Comic-Con Chat With Gears' Cliff Bleszinski

Most of this weekend we have been covering a lot of videogame-related stories to come out of Comic-Con. Funny thing is, we really haven't had a chance to cover all that is Comic-Con -- videogaming takes up a small part of the five day event, but its presence has been growing steadily every year. So when we had a chance to meet up with Gears of War 3's Cliff Bleszinksi, all we wanted to talk about was the Con itself. Yet, videogames still found a way to seep back into our brief conversation.

1UP: We're tired of talking about games and just want to geek out with you about Comic-Con.

Cliff: This is my favorite convention of all time now. I love E3, I love games. But the thing is I have a mult-tier personality. I am a renaissance man of nerdiness. Growing up I loved comic books, movies, and videogames and I just happened to land in videogames.

But it's like, one third of the time we're playing games, one third of the time we're reading comics, and the other third of the time we're watching movies. Come here and there are action figures, awesome celebrities, ten Princess Leia's walking around -- you never know what you're going to see, right?

1UP: So what's the longest you have stood in line to pick something up at Comic-Con?

Cliff: I'm too lazy for that (laughter). I am! If I can't use my connections to get what I want, I'm not going to do it.

1UP: Well, what is it you want?

Cliff: My bank account is extraordinarily strapped by the Weta Ray Guns that Dr. Grordbort does. He's a great guy who has worked on building up this whole steam punk universe of ray guns. A few years ago I bought this handheld alien raygun, and then I bought the "Unatural Selector" which is this blunderbuss and that's in my living room right now. And a few years ago I bought that Iron Man bust from Sideshow Collectibles. I keep buying all of this awesome nerdy stuff, I need to quit it.

But I love discovering the individual artists by going to all of the little booths. All the little stuff, really. Never know what I'll find tomorrow. And my feet are so sore already. But the energy of seeing everybody, and the fans, it's pretty awesome.

1UP: So when was your first Comic-Con?

Cliff: Three years ago.

1UP: So you're a newb!

Cliff: I am! But yea, I honestly wasn't that much into comic-books until about five years ago, but now I have discovered the beauty of drinking a beer, sitting on the beach, and reading a good comic book. Like, I just got into Scott Pilgrim last year. It's like a love letter to the gaming generation.

1UP: Is that all you're reading right now?

Cliff: I'm reading Irredeemable by Mark Waid. It's like what if Superman decided to become a super-villain and kill millions of people. It's pretty awesome. I'm on Scott Pilgrim Vol. 5 right now. I also just started to read some of Frank Miller's Batman.

1UP: Wait. Did you just read Dark Knight Returns?

Cliff: I never got around to it. But I love that scene in the mud pit when Batman's like, "This isn't a mud pit. It's an operating table. And I'm the surgeon!" And starts to break each and every one of the gang leader's bones one by one. It's awesome.

1UP: What about Walking Dead? It's making a pretty big push at Comic-Con this year.

Cliff: Yea, Walking Dead has been pretty stellar. The last couple books are great. I love how they don't even need to wait for the comics to finish before they start making movies and television shows off of it. Kick-Ass isn't finished, Walking Dead isn't finished, Scott Pilgrim isn't finished. But yea, Walking Dead is absolutely stellar. And with Frank Darabont directing, showing up on AMC with likes of Breaking Bad, Walking Dead is going to be awesome. It seems the formula is to make great zombies, you should star really skinny people or really fat people.

1UP: That's an interesting observation. You're right, there isn't really any in-between. You want people who are scary in normal life. So what has been your favorite geek-out moment you've had so far at any Comic-Con?

Cliff: I crashed this party last year, and Tyrese was there. But Joss Whedon was on the dance floor dancing his ass off. It was awesome. I met Joss a few years ago, but whenever I start talking to him I start to geek out on him.

1UP: Do you have any aspirations to go beyond videogames? Like, do you want to do a graphic novel?

Cliff: I don't have a lot of spare time these days. I always have a billion ideas kicking around my head. So, we'll see. But it's one of those situations where I believe videogames are cooler than anything else. Where you're like James Bond and you're the one driving the story. Creating a new IP, creating a comic book, that's cool. but I like making videogames.

Originally published on 1UP.com