19 things we want to see at San Diego Comic-Con

 30 JUNE 2024

We all bring different wish lists to Comic-Con. SDCC plays Santa to us all, handing out (or withholding) toys for gamers, anime fans, collectors, comic readers, Marvel and DC fans, creatives, and so on. But there are some things I think many of us are crossing our fingers for. Such as...

#1. Anything to revive interest in all the shows pushed out to 2025

This is a general one because it's just applicable to too much. We all have favorite TV shows that got delayed over last year's strike. It was such a bitter pill to swallow when we saw "<Show name> will return in 2025" which sounded so far away at the time. But now that some of those beloved shows are returning within 6 months, it's reasonable to think their marketing gods will dangle them under our noses and say, "remember us?"

#2. The San Diego Comic-Con Cruise

Talk about arriving in 2025. What will happen on this cruise? Who are the guests? What are the events? The website offers some of that, but we need to know more. While I am not the cruising type, I do think this looks very fun and probably solves the perennial "how do I meet people?" question that attendees ask every summer. Hopefully SDCC makes a big splash (sorry) about this. 

#3. Deadpool anything

Landing right on SDCC weekend is always iffy, as the release cat is out of the bag at that point - but we should see some fun promotions and events.

#4. Friday night DC premiere

I'm extremely excited for the animated Watchmen (which will keep the graphic novel's ending) but I suspect we are more likely to get Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths (also good) if DC continues their Friday night Ballroom 20 animated film tradition. Both are excellent choices, really. 

#5. Beetlejuice 2

Confession: Despite being a hardcore Halloween/goth/paranormal comedy fan, I didn't see classic Beetlejuice until 2 years ago... And I was less than wowed by it. I'm excited about the sequel though because I figure Jenna Ortega, Monica Belluci, and Winona Ryder will sear the screen with their combined star power. Having a panel on this would be super fun. 

#6. Lord of the Rings

"Highly anticipated" doesn't quite describe the new movie hitting later this year. At least, it's come up in literally every "so what else is coming out this year" conversation I've had. Everything about it looks tantalizing.

#7. Severance Season 2 

Remember this offsite? Let's hope for round 2. And if there is one - go as soon as you can, because it will grow unbearably long lines fast.

#8. Nosferatu

Bill Skarsgard seems like he has a fun career and is just possibly on track to become our generation's Lon Chaney. We're getting a Nosferatu exclusive at SDCC; a panel would be quite nice and a creepy 1920s offsite even better.

#9. Interview with a Vampire

I am not holding out a lot of hope that Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson will grace our SDCC stage, but I know IWTV fans are aching for that very event. We'll see!

#10. SDCC Documentary 

Just like a true superhero, SDCC has an origin story - and you will hear it in documentary See You at San Diego. Per Deadline, "The See You at San Diego documentary will follow how a scrappy group of teenage fans, zinesters, illustrators, stoners, hippies, weirdoes, bookworms, and science buffs in the late 1960s joined forces with an unemployed thirtysomething comic fan to create what has now become one of the most influential pop culture events ever." To be clear, I don't think this is going to release soon but it would be interesting to get a peek at it and hear some stories from the SDCC immortals who were around at the start.

                                                  

#11. Heretic

If you too are an A24 fan, you may be hoping to get a glimpse at this November release about 2 Mormon girls attempting to convert Hugh Grant. A screening would be dope on a rope, but I'd settle for an intriguing A24 panel with a few clips.

#12. Marvel

Deadline says Marvel will dominate Hall H on Friday (well, they said they'd be there; I added the "dominate" because Marvel plays second fiddle to who exactly?) The Hall H line started yesterday.

#13. Alien

This standalone installment takes place between the events of 1979 and 1986. I need an incredible offsite, a beautiful supplementary graphic novel, and maybe a plushie.

#14. The Crow Reboot

You know that in recent years, many cosplayers have angrily defended the relevance of dressing up as Brandon Lee - nay, the need to show up at Comic Cons dressed as their icon. Now, on the 30th anniversary of the Crow (yes, that's the right number), their commitment is entirely justified as the franchise gets rebooted. So I simply cannot imagine an SDCC where this doesn't launch strong promotion and a few hundred cosplayers. Right?

