The SDCC Daily

4 JUNE 2015

So who snagged a ticket to Funko Fun Days today? It sold out fast, despite a hike in the ticket price. Luckily we have other things to look forward to.


Like we might possibly find out the title of Guardians of the Galaxy 2 at SDCC.

And we can buy tickets for Chris Hardwick's live Nerdist podcasts on Friday. The actual shows take place Friday, 10 July and Saturday, 11 July.  First-timers, this is traditionally a very popular event at the Con so don't drag your feet on buying tickets if you think you might want to go.

Mission Impossible released a bunch of posters featuring the slogan GO ROGUE. Unfortunately it's not an X-Men crossover; the plot is instead this - Ethan and team take on their most impossible mission yet, eradicating the Syndicate - an International rogue organization as highly skilled as they are, committed to destroying the IMF.

Cast members are still being added to Fear The Walking Dead, which makes me wonder how much footage we'll get at the Con.

The Disney machine seems to be working overtime this week, announcing an animated 2017 series based on Tangled and an upcoming live action movie based on the "Night on Bald Mountain" part of Fantasia. Now we have a teaser for "The Good Dinosaur." Scientific accuracy aside, this movie is picking up a lot of buzz and will pull major crowds if it's at Comic-Con.

Nerdist laser tag will be back at the Con - but "totally different."

The Yu-Gi-Oh! movie will have its own panel, featuring Kazuki Takahashi who will also do a rare autograph signing.

In the category of Star Wars toys that really need to be at Comic-Con: life-sized R2-D2 refrigerators that deliver your drinks to you. Maybe they can use them at panels to carry microphones to attendees.


Is anyone else preoccupied with SDCC 2016? We get so many long-range announcements these days that it's hard not to anticipate future Con panels. I'm already thinking about Suicide Squad, Neuromancer, Aquaman, Skull Island, the Sex Criminals and The Wicked & Divine TV shows, etc.  And now we have news that Leonard Nimoy's son is doing a documentary about his career. The future looks tantalizing - here's hoping we all score in Pre-registration this autumn.

SDCC Updates

2 JUNE 2015

What have we learned about SDCC these last few days?

Like we knew it would, Scream Queens is coming to SDCC. I'm calling this a top panel simply because I think a lot of people will be interested.

Minority Report will be there too; so will American Horror Story, American Dad, Family Guy, Bob's Burgers, Salem, Sleepy Hollow, The Simpsons and Bordertown.

On the exclusives front, this Secret Wars Hot Wheels set will be there too. Square Enix is also bringing this imposing-looking Batman Arkham Knights.

It's kind of hard not to love this figure of Spock swimming with whales.

If you're looking for something to do on Friday or Saturday at the Con, maybe you'll want to go to Mashable House at Luce Loft to "save the Internet." There you will mingle with "the biggest heroes and villains from pop culture, digital media and the Internet." Tickets available now.

Oooo, racy: there will be a Science Fiction and Sex panel at the Con and Marisa Acocella Marchetto will be speaking about her new graphic novel Ann Tenna - "set in the world of fashion, gossip and the universe." So like Intergalactic Kardashians maybe?

Heroes Reborn will also have a panel at the Con. I know some fans are excited about this but reactions seemed mixed - maybe because it hasn't been quite long enough for nostalgia to set in and everyone is still deep in their feelings about how Heroes ended. Anyhow, Zachary Levi is in it, so let's assume this will get some love at Nerd HQ too.

Jhonen Vasquez is back with a special SDCC variant of Invader Zim #1. Only 3000 copies are available.

Hallmark's Comic-Con exclusives are out, including Alien & Batman ornaments and some tiny Star Wars sets. That's Boba Fett and Han Solo in carbonite you're looking at, if you couldn't tell by Han's anguished expression.

                                                                         From CineNoir



And because it's oddly comforting to know even award-winning artists share our badge sale struggles:

Illustrator Dan Santat won a Caldecott Medal and said his sons were "more thrilled that I managed to get San Diego Comic-Con guest passes for everyone in the family this year." Highly understandable. Then he goes on to say: "The convention did this weird online 'waiting room' thing where you were picked by lottery to get guest passes. Many of my friends ended up getting hosed. It was stressful."

