nycc 2018

Comic Conventions in 2018 I Have Covered

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

2018 was a great year for the comic convention and entertainment industry as a whole and I am happy that I got to witness many of the events. Raging from the big movies such as Avengers: Infinity War and A Quiet Place to the great seasons of our favorite television shows, and the headlines that made the majority of the audience react on social media and on a platform such as YouTube, we are in an age of information that can be shared and watched by millions. In that same time, the comic convention scene has become bigger in a larger scale and it has drawn many attendees of different fandoms all packed into one giant building. I have covered many of them over the years and last year was the most I have covered in one year as part of the media. Here are five that I will write about on my experience in the convention scene.

C2E2

The biggest show in Chicago every year and they do not disappoint at all. C2E2 (Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo) takes place at the McCormick Center in Chicago and you will have to take a bus to go to the center. When I went there in 2017, It was very warm the day that I went there. In 2018, the weather was a little cold and I would recommend to wear a jacket when you go there because the convention center itself is near a body of ocean. The show is great and there are two floors of the show and they are very large and it is filled up by different vendors and artists and gaming areas. Of all the conventions I have went to, this one is floor friendly the most as you would not feel lost or cramped in areas at all. The panels I have attended that week featured Guardians of the Galaxy, Tom Kenny of Spongebob Squarepants, and Khary Payton of The Walking Dead. I have also interviewed the cast of Daphne and Velma as well and we all had a blast talking. Call me weird, but as a guy from New York, I prefer Chicago style pizza and I love it!

Wizard World Philadelphia

Up next, is Philadelphia and Wizard World’s biggest show is in Philadelphia and the best part of the location is that it is right across the street from the Reading Terminal Market. You would not have to scatter around the convention center to figure out what food that you want to get since the market has a huge amount of options that you can choose. Wizard World itself is usually a great show with a great amount of celebrities that you can meet. I wanted to meet Natalie Dormer of Game of Thrones, but I did not have the time at all since I was covering the show. I did got the chance to interview Erica Schroeder in which we talked about her role in Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon and The panels I have attended featured Ezra Miller and Ray Fisher of Justice League, Sebastain Stan, and the voices of Overwatch. The cosplay over there was actually great too with some mind blowing ones that caught my attention that I still do remember to this day.

San Diego Comic Con

I have not been to SDCC since 2012 and when I went there to cover it in 2018, It has changed  and I was amazed with the huge presence over there. This was not like other conventions where only parts of the city were comic con themed, The ENTIRE area of San Diego was comic con themed from the minute you walk out of the airport and onward. I even seen it on taxi cabs, buildings, The Trolleys and theaters, and even the line of the Conan tapings that week. It was massive to see how big it has become since I was last there and there are also offsite events related to comic con for the press and attendees for everyone to enjoy such as the Jack Ryan escape room experience, Amazon TV’s museum, The Walking Dead’s showcase, South Park escape room, and much more. This is all outside of the convention center and they are at different parts of San Diego even though a few of the events are across the street of the convention center. Speaking of the convention center, you cannot even go to the sidewalk of the convention center unless you have a badge and that is a great move to prevent scalpers from trying to rip people off. The building itself is very huge and when I was there on preview night when there were a small amount of people there, It took me a whole fifteen minutes to walk from one side of the building to another. Imagine being there when there is a huge amount of attendees. The show itself was great and the media interviews I have been part of was The Walking Dead, Fear The Walking Dead, Crazy Ex Girlfriend, Better Call Saul, and much more. I did however seen the dreaded Hall H line and I was stunned to see how many people were on the line that camped out for a few days. Hall H is where the bigger panels take place for television and movies and even surviving the line is a task. I have never went inside Hall H and I do not think I can put my body through it. All in all, SDCC I highly recommend for you to go once in your life.

Keystone Comic Con

The newest one of the convention scene is Keystone Comic Con and it is also in Philadelphia as well. Every convention has something unique and this one is the first comic con to have a wrestling ring with wrestling matches from Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore. I was not surprised to see that there was a large crowd each day of the matches that took place there and it actually turned out very well. There were wrestling legends there such as Tommy Dreamer, Bully Ray, Jim Cornette, and Jerry Lawler with a few new faces such as Lance Anaoi. Speaking of wrestling, Me and my girlfriend got the chance to not only meet WWE Superstar Nikki Bella, but we spoken to her for nearly ten minutes about different topics. There was also a large gaming area in one of the rooms and there were set up by different eras of gaming consoles. There was also a costume contest that I enjoyed and different vendors of comics as well. I hope in 2019 I can cover it again!

