Comic Cons

[wuxiaman]

Diversity & Comic-cons. READ The Kung Fu of Wondercon 2023 by Brian Chansy

It was more fun than I expected. More Kung Fu than the previous years I attended.

[GeneChing]

SiliCon Will Not Be Returning to The Bay Area in 2023
We regret to inform you that SiliCon, the highly anticipated science, technology, maker and pop culture Con scheduled for October, 2023, has been canceled. We understand that this news may come as a disappointment to many, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Due to unforeseen circumstances and challenges beyond our control, we have had to make this incredibly difficult decision. We have explored all possible options to proceed with the event, but unfortunately, it is not feasible at this time.

We understand the anticipation and excitement that has been building for SiliCon, and we share in your disappointment. We were looking forward to bringing together industry experts and celebrities, showcasing cutting-edge technology, creativity and the best of pop culture, and providing a platform for meaningful discussions and experiences.

We want to express our sincere appreciation to all our sponsors, exhibitors, speakers, and attendees for your support and enthusiasm towards SiliCon over the years. We value your commitment to the event, and we assure you that refunds will be processed for any tickets or sponsorship fees that have been paid.

We are already exploring options for the future, and we remain committed to delivering a top-notch conference in the coming years. We will keep you updated on any future plans and announcements regarding SiliCon.

Once again, we apologize for the cancelation of SiliCon 2023, and we thank you for your understanding. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you,
The SiliCon Organizing Committee



Q:Why was the event canceled?
A: As you are likely aware, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a significant disruption to public gatherings and events, and we have seen a slow return to normalcy, we continue to face challenges and uncertainties. The economic impact has been severe, and many individuals and businesses continue to face financial hardships. We hope to resume SiliCon in the future, and we appreciate your understanding and support during these challenging times.

Q:Will I receive a refund for purchased tickets?
A: Yes, all ticket buyers will receive a full refund for their purchased tickets. We understand your disappointment and apologize for any inconvenience caused. Refunds will be processed within 14 days, and you will receive the refund through the original payment method used during the ticket purchase.

Q: Can I keep my ticket for a future event?
A: Unfortunately, since the event has been canceled, ticket transfers to future events will not be possible. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Q: Will SiliCon return in the future?
A: We are exploring all options and will keep you notified regarding the details of future events.

"I do hope that SiliCon survives the pandemic (and Savage) so there is another one. At this writing, no 2023 dates have been announced.
Nevertheless, if SiliCon falls..." ~ from my coverage last year - THE KUNG FU OF COMIC CONS – SILICON 2022

[GeneChing]

Man, you come right out of a comic book. READ The Wuxia of Comic Con Revolution by Brian Chansy

[GeneChing]

I just got my press pass approved. I am scrambling to make it happen for me.

Jun 23, 2023 12:28pm PT
Comic-Con Crisis: Marvel, Netflix, Sony, HBO and Universal to Skip SDCC as Fest Faces Another Existential Threat

By Adam B. Vary
Clay Enos/Netflix
Can San Diego Comic-Con catch a break?

For two years, the biggest annual fan convention in North America was forced to cancel the five-day gathering due to the COVID-19 pandemic — placing Comic-Con International, the non-profit organization that runs SDCC, under unprecedented financial strain. Last year, SDCC came roaring back with a masked-and-vaccinated convention that was a robust success, with blockbuster Hall H panels for the “Star Trek” TV universe, “House of the Dragon,” “The Walking Dead” and, especially, Marvel Studios.

This year’s Comic-Con — which is scheduled to start July 19, less than a month away — is increasingly likely to have none of those panels.

At least, that’s what studios across the industry are anticipating. If SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP cannot come to terms by the June 30 contract deadline and the guild goes on strike, actors will almost certainly join writers and showrunners in sitting out promotional events like Comic-Con, leaving studios with almost no one to populate panels in front of thousands of expectant fans.

