by Beat Staff
It’s time for an additional wrap on Comic-Con, as our fearless staffers roamed from the coldest climes of the Paramount Lodge activation to the searing cauldron of the present ground to cowl it. Here’s who gained and who wanted to return to the drafting board. With contributions from: Avery Kaplan, Rebecca Oliver Kaplan, Taimur Dar, Heidi MacDonald, Deb Aoki, Nancy Powell, Zack Quaintence, Victor van Scoit, Ricardo Serrano Denis, and Gabriel Neeb
Winner: Comics readers – Without all these huge Hollywood film guys, Comic-Con was all in regards to the (watch for it) comics! Several graphic novels noticed early launch on the con, together with the Werewolf Jones & Sons Deluxe Summer Fun Annual! by Simon Hanselmann and Josh Pettinger, and Three Rocks: The Story of Eddie Bushmiller, the Man Who Created Nancy by Bill Griffith. Plus, publishers like Silver Sprocket had loads of often-hard-to-find-IRL titles, like the 2 newest Everything Sucks one-shots by Michael Sweater, which we have now been making an attempt to find at our varied LCS(s) for months now. We had been additionally in a position to get a duplicate of the bodily adaption of let’s get burgers by ash s., one of one of the best webcomics of the previous few years. Finally, we discovered loads of unbelievable small press titles, like Mexica by Kayden Phoenix, Fernanda Lozada, Aster Santiago, Gaby Zermeño, and Sandra Romero, Pimp Killer by Ghezal Omar, Ayhan Hayrula, and Phillip Ginn, and The Dead Deception by Kel McDonald. However, we didn’t get to spend as a lot time digging by means of lengthy bins as we’d have favored. Next 12 months in San Diego! (AJK & ROK)
Winner: Trekkies – An early debut of the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds crossover with Star Trek: Lower Decks was the right celebration of the Star Trek fandom, who appeared in full drive on the con. There was loads of cosplay celebrating every thing from Star Trek: The Next Generation (together with Q from “Encounter at Farpoint”) to Star Trek: Discovery, with loads of Cali Class crewmembers (simply have a look at these neat uniform flaps). Better but, the crossover episode was additionally made obtainable for streaming, so Trekkies throughout the planet may get pleasure from Beta Shift’s go to to the USS Enterprise, whether or not they had been in San Diego or not. All this, and affirmation of a SNW musical episode? Be nonetheless our Trekkie hearts. (AJK & ROK)
Winner: Hulu Animayhem activation – Along the bayfront behind the conference middle, the Hulu Animayhem activation featured a number of totally different animated exhibits. However, the centerpiece was the large inflatable Planet Express constructing from Futurama, full with crashed and smoking PlanEx ship. In addition to loads of irresistible photograph ops, the activation additionally gave guests the possibility to style a Bob’s Burgers slider and acquire a “two-dimensional” electrical mucus-colored backpack, the con carry-all boasting one of the best intersection of model and performance. Plus, putting the PlanEx constructing alongside the water (similar to it’s on the present) was an impressed contact. All in all, it was an effective way to have fun the highly-anticipated return of the beloved animated sci-fi sequence, the primary episode of which is on the market for streaming on Hulu right now! Bonus: these Solar Opposites pins seem like “Disney pins,” judging by the Mickey-shaped rubber clutches. The proven fact that they made a Disney pin of “The Duke” from SO’s “The Wall” is endlessly amusing to us. (AJK & ROK)
Loser: Harry Potter cosplayers – Nothing says “I care more about cliched childrens’ books than real children” than persevering with to put on cosplay primarily based on an outdated sequence written by an open bigot. Special shout-out to the Potter cosplayer who tried to spark a confrontation by deliberately bumping into us, two visibly trans folks minding their very own enterprise, not as soon as however twice as we stood a more-than-reasonable distance from the conference middle map which she was ostensibly referencing. She was sporting Ravenclaw colours, however she had actual Slytherin vibes, you realize? Please, Potter followers: learn a greater e-book! There had been actually hundreds of doable choices obtainable on the con. Try branching out slightly bit! (AJK & ROK)
Winner: Comic-Con Museum – Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park celebrated SDCC ‘23 with an exhibit commemorating Stan Lee’s legacy that you just should see to consider. “Excelsior! The Life and Legacy of Stan Lee” was curated by Comic-Con Museum, Michael E. Uslan (originator of the Batman film franchise), and David Uslan. The exhibit collected True Believers’ treasures from 10 totally different non-public collections and public sale home catalogs. The result’s a one-of-a-kind exhibition of uncommon points and artwork, that includes work by legends like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. If you missed out on visiting throughout SDCC ‘23, be advised that this exhibit will be present for a few more months, but not indefinitely. Plan a visit and don’t miss out on the limited-time alternative to expertise these treasures for your self! (AJK & ROK)
Loser: Publishers (besides Simon & Schuster) had been stingier with freebies and reductions than in years previous. (NP)
Loser: The general state of cosplay.
