Author: Julian Cannon

DC FanDome Is Exactly What San Diego Comic Con at Home Should Have Been.

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Last month, San Diego Comic Con at Home took place and it was considered a flop. There was little to no promotion about it at all as Comic Con International assumed that everyone would know that it was transitioning into an online event. Even when it did, not many knew about it the week of and there were a number of people that did not know about SDCC at Home until days or weeks after. This year was a disaster for the event and we can all hope that it will not be an all-virtual event next year like it was this year.

DC and Warner Bros did not have anything planned for SDCC due to it being canceled because of the pandemic. But what they did over the weekend, was DC FanDome. Not only that the online event was successful, Variety reported that DC FanDome drew over 22 million views in the first 24 hours. Comic Con International must be looking at DC FanDome and realizing that they should have done almost everything that DC FanDome done in the first place.

What made DC FanDome successful, is mostly due to the anticipation and the hype around it. There were commercials on television and social media that were shown nonstop for about two weeks before the event. I even searched local ads in the San Diego market about SDCC at Home and there were none that I found. What was also satisfying about how DC FanDome, is that all of the panels, segments, and small skits were on one channel which was the official Warner Bros YouTube account. Nobody had to had different browsers open for different panels on different channels like how it was terribly handled during SDCC at Home. I also noticed the efford of making DC FanDome an epic event from the start where there were virtual stages starting with Wonder Woman 1984. All of those virtual stages were drawn by Jim Lee and it is little details like what we seen that makes this feel like a big deal. Over at SDCC at Home, they just went from panel to panel and that was really it.

Speaking of the panels, the length of most of them were all shorter than the hour long panels that were offered at SDCC at Home and this was a blessing because there was no filler or akward pauses at all during those panels. And DC FanDome is not all about the panels as we also got funny skits such as the ask Harley Quinn one, and the one where Batman Beyond and Bruce Wayne were watching and reatcing to Adam West’s Batman TV show. Those small skits in between usually happens at Comic Con and it sure felt that way when the majority of fans were watching. Also, there were times that cosplay whether if its humans or pets were showcased in between the panels during DC FanDome. San Diego Comic Con at Home had something similar to this, but it did not happen in between the panels.

The biggest interest of DC FanDome is The Batman and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. There were other big announcements such as a Static Shock film being produced, the title of the Shazam sequel being revealed, and the reveal of the cast and characters of The Suicide Squad. All of the news that came out of DC FanDome was talked about for days unlike the little content we got at SDCC at Home. Don’t get me wrong, I love the news we got out of The Walking Dead panels and some of the other panels, but they were not talked about by people outside the fanbase like it was with the announcements that came out of DC FanDome.

I do not want to bury SDCC at Home six feet under, but if you compare the two events, DC FanDome knocks out all of SDCC at Home with a single punch and DC FanDome will return in a few more weeks to showcase all of the television offerings and have virtual events for fans. Something SDCC at Home did not have at all. I know that Comic Con international had a short time to come up with content to offer, but DC FanDome also had a short time too and they succeeded wheras Comic Con failed this year.

Looking at DC FanDome, I think of the future of what would happen if Warner Bros never return to Comic Con because when Nintendo never returned to E3, Nintendo produced Nintendo Directs and it has been successful as they still have them to this day. I would not say that DC FanDome will be an online virtual event every year as I believe that eventually, DC FanDome will have their own in person event similar to Star Wars Celebration, or D23. If that happens, we would also have to look out for Marvel Studios too.

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

The Boys Season 2 Non-Spoiler Review

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Last year, Amazon’s The Boys premiered on Prime and it has beed a huge hit across the world. It has caught the interest of longtime comic book fans of the series, and curious viewers that has heard of the show. I can personally say that I love the first season and I was happy when I seen that the second season was announced.

The first season ended in a cliffhanger. And the second season not only continued from the last scene of the first season when Billy finds out that his family is alive, but it also fleshed out the stories from the current characters, and the new characters as well. Here is my non-spoiler review of the second season of The Boys.