Amid that uncertainty, several studios have preemptively nixed plans for a robust presence at SDCC this year. Disney and its subsidiaries Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm are not planning any panels, cutting off the chance to showcase the casts for upcoming projects like “The Marvels,” “Loki” Season 2, “Ahsoka” and “Haunted Mansion.” HBO (which has “True Detective” Season 4 soon and “House of the Dragon” Season 2 still in production) isn’t going. Nor are Sony Pictures (with “Gran Turismo” and “Kraven the Hunter” this year) and Universal Pictures (with “Last Voyage of the Demeter,” “Strays” and “The Exorcist” this year). And Netflix, which just held its massive Tudum fan event in Brazil, where it debuted first looks at big-budget genre series including its “One Piece” adaptation, is also sitting out SDCC this year.

Other studios are still maintaining a wait-and-see posture: Warner Bros., which needs a robust PR boost for upcoming DC features “Blue Beetle” and “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” has yet to rule out skipping Comic-Con, and the company’s streaming service, Max, is planning on bringing some animation titles to the convention.

Paramount Pictures expects to hold a panel for the animated feature “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” but its streamer, Paramount+, has yet to commit to panels for its “Star Trek” shows.

NBC will only move forward with its panels if there is no actors strike, but that protocol does not necessarily extend to its sister streamer, Peacock.

And Amazon plans to have some kind of presence — Season 2 of “The Wheel of Time” and “The Boys: Gen V” are due to premiere in the fall — but the streamer is still sorting out what that will be. (Apple, meanwhile, has remained tightlipped about what, if any, presence they may have.)

In the absence of panels, some studios may lean on activations and promotional stunts outside the San Diego Convention Center to generate fan interest. But that’s cold comfort to SDCC itself, which has thrived for over a decade on a steady stream of A-list stars and marquee projects streaming through its cavernous ballrooms.

When reached by Variety, Comic-Con spokesperson David Glanzer provided a statement that avoids saying anything definitive about how SDCC may look in the wake of an actors strike, but does make clear the organizers expect to go on with the event regardless: “With regard to the strike and its possible effects on Comic-Con, we tend to refrain from speculation or forecasting. I will say, our hope is for a speedy resolution that will prove beneficial to all parties and allow everyone to continue the work they love. Until then, we continue to diligently work on our summer event in the hopes of making it as fun, educational, and celebratory as in years past.”

Any studio holdouts will have to make a decision very soon — schedules will start rolling out on July 5 — but they may be making it in the dark, if SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP extend contract negotiations beyond the June 30 deadline. It’s a bind no superhero will be able to save.

Selome Hailu, Angelique Jackson, Jennifer Maas and Joe Otterson contributed to this report.

[wuxiaman]

Man, you come right out of a comic book. READ The Wuxia of Comic Con Revolution by Brian Chansy

I actually saw Jim Kelly once at the first comic con I ever attended, WonderCon. He passed just months after that.

[GeneChing]

I actually saw Jim Kelly once at the first comic con I ever attended, WonderCon. He passed just months after that.

Was that the Wondercon in SF? Because that was just before he died, and I met him there too. See Jim-Kelly-passes-away



I confess - I use that ETD line for a lot of comic related articles we run at KFM here. It's such a classic.

[wuxiaman]

Was that the Wondercon in SF? Because that was just before he died, and I met him there too. See Jim-Kelly-passes-away



I confess - I use that ETD line for a lot of comic related articles we run at KFM here. It's such a classic.

It was at Wondercon 2013 that happened in Anaheim, CA on March 30. I was an intern for an indie music label, so I had to focus on the task at hand.

[GeneChing]

Comic-Con Averted an Apocalypse Despite Two Strikes (and Little Hollywood)
Comic books took center stage for the first time in more than a decade as directors stepped in — sometimes awkwardly — for their stars: "I don’t have anything to say, so I don’t know why we’re here."
BY BORYS KIT

JULY 24, 2023 2:31PM

A large group of Marvel cosplayers pose for a group photo on Day 3 of Comic-Con International 2023 on July 22, 2023 in San Diego, California. DANIEL KNIGHTON/GETTY IMAGES

This was the year that San Diego Comic-Con was supposed to collapse. After all, with Hollywood studios pulling out and stars not able to promote their work, all due to the double whammy of the actors and writers strike, why would people even bother to attend?

