Sherlock Holmes & The Wonderland Conundrum

Sherlock Holmes is arguably the best investigative mind of all time, but will the world of Alice’s Wonderland be too much for even his brilliant intellect to handle? When a mysterious man interrupts Holmes’ experimentation with a new “tobacco” he is thrown into a whirlwind of ludicrous characters, a London he barely recognizes, and a seemingly unsolvable case. Taking place in just one day the great detective may be forever changed by what he witnesses, if even he can believe it in the end.


Sherlock Holmes & The Wonderland Conundrum

Written by Chuck Suffel

Art by J Schiek

Letters by Cardinal Rae

Cover by Roberta Ingranata & Warnia K. Sahadewa

B&W (with color accents)

ISBN: 979-8-9863060-0-1

Pages: 28

Print: $4.99

Digital: $2.99

Release Date: Oct 19, 2022 (in stores/online)


Ask for it at your local comic shop or order online whatchareading-press.storenvy.com

C2E2 2021 Recap and The Best of Cosplay

Photography by Julian Cannon

For the first time in nearly twenty two months, C2E2 returned for a weekend of cosplay, gaming, panels, and much more. You would think that the ongoing pandemic would have made C2E2 2021 less fun, but that was not the case at all.

Big name celebrities such as John Cena, Hayden Christian, David Hayter, and Giancarlo Esposito were the draws of the show. Also to note, the All Elite Wrestling superstars had the biggest line of the entire weekend. When you have names such as Matt Hardy, Orange Cassidy, and CM Punk appearing in C2E2 under the AEW banner, there will be fans lining up to see them.

But like for any of the guests, it is the first time since the pandemic started that fans of all fandoms are seeing them in person. There were safety measures that were enforced the whole weekend at C2E2. These included proof of vaccinations, plexiglass at the photo ops area, and for masks to be worn at all times on the show floor and in the panel rooms.

Speaking about the show floor, the iconic C2E2 red carpet that covered the entire floor was nowhere to be seen. The same thing happened at New York Comic Con, but it was at this show where I noticed it more. I asked a representative of ReedPop why this decision was made and I was told it was because of the ongoing pandemic. I really felt for the cosplayers who had on heels or footwear that is not built for concrete.

C2E2 Show Floor Entrance. Photography by Julian Cannon

Another thing that was sad to see at this year’s C2E2 was the lack of vendors. Over at New York Comic Con 2021, there were less vendors, but they managed to fill up the empty space. Here at C2E2, it was not a good impression at a first look. I can also say that it was a good thing that I easily walked the entire show floor this time around.

With that out of the way, I enjoyed what was offered at this year’s C2E2. I hope when the show returns in 2022, C2E2 will be back to the scale that it once was before. Now it is time for the best of cosplay! All the photos were shot and edited by me!

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content.

San Diego Comic Con at Home Should Not be a Yearly Event

The ongoing pandemic caused for San Diego Comic Con to switch to virtual this year. When this was announced, many fans were curious to see how this would be pulled off. I was also one of them to think that way too since I cover San Diego Comic Con every year. As the online event finished last weekend, I have gathered all of my opinions to why this would not work every year and also, why some aspects of this year’s event should be carried over to future comic cons.

One thing I have to get out of the way, is that Comic Con International has tried their best putting together the good content that was shown last week. From The Walking Dead, Bill and Ted Face the Music, The New Mutants, Motherland: Fort Salem, and even panels with upcoming Marvel and DC comics, there was a lot to digest with those panels. But that is where the first problem arised. There were way too many panels being shown at either the same time, or at different times on different channels outside of the official San Diego Comic Con channel. I feel that all of the panels should have been on one channel from the start, to the finish of the day. It is however, nice that you can watch them at your own home. But the experience of being in those panel rooms with nearly a few thousand fans cheering at every announcement and exclusive footage cannot be stripped away and it is severly missed. Yes sure, some of the big announcements that happened on the virtual panels were exciting to hear and witness, but it is also lacking the energy that we all feel in person. What I would suggest for next year, is for a hybrid version of this. That way, the ones who cannot attend the panel, can watch it either at home, or on their screen.