#15. AI

AI is a conversation happening in every creative field right now (my friends and I talked about its impact on our livelihoods for hours last night) and it's highlighting the always-fraught divide between creators and executives (or my computer slyly tried to correct it to, "executioners.") Last year at SDCC, Mike Mignola called it a "train that's going to be hard to stop" and Dave McKean shared his experiences using Midjourney and how he concluded that part of art's power is its personal genesis.  I expect several panels on AI this year - from legal parameters to collaboration to career adaptation to ethics - and possibly a fistfight.

#16. Joker: Folie a Deux

In all of his iterations, Joker inspires worship, action figures, cosplayers, and sometimes, unfortunately, imitators. With the movie coming out in October, fanboys and cosplayers should be feeling inspired.

#17. Exclusives that are attainable and actually exclusive

This subject has been beaten to death, but it's still annoying to have an item marketed to us as a "Con exclusive" and then get a separate vendor email about it going live for literally everyone on the planet on the same day as the Con. It's also annoying to see exclusives get gobbled up by vendors and their friends who are already in the Exhibit Hall before we get in. And - to make it a magic 3 - it's triply annoying to have an artist exhaustively promote her items all over social media, get everyone excited, and then bring only 25 of them and be sold out in 10 minutes. I know most of this will repeat, but I'm hoping some of the more indie booths/vendors/creators will do things a little differently this year. 

#18. Sandman Season 2/Dead Boy Detectives

Production has already started; will we get a panel that answers online speculation and provides some pretty visuals? And maybe an announcement that our favorite dead boy sleuths are returning?

#19. My Favorite Thing is Monsters Part 2

I remember when My Favorite Thing is Monsters came out and Jamie and Gilbert Hernandez gave Emil Ferris a shoutout during their panel. Most of the audience seemed puzzled by the mention and unfamiliar with her work. Now the book has hit massive heights of praise and popularity and Part 2 released this year. I'd love an Emil Ferris panel. Maybe she could team up with E.M. Carroll, whose A Guest in the House seems to complement her work nicely.

No doubt your list looks very different. What are you hoping for? Do you think you'll get it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Killing Joke will premiere at SDCC

12 JANUARY 2016

Remember last summer at San Diego Comic-Con when you were watching the Justice League: Gods 
and Monsters in Ballroom 20, Friday night, and then afterward Bruce Timm casually mentioned he was doing an animated film of The Killing Joke? And you felt electrified?

(Or maybe you just saw it on Twitter and got a vicarious jolt. Same thing.)

Timm said then it would be at Comic-Con next year, which made the need to procure an SDCC 2016 badge even more urgent. Well, I hope you got a badge in Pre-reg - because The Killing Joke will indeed dazzle the world for the first time at SDCC. And we know that it will include "original scenes" to flesh out the story.

So here are the main questions:

• Will these original scenes match with or detract from the intensity of the graphic novel?
• How will the controversy with Barbara Gordon be handled?
• How will the ambiguous final frames of the comic be translated to film?

And for some of you: should you even care about seeing this if you've never read a comic book or graphic novel in your life?

I can't answer the first three questions but yes, you should put this on your still-forming agenda. If you like animation, compelling stories, DC or Bruce Timm, you'll probably like this even if you didn't read the book.

Of course, it could also fail utterly at making the jump from page to screen. But it's still going to be a legendary Comic-Con moment.

Bruce Timm announces The Killing Joke movie

10 JULY 2015




Something pretty major happened at the end of the world premiere of Justice League: Gods and Monsters. Bruce Timm casually dropped a bombshell that he's doing an animated feature of The Killing Joke - and that it will be at San Diego Comic-Con 2016.

I know today was historic for several reasons, not the last of which was Hall H and the surprise Star Wars symphony all Hall H attendees were led to - but this is life-altering news for comic book fans.

Pre-reg just got that much more urgent.

Bill Finger Award winners announced

29 MAY 2015

                                                                           From Comics Alliance

The winners of the 2015 Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing have been announced - and they are Don McGregor and John Stanley.

The Bill Finger award is a newish award created ten years ago to recognize those creators with a body of impressive work that never really got its due. If you just asked, "But who's Bill Finger?" - that's the point. Comic book fans everywhere know Bob Kane's name as Batman's creator; few know that Bill Finger actually came up with much of the iconic imagery and backstory we associate today with the Dark Knight. The Batmobile, the Joker, his costume, his origin story - that was all Finger's brainwork. But he never saw a penny from Batman's movies and merchandise as DC signed a contract naming Kane as Batman's sole creator in perpetuity.