Season 2 of The Boys continues the story of Season 1 and it raised the bar from what we seen on Season 1. The main plot of the season, is how the hidden secrets of the first season will affect the superheroes, and Boys. The Seven also gets a new member named Stormfront and how I can describe her, is that she is in tune of the political world of today, and another thing about Stormfront that I cannot say, is that she will most likely be very despised within the fanbase because of her actions. She is also very funny too especially that one scene where she makes questionable memes and posts them on social media. But it is not all good as Stormfront and Homelander are not on the same page at first as they are enemies. But they both eventually put aside their feud since they both have one thing in common and that is, to abuse their power behind the scenes. You will see an example of this power struggle when she joins The Seven and a few episodes after that, you may wish that she did not join in the first place.

Speaking of Homelander, I find his character development this season far better than the first season especially since his son is in his life and he wants to be a good father when he is around him. Homelander also wants his son to be like him, but his son does not want to become what Homelander is. Anthony Starr really knocked it out the park with his portrayal of Homelander and it made me think of how much of a human side he has when he is not in the public eye infront of those cameras. I also thought the same way with Starlight and her story and development this season I thought was handled really good. A-Train’s scenes made me wanted to feel some sympathy for the character on the first few episodes of the season and I could not blame him at all.

I cannot forget Karl Urban. Him and Jack Quaid’s chemistry grew here on season two as I felt that their chemistry on season one was still building . They both really get eachother’s characters and there are a few scenes involving them two that made me laugh especially at the end of the second episode, into the beginning of the third episode. The way Karl Urban portrayed Billy this season is far differenty than the last season and it is night and day when you compare the character in both seasons.

I would like to also say that the gore on this season is much more brutal, and gruesome than the last season. There were moments on this season where my jaw dropped due to the nature of the gore on particular scenes especially for the most part, The Female, also known as Kimiko. In fact, we find out early on in the season something interesting about Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) and what drives her to take down The Seven. If you are not into gore, I would suggest for you to turn away when those unexpected gore moments happen involving her along with all the other characters. There are also twists and turns that you will not see coming and there are quite a lot of surprises that comes with it too.

Although I do love the stories of this season and what was presented, I feel that there is an unbalance of which side are you, the viewer, are going to be on. But I love this season’s production and plot. What you thought of how the two sides of good and evil were in season one, is thrown out the window on season two as both sides have their own motives of the reasons they do what they do. In this case, nobody is in the right or wrong here as it is open for interpretation in my own eyes. And as far as scenes that were adapted and remixed in the source material, there are a lot of big scenes from the comic that happens on this season and you will have to find out for yourself when the season premieres.

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First Look of The Official Logo of The Batman Has Been Revealed

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DC FanDome is taking place this weekend and one of the major films from the DCEU that will be showcased is The Batman. As fans cannot wait to see Robert Patterson in action as the film will be released next year, director Matt Reeves revealed the official logo of The Batman today on his Twitter account.

What was also revealed, is the official artwork of The Batman as Jim Lee made the artwork. This will sure bring more hype to this Saturday when the panel begins and it is expected that we will see the official trailer of The Batman. The logo also reveals the new Bat-symbol too that will also be on the Bat-suit that Robert Patterson will have on.

What is also expected, is news about The Batman during the panel at DC FanDome. Variety also reported that filming of The Batman will resume in September as it was delayed due to the ongoing pandemic. Matt Reeves stated that he wanted to give a first look of The Batman a few days early and share the artwork poster that was made by Jim Lee.

The Batman will be the last panel to stream on DC FanDome this Saturday.

What do you think of The Batman logo and the outstanding artwork made by Jim Lee? Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content.

What Would a Carol and Daryl Date Would Look Like on The Walking Dead

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Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier – The Walking Dead _ Season 10 – Photo Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/AMC

A few months ago, I decided to do some date ideas for Daryl and Connie since it was Valentine’s Day. The fanbase would like to see them two get together to be a couple and I can see why. But it is also to note that there are fans of Daryl and Carol that would like to see these two in a relationship as well due to the fact that these two have been seen together for nearly a decade on the show and I can also understand this side too due to the history that Carol and Daryl had. This is also something I am curious about as well as these two characters really do understand eachother inside and outside as their bonds were build up from the moment they meet, to right now at this current state. Now what would happen if these two had a date? Today, I am going to come up with date ideas between Carol and Daryl.

First, I have to think of how this would be established? Who would actually ask the question of a date in the apoclapse. I think I would lean towards Carol since she can really open Daryl up for a discussion and we have seen that in the past. But what would the conversation be like? Maybe the two are already talking about something else alone and she brings up the date idea. Daryl might be taken off guard at first, but he will think it is not a bad idea at all. Carol is very convincing when she speaks and Daryl has cared for her all these years so it would make sense for these two to have a date. Now that it is established, here are some date ideas I have thought of.