But there is another issue to tackle with that too since many big studios premiere sneak peaks to the live audience exclusively. How would it work for those studios to premiere that exclusive to the fans in attendance while people are watching it at home knowing that select footage cannot be filmed? Believe me when I say this because I was at the screening of IT: Chapter II at SDCC in 2019 and there were security guards at that theater watching everyone like a hawk since you could not record footage. And the studios would most likely not stream that same footage too. It is just something to think about since that kind of content is exclusive to the fans and press in attendance. But going back to the panels, it was understanding why many of the big studios did not want to showcase any material for this year’s event due to the pandemic. But the marketing aspect of SDCC at Home was abysmal. Only fans of comic con knew that this was taking place, but not the general public. I know many people that did not even know that San Diego Comic Con was happening as a virtual event this year until a few days later. And some did not know until the panels showed up as a recommendation on YouTube. I know that comic con sells itself, but there should have been more effort to market this event to every fandom. Speaking of effort, Most of the panels took place on zoom and there were a lot of technical difficulties that I noticed. But I wish that a few of them would have been live because whether if you like fan interraction at the panels with live questions or not, they are important. The feeling is not the same when panel hosts have to read tweets and Instagram comments as questions since we cannot assume that everyone that goes to comic con, has social media. That is why their only opportunity for the most part, is when the talent is on stage when you get your opportunity to ask your question. You would think that these panels that were pre-recorded, would have been edited very well. But no, that was not the case on most of the panels.

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 21: KJ Apa, Lili Reinhart, and Cole Sprouse speak at the “Riverdale” Special Video Presentation and Q&A during 2019 Comic-Con International at San Diego Convention Center on July 21, 2019 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Another thing I wanted to bring up, is that it is named “comic con” for a reason and it did not feel like that since the virtual panels were more talked about than the virtual convention itself. I personally, not only go to these conventions to cover it, I also spend time at the artist alley, the gaming area, and the cosplay area. Everything that makes a comic con should have been happening last weekend, but the talk of the panels diminished that. Sure, there were links to check out the vendors, but there was barely any mention of any of them at all outside of a few tweets. I think that there should have been more on a spotlight on the comic creators and vendors too.

And finally, I have to bring this up because this was a big problem starting from Wednesday night, until the final day. Funko went virtual for the first time during comic con weekend. Normally, you would have to enter a lottery for your chance to buy a Funko exclusive and if you do not win the lottery, then you will have to go to the retailers that have the shared exclusives. Since there was no lottery, everyone had the chance to buy their Funko Pops. But seconds after the stores online opened, many of them were already sold out as confused buyers questioned how this even happened.

It got worse when buyers already had their selections in the cart to checkout and when they did, the “sold out” icon appeared. This went on to the next day as the buyers had to wait at least an hour or two, to even attempt to buy their item. And at the retailers, many retailers had to put a limit to how many of the same item you can purchase. Those signs went up at some of the retailers after the fact since there were a number of people buying multiple copies of the same Funko Pop. The CEO of Funko even had to make an apology for everyone that is having a bad experience.

I can hope that next year, San Diego Comic Con (And even other comic cons across the world) can return in full swing and better than ever. I appreciated what we got this year, but I know for sure that everyone felt it in their hearts that comic con has been affected by the pandemic. I also wonder if and when things get back to normal next year, how much could they limit the crowd due to social distancing. The entire experience of San Diego Comic Con cannot be duplicated, or bitten down to size infront of a screen because it is more than a convention, it is a week long event that thousands of fans love to attend each year.

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content. Contact me at julian@alternativemindz.com

The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead San Diego Comic Con at Home Panels Recap

This year’s edition of San Diego Comic Con had to be canceled due to the current pandemic. Not only that was canceled, The Walking Dead had to delay the airdate of the season finale, delay the premiere of World Beyond, and halt the filming of Fear The Walking Dead. What was supposed to be 42 straight weeks of content of The Walking Dead universe, turned upside down due to the pandemic. But luckily, fans got a chance to see the panels of all three shows in the comfort of their own homes as San Diego Comic Con went virtual for the first time in it’s 50 year history. Today, I will give my recap and thoughts of the two panels as I will also make a seperate article of The Walking Dead: World Beyond panel.

