San Diego | Geekscape

Derek’s SDCC 2022 Recap: Thursday

by Derek KraneveldtJuly 22, 2022

For my Pre-Con and Preview Night recap, head here!

I forgot just how exhausting SDCC can be. Maybe it’s just been awhile, or maybe I’m just really not as young as I was the last time I was in town (I wasn’t even in my 30’s then), but I feel dead tired already, and today (Thursday) is only the first full day of the convention!

But… I can sleep when I get back to Canada!

After turning in at about midnight (and naturally, rolling around for a bit), the alarm was set for 5:55AM this morning so I could head to the Welcome to Lumon website to attempt to snag a slot for the TV+ Severance offsite (press timing hasn’t quite worked out so far, and as a huge fan of the show I didn’t want to leave it up to chance). The website initially had some CAPTCHA issues (not just for me, as complaints echoed across twitter), but the CAPTCHA segment was quickly removed, and I just happened to refresh at the right moment and snagged a slot for 12PM. If you’re lucky enough to be on site in San Diego, more slots will open up at 6AM each day and will go very quickly — after booking my slot, I refreshed again to see what was still available, and every slot was already booked up. From the look of the Welcome to Lumon website to the confirmation email that I received, it was clear that this was going to be a high-quality experience.

I pretty much completely cut out caffeine eight or nine months ago, but needed something this morning to give me a bit of a kickstart. Luckily enough, the Hilton Bayfront hotel that we’re staying in has a Starbucks in it, and they even decked it out with some light decorations for Comic-Con!

Once I grabbed a beverage, it was time to head over to The Theatre Box for the William Shatner handprint ceremony (featuring new Captain Kirk, Paul Wesley) hosted by Legion M. This was a super neat experience, and seeing the joy on the faces of all of the Star Trek cosplayers and fans in attendance is sure to be a convention highlight. You can catch a couple of photos of the event below, and we’ll link a dedicated piece about the experience once it’s been published!

This was a fantastic way to start the day, and I couldn’t have been more excited for the Lumon Orientation experience that was coming up next. Severance is an absolutely phenomenal drama, and one that I (unfortunately) didn’t jump on until the insane word of mouth about the series was too much to ignore. It’s completely unique, and unlike anything I’ve really seen before — I cannot wait for Season Two.

As TV+ launched in November of 2019, this year’s SDCC really marks their first major appearance at the convention. The brand really came out in full force, with huge wraps on the outside of the Gaslamp Hard Rock Hotel, gigantic banners inside of the convention center, numerous panels, including dedicated panels for Severance, For All Mankind, Mythic Quest, and more (along with, of course, the Severance offsite itself).

my slot was for 12PM, and at that point, things were running decently behind. It was after 1PM by the time my ”orientation” finally began, but as a major fan of the show it was well worth the wait. The offsite itself was simply breathtaking — just yesterday I noted that this year’s House of the Dragon experience may have been second only to 2013’s Godzilla Encounter, but Severance’s ’Lumon Orientation” has to take the cake You can take a look at a couple of photos from the experience below, and we’ll be sure to link our full write up once it goes live! If you’re lucky enough to be in San Diego, you can try your luck for a reservation at 6AM each morning right here.

Eventually, I’m sure that I’ll make it to the expo hall floor — but not yet, as after Severance, it was time to check out the Audible Beach!

At SDCC 2019, Audible featured a huge offsite for the intriguing Stan Lee’s ‘Alliances: A Trick of Light’ offsite in 2019 (reminisce with Mikaela’s write-up of that experience right here). This year’s presence is much smaller, featuring a few expertly crafted sand sculptures themed for some of Audible’s biggest new releases like Moriarty: The Devil’s Game and Impact Winter, and a ”beach” where attendees can relax and recharge (their phones). Here are a couple of shots of the impressive designs, and a few more in our dedicated piece right here.

Severance was hosting a massive panel in Ballroom 20 at 4PM which may have been the programming that I was most excited for at this year’s SDCC. Prior to heading for the long Ballroom 20 line, I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything yet for the day, nor had I had any liquids for hours — so… I paid $20USD for two cookies and two drinks before heading in the ballroom.

Patton Oswalt hosted the panel, noting that as a major fan of the show it felt as though he‘d won some sort of lottery. Panelists included series creator Dan Erickson (it was actually Dan’s first time at SDCC), series director Ben Stiller (also, somehow his first time at SDCC), Britt Lower (Helly, also first time, and she looked like she was going to cry at the audience’s reaction when she entered), Adam Scott (Mark), along with with Dichen Lachman (Ms. Casey), Jen Tullock (Devon), and Tramell Tillman (Milchick). The ballroom looked packed, which was super exciting (and a little surprising, as TV+ is an absolutely underrated service that almost nobody I know seems to subscribe to).

Erickson began the panel noting that when having a terrible office job, he simply wished that he could just fast forward eight hours and be done with it — this is how the idea of Severance was originally born.

Several neat tidbits were revealed during the panel — Mark, for instance, was originally the character that would have woken up at the beginning of the pilot rather than Helly; at one point, a detached pair of legs was set to run down a hallway (this was deemed a bit too weird); Erickson wrote the pilot over ten years ago, and Stiller read it over five years ago. Possibly the panel’s best reveal was that none of the cast was aware of the multicolored dance party lights that were installed in the Macrodata Refinement office until the scene was actually shot.

Mr. Milchick himself looked suspicious when asked if we’d see further into his character’s life, so I’m pretty sure (and pretty hopeful) that this will happen.

Interestingly enough, series director Ben Stiller noted that the Severance activation at the Hard Rock Hotel (look for our write-up on that soon) was built up from about 75% real props from the show — including the computers used for Macrodata Refinement.

The panelists dug pretty deep into the show, the thought behind it, and its many twists and turns, and it was just plain exciting to hear from some of the incredible minds that made it all happen. I won’t say too much as I don’t want to risk any spoilers, but let this serve as your reminder that Severance is one or the best dramas in recent memory, and it should absolutely be on your radar.

I was feeling pretty beat by this point, and wanted to head back to our hotel for a bit to work on some write-ups. I stopped by the Geekscape booth (again, #3919) to say hello, and then walked back over to the Hilton Bayfront. Once I arrived… I realized that there was a panel, Attack of the Show: Who Let Us In?, starting shortly that I’d really been looking forward to.

I weighed the pros and cons for a bit (fun panel vs. getting a jump-start on articles and resting a bit), and ultimately (thankfully) decided to go. The panel ended up being essentially a live (uncensored) episode of the show, made a lot of fun of Kevin Pereira, and was overall a total blast. I’m not sure if G4 has been as much of hit they were hoping for since its return last year, but I’m super glad that it again exists.

Matt and I grabbed a quick dinner (there was zero wait for a two person table at Spaghetti Factory, which was super surprising as it’s one of the closest restaurants to the convention center, not to mention most affordable). Throughout the dinner, I talked about how I was glad to not be going out that night as I was so damned tired, and because the next day had a Paper Girls screening that I was excited to attend. Once we returned to the hotel, I sat down and wrote for a few minutes… and then went against everything that I said at dinner and walked over to the IMDBoat.

I ran into Shaun again while there, met some of his friends, and had some delicious themed cocktails. It was a great way to cap the night, and I’m only 14% regretting it this morning.

That’s it for now — be sure to check back for more tomorrow!

Geekscape Roundtable: Our Top 3 Moments Of SDCC 2019!

by GeekscapeStaffJuly 25, 2019

It’s still hard to believe that it’s over, but SDCC 2019 has come and gone. Our blisters are beginning to heal, our sunburns are beginning to peel, and we’re here to reminisce about some of the amazing moments that we had over the past weekend.

If you weren’t able to make it to SDCC yourself, there’s tons of coverage right here on Geekscape.net to catch you up. Derek and Mikaela provided numerous recaps detailing just what can happen over the course of a day at this massive, massive event. Among other things, you can read (and watch) all about the impressive offsite events from around the Gaslamp District (including Amazon’s amazing Prime Video Experience, and FX’s terrifying and hilarious Fearless Forum), Mikaela also chatted with the co-creators and author of the new Audible Original Stan Lee’s Alliances: A Trick of Light, and Jonathan has posted up the annual SDCC episode of Geekscape, where he interviews many of the multitudes of individuals that stop by the Geekscape Booth each year, including Daryll ‘DMC’ McDaniels, whose conversation with Jonathan about mental health is worth the download alone.

We had a myriad of amazing moments at SDCC this year, and here are some of our top three!

Jonathan London

For me, San Diego Comic-Con is more than just the biggest pop culture convention in the world. It’s what I have long used as a barometer for Geekscape’s growth and success over the years. Are people still discovering the brand? Are they excited to find out what we’re all about? Do old school Geekscapists still use SDCC as their yearly chance to hang out with us face to face? The resounding answer this year was “YES”! So with that being said, here are my Top 3 experiences from SDCC 2019!

#3 – Super Action Man announces his 2020 Presidential campaign at the Geekscape booth.

Many of you enjoy Super Action Man’s antics. Perhaps you see them as a necessary evil for all the good he does day in and day out in keeping America safe from various threats around the world. Personally, I don’t like him. I think he’s a psycho. That being said, his multiple appearances at the Geekscape booth this year had everyone who witnessed them talking. He handed out campaign buttons, took photos with fans, kissed babies and shouted campaign promises like “Make DC Comics great again” and “Less Alt Right and more All Night!” I for one am glad that SAM has finally chosen to perform his All-American antics in the bright light of day instead of clandestinely carrying countless unspeakable acts of violence in the name of patriotic babes, barbecues and bravado.

#2 – Mandatory Geekscape team dinners unless your name is Derek Kraneveldt.

This is an SDCC Geekscape tradition that I had let fall by the wayside for the last few years. I’ll admit it. I was not in a good headspace and after spending the day at the Con I often found myself wanting to just step away from everything. But in retrospect, what I was stepping away from was the entire purpose of going: experiencing a week with the Geekscape team and keeping my finger on the pulse of how the team was doing (see above on the whole “yearly barometer” thing). What’s worse… I had missed countless hilarious moments with Matt, Derek and the team that were crucial to what larger companies would call “team building”. Since I’m not going to have anyone from Geekscape walk on coals anytime soon, not attending our nightly dinners are a pretty big missed opportunity for me. I found myself so distant by this past January that I literally told Derek and Matt that I was instating mandatory team dinners at SDCC. Matt responded “oh, Jon… we’ve been doing them. You just haven’t been around.” That was a pretty heartbreaking moment. Well, unless you’re Derek and have promised yourself to Amazon Studios every single night in the pursuit of free food and liquor (I’d say he’s a cheap date but his fiancé Mika was shackled to him for these events… read more about them here), our nightly team dinners were some of the brightest moments of my SDCC. From singing “God has a new thang” out loud in restaurants to hearing how the Geekscape team spent their day and acquainting myself with new members like Stephen Bay, the Geekscape dinners were the best parts of my day. I love my team, they crack me up and I can’t wait until we’re causing a scene next year or just picking on Matt for continuing to insist on Old Spaghetti Factory.

#1 – Talking mental health with Darryl “DMC” McDaniels at the Geekscape booth.

I’ll tell you right now why none of the SDCC 2019 exclusives, panel announcements or giant parties and events are on this list: I intensely do not care about them. In fact, other than an hour on Friday and Saturday night spent at parties, I actively avoided all of them, choosing to put my limited time and energy (during the single week each year where these are in the shortest supply) towards what I really care about: all of you! This is my 15th straight Comic Con. None of the big pop culture events or announcements or parties have lived in my brain during that time like the conversations, dinners and times shared with friends, both old and new! The majority of what is celebrated at SDCC each year is so incredibly disposable that I suggested to the team that we should start a betting system on our site to see which shows, properties and brands wouldn’t exist in just one year (but, you know… “don’t hate, create” and all that). What matters are the people who are there and make up our community. And we are suffering through a real mental health epidemic that is costing people their lives. Knowing that, I don’t really enjoy the disposable pop culture stuff anymore but I see the importance in using metaphors, stories and the shared passions that bring us together to keep us all going. I’d rather talk about the “real shit” than the things that just don’t really matter. Because of that, the highlight for me was my talk with Darryl “DMC” McDaniels on the podcast we recorded at the Geekscape booth. Darryl started the podcast interview thinking he’d be talking about his comic book and I think he was taken a bit by surprise when I turned the conversation towards mental health and his battles with depression. But like the “real gangster” he is, he didn’t blink and went all in in talking about it. Listen to the conversation on this week’s episode and tell me that wasn’t some real shit. And the real shit is what Geekscape is all about. Thanks for an awesome week full of real experiences, everyone!

Stephen Bay (of Analog Jones and the Temple of Film)

This was my very first time going to San Diego Comic-Con, and the journey definitely did not disappoint. I had a ton of experiences that I could have listed here but for speed, I’ll narrow it down to three. Without further ado, here we go!

3. Ray Harryhausen: The Lost Movies Book Panel

If you know me, then you know that I love stop-motion animation. There was no way I would turn down a chance to hear about the godfather of stop-motion himself, Ray Harryhausen, and his lost movies and scenes. Filmmaker John Walsh put together this book with never before seen drawings, projects, and characters from more than a dozen films from Ray Harryhausen. His presentation of how talented and hard-working Harryhausen was was a fantastic window into Harryhausen’s incredible career in Hollywood.

A bonus was sitting with two of Weta Workshop’s special effects contributors that were just as big of fanboys as I am. I loved every moment of talking with them before and after about how he affected their childhoods and their work today.

The book will be available on September 10, 2019. Pre-order today! That should earn me a free book.

2. The Angry Video Game Nerd Panel

Not many YouTube stars are as well known as James Rolfe in the gaming community. He’s the angry video game nerd that plays the sh*tty games, so you don’t have to. James Rolfe shared his experiences of being a YouTube star and filmmaker. He’s always well-spoken and honest about the struggles and successes of his long career on YouTube.

The most memorable and bizarre moment of the panel came at the Q&A when a fan asked about James Rolfe’s friend and contributor on AVGN, Mike Matei. A fan waited in line to ask about the size of Mike Matei’s penis. I’m not kidding. Why anyone would ask that is beyond me but talk about a strange moment!

1. San Diego’s environment!

San Diego’s embracement of nerd culture was by far the best experience for me. The entire city just gave me a big dorky hug that I will never forget. Every restaurant and bar had drink and food specials based off comic hero’s and villains. The streets were loaded with cosplay characters and street performers at night. On top of all that, it seemed like every block had events planned with stars or personalities based on anything comics or anime. All this was before you even stepped into the convention center to be overwhelmed and amazed with trailer drops and displays of future movies and streaming shows to come out soon.

I have to take a second to call out the Geekscape crew that gave me this opportunity. I can’t thank them enough for getting me a press pass and letting me experience SDCC 2019. All seven of us stayed in one hotel room and got along great. It was like I knew all of them, and we had just met. Thank you Geekscape for one hell of a trip. Let’s do it again!

Josh Jackson

3: The Nintendo Lounge

I was expecting to ignore the Nintendo Lounge this year since nearly every game on display was either out already or was covered during E3. Then I found out that MyNintendo members could scan their QR ID’s for free Splatoon 2 keychain sets that represented Team Chaos and Team Order from the Final Splatfest, (which happened to be going on during the con). That may have got my foot in the door, but there was plenty of reason to stay, including a special Southwest Airlines sponsored stage in Mario Maker 2 and a very odd digital claw game. Plus, being able to play games like Luigi’s Mansion 3 that I can’t wait to own come October was a huge plus.

2: Borderlands 3 Museum of Mayhem

Coincidentally, I had just finished Borderlands 2 a few days prior to the convention to prepare for the upcoming third game, so I was on a huge Borderlands kick when I happened to walk by the museum. Once inside, the room was filled with framed concept art, character statues, game themed paintings and a variety of cover ideas that ultimately failed to make the cut. Speaking of cutting, a free barber was on site to brand the game’s logo in the hair of fans, while Moxxi’s bar and photo ops kept the party going in the back. But it was easy to ignore all of that when we learned that codes were hidden throughout the exhibit that would grant points on the Borderlands VIP website to unlock in-game gear. We’d have to be psychos ourselves to pass that up.

1: Ryme City (Detective Pikachu Activation)

It was cool enough to be surrounded by the sights and sounds of Ryme City. From the subways to the alleyways and storefronts featured in the movie, I would have left satisfied based on that alone. It wasn’t until we got to Howard Clifford’s office however that it became my favorite activity of the convention. Mocked up like his desk from the film with Mewtwo leering in the background, (but not in a way that would lower our Defense), the room was loaded with a collection of items from the game that an evolution obsessed mastermind would surely collect. Seeing classic items like the Fire, Water and Thunder Stones and newer ones like the Shiny Stone and Prism Scale was a lifelong Pokemon fan’s dream come true. Even non-evolution based items like the Nevermeltice sat proudly on display. I literally wanted to leave with the entire office!

Derek Kraneveldt

3: The Offsites (it’s too hard to narrow it down to just one)

I absolutely adore experiencing all of the different offsite events at SDCC. The fact that these incredibly impressive events are built from scratch at the level that they are… just to be torn down a few days later is just baffling to me. Every year these things seem to get bigger and bigger (and I always wonder just how much return these companies get from them), and this year was no exception. From the Amazon Prime Video experience (check it out here) that took fans through memorable experiences for upcoming shows like The Boys and Carnival Row, and the anticipated return of The Expanse (or even the premiere events that had the likes of Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne dancing around in animal costumes), to the FX Fearless Forum, which turned sunny San Diego into a terrifying 1980’s Summer camp (and right across the lawn provided much-needed It’s Always Sunny sunscreen to those waiting in line), to the activation for EPIX’ upcoming Pennyworth, which transported visitors to a 1960’s club rife with influence from the mysterious Raven Society.

I could go on and on and on, but while the charm of the show floor itself starts to fade after this many years (and as it gets busier and busier), the insane offsite events are an experience that I’ll never tire of.

2: The Team

SDCC is tough, because the event itself is the only time of year where much of the Geekscape team comes together, and there are simply so many things pulling for your attention that you never get to spend as much time with everyone as you want to.

Usually I’ll try to fly into LA to spend a couple of non-convention days with some of the Geekscape crew, but this year I wasn’t able to make it happen. That said, the moments that we spent together this week are moments that I’ll remember for far longer than any activation or exclusive. From reconnecting at Rockin’ Baha (pretty much my favourite place in the world) just an hour after my plane landed, to standing in line waiting for badges while Jon and Matt badgered me to experience ‘Nu Thing’ (see Jon’s list above), to nearly dying of laughter as we reminisced about old SDCC stories in Seaport Village one night after the convention, to realizing that in our ‘Goodbye SDCC’ photo that Matt looked like a ventriloquist’s dummy without a hand in it, to running into Josh and Megan completely by accident while in line for the Borderlands 3 Museum of Mayhem. There were just too many moments to list them all, and I absolutely adore all of them.