Incidentally, I met a guy at Phoenix Comicon who failed to get a single badge - along with his 2 friends - both in Pre-reg and Open Reg. That's 6 tries, 0 badges. But through "a friend of a friend" he managed to buy a badge a few weeks ago via email from CCI. Sometimes it really is who you know.



In just a few days we'll be flooded with the inevitable "A month from today we'll be at Comic-Con!" tweets and posts. And we'll all feel slightly anxious and unprepared because it really came up fast this year, didn't it?

 

Lumberjanes, Adventure Time, Evil Dead & more

29 MAY 2015

A few update from today before I immerse myself into Phoenix Comicon:

Lumberjanes is going to be a live action movie. At least, Fox has optioned it. Top panel of 2016? Let's hope so.

Starz released an Evil Dead teaser that really is a tease. Remember Bruce Campbell's promise to be all over SDCC "like a cheap suit;" apparently we'll find out more then.

Adventure Time fans can pick up a SDCC exclusive featuring a "tin tote and stainless steel container." Or what I would call a lunch box and thermos.

Hop-Con 3.0 tickets are on sale. For $75, you can have 10 beer samples, a commemorative glass, gourmet food and the presence of Aisha Tyler, Dave Johnson, Will Wheaton, Kevin Eastman and other luminaries. And if you donate $25 to the Hero Initiative, you'll also get special artwork from Kevin Eastman and Dave Johnson. Be aware this takes place on Preview Night.

Oh and while this isn't SDCC-related - Image Expo tickets are on sale.

The SDCC Daily

28 MAY 2015

What did we find out today?

In tangential news, certain Internet claims were made that Denver Comic Con surpassed SDCC's attendance. At 101,500, they didn't even come close. That said, this is obviously a fast-growing Con.

American Gods may announce the cast at SDCC. As in, walk the actors right out on stage and make the crowd go berserk. I hope this works and it doesn't get leaked, because that's the kind of reveal attendees live for.

Remember the hotel sale? If it was especially painful for you, you might have banished it from memory - but waitlist emails are starting to go out. I think at this point almost everyone has locked something down.

The new Batman: Arkham Knight trailer is out. This releases 23 June so let's assume this will be featured at multiple gaming events.

Your favorite bloggers will host a Wrath of Con Bloggers panel featuring An Englishman in San Diego, The Nerdy Girlie, Friends of CCI and Crazy 4 Comic Con.

One of the weirder Archer exclusives has been announced: a pillow of Archer's face.

A mixed bag of SDCC news

27 MAY 2015

Slowly more news is trickling out. What we're learning this week:

That if you and your identical twin are "outgoing, attractive and personable," there could be a job with your name on it at Comic-Con. Travel compensation is available; the ad doesn't say if you get a full badge so you can explore the Con on your off days. Which of course is what matters.

In the category of things I did not expect to see at Comic-Con: Amy Poehler and Tina Fey action figures. You know that even your non-nerd friends at home will beg for these, so expect them to be one of the hotter items this summer. The set is limited to 2400 (ouch) and you can pre-order them here.

I swear this is actually happening: David Hasselhoff is singing at Comic-Con. He sings the theme song for Kung Fury, a movie about a renegade Kung Fu cop who travels back in time to defeat Hitler. His 80s-style video "True Survivor" features "a lot of dry ice and Hasselhoff singing in front of a Lamborghini Countach, sporting classic retro attire including fingerless gloves." I'm not sure where his performance will be but I hope it's on the Hall H line lawn while Hitler impersonators writhe around on the Lamborghini in bikinis. That would be Comic-Con magic.

One of the biggest blows last summer was the absence of Doctor Who; now we know it'll be back in Hall H and so will Peter Capaldi. That's a sigh of relief you hear from countless attendees - except for those who only have Sunday badges. That's right, the panel is moving to Thursday.

Is this Storm Trooper our first look at a Force Awakens action figure? Is it fake? Authentic? Will we get any cool stuff at SDCC before the 4 September merchandise flood? Nerd minds want to know.

I thought we'd all culturally moved on from Grumpy Cat after the Lifetime movie but apparently not; she's getting her own comic book. It launches in the fall so we may well see this at SDCC.