FEAR THE WALKING DEAD

Showrunners and executive producers Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg, and cast members Lennie James, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Colman Domingo, all were on the panel today to talk about the first half of the sixth season. The panel was broken into two groups as Chris Hardwhick said that at the start of the panel. Also, the premiere of the sixth season will be on Sunday October 11th, 2020. They then begin to talk about the season 5 finale as Chris brought up the memories of the last ten minutes of the episode. We were then given a new trailer of the sixth season. as well. Andrew talked about Morgan’s fate. Ian also clarified that something is going on with Morgan since he is seen with red eyes in the trailer. Lennie then talked about shooting those scenes with Colby Minifie (Virginia) and praised her work as a villian since he believes that she is very unerving. Lennie also teased that Virginia runs more than one group and that we will see that during the sixth season.

Scott Gimple also teased that we will see more dimensions to Virginia this season. Colman talked about the current state of Strand and what can we expect from him. Then, the conversation shifted to Alycia as she feels that Alicia does not trust anyone but Strand at the moment since she has known him the longest. Colman also believes that Strand should be trusted as he made a promise to Madison to keep her safe. Andrew talked about how the shutdown affected the filming process and he stated that they were halfway finished with the first half and that the entire season has been written already. He did also say that when it is safe, they will begin filming the back half of the sixth season.

The conversation then lead to Morgan’s bond with Grace as a fan asked if Lennie would see Morgan in love with Grace. Lennie feels that Morgan is still locked down to his wife, but he could open up to Grace. But Lennie is interested to see how their bond will develop. Isabelle, who is part of CRM was brought up and Scott Gimple said that there will be more story with her and that there is a chance that we will see more of her on the show. Ian was then asked about his mindset going into season six and Ian said that Virginia is in control of everyone and how it will affect all of the characters. He also said that they all will be tested in ways that they have not before and how they will fit in Virginia’s world, and how will they react under these circumstances. The episodes will be an anthology structure and this season will be darker than the previous seasons.

Colman talked about the episode he directed as he stated that it featured a number of actors on the show as he sounded very excited about the episode he directed. Lennie James also directed an episode for the first time and Lennie loved the experience. Lennie also said that he meet the crew, riggers, and costume designers and was also given a fantastic episode to direct. The morning of the first episode he directed, Lennie said that he had a fun text exchange between himself and Colman. He also praised the crew that supported him and is not sure if he will ever direct again, but would be open to doing it again. The last important bit is the conversation is Scott Gimple was asked if there was a time jump during season 6 and he said that not only that there will be one, there will be multiple time jumps during the season. Also, Ian could not comment if that musical episode would happen on this season.

The second half of the group was Ruben Blades, Karen David, Danay Garcia, Jenna Elfman while Scott Gimple, Ian, and Andrew stayed. Danay talked about what can we expect from Luciana during this season. She also talked about the process of putting on the oil makeup when they were filming at the oilfield. Funny line from Karen David as she said that if you get a zit on the show, they celebrate. The Living Dead would also be the name if there was a band. Karen also talked about her reaction to Grace being pregnant as she feels that she has done a lot for Morgan before she found out. She wonders of Grace will be alive to see her child’s first birthday due to the nature of the apoclapse.

Jenna brought up an interesting point as June and John are seperated again. Jenna believes that they will have faith to see eachother again and that June is strong enough to not let Virginia break her at all. Chris brings up the status of Dwight and Sherry and Ian told him that he cannot say much about these two. He also said that he and Andrew were fans of Dwight and that he is a much different person now than he was when he was with The Saviors. Scott Gimple stated that there will be new characters coming in season six and one of them, will be Virginia’s sister named Dakota. Gimple also said that we will see a whole other side of Virginia too because of Dakota. Ruban said that he really misses being on the set because of the daily contact, and talking with everyone. He also misses Skidmark. The last few minutes were dedicated to a few fan questions and the funniest one, is if Lucianna would replace her wounded arm like Merle did and Danay said that she would replace it with a gun.