Well, about 150,000 attendees still did indeed show up. There were no mass hotel cancellations nor mass refunds issued for badges, which were purchased months in advance. And an interesting thing happened on the way to the Comic-Con apocalypse. There was a renewed focus on comics and other graphic arts, even as Hollywood showed up in a diminished capacity.

“This year, more than ever, it felt like the real focus was the talent behind the origins of a lot of their entertainment,” says Jimmy Palmiotti, a writer-artist who has worked for Marvel and DC and created the comic Painkiller Jane, which was adapted into a SyFy series in 2007.

By all accounts, the floor had the most foot traffic in years, and retailers, artists and creators benefitted with increased sales and visibility. Anecdotally, Pamiottit said there were entire booths selling out and having to restock graphic novels and comics.

“Creators like Adam Hughes and Billy Tucci told me they had their best year ever. It was a real joy to see the people that created the comics once again become front and center to the con created in their name,” said Pamiottiti.

Sales were up significantly for Funko, which doubled its footprint from last year, as well as for Dark Horse Comics, Image Comics, and Lego, according to sources. DC, selling exclusives for the first time, enjoyed constant lines and sold out a a majority of its offerings. Even retailers that set up outside the convention centre enjoyed a major bump, such as BoxLunch Treats, which saw lines that went down three blocks in downtown San Diego.

And Hollywood still showed up in many forms. One could not miss skins wrapped around the outside of hotels, promoting shows such as Showtime’s Yellowjackets or FX’s Shogun. And studio panels, instead of having writers and actors front and center, let footage do the talking for them.


The Star Trek: Strange New Worlds booth JESSE GRANT/GETTY IMAGES

Paramount, one of the few studios to show up to Comic-Con, showcased twenty minutes of footage of its upcoming movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. For its Star Trek Universe presentation, Paramount and CBS dropped an entire episode of Strange New Worlds, which had some in the audience wiping away tears. Starz did the same, previewing the season two debut of wrestling show Heels. A24 had to turn away hundreds from its offsite screening of Talk to Me, its upcoming horror movie that had a panel featuring only the movie’s directors, Danny and Michael Philippou.

One fan who spoke to THR, Will, flew in from New York and has attended Comic-Con more than 10 times. He caught the Star Trek Hall H panel after a mere five minutes in line for it. (In previous years, people would have camped out overnight to get into a Hall H panel.) Will, who declined to give his last name, admitted that it was less exciting than it would have been under normal circumstances. “It would have been nice to have the cast there, but the footage that they showed from Star Trek was amazing, and the energy of the crowd was great,” he said.

Not everyone was thrilled, however. “It was a little unfortunate for the [Family Guy panel] that it was basically just showing clips,” said William, a San Diego resident who had been to Comic-Con four previous times and pointed out that he probably wouldn’t have attended that panel if he knew it would just be a screening. He also found that the convention generally felt more crowded than in previous years: “Not having too many of those popular Hall H panels maybe drew people to smaller panels.”

Because of the strikes, some Hollywood creatives attended the convention free of pressure from interviews or delivering major buzz. Simon Kinberg, the writer-producer behind several X-Men and Deadpool movies, enjoyed a weekend with his 14-year old son, Oliver.

“It felt like old Comic-Con,” said Kinberg, who has been on the Hall H stage many times. “You still had video games and hi-tech pop-ups but it was definitely a comic-based and toy-based Comic-Con. We strolled for days.” And they made time for the Barbenheimer phenomenon, checking out both Oppenhimer and Barbie on two separate days.

Kinberg was just one of several creatives checking out the convention purely for the love of pop culture. Among them was It screenwriter and Annabelle Comes Home writer-director Gary Dauberman, who brought his 13-year old son, also named Oliver.

There were moments where the writers strike and actors strike took center stage, including an appearance by SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. Across the commuter tracks outside the convention center, local SAG actors posed for a solidarity photo-op with cosplayers. Inside, two separate Saturday panels offered voice actors and writers the opportunity to discuss several of the main negotiating issues from their unions’ perspectives, including the impact of AI and synthetic voices, the financial implications of episode order reductions, and the line where union protections end and where federal or even international law may need to step in.