New York Comic Con

I have covered NYCC every year since 2012 and each year I love it more than the previous year. New York is a flooded city where it does not sleep but what did sleep this year, was the MTA as the 7 Train was not running the entire time during NYCC weekend and that frustrated me a lot. Other than that, I bought a large amount of comics at this show this year other than interviewing celebrities.But the day before NYCC began, I was invited to attend the red carpet event of DC’s Titans along with a screening of the first two episodes. Also, E! Network had a truck outside where they were giving away free donuts to attendees after they place their vote on the upcoming awards show at the time. I have went to that truck at least five times per day during that week. Celebrities I have interviewed ranged from shows such as Batman:The Animated Series, The Gifted, Legacies, Lore, and The Man in The High Castle. I also did my 200th episode of my podcast there with guests Jason Solomon of The Solomonster Sound’s Off, Jon Draper of Wrestling Soup, and Ray Flook of BleedingCool.com. I also ran into Brandon Davis of Comicbook.com and Kirsten of Insider many times during the week as we talked about various news about the show. If you are in New York, NYCC is the place to be during the fall.

My first show that I will cover will be C2E2 2019 so I will report from there

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New York Comic Con 2018 Recap of the Week

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

This year for the 7th year in a row, I covered New York Comic Con as part of the media. The show has grown very large over the years and it will keep getting bigger for years to come. Everything on the show was flooded with attendees going to different vendors to get their favorite comic book or piece of exclusive merchandise. It was massive and the crowds are as huge as a group of zombies on The Walking Dead. The Funko booth has been the busiest line all week from what I have seen and i can see why since that is the hottest brand of the entire show. You however, needed to enter a lottery and win in order to even get in the line of the booth. I have also seen various lines at the booth of writers, artists, and various celebrities and professional wrestlers such as Sting, Lita, Trish Stratus, Finn Balor, Bayley, and much more. There is a fandom for everything at this show every year and I love seeing it being showcased. My experience as press this year has been at the level of San Diego Comic Con as i went from one place to another inside the convention center and I connected with different writers and journalists that I have meet previously and for the first time such as Brandon Davis of Comicbook.com, Kirsten of INSIDER, and Linda Marie of Fan Fest. We have all connected during different times of the show to talk about various things about the show.

My press days started on Day 0 (I would like to call it) at the Titans red carpet event and screening. The red carpet event featured the cast of the show as they were there for flash photography and interviews. I liked that this was done outside because it would have been very hot and muggy if it was done inside. There were big white couches on the floor for press members and they were much more comfortable than the hard chairs at the Hammerstein Ballroom (I have been there before for wrestling events. Trust me, those seats are painful). We were shown the first two episodes of the show and It is largely watchable for the most part. The SDCC trailer received a huge amount of backlash from fans, but for the screening, the reception was mostly positive. There was also a Q and A panel afterwards along with a teaser of the Doom Patrol series. We also were shown another teaser of the Harley Quinn animated show as well and then it was announced that Titans will be renewed for a second season. I had my worries of the show (and I still do), but I think that it can be better on the long run in the future.

Day one was Thursday and the show felt like a Saturday with all of the people there in different areas of the convention center. I meet with Ray Flook of Bleedingcool.com to discuss the podcast plans as I was also recording the 200th episode of my show. I also seen that the E! Network had a small truck outside the convention center as they were giving away free donuts to everyone as long as you voted on the selected category of the People’s Choice Awards. I came back there about 3-4 times per day to get some donuts. TruTV also had an area inside one of their panels where they were giving away free bagels as well. These two networks really wanted to have all of the attendees fed very well.

I ran into Kasey Pierce at her booth at Source Point Press as we talked about the show and the stuff that was going on at SDCC since I planned on stopping by her booth at that show originally but it was way too busy for me over there. I picked up a few of her comics that she and her team has produced (also if you are reading this, thank you for signing them). I wanted to stop by more booths during the show but my time at the press rooms overlapped too much so I could not see them along with a few panels I missed out on.

I meet up with my friends and also fellow podcasters Jason Solomon of the Solomonster Sounds Off, John Draper of Wrestling Soup, and Shaheen of THT (The Hot Tag) as I also recorded part of my 200th episode with them one by one. It was Jason’s first time and I gave him most of the rundown on what to avoid during the show. It was great seeing all of them including Fred Richani of The Sports Courier as we talked about our predictions of the UFC 229 show.

My first press room of the week was at The Man in the High Castle as the cast talked about the show in roundtable interviews. My second press room was TruTV’s Jon Glaser Loves Gear as I interviewed Jon Glaser himself as he talked about the upcoming season with me and a funny story about working with Amy Schumer.

My final press room of the day was at Crackle’s Supermansion. I interviewed the creator and producers of the show back in C2E2 earlier this year so it was great to see the entire cast talk about the show at the press conference including Bryan Cranston himself.

Friday’s press rooms featured the Amazon Prime exclusive TV series Lore as I was part of the Roundtable interviews with Alicia Witt. This show is developed by the creator of the podcast of the same name, Aaron Mahnkle. I also spoken to Gale Anne Hurd who is also a producer of The Walking Dead and other movies such as The Incredible Hulk, Armageddon, and The Terminator. I asked her about when she found out about Andrew Lincoln’s departure of the show. My next press room interviews was the 25th Anniversary of Batman: The Animated Series as I spoken to Kevin Conroy and Tara Strong about the Blu-Ray release of the show and their memories of the show.