THE WALKING DEAD

Just like Fear The Walking Dead, this panel was split in two groups. The announcement of the airdate of the season finale has been revealed as it will air on October 4th, 2020. We were also shown a sneak peak of the Finale. The panel opens as Angela Kang, Scott Gimple, Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Khary Payton, Greg Nicotero and Ross Marquand are the first group. Angela talked about beta being driven by the mass amount of walkers and Nicotero talked about how excited he was directing the episode along with the fact that the horde is closing in on the group. Norman Reedus talked about Daryl’s arc of the season and how Michonne’s departure, Alpha, Judith, and Carol has affected him. Norman was asked if Daryl would want a rematch with Beta and he said that Beta is way too tall for a rematch. Even Khary said that people do not realize how tall he is. Melissa talked about Carol’s state of mind as Carol has had a journey during this season that also negativity affected her friendship with everyone during this season. She also said that Carol’s conversation with Kelly also really helped too and that her relationship with Daryl has not been good towards the end of this season.

Khary Payton talked about Ezekiel’s current health as he feels that Ezekiel thinks that his time is coming up due to the cancer that is in him. Khary also said that the cancer may give him hope since it has not stopped him from moving forward. Then, we get to Ross Marquand as he talked about Aaron and Alden meeting the masked character too and how it reminded him of when the group first meet Michonne. Ross also wants Aaron to find a new love interest in the future. Melissa McBride said that she was excited working with Jeffrey Dean Morgan for the first time. Greg Nicotero talked about the process of creating that cancer lump for Ezekiel and I thought that it was interesting to see and hear how he did it. This part of the panel ends as it was announced that six additional episodes after the finale will air (that is part of season 10) sometime in 2021.

The panel then switched to the second group as Lauren Cohan, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Josh McDermitt, Seth Gilliam, and Paola Lourazo as Lauren first talked about Maggie returning to The Walking Dead. Lauren also said that it felt like she has never really left at all. Angela Kang then talked about the dynamic of Negan and Maggie since Maggie thought that Negan was still in the jail. It was funny to hear that Jeffrey Dean Morgan say that Negan saved a lot of her friends. Jeffrey Dean Morgan was asked how would he feel if he seen Hershel Jr. and Morgan said that Maggie might see a different side of Negan since Negan also has a bond with Judith.

The unfortunate news also came as it was announced that season 11 will be delayed to 2021. Then Seth Gilliam talked about Gabriel and how different he is now compared to then since he is the leader of the counsel. He also reacted to Carol letting Negan out of the jail. Josh was asked what Eugene sees different with Stephanie that he has not seen with Rosita. Josh joked that he has not actually seen her yet, but then Seth asked Josh about their connection and Josh ran down their connection and their bond. He also thinks that Rosita and Eugene are good as friends, and that Eugene and Stephanie are building a foundation. Paola was aked about her reaction to the community’s highly praised reception of The Princess. Paola also said that she would love to see Princess interract with Negan since both of the characters are very similar. She also said that her favorite character is Carol.

Angela then talked about the way some scenes were filmed and how challenging it was. It was funny to hear Jeffrey Dean Morgan to respond to the question about getting a new weapon and calling it “Rick” as Morgan believes that Negan has moved passed on from it. Jeffrey Dean Morgan also stated that the scene from the comics of Lucille being broken will not happen on the show.

Scott Gimple said that he would create a pre-apoclapse spinoff with Glenn as he misses working with Steven Yuen and that it would be very funny. Angela then talked about the huge diverse cast of The Walking Dead which also includes the people that work behind the scenes. She also praised Greg Nicotero for his work on this episode and teased The Commonwealth group as well as she hypes up the season finale. The panel ends as Chris gives the dates of The Walking Dead season 10 finale, World Beyond’s airdate, and Talking Dead right after both episodes.

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content. Contact me at julian@alternativemindz.com

Wonder Woman: The Complete Collection Remastered is Coming to Blu-Ray

WONDER WOMAN:

THE COMPLETE COLLECTION

BELOVED LIVE-ACTION TELEVISION SERIES

REMASTERED FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER ON BLU-RAY!