While there have been some really wonderful exceptions — the group that did Into the Spider-Verse, the Apocalypse man on stilts, the Jedi canine — this 12 months felt noticeably lighter on cosplay. Not that I solely minded, see under… (ZQ)
Winner: Traffic circulation. Because there was much less cosplay, there have been much less folks taking pictures with cosplayers, thereby solely gumming up site visitors circulation in whichever area. (ZQ)
Winner: Invincible. Good issues come to those that wait and not solely did Robert Kirkman announce the official November launch date for the second season, however dropped a shock Atom Eve particular on Friday. As I’ve talked about, I used to be solely casually accustomed to the Invincible franchise earlier than the animated sequence, however after the sequence premiered I turned hooked. It undoubtedly impressed me to select up the Invincible Universe Compendium on the Image sales space. Unsurprisingly, it was almost bought out as was the bulk of Invincible associated books. (TD)
Winner: Barbie. Though technically the #1 film within the film didn’t have an official presence on the conference, you wouldn’t comprehend it by the sheer quantity of cosplayers or how a lot it was trending over social media. Part of me actually is curious what number of attendees at SDCC took the day out of their schedule to see a screening close by. That’s assuming close by screenings weren’t bought out. I already had a powerful curiosity in seeing the Barbie film for myself, nevertheless it’s solely elevated since getting house. (TD)
Winner. Publicists. Hats off to all of the publicists at SDCC working across the clock to cope with all of the final minute chaos and changes. (TD)
Loser. Publicists. That mentioned, I can’t deny that every thing went easily with so many final minute press alternatives and confirmations hitting my inbox Tuesday evening. Definitely had greater than the conventional quantity of initially confirmed interviews that had been canceled the identical day they had been meant to happen.
Winner: True Love – One couple bought engaged on the DC Heroes photograph shoot. (GN)
Winner: Panels – No huge media occasions left attendees to filter in all the opposite panels. Attendance noticeably elevated. (GN)
Loser: Hollywood – The Convention bought alongside simply high quality with out franchise-driven panels and answered the query if Comic-Con wants Hollywood. (GN)
Loser: Pretzels – A burning pretzel brought about the hearth alarm on Friday. Not solely are they too costly, they’re drama queens. (GN)
Winner: Library Events – Marked elevated attendance this 12 months’s occasions. (GN)
Winner: Jack Kirby – from all of the costumes of his characters on the Floor, to lengthy traces for the Jack Kirby Tribute Panel on Sunday, it feels just like the Man by no means left. (GN)
Winner: Makoto Yukimura (and Kodansha) – Based on his panel appearances, autograph classes and his feedback and pictures on his Twitter feed, the creator of Vinland Saga had a blast throughout his first go to to San Diego. Upon arriving, he autographed a stack of Vinland Saga books at a San Diego Airport newsstand. He later visited the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier, sampled some cactus tacos at Tacos El Gordo and “animal style” cheeseburgers at In-n-Out, and simply appeared endlessly delighted to fulfill and speak with followers. (DA)
Losers: Anyone who needed an autograph from Makoto Yukimura who didn’t plan forwardMany peeps walked by the Makoto Yukimura autograph classes on the Kodansha sales space on Friday and Saturday had been dissatisfied to seek out out that the occasion was ticketed, and that tickets had been distributed on-line just a few weeks prematurely of the present. This is smart, in that it ensured that Vinland Saga’s greatest followers would get an opportunity to get an autograph, and revered Yukimura’s restricted time/power on the present. But as one man who was turned away grumbled, “I’m a casual attendee of the show, and I don’t keep up with all this kind of stuff.” There was one further signing session on the Dark Horse sales space on Sunday, however that too was ticketed, and wristbands ran out inside a ½ hour of present opening on Sunday. Also, that room for the Makoto Yukimura panel on Saturday was waaay too small – SDCC doesn’t clear rooms after panels, so when you didn’t present up within the room a number of hours prematurely, you probably bought turned away on the door. (DA)
Winner: Junji Ito (and VIZ Media)