I consider all of these people family, and I wish that I could spend more time with them than I do.

1: Seeing the convention through fresh (Mikaela’s) eyes

This event is crazy. This event is exhausting. After seven years, there are absolutely elements of SDCC that don’t feel as fantastic as they once did (like the actual show floor, for instance).

SDCC is an event that you can describe, show photos and videos of, and tell people just how insane it actually is, but until you’ve experienced it yourself you really have no idea.

This year, my fiancé Mikaela joined me for SDCC. We don’t actually get to spend all that much time together, so if this wasn’t sweet enough, being able to experience the convention with someone who has never been to an event of this size before was absolutely reinvigorating. Seeing her excitement for grabbing an exclusive here, or for spotting a celebrity there, or for experiencing an offsite here, or for figuring out how we were going to get all of our crap home was simply phenomenal, and was a stark reminder as to why I started attending these things in the first place.

She also did a ton of work at SDCC that I’m still catching up on, and I can’t wait to see all of the incredible cosplay that she captured on the @GeekscapeForever Instagram page!

Mikaela Maxwell

How does one even pick a top 3 of SDCC!? I feel like I could have a top 3 of each day, however I will try to narrow it down so this isn’t a novel! So here they are in no particular order:

Meeting Daniel Danger

We have been collecting prints by Daniel Danger through Mondo for years now, and some of my favourite art is by him. I totally did not realize that he would have a booth at SDCC and was so pleased to accidentally stumble across it! I got to meet him, and hear him talk about the meaning of some of his pieces, and I got to buy a couple of prints directly from him (check out his store here)! Amazing!

Getting to go to the premiere of Carnival Row.

It was super neat to attend this exciting atmosphere where everyone was so jazzed about this project and stoked to present it to the world. The actual show was really great too, I’m now anxiously waiting to see the rest of it! And to top off the experience, Orlando Bloom was there!

Having the b’jeezus scared out of me at the American Horror Story activation.

This activation was so well done that I was almost grabbing the stranger in front of me to avoid getting lost or murdered in the middle of it. I haven’t watched American Horror Story in a few years, but I’ll probably have to now cause it was freaking intense!

And as a side note, my personal favourite was getting to spend so much time with Derek. We don’t very often get to spend so much time together and it was a real treat to get to share so many fun experiences! On top of that I got to meet the Geekscape team who are a bunch of his favourite people in the world! All in all the trip was amazing and I am so glad I got to go to SDCC 2019!

Matt Kelly

Most of my Comic-Con is spent by sitting at a table and shaking hands but that doesn’t mean that I left SDCC without a few highlights!

3) Scooters with Derek & Mika

Some people complain about the scooters but just riding through the streets with Derek and Mika and taking in the beautiful city is a blast for me.

2) Hacking at the table

Multiple times this week we’d start some hack circles with Jonathan’s Punchline branded Hacky Sack which lead to some great memories and a fantastic way to meet new people.

1) Dinner with the Team

Didn’t matter if it was Rockin’ Baja, Old Spaghetti Factory, Lolita’s or Coin-Op. Everywhere we ate had great food, even better conversations and laughter for hours.

Mikaela’s Journey to SDCC 2019: Part V

by Mikaela MaxwellJuly 22, 2019

Saturday actually had a pretty chill start to the day, I don’t think any of these crazy early risers that I was sharing a room with were really crackin’ until almost 7am. What a treat! It also started with groggily acknowledging the new additions to our Geekscape SDCC 2019 team: Steven and Kate. What a weird situation to stumble over people in the middle of the night and then meet them for the first time by waking up practically right next to them first thing in the morning.

My first scheduled appointment was a round table interview at 11am, so I had a slow easy start, waiting for everyone else to do their bathroom things and head out for the day. I headed out to my interview around 10:30, and realized as I was walking over that I was not nearly as nervous as I thought I would be, and I felt like I had totally no idea what to expect or if I was prepared. So I secretly stopped just around the corner from my destination to do some rapid Googling in hopes of feeling a little more confident!

Continuing my journey, I was working under the impression it would be myself and approximately 5 other press people along with 3 creators having either a discussion or taking turns asking questions. In one way I was happy to be with other people as they may have more insightful questions than I have, but more nervous cause now there are even more people paying attention when I talk.

When I arrived I asked the first person waiting in line if they were there for the round table, and he responded that he was, and pointed me toward the 2 PR people to check in. Everyone was super friendly and the 4 of us stood around chatting for a few minutes. I immediately discovered that this gentleman and I were going to be the only interviewers at the table, which left me feeling extra nervous! It quickly came out that this was my first round table (because I have no poker face), and I was asked if I was nervous, to which I replied yes very! Honestly though I’m glad I was straight up about it, all 3 of them were very reassuring and the gent who was heading in with me was all about that team work and offered to share his audio with me if mine crapped out. (Which ironically was the exact scenario of my first ever recorded interview about a year ago!)

Walking into the space we were introduced to co-writer Kat Rosenfield, and co-creators Luke Lieberman and Ryan Silbert. They were very friendly and obviously very passionate about this project. It was interesting to hear their thoughts on how this came about. We talked a lot about how audio is the most immersive way to experience a story, which is so true, and was totally enhanced during this activation by the various lighting spectacles within the space. I won’t go too in depth here,but will be posting the whole interview in the days to come!

Photo Credit: Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Audible

After the nerves of interviewing had been released I realized I was staaarving, and I need to catch up on some writing! So I head back to the hotel and and did just that while I waited for Derek to be available for lunch. It was nice to catch a quiet moment in air conditioning, with good wifi, away from all the chaos.

For lunch we decided to head to the BBQ place right across the street from our hotel: Kansas City Barbeque, which seems to be just on the periphery of the con craziness. It also happens to be well known as the iconic ‘sleazy bar’ scene from Top Gun. Now I have never actually seen Top Gun (shhhh don’t tell anyone) but I can usually tell when it’s being referenced, and I understand people are huge fans! So it was pretty neat to see all the paraphernalia and people so excited about this place. It was pretty entertaining too, it had that local pub vibe, the bar crowded with people drinking jugs of beer and telling jokes and singing songs, while a fan stacked with tons of bras whirled over their heads. And to top off the already great experience the food was super delish too!

Our next stop was the Borderlands Museum of Mayhem, presented by Nerdist. I always forget what Borderlands is, and once reminded I realize I actually quite like the game. I especially appreciate the art style and the way in which it lends itself to wicked awesome cosplay! I’ve only played it a couple times, but each time it’s been really fun with our good friends Mike and Laura, who live far away from us and it gets to feel like we are just hanging out in the same room. Video games are kinda neat how they can connect people from so far away and give you a space and activity to share experiences together. Technology is insane.

The line up for the Borderlands Museum wasn’t too bad, they were handing out really neat prints and fun masks while you waited. And we stumbled across OG Geekscape writer Joshua Jackson and his wife Megan, so it was nice to get to meet them in real life! The outside was decorated really cool with big Borderlands style painting in the windows, and a big statue of the robot assistant guy from the game. But as soon as you got inside it was even more amazing!

Where the Picard museum was very precise, proper, subdued, and felt like a real museum, this felt more like a super neat art show. There were huge statues of characters, and different Borderlands art pieces in so many different mediums, from a huge wall tapestry, to 3D paintings, and regular paintings, and pieces hanging from the ceiling. They also had 2 barber stations where people could get the Borderlands logo shaved into their fade. There was a bar, and a face painting station, as well as a green screen with props where you could create your own Borderlands GIF. It was actually super freaking neat and I’m really glad we made it happen.

When we were through with Borderlands we headed out to find food for Matt. Matt had been manning the booth all week, and was getting sick of eating from the same food places for days on end, so I had promised him we would bring him a meal from somewhere off site! We found the place called Berkeley Pizza, and I wished I didn’t have so much delish BBQ in my belly cause this deep dish looked soooo good. We grabbed a couple pieces for our boi and headed toward the convention centre. Only getting distracted one time by a quick piece of Panda Express chicken (where we also snagged Matt a pair of Panda ears!) before making it into the con with the rest of the convention crush!

After chillin at the booth for a few minutes I decided it was time to do the job I thought I had actually come here to do, and headed out to take some cosplay photos! It’s been interesting finding my role here with Geekscape. I do some writing, I do some podcasting, and I do a lot of social media. Usually social media looks like posting cosplay photos to Instagram, which I thought would be my main focus once landing at SDCC, however that hasn’t seemed to be the case. I’ve had interviews, taken part in experiences, and have been posting a lot of other stuff on our social media. Turns out when you are here participating in the experience (remember it’s my first time at SDCC) it’s a lot easier to stay on top of posting what is happening in the moment, instead of trying to post things randomly sent to you by the rest of the team while simultaneously cramming food in your face on your lunch break at work!

I had heard many things about the cosplay at SDCC and it is actually quite amazing! I think I’ve been spoiled because the cosplay at ECCC is also very high caliber, but I’m at least equally impressed by what I’ve seen here! I also haven’t spent that much time at the convention centre this week (how in the eff did that happen!?) so I think I haven’t seen as much of it as I thought I would! I did see a guy dressed as a giant transformer, and a stranger dressed as Wonder Woman give him a water bottle cause he was having a struggle, so my heart was pretty full from that!

Once I realized my battery was almost dead and the convention would be closing for the day, I headed back to the floor to wander for a few minutes. I found some books to bring home to my nieces, and marvelled over beautiful art. I even stumbled across Daniel Danger’s booth! Daniel Danger (check him out here) is an artist that I absolutely love. We have several of his prints hung up at home, all of which we got our hands on through hard earned waits at the Mondo booth (hard earned by Derek over the last few years). I didn’t realize he would have his own booth here, and that it could possibly be so danged accessible! I literally just walked right up to the empty booth and started talking with the guys there. The artist himself had just left to wander the floor a bit, but the fella I was talking to had lots of info and actually had time to talk to me about the process and what not. It was really neat, and I’m a little concerned I will end up there again Sunday to buy more things!

When the convention closed some of the Geekscape posse went to horror panels, some went to the Old Spaghetti Factory, and Derek and I headed over to the Carnival Row Premiere.

Derek and I having a great little night out at the Carnival Row premiere !

Unlike The Boys premiere, we had press passes to this one, so we didn’t have to wait in line for hours. I had also learned my lesson about the sun going down and getting cold so I had brought a sweater.

As soon as we got in we snagged some great seats right in the centre of the second row, scored ourselves a graciously provided blanket, and grabbed some food and drink. There was once again an awesome DJ, Daisy O’Dell, and neat characters running around and/or dancing. I was particularly excited for this premiere as Orlando Bloom stars in this show, and 13 year old Mikaela was super jazzed on the possibility of being in the same space as him!

As the time was coming for the showing to start, four mascot characters showed up in the audience, surrounded by all of the official media crew. Needless to say we were pretty certain Orlando and the rest of the main cast were right there in those suits. They danced in the aisles and walked right past us to the front of the stage. Derek was pushing me to try to get a selfie with the purple hippo who I had decided was definitely Orlando, but I just couldn’t do it.

Fan girling is just too danged awkward and the whole situation did not feel conducive to it! I was still pretty thrilled to be there doing what we were doing. Even more so, when the mascots lined up less than ten feet in front of us and revealed themselves to be the stars of the show!

Once the show started, after Orlando and friends had taken their seats 20 feet to the right of us, I was mesmerized. The show is set in a society wrought with racism between humans and fairies and other creatures, and feels super relevant in today’s political climate (well, actually in every climate, cause history shows that humans have a real struggle with ever accepting other humans that are different than them). The characters are fierce and relatable, and you just wanna learn more about them. Amazon Prime seems to be hitting it out of the park, both with their SDCC presence, and their actual shows. I was immediately swept up in this show, and can’t wait to see the rest of the season, which begins to air August 30th!

This time when we got back to the hotel everyone was still awake, so they got to hear my excitement about Orlando, and the guys were none too impressed. Kate however was there to share in my excitement thank goodness (as was my BFF Nicole who I had texted immediately!) I crashed pretty hard and am looking forward to whatever the final day, Sunday, throws my way!

I can not believe we are going into the final day. I feel like there is so much happening. So much I haven’t done and seen, and no way to experience all the things. It’s amazing how ever single person here is having such a hugely different experience, but all sharing in the same geeky fandom! What a time!

SDCC 2018: Derek’s Long-Winded SDCC Recap – Pre Convention And Preview Night

by Derek KraneveldtJuly 19, 2018

…And we’re back.

How has it been a year already since SDCC 2017? It’s absolutely flown by – and speaking of flying, I’m currently sitting at gate E90 at the Vancouver International Airport awaiting my slightly delayed 6AM flight to Los Angeles.

I’m super excited.

Last year I had only been at my current vocation for half a year or so, and as such I hadn’t actually earned enough vacation time to take as long a trip to California as I typically do. If you read last year’s recaps (check them out here if you haven’t and if you want to read a lot of words) you may remember that I arrived at the San Diego airport just before midnight on the Tuesday night, and had to leave the convention on the Sunday morning, long before it was over. Everything happened at what felt like the speed of light, and before I knew it I was taking a Lyft back to the airport.

I had a great time last year, but I’m super happy to be getting a couple of convention-less days with some of my Geekscape family this time around.

Last year I wrote a lot. Before finally turning in each night I published a huge recap of everything that I did, saw, ate, drank, thought, and avoided every day of my visit. I wasn’t sure if I’d do something similar this year, as those pieces were a lot of work, and I didn’t know how interesting they actually were.

In retrospect, I think that people were actually into them. I received a bunch of feedback from friends, family, and people I didn’t know telling me just how much they enjoyed reading each piece, and the interesting perspective that the journals gave to a non-attendee (or even the different perspective that they gave to a standard attendee). I’ve actually had more people come up and talk to me about these pieces than any interview, video, or review that I’ve posted over my near seven years with Geekscape.

A few days ago, in preparation for this trip and to help to try to figure out just what the hell I wanted to put together this year, I read through all of last year’s journals. I really enjoyed reading back on last year’s experiences (and imagine I will be especially grateful that I wrote them when I try to look back even a few years from now), and reading back on the convention made me realize a few important things:

A). Grammar disappears and writing becomes nonsensical when you’re trying to finish a piece at 1AM.
B). Even just a year later, an event like SDCC is such a sensory overload that you pretty much forget everything. I’m super happy that I wrote out my experience – in reading back I had more than a few “oh, right” moments that made me smile and reminisce. I appreciated seeing everything put together in a sort of timeline, rather than just a mass jumble of photos.
C). Remembering the way that I felt last year, I feel like I’m mentally in a better place today than I was then. That’s not to say that I’m in a great (or even good) place today, but I feel at least slightly better than I did then. Phew.
D). I am stagnant. I mean, I was stagnant this time last year, but at this point if I were water, I think I’d be water that has been standing so long that it basically kills you if you go near it. Last year, I wrote of goals and ways that I thought I could better myself, or things that I’d wanted to try based on my experience in San Diego, and… I’ve done none of it. I didn’t start meditating, I didn’t lose weight, I didn’t get a cool new job. Nothing. Reading back made me feel full of shit and, and it really opened my eyes (they really should have been open already) – I need to stop talking about being better, and simply start being better.

In saying that, I want to set a public goal (making it public will make it happen, that’s how this works, right?). I’m going to lose 70 pounds by next SDCC.

But first I’m going to land in California, eat In N’ Out, Panda Express, alternate varieties of Doritos Locos Tacos (we only have the standard in Canada), and simply burn the candle at both ends for ten days or so (a candle burned at both ends burns twice as bright, right?).

Matt and I have been waiting for Panda Express for some time now.

So, here we go again. Based on feedback, reflection, and… a lack of creativity (?), just like last year I’ll be posting a daily recap/journal of my experience at San Diego Comic-Con. The piece you’re reading now will be a recap of my time in California before heading to San Diego, but after this you can expect a daily write up full of convention goodness. I’m hoping to keep the pieces a little shorter and a lot more concise than they were last year, but based on the current word count of this very first recap, I’m not promising anything.

I really don’t get the hot towel benefit that first class gets on flights. It’s not even 7AM and it’s like 25 degrees (Celcius) outside. It’s warm in this cabin, so please put a hot towel on my face that’ll definitely help. I have no idea why this happens. But then again I’ve never been a first-class citizen, so maybe I just don’t have the brain capacity to understand.

Continuing the trend (second year in a row now) of heading down to California with some sort of ailment, I was an absolute idiot and didn’t apply an appropriate amount of sunscreen (or remember to re-apply it) when two days ago I spent several hours in the sun watching the Vans Park Series (skateboarding competition) preliminaries at Hastings Skatepark in Vancouver (man, do I want to start skating again each time I see events like this). My forehead is red (and hurts), my knees hurt (and hurt really badly when I towelled them off this morning), and my arms are pretty red as well. That said, I would take this any day (or every day) over last year’s infected tooth debacle. I’m getting chills just thinking about that one. I even felt a tiny bit of pain in my mouth as I woke up this morning, which reminds me that I’m due for another cleaning and checkup when I get back to Vancouver.

Flight wise, I lucked out (aside from that slight delay) and had nobody beside me on my YVR to LAX journey. Security was painless to get through (you pretty much just tell the TSA agent that you’re going to a comic book convention, they look at you in disgust (fuckin’ nerd), and let you through without another question. Instead of napping, I used my time in the air to start writing this recap, read a few comics (x, x, and x) , watched a little Netflix (x), and before I knew it the plane was landing. After stuffing my carry-on to the verge of explosion last year (even after leaving a few unneeded items with others in San Diego), I decided it best to check a larger bag this year, so I waited around for that before reuniting with Jonathan.

What was the first thing we did? Chiller Club reunion, obviously.

Following Chiller Club, we dropped our things off at Jonathan’s, caught up a bit, and drove to a nearby AC-equipped bougie as shit Starbucks to drink more coffee and get a little bit of work done.

Then it was ‘wrasslin time. WWE’s Extreme Rules PPV started at 4PM, so Matt Kelly found his way back to Jonathan’s place and we sat in the heat for hours to watch the whole thing. Old friend Zack Haddad joined, and aside from a few shitty, why-did-this-happen matches, and the whole thing not being that extreme aside from its title, the PPV overall was an enjoyable one (also I hope Kevin Owens is okay). Also, I think that time moves more slowly in heat like this as, while it wasn’t that long, Extreme Rules felt like it took absolutely forever.

Before turning in for the night, it was time for some food. At this point in my journey, I hadn’t had any In-N-Out yet, so we drove to a nearby location and quickly realized that it just wasn’t going to happen. The drive-thru line was nearly a block long, and the small parking lot was completely full.

Instead, we ended up at some “world famous” place that I’d never heard of until this trip: Tommy’s World Famous Hamburgers. It was a burger place (naturally) that has a love for chilli, which it puts on almost everything, I had a burger with chilli on it (for the first time ever) and some chilli cheese fries (also for the first time ever), and it was fucking delicious. Why have I never thought to put chilli on shit before? Seriously.