COMING JULY 28, 2020 FROM WARNER BROS. HOME ENTERTAINMENT

Wonder Woman, the beloved 1970s live-action television series starring Lynda Carter, has been remastered and is coming to Blu-ray™! Wonder Woman: The Complete Collection arrives from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on July 28, 2020.

Save the world? That’s a man’s job. Then along comes star-spangled Wonder Woman with her bullet-deflecting bracelets and golden lariat to set everyone straight. With Lynda Carter staring as the title character, Season One features adventures in Wonder Woman’s original World War II era, while Seasons Two and Three whoosh forward to the disco-loving ‘70s.  Times change. The need to smash evil, calamity and injustice does not.

The Wonder Woman: The Complete Collection Blu-ray box set (USA $64.99 SRP, Canada $69.99 CAN) comes complete with all 59 episodes, plus the treasured pilot movie, across 10 discs. Bonus features include:

·      Audio commentary of the pilot movie by Lynda Carter & executive producer Douglas S. Cramer

·      Audio commentary by Lynda Carter on episode, “My Teenage Idol is Missing”

·      Featurette – Beauty, Brawn and Bulletproof Bracelets: A Wonder Woman Retrospective

·      Featurette – Revolutionizing a Classic: From Comic Book to Television

·      Featurette – Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Feminist Icon

The TV movie pilot, The New Original Wonder Woman, premiered on November 7, 1975 on ABC. The first season of the series, Wonder Woman, debuted February 16, 1977 on ABC. The second and third seasons of the series aired on CBS, with the final original episode premiering on September 11, 1979.

Get Your Signed Copy of Negan Lives at this Comic Book Store

News broke a few days ago that Skybound will release Negan Lives, which will tell the story of what happened to Negan from his final appearence on issue #174, to issue #193. This will be an intriging story since the fans wanted to know about his wearabouts before he had a cameo on the final issue.

The issue will be in stores and not on digital as Robert Kirkman wanted to give back to the comic book stores for not only supporting The Walking Dead comic book series for years, but to also give back to every comic book stores that were also affected by the pandemic as all the sales of Negan Lives will go back to the stores. One store in particular, will be allowing fans to purchase a signed copy of the book.

Megabrain Comics and Arcade is located in New York state and Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a frequent visitor at this store. Jeffrey will sign copies of Negan Lives and you have a chance to buy it from the store. It will cost $20.00 and it is limited to one copy per user. Jeffrey Dean Morgan cares for the fandom of The Walking Dead since he plays as Negan himself and he wanted to give back as well.

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content. Contact me at julian@alternativemindz.com

Doomsday Kingdom Vol-1 The Feeding Post Review

Ronny Haze of Make A Path Presents has been a central member of The Walking Dead community for some time now as he not only runs his YouTube channel talking about The Walking Dead and other mediums such as movies and video games, he is also a comic writer and creator. Since The Walking Dead comic book series finished with issue #193 (Along with the Negan one shot coming in July 2020) , the majority of the fans of the series has been looking for their next post-apoclapyse story. I recommend everyone to check out Doomsday Kingdom as this series not only fills in the gap of a new story style than we are used to on The Walking Dead, it also has a new twist on the genre. Here is my review of the first volume titled The Feeding Post which collects issues #1-4.

First, I will like to say that artist James Milne did a great job with the art. I can tell from the first issue, to the rest of this volume that the artwork and coloring has improved. Granted that he had more time to do this, it came out very well and I am impressed with the amount of gore that was presented in these issues as well.

The story itself, starts normal, but gets very dark real quick. At the start of the issue, you will see the cover character in his full uniform at first asd he is named The Rider, but learn his backstory as the story goes on. This is a unique take as backstories are established on the first few pages at most times. But you will understand why he becomes this mysterious person on the cover. It keeps you engaged to wonder what he was like before the world changed. During his backstory flashbacks, You will learn that his name is Tristian and you will also see what lead to those changes as it just started as a normal day, and then by the afternoon, he had to take his daughter home from school as her fever got worse. She then passed away. He got very emotional after this and I could feel his pain since I would react the same way if my child passed away like this at an early age.

The other characters like Katie and Lazaro are likable too. And I believe that Ronny Haze thought of how he will keep their scenes interesting even though they are in the story at a minimal time for this volume and not have them there to be filler characters as they are central to the story too.