There's a lot to this story and if you're a Batman fan at all, I'd suggest reading up on it. Deception, greed, fame, obscurity - it's a story that plays out in bands, art studios, publishing houses and other creative workspaces every day, though it's writ large in this case. So as far as awards go, it's gratifying to see one dedicated to rewarding talented comic creators who've been overlooked.

The award will be presented during the Eisners on 10 July at SDCC.

For those of you staying home...

9 JULY 2014

If you didn't get a badge this year, there are a few things you can do to still participate in Comic-Con fever. If you're local, you can come down and enjoy all of the promotional events and attractions in the area. If you want exclusives, a large number of them are going on sale in August (which begs the question of how exclusive they really are, but whatever.) And now businesses are spotting a marketing opportunity in SDCC branding.

One of these is Barnes & Noble. They're holding a weeks-long "Get Pop Cultured" promotion that will focus on nerdy movies, games, toys, graphic novels and music from 18 July - 10 August.

• You can enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win a $1K gift card, a Warner Bros studio tour and other prizes. Just go to the NOOK counter at your local store.
• Preview Weekend is 18-20 July; you'll get sneak peeks at new titles, posters, sample chapters, digital downloads, and there will be more contests.
• Get Pop-Cultured Costume Contest is on Saturday, 19 July; you can come to the store and cosplay as your favorite character, post photos with the hashtag #getpopcultured and possibly win prizes; you also get coupons for showing up at the store in costume.
• DC Comics Spectacular runs from 23-27 July and will have "fun activities, special giveaways and a 5-day offer on all DC graphic novels." Remember that 23 July is Batman Day, which will be celebrated in comic shops everywhere; they're celebrating here too with free comic books, special editions, bookmarks, buttons and contests. I feel like we really need an entire Batman Week.
• Comic Convention Collectibles will slightly overlap those dates and offer you the chance to buy some of the SDCC exclusives. FUNKO is involved, so that tells you what's available.
• Frozen Friday: Cool Off with Olaf! will be 1 August. "Frozen Friday" sounds like a happy hour drink to me, but no, it's a sing-along and storytime event with crafts, sand castle building and other activities all centering on Frozen. I can't even imagine how popular this will be.
• Marvel Day is 2 August, with giveaways and prizes celebrating the release of Guardians of the Galaxy.
• James Patterson Day is 3 August - again with giveaways, prizes and a 1-day special offer on his books and audios. Presumably this includes all of his "co-authored" books.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ninja Training Academy Event is the week of 4 August, with crafts and ninja training.
• Page & Screen Weekend is 9-10 August is all about a smattered of nerdy & pop culture work, from Walking Dead to Doctor Who to the Hobbit to The Fault In Our Stars.
• And of course, there will be signings and celebrities sprinkled throughout, including Chris Colfer, Deborah Harkness, Christopher Paolini, Jim Starlin, Sherrilyn Kenyon, James Dashner, John Scalzi, Alyssa Milano, Buzz Aldrin, James Patterson, Malcolm Gladwell and more. And Grumpy Cat, who I didn't realize made personal appearances. Maybe he'll be beamed in.

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DC's monster Hall H Saturday night panel

30 JUNE 2014


If you're not following my 2014 page, this is where I'm posting gossip, news and panel information. However, today a panel announcement came out that's such a nerd-media monstrosity I feel obligated to talk about it here.

DC will take over Hall H Saturday night for 3 hours. They will show:

• The world premiere of Gotham.
• The full pilot of The Flash.
• Exclusive scenes from Constantine.
• A teaser from Arrow.
• Q&A with cast from all four shows.

I know most of us have mixed feelings about Gotham, from "Ivy Pepper" to the possibility of this being pure CW-level teenage silliness - but we all still want to see it, right? Which makes it an especially bitter pill that a huge portion of us have already allocated Saturday night to the Zombie Walk and Prom, Gam3rCon, Star Trek Symphony and Thrilling Adventure Hour/Welcome to Night Vale.

Then again, most of us couldn't have endured the line for this anyhow. Those of you who do have the fortitude to make it inside are going to enjoy one of the best panels this summer.

DC Comic Con Panel Highlights

3 JULY 2013

DC has announced its Comic Con 2013 theme and it is...  Superman. The apparent highlight of its 4500 square foot booth (1915) is a collection of Superman costumes from different eras and actors, as well as "video game demos, creator signings, a special fan green-screen photo area, giveaways and exclusive video footage." In other words, the typical DC bombast. As for the panels - I'm going to quote directly from the press release.