That was it for the night! We turned in pretty quickly so we could get an early start on Monday morning.

Monday

I don’t know if its the sunburn or what, but while the temperature in Los Angeles right now is similar to that of Vancouver, it feels fucking hot, and as such the cold shower that I had this morning felt like it might just be the best part of this entire trip (not really).

Matt and I went for breakfast at Cafe 101, which is apparently super famous and has been in a ton of movies. The locale definitely looked familiar, but I couldn’t figure out just where I’d seen it before. The conversation was good, the bacon was super tasty, and the coffee woke me the hell up. Thank goodness.

A ton of exclusives news has been dropping this morning. I always get really excited for what Mondo has to show off at their booth because each and every piece that they do is incredibly beautiful, and being able to pick pieces up at the convention saves me a ton of money on shipping and duty. Prior to my flight to Los Angeles, the only revealed piece that I was really hankering for was the Daniel Danger piece for The Shape Of Water. I loved the film, and have the convention exclusive Daniel Danger Crimson Peak piece from a couple of years back, and I think they would look gorgeous beside each other.

Today, the company revealed some incredible art for Drive, Jurassic Park, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. I’m going to lose any self control I thought that I had…

Yep. I’m screwed.

After breakfast we went back to Jon’s for a bit before Matt took off to meet up with some old friends. I had some emails to respond to, and Jon was still working on the Geekscape / Dweeb Darlings press release to announce our upcoming SDCC ConQuest Scavenger hunt. We did some running around (I even met a new canine friend at Lodger) before finally sending out the release (after learning that our standard Geekscape email accounts could not be used to send mass emails, of course).

Things were pretty relaxed here for the rest of the day. We went to a giant theatre to see the BIGGEST BLOCKBUSTER OF THE SUMMER, Dwayne Johnson’s Skyscraper. The first thing that I noticed is that the actual auditorium for this screening was tiny compared to what I’m used to in Vancouver – maybe 60 or so seats. Also, Movie Pass is fucking insane, and people who complain about it are just freaking wrong. Give me that shit at whatever price you want and I will pay it happily.

The movie itself was fucking awesome. It was dumb as hell, with some fantastic action, some terrible villains, tons of quotable one-liners, and an amputee The Rock who is somehow still more bad-ass than anyone with all of their limbs. It was a fabulous time, and I’m super glad that we’d decided to see something like that instead of something more serious. It was really a perfect way to kick-off what’s about to be an insane and exhausting week.

Following the movie, we walked over to a nearby In-N-Out burger so that I could finally fill myself with that sweet, fattening, never-frozen never-microwaved burger goodness. Before we ordered, Matt said “Ah man, you better go first. I don’t know what I want,” and I replied by noting “What the hell are you talking about, they have like three options!?” Matt went first, and it wasn’t that hard.

We returned to Jonathan’s, and spent the rest of the night recording a pre-SDCC episode of Geekscape that largely turned into a roast of Matt Kelly and a chat about just how awesome Skyscraper was. You can listen to the episode below, but be warned that there are some spoilers on the ROCK-solid plot of the film.

Following the recording, we crashed hard and turned in just before midnight…

Tuesday

Matt and I left Jon’s apartment at 8am as Matt had to return his rental car before we hopped on an AMTRAK to San Diego. The drop-off was right at the station, which was nice (although it ended up being confusing as hell and we had to drive around the station several times before we found an employee that could actually give us directions to a completely un-signed area underground where the car could actually be returned), and Matt handed his keys to some dude without a uniform who just said “Yo you can give those keys to me.” I was pretty sure that this guy just stole the car, but Matt received a “Thank you for returning your rental” email a half-hour or so later.

We grabbed a quick Starbucks coffee and breakfast sandwich (thank Xenu for cheap food) before jumping on the train. Matt immediately started talking up everyone around us, and I was again envious of his crazy ability to find common ground with everyone. Within three minutes of sitting down he was telling people about the SDCC booth, the Geekscape Podcast Network, and had a business card from some local stand up comedian.

The ride itself was pretty chill and was my first time on a several-hour train ride that wasn’t bursting-at-the-seams crowded (which was just taking me to work, as well). It featured seats, wifi (which actually works pretty well, unlike the wifi on BC Ferries), air conditioning, and a table that I could put my iPad on so I could keep working. 10/10 would train again.

It wasn’t the prettiest view, but it was still a cool time.

From the San Diego station, we walked over to our hotel at the Hilton Bayfront (right beside the convention centre, aw yiss), checked in (where Matt Kelly got some weird story from a girl named Kelli that used to be Kelly), turned the air conditioning to the lowest that it could possibly go to, and then went to meet Jonathan and Heidi at ROCKIN’ FUCKING BAHA.

I had mango salsa, it was phenomenal. I also ordered a beer and didn’t realize that it would be massive (25oz), and instead of eating the tacos that I normally get a spent like $4 more and had a weird bucket that included lobster, steak, shrimp, chicken, and corn on the cob. Fucking delicious.

I can’t wait for more mango salsa.

We all made our way back to the hotel, and Jonathan quickly passed out for a super loud nap. By this time, Courtney had arrived at the airport, dropped her stuff off at her home for the week, and was waiting in the lobby of the Hilton Bayfront. I went down to the lobby instead of subjecting her to Jonathan’s snoring, and we caught up for a bit before deciding to grab a drink.

Courtney had a Maple Old Fashioned, and I grabbed some sort of Amber Ale that I can’t remember the name of (the waitress even upgraded me to a larger size for free because she couldn’t remember what I ordered). Of course, the very second that Courtney’s tiny drink and my Dwayne-Johnson-in-SKYSCRAPER sized beer arrived, Jonathan texted me to let me know that it was time to set up the booth.

We went into the Convention Centre (it’s pretty freaking cool getting early access to the show floor in order to see everything being built) and put the booth together before shooting a small El Chucho short to kick off the Seed and Spark Crowdfunding Campaign for the Stalking LeVar short film that is about to launch.

Following the booth build, we took things pretty easy for the rest of the night. Jonathan, Heidi, Courtney, Gui, Matt, and I went to Lolita’s Mexican Restaurant near PetCo Park for some food (I was still pretty full, so I just had a couple of small Taquitos and a bunch of water), and following that Matt, Courtney and I decided to go to a grocery store to grab some hotel room supplies before turning in for the night. I grabbed a case of 24 bottles of water (for like $2, instead of the $3.50 the hotel wanted for a single one), some coconut water for when I wake up each morning (to keep me hydrated, obviously), and a few granola bars to throw in my bag so that I eat those instead of spending like $40US on a pretzel.

The day felt so relaxed. The Gaslamp district was empty, we didn’t have to wait for what felt like hours to get food, and nearly all of the incredible-looking offsite events were still being built. Wednesday brings preview night, and press previews for a bunch of events that I’m beyond excited for (like LAIKA Live, which remains one of my most anticipated events of the entire week).

Wednesday

After fighting to fall asleep for what felt like hours (until I finally hopped out of bed to grab some earplugs), I eventually passed out and slept in until about 8am. When I woke up everyone else had already left the room aside from Matt, who had already showered and was watching this week’s RAW beside me.

I showered, had a quick chat with Mikaela, and Matt and I made our way to breakfast. We both had some eggs, bacon, and pancakes before walking over to the FYE Pop-Up at the Horton Plaza (look for photos from the shop right here). I found a rad GLOW shirt that I had every intention of buying, but there was only an L (which was too short) and an XXL (which was far too wide). I asked an employee if they had more in the back, and the guy said that everything they had was on the shelf. I said “So it’s only Wednesday and you have like four Glow shirts left?” and the guy kind of just shrugged and walked away. This was definitely a little disappointing, but the place was filled with cool stuff, and was packed with people to the point where it was hard to take photos of some of the offerings.

Side note – sorry about the IMGUR banners from here on out. Geekscape is having major issues uploading images at this time.

Before heading back to the hotel, we decided to walk a few more blocks to the Castle Rock installation that was still being set up at the Children’s Museum park. The area was pretty fenced off and was still mostly being built, but what we saw at this point was freaking awesome – they build a fucking house first of all, there was a car in the fountain, a creepy figure (Georgie?) and a memorial to Georgie (that was too fenced off to get a good photo of at this point). Amazing. We also saw a Stranger Things train station, but we couldn’t get too close at this point as a local news station had taken over the area.

Somehow I convinced Matt to get on one of these rental motorized scooters that are everywhere in San Diego at this point. I don’t think that these existed at last year’s convention, but it was pretty hard to walk 30 feet without seeing one. We used Lime, and it was so convenient and inexpensive. The scooters are $1 to unlock, and then $.15 per minute after that. You push off to start, and then the handlebars show have a ‘Go’ and ‘Stop’ switch to accelerate or brake. The scooters travel way faster than I expected them to, and they were a fun and fast way to get back to our hotel. I even managed a selfie while riding, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen Matt look so excited in my life.

After arriving back at the hotel, I wrote up my FYE piece before meeting up with Courtney. We chatted for awhile before heading back to the convention centre to pick up my badge (which took a total of like four seconds somehow), and then decided that it was time for lunch at… Rockin’ Baha of course! At this point, I wondered just how many times we would hit up the same restaurant before the week was over.

Next up was the first official event of the week, FutureTechLive! This event is open through Sunday, and is located on the second floor of the Omni Hotel. Here, there were a bunch of VR experiences to try, a neat Overwatch photo op (I definitely lost my balance on this one, as the platform we stood on spun around) that netted you an exclusive Overwatch pin once you completed it, and some Bitcoin and other coin vendors. We played a game called Star Wars Jedi Challenge which was a stand-alone headset, lightsaber, and tracking ball thing, where you fight different Star Wars villains with your lightsaber. It was kind of fun, but felt pretty janky, and the field of view on the headset (which was powered by your phone) was quite poor – you would turn your head naturally in order to see where Darth Maul (or whatever villain you were fighting) was, and all of a sudden everything would go blank. It’s also $200 which feels like a lot for what it is. It felt a little bit like Wii launch title Red Steel, but that game is like ten years old and the Wii did way more for your money. We also played a pretty cool four-player cooperative title that was demonstrating a technology called HoloGate. The game we played was a simple first-person shooter that has the four players shooting easy drones and robots, followed by some larger robots and dragons and stuff. The round lasted about five minutes, and while it was simple I probably had a smile on my face the whole time. The setup was pretty neat, and it was really cool having a system to hold the VR wiring (and to keep it safe) while you moved around in the virtual space. We checked out a couple of other things before it was time for me to head to the Hilton Gaslamp for a preview of the DC Universe offsite event.

There is a lot of incredible stuff at San Diego Comic-Con. The offsite events get more and more elaborate every year, and up to today the coolest activation ever remained the Godzilla Encounter from 2013 (read my coverage of that event right here). It’s freaking Preview Night 2018, and tonight I attended not one, but two events that may have surpassed it.

The first was the aforementioned DC Universe offsite. It’s here to represent the aptly titled DC Universe app and subscription service, which should launch in beta in the next few weeks, and in full this Fall. The service is kind of like Marvel’s long running Marvel Unlimited service for digital comics, except that DC Universe includes not only comics, but DC films, television series, animated features, and even some original content like the upcoming live-action Titans series (the costumes from which were on display at the exhibit) and way way more. DC Legend Jim Lee said that the event itself was meant to act as a sort of physical representation of the DC Universe app, and the location was filled with concept art, real props from the Batman movies (like a giant rubber duck, Mr. Freeze’ freeze ray, and the freakin Batmissile), stations where you could try the app out, food, and way more. Inside the building you could find things like “Harley Quinn’s Chaos Room”, in which you suited up in protective gear, donned a baseball bat, and smashed things for 45 seconds, and there was even a small Swamp Thing activation in which an actor took you through the “swamp” while things jumped out at you. You’ll tap into each experience using an RFID bracelet, and a link will be texted to you so you can see photos, videos, and more of you in each piece of the experience. Pretty cool, and pretty seamless.

The DC Universe offsite is open through Sunday, and is an amazing time. You can look for my full write-up on the event on the site sometime tomorrow, but for now you’ll have to settle for just a few photos that are posted above.

The last stop of the evening was an invitational preview to the LAIKA Live offsite that I first wrote about a few days ago. This event was literally heaven. Life-sized versions of Coraline, the Other Mother, Kubo, Sparky, and Norman wandered around the event taking photos with patrons as they chatted and consumed the wonderful food and drink provided. The food really amazed the hell out of me, as it was all themed after different LAIKA properties, and the cupcakes were even decorated with artwork of the distinct hair of numerous LAIKA characters. This, by the way, was only the entrance of the experience. Once inside, you could stare in absolute amazement at actual sets from Coraline and The Boxtrolls, sit in a life-sized version of the Other Mother’s living room, chat with actual LAIKA animators (where I learned that the now rarely used art of stop motion is still evolving, and in the upcoming LAIKA feature Missing Link, they’ve actually added the ability for the puppets to breathe. The whole thing sounds incredible.

Teri Hatcher, the Other Mother herself even showed up in order to help kick off the event and to help celebrate Coraline‘s tenth anniversary. She even saw a little girl out on the street selling giant suckers for a charity called Child Hunger Sucks, brought the girl inside, and let her tell everyone about what the organization does. Pretty freaking amazing. LAIKA Live is in the old Dick’s Last Resort locale, and is also open through Sunday at 6PM. The offsite even has a ton of amazing merchandise for sale (I need more money), and will even have the store open separately so that you don’t have to wait in line for hours and hours if you just want to buy things. That said, LAIKA Live is worth waiting hours and hours for.

Just like with DC Universe, you can look for more from LAIKA Live right here on Geekscape tomorrow!

Now, however, it’s midnight and I need to crash! Tomorrow kicks off with the Mattel / WWE Panel to mark the first full day of SDCC 2018!

Thanks for reading!

Geekscape’s San Diego Comic-Con Schedule 2016!

by Derek KraneveldtJuly 17, 2016

It’s finally, finally here!

No, not SDCC, dummy. You’ll have to wait until Wednesday for that. I’m talking about the booth info and signing schedule for the Geekscape booth!

We’ve met so, so many of you over the years, and the greatest thing about San Diego Comic-Con each year isn’t the incredible panels, bankruptcy-inducing exclusives, blink and you’ll miss them celebrities, or you better take pictures because your friends won’t believe you parties, but honestly seeing you ‘Scapists, new and old at our booth, catching up, and really feeling the culture that we try all year, every year, to create and sustain. Every year at San Diego Comic-Con, we meet some new friends, gain a few writers, and have an incredible, re-energizing (and absolutely exhausting) time, and that’s what Geekscape is all about.

There’s always a lot of new stuff going on here at Geekscape. We’ve got some “sick vids” as Shane O’Hare would (probably) say up on GeekscapeTV (and everyone is loving our newest correspondent El Chucho), The Geekscape podcast celebrated its 400th episode (and you can watch the entire, production-value filled video right here) and has made the jump from TRadioV to sister brand ZHollywood; Geekscape Games has lasted longer than anyone thought it would, and has now been running for nearly two years, and the Horror Movie Club podcast is over a year old, and is taking the internet by storm.

Of course, we’ve got some pretty cool stuff going on at SDCC too. We’ll be in the same, familiar booth as last year, #3919, and have an awesome signing schedule which you can find below.

Thursday, July 21st

12PM-1PM – Heidi Cox (Stalking Lavar)

1PM-2PM – Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers, Sleepy Hollow)

2PM-3PM – SG Browne (Breathers, Lucky Bastard)

4PM-5PM – Ben Begley (The Funhouse Massacre, The Hangover Games)

Friday, July 22nd

12PM-1PM – Jason Inman and Ashley Robinson (The Red Shirt Diaries, Geek History Lesson)

2PM-3PM – Director Eric Dean Seaton (Legend of the Mantamaji)

4-5PM – The Space Command cast with creator Marc Zicree!

5PM-6PM – Judd Winick (Green Lantern, Pedro and Me, Hilo)

Saturday, July 23rd

12PM-1PM – The Dweeb Darlings

2PM-3PM – Daniel Corey (Moriarty)

4PM-5PM – Judd Winick (Green Lantern, Pedro and Me, Hilo)

How’s that for jam-packed?

Remember, you can find us at booth #3919 all weeks! We hope to see you there!

Also, we have some sweet, sweet t-shirts for sale, so if you want to represent, you know where to pick one up!

What are you most looking forward to this SDCC?

SDCC 2016: You Won’t Recognize Him, But This Entertainment Earth C-3PO Exclusive Is A Must-Buy!

by Derek KraneveldtJune 28, 2016

Briefly: San Diego Comic-Con fast approaches (too fast, I’m not ready), and we’re getting to the point that exclusive announcements seem to be flooding our inboxes by the minute.

This latest announcement from Entertainment Earth may be one of the best exclusives I’ve seen announced for this year’s SDCC thus far.

You probably don’t recognize him… but it’s a convention exclusive The Force Awakens C-3PO that stands 18 inches tall.

Here are some sweet reasons why you should probably pick one up:

– “You probably don’t recognize me with my red arm.”
– Exclusive limited edition chrome C-3PO action figure!
– Fresh from the Battle of Takodana in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
– First-ever C-3PO action figure at this scale with his classic reflective finish!
– The protocol droid stands 18-inches tall.
– He’s shiny and gold, just like in the movies!

It’s huge, it’s gorgeous, and it’s just $60 at the Entertainment Earth booth (#2343).

This convention exclusive “is a shiny gold robot boasting 7-points of articulation. His chrome finish is as shiny as you please, with a red arm to honor his fallen friend from the days following his adventures on Endor. C-3PO comes packaged in an amazing premium edition box featuring an exquisite Resistance symbol backdrop and gold foil highlights.

At 18-inches tall, it’s “the first time a C-3PO action figure has been offered with his classic reflective finish at this scale. It’s like a mini-replica of the suit Anthony Daniels wears in the film, so you can almost hear his voice in your head! You’ll thank Jakks when you bring home this Resistance spymaster and famous translator.”

Yeah, we’ll take two (one to open and one to leave in the box, duh).

Be sure to let us know if you’ll be picking one up!

SDCC 2015: We Throw Down With Tiny Robots In ‘Little Battlers Experience’

by Josh JacksonAugust 17, 2015

Robot battles are awesome, aren’t they? It’s too bad we haven’t seen too many awesome games using the concept in recent years. While games like Virtual On and Custom Robo hold a special place in our hearts, there’s definitely a void that was left by the lack of new content when it comes to this genre. Thankfully, Level-5 is taking the controls and leading charge with Little Battlers Experience, a long running anime and game series that is finally seeing its Western debut on the 3DS this year. Playable at Comic-Con in the Nintendo Lounge, we took the chance to get into a 3-on-3 skirmish with our fellow con-goers.

With a variety of robots to choose from, each cardboard battler has a variety of special attacks, ranged fire and melee skills at their disposal. In addition to general stat differences like speed and attack power, each must be considered when trying to match up the perfect robot with your play style.