Also speculation: 16 July is Disney's 60th anniversary and they have serious merchandising plans. I know there are many Disney fans in the SDCC crowd who are hoping to see some of that trickle into the Con. I find this hard to predict, so I'll just say that if this is important to you, look into the D23 Expo in Anaheim on 14-16 August.

Now let's talk about David Glanzer. CCI's spokesperson was interviewed by the esteemed SDCC Unofficial Blog last night and shared a few details of interest to attendees. It's pretty awesome to see CCI being more transparent with blogs and attendees - I highly recommend watching the whole thing. A few highlights:

• Hall H wristbands may or may not happen this year. While feelings were mixed, more people appeared to like them than not.
• As we've said before, it's the hotel room issue that may drive SDCC out of SD. Glanzer confirmed that some hotels have reduced their room blocks and raised their rates and that CCI is working hard to keep prices and availability manageable for attendees.
• As outside CCI events and attractions have grown, many attendees have asked exactly who can get into them; i.e., can you access an event on Saturday if you only have Thursday and Sunday badges. His answer: it depends on the activity. My answer: go for it and charm/beg/flirt your way in. Do this before you waste a lot of time in line.

Finally, NerdHQ has come out with some news - and I think attendees will be pretty excited about some of it. I'll share that in a separate post.

Is SDCC news finally starting to flow?

22 MAY 2015

                                                                        Courtesy of Previews World


Today felt like someone finally kicked in a dam and a river of SDCC announcements started to flow out. Did you feel it?

Maybe it was the Supergirl pilot leaking. So far everyone seems to like it, even if they're a bit cynical about the leak itself. Will we still get a showy Supergirl panel at Comic-Con? It's on CBS and their demographic/style is foreign to our ways, so I'm not sure what to expect.

Or maybe it was all the talk about the Transformers writers room/wolf pack. Robert Kirkman, Jeff Pinkner from Lost, Zak Penn from Amazing Spider-Man 2 and other writers join Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg for an explosive supernova of Hollywood male starpower. And the result will be... another Transformers movie.

It could also be that Poltergeist came out today, making horror fans dream of superior future fare like Crimson Peak, Tales of Halloween and Before I Wake. Some of which we'll probably see at SDCC.

Then there was the news that the sequel to World War Z (movie) is going to compete against the Fantastic Four sequel on 9 June, 2017. If you recoiled at the very idea of a WWZ sequel, be aware that this one allegedly starts with a "clean slate." So maybe it'll be truer to Max Brook's incredible book.

But really what the last 2 days have delivered are a boatload of exclusives announcements. Mezco is bringing us one of the cooler collectibles I've seen so far: Batman vs. Mutant Leader which is up for pre-sale right now. There's also a Jim Lee Batman and a Krypto plushie - in fact, you can see a bunch of Previews exclusives here. And speaking of Transformers, we have this.

On the speculation front: not only has James Gunn's Marvel comment now grown into an acceptance that Marvel is "boycotting" the Con, but now there's a rumor that they will have their own annual Con. Given the number of movies they have on the docket, this isn't a terrible idea. I just don't know if it's a plausible one.

And on the panel front, we have news of a Sunday panel called Superpowers & Ordinary Superheroes at 10 am. A mix of middle grade and YA authors will talk about what it takes to be a true superhero; panelists include Rob Venditti, Noelle Stevenson, Marie Lu, AG Howard, James Dashner and Rachel Hartman.


What will the weekend bring? More panel news hopefully and more events. There haven't been as many ticketed shindigs to announce so far, unless they're all waiting until the last minute - not a bad strategy since many attendees want to wait and see what they'll be giving up before committing to something.

At any rate, it's clear that news should be coming on the regular. Stay tuned.

DCU, Hasbro panels & other SDCC updates

19 MAY 2015




I think it feels like we're still waiting for the really big SDCC announcements to get rolling, but in the meantime we have a few tidbits to mull over. Let's get right into it.


DC is unleashing a summer campaign called DCU. It's about convincing readers that DC has a comic for everyone, which seems like a bold promise. Major writers like Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Annie Wu and others will be highlighted; the comic books you pick up tomorrow will have inserts and ads to prepare you for this magnificence. Overall the campaign will involve 24 new series, 25 ongoing fan-favorite series, and "fun and engaging" activities at SDCC.