By the end of this volume, I started to think that the story has really fleshed out how civilians would react to a situation like this. It was not rushed as both Ronny and James made sure to have as much time possible to showcase how slowly it will be for the world to end instead of a fast rate. You also see people doing things in this world that they normally would not do if the world was not ending especially at the last half of the volume. I cannot go too much in detail of certain plot twists, but they will be shocking and I have faith that it will pay off.

There are some scenes in this volume that caught my attention even for the small moments. The first one I can think of is when one person literally **** their pants. I gasped as I turned the page for that to be revealed and I laughed afterwards because that must have been an easter egg to one of Negan’s lines. Follow that up with the next scene where everyone’s phones are ringing and the masked bandits begin to ask for everyone’s food as they were dressed in armor. There is another scene in this book that is so bloody, that it took me a few minutes to process what just happened as I was looking at the entire one page panel. Also, there is something really disgusting that happens too and it is more disgusting than the guy that crapped his pants and this happens after a character turns. You might want to be prepared to not eat as you are reading this volume because there are some unthinkable moments that happen that your stomach will not handle. I can handle gore since I love horror, but I was not prepared for that particular panel.

Overall, I enjoyed this nice twist to the apoclapsye genre as it was something I did not expect at all. Ronny Haze and James went out of their way to create an original story while also making sure to not make it a repeat of stories everyone already heard of, or read before. From the first issue, you will find out why the volume is titled The Feeding Post. And by the end of the fourth issue, you will understand the meaning behind the name. Ronny Haze has stated that each volume will have a different theme and story and I so far like the direction the story is going. Being a content creator for YouTube and making an comic at the same time was quite unheard of a few years ago until Ronny Haze started this project and I am happy to see it’s growth and success.

You can buy Doomsday Kingdom via Indiegogo on this link.

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content. Contact me at julian@alternativemindz.com

The Walking Dead Comic Book Series to Return With a Special Negan Issue

Have you wondered what happened to Negan after his final appearence on issue #174 until when he appeared for the final time on the final issue? Well our questions will be finally answered on this special issue titled “Negan Lives.”

Negan Lives will be a one-shot that will give a glimpse on what he was up to, and what lead Negan to The Commonwealth after his final appearence. On his final appearence, Maggie spared his life and he left his new Lucille burning on the campfire as he walked away. With this one-shot, we can expect a good story.

It is also to note that this issue will be in stores on July 1st and there will be a gold and silver variant editions of the issue as well. Negan Lives will not be sold on digital and The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman had stated that the revenue will all go to the comic book stoires selling it:

“While Charlie Adlard and I had laid the series to rest, this felt like something special we could do for the store owners who made our series a success to begin with. To that end, I’m happy to report that 100% of the revenue generated from this book will go to the stores selling it. The retailer community does backbreaking work to get comics into the hands of our loving fans, we should all be doing more in these trying times to show them how appreciated they are.”

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content. Contact me at julian@alternativemindz.com

These The Walking Dead Comic Book Variant Covers Are Great to Have in Your Collection

The comic book series of The Walking Dead has come to an end last year with Issue #193. Since then, fans and readers alike were very mixed towards the ending. But what cannot change, is the fact that there are many variant editions of the series. Some are rare to the point where you cannot find that variant cover for years. And some, you can find on online stores. Here are some of those variant covers you need to have in your collection.

Issue #100 Variants

There are many issue 100 variants, and I believe that this issue has the most variants out of all of the issues in the series. There are three in particular that I would like to point out. This one below is a wrap around cover that features the previous characters that were deceased up until this point. On season 9 of the television series, This scene was recreated as part of Rick Grimes’ hallucinations. This variant has a normal version, and a silver foil version.

The next one is the red foil variant of issue #100. It features only Lucille with the blood splattered all around it. This was given to retailers that ordered q large amount of the first print of the issue. There was also a signature edition as well that had Robert Kirkman’s signature on the variant, but those are not the red foil editions however.