Once we hit the field, our teams clashed with the goal of knocking out the opposing team first. This wasn’t as easy as it sounded, since each robot has a limit to how much they can attack before they have to cool down. Try spamming your best skills, and you’ll be left behind as a sitting duck with no way to defend yourself. However, if you manage your skills well while landing flurries of attacks, you’ll gain access to a super attack, that does huge damage to the unlucky opponents who find themselves in your way.

What helps is that movement is exactly what we would expect like something from robot gaming’s past, relying on locking on, circle strafing, and boosting around the field while avoiding damage. The team dynamic made this Vs. mode more interesting as well, since the winning team would usually coordinate their attacks to either defend partners in trouble, or gang up on an isolated foe to rack up those KOs. Attacking wildly would usually lead to a loss, so working together definitely had its advantages.

After walking away with victory in hand, I couldn’t wait to try more. If you’re a fan of games like Virtual On, then LBX is looking like it will definitely scratch that mech battle itch. With an expert team like Level-5 behind it, would we expect anything less? All I know is with the awesome looking robot design and fluid game play, this title is high on my radar.

Little Battlers Experience will release for the 3DS on August 21st.

SDCC 2015: ‘Lego Dimensions’ Hopes To Rebuild The Toys To Life Genre

by Josh JacksonJuly 28, 2015

Between Skylanders, Disney Infinity and Amiibo, all three formats have made a killing through selling their versions of game compatible toys, with the latter creating a full blown Amiibogeddon. Considering the wild success of these Toys To Life franchises, it was only a matter of time before the Lego brand decided to take their own crack at the genre.

Longtime Lego game developer Traveler’s Tales hopes to bring their platforming prowess and trademark charm to Lego Dimensions, a title that brings numerous worlds together to create one huge collectable gaming experience. Including series’ such as the DC Universe, The Lord Of The Rings, The Simpsons, Back To The Future, Portal, (as in Valve’s Portal,) and so many more, will we have room on our shelves, (and enough money in the bank,) to open up to a fourth collection? We were invited to get some hands on time with the game at San Diego Comic Con to find out if its worth it.

The demo was a strange mash up of characters that we would never have imagined would share a game together. Try to picture this; Gandalf, Scooby Doo, Batman, the 13th Doctor from Doctor Who, Portal protagonist, Chell, and The Lego Movie‘s Wyldstyle, (with a cameo from Homer Simpson), running through one of GLaDOS’ test chambers, complete with her taunts through the PA system and adorable turrets who look to rip you to shreds. Yet, in the world that Lego Dimensions has established, it makes perfect sense. What was especially noticeable about having so many characters on screen at once was the fact that unlike other games in the genre that typically restrict you to two characters at a time, you can bring in as many characters and vehicles as you can fit on the portal.

On the subject of the portal itself, this base is divided into three sections. The back section is where the world is placed, which much like Infinity‘s Play Sets, is a piece that unlocks the single player world that players will traverse through. Characters and vehicles littered the left and right side in front of it, but this set up wasn’t just for show. Some puzzles required the characters to grow bigger or smaller depending on the situation, which was achieved through moving each Lego person onto the respective side that was assigned the proper power. Using the base as part of the game play is an interesting idea, one that brings a level of interactivity to the game that its competing titles lack.

Yet, despite these unique features, the core game play is exactly what we’ve come to expect from a Travelers Tales Lego game. The platforming, movement, stage progression and even combat felt almost exactly like any one of the many Lego titles that have hit the market over the last ten years. So if you pick this up, expect to fill a stud meter, destroy objects in the environment to rebuild them into new items and solve character specific puzzles. The advantage that Lego Dimensions has however, is that unlike the standalone games that typically have a half a dozen character types that have unique puzzle solving abilities, this one has the potential to offer many more than than. Chell for example, is the only character that can use the Portal Gun, which was necessary to transport the team from one spot to another at times.

With so many characters already announced, I can only imagine what kind of possibilities they might bring to the game. Then again, more characters means more money to spend, so we hope you have that cash ready! At the very least, each game piece doubles as a real Lego set, so once you finish the game, the fun can continue by making new objects with the pieces provided and integrate them with the rest of your real sets. Or you can just display them, if you’re more like the Will Ferrell type. Either way, gamers and collectors alike will want to keep their eyes peeled and their imaginations open when Lego Dimensions launches on September 29th, with the starter set bundled with Batman, Gandalf, Wyldstyle and the Batmobile priced at $99.99.

Anime Expo 2015: Hand-On With ‘Sword Art Online: Lost Song’

by Josh JacksonJuly 27, 2015

Last year when we played Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment, this game about gamers trapped in a game felt hindered partially by its slow pace. This issue is looking to be fixed in its upcoming remake, but would new installments learn from this mistake? It seemed obviously so in Sword Art Online: Lost Song, the upcoming PS4 and PS Vita title that looks to move Kirito and friends into a more fast paced, action focused affair while maintaining the illusion of an MMORPG. How well does this new system translate into the game? We put our monster slaying skills to the test in a brief demo at Anime Expo and Comic Con 2015 to find out.

For the purpose of the demo, Kirito and an AI controlled Asuna and Leefa were thrown into a huge, wide open field. Littered with monsters both on land and in the sky, it was up to us to take out as many monsters as possible within a 10 minute time limit, just enough time to dig deep into what this new world has to offer. On the subject of how big the field is, Lost Song puts the power of the PS4 to good use, never encountering any slowdown despite how much was going on at one time. I found myself stepping away from fights and just flying high enough to enjoy the scenery, watching all the chaos going on below.

Speaking of flying, Kirito can now switch between land and air battles on the fly. Him and his team can now activate their attacks at will, coming off much more like an action game compared to previous SAO games, giving us plenty of ways to take down all kinds of threats. In order to keep the MMO feel, special attacks are still set to Macro style quick commands that are brought up by holding the shoulder buttons. Certain attacks would deliver huge damage to even the toughest enemies, but would also cost more ability points. If you have no points, you’re stuck with standard attacks, so in typical RPG style, you’ll have to manage these closely if you want to make sure to take out your biggest foes. When one person isn’t enough, delivering enough damage will give your team the chance to activate a triple team attack, inflicting huge damage and team boosts along the way. Keeping an eye on instant messages on the side of the screen will keep you clued in on what their status is, and sending across an encouraging message through emotes can only help!

If this sounds like a lot to take in, you’re not alone. My biggest issue with Lost Song in these early stages was that there’s so much to do, that it made the controls confusing to remember. Rarely feeling intuitive, there were plenty of times where I would get knocked down from the sky and slowly fall to the ground for what felt like ages until I figured out how to recover. Finding the right attacks and commands in the heat of battle often led to pressing the wrong one, keeping me from finishing off the giant dragon in the sky that I had worked so hard to take down. With more time and practice, this issue is sure to fade, but expect a decent learning curve when you pick up the game this fall.

All in all, Sword Art Online: Lost Song feels like a step in the right direction. Its faster paced game play is definitely a lot more fun, and if the controls can be ironed out, we have the potential to have a great game on our hands. As always, keep an eye out for updates as they become available, and feel free to leave any questions in the comments!

Anime Expo 2015: ‘Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden’ Goes Old School On 3DS

by Josh JacksonJuly 27, 2015

As the years have gone by, Dragon Ball Z games have gotten bigger and fancier, with numerous 3D fighters on nearly every console imaginable. It’s a long time since the days where the only way you could get your Super Saiyan gaming fix was to buy expensive imports and mod your consoles. Still, some of these old games had an undeniable charm that gamers who experienced them still swear upon, but thanks to Namco Bandai, it will be a lot easier to bask in the glory of 2D DBZ this fall with Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden for 3DS. We got our hands on the demo at AX this year, and put our power level to the test.

Promising over 100 characters that serve as both battle and support players, everyone from Baba to Launch was spotted in between your Goku’s and Vegeta’s, showing that it really runs deep with the history. The demo allowed us to put together teams of three after choosing between Goku, Vegeta, Teen Gohan, Piccolo and Fat Buu. Each character had their own value, which is the cost one will have to pay when putting their team together. If you don’t have enough points, you’ll have to replace your stronger fighters with the Krillin’s and Yamcha’s of the world. For this version however, the number was set so high that it didn’t restrict our ability to choose who we wanted.

Once the fights started, it was immediately noticeable that it shares some of its mechanics with its 3D brethren while bringing in the foundation of a 2D fighter. The X and Y buttons are pressed in sequence to set up combos, while the A button shot energy blasts and the shoulder buttons guarded and charged up Ki. If you want to set off your character’s signature moves, certain combos have to connect to activate some flashy looking 2D animations to match up with the gorgeous character sprites, despite being a little pixelated. Tapping the character portraits on the touch screen allowed us to swap characters at will mid battle, helping us mix up the fight when we were backed into a corner. The battle ended once the entire opposing team was defeated, leaving our set of warriors standing tall.

Playing Extreme Butoden really took us back to a simpler time of anime fighters, and it was an exciting (ki?) blast from the past. Promising an updated roster featuring everyone from Golden Frieza and Beerus to Yajirobe and Oolong and everyone in between, there’s sure to be enough content to please DBZ fans both young and young at heart.

Pre-ordering from Amazon will net you a download code for Dragon Ball Z: Super Butoden 2, an SNES game that was previously a Japan only release, in addition to six bonus support characters, so if you like what you see, that seems like the place to buy from come October 20th.

SDCC 2015: Release Date And Details Announced For ‘Disney Infinity 3.0’

by Josh JacksonJuly 15, 2015

Disney Interactive has announced that their upcoming Star Wars themed Toys to Life title, Disney Infinity 3.0, will hit stores on August 30th. Aside from the game itself, the studio plans to release close to a dozen new figures to go with it, so we hope the next month is enough time to get your cash together!

Aside from the Starter Pack, (which includes the Twilight of the Republic Play Set, Anakin Skywalker and Ashoka Tano,) day one will see the release of Yoda and Obi Wan Kenobi’s standalone figures, Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger, Sabine Wren, and Zeb Orrelios from Star Wars Rebels, and a set of Star Wars Power Discs. Of course, if you want even more goodness from a galaxy far far away, Playstation owners can also purchase the Star Wars Saga Starter Pack, which gives them early access to Luke, Leia, the Twilight of the Empire Play Set, and Boba Fett.

Outside of the Jedi, Disney won’t leave themselves in the dust. In addition, the Inside Out Play Set will release on day one as well, (which is bundled with Joy and Anger,) with Sadness, Disgust and Fear releasing as standalone toys. If you want your Toy Box characters outside of the Play Sets, Disney also has you covered with the releases of Mickey, Minnie, Mulan, Olaf, Sam Flynn and Quorra, alongside a Tomorrowland power disc pack to customize your Toy Box with.

I know, this is already a huge amount of toys to buy on day one, but the last release can be free of charge! If you pre-order, each person who does walks away with early access to the Toy Box Takeover, a multiplayer expansion normally priced at $19.99. Serving as an action adventure mode supporting 2 players locally and 4 players online, players will be able to take any toy from the previous or current game and travel across multiple Disney, Marvel and Star Wars worlds in their quest to stop Syndrome. Later this Fall, Toy Box Speedway, a Kart racing expansion, will also release, but you’ll have to pay for that one.

Here’s the full press release:

We were lucky enough to try out the Play Sets and the Toy Box Speedway between E3 and Comic Con, which you’ll be able to read about really soon! Until then, let us know if Disney has you hooked and what content you’re planning on buying! And don’t forget, follow our Twitter feeds @geekscapedotnet and @geekscapegames to find out how to win a Darth Vader figure in advance!

SDCC 2015: Shadaloo Meets Cobra In The Upcoming ‘Street Fighter X GI Joe’ Comic!

by Josh JacksonJuly 14, 2015

What happens when two of the world’s most evil organizations join forces? We get a potentially awesome comic book!

Announced during Capcom’s Street Fighter V panel at Comic Con, IDW Publishing is releasing Street Fighter X GI Joe, a crossover event that brings together the Real American Heroes and the World Warriors. As the kind of stuff our Saturday mornings were made of back in the day, it’ll be interesting to see how well these worlds mesh together when the series is released in 2016.

While details are few, this sounds like an idea that’s crazy enough to work, (or at least give us a good laugh along the way.) Considering how well other comic crossovers have worked in the past though, I feel like this has a chance to surprise people throughout its run as much as the announcement surprised us in itself. Just imagine all of the wacky shenanigans a super powered dictator and an egotistical commander can get into together!

Will this series be on your radar? Let us know what you think!

SDCC 2015: Could G4 Be Coming Back?

by Eric FranciscoJuly 13, 2015

All of us at Geekscape are getting back into our old routines like zombies after the party that was San Diego Comic-Con. Expect more stuff from that in the next few days. But there’s one thing we need to get to right now: If former G4TV host and Film Threat founder Chris Gore is to be believed, there are rumblings that G4TV could be making a comeback in a big way.

Yesterday on the last day of San Diego Comic-Con, I lost my Periscope virginity with Chris Gore at our Geekscape booth right in front of Legendary (I know every word of the Straight Outta Compton trailer by heart now) and he let slip that G4TV could be resurrected.

“I shouldn’t even be saying this, but yeah.”

It’s not long into the Periscope, maybe less than a minute, but somehow that divisive digital cable channel we know as G4TV, the one that caught the rising nerd wave early and, fortunately or unfortunately (I’m the latter) wiped out could come alive once again. You can see me freak out a little.

G4TV is why I got into this crazy business in the first place, so my visceral reaction is total excitement. Though the cable channel couldn’t compete against the Internet — as our own Jonathan London says, the Internet is G4 — it offered something mainstream TV still ignores. For all the cultural impact Marvel and DC and Star Wars and everything in between has now, there’s still no massive coverage of things like Comic-Con, E3, or even Star Wars Celebration. Scouring your favorite blog and stalking Twitter and Instagram is the new G4TV.

But I remember being a restless teenager watching that channel. It kept me sane during the summers I spent stuck at my aunt’s place in New York with no where else to go, thousands of miles away from Comic-Con and everything else they were at. It was like MTV’s Spring Break, but nerdier and kind of better. Yeah, the pandering kind of sucked, but the people that spoke for it were smart, charismatic individuals who (usually) cared about what they talked about.

Bethesda gave gamers a mini G4 reunion when Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb co-hosted Bethesda’s pre and post shows at this year’s E3. Watching those two again with chemistry that remained on point, their years separated showing no damage whatsoever, unleashed a flood of emotions. Memories came back of X-Play and other shenanigans those two maniacs and their equally insane production team did in front of cameras. It was wonderful and sublime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KApp699WdE

The pitfall to a geek TV channel is that geeks barely watch TV on TV. They’re downloading and streaming. The culture is too big and too divided now to attract with one cable channel. They’d have to come back with a vengeance, cornering the Twitch-like streaming of live games and producing better, compelling, totally original content. No more COPS.

I don’t know much more to the story, Chris only told me a little and I can’t quite tell you guys what that little bit was. But there’s some hope, so if you care about G4 you’d have to tweet endlessly about it (because that’s how we do things #now). There’s no official hashtag or Kickstarter campaign, so it’s curious as to how whoever is trying to make this dark voodoo work is gauging interest.

I’m going to honestly ask: Would you watch a newly resurrected G4TV? I would.

Geekscape’s San Diego Comic-Con Schedule 2015!

by Derek KraneveldtJuly 6, 2015

It’s finally, finally here!

No, not SDCC, dummy. You’ll have to wait until Wednesday for that. I’m talking about the booth info and signing schedule for the Geekscape booth!

We’ve met so, so many of you over the years, and the greatest things about San Diego Comic-Con each year isn’t the panels, exclusives, celebrities, or parties, but honestly seeing ‘Scapists, new and old, at our booth, catching up, and really feeling the culture that we try all year to create. We always meet some new friends, gain a few writers, and all around have a good time, and that’s what Geekscape is all about.

There’s always a lot of new stuff going on at Geekscape. We’re about to launch a new design of the site, we’ve got some great new shorts up on GeekscapeTV (especially from our new correspondent El Chucho), and launched two new podcasts in the last year; Geekscape Games, the awesome yet unfortunately sporadic video game oriented podcast that I’m a co-host of, and the brand new Horror Movie Club podcast, which is, naturally, all about horror films.

Of course, we’ve got some pretty cool stuff going on at SDCC too. We’ll be in the same, familiar booth as last year, #3919 (right across from Legendary Entertainment), and have an awesome signing schedule which you can find below.

Thursday, July 9th

10-11am – Clerk’s Marilyn Ghigliotti & Brian O’Haloran
11-12pm –Breathers, Less Than Hero author Scott Brown
12:30-1:30 – Red Shirt Diaries
2pm – Moriarty, Red City writer Daniel Corey

Friday, July 10th
10-11am – Clerk’s Marilyn Ghigliotti & Brian O’Haloran
11-12pm – Doomed! Documentary
12-1pm – Chris Gore
1-3pm – Sleepy Hollow‘s Orlando Jones
3-4pm – Red Shirt Diaries
4-5pm – MMA Fighter and creator of Zombie Cage Fighter Nate Quarry

Saturday, July 11th

12pm – Chris Gore
2pm – Space Command
3pm – Trisha Hershberger
4pm – Black Nerd Comedy and Katie Wilson

Sunday, July 12th

12pm – Chris Gore

But that’s not all! Jonathan, of course, is the writer of Lion Forge Comics’ Miami Vice (and soon Super Action Man), and as such, he’ll be busy promoting the book as well!

There’s a Miami Vice 30th Anniversary Retrospective panel on Thursday from 6:00-7:00 p.m. in room 29AB. The panel will feature series creator Anthony Yerkovich and actors Edward James Olmos (“Lt. Castillo”), Michael Talbott (“Det. Switek”), and Olivia Brown (“Det. Joplin”), as well as Jonathan London and Lion Forge editor Shannon Eric Denton.

He’ll also partake in not one, but TWO signings at the Lion Forge booth (#2300). 4:00-5:00 on Thursday, and 11:00-1:30 on Friday, both with Michael Talbott (Stan Switek) and Olivia Brown (Trudy Joplin)!

If you’re an early riser, we’d also love to invite you to the very first Cosplay 5K! We encourage you to wear a costumer (to protect your identity, of course), and come out for a fun run (before the crowds) and some cool prizes!

What are you looking forward to at SDCC? Don’t forget to come by booth #3919 and let us know!

Geekscape Roundtable: What We’re Looking Forward To At SDCC – Panels!

by GeekscapeStaffJuly 15, 2013

With San Diego Comic-Con just a few days away, everyone here at Geekscape is getting prepared for our biggest convention ever. As always, there will be more to see and do in San Diego this week than is humanly possible, so each of us has been scouring the schedules and deciding exactly what is most important to us while we’re there.

While deciding what we need to do and see, and what we’d be okay with missing, we thought that we’d include all of you in the fun as well. Here’s part three of our pre-SDCC round table, where we share the panels that we’re most looking forward to at San Diego Comic-Con.