During one panel, Crabtree Ireland summed up the fight voice actors — and arguably, by extension, writers — are facing amid the threat of studio interest in AI by pointing to Disney’s The Little Mermaid, “a story of a small mermaid and the sea witch that literally steals that mermaid’s voice.”

“I remember seeing that for the first time and thinking how horrifying,” Crabtree-Ireland said. “Voice acting is on the cutting edge of and is the tip of the spear as it relates to how AI can either be used to lift people up and enhance the opportunities that actors and others have or be used in a very negative way to steal their voices, to crush human creativity.”

For attendees familiar with seeing charismatic prominent stars or writers providing witty repartee and insider intel, this year’s panels likely didn’t hit the same highs, and the individuals featured on stage didn’t always seem to relish the spotlight. While on a panel for TBS’ American Dad, director Jennifer Graves was asked what she wanted to share and quipped, “I don’t have anything to say, so I don’t know why we’re here.”

continued next post

[GeneChing]

Justin Simien speaks onstage at Collider: Directors On Directing panel KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES
During a directors on directing panel, Gareth Edwards, touting his original sci-fi movie The Creator, and Justin Simien, promoting Haunted Mansion, pointed to the elephant in the room.

“We all stand with the writers and actors,” said Edwards. “We’re contractually obliged to promote our movies.”

“Yes, we were told to be here,” said Simien, chuckling, adding he would have rather been at home. “No shade to you guys,” he added.

And some stars who also have work in non-studio endeavors, such as David Dastmalchian and Patton Oswalt, both of whom wrote and create comics, had to navigate deftly and avoid any questions about struck studio projects. When the moderator for a Dastmalchian spotlight panel introduced the Q&A portion, noting that past or present work could not be talked about, the very first question from a fan was about the actor’s work in The Dark Knight, made by struck studio Warner Bros. A pivot and a reminder that it could not be discussed followed. (The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit moderated the panel, and both he and Dastmalchian reminded the guest that struck work was off-limits.)

Congressman Robert Garcia, the former Long Beach mayor who made waves when he was sworn into the House of Representatives with a vintage copy of Superman No. 1, led a Comic-Con panel on a popular arts caucus he is spearheading in Washington. He noted that the concern and chatter caused by the so-called muted presence of Hollywood only highlights the importance of the convention.

“This just shows how there is an enormous impact that the comics medium has on the broader entertainment industry,” said Garcia, who has been attending the show on and off since the 1990s. “And that’s what happens at Comic-Con every year.”

Without studio panels taking in a lot of the oxygen, over 900 other panels and over 2000 hours of other programming saw a rise in interest and attendance. “Prior to the show, people who had never been to the show were wondering what the impact of the strikes would be,” said Comic-Con’s chief communications and chief strategy officer David Glanzer. “But there is so much to see and do, that we were okay. Hollywood is icing on a multi-layered cake.”

Kinberg, along with many others, believe Hollywood will back in fill force next year, when the labor issues are likely to have been resolved.

Said Kinberg: “As much as it was a wonderful and pure experience, I know a lot of fans would have been hyped if Marvel came to Hall H and blew up Comic-Con. There is still a hunger for that. It’s the social media explosions around these announcements where you truly see Comic-Con’s impact. This is an amazing engine.”

My report is forthcoming...

[GeneChing]

"Right out of a comic book" READ The Kung Fu of Comic Cons – San Diego Comic-Con 2023 by Gene Ching

[GeneChing]

Get your Geek on - READ The Kung Fu of Fan Expo San Francisco: Anime Katanas Rising by Gene Ching

[YinOrYan]

Get your Geek on - READ The Kung Fu of Fan Expo San Francisco: Anime Katanas Rising by Gene Ching

One is more likely to find a historically correct katana than a Chinese Dao or Jian at those shows. So much so, that I just buy anything that looks remotely close to a Chinese sword then grind it down to shape...