Saturday, my time was mostly away from convention center after i covered the Legacies press room. I spoken with Danielle Ross Russell, Matthew Davis, and Jenny Boyd and they talked about the upcoming show and it’s ties to The Vampire Diaries. After that, I attended the Paleyfest red carpet event of The Walking Dead. Cast members Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Melissa McBribe, and Norman Reedus were therefor photos and interviews along with show runner Angela Kang. I was very surprised that Jeffrey remembered me as he looked at my direction and said “Hey I remember you from San Diego, how are you doing man” as we shook hands. This followed by a screening of the first episode of the 9th season of The Walking Dead with a discussion panel after the episode finished screening. I did not go to the Madison Square Garden panel later that night, but the news of the passing of Scott Wilson happened while the event was going on. It was sad for everyone to find out that this happened especially if you are in that building where other people in the same room are talking about it.

On Sunday, Me and Ray Flook recorded part of the podcast as we talked about the show in general and this was after I covered the press room of FOX’s The Gifted. The cast only had a few minutes at a time for interviews since they all had to go to the panel right after it but i was happy to meet the entire cast!

Overall, it has been a great show for press coverage this year. I am always looking forward to the show every year. Next year, I will return again to bring you more coverage of the show. With that, check out some of the photos I have taken of cosplayers.

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @julianexcalibur

MARVEL Entertainment Takes Over New York Comic Con

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT TAKES OVER NEW YORK COMIC CON

WITH EXCLUSIVE PANELS, ADVANCE SCREENINGS, LIVE-STREAMING COVERAGE FROM MARVEL.COM, THE HOTTEST GAMES, AND AN AMAZING LINE-UP OF TELEVISION AND COMIC CELEBRITY INTERVIEWS, FAN ACTIVITIES AND STAGE EVENTS AT THE MARVEL BOOTH

 

Visit Marvel Booth (#1354) for Autograph Signings, Exclusive New York Comic Con Giveaways and More

 

Los Angeles, CA (September 5, 2018) – Marvel Entertainment is descending onto New York Comic Con in full force! Join us for a robust lineup of fun events from Marvel Television, Marvel New Media, Marvel Animation, Marvel Comics, Marvel Games and Marvel Themed Entertainment. With exclusive first-look videos, star-studded signings, and incredible fan experiences at the Marvel booth, this Comic Con is guaranteed to bring you loads of unexpected surprises you won’t want to miss – all starting Thursday, October 4 through Sunday, October 7.

 

Fans at New York Comic Con will be the very first to witness the highly-anticipated return of Marvel’s Daredevil, Marvel’s first Super Hero on Netflix, and the critically acclaimed Marvel’s Runaways, both on-stage at Madison Square Garden for the first time ever!

 

Join the cast and producers of The Gifted at the Javits Center where they return to New York Comic Con with an exclusive first look at an all-new episode from the second season of the series.

 

The always fun Marvel Animation will present a star-studded Marvel Rising panel, and the annual Marvel Animation Presents panel returns with exciting news from Marvel Animated projects and a special screening of the television film, Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors.

 

Marvel Comics will be returning to the con with surprise guests, panels, giveaways, and more! Fans will be able to hear from Marvel’s top writers, artists, and editors as they talk about fan-favorite characters and the thrilling stories in the Marvel Universe today – along with a sneak peek at what’s next!

 

Marvel fans at home can tune-in as Marvel New Media brings fans four days of streaming coverage from New York Comic Con on Marvel.com, and Marvel social media channels. From hosting This Week In Marvel and Women Of Marvel panels, to live episodes of Earth’s Mightiest Show, Marvel New Media’s coverage of NYCC 2018 is not one to be missed!

 

Marvel Games will be bringing some of the hottest games to the con including Marvel Contest of Champions, Marvel Puzzle Quest, and MARVEL Battle Lines. Follow @MarvelGames on Twitter for more information coming soon.

 

The fan-favorite Marvel booth (#1354) will once again return with a full lineup of Events touching all points of the Marvel Universe! Fans will be able to attend signings with their favorite Marvel stars, participate in special costume contests, and much, much more. The booth will be jam-packed with giveaways and exclusive Marvel merchandise, so get there early!

 

For more exciting Marvel highlights and news during New York Comic Con 2018, tune in to the Marvel Livestream at Marvel.com starting Thursday, October 4th. Join the conversation using #MarvelNYCC, and stay tuned to www.marvel.com for all the breaking news from Marvel Television at New York Comic Con. Follow @Marvel on Twitter and “like” Marvel on Facebook for minute-by-minute updates on all things in the MCU.