Thursday

How to Get News Coverage for Small Press Publishers
What makes the difference between an item that will get news coverage, previews, or interviews, and what doesn’t? Many publishers have no idea what to submit to the press, how to submit it, and why they are being overlooked for coverage. Comic journalist Rik Offenberger (First Comics News, Archie Comics) moderates this panel on just what it takes to get coverage, with the comic journalists themselves telling you what they are looking for in your submission. Panelists include (in alphabetical order) Albert Ching (Newsarama), Glenn Hauman (Comic Mix), Holly Golightly (BroadSword Comics), Rich Johnston (Bleeding Cool), Alan Kistler (Comic Mix), Heidi MacDonald (The Beat), Chris Squires (Buckley Radio), Tanya Tate (First Comics News), Chris Thompson (First Comics News), J. C. Vaughn (The Scoop), Josh Waldrop (M1W Entertainment), and Bryan Young (Huffington Post, Big Shiny Robot). Find out what it takes to self-promote and make a significant impact on your ability to sell your comic.
Thursday July 18, 2013 10:30am – 11:30am
Room 8

Lame, we know. I (Derek) am always on the lookout for a new learning experience, and if that experience can help better Geekscape and the content it features, why wouldn’t I be in attendance?

Video Games to Movies: Is the Golden Age Upon Us?
11:00am – 12:00pm Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront
Join some of the top industry professionals as they discuss the challenges, opportunities and the future of what many are calling the next dominant supplier of franchise films to the studios: Video Game-based movies! Are we in for the long anticipated “Golden Age” of video game to movie adaptations? Expect surprises and a glimpse into what is on the horizon for some of the biggest video game characters/franchises as they begin their journey towards the silver screen! Panelists include Adrian Askarieh (Hitman, Agent 47), Tim Miller (Blur Studios, attached to direct Deadpool feature), Justin Marks (producer, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li), Patrick J O’Brien (VP of EA Entertainment, currently developing films based on Need for Speed, Dead Space, Mass Effect and Dante’s Inferno), C. Robert Cargill (Sinister, Dreams and Shadows, Queen of Dark Things, Deus X), and moderator Ben Fritz of The Wall Street Journal.

Our buddy, Adrian Askarieh was on the show a few weeks ago to talk video game movies and had a bit of insight on the direction that Hollywood is headed. If he’s half as knowledgeable on this panel as he was on Geekscape, this one is a must. Plus, you get to find out if that Deadpool movie is ever really going to happen!

Askeriah is also producing the upcoming 'Deus Ex' film. — Askarieh is also producing the upcoming ‘Deus Ex’ film.

Batman: Arkham Origins
Witness the next installment in the blockbuster videogame franchise. Developed by WB Games Montréal, Batman: Arkham Origins features an expanded Gotham City and introduces an original prequel storyline set several years before the events of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City. Taking place before the rise of Gotham City’s most dangerous criminals, the game showcases a young and unrefined Batman as he faces a defining moment in his early career as a crimefighter that sets his path to becoming the Dark Knight. As the story unfolds, players will meet many important characters for the first time and forge key relationships. Get the latest reveals from a panel headed by WB Games Montréal creative director Eric Holmes and actors Roger Craig Smith (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and Troy Baker (The Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite), the voices of Batman and the Joker, respectively. Batman: Arkham Origins will be released worldwide on October 25.
Thursday July 18, 2013 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Room 6BCF

Considering we don’t know if this game is going to stand up to the previous two or by a shadow of the franchise’s former self, this panel may be a must for those of us who want answers… and we DO want answers! Next to GTAV, this is my most anticipated game left this year. I’ll be damned if I have to wait until October 25th to get my fix in!

Vertigo: Defy
Vertigo is ready to blow your mind with the next wave of trend-setting comics! From horror to mythic fiction to sci-fi and beyond, see what amazing new ideas are coming your way from the imprint that’s on a mission to defy all your expectations! With Mark Buckingham (Fables), Jeff Lemire (Trillium), Scott Snyder (American Vampire, The Wake), and others.
Thursday July 18, 2013 5:45pm – 6:45pm
Room 6DE

I’m a sucker for Syder and Lemire. Snyder’s The Wake is one of my favourite new miniseries, and I can’t wait to see what happens next! I own nearly all of Lemire’s books, and Trillium looks absolutely badass. I couldn’t possibly miss an opportunity to hear the two talking about their next projects!

Only one month to go until 'Trillium' finally hits shelves! — Only one month to go until ‘Trillium’ finally hits shelves!

Friday

ElfQuest: 35 Years of Pointed Ears
Wendy and Richard Pini (ElfQuest, Masque of the Red Death), Paula Rhodes and Stephanie Thorpe (ElfQuest-A Fan Imagining), and Rob Beschizza (managing editor at Boing Boing) celebrate three and a half decades of “the first American manga” and longest-running fantasy graphic novel series. Even if you’ve followed ElfQuest from the beginning, prepare to be surprised by what’s planned as the story builds to its most ambitious chapter yet, Final Quest. Plus, meet ElfQuest’s newest partners in the worlds of publishing, licensing, and even academia in a visual presentation followed by Q&A.
Friday July 19, 2013 6:30pm – 7:45pm
Room 8

I don’t know if I’ve used Geekscape as a forum for discussing my intense ElfQuest fandom before… but I’m a pretty intense ElfQuest fan. I have one panel that I’d like to attend on Friday and this is it! After accosting Stephanie Thorpe at a party 2 months ago and cross-examining her about the latest news on ElfQuest, I’ve had to wait for this panel to get my true answers! If you’re a wolf rider like I am, you’ll be there Friday night!

Saturday

A&E Bates Motel
The Bates Motel is open for business in San Diego! Executive producers Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Kerry Ehrin (Friday Night Lights) will release new footage from the highly acclaimed A&E drama series Bates Motel exclusively for Comic Con attendees. The executive producers will be joined by the cast, including Academy Award nominee Vera Farmiga (Norma Bates), Freddie Highmore (Norman Bates), Max Thieriot (Dylan), Olivia Cooke (Emma), and Nestor Carbonell (Sheriff Alex Romero) to discuss the show’s unique backstory and creation. Fans will get an opportunity to hear more about season 2, debuting in 2014 on A&E, and will have a chance to ask the cast and creators questions during a Q&A. Moderated by Tim Stack from Entertainment Weekly.
Saturday July 20, 2013 10:00am – 11:00am
Room 6A

Want to know the one thing I didn’t love about the first season of Bates Motel? How damned short it was. Sure, there’s a season two in the works, but it won’t premiere until well (well) into 2014! To have a chance to see new footage, as well as hear directly from the creators and actors, is an opportunity that I do not want to miss!

Jay Glatfelter and Jack Glatfelter (Jay and Jack TV, The Married Man Show) and special guests get lost in TV talk. The co-hosts of the popular Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack discuss Lost three years after the airing of its finale, as well as other TV shows that have filled the void, such as Once Upon a Time, Person of Interest, Game of Thrones, Justified, and many more.
Saturday July 20, 2013 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Room 29A

Of course, my second most anticipated panel is LOST Podcast and Beyond. There are other bigger panels on my list, but in terms of actually being able to get into the likes of Hall H or Ballroom 20 without feeling guilty for missing other panels is a different story.

Behind the Scenes with Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead Game Series
Join Robert Kirkman (Creator of The Walking Dead comic series) and Telltale Game’s Dan Connors (Telltale Games, CEO) and Kevin Bruner (Telltale Games, President and CTO) as they discuss the inspiration behind developing the critically-acclaimed game series. Along with PlayStation’s Don Mesa (Director of Product Planning & Platform Software Innovation, SCEA), the team will walk fans through the origins of the game, reveal details on exciting new gameplay features exclusive to PlayStation Vita and include a little sneak peek on what’s to come for next chapter of The Walking Dead game series. A moderated by Greg Miller (Executive Editor, IGN).
Saturday July 20, 2013 4:00pm – 5:00pm
Room 23ABC

You know full well how much all of us at Geekscape love Telltale’s The Walking Dead. Having just finished the 400 Days DLC, we’re hungry for more. This panel is set to include what is bound to be a very exciting origin story about the series, as well as a sneak peek of season two? Yes please.

One of gaming's best characters, like, ever. — One of gaming’s best characters, like, ever.

Batman: The Animated Series Turns 21
Pop the champagne! The landmark television production Batman: The Animated Series turns 21 this year. Spend an hour with the creative core of this groundbreaking series — Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Alan Burnett, and Eric Radomski — as they recollect the dynamics of crafting a series that would have a resounding influence on Dark Knight properties — and the entire animated television landscape — for two decades and counting.
Saturday July 20, 2013 5:45pm – 6:45pm
Room 6DE

Aside from the few video game panels I want to attend, (Arkham Origins, Splinter Cell: Blacklist), I’m incredibly excited for Batman: The Animated Series Turns 21. While the series is almost as old as I am, I’m tempted to show up to the panel with the handmade cape my mom gave me when I was three years old.

Lion Forge Comics Fall Lineup: Knight Rider, AirWolf, Saved by the Bell, Punky Brewster, Miami Vice, and more!
Some of your all-time favorite TV shows from the ’80s are coming to comics with Lion Forge! Joining the event will be creators Joe Philips (Doctor Who), Rick Burchett (Lady Saber), Carl Reed (Lion Forge), Lorenzo Lizana (Lion Forge), Brandon Easton (Thundercats), Joelle Sellner (Jackie Chan Adventures), Geoff Thorne (Leverage), Jonathan London (Geekscape), Shannon Denton (DC/WildStorm), Flex Alexander (Snakes on a Plane), David Gorden (Bulletproof Knights), and some surprise guests.
Saturday July 20, 2013 6:30pm – 7:30pm
Room 26AB

This is it, the panel in which we talk about our brand new Lion Forge comics! I’ll be on stage talking about Miami Vice with my editor Shannon Denton and the creative teams behind the rest of the great Lion Forge Fall Lineup, including recent Geekscape guest Brandon Easton! If you want the down low on the digital comics downloads, look no further than this panel! We might even give away some free stuff!

Well, that’s it! I’m sure we’ll be slipping into other panels as the days go by, but everything you see above is definitely worth waiting in line for. We’re all getting unbelievably excited for the convention, and can’t wait to see you all there!

Don’t forget to visit Geekscape all throughout the week at booth #3919!

Geekscape Roundtable: What We’re Looking Forward To At SDCC – Exclusives, Art, Products, Etc!

by GeekscapeStaffJuly 11, 2013

With San Diego Comic-Con less than one week away, everyone here at Geekscape is getting prepared for our biggest convention ever. As always, there will be more to see, do, and buy in San Diego next week than is humanly possible, so each of us has been scouring the schedules, products, and exclusives lists and deciding exactly what is most important to us while we’re there.

While deciding what we need to buy, and what we’d be okay without, we thought that we’d include all of you in the fun as well. Here’s part two of our pre-SDCC round table, where we share what we’re most looking forward to at San Diego Comic-Con. Today, we’re talking exclusives, art, products, and more!

Shane O’Hare

Part 2 baby! The list of my most looked forward to exclusives and artists is pretty damn diverse. Of course it goes wuthout saying The Aquabats and the Mega64 Boyz are first on my list. The ‘bats have their concert going on the FIRST night, so it will be a HUGE start to the weekend. Then the Mega64 crew has their booth, you can expect me to drop some cash night one there. The author of the amazing looking The Fifth Beatle graphic novel, Vivek Tiwary will be there alongside the two incredible artists, Andrew Robinson and Kyle Baker. I cannot wait to interview these guys, AND get my hands on the book!

Key art for 'The Fifth Beatle' — Key art for ‘The Fifth Beatle’

The SWAG I want is the SWAG I get. The super cute My Little Pony exclusives are a must for me. A tradition I’ve had the last few times is hittin up the Mr. Toast booth and grabbing their con exclusive. This year it’s ZOMBIE BACON!. And I GUESS I’ll grab the Blizzard Zergling plush for a friend. Let’s not forget about Bandai’s exclusive Power Rangers Gold Legacy Morpher, that thing just looks INCREDIBLE. I got my eyes out for any cool and exciting hats or helmets to add to my collection!

Jake Lopez

I’m not much of a collector, so when I buy something at Comic-Con, it’s usually something I’ll keep. This year will be no different. My first order of business will be to secure this classic Batmobile, which is priced at $60:

In any case, Entertainment Earth is usually my first stop. I may snag a Walking Dead exclusive while I’m there. I also have my eye on the Yes Anime booth; they’ll have some Superman and Batman figurines that are sure to attract attention.

Have a look for yourself, and maybe you’ll see something you want!

As for vendors, I will be visiting the RoosterTeeth and Penny Arcade booth. Nothing but good experiences there and they always have something great for sale! And don’t forget to ask them to sign, they’re typically happy to!

Derek Kraneveldt

As I noted in Tuesday’s piece, this year’s SDCC is pretty much my first convention. I hear that it’s expensive, and that you essentially always spend more than you’re anticipating, which is a little bit terrifying (but if I get cool stuff out of it, it’ll be hard to be disappointed).

I’ve scoured through the entire list of exclusives on the official site, and I think that I’ll do pretty well. There was very little that stood out at me as I NEED THIS, which is likely only because I’m not looking forward to paying everything off when I get home.

In any case, here are the products that I’m most looking forward to picking up at Comic-Con:

The Plants vs. Zombies comic is set to be digital only for some time, but the first chunk will be available at Comic-Con. I’m a huge PvZ fan, and for a measly $2.00, this one will be hard to pass up. I’m hoping to score an interview with writer Paul Tobin as well, and figure out just how he turned a silly, tower defence game into an enthralling comic book.

The Squid Kids Ink 10-Doh! figure looks super cool, and that’s the only reason I want it. For $20, it would look pretty cool sitting on my desk.

My girlfriend’s birthday is coming up (in fact, I’ll be missing it while I’m in San Diego), so maybe this cool exclusive Lady Rainicorn + Puppies set will partially make up for it?

Artist Ash Thorpe has two awesome Pacific Rim prints up for grabs. Framing them and mounting them both on my wall will surely make me more popular, right?

Aside from that, I’ll probably have a hard time not buying things once I’m there in person. This is definitely my list of must-haves however! I’m also on the lookout for Gary Frank, as my father has sent me on a quest to obtain a sketch from the venerable artist.

That’s it for today! Look for part three in the series on Saturday!

Readers, are you headed to the convention? What are you most looking forward to?

A San Diegan’s Guide To SDCC

by TinyNightmareJuly 9, 2013

San Diego Comic-Con is a week away, and all of us OG Gamers and nerds will be using our well-honed gaming strategy and critical path-building skills to plan which panels they want to see, which celebrities they hope to meet and how they’re going to handle the 8-hour-long lines.

Being from San Diego I am lucky I have somewhere to stay ( and no, you cannot crash on my couch – sorry).

However, if you know anything about SDCC, whether you are a local or not, you know the weekend is going to be expensive. Well-aware of the popularity of the event, hotels have increased their prices to match the demand, and many rooms are renting for over $400 a night! CRAY-Cray!

Airline algorithms have also noticed the increased traffic to San Diego in late July and are charging around $200 extra dollars per seat. If you haven’t already organized your travel and lodging, be prepared to spend even more; nearly all the hotels in San Diego are booked, and services like AirBed and Breakfast are charging $800 per night for local couchsurfers. Although there are couchsurfing websites you may be able to look into – it’s better than the convention floor! Besides, San Diegans have a reputation for being nice, so I’m almost 75% sure you won’t get brutally murdered.

After all that money getting here, you’ll need to eat. SDCC is right in the middle of Gaslamp Historical District, and honestly SDCC is the ONLY time this place is cool. Its overrun by nerds during SDCC instead the usual drunken jock crowd that tend to congregate here.

Since it is SDCC, and the only time of the year this part of town is absolutely awesome, you will want to check out the awesome events going on outside the convention hall (a local put a list together on Facebook) and buy a few things in the 460,000-square-foot Exhibit Hall and . (We’ve already written about the toys we want, like the exclusive Adventure Time puppies or the Transformers Masterpiece Soundwave.)

Imagine you are a San Diegan, because rent will still be due on the first of the month. Here are a few tips to enjoy the weekend without breaking your budget:

Don’t put anything on a high-interest credit card

Seriously, I live in San Diego and it is expensive! That one time you splurge on a $20 burger, or an $8 slice of pizza, trust me it isn’t a splurge. That’s how much it costs here, especially Gaslamp. We’re nerds, we can do math. There’s still time to search for a new credit card with a 0 percent interest rate. Start with the best cards from NerdWallet and make sure your $800 AirBed and Breakfast room isn’t going on a card that charges 20% interest!

Don’t buy food anywhere you have to sit down

I live in San Diego, so maybe I’m just biased but, you’ll have plenty of time for sitting when you’re waiting overnight for NBC’s Community Panel (Sunday, Hall H, hosted by Chris Hardwick). Instead, save on cash by eating only from places where you have to stand up: convenience stores and even those pretzels they sell in the convention center lobby.

If you really want to plan ahead, fill your backpack with delicious foodstuffs like granola bars and fruit; that’ll save you from a mid-afternoon snack attack where the only thing you can afford to eat comes with its own packet of orange nacho cheese (which is never actually cheese!).

But if you really want good food, go outside of downtown. Check out “restaurant row” on 30th street in North Park. It’s a $15 cab ride and well worth it if you need a break from the hustle and bustle.

Don’t buy anything you can’t carry

It’s way too easy to run through the Exhibit Hall like a katamari on Red Bull, grabbing everything that looks shiny until you have action figures spilling out of your arms. Because I have somewhere to go every night, I avoid those big bags like the plague or trust me – I WILL FILL IT. I’m a girl, its what we do. So I only hold on to what I can carry in my arms. If it isn’t worth carrying in my arms all day or immediately taking it back home (in your case your hotel room), then I probably don’t need it. When you run out of toys you can hold in your arms or pack into your Thinkgeek Bag of Holding, you’re done.

Don’t get defeated by money-sucking minibosses

Most of us are still Level 1 Financial Ninjas. We’re slowly making our way through the Financial Timeline of Adulthood but can still easily get tripped up by something stronger than we are, like an original animation cell from Spirited Away or a night spent drinking overpriced cocktails just because you heard that Joss Whedon was going to show up at the bar. (Pro tip: he’s not, unless its our Nerf Herder show – we hope.)

Last tip: whenever you feel like buying something, go sit in a line for a panel instead. It’ll take up a few hours, you’ll make new friends and you won’t be able to spend a single cent until the panel’s over.

How are you planning to spend your Comic-Con? Let us know in the comments – and don’t forget to visit the Geekscape crew at Booth 3919 in the Exhibit Hall and at Comic Con Nerdathon!