The final of the issue #100 variants is this variant that I was not aware of until I did my research. This one is extremely rare due to how it was obtained. On the 15th anniversary weekend of the comic book series, there were blind bags of select key issues. Issue #100 was one of them. You would either have the normal variant, virgin, black and white, or black and white virgin. What only a small number of people discovered, is that there was also a secret variant and only 100 of these were put into the blind bags. This was dubbed “the gold variant” on online fourms and it also has a speech bubble too.

Issue #171 Pink Signature Variant

I actually got this variant without realizing that it was an expensive variant until I left the comic book store. The difference between this variant, and the other variant with the same artwork, is the pink signature on the bottom corner. Once everyone found this out, the comic book stores were either sold out of them, or spiking up the price for it.

Issue #94 Image EXPO Variant

Variants featuring Michonne is a must get for collectors. The ghost variant of issue #101 could have been featured here, but the beauty of this variant of issue #94 takes my vote. There is something about Michonne laying down with a pile of walkers that makes this cover look very cool. Also, the television series did a scene with Sasha that looked similar to this cover.

Issue #168 Pride Month Variant

The Walking Dead celebrated Pride Month by having this great cover made. Jesus taking out a walker with a Pride Flag is badass and look at the guts that is being stretched out! This is my favorite cover that was released in 2017.


Issue #163 Retailer Variant

The beginning of 2017 was the 25th anniversary of Image Comics, and it started with this variant. Here, we see Rick Grimes in Negan’s jacket holding Lucille. There is a normal color, and a black and white variant. This cover stirred up controversy due to the fact that this variant being a retailer varent since the first print issue was 25 cents due to the anniversary. This would be very good to have in your collection.

Issue #75 Retailer Variant

This retailer varaint pays homage to the first issue. It is also the first time that Charlie Adlard did the artwork on the first issue’s style too. This also has Rick Grimes at his current state at the time as a resident of Alexandria. Of all the variants and issues that has the issue #1 layout, I believe this is the best looking one in my opinion.

Issue #1 The Last Wine Variant

This issue was given out to attendees at New York Comic Con 2019 at Chris Burnham’s booth if you were able to buy The Walking Dead wine. There are a handful of these online since almost nobody was aware of this issue being given out at the booth. This is also the last variant cover that was produced.

Issue 78 Long Beach Comic Con Variant

Issue #80 has a photo variant, but I have to place #78 here because of the rarity. Only 500 of these were produced and it is promoting the premiere of the first season of The Walking Dead. This is also the first photo variant of the comic book series as it showcases what is to come with those walkers when the television viewers see them for the first time. It also took me about nine years to finally get one of those variants and I am happy to own one of them.

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content. Contact me at julian@alternativemindz.com

Shazam Star Zachary Levi and The Walking Dead Star Ross Marquand Will be Doing A Virtual Q&A on Awesome Con Online

Awesome Con was supposed to take place this week in Washington, D.C. But due to the current situation of COVID19, Awesome Con had to postpone their show until December of this year. What will happen this weekend, is Awesome Con Online in which online visitors can explore, shop, and take a look at the live offerings that will be available for everyone to watch in the comfort of their own home. One of the features will be the virtual Q&A and it will be livestreamed via Facebook and Zoom and the celebrities that will participate, will be Shazam’s Zachary Levi, and The Walking Dead’s Ross Marquand.

Both Zachary and Ross were originally going to be special guests of Awesome Con before the COVID19 outbreak and their fans, and the attendees were worried of the current status of these two. But everyone has to worry no more as they will both be live in seperate times to anwser fan questions. This virtual Q&A will happen this Saturday afternoon!

There are both free and paid options to view and participate in this virtual Q&A. There will be a special Zoom link for you to click on in order to enter the Zoom and to be considered to ask a question. The link to the Zoom meeting, when it is made public on Saturday, will work for BOTH Q&A sessions and will not cut off in between sessions.

Remember, watching via Facebook Live will be VIEW ONLY. Questions submitted via Facebook will not be monitored.

Are you looking forward to hearing what Ross Marquand might talk about when the topic of The Walking Dead comes up? And what will Zachary will say about Shazam and the sequel that is planned to be released on November 4, 2022? We will all have to find out this Saturday.

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