Comic-Con news so far

22 JULY 2017

After a prolonged period of no Wifi, I'm back online. So what have we learned?


COMICS

Biggest news: Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham are doing Arkham Asylum 2, featuring an adult Damien Wayne.

We're also getting The Tempest, another League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, from Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. This is a year away.

And there's this: Frank Miller is going to take on Superman and give him the Dark Knight treatment. What is in the water this SDCC?

Joelle Jones will tell us what happens when Batman proposes to Catwoman.

SEGA will publish New Sonic comics through IDW - not Archie. Also getting IDW series: Transformer Unicron and female Ghostbusters.

Marvel is bringing you a new Thanos series.

Archie and DC announced a crossover that everyone will want: Betty, Veronica, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. Weird combination, but compelling. Out this fall.

I'm less certain about this crossover: Doom Patrol and JLA. Could be good, I guess.

Very big news: we may be getting new Invisibles, Sandman.

TV

Stranger Things was a major offsite and a major panel for attendees - and we found out that while Barb will not be returning, she will be "avenged."

As a Halloween lover and stop-motion fan, I can't wait for the SpongeBob Halloween special "The Legend of Boo-kini Bottom."

Krypton is coming and reactions are mostly meh.

99.9% of us were not allowed to enter the Westworld experience but we did see the season 2 trailer, which features Dolores on horseback, gunning down humans. There was no definitive word on how much we'll see of Samurai World.

The Tick is one of those shows that got a lift from SDCC. Not many people I know thought twice about it before this weekend, but there's reasonable interest now.

The Defenders also is getting positive buzz. Everyone I know had only good things to say about it.

The next season of Archer will be Danger Island, set in the South Pacific in 1939. I'm ready for it.

It looks like Riverdale's second season will continue Jughead's melodramatic voiceover. Who shot Fred Andrews? Etc.

iZombie shared a sizzle reel and season 4 news about new zombie rules and wars. I feel like this show is running out of steam.

I heard The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones panels were lackluster, but we did get an interesting look at elderly Rick and found out the show will never try to cure/solve the zombie issue. For GOT, we got some intriguing hints about Dany partnering up with Melisandre. Maybe.

MOVIES


We're getting Wonder Woman 2. Of course we all knew this, but the official announcement is nice.

Thor: Ragnarok seemed to wow everyone with its trailer.

Were you expecting Michelle Pfeiffer to be in another superhero movie? Me neither, but she'll play Janet Van Dyne in The Ant Man and the Wasp.

DC always delivers news of its next animated feature but this year they announced four: Gotham by Gaslight, Suicide Squad/Hell to Pay and the two-part Death and Return of Superman. I was surprised by the eye-rolling that greeted this news; I'm all for it.

Black Panther got a standing ovation in Hall H.

We saw the first footage of Ready Player One and reactions were .... mixed. People who hadn't read the book seemed more into it than readers.

The reaction to Justice League was more positive, although I think all of us are pretty much dying for Aquaman to come out already.


CON DEVELOPMENTS

There's no shortage of talk here. We'll start with Conan, where something went drastically wrong this year:  on multiple days, people with tickets were sent home or received emails telling them not to show up. The Spreckels Theater was extremely hot - two people next to me on Thursday night got up and left before the show started. Overall, it was a very different experience from the previous 2 years. It's been suggested that demand surged this year, so everyone actually did show up for the tapings - where before they could count on a certain percentage never claiming their tickets. Not sure if it's true but hopefully next year will be smoother.

Offsites have been a main attraction for a few years now, but I've never known quite so many people to focus on them so intently - sometimes to the point of skipping the entire Con. I think Blade Runners takes the honors here because it partnered so many good elements - great VR, a t-shirt, shots of Johnnie Walker, free food, an atmospheric experience - while the line was much more reasonable than Game of Thrones. Netflix was also in high demand and then we had the Westworld experience, which only admitted 120 people a day.  I still maintain that the Tech Pavilion at the Omni is worth a look, but of course most attendees are skipping it. Even though I think some of the VR there was as good as Blade Runner.


Now - onto the Hall H line. My, my. Just when you think you've lived through every type of Hall H line drama possible, 2017 happens. From a line being forced to disperse, while new people took their places, to attendees getting wristbands and not getting in, this year was a mess. Apparently some people report waiting 30-40 hours, only to have so many others cut in front that they wound up with D wristbands or nothing at all. Staff pretty much shrugged off complaints.

But the biggest issue - reportedly - is that some people created fraudulent wristbands to get in. Everyone is reporting this as fact but I haven't seen it verified. At any rate, 2 full chutes of wristbanded attendees got left out in the cold after waiting upwards of a day. The good - and unprecedented - news is that CCI actually gave them 4 day badges for next year!

I have to admit I didn't expect that one. But while it was a nice gesture, it's obvious CCI has to do something about Hall H. The wristbands were a step, but now attendee madness has incorporated them into their desperation. CCI has to take stronger measures. I think assigned sections, handed out via lottery, would be one way to do it, but there are others.

Anyhow. Tomorrow is the final day of the Con. Hopefully the Hall H line will go a little smoother for Supernatural fans. And if you're one of those only-offsite people? Put your badge to use and give the actual Con a try. You may never get to go again.