Geekscape Roundtable: What We’re Looking Forward To At SDCC – General Experience, Memories, And Events!

by GeekscapeStaffJuly 9, 2013

With San Diego Comic-Con just one week away, everyone here at Geekscape is getting prepared for our biggest convention ever. As always, there will be more to see and do in San Diego next week than is humanly possible, so each of us has been scouring the schedules and deciding exactly what is most important to us while we’re there.

While deciding what we need to do and see, and what we’d be okay with missing, we thought that we’d include all of you in the fun as well. Here’s part one of our pre-SDCC round table, where we share what we’re most looking forward to at San Diego Comic-Con. Today, we’re talking the general experience, memories, and coolest events.

Jonathan London

Easily my most anticipated thing about San Diego Comic Con each year is the Geekscapists. Yes, seeing all of the cool announcements and discovering new things to love on the show floor or on the streets of the Gaslamp District are great, but nothing makes the San Diego experience more rewarding than seeing old Geekscapists and meeting new ones. It’s insane to think that this will be our sixth Comic Con since starting Geekscape, and every year we make new friends and see old ones that we don’t get to see any other time of the year. At least a few times at each Comic Con, I’ll have someone come up to the booth and introduce themselves as a long time fan of the show or the site and it’ll make everything we do hear seem so that much more worth it. And the silent Geekscapists are everywhere, even in our seventh year! Heck, I didn’t even know Derek Kraneveldt EXISTED until a few months ago and he’s been a supporter since the Geekdrome days!

I always look forward to spreading the Geekscape name and making new friends. This year, we’re sharing our booth with the folks at Lion Forge comics and getting people hyped about their upcoming comic books, of which I’m writing one. We’ll also be doing some promotion for the upcoming Geekscape co-produced ‘Doc of the Dead’ and revealing the ridiculous first footage from our new project ‘Paul London: Hero of the Prophecy’! I only wish that Paul could be there to see it (but he’ll be off on another wrestling adventure)! Plus, we’ve got our two sponsored back-to-back Nerdtacular concert series, which will know doubt cement Geekscape into the hearts and minds of a fresh new batch of Geekscapists!

Oh, and I get to meet Derek Kraneveldt in person too… I’m excited for that because I’m not sure he exists. Hell, I’m still not sure Shane is real. And was Matt Kelly EVER real…?

Shane O’Hare

This is my 9th SDCC. I’ve been going since 2004, starting out as a lowly nerd who strolled up to the convention center and bought a 4 day kid’s pass to the “reporter” I am now. Comic Con will ALWAYS be the highlight of my summer. Forever the memories are ingrained of the random rave that kicked up while watching the masquerade performance and getting drunk and ending up at the wrong hotel on the otherside of town. This being my first event as Press, the doors have opened up. The events and interviews are going to be crazy. Aquabats, My Little Pony, Power Rangers, The World’s End, Evil Dead and more. I cannot comprehend the how fun it is going to be to really work the Con. The Geekscape Co Sponsored event Nerd-A-Thon is also going to be amazing. I cannot wait!

Jake Lopez

Between my family members and I, the San Diego International Comic-Con is treated as a week long holiday. The joy and excitement this event brings simply cannot be measured.

I was 18 when I went to my first Comic-Con. As with every other first-timer, I unknowingly stepped into a huge culture shock. I’m sure I did not walk the entire floor my first day, or even my second day. That year also saw my first real interview with some of the minds behind the Halo universe, an interview you can still find today somewhere on the internets. I was young, excited, and amazed at what exactly I was experiencing there at Comic-Con. And that’s the thing, year in and year out, those feelings never change. You’ll always feel young when walking the floor (I mean that figuratively, not physically).

The next year at the Con, I witnessed the last panel for LOST, a panel that ended with Somewhere Over the Rainbow playing over the loudspeakers immediately after Damon Lindelof told the crowd of 5,000 strong that he’d “see us some other time.” This memory belongs to me, but is shared with thousands others that will all recite it with just as much enthusiasm and excitement as if it happened ten minutes ago.

Yes, I am one of the newcomers to the Con and no, I don’t remember what it was like before the big Hollywood studios came over to promote their lineups. It doesn’t make me sad. While I believe there are some unwarranted panels, it doesn’t exactly hinder the experience for me. If the Con didn’t begin to encapsulate more than comic books, we wouldn’t have the full world in which our people reside in. Geeks don’t love JUST comic books. We love video games, movies, television, anime, cosplaying, partying, AND comics. Comic-Con is expanding, and with each new year, and each new expansion, the event grows. The memories become more plentiful. You’ll meet more people, and above all, you have more fun.

My past experiences at the Con have made this convention the end all be all to the greatest gathering of media in the world, and it will be treated as such when I arrive in San Diego next week. Hope to see you there!

Derek Kraneveldt

Sadly, I’ve only been to one convention in my entire life: Emerald City Comic Con way back when I was a youngin. With that said, despite reading all of the SDCC tips and watching all of the SDCC videos across the entire internet, I still feel as though I have no idea what to expect. And I couldn’t be more excited.

I can barely imagine an event with that many attendees. Hell, more people go to Comic Con than live in the city I reside in. It’s perplexing to even think about!

I’m excited for everything. Checking out panels, scoring interviews, being fed by game companies while playing games that aren’t even out yet, covering things that would be impossible to cover from home. It all sounds like a blast, and it sounds like so much fun that it couldn’t possibly be real. What I’m most excited for, however, is clear: meeting the rest of the Geekscape team. That’s right, I’ve been working with these people for nearly a year, speaking with them constantly, some of them daily… and I’ve never met a single one of them! I’m beyond excited for that to change.

Aside from that, I’m excited for the future of Geekscape! With announcements coming from Doc of the Dead and Lion Forge Comics, It’s simply enthralling to be a part of this team.

That’s it for today! Look for part two in the series on Thursday!

Readers, are you headed to the convention? What are you most looking forward to?

SDCC 2013: A Veteran’s Tips For Navigating The Convention, Plus Some Choice Panels!

by AllieHanleyJuly 9, 2013

San Diego Comic Con has been around for many years, but for me the geek exodus began in 2007. That first year was a blur; I can hardly recall what I saw or what I did. However, with each year that I’ve added to my belt, the experience of navigating the vast crowds, the convention floor and the Hall H line have become a way of life. The plan, -or lack of, because trying to plan every detail of the third largest convention in the world is tough. The reality is, for newbies, just go with the flow and try to pick a few things. For me that means a heavy investment of time in Hall H.

Last year I wrote a piece about the Comic Con experience, Press vs. Fan. I came up with the conclusion that I would rather forego the press tables (mostly happening at The Hilton next door) and focus on the fan experience, so with that in mind here’s a few panels I’m looking forward to, as well as some general tips.

Preview Night (Wednesday). The truth is… preview night is a nightmare. People go nuts. Either you have a plan and a mission (trying to buy an exclusive toy and score an exclusive giveaway) or you just let the crowd push you and pretend you are a leaf floating down a raging river. My crew have a mission. We divide and conquer with runs to Mattel, Dark Horse, and more. <If I tell you any more, I’d have to kill you> For an easier go of it – check out the TV pilots screening up in Ball Room 20.

Thursday: In recent years, Thursday has been the day that Con officials slated as the day to get the “Twilight” movie stuff over. This created some really happy campers, and some pissed-off ones. The unhappy ones complained that the “Twi-hards” had bought all the convention tickets and were making the convention even more crowded. The reality, the con is just massively popular. Anyway, this year there is no Twilight and so what did the officials plan this year in its place….what mega blockbuster will we be lining up the night before to sneak peek? ….NOTHING. I had been banking on having some sort of -get it over- blockbuster – lets-kick-things-off Hall H panel but this year the opening panels include:

Ron Diamond (program curator, president of Acme Filmworks and AWN.com) presents the best and newest in international animation. Included is Disney’s Oscar winning Paperman along with 10 animated shorts culled from the most notable festivals from around the world. Shows annually at Pixar, Dreamworks, Disney, ILM, Blue Sky, Sony, EA, UCLA, SVA, USC, SCAD, NYU, RISD, Harvard and CalArts.

Thursday July 18, 2013 11:50am – 12:50pm

Early AM Best Bet – Check out hottie Josh Hollaway from Lost – and the panel the features his new TV show “Intelligence” – As a matter of fact – Ball Room 20 has the coolest big bang – for your back all day Thursday.

Afternoon: However, it may be worth the fight – OR NOT – of heading back over the Hall H after lunch – getting in line – and trying to get in for Ender’s Game and Divergent. Harrison Ford will be on deck as well as that awesome young actor from True Grit, Hailee Steinfeld, as well as Abagail Breslin. Ender’s Game pictured below.

In recent years I’ve seen a lot of cool celebs on Friday. At times, my entire crew has defected to the convention floor and smaller -but noteworthy- panels while I’ve stuck it out in Hall H. It’s a tough call because you want to see all the stuff, but then there’s that actor or director that comes out and makes it all worth it. In recent years I’ve seen Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson on the same panel… followed by Francis Ford Coppola (even had a chance to tell him that I liked his wine! …and I was standing 10 feet from Val Kilmer for about 20 minutes and didn’t even recognize him!)

Friday: I’ll definitely be in the front of Hall H (foregoing my round table experience at the Hilton) to see Simon Pegg and Nick Frost discuss The World’s End. No, it’s not another Pirates movie – it’s a comedy starting at 10 AM.

12:15 – Kick-Ass 2 and Riddick – First off. Loved Kick-Ass. Loved the panel for it a few years ago at SDCC and I can’t wait for it this year, but I will miss Nic Cage but even better is VIN DIESEL and the chic from Battlestar Galactica and the small but cancelled show Bionic Woman – Starbuck herself – Katie Sackoff. Ok, back to Vin Diesel. The epitomy of cool will be talking Riddick. As a fan of both movies, and the cartoon, I’m definitely down. The director David Twohy will be in attendance as well.

Other panels that day include The Walking Dead, which should be ok. I attended last year in the same slot. Next up is Game of Thrones, – saw it last year – same slot. Then Sony Pictures will show off their new stuff, including The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones – which to me looks pretty good (writers note – I am a young adult writer… so a film like this appeals to me but I know most of my geek friends cringe at the thought!).

However… hang in there because Sony will be showing off ROBOCOP! Loved it as a kid. Loved Peter Weller… loved the whole thing, can’t wait for the reboot. Samuel L. Jackson will be in effect… WILL HE or WON’T He – drop the “F-Bomb”???? I Hope he does!!!

They will also be showing The Amazing Spider-Man 2… – ugh. I know they were losing the rights to remake it – but DAMN, couldn’t we just have had a few more years without it? Cast appearance has not been announced but last year Andrew Garfield showed up in the audience wearing a low-budget spidey costume… and then pretended to be a fan and ask a dumb question. It went over well, and I loved it – but later in the elevator at The Hilton – his press rep (or whomever represents him) was going off about how “F’-ing this” and “F-ing” that went, and causing a commotion in the elevator with everyone listening to his tirade on the phone all the while my ten year old niece stood there silently with huge eyes… shocked at the profanity rolling out of this guys mouth. Oh wait, that was 2 years ago! These things just roll together somehow after a few years.

Now for the biggee of the day!!! METALICA !!! yes, you read it right. The headbangers from back in the day are hosting a panel for their new 3D / IMAX movie Through the Never. All four band members will be in effect.

Saturday: Only a few die-hards like myself will be making it in to the famed Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures line-up.

I can’t wait to see what a year has added to Godzilla. Last year’s tease – literally BLEW MY SOCKS off! Actually, the entire Saturday program last year blew my pants off! The insanity of Will Farrell and Zack G showing up unannounced, The Hobbit, with it’s HUGE triple wide screens, as well as Geekscape friend Travis Beacham’s Pacific Rim just utterly made the convention for me last year.

Besides Godzilla, we are looking at Seventh Son (fantasy adventure – one of my favorite genres!) with Jeff Bridges (will he be in person – not sure) and Julianne Moore…. as well as cutie from Game Of Thrones – Kit Harrintgon (Jon Snow) and the very sexy Djimon Hounsou.

Followed by 300: Rise of an Empire which stars of course – “Women who KICK ASS” Lena Heady (one of my favorite lady actors right now).

Gravity: Starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney (highly doubtful they will be showing up and it’s not noted they are scheduled) however… I remember a few years back when Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie showed up for The Tourist. (or was it… her that showed up for Salt?) Anyway, you never know. If they say there are coming – then the already popular – INSANE day in HALL H would just be R I D I C U LO U S with fans!

Lego Movie – I have nothing interesting to say about this title except Will Farrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman. If any one of them shows up (which I’m sure at least one will) then we are money! None are officially on the schedule… but a little birdie tells me we will be seeing at least one of them. BTW: I once rode a ski lift in Canada with Liam Neeson… nice guy and big!

I know you think this is just awesome but the day is just getting started…

Lionsgate will be showing off I, Frankenstein. with Aaron Eckhart (Two-Face himself!). Can’t wait. The original “Frankenstein” story has so much heart and can still be molded into a story that has meaning today. Can’t wait to see what they’ve come up with.

And then also The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (the best book in the series – hands down). Will the cast be in attendance? Not sure. It’s not listed… c’mon Lionsgate – at least give us an exclusive souvenir or t-shirt!

Last year's 'Women Who Kick Ass' panel. — Last year’s ‘Women Who Kick Ass’ panel.

A L L I E ‘S T O P PICK – W O M E N W H O K I C K A S S

Fierce, fearless and flat-out fantastic, these female actors have left fans breathless. Michelle Rodriguez (Fast and Furious franchise), Orphan Black‘s Tatiana Maslany, Danai Gurira (The Walking Dead), and others open up about the power and privilege of playing women who redefine the rules and refuse to yield.

Incidentally – my wish list actress for this panel would be Sigourney Weaver… however I did see her a few years a go for the “Paul” panel and I loved her! She is ultimate “Kick Ass” actress for me. It would be hard to beat Aliens 2 and Sigourney’s role in it (as well as all the Aliens movies).

20th Century Fox – hasn’t announced their line-up officially on the schedule. but they have blocked 4:14 – 5:45.

6:00 – 7:00 Thor: Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier – “Many surprise guests” listed as who will be in effect.

7:15 After that panel Kevin Smith takes over fielding questions about Clerks 3 and other stuff. I will probably bag out for this.

Sunday: is kids day at the con. Thank God, they outlawed strollers on the convention floor this year. I have been run over, run down, and banged up by those things the past few years and people with their small kids are just out of control on the convention floor. It’s crowded but do you have to use your kid as a ram!? The floor will be packed with lots of kid friendly giveways but other booths will be getting the frantic pass it out – or haul it out – souvenir giveaways. All three days previously they’ve been on reserve…. having to make all the frebbies last…. Sunday is a free for all. Especially around 1 PM. It’s not guaranteed that you will score some uber cool stuff, but instead of giving you 1 item – they will suddenly be giving you several.

Best Bet – Summit and Lionsgate give out the coolest stuff. They change it up every hour, so keep going. Also, it’s a great day to get autographs (free ones) on the floor. Not in the mood for an autograph – just walk by. Tons of TV celebs will be posted every hour, at different booth signing and meeting fans. Just be prepared for families that create walls that block you from walking around. Imagine that irritating RV driving down the 101, and no lanes to pass – FOR MILES! That’s the convention floor on Sunday. The good and the bad of it. Sunday has always been a day that I have nabbed a lot of swag. Go for it.

Be sure to let me know about your experience on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/allie.hanley.5 or follow me on twitter at https://twitter.com/KaBoomSeattle! You can also meet me in person camping out in the Hall H line – Friday night!

San Diego Keeps Comic Con Through 2016

by Molly MahanOctober 29, 2012

Previously, Comic-Con International had extended its contract to 2015, but today, in a joint announcement, CCI and Mayor Jerry Sanders revealed that Comic Con was to stay in San Diego through 2016. Additionally, the city committed to a $500 million expansion of the convention center, to appease the event organizers. With the annual event attracting over 130,000 attendees, the expansion is greatly over due—as any seasoned Con goer can tell you.

CBS8 reports:

So what do you think? As a native Californian, I am of course pleased I don’t have to travel very far for the experience. Is there another city (or state) you’d like to see Comic-Con International travel to, or is it so ingrained in your mind that it can’t possibly be the same any place else?

Mega64 Announces New Compilation DVD!

by Shane O'HareOctober 22, 2012

You read the title, now believe. The crazy fun guys from San Diego (and friends of Geekscape) that brought us the famous Tetris Skit, Resident Evil 4 Skit, Assassin’s Creed and Fallout 3 Skit have just announced a new compilation DVD. Watch the trailer for ‘Time Travelers” below.

The third in the series (Mega64 Time, Mega64 Night Time), Time Travelers will be an up to date compilation of skits, commercials and “oddities”. Not much has been released yet, but the group have said a full list of content will be on their site shortly. What HAS been announced (tonight on their live stream) made me giggle like a school girl!

Not only do we get and updated collected works of skits and commercials, but we get eyes on new and unreleased videos (did you see that ACII costume? Cause I did!). Also included with the DVD will be a commentary from the Boyz and a brand new story line!

So check out their official website for more info and be sure to get to their store come Black Friday to pick up the DVD!

Geekscape Roundtable: Epic San Diego Tales!

by GeekscapeStaffJuly 18, 2012

Every year, the internet gorges itself like on post Comic Con panel recaps and celebrity events like a zombie in a nursery school. So for a change of pace, here’s a few personalized tales and thoughts from the Con from your Geekscape staff.

Molly Mahan: Women be Shoppin’

In addition to some solid panels and run-ins with nerd celebs, I did the wise thing and actually bought some stuff this year, and not just squee over the free swag I would later toss out. I’m typically really conservative with my money, but this year I snagged an awesome Cliff Chiang signed print of some DC heroines dressed as 80s rockers
. How could I not? Canary and 80s karaoke are two of my favorite things. It is pure gold in my book. I commissioned an amazing sketch of a female Predator by Anthony Diecidue, managed to get Gail Simone to sign a copy of her first issue of Birds of Prey, #56 with Black canary on the cover, while dressed as Black Canary, AND I won a free Archie shirt by cosplaying as Betty Cooper on Sunday of Con- easiest cosplay ever AND I got to wear sneakers instead of boots. I also took some fun novelty pictures (such as sitting in the Captain’s chair at the Roddenberry booth, red carpets, etc). They’re simple, free, and a great souvenir. While the pins and things are fun at Con, having to figure out what to do with them post-SDCC is difficult. I definitely suggest buying some cool stuff instead.

Big improvement over Scott Summers

As always, I did learn a few things. As a neophyte cosplayer, I swear that next year I am bringing a pair of sandals and a possibly a change of loose, light clothing to change into mid-day. Walking around the convention floor and through the Gaslamp district takes its toll on you in sneakers, let alone in 5-inch heels. By 5PM on Friday, my feet were in so much pain I wanted to cry (I think I even did for a bit). I also need to remember to get out of the Convention Center proper and spend more time running around outside. There’s so much other stuff going on in the Gaslamp district it’s insane.