Superman celebrates 75 years – DC Entertainment will join its partners across Warner Bros. Entertainment to salute the most revered and influential comic book character of all time with a slew of must-see events in celebration of both the Man of Steel’s history – including a special Superman 75 panel featuring an all-star roster of guests, including Jack Larson (the original Jimmy Olsen from Adventures of Superman), first-time Comic-Con panelist Tim Daly (Superman: The Animated Series) and reigning animated Supergirl Molly Quinn (Castle) to comics luminaries Paul Levitz, Grant Morrison and Dan Jurgens plus talent from the current blockbuster, “Man of Steel,” and a first look at the animated short chronicling the character’s rich history, produced by “Man of Steel” director Zack Snyder – plus more information on the powerhouse comic book series SUPERMAN UNCHAINED from acclaimed artist Jim Lee and writer Scott Snyder.

The Sandman: Overture – Be there as the legendary Neil Gaiman offers fans a first look at his return to the comic book series that launched his career with Vertigo’s THE SANDMAN: OVERTURE. Brought to life by renowned artist J.H. Williams III, the new 6-issue miniseries set for release on October 30, will also be the subject of an all-star panel featuring Gaiman, Williams and artists Dave McKean and Sam Kieth.

Dive into Vertigo’s upcoming slate of genre-defying titles – including the dark fantasy COFFIN HILL, the epic adventure HINTERKIND, the post-apocalyptic SUICIDERS, THE SANDMAN spin-off THE DEAD BOY DETECTIVES, and the erotic thriller THE DISCIPLINE, along with the return of the fan-favorite series from Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque, AMERICAN VAMPIRE.

Villains Month – Terror takes over when Villains Month hits in September. Get an inside look at the shocking events facing our heroes as the first DC COMICS – THE NEW 52 universe-wide event is unleashed. The event, spearheaded by the 7-issue FOREVER EVIL series by superstar writer Geoff Johns with art by the incredibly talented David Finch will also feature 52 jaw-dropping villain-centric titles boasting 3-D Motion covers. Fans will also be able to delve into the structure of this summer’s Justice League event Trinity War with a whiteboard animation video narrated by Johns, which will be showcased at the DC Entertainment booth. Plus, fans can get an early look at “Necessary Evil: Super-Villains of DC Comics,” an all-new documentary to be teased along with a panel headed by Johns, Kevin Shinick (Robot Chicken), Andrea Romano (Batman: The Animated Series) and Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights).

Justice League KIA Cars – Don’t miss DC Entertainment’s display of seven Justice League-inspired KIA cars (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg) featuring custom automobile detailing and artwork by legendary artist Jim Lee at the Interactive Zone at Petco Park, Official Comic-Con Partner.  Comic-Con will mark the unveiling of the centerpiece to the collection – the JUSTICE LEAGUE KIA – to be auctioned off to benefit the WE CAN BE HEROES giving campaign to help fight the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa.

DC Digital Comics – DC Entertainment, firmly established as the industry leader in digital comics, will debut its first-ever panel dedicated to the space – slated to reveal new art, innovations and an all-star cast behind some of DC Comics Digital’s most popular releases including BATMAN ’66, INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US, SMALLVILLE SEASON 11, LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT, ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, BATMAN: LI’L GOTHAM, and BATMAN BEYOND!

Exclusive Merchandise – Fans will be able to pick up a wide offering of exclusive items only available at this year’s Comic-Con – including variant cover editions of some of DC Comics’ most popular series JUSTICE LEAGUE, BATMAN, SUPERMAN UNCHAINED, and BATMAN ’66, along with five new DC Collectibles items like the Aardman: Superman Action Figure, a three-pack of Super Best Friends Forever Action Figures, Batman Arkham City: Hugo Strange, a “Man of Steel” 1:6 scale Icon Statue black costume variant and DC Comics’ Super Heroes of Green Lantern four-pack.

Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox Premiere – Superman gets an altogether different take in the fractured alternate universe of Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, the highly anticipated DC Universe Animated Original Movie to premiere Friday at Comic-Con.

Inside Mad – Get an inside look at INSIDE MAD, the hugely anticipated forthcoming collection from “The Usual Gang Of Idiots” at MAD Magazine and get a dose of the magazine’s wit and snark at the annual MAD panel – orchestrated by Editor John Ficarra and a side-splitting cast of characters.