Hammer worked Adult Swim's ice cream truck.

This was our third year covering The Venture Bros. at SDCC and, during that time, we've seen this show that's filled with superscience, supervillains and pop culture references become more popular. We've also learned a few things. With Hammer and Urbaniak slated to appear at Dragon*Con in Atlanta on Labor Day Weekend, we thought we might share a few of these convention do's and don'ts for fans of the series.

Shannon Cottrell

This is the most important piece of convention advice we can share with fans of any series. There are no spoiler alerts at panels. People will talk about what happened to Brock and Molotov at the end of Season 4 because it's a major point of discussion. Prepare yourself.

Don't: Ask questions about Kim.

Kim appeared in one episode back in Season 2, "Victor. Echo. November." She was friends with Triana Orpheus, headed out on a double-date with the Hank and Dean Venture and toyed with the idea of becoming supervillain. Despite her relatively minor part in the show, people continually ask about Kim at panels. Our assumption is that the Kim questions are at least partially responsible for the big reveal of the character's fate at the end of Season 4. Still people ask about Kim. We do, however, think that more people should cosplay Kim. She has a cool outfit.

Shannon Cottrell

A lot of people cosplay the Ventures, the Monarch, Dr. Girlfriend and Dr. Orpheus and his daughter, Triana. Occasionally, we'll see Brock and Mol, but, let's be honest, those are really difficult characters to cosplay. Try dressing up as an obscure character instead. This year, in San Diego, one person dressed as Plug Face, a character who has turned up in a couple episodes. Plug Face got a shout-out at Friday's panel and was the talk amongst impressed fans at the party later that night. Anybody willing to try Mommy Longlegs next?

Don't: Try to score spoilers during Comic-Con panels.

"All questions about what will happen in the show will be answered in the show" is a phrase that Doc Hammer repeated in various ways throughout Friday's panel. They won't tell you what will happen with S.P.H.I.N.X. or the Monarch and Doctor Girlfriend. Don't ask.