Matt Blackwood: Emotions!

You never know who will read your writing or how it will affect them.

I went Thursday to a panel celebrating the legacy of Ray Bradbury. Shadow Show, a new anthology dedicated to the late legend, had just been released, and writer/editors Sam Weller and Mort Castle and writers Joe Hill and Margaret Atwood discussed their roles in making it. They talked about the magical quality of Bradbury’s writing, about how much he had inspired them and others they knew. They also spoke of their personal experiences with their friend Ray. Their remembrances were very moving.

The next day, I ran into the group in the hall and told them my story of bawling my eyes out in public while writing Geekscape’s Bradbury eulogy in a coffee shop. To my surprise, Sam Weller had read the piece on the day and loved it! With the universality and anonymity of the Internet, you never know who will read the things you put out there. But finding out my words had touched someone so close to Mr. Bradbury meant more to me than meeting any celebrity or hearing any nerd news tidbits.

Scott Alminiana: Geekscape Talon

The Court of Owls mask that DC was giving away was incredibly cool looking and proved to be something that I had to work my ass off to get a hold of. It took me two days to get my grubby little mitts on one. When I got onto the floor on Thursday I started seeing people with these awesome masks and immediately knew I had to have one but I had no idea just how difficult it would be to get one. Asking around, I found out that they were being handed out at the DC booth. I quickly (which really isn’t quick at all when one is at SDCC) made my way to the DC booth and started looking around for the masks. The few people handing out issues of ‘New 52’ books told me the same thing: “they just randomly hand them out so you’ve got to keep an eye out.” It was still early in the day so I decided to come back later.

Later turned out to be Friday and as I was prowling the DC booth like Batman prowling the streets of Gotham, I finally saw a lady with a stack of Owl masks. She was only about ten yards from me when I made a beeline for her but again, floor traffic. As I got closer the stack got smaller and smaller. By the time I was two feet from her there was a pack of wild nerds reaching for the masks like zombies reaching for fresh meat. The masks were gone and the pack dispersed.

Well earned creepiness

“God dammit,” I muttered to myself as I sulked my way back to my friends. As it turns out both of my friends had been busy flirting up a girl who was selling Entertainment Weekly subscriptions at the booth. They all looked at me and saw the sadness in my face- I was like a kid who hadn’t gotten picked for dodgeball. Knowing how bad I wanted the mask they asked the gorgeous EW girl if she could keep an eye out and snag us some. She gave me a wink and said “I’ll do my best, come back in a little while and hopefully I’ll have some for you.” After grabbing lunch in the Gaslamp district we came back to the DC booth and wouldn’t you know it, she had come through for us (and me specifically). I know have an awesome mask of my own thanks to @luxiboo! Lux, where ever you are you are my hero! Thank you!

Shawn Madden: Hall H Veteran

As covered on Saturday, my SDCC highlight was Saturday’s Hall H line-up. This was hands down the best Hall H presentation I have ever seen and can honestly say that I can’t stop thinking about Iron Man 3, Guardians Of The Galaxy, and Ant-Man. I am not a fan of Superman, and the fact that Man Of Steel has me excited is an impressive feat. It’s a Hall H miracle!

Shane O’Hare: Man in the Booth

This was the first year I primarily worked the Geekscape booth. I thought it was going to be a tad boring but then I saw who our neighbors were: Maddox, Legendary, Konami and ABC Family. I thought “Holy shit this is going to be busy”. OH and it was. I got to meet some of the greatest and nicest people working the booth. Getting people to sign up on our list in creative ways was so much fun. We had a mystery price box, full of prizes and giveaways. Some were REALLY good, like a Blu ray and a competitive PS3 controller and some… not so much. Like a couple Cesar Milan books. I had people compete in a three geek challenges. 1: Defend your favorite movie. 2: Prove Geek Cred and 3: Dance Off. We only had a few dance off’s but they were hilarious to watch. Seeing people trying to defend their favorite movies while me and Zack Haddad (AKA Mr. Terrorist) ripped them apart brought back memories of my Random Rants.

The morning where I opened the booth I had two hours of boredom to kill, so I got creative: I started “editing” some of the prizes. Soon we were handing out posters celebrating Geekscape’s 50th anniversary and the Geekscape Press best seller “Solving the Geekscape Enigma: How to Come”. I had some great times, meeting old friends and making new ones. That 8X10 box filled with friends, prizes, conversations and memories was my home for five days and I miss it. To the great guys at Maddox, ABC The Neighbors Booth, Legendary, The Mega64 Boyz and everyone else. I’ll miss you and I can’t wait to see you again next year.

Also at one point I was wearing my My Little Pony Rarity Cosplay and sat on my own tail. That was the most odd and uncomfortable sensation I have ever had in my entire life.

Stephen Prescott: Who?

Anytime I was near the Warner Brothers booth, it was quite apparent to me that Warner Brothers simply does not care about their fans. The first time I walked up to their booth I was excited to see the “Man of Steel” Superman costume on display. Unfortunately it was turned so that it could only be viewed straight on from inside the booth. I tried to view it from behind a rope but was quickly moved along. Once inside the booth I stopped for a better view and less than 30 seconds later I was once again moved along by WB staff. I guess they simply didn’t want me to see it. Each time during the weekend I was near that booth I was told either to keep moving or that the pathway was either one way or simply shut down. I understand they need to crowd control, but I didn’t run into militant security like this at any other booth. It felt as if the fans were simply cattle being herded through. And where were the Faora and Jor-El costumes that were on display at other conventions? WB needs to stop thinking about press and publicity and start thinking about the people.

The irony was that Tumblr was down when they walked in…

The BBC America Doctor Who Tumblr Meetup was my favorite moment. I’m not a major Tumblr user, but I was taking every opportunity possible to promote my podcast so of course attending a Doctor Who Tumblr meetup sounded like a good idea. Even though I felt like the oldest person there, all of the fans were so incredibly nice and sweet. I posed for and took so many pictures including one with a stuffed sheep wearing a fourth Doctor scarf. If all that wasn’t enough, Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill showed up unannounced at one point to say hello and it was like Beatlemania all over again. The screams from the back of the audience were insane but wonderful. So much fun was had.

Allison McKnight: Nightmare Before Hall H

As the sad lonely resident Goth kid abandoned by my brethren, one of the best things at Comic-Con for me was the Frankenweenie Exhibit down in the Gaslamp. In a stroke of absolute genius, the exhibit was partially sponsored by the HGTV, which means that not only did we get a life-sized Tim Burtonesque cemetery to walk through (complete with lightening storm!) but we were treated to a garden full of deadly plants labeled with the ways in which they could kill you. I absolutely melted.

Here lies an emotionally satisfied Goth girl…

While there isn’t much bad I can say about my Comic-Con experience (at least without getting slapped with some lawsuits), I really have to question how Hall H events are treated. Some people choose to spend their entire con experience waiting in line for I can’t imagine how many hours for a brief block of time in which they are treated to a teaser and a viewing of some of their favorite celebrities a football field’s length away. To those people, I have to say: get the fuck over it, go to the Gaslamp.

Comic Con 2012: Sunday Panel Highlights

by Scott AlminianaJuly 2, 2012

Comic-Con has now announced their entire schedule of panels. Over the past few days, we here at Geekscape have given you our highlights for each day (Preview night & Thursday, Friday, Saturday) of Comic-Con 2012. Here’s some of the highlights for the final day of Comic-Con, it’s always such a bittersweet day *sheds a tear*

10:00-11:00 DC Comics: Young Justice

They may be young-but they’re still heroes! Find out what’s happening for The Legion of Super-Heroes, Teen Titans, Blue Beetle, and more as more DC Comics-The New 52 unfolds in this panel featuring Tony Bedard (Blue Beetle), Paul Levitz (Legion of Super-Heroes), and Scott Lobdell (Teen Titans, Red Hood and the Outlaws). – Room 6DE

10:00-11:00 Fringe Screening and Q&A

Fringe returns to Comic-Con for its farewell panel to celebrate its fifth and final season. Series stars Anna Torv (The Pacific), Josh Jackson (Dawson’s Creek), Lance Reddick (Lost), Blair Brown (Altered States), Jasika Nicole (Take the Lead), and John Noble (The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King), along with executive producer J. H. Wyman (Keen Eddie), offer a Q&A with fans and an exclusive video presentation. Don’t miss the discussion about the climactic conclusion of this critically acclaimed thriller. From Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, Fringe airs Fridays at 9/8c on FOX.Fringe: The Complete Fourth Season will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 4. – Hall H

11:00-12:00 Digital Comics Price Fight

Every one is talking about what the “right” price is for digital comics. Should it be full price for same day as print, or should every comic be 99 cents a la iTunes? The conversation has been heated online and today it jumps into the physical realm! Join legendary comic writer Mark Waid, webcomics innovator and PvP creator Scott Kurtz, IDW Publishing’s ePublishing director Jeff Webber, and Top Shelf Productions’ director of digital Chris Ross for a lively discussion on the price of digital comics. Moderating this fight is comiXology’s Chip Mosher. – Room 7AB

11:15-12:15 Marvel: Women of Marvel

From Ms. Marvel to the X-Men, from tumblr to Twitter, women in comics has been one of the most talked-about topics in comics for the last year. Join the conversation as women from every discipline in the creative process at Marvel discuss what it’s like working as a woman in comics today and what it means for the future of the industry. These ladies are smashing through the four-color ceiling! Panelists include editors Jeanine Schaefer and Sana Amanat. – Room 5AB

11:15-12:15 Supernatural Screening and Q&A

Series stars Jared Padalecki(Friday the 13th [2009]) and Jensen Ackles (My Bloody Valentine 3D), recurring guest stars Misha Collins (Ringer), Jim Beaver (Justified), and Mark A. Sheppard (Battlestar Galactica), executive producer Jeremy Carver (U.S. version of Being Human), and consulting producer Ben Edlund (The Tick) return to Hall H to answer questions from the audience about what’s in store for the eighth season of this thrill-ride series. Fans will also see an exclusive video presentation featuring series highlights, as well as a portion of the special features from the upcoming Supernatural: The Complete Seventh Season DVD and Blu-ray release, in stores September 18. The eighth season ofSupernatural will premiere in October on its new night, Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW. The series is produced by Wonderland Sound and Vision in association with Warner Bros. Television. -Hall H

12:00-1:00 Reinventing the Graphic Novel for the iPad

With its ability to blend together games, comics, literature, film, and mobile services into new hybrid experiences, the iPad is creating vast opportunities for storytellers and audiences alike. Daniel Burwen, creative director for Cognito Comics and gaming industry veteran (EA, Activision), explores how the traditional forms of games and comics overlap in the tablet space, forming new ways of storytelling. Get an inside look at the development of the award-winning CIA: Operation Ajax and how it is redefining the digital graphic novel by using a real-time 3D game engine to create an unparalleled interactive experience while honoring the legacy of the printed page. – Room 24ABC

12:30-1:30 Marvel: Amazing Spider-Man

There’s no turning back for Spider-Man! The Lizard is back, and only Spider-Man has a chance of curing him! Find out all the details on what’s going on with your favorite wall-crawler on the eve of his 50th Anniversary in August. That’s right, Marvel’s editor-in-chief Axel Alonso and others will be taking any and all questions from you, the fans! With earth-shattering announcements that will change the life of Peter Parker for another 50 years, this is one panel that no Spidey fan can miss! – Room 6DE

12:30-1:30 BBC America’s Doctor Who

The Doctor and the Ponds land in San Diego. BBC America’s Doctor Who stars Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvilljoin award-winning lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat (Sherlock) and award-winning executive producer Caroline Skinner (The Fades) for a Comic-Con panel and Q&A. As fans eagerly await the new season’s premiere, BBC America is making sure Steven Moffat brings new footage to reveal on the big screens in Hall H. Ahead of the new season, BBC America will premiere new Doctor Who specials-The Science of Doctor Who, The Women of Doctor Who, The Timey-Wimey Stuff of Doctor Who, and The Destinations of Doctor Who-as part of the Supernatural Saturday programming block starting Saturday, August 4 at 9pm/8c. For those new to Who, the previous two seasons from Steven Moffat are available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download. – Hall H

1:00-2:00 Image Comics’s 20th Anniversary

Twenty years ago, a group of young artists left their work-for-hire jobs to create Image Comics, a publisher dedicated to creators’ individual visions and a champion of creative ownership. Image Comics partners and some of the original founders now come together to talk about what Image Comics has meant for the present and future of comics. Panelists: Marc Silvestri, Rob Liefeld, Jim Valentino, Whilce Portacio, Erik Larsen, and Robert Kirkman. Moderated by Eric Stephenson. – Room 6A

1:00-2:00 DC Nation Screening and Q&A

The Nation is coming to San Diego! DC Nation — a one-hour action and comedy programming block on Cartoon Network starring some of the most beloved and legendary heroes of the DC Universe — will be making its very first appearance at Comic-Con. In addition to exclusive video content for fan-favorite series Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Young Justice, the panel will also be presenting sneak peeks of two highly anticipated series that will be coming soon toDC Nation: Beware The Batman and Teen Titans Go! Bringing you all this superhero goodness is a panel featuring top animation producers Glen Murakami (Teen Titans),Mitch Watson (Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated), Michael Jelenic (ThunderCats),Aaron Horvath (MAD), and Jeff Prezenkowski, director of series and shorts at Warner Bros. Animation. From superheroes to sidekicks, the DC Nation panel will have something for everyone. DC Nation airs Saturday mornings from 10:00 to 11:00 ET/PT on Cartoon Network. – Room 6BCF

1:00-2:00 Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two

Warren Spector (Disney Epic Mickey), Marv Wolfman (Crisis on Infinite Earths), and Peter David (The Incredible Hulk) discuss the highly anticipated Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power Of Two video game set for release November 18. The panel will explore how the team mapped out the story for this innovative new title, as well as unveil the first details surrounding the Disney Epic Mickey 2 graphic novel, releasing exclusively in Europe in conjunction with the game’s arrival in stores. The panel will also present a special never-before-seen sequence from the upcoming release. Additionally, Becky Cline (director, archives for The Walt Disney Company) will be on hand to discuss the reemergence and historical significance of Walt Disney’s very first cartoon star, Oswald The Lucky Rabbit, who is prominently featured in the game. Join Warren, Marv, Peter, and Becky for this session. – Room 25ABC

1:45-2:45 The Cleveland Show

See the world premiere screening of “Menace II Secret Society,” the season 4 premiere episode of The Cleveland Show, featuring unbelievable guest voices followed by a Q&A with panelists Seth MacFarlane, Mike Henry, Kevin Michael Richardson (Thundercats, Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Transformers Prime), Reagan Gomez, and Rich Appel. – Hall H

2:00-3:00 Max Brooks: Zombie Survival 101

Max Brooks, screenwriter and author of bestselling books The Zombie Survival Guide, World War Z, and The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks, is the world’s leading authority on the defense against a ghoulish uprising! Renowned for his campus and convention lectures nationwide, Brooks comes to San Diego Comic-Con to share his insight into the rotting minds of the undead, reveal how the Zombie Survival Guide came into existence, and field questions from zombie-phobic fans! You dare not miss this lecture — your very life may depend on it! – Room 7AB

2:15-3:15 It’s Christmas in July! Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants

Dust off your knitted sweater, fill your mug with nog and come along for some good ol’ fashioned Christmas cheer as panelists take you through a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming SpongeBob stop-motion special. Creative director Vince Waller and screen novelties directors Seamus Walsh and Mark Caballero present a sneak peek at the Christmas special. The panel will also include a sing-along and Q&A with the voice cast, including Tom Kenny (voice of SpongeBob), Bill Fagerbakke (voice of Patrick), and Mr. Lawrence (writer and voice of Plankton). Moderated by Claudia Spinelli, executive in charge for Nickelodeon. – Room 6A

2:15-3:15 Buffy Turns 20: Celebrating 20 Years of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Once upon a time, Buffy Summers became the Slayer, the Chosen One who proved a young heroine could battle the forces of darkness instead of playing damsel in distress. Stars from the hit TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Nicholas Brendon, Clare Kramer) join forces with Dark Horse editor Scott Allie, writer/producerJane Espenson, illustrator Georges Jentry, and the original Buffy herself (Kristy Swanson, star of the 1992 motion picture), not to mention a surprise guest or two, to celebrate 20 years of slayage. – Room 6BCF

2:30-3:30 Comic-Con How-To: Drawing with Jim Lee

Scott Brick interviews Jim Lee, artist and co-publisher of DC Comics, as Jim draws for an hour. See how he does it on the big screen! – Room 2

2:30-5:00 Comic-Con Masquerade Replay

Saturday night’s impressive costuming event is reviewed and a big-screen video of the entire show is presented for those who missed it or who simply want a second look. Hosted by Masquerade director Martin Jaquish and Masquerade assistant John Ruff. (Sorry, we cannot sell copies of the show.) – Room 8

2:45-3:45 Sons of Anarchy

Get an inside look into the world of FX’s highest-rated series ever, with creator Kurt Sutter (The Shield) and stars Charlie Hunnam, Katey Sagal, Ron Perlman, Maggie Siff, Kim Coates, Mark Boone Junior, Tommy Flanagan,Theo Rossi, Ryan Hurst, and Dayton Callie. – Hall H

3:00-4:00 Axe Cop

Ethan Nicolle (Bearmageddon, Chumble Spuzz) discusses the growing world of Axe Cop, including the new President of the World miniseries from Dark Horse comics and his involvement the TV show in production at FOX. With a possible appearance in person or digitally from his brother/co-creator Malachai Nicolle plus possible surprise guests. – Room 6DE

3:30-4:30 Buffy the Musical “Once More with Feeling”

Let’s end this show with a bang! The powers that be behind Fandom Charities Inc. and Whedonopolis.com present a screening of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode “Once More With Feeling”! Many say this is the finest, funniest, most ingenious episode ever to come out of the Buffyverse. But remember, the best part of the show is up to you! This episode was made for talkin’-back, that is — and singing and shouting and dancing in the aisles, with or without your dry cleaning! Audience participation: It isn’t just forRocky Horror and mob riots anymore. – Room 6BCF

Source: Comic Con

San Diego Comic-Con Teaser Poster For ‘Fringe’ Season 5

by Shawn MaddenJuly 1, 2012

The world is about to be invaded and conquered by time traveling Observers from the future. Our heroes must find some way here in the present to stop the take-over from happening… or they must find some way to overthrow their oppressors in the future.

There will be a ‘Fringe’ panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Sunday July 15th. “The Comic-Con panel is something I always look forward to, but this year it’s bittersweet,” says exec producer J.H. Wyman. “I think we have lots of good stuff in store for them.” Attendees will receive the teaser poster shown above.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

Comic Con 2012: Friday Panel Highlights

by Shawn MaddenJune 30, 2012

Comic-Con has announced their schedule for Friday’s panels at Comic-Con 2012 and I have compiled a list of highlights to make your schedule planning a bit easier.

10:45-11:45 ParaNorman: Behind the Scenes

Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Travis Knight, Chris Butler, and Sam Fell discuss making their new stop-motion-animated comedy thriller, ParaNorman, made in 3D. Never-before-seen footage will be shown from the Laika movie that Focus Features is opening nationwide on August 17 – Hall H

11:15-12:15 DC Comics: Superman

Since the launch of the New 52, Superman has been flying higher than ever. Group editor Matt Idelson and super talents Shane Davis (Superman: Earth One), Scott Lodbell (Superman), and Bryan Q. Miller (Smallville Season 11) take fans new and old up, up and away with a sneak peek at what’s in store for Superman – Room 6DE

11:15-12:15 Join the Revolution! Nickelodeon’s Legend of Korra

The cast and crew of Legend of Korra offer an in-depth discussion of Nickelodeon’s hottest new series. Executive producer and creator team Bryan Konietzko and Mike DiMartino (Avatar: The Last Airbender) are joined by co-executive producer Joaquim Dos Santos (Avatar: The Last Airbender) as they discuss the creative process that brought the first book in the Korra series to life. You’ll also get to hear from your favorite characters as talented voice actors Janet Varney (Korra), David Faustino (Mako), P. J. Byrne (Bolin) and Seychelle Gabriel (Asami) will be featured on the panel and renowned voice director Andrea Romano (Avatar: The Last Airbender) will direct the actors in a live performance from the series. And if you’re extra nice, Mike and Bryan may even drop a hint or two about Book 2. So don’t miss out! Moderated by Rich Magallanes, senior VP of current series for Nickelodeon – Ballroom 20

12:05-1:05 The Big Bang Theory Screening and Q&A

Boldly go Big Bang Theory! For the first time ever in Hall H, the mega-popular TV series returns to Comic-Con for a special screening and a lively discussion. Will Howard (“Froot Loops”) Wolowitz return from space? Where do things stand with Penny and Leonard? And will unscheduled handholding affect “The Relationship Agreement”? From Chuck Lorre Productions, Inc. in association with Warner Bros. Television, The Big Bang Theory airs Thursdays at 8/7c on CBS. The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Fifth Season will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 11 – Hall H

12:30-1:30 Marvel: Ultimate Comics

The Ultimate Universe will be shaken to its core in the mega-event Divided We Fall. But what happens after the fall? Find out with writer Sam Humphries (Ultimate Comics Ultimates), Ultimate Comics editor Sana Amanat, editor-in-chief Axel Alonso, and others as they detail the shocking revelations surrounding Divided We Fall – Room 6DE

12:30-1:30 Judge Dredd 35th Anniversary

It’s an exciting year for Judge Dredd-not only does he turn 35 but he has a big-budget movie coming, a brand-new IDW series launching, and more. IDW’s Chris Ryall, Dredd movie concept artist Jock, 2000 AD’s Matt Smith and Ben Smith, and some very special guests join moderator Douglas Wolk to announce the creative team of IDW’s series, talk about the return of the Dark Judges, and much more – Room 8

12:30-1:30 Firefly 10-Year Anniversary Reunion

Calling all Browncoats to unite! It has been 10 years since the crew of the Serenity took flight in the now infamous show Firefly. Science Channel will reunite, for the first time ever, Captain Mal Reynolds and the crew from the ship. Join Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, and many more for a trip down memory lane, some special surprises, and exclusive Science Channel giveaways. SHINY – Ballroom 20

1:25-2:25 AMC’s The Walking Dead

Andrew Lincoln, Sarah Wayne Callies, Norman Reedus, Laurie Holden, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, and introducing Danai Gurira as Michonne and David Morrissey as The Governor join executive producer and showrunner Glen Mazzara, executive producer Robert Kirkman, executive producer Gale Anne Hurd, and special effects makeup supervisor and co-executive producer Greg Nicotero in a panel moderated by Chris Hardwick (The Nerdist, Talking Dead). The panelists will discuss the wildly successful second season of The Walking Dead and what to look forward to in season 3, debuting this fall on AMC. Join the panelists for a one-on-one Q&A session and an official sneak preview of season 3 – Hall H

1:45-2:45 DC Comics: Justice League and Green Lantern

Comics’ top talent-writer Geoff Johns and artist Jim Lee-continue their historic team-up on DC Comics’ bestselling Justice League, while Geoff continues his epic run on Green Lantern. Johns, Lee, Tony Bedard (Green Lantern: New Guardians), Brian Buccellato (Flash), Jeff Lemire (Animal Man, Justice League Dark), Francis Manapul (Flash), James Robinson (Earth 2), and Nicola Scott (Earth 2 explore some of DC Comics’ spectacular titles – Room 6DE

1:45-2:45 Bones

Creator and executive producer Hart Hanson, executive producer Stephen Nathan and stars David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel are on hand to discuss the shocking finale of season 7 as well as what’s in store for Booth and Brennan in an exciting season 8. The panel will be followed by a fan Q&A – Ballroom 20

2:15-3:15 Tron: Uprising

Disney XD is bringing the Grid to Comic-Con! Join the noteworthy voice cast Elijah Wood (Beck), Bruce Boxleitner (Tron), Emmanuelle Chriqui (Paige) and Tricia Helfer (The Grid), along with executive producer/director Charlie Bean and consulting producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (Once Upon a Time, LOST), to see exclusive footage and find out everything you want to know about this ground-breaking animated series. The panel will also feature never-before-seen clips of Disney XD’s turbo-charged original series Motorcity and a sneak peek of the upcoming animated series Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja. The panel will be moderated by Daily Variety film editor Josh Dickey – Room 6A

2:45-3:45 Game of Thrones Panel and Q&A session

Based on the bestselling fantasy book series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, HBO’s Game of Thrones series concluded its 10-episode second season on June 3. Created and executive produced by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the series follows kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars and noblemen as they vie for power in a land where summers span decades and winters can last a lifetime. Season 2 of the hit series told an epic story of duplicity and treachery, nobility and honor, conquest and triumph, set in an enthralling world of intrigue, seduction, and magic. Based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, production of season 2 also took place in Croatia and Iceland. Some of the cast featured in the second season and appearing on this panel are (in alphabetical order) Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy, Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen, Michelle Fairley as Catelyn Stark, Kit Harington as Jon Snow, Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister, and Richard Madden as Robb Stark. George R. R. Martin, who also serves as a co-executive producer and writer on the series, moderates with executive producer Carolyn Strauss – Hall H

3:00-4:00 Arrow Screening and Q&A

Oliver Queen lives! The iconic DC Comics character will be the subject of a hard-hitting new drama series on The CW this fall. Arrow makes its Comic-Con debut with a screening of the full Arrow pilot, followed by a Q&A with series stars Stephen Amell (Private Practice) and Katie Cassidy (Supernatural), executive producers Marc Guggenheim (Green Lantern) and Andrew Kreisberg (Fringe), and pilot director/executive producer David Nutter (Smallville). After being marooned for five years on a remote island, former billionaire playboy Oliver Queen returns to his home of Starling City with a mysterious agenda and a lethal set of new skills that he uses in a war on crime. From Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television, Arrow will air Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW this fall – Ballroom 20

3:15-4:15 Marvel: Cup O’ Joe

This is it, Mighty Marvel fans-the no-holds-barred, anything goes, full-of-surprises panel you wait all year for! Marvel’s chief creative officer Joe Quesada takes on all questions, shocks the audience with jaw-dropping announcements, and keeps you guessing, along with guests including Marvel’s head of television Jeph Loeb, SVP of creator and content development C. B. Cebulski, and editor-in-chief Axel Alonso. You never know who will show up, but you’d better be here, because this is the panel that everyone will be talking about – Room 6BCF

4:05-4:35 Screen Gems: Resident Evil: Retribution

In Resident Evil: Retribution, we learn more about Alice’s mysterious past as she continues to hunt those at The Umbrella Corporation responsible for the T-virus outbreak, a chase that takes her from Tokyo to New York, Washington and Moscow, culminating in a mind-blowing revelation that will force her to rethink everything she once thought to be true. Aided by newfound allies and familiar friends, including the return of Michelle Rodriguez as Rain Ocampo, Alice must fight to survive long enough to escape a hostile world on the brink of oblivion. Appearing in person: Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Oded Fehr, Boris Kodjoe, Mika Nakashima and writer/director Paul W. S. Anderson. Please join them for a preview and discussion of this highly successful film franchise, based on the popular video game series, and watch never before seen footage from the latest installment, Resident Evil: Retribution, in state-of-the art 3D – Hall H

4:30-5:30 50th Anniversary of Marvel Superheroes

Fifty years ago Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Dick Ayers, Don Heck, and Larry Lieber created the Marvel Age of Comics when they introduced the Incredible Hulk, the Amazing Spider-Man, the Mighty Thor, the Astonishing Ant-Man, and the Invincible Iron Man, all in the course of one short year, 1962. Those characters have shown incredible endurance and staying power, still thrilling audiences today, on both the page and screen. Mark Evanier talks to Comic-Con special guests Stan Goldberg (a Marvel cartoonist and colorist in that storied year) and Incredible Hulk artist Herb Trimpe about the heroes that still thrill us five decades later – Room 5AB

4:30-5:30 Falling Skies: The Battle Is Just Getting Started

Continuing the fight against alien invaders, TNT’s Falling Skies follows a band of human survivors on their quest to outrun and outwit the powerful alien force that invaded Earth. Join stars Noah Wyle (ER), Moon Bloodgood (Terminator Salvation), Will Patton (Armageddon), Drew Roy (Secretariat), Colin Cunningham (Living in Your Car), Sarah Carter (The Vow), and Connor Jessup (The Saddle Club), and show runner Remi Aubuchon (Caprica), with Q&A hosted by Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Big Bang Theory). Watch never-before-seen clips and be treated to an in-depth discussion on Falling Skies season 2 – Room 6BCF

4:35-6:35 Sony: Total Recall, Looper, and Elysium

Total Recall-Welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Doug Quaid (Colin Farrell), the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his ordinary existence. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. The line between fantasy and reality gets blurred and the fate of his world hangs in the balance as Quaid discovers his true identity, his true love, and his true fate. Based on Philip K. Dick’s classic story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale,” this brand new take on some of his most visionary ideas is directed by Len Wiseman, who will join stars Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, and Bryan Cranston on stage.

Looper-In the futuristic action thriller Looper, time travel will be invented-but it will be illegal and only available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past, where a “looper”-a hired gun, like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)-is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good…until the day the mob decides to “close the loop,” sending back Joe’s future self (Bruce Willis) for assassination. Writer/director Rian Johnson will join Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt to discuss the film.

Elysium-Ever since writer-director Neill Blomkamp broke through with his first feature film, District 9, people have been wondering what he has in store for an encore. Be a part of the first audience anywhere to get a first look at his new movie, Elysium, as stars Matt Damon and Jodie Foster join Neill and producer Simon Kinberg on stage – Hall H

5:00-6:00 The Last of Us: Behind the Scenes with Naughty Dog

Creative director Neil Druckmann, game director Bruce Straley, and actors Troy Baker (Fullmetal Alchemist, Batman: Arkham City) and Ashley Johnson (Marvel’s The Avengers, The Killing, Ben-10: Alien Force) discuss the upcoming post-pandemic, survival-action PlayStation 3 videogame from Naughty Dog, developers of the critically acclaimed Uncharted series. The panelists will provide an exclusive reveal of a new in-game cinematic featuring a special guest. Moderated by veteran games industry journalist Adam Sessler – Room 25ABC

5:30-6:30 Spotlight on Scott Snyder

Scott Snyder is arguably the hottest writer in comics today. His work on DC Comics-The New 52 Batman has propelled it to the top of the sales list. His reworking of the classic horror character Swamp Thing has put a whole new spin on the series while staying true to its roots (no pun intended). And his ground breaking Vertigo series with artist Raphael Albuquerque, American Vampire, is an award-winning fan favorite. Snyder makes his first appearance as a special guest at Comic-Con this year, and here’s your chance to find out what’s next for him and his books – Room 5AB

5:30-6:30 Dark Horse: Joss Whedon

Long before directing the biggest superhero film in history, Joss Whedon rewarded fans the world over with some of the most compelling characters and plotlines in the history of comics, television, and movies. Here’s your chance to find out what he has in store for us next, and hear exclusive insight into Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the ever-expanding number of titles in Dark Horse’s line of Season 9 comics – Ballroom 20

5:45-6:45 Spartacus: War of the Damned

Liam McIntyre (McLeod’s Daughters) returns to Comic-Con, along with Manu Bennett (30 Days of Night), executive producer Steven S. DeKnight (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and a few surprise appearances to show footage from the final season of Spartacus: War of the Damned, airing on STARZ in January 2013. They will also discuss some of the bonus features on the Spartacus: Vengeance DVD, available September 11 – Room 6BCF

6:00-7:00 Resident Evil 6: The Fear and Horror!

The latest installation of the blockbuster Resident Evil video game franchise arrives this October! Get a behind-the-scenes look at the most ambitious CAPCOM title to date from Hiroyuki Kobayashi (executive producer), Yoshiaki Hirabayashi (producer), andMiguel Corti (localization director). Arrive early and receive access to exclusive information, live gameplay demos, a trailer premiere, and some surprises. Q&A session to follow – Room 25ABC

6:45-7:45 AMC’s Breaking Bad

Executive producer and showrunner Vince Gilligan appears with the cast of Breaking Bad, including Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Dean Norris, Betsy Brandt, R. J. Mitte, and Jonathan Banks. In a panel moderated by TV Guide’s Mike Schneider, Vince and the cast talk about what it’s like to shoot one of the boldest and most intense dramas on television, and how they are preparing for the final 16 episodes of the series. Join the panelists for a one-on-one Q&A session and an official sneak preview of Breaking Bad season 5, premiering Sunday, July 15 at 10ET/PT – Ballroom 20

7:00-8:00 Blade Runner 30th Anniversary Celebration

In 1982, Blade Runner, director Ridley Scott’s classic adaptation of SF master Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was released to theaters and forever changed the face of cinematic science fiction. Filmmaker, BR expert, and acclaimed author Paul M. Sammon (Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner) hosts a 30th anniversary celebration of this influential masterpiece. Sammon (who was present throughout BR’s filming and met Philip K. Dick) will interview numerous BR cast and crewmembers, including BR art director David Snyder and BR: The Final Cut producer Charles de Lauzirika. Be there to meet these and other very special BR guests – Room 6BCF

7:30-8:30 Resident Evil: Damnation Worldwide Trailer Premiere, 7-Minute Sneak Peek, and Filmmaker Q&A

The next action-packed installment in the Resident Evil franchise continues. Fans will have the opportunity to watch the worldwide 2D trailer premiere (in English) of Resident Evil: Damnation, the all-new, 3D sequel to the full-length CG animated feature Resident Evil: Degeneration, based on the Resident Evil (known in Japan as Biohazard) series of games. Fans will also get an exclusive look at the first 7 minutes of the Japanese theatrical version of the film, followed by a Q&A with Hiroyuki Kobayashi (Japanese producer of the Resident Evil franchise) and Makoto Kamiya (Resident Evil: Damnation director) – Room 5AB

8:00-10:30 Syfy Presents the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards

The 24th annual Eisner Awards (the “Oscars” of the comics industry) honor comics creators and works in 28 categories. Presenters will include British talk show host/comics writer Jonathan Ross, actor Phil LaMarr (Futurama, Family Guy, Pee Wee’s Playhouse), and special guests Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard (The Walking Dead), Lynn Johnston (cartoonist, For Better or For Worse), Eric Powell (The Goon), Sergio Aragonés (cartoonist, MAD), Bill Morrison (creative director, Bongo Comics), Michael Uslan (movie producer, Batman films), plus some special surprises! Other prestigious awards to be given out include the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award, the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comics Writing, and the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award – Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront

Source: Comic Con

UPDATE: ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ Confirmed For 2014 – Release Date Set

by Shawn MaddenJune 28, 2012

Earlier today the internet exploded with excitement (trust me…check Twitter) when it hit that Marvel Studios would be announcing ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ at their San Diego Comic-Con panel.

Well now it seems that Variety has confirmed this report and even announced that the release date would be set at May 16, 2014. It’s also being reported that Nicole Perlman (who previously worked on ‘Thor’) has already written two drafts for the film and Marvel is very happy with her work. Marvel has not officially commented yet.

With a new ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ series as well as a new ‘Nova’ series on the way as well as Guardians appearing in a recent episode of ‘Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes’ and Nova having a recurring role in ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’…this announcement comes at no shock to me. But definitely has me excited more than some of the previously rumored movies that we would be seeing next. We better see some Star-Lord though or I fear Scott Alminiana may stab someone.

Frustration! San Diego Comic Con Sells Out In One Hour!

by Scott AlminianaMarch 3, 2012

And so another year of trying to get San Diego Comic Con tickets has begun, and ended. A few days ago this geek, along with every other geek who signed up for “pre-registration” at Comic Con, received an email notifying us that tickets would officially go on sale at 8:00 AM PST on March 3^rd. The email included a link for ticket purchases but informed users that it would not be active until 8:00 AM when ticket sales started. Not wanting to miss out on yet another year of Comic Con I set my alarm for 7:45 AM so that I could be ready to get my place in the EPIC waiting room. Although to be fair, there was nothing ‘epic’ to be found in that room.

At precisely 8:00 AM PST, I clicked the link… but nothing happened. Refresh, still nothing, close the browser and try again, still nothing. This continued for the next few minutes with my rage slowly building and flashbacks to last year’s Leap Frog ticket sales disaster running through my mind. After finally just going to Comic Con’s website I was able to get in the waiting room and started the wait with my place being around #35000 in line. Every few minutes the browser would automatically update with my place in line slowly dwindling down. Around the time I became #25000 in line the 4 day passes had all been sold out. ‘That’s okay’ I thought, as long as I can go for 2 or 3 days I’ll be happy. Time slowly passed and so did the number of tickets. After being in the waiting room for about an hour and getting down to #3000 I was informed that ALL tickets were sold out. NO WAY CAN THIS BE HAPPENING. No, not now, not again this year!!!! I was James T. Kirk screaming “Connnnnnnnnnnn!!!!” from the rooftops. My quest for Comic Con had come to an end; and this geek was one sad panda.

As it turns out, that link that was in the email was a dead link and many a geek/nerd are bitching about this in various online forums as I write this. More tickets might go on sale at a later date according to the Con website, but I imagine those will be far and few between. Once again, Comic Con International has managed to mess up the ticket sale process. Oh, and it should be noted that whomever runs their website doesn’t know the difference between ‘their’ and ‘there’. Looks like it’s time to prepare my “will work for Comic Con tickets” sandwich sign for when I go to Wonder Con. The next step after that of course is taking a page out of the IMF playbook and pulling some espionage-type shenanigans trying to get into Comic Con. I’ll keep you posted…