Everyone is saying that there could be a 2nd Batman vs Superman trailer shown at SDCC. This actually wouldn't surprise me, even though the previous 3 predictions were dead wrong.

I find this so bizarre: there's a DC/Thomas mashup, with the result that you can buy a little train that looks like Harley Quinn. There's a comic to go along with this.

Hasbro has announced five panels. Those first panel announcements are always exciting, aren't they? Whether you even want to go to them or not. The panels are:

• Transformers Generations - Thursday - 11 am in 25ABC
• Transformers: Robots in Disguise - Thursday - 3 pm in 5AB
• My Little Pony - Friday - 10:30 am in 6A
• Star Wars - Friday - 12:00 pm in 7AB
• Marvel - Saturday - 4:00 pm in 25ABC

Mezco is bringing two more Batman exclusives: an actual Batman and a Poison Ivy keychain thing.

SpongeBob fans, you will want to get involved in this: Nickelodean is hosting a SpongeBob panel this year that will have a live episode reading. And you can vote for which episode by visiting Facebook. Choices are: Squidtastic Voyage, The Two Faces of Squidward, A Flea In Her Dome, Grandma's Kisses, That's No Lady and Idiot Box.

Will there be a hands-on preview of Disney Infinity 3.0 at SDCC? Given that it will feature Star Wars characters, I'll say yes.


I'm not sure how many major announcements we'll see this week; companies might be waiting for Memorial Day Weekend to pass. We'll see.

 

SDCC updates & speculation

16 MAY 2015

 

                                                                       

As you know, I'm compiling information on the SDCC 2015 page. However, we're at the point where there's too many news bites to find easily and it's all merging into one chaotic mess - so I'm going to post collective ongoing updates here, and clean that up to keep only the main stuff there.


Let's start with Marvel. One random comment in March from James Gunn has convinced all of Earth that Marvel will not be at San Diego in any shape or form. I don't necessarily think this is so. Maybe Marvel will appear in Hall H and maybe they won't, but I do think they'll have some kind of presence. At any rate, this speculation over the Thor: Ragnarok trailer is kind of silly to begin with since it releases in 2017. I think if Marvel does show up, they'll focus on Captain America, Guardians of the Galaxy and of course Ant-Man.

This article is mostly a look-back at the digital gizmos that dazzled attendees last year, but I'm including it so first-timers can get an idea of what to expect this summer. Word of warning - these tend to involve lines or limited tickets that are hard to get. But if you haven't lost your VR virginity yet, SDCC is a fine place to do it.

The Kings of Con founders are launching a new entertainment site called Heroic Hollywood. It won't just be a fan site; it will create its own branded content as well, meaning this could become a good source for SDCC news.

This Raiden figure from Gecco will retail at Comic-Con for 195.

... And David Lynch is back on Twin Peaks, which has also added episodes. Thank you, Showtime; now please bring us a beautifully strange panel at Comic-Con that includes Lynch, Sherilyn Fenn and Madchen Amick. Bonus footage of Lynch walking around the Exhibit Hall and commenting on everything he sees would be especially appreciated.

Scream Queens is getting major social attention. Let's expect this to be a top panel if Ryan Murphy brings it to San Diego.

I haven't given this much thought, but apparently people are clamoring for the title of the 3rd Planet of the Apes movie to be announced at SDCC. It's really just one word that's a mystery, right? _____ of Planet of the Apes. Collider says it's "War." 

                                                        From AwesomeToyBlog.com


Mezco is bringing Breaking Bad fans a 12" Walter White and a Walpurgis Living Dead Doll that goes up for presale on 18 May. Yes, you can also get one at their booth, #3445.

Naruto cosplayers will have an event Sunday afternoon of the Con.

Red Giant will debut GIANT-SIZE #1 at SDCC, a "free ad-supported giveaway" which you could also call a comic book.  YouTube star Markiplier and other creators will be on hand to sign copies, and a "bevy" of Red Giant merchandise will be available at booth #2635.

The Loyal Subjects are previewing their TMNT exclusives.