A Boat Ride

I chose this because not only would these two enjoy a good time in the sea, but Carol could also show Daryl where the island she was on when she left. That would also be a great time for them two to bond during this journey to their private island, and maybe catch some fish along the way too. Plus, Carol and Daryl would not have to worry about any walkers as this would be a peaceful ride.

Building Dog a Doghouse

I am a dog lover so the thought of Carol and Daryl building a doghouse for Dog would be cute. There are a lot of wood and tools at Alexandria and it could be built at the back of Daryl’s house. Whether if Dog actually stays in that house would be another question, but I am pretty sure that Carol would also come up good designs of what colors the doghouse would have and Daryl would come up with the interior look as well.

Double Date with Rick Grimes and Michonne

Although Rick Grimes was saved by Jadis, and Michonne went out to find him, What if after Rick and Michonne reunites, they have a double date with Carol and Daryl. And the timeline could match up perfectly at The Commonwealth, or one of the CRM communities since they are heavily guarded. It would be normal life over there so Daryl and Carol would be fine having a double date with Rick and Michonne as they all can catch up and do activities at one of these communities without worrying about the dead coming. Plus, Carol and Daryl would most likely talk about the double date after it is over when they are alone.

A Photoshoot

I did not forget that Alexandria has a camera since Rick took that polaroid camera from The Saviors. Why not put it to use and I believe The Princess would set this up since that would match her personality. She can even be the costume designer for this photo shoot between Carol and Daryl. Plus, this would the opportunity for Carol to tell Daryl to smile on camera and he would do it. Especially if they both have on really funny costumes. Plus, Dog would be in this shoot too!

Motorcycle Race

Remember that episode of Ride With Norman Reedus when it was him and Melissa McBride overseas? Why not bring elements of that episode, to this date as not only Daryl would teach Carol how to ride a motorcycle, but they can also have a fun race with it. Maybe after they use motorcycles, they can switch to horses. A race from one end of The Hilltop, to the other end would be fun as both of their competitive side would come out.

A Movie at The Kingdom

I know, That festival did more damage than good back in season 9. But for this case, The festival never happened. Daryl would surprise Carol on a movie date and whatever they will watch will be fine since nobody has seen any movies or television since before the apoclapse happened. And it would be a private screening so they can both be alone in that theater until the movie ends. Plus, no way would Alpha disguise herself since The Kingdom soldiers will be guarding the front and back door.

What do you think of these ideas? Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content.

NWO 2000 or WWE’s NWO: Which Was Better?

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The New World Order is regarded as one of the best professional wrestling stable of all time. They came at a time when both WWE and WCW were still in the age of the flashy-cartoon character stytle of presentation and a change was needed. When the group formed in July of 1996, it changed the industry forever as many other groups in professional wrestling in different promotions were formed that were inspired by this faction. But as good as the original NWO was, there were two specific versions of the group that are not well recieved.

That is, NWO 2000 which was formed in late 1999, and WWE’s version of the NWO. Today, I am going to compare and contrast between the two versions and make my opinion on which was better between the two.

How Did it Start?

At Mayhem in 1999, Bret Hart became the WCW Champion after winning the tournament finals. Bret Hart and Goldberg also became the WCW Tag Team Champions on an episode of Thunder not too long after this. But these two would then have a match for the WCW Championship at that year’s Starrcade. That match is infamous because it was the match that Bret Hart recieved a concussion due to a stiff kick by Goldberg which eventually lead to the end of his career.

On the next Nitro, Bret Hart and Goldberg had a rematch for the WCW Championship as Roddy Piper would be the referee of that match. During the match, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash made a run in and we thought that they were there to attack Bret Hart, but they attacked Goldberg. Jeff Jarrett also appeared and smashed his guitar on Piper’s head. They then proceeded to spray paint Goldberg and Piper’s body with spray paint (which was silver this time instead of black) as Kevin Nash went on the mic to say that “the band is back together” as this was the formation of the NWO 2000. It is important to note, that all four members of NWO 2000 held championships at the time.

Over in WWE, the NWO was brought into the company a year after WCW was bought by WWE. Hogan, Hall, and Nash all had contracts with Warner Media and WWE could not bring the three of them in during the Invasion Angle. The NWO were brought in to WWE by Vince McMahon to “kill WWE” since Vince McMahon and Ric Flair were feuding at the time. The NWO then made their debut at the No Way Out pay-per-view as they opened the show with a promo from the three of them. The three members also attacked Steve Austin at the end of the show during his match against Chris Jericho for the WWE Championship.

Looking at how these two first started, I will have to give the slight edge to NWO 2000. I liked how WWE debuted their version of NWO, but it did not have the same effect as it did when NWO 2000 formed.

The Initinal Run

WWE’s NWO’s major feuds were against the top stars at the time which was The Rock, and Stone Cold Steve Austin. The build to that year’s Wrestlemania was originally intendeed for Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan, but due to creative differences, it was changed to The Rock and Hulk Hogan. The same night when The Rock challenged Hulk Hogan for a match at Wrestlemania, The NWO attacked The Rock and even did a skit where Hulk Hogan drove his truck to crash his truck towards the ambulence The Rock was in.

Steve Austin was left to feud with Scott Hall and during this feud, there were times that WWE inadvertently exploited Scott Hall’s alcoholism. Including at one point where Steve Austin poured a large amount of beer on Scott Hall before giving him a stunner on Smackdown.

Over in WCW, on the next Thunder, Bret Hart, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Jeff Jarrett cut a promo explaining how this reuinon was built up for the entire month. I give it to them for contunity. Their first set of attacks involved Goldberg, and Terry Funk. And a match was made for Souled Out 2000 as Bret Hart will defend his WCW Championship against Sid. But before this match, Bret Hart faced Terry Funk in a hardcore match. His injuries he suffered at Starrcade got worse during this match. Terry Funk then set up a match between Kevin Nash and Bret Hart for the WCW Championship on the line.

Not only this match ended in a no contest due to the interference of Sid and Arn Anderson, but it would also be Bret Hart’s final match as a full time wrestler. Also on this same Thunder, Jeff Jarrett was injured for suffering a concussion when he was attacked in the cage as Chris Benoit and Jimmy Snuka did dives from the top of the cage that landed on Jeff Jarrett. Things are not going so well for this version of the NWO.

For the initinal runs, I will have to give this to WWE since Hogan, Hall, and Nash had feuds with the top stars of the company that lead to Wrestlemania. The first feuds of NWO 2000 lead to a minor show and was affected by injuries. But more on that on the next category.

After the Big Matches

At WCW Souled Out 2000, WCW finally aknolwdged that Bret Hart had a concussion at Starrcade which means that he is unable to defend his WCW Championship. The Championship became vacated and Chris Benoit was the one to take Bret’s place. Benoit defetead Sid to win his first and only WCW Championship. But it was too late as he, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn jumped ship to WWE a week later.

The reason why Bret Hart and Sid was going to have a match, is because Sid replaced Goldberg, who was injured by breaking an ungimmicked limo glass with his hands that also severly cut him. According to Vince Russo on the WWE documentary NWO: The Revolution, Vince said that NWO 2000 was not going to work without Bret Hart and Jeff Jarrett as Vince Russo wanted those two to be the central focus point of the group. In fact, the first thing Vince Russo wanted to do when he came to WCW was to push Bret Hart and he did exactly that.

Also, Scott Steiner joined NWO 2000, but was suspended a few weeks after he joined for cutting a shoot promo on Nitro. What came next was at Superbrawl 2000 when it was a three-way dance between Sid, Jeff Jarrett, and Scott Hall for the WCW Championship even though Jarrett and Scott Hall were members of the NWO. Scott Hall got a neck injury during the match as Jarrett smashed a guitar over Hall’s head. Scott Hall then got in trouble during the european tour which lead to him being sent home and to never appear on WCW televison ever again. The NWO 2000 quietly disbanded as the next major storyline was The New Blood vs The Millionare’s Club.

After Wrestlemania 18 in which we seen The Rock defeating Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin defeating Scott Hall, Hulk Hogan turned into a crowd favorite again due to his reception and fan support at Wrestlemania. On that week’s Smackdown, X-Pac returned from injury and also became the next member of the NWO as he attacked Hulk Hogan. This was four years in the making since Hulk Hogan said that X-Pac “could not cut the mustard here in WCW” on a promo he did on Nitro in 1998. But this feud never started since NWO was drafted on Raw, and Hulk Hogan was drafted to Smackdown on the first ever WWE Draft. NWO then continued their feud with Steve Austin, and also feuded with the likes of Bradshaw and Kane. After the Insurrextion pay-per-view, Scott Hall was fired due to his involvement of the plane ride from hell incident.