Horror manga grasp Junji Ito was one other comics creator from Japan who regarded like he was having fun with his first go to to San Diego. While this wasn’t his first go to to a N. American comics present (he final visited TCAF and Crunchyroll Expo in 2019), VIZ Media rolled out the purple carpet and placed on an enormous present on the Marriott Marquis Hotel and on the VIZ sales space of authentic paintings and manga pages from some of his most well-known works, together with Uzumaki and his newest launch: Soichi, which includes a scary child who likes to place curses on folks. The pic of Junji Ito in an outsized Barbie field was simply one other instance of Junji ito being all the way down to have enjoyable, anytime, wherever. (DA)
Winner: Dark Horse
After a 12 months away from the exhibit corridor, Dark Horse returned to their centrally-located spot with a spacious, spankin’ new sales space that had tons of room for signings, conferences and gross sales of unique goodies. (DA)
Loser: The Rest of the Manga and Webtoon Publishers Who Were MIA at SDCC
Maybe I’m the one one who pays consideration to this pattern, however there’s been a gentle decline of the quantity of manga publishers current on the SDCC exhibit corridor ground. Kadokawa and their publishing subsidiaries Yen Press, BookWalker and J-Novel Club opted to give attention to Anime Expo as a substitute of SDCC. Since switching distribution from Macmillan to Penguin Random House, Seven Seas has opted to skip SDCC lately. Fanfare Ponent Mon gave most of their sales space area to digital writer Inky Pen, leaving solely a token array of their books on show. Drawn and Quarterly opted to skip having a sales space this 12 months too. There’s no scarcity of manga / anime / webtoon readers at SDCC, and it sells very well too – so why is there so little of it on the present? (DA)
Winner: First time con-goers
The absence of Hollywood actors and panels meant that this version of SDCC was distinctive, one of a form when contemplating the norm for the occasion. People that bought their probability to attend the con for the very first time (like myself) bought a present that felt prefer it was centered round comics somewhat than the massive film stuff we’ve grown accustomed to. It made for an expertise not many have been in a position to get lately. A comic book con about comics. Who knew such a factor may work? (RS)
Winner: Toys and Action Figure Booths
If folks thought the present would’ve been lifeless for the dearth of Hollywood actors inflicting huge, labyrinthian-like traces on the ground, properly they underestimated the pulling energy of collectibles cubicles. Final Fantasy, Bandai, Tamashii Nations, NECA, and most each different toy and motion determine sales space brought about sufficient traces to make comedian con really feel prefer it’s outdated self. We. Might not be giving these cubicles their due by not recognizing how really essential they’re for attendance numbers. SDCC proved it may survive with out Hollywood, however can the identical be mentioned if toys and collectibles instantly went MIA? (RS)
Loser: Industry Comic Booths with Limited Comic Book Offerings
While Image and Mad Cave Studio introduced greater than sufficient comics for each attendee to get palms on, Dark Horse and IDW barely had any for buy apart from just a few ashcans and a e-book or two right here and there. Titan had a wide selection, however 2000AD was largely simply shows of board video games and just a few figures. For a present that lastly bought an opportunity to let comics shine, this felt like a missed alternative. (RS)
Loser: Ticketed…every thing
Tickets generally is a good technique to let folks benefit from the con with out having to do a number of traces to first get a e-book or merchandise and then making one other line to get them signed. Problem is, lots of the tickets that had been handed out needed to be claimed on-line weeks earlier than the conference truly began. Not everybody was aware of this and many (myself included as soon as I spotted my possibilities of getting Jamie Lee Curtis’s horror comedian Mother Nature had been dashed as a result of I didn’t know in regards to the ticketing stuff Titan went forward with) misplaced out on many nice books and figures they had been hoping to catch on the con. Not everybody goes to be visiting each writer’s web site to see if there’s a ticket system for his or her most anticipated purchases. Asking for a e-book and listening to “it’s only available for ticketed attendees that already cued online weeks ago” is a particular sort of heartbreak in an area the place discovery and particular releases are such an integral half of it. (RS)