Remember how Adobe and Marvel got together to pick 4 students to make an Avengers comic? The 4 creators have been selected and they'll be at SDCC. If you're thinking "That could have been me" then you might want to follow this story - Adobe says they'll possibly want 2 more students to contribute.

A bunch of vintage arcade game cosplayers are holding 2 photo shoots on 10 July. You're invited if you're cool enough.

The Jem and the Holograms trailer has left mixed feelings in its wake. I'm sure people will flock to see it at Comic-Con no matter what, but I'm not sure this is going to be one of the more buzzed-about panels if it's there.

What will be: the Syfy adaptation of The Magicians, since the trailer already has everyone salivating.

And finally, we all know by now that the X-Files reboot is real and returning to us on 24 January 2016. This has to have some kind of SDCC panel or celebration, right? It has to.

As with everything on this list, more will be revealed.

Will Anaheim take the SD out of SDCC?

30 APRIL 2015




Another day, another article on the tempting towns that just might steal Comic-Con out of San Diego's clutches. The focus of this article: Anaheim. Which according to Jay Burress, CEO of the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor and Convention Bureay, attendees would just love.

The argument is less than convincing. Yes, Disney is right there (because attendees want to drop another few hundred after blowing a fortune at the Con, right?) and at some point there's going to be lots of parking. Yawn. But the article seems to think hotel rooms are Anaheim's ace in the hole. Which they could be, but that argument would be more persuasive illustrated by a deeply personal Hotel Day account. Instead we find out that:

• Anaheim has 13,000 hotel rooms within a mile. Note the distance. San Diego does have a decent number of hotel rooms as well but not within a mile.
• Of the 54 hotels doing Travel Planner discounted rates for SDCC, 4 have not signed on for those rates in 2016. Please note that doesn't include the hotels that have signed on, but are making fewer rooms available at those rates.
• SDCC organizers and San Diego officials are "optimistic" the Con will stay in San Diego.

Then weirdly the article says this: "The cost of hotel rooms is the one factor that San Diego has room to negotiate. It could be the secret weapon the city can use to keep the convention in town."

What? Everything else we've been told points to hotel rates going up. We saw that ourselves in the very special "overflow" site this year. We're just not getting as many discounted rooms as we used to.  If Hilton Bayfront was saying, "Sorry, sold out unless you want to pay a thousand a night" this year, where exactly is the room to negotiate? Unless city officials pressure hotels to return to discounted prices again, I fail to see a "secret weapon."

But maybe that'll happen. Maybe the Comic-Con overlords will slap some sense into local hotels and tell them to quit being greedy. I'm just not sure what the incentive would be, since the customer base for those expensive rooms is clearly there.

In the meantime, Anaheim will sing its siren's song and L.A. will join the chorus. It's a little disconcerting that we're still having this conversation in spring 2015 when CCI's contract is so close to its end. This dialogue has been going on for years - and the fact that it hasn't landed on a resolution yet makes a lot of us dubious that any kind of satisfactory outcome is going to happen in the next 2 years.

Orphan Black & X-Files games coming out in July

20 MARCH 2015
 

                                                      courtesy of Hollywood Reporter

Happy spring, everyone - especially you beleaguered Northeasterners who've had such a hellish winter. (I grew up there and remember it well; now I have a palm tree in my front yard and I send you my sympathies.)

If you're eagerly awaiting announcements on the kind of exciting toys you can buy at SDCC, well, we haven't seen many official items yet. BUT we did get some interesting news from IDW Games this week on nerdy items they're releasing in July. Will these be at San Diego Comic-Con? They didn't say - but the marketing team would be squandering a golden opportunity if not.


X-Files Board Game

This will be drawn "from the first years" of the show, which I hope means we get Flukeman, Eugene Tooms and Leonard, the little twin from Humbug. It's designed by Arkham Horror's Kevin Wilson with art direction from menton3, who's been involved with the X-Files comic book. Apparently you can play Scully or Mulder, but let's hope you can be other characters as well because I know we all want to be Cigarette Smoking Man.


Orphan Black: The Card Game

Everyone's favorite clone show recently became a comic book; now it's going to be a game as well. Players in the card game can join up with the Proletheans, the Bird Watchers or the Neolutionists. A big-box tabletop game will come out further down the line.