From this time until Shawn Michaels returned to WWE and joined NWO, Booker T, and Big Show became members of NWO and Kevin Nash was still healing from his injuries. On that next Raw, Booker T was kicked out of the NWO and he started a minor feud with X-Pac. Then on the July 8th episode of Raw, Kevin Nash suffered a torn quadricep during a 10-man tag team match. Then the next week, Vince McMahon oficially disbanded the NWO.

What happened with NWO 2000 after Souled Out creativly, is way worse than how WWE’s version of NWO was handled. Even though WWE’s version of NWO was doomed from the start, at least the group had a longer presence on televison than NWO 2000 did. Plus, they tried to make it work with WWE’s NWO and we would not know how far NWO 2000 would have went if Bret Hart and Jeff Jarrett got injured as the group was just starting. But for this round, I will give it to WWE’s NWO and with those results, I believe that WWE’s NWO is better than WCW’s NWO 2000.

What do you think of this? Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content. Contact me at julian@alternativemindz.com

10 Years in, and There Are Still No Emmys For The Cast and The Crew of The Walking Dead

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Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon; group – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 6 – Photo Credit: Jace Downs/AMC

AMC’s The Walking Dead has been on the air for ten years now. And within those ten years, not once was any of the cast nominated for The Emmys. I know it is easy to say that they all have won awards from different award shows and I am not disputing that at all. But the talk is always about The Emmys when it comes to the mainstream attention of award ceremonies and year after year, The Walking Dead gets snubbed for unknown reasons.

There are a few years where they are nominated for Outstanding Special Visual Effects categories, as well as Outstanding Sound Editing. But the focus on these awards have to be put on the cast. We would have thought that The Walking Dead would have at least had more than one nomination per year. But that always go to the shows like Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, etc. Those are really good shows, but the cast on those shows are not as diverse as The Walking Dead.

Andrew Lincoln who stars as Rick Grimes, has been on the show for nine seasons. He has had Emmy worth performance scenes during his time on The Walking Dead. The first I can remember is way back in season 4 of the show where he tried to convince The Governor to not take over The Prison, and to not kill Hershel. If those judges in that council room did not feel that sadness during that scene, then I do not know what were they thinking at the time. Another scene where I believe Andrew Lincoln should have gotten an Emmy for is his breaking moment the entire time when Negan made his introduction. That esculated even further on the season 7 premiere when Negan broke Rick Grimes infront of everyone. The tip of the iceberg here, is when Negan tried to force Rick Grimes to chop off Carl Grimes’ arm off and while Rick was crying and pleading for Negan to stop this, a snot bubble came out of Rick Grimes’ nose on contact, and without the use of CGI. Andrew Lincoln is a great actor and he knows how to get a reaction out of the viewer in particular scenes whether if he is speaking, or not.

I will also bring up Melissa McBride. She has been on the show as long as Andrew was and she is still on The Walking Dead as she is here for her tenth season. This season alone, Carol has been the center of this season due to her feud with Alpha that has lasted for most of the season. But it is not just the feud that put the spotlight on Carol, it was also everything that surrounded it too and how Carol had to go through a rocky road to overcome the damage Alpha and The Whisperers inflicted on Carol. Melissa McBride had a lot of good scenes that she acted out this season. Some of my favorites were when she interrogated that Whisperer after he spit his food on her, Her conversation with Daryl on “Lines We Cross”, her conversation with Kelly, and also with Lydia.

But it was more than that too as Melissa McBride’s potential has really risen after the second season of The Walking Dead as she did great Emmy worth performances on earlier season episodes such as “The Grove”, “The Same Boat”, “Wildfire”, “Cherokee Rose”, and even “The Well.” Each season, Melissa McBride has broght in something different out of Carol and Carol is a very good and more complexed than her comic book counterpart. Carol can just be in one room talking with any of the characters, and you will get more out of her than you usually would with other characters.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who plays as Negan, should have recieved a lot of nominations from The Emmy’s the second he appeared on screen. I know that there are fans that do not like Negan, but Negan really fits Morgan and I could not see anyone else playing as him. From his debut until season 8, he was very charismatic, and also dangerous. But from season 9 until recently, Negan has went a complete change and showed his genuine side as he seeks his redemption. You do not see that often from major television villians in that scale. Of course, we do not have to forgive what Negan done, but Jeffrey Dean Morgan brought that character to life. He has had many great performances as Negan, but my favorite has to be the season 7 premiere, and also the season 9 finale. On those two episodes, it is night and day to see Negan as he was then as a ruthless leader, to the caring person he became at the end of season 9.

Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 14 – Photo Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/AMC

Norman Reedus is another person I would have considered for a nomination of an Emmy especially for his work from season 9, to current. Norman Reedus’ performance on the last two seasons has been the best for the Daryl character. Daryl is still a badass, but I felt that these last two seasons, we finally got more of a human side of Daryl and I honestly wanted to see that from Daryl for a while. While Norman and Melissa had great scenes together for this entire decade and built a chemistry, he has also built a great chemistry with Lauren Ridloff, Cassady McClincy, and Cailey Flemming these past two seasons and his chemistry with all of those names really shines on screen whether if it is good momnents, or scary-situational moments. Even though Daryl was given more words than ever these last two seasons, Norman Reedus made sure those lines have substance when he acted out those lines.

I know that there are many other actors that (In my opinion) deserves an Emmy nomination because this show brings out the best out of the cast. You cannot find a strong cast like this on The Walking Dead anywhere else. I know for sure that The Emmys is very selective and we will never know the answer why, but The Walking Dead will never be overlooked in the eyes of the fans that care about the franchise. It is just a shame that the powers that be will never reconize the cast for any consideration to be part of The Emmys.

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

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

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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.

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

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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.

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The Walking Dead Season 10 Finale Airdate Has Finally Been Revealed

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Paola Lazaro as Princess- The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 15 – Photo Credit: Jace Downs/AMC

Earlier this year, the season 10 finale of The Walking Dead has been delayed until the end of the year due to the current pandemic. It was supposed to air alongside of the debut of The Walking Dead: World Beyond but that has also been delayed too. The pandemic prevented the post-production of the episode to be finished in time of the premiere of the episode. Fans have waited for months for any news of the airdate and today, we finally got an answer.

During the San Diego Comic Con at Home panel of The Walking Dead, showrunner Angela Kang revealed the airdate of the season finale titled “A Certain Doom.” The episode will air on October 4th, 2020. This is much sooner than we thought and it is great news that we will see the current season conclude. Angela Kang and the rest of the cast that was on that panel gave a few details about the episode and we even got a sneak preview of the episode as well along with what can we look forward to on the next season when they start filming season 11.

Also during the Fear The Walking Dead panel, the premiere date has been revealed as it will premiere on October 11th, 2020. In addition, six additional episodes of Season 10 will also air in early 2021!

Are you excited for the airdate of the final episode? Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content. Contact me at julian@alternativemindz.com

Casting News: Margot Bingham to Join The Walking Dead on Season 11 to Play as Stephanie

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Margot Bingham has joined The Walking Dead as she will play as Stephanie from the comic book series. Although only her voice was heard during the tenth season, she will make her on screen debut on the next season of The Walking Dead. Stephanie is a key member of the large community The Commonwealth in the comic book series and it is because of her, Eugene (Josh McDermitt) lead a few members of the group to The Commonwealth. 

Once at The Commonwealth in the comic book series, Stephanie and Eugene build a bond and eventually they become a couple. It will be interesting to see if the television series will follow the same story that was adapted from the source material. With Margot Bingham on the cast, she can bring new life to the character and flesh out her backstory more as well. The Walking Dead has done this with major and minor characters that did not have a backstory. The most recent example was back in season 9 when Alpha (Samantha Morton) got her own backstory so the same could happen for Stephanie.

Margot is also best known for her work and appearances on Blue Bloods, New Amsterdam, and most recently, Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It. 

The Walking Dead will also have a panel during San Diego Comic Con at Home this Friday afternoon at 1:00pm PT/4:00pm EST as it will be hosted by Talking Dead’s Chris Hardwick and will feature Scott M. Gimple, Showrunner Angela Kang, Greg Nicotero, and cast members Norman Reedus, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Melissa McBride, Josh McDermitt, Ross Marquand, Paola Lazaro, and Lauren Cohan who is returning to the series. The panel will be streamed on the official Comic Con YouTube Channel.

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