Loser: The Fire Alarm
On Friday, at round 6:30-6:45pm, the conference middle’s hearth alarm rang out, asking folks to evacuate the world. Confusion took over, no sense of urgency adopted, and even the workers had been left puzzled. Basically, nobody bought actually evacuated. After some time I overheard one workers member inform one other that it was a false alarm. That was the one affirmation I bought concerning whether or not I ought to go away or not. Should the hearth have been actual, I don’t assume anybody was actually ready to get folks to security in a well timed method. One workers member did say “hey, at least you were here for the first ever comic con fire…if there is one. You saw history being made.” Little did we all know it was all a burning pretzel’s fault. (RS)
Winner: The Vinland Saga Booth
Like the Viz sales space, which had authentic Junji Ito paintings and an general Ito-Verse theme, the Vinland Saga sales space additionally featured authentic pages on show and idea artwork illustrations that made strolling by means of it a deal with. I hope extra publishers notice how cool authentic paintings might be and how many individuals it will probably draw into their cubicles. It appears like a recipe for achievement to me. (RS)
Loser: Convention goers that bought wristbands to the screening of A24’s TALK TO ME… solely to reach and discover out A24 overbooked the screening with A24 Insiders and different events. And the people who bought shuttled into the screening then needed to discover different transportation again. And A24, the Convention committee needs to have a chat with you. (GN)
Winner: Oni Press Oni did a very cool factor this 12 months with its sales space, whereby the writer primarily gave their creators area to desk, full with positioning in a busy space (removed from essentially the most cramped and unfriendly artist alley in all of comics) and part in again to retailer their wares. It made it very easy to purchase books like Pink Lemonade, Xino, or Chef’s Kiss, and then subsequently keep for a laid-back and informal chat with the creators, who appeared to spend loads of time there over the course of the weekend. (ZQ)
Winner: Transformers Transformers had an enormous con. There was a con-exclusive Transformers #1 ashcan by Daniel Warren Johnson obtainable on the Skybound sales space. There was a panel with A-tier creators elaborating on plans for the brand new shared Transformers-G.I. Joe Energon Universe. And there have been these new Transformers toys on show that would rework with a voice command. That’s lots of cool Transformers stuff (none of which had something to do with the films) for one present. (ZQ)
WINNER: Decreased FOMO
There was a scarcity of FOMO within the air in comparison with prior SDCCs. Even when you’re not a Hall H/B20/Indigo particular person, the group nervousness can have an effect on you. But the con felt in a circulation state that allowed attendees to be extra current. (VVS)
WINNER: Hulu Aerial Drone Show
The drone present was dope. That Saturday evening freight practice that normally traps folks on the conference middle?
That wait felt much less interminable due to the aerial constellation GIFs above. Folks had been digging it from all around the con grounds, with one of the best views close to the Hilton Bayfront—the bridge and parking storage.
A model expertise that didn’t require traces and scaled for everybody’s enjoyment.
And simply because the present ended, that freight practice moved alongside. (VVS)
WINNER: Process Panels
There was area in programming for panels that handled the best way to make a factor, somewhat than the factor itself. The rooms had been full of engaged attendees, and crammed with nice Q&As.
A number of of these gems had been The Making of Magic w/ Holly Black, Magic The Gathering Live, How to Pitch Your Tabletop Game, and Feng Shui (VVS)
LOSERS: Amazon After Dark Hopefuls
The intentions had been good, however not sufficient to deal with the curiosity. Priority traces didn’t get inside until over an hour after open. General Admittance traces wrapped across the block hours earlier than open. Without capping off tickets, many had been left with out entry from the GA line every evening. That left of us with of us leaving the placement with extra dangerous vibes than good, which is rarely nice for model fairness. (VVS)
LOSERS: Activation Exclusion
Many model activation invitations went dwell randomly with RSVPs being gone in lower than 5 minutes. That left many feeling not noted of some secret membership. It’s certain to occur with 150K folks vying for few slots.