IDW is also coming out with Kill Shakespeare and 30 Days of Night games this spring, and The Godfather card game will be out in August. In other words, there needs to be a Comic-Con tournament.

More comic books are coming to TV

27 FEBRUARY 2015

We comic book fans and our nerdly dollars have been making TV executives salivate for a while now. Obviously The Walking Dead is a comic book show juggernaut; we also have Gotham, The Strain, Agents of SHIELD, Arrow, Peggy Carter, iZombie, Constantine and others. Looking into the future, comic book TV gets even more intense. How many of these will show up at SDCC? Probably quite a few. 


Netflix has 4 Marvel-based shows focusing on Daredevil, Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones.

Preacher is coming to AMC, Outcast to Cinemax and of course Titans has landed at TNT. 

Powers is debuting 10 March on the PlayStation network.

The Archie universe will allegedly come to TV in Riverdale.


And in just the last few days, we've found out that:

The Flash/Arrow spinoff coming next season is going to feature Caity Lotz, Brandon Routh, Victor Garber and Wentworth Miller.

A Lucifer pilot has been ordered.

Sex Criminals is being adapted as a series for Universal TV. 

Supergirl has gotten a series commitment and firmed up casting.


It's worth noting these shows aren't always successful; does anyone even remember Witchblade? So it's a safe bet that some of the above will probably sputter into obsolescence fairly quickly.

And of course there are the shows that aren't made. For many fans, that's Sandman and Y The Last Man. Personally I'd sell my grandmother to get a intensely morbid live action adaptation of Death Note on cable and I'm leaning that way as well for the Wicked + Divine. But it's inescapable that TV executives feel safer betting on the basics: superheroes and zombies.

Regardless, SDCC's TV panels should look pretty interesting this year - and it'll make it harder for attendees to complain that it's more about Hollywood than comic books. Actually it'll be about both.

Hollywood predictions: San Diego Comic-Con 2015

2 JANUARY 2015

If you're one of the SDCC attendees grousing about the Hollywood presence, go ahead and skip this post. You can stay pure and self-righteous over by the Mile High Comics booth, pawing through back issues. (I'm not being glib - give Mile High your support if you can.) But for those of you who are excited about all of the big blockbusters coming to theatres this year, let's speculate on what we might see at Comic-Con.

Please note: the below is pure conjecture. I'm only listing movies that come out post-Con - no Avengers, Terminator or Jurassic World here.

 
The #1 pick - Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Can't you already feel the adrenaline? The cosplay, the action figures, the panels, the revelry. The repetitive jokes about feeling a great disturbance in the Force during the next badge sale.
 
Ant-Man comes out July 17 and Crimson Peak comes out in October. These have already made SDCC appearances but I'm sure the studios will flex their promotional chops. Ditto for Hunger Games, out in November.
 
The Fantastic Four reboot hits in August. No question here.
 
Thoughtful sci-fi tale The Martian comes out in November. I'm already planning to be at this panel, so don't put it in Hall H, Fox.
 
Jem and the Holograms is out in October. Panel-worthy? No doubt. Ditto Mission Impossible 5 and Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, out in December.
 
Pan comes out July 17, just a week after the Con. This is a live action film based on Peter Pan - as you no doubt were smart enough to guess, but I assumed it was about the hoofed and horned flute-playing god when I first saw the title. So if you're as literal as I am, there's your clarity.
 
Also on the live-action front:  Jungle Book comes out in October. I'm on the fence as to whether this would show up at SDCC, but I know the world will be a better place if Christopher Walken does Comic-Con.
 
Spectre, the next James Bond flick, probably won't be at SDCC but I may stand in my first autograph line ever if the beautiful Monica Belluci shows up.
 

 
 
Similarly, Everest probably won't be there either but you can never tell. Comic-Con attendees can definitely empathize with the tale of reaching goals against incredible odds. Maybe Universal will bring it.
 
Gangster movie Black Mass and Steven Spielberg's untitled Cold War movie may also seem atypical SDCC fare, but crime/war dramas have been creeping into the panel programming more and more in recent years. I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see them.

Are you anticipating anything I didn't list?

ETA: People asked about Suicide Squad, Batman vs Superman and the Harry Potter movie, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. All of those come out in 2016, but we'll obviously see content for some of them.