Comic-Con 2010: Polar Bear and Baby Ben Pimp LOST Encylopedia

We were holding out for hope for a last minute LOST panel in promotion of the upcoming Complete Series Collection at this year's SDCC.  But while we didn't get Damon and Carlton, we did an get an appearance from the kid who played young Ben (Sterling Beaumon), an out-of-work polar bear and a preview of DK's upcoming LOST Encylopedia, a must-have for any fan with a hankering to read-up on the recipe for Fish Biscuits and the history Geronimo Jackson.

Authors Tara Bennett and Paul Terry were on hand to walk us through a few preview entries from the 400-page tomb which DHARMA drops on August 24th.  The encylopedia is an "in world" (meaning entries focus on the characters, not the actors or the production aspects of the series) reference guide to the entire series, up through the bonus epilogue from the The Complete Collection boxset which releases the same day.

Bennett and Terry reassured fans that their labor of love has the Abrams, Cuse and Lindelof seal of approval.  The authors consulted heavily with the trio through every step of the writing process, along writer and script coordinator, Greg Nations.  And no details was too minute for their A (Shanna's Asthma pump) to Z (the Zodiac raft) encylopedia.  In fact, Bennett said she spent half a day just researching the "golden tickets" awarded by airlines, who gets them and for what reasons etc.

The idea of putting together a comprehensive guide to the series is daunting enough, but Bennett and Terry were especially challenged, beginning the writing process while season six was still airing.  The "flash sideways" explanation was definintely a curve ball, plus there's the issue of what's considered canon when it comes to webisodes and ARGs etc.  Anything deemed outside the canonical mythos of LOST will not covered in the book.

Bennett and Terry are not affiliated with LOSTpedia or any of the other great online LOST reference points and blogs although they did acknowledge the tremendous resource those sites are for fans.  

At the end of the talk, fans, including Beaumon, stepped up the mic to pry info from the authors on a number of topics, Richard Alpert, (there will be more on him than we already know it seems), maps of the Island (some original artwork was commissioned for the book to properly cover certain Island locations) and if we'll get a massive diagram connecting all our LOSTies (there won't be a diagram but there will be breakout boxes within entries that delve into those connections.) 

As for the polar bear,  he took the stage in an attempt to answer a question (if memory serves it was about Alpert).  However, the bear, while capable of surviving on a  time traveling tropical island, does not speak English.  But he is fully prepared to work for fish biscuits.