Prior years had RSVPs open at introduced set instances. They’d nonetheless get snatched up in 5-10 minutes. But at the very least followers felt they’d an opportunity. (VVS)
LOSERS: Gaslamp’s Lack of Comic-Con Culture
With Hollywood not round, SDCC vibe didn’t go deeper into the Gaslamp like typical (pop ups, activations, and many others.). Made for a tradition conflict come Saturday evening that was kinda blech. (VVS)
WINNER: Activations
The studios could have stayed house, however the advertising and marketing spend had already been made, and as soon as once more the Imagineers went all out with amusement park stage actions and giveaways. The Hulu backpack gifted after just a few hours ready within the solar was a frequent goal of jealousy, however I most treasuyred the little jar of honey I bought at a Yellowjackets photograph op within the Paramount+ show _ useful for morning yogurt and submit BarCon sore throat alike. (HM)
LOSER: The Walking Dead
Once the driving drive of the con, this franchise has settled into sorta simply being there, regardless of a Hall H look and a brooding Daryl Dixon show on the aspect of a lodge. Gone are the times when laughing congoers raced by means of an escape room on the balconies of PetCo Park. (HM)
WINNER: Project Okay/Kalki 2898 AD
The first ever Tollywood movie (or any sort of international movie) to be promoted in Hall H had huge footwear to fill as the one film to be featured on the con because of the SAG-AFTRA/WGA strikes. But the SF extravaganza captured the creativeness of many with an all out pr blitz on Wednesday and Thursday, together with two events, a squadron of Stormtrooper like figures patrolling the show floor, a airplane circling the conference middle, and a Hall H extravaganza with dwell drumming, candles and worldwide stars. A sizzle reel displaying the vibrancy and reputation of Indian cinema introduced a welcome freshness to Hall H, and the panel itself did a superb job of displaying the joy over the film, which began the week as Project Okay however revealed its identify as Kalki 2898 AD.(HM)
LOSER: Prabhas
Maybe it was being in entrance of all these folks (Hall H was about half full) , possibly it was staying too lengthy on the solid celebration, however famous person Prabhas was a bit tongue-tied on his Hall H panel look. Luckily the icon of tens of millions recovered later within the day:
The #ProjectK #Kalki2898 crew @PrabhasRaju, Kamal Haasan and Nag Ashwin clarify what it means to them to be the primary Indian movie to ever debut in Hall H at #SDCC pic.twitter.com/I4qxFfTgk3
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) July 21, 2023
WINNER: Oni Press
After a tough 12 months or so, Oni offered on the Diamond Retailer Lunch with some contemporary trying books from Jay Stephens and quickly to be famous person Matt Lesniewski. It was good to see a writer getting behind some underexposed expertise, and reporting robust orders primarily based on that. (HM)
WINNER: Prestige Format
Lots of publishers appear to be moving into serializing comics within the excellent certain 48-page “prestige format” and charging $9.99 for it. It’s half of the truth of rising costs for periodicals and client pushback towards similar. (HM)
LOSER: Wallets
Prices for fundamental meals on the con had been INSANE.
San Diego Comic Con: the resorts and eating places must be ashamed what they had been charging for bottled water $7-10 bucks. Soda $8-13. Pretzels-$13. A slice of the worst pizza on earth $7.
— Jimmy Palmiotti (@jpalmiotti) July 26, 2023
One particular person tweeted this horrific signal.
While a $13 Pepsi was pure usury, $6 for a bottle of Pepsi and $12 for a Starbucks breakfast sandwich had been the norm, making a run to Ralphs much more of a necessity than ever. As the CBLDF’s Jeff Trexler tweeted, it’s a diminishing spiral:
Convention concessions are in an upward doom spiral. Association assembly attendance all year long remains to be approach down, main contracted distributors to boost costs, which additional drives down attendance and gross sales, and many others. The result’s brutal proper now, esp. at SDCC ….
Hotel rooms remained at excessive however anticipated costs, however God forbid when the conference’s contract with them comes up for negotiation. A bigger than regular block of rooms had been obtainable in the course of the con with Hollywood peeps canceling, however they went for $500-up an evening. (HM)
LOSER: High finish collectibles and eating places
Was it simply the absence of Hollywood of us with some cash burning a gap of their pocket, or the looming recession? Whatever it was I used to be a bit shocked on Sunday to speak to some artwork sellers and again subject sellers who mentioned it was a horrible con for gross sales of excessive ticket, one of a form gadgets. I did hear some again subject sellers mentioned it was an amazing present, and comics and e-book publishers undoubtedly did implausible, however not everybody did.
The absence of studio of us was the direct trigger of a loss of revenue amongst larger finish Gaslamp eating places tho. Hitting one for a enterprise dinner Saturday, our waiter mentioned the place was busy however “nothing like a Saturday night at Comic-Con normally is.” (HM)
WINNER: Comics
Everyone mentioned it above, however this nameless quote from a Hollywood producer nailed it: ““If there is one single summation … it would be that Comic-Con is now too big to fail, and that Hollywood needs Comic-Con more than Comic-Con needs Hollywood.”
LOSER: BLUE BEETLE – Coming out in three weeks and the largest Convention presence is a fancy dress on the DC Comics sales space. [Sarcasm]Another good transfer from Warner Bros-Discovery[/Sarcasm] (GN)
WINNER: David Dastmalchian – new initiatives introduced. A masks sequence primarily based on his sequence Count Crowley. (GN)
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