As I have noted, and will probably continue to do so, my first D23 Expo in 2015 was such an amazing experience that I rank it as one of the best conventions I’ve attended to date and instantly made me into a regular attendee for as long as I’m able. Each year seemed to pull something special that left me floored and dazzled that I couldn’t wait to return for more. This year was no different overall. In fact, it made me that much more thrilled to see what Disney would cook up next as they continued to showcase virtually all aspects of their company with amazing spectacles that even the San Diego Comic Con would have trouble rivaling.

As the first D23 Expo to run with the pandemic still going, they did a number a things quite differently from previous years. A very notable change was that there would be no overnight queuing at the Convention Center. It was understandable under the circumstances. But it made for some uncomfortable time spent attempting to get in line super early when they were trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to keep folks from queuing until 4:30 am. Most folks were willing to line up on Convention Way overnight any way and risk getting yelled at or kicked out as a result. Another reason for no overnight queuing was an emphasis on the reservation system.

The reservation system introduced in 2019 was a disaster. This year was improved in that there would be no first come, first served set up. Instead, attendees would only get one reservation per day. Mixed reception was on the randomization of which reservations attendees got. While it did provide a greater chance of getting something that one would want, there was as much risk of not getting the more preferred programs. And reservations were not limited to just the presentations. One of the reservations could end up being for something like the Pixar ball giveaway on one of the days. I heard someone unfortunately ended up with two of those.

Of course, in wanting to be fair, they maintained standby queues. It would be because of this that the pressure to get in line as early in the morning as possible would make things extremely stressful. This was very apparent for Saturday morning as there was no question folks would be willing to fight one another to get into the Marvel/Lucasfilm presentation in Hall D23. It turned out they had so few openings for standby that frankly it would have been better served if the presentation was reservation only. People who came super early in the morning only to not get in were tremendously unhappy that they essentially had no chance any way.

I felt rather fortunate with how the reservation system worked out for me as I ended up with reservations for three presentations that were of high preference to me: the Studio Showcase on Friday, The Muppet Christmas Carol on Saturday, and TRON on Sunday. Everything else I wanted to get into I had to be in standby for. There were a couple presentations I wasn’t able to get into, though aside from the Marvel/Lucasfilm debacle I ultimately figured I didn’t have the time to try a few of them either because a presentation I was in went beyond its scheduled end time or I determined it wasn’t worth the hassle. Those I got into weren’t stressful and I had a really good time.

The Disney Legends Awards were established in 1987 to honor and recognize individuals who made extraordinary and integral contributions to the Walt Disney Company. The equivalent of a Hall of Fame program, ceremonies were originally private before being made public as part of the D23 Expo when first started in 2009. The Disney Legends Awards ceremony would since serve as the primary opening event of the convention, a platform for which the company, through their Chief Executive Officer, would recap past events and made some announcements for future endeavors before turning the spotlight over to those who would be inducted as Disney Legends.

My standby group was held up from getting into Hall D23 in time for the start of the ceremony due to a busted escalator. After some terribly long waiting, we were finally able to get in after missing out on a mash-up performance by members of The Lion King, Aladdin, and Frozen national musical tours and most of the announcements by Bob Chapeck. This was the first year with Chapek as CEO, who was not well liked by many fans. We heard he received boos from some members of the audience. It was perhaps because of this that he didn’t serve as host like his predecessor Bob Iger did, instead the role being given to acclaimed TV host Tamron Hall.

This year’s inductees as Disney Legends consisted of Ellen Pompeo (Television), Rob’t Coltrin (Imagineering), Patrick Dempsey (Film & Television), Doris Hardoon (Imagineering), Anthony Anderson (Television), Tracee Ellis Ross (Television), Robert Price “Bob” Foster (Administration), Chris Montan (Music), Jonathan Groff (Film & Voice), Kristen Bell (Film & Voice), Josh Gad (Film & Voice), Idina Menzel (Film & Voice), Don Hahn (Animation & Film), and Chadwick Boseman (Film). In a way, the ceremony spoke of the cultural impact of characters from Grey’s Anatomy, Black-ish, and Frozen alongside Boseman’s performance as Black Panther.

Nearly all of the newly inducted Disney Legends were present to give brief yet touching speeches. Coltrin and Hardoon were humbled at the honor, and the positive reception from attendees, they were receiving. Dempsey got to acknowledge how his work with Disney helped him open The Dempsey Center in response to his mother’s prolonged bouts with cancer. Both Anderson and Ross took individual selfies holding the award on stage. Gad ended his hilarious speech calling out the Disney World staffer who rejected him for a job on the Jungle Cruise at age eighteen. Menzel managed to sing a snippet of “When You Wish Upon a Star” to cap her speech.

Those who weren’t present were Foster, Hahn, and Boseman. Hahn’s absence was at the last second and he would eventually reveal on Facebook that he had tested positive for COVID and therefore had to isolate himself. Foster had passed away at the beginning of the year with his daughter Debby Swenson accepting on his behalf. She related her fondest memory of his treating her to a birthday visit to Disneyland and being able to skip lines with a flash of his administration card. The ceremony become emotional for Boseman, who passed away two years ago from cancer. Accepting on his behalf was his brother Derrick, who gave a very heartfelt speech.

Perhaps to end the ceremony on a lighter note, they had a surprise performance of “We Don’t Talk about Bruno” from Encanto. Present to perform were cast members Carolina Gaitán (Pepa), Mauro Castillo (Félix), Adassa (Dolores), and Diane Guerrero (Isabela), so they got to sing additional lines. Honestly, it was a wonderful way to close out the festivities and was a great performance on its own. I had been meaning to check out the Disney Legends ceremony for a while and I’m glad I was able to attend this one. I missed the opening content and I did wish there had been more animation inductees, but overall it was lovely event to experience.

There’s no bigger draw to the D23 Expo than the Disney Studios presentations. For over two hours, Disney would dazzle the nearly 7,000 who managed to get into Hall D23 with a showcase that was second to none in promoting their upcoming releases. It’s quite impossible to describe in words the sensation one would feel seeing a cavalcade of stars on stage getting fans excited for the Disney projects they would be appearing in. And those same fans would be getting their money’s worth as they would be the first to see footage and content months before Disney would show a good majority of them to the public, which made these presentations must-see events.

It was the Disney studios presentations that won me over and they would always be at the top of presentations to prioritize. I managed to secure a reservation, so my seat was ensured. Once we were brought up to Hall D23, we enjoyed playing along to the trivia screens and watching promos for what was happening on the main floor. A few of us unconsciously sang along to “You’re Welcome” from Moana when it was playing overhead. It was about a minute before the presentation was about to start when we noticed folks were hurrying over to a seat just a couple rows in front of me. It turned out Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige was sitting there.

The presentation opened with an emotionally beautiful sizzle reel of Disney films from its 100 year history, closing on the reveal of the new company logo. Company chairman Alan Bergman came out to kick off the festivities and saw that we liked the new logo so much that he played it again to our delight.

Bergman handed things over to Sean Bailey, President of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, to begin with the live-action slate. Bailey brought up the live-action Pinocchio feature, which had just been released the previous day on Disney+, leading to a lovely performance of “When You Wish Upon a Star” by Cynthia Erivo (The Blue Fairy).

The first preview would be Hocus Pocus 2, the long-awaited sequel to the cult classic. The final trailer would premiere with a video introduction from stars Bette Midler (Winnie), Kathy Najimy (Mary), and Sarah Jessica Parker (Sarah). Part of the introduction was Midler claiming she had magic abilities, resulting in some fun trick effects such as causing an object to appear in Bailey’s pocket and messing with the house lights. Hocus Pocus 2 would premiere on Disney+ a few weeks later.

Next was Disenchanted, the highly-anticipated sequel to Enchanted. Bailey brought out the full cast of Jayma Mays (Ruby), Yvette Nicole Brown (Rosaleen), Gabriella Baldacchino (Morgan), Idina Menzel (Nancy), James Marsden (Edward), Patrick Dempsey (Robert), Maya Rudolph (Malvina), and Amy Adams (Giselle) to say a few words about their roles and how many had changed and differed since the first film before introducing the trailer. Disenchanted would premiere on Disney+ later in the year.

The last film previewed that would be exclusive to Disney+ was Peter Pan and Wendy. Stars Alexander Molony (Peter Pan), Ever Anderson (Wendy), Alyssa Wapanatâhk (Tiger Lily), and Jude Law (Captain Hook) were introduced to talk about their attempt at creating a live-action feature that maintained the spirit of the animated classic while trying out new things, such as a further exploration of Peter and Hook’s rivalry and an expanded presence for Tiger Lily. The first trailer was then showed off with the feature coming out the following year.

Bailey moved into the films that would have theatrical releases beginning with a new version of The Haunted Mansion. Director Justin Simien came out to talk about the film while also bringing up that he previously worked at Disneyland with his work badge displayed. They then moved into showing off an extended first preview of the film, which would be released the following year. They wrapped up with an appearance from one of the stars, arriving on one the ride’s Doom Buggies. It turned to reveal Jamie Lee Curtis, who would play Madame Leota.

Next up was Mufasa: The Lion King. Talking about the prequel tale would be acclaimed director Barry Jenkins. He explained how the film would see Mufasa in a new light as an orphan who would ascend to be king. It was added that the story would be told by Rafiki, presumably to the newborn Kiara, only to be disrupted by Timon and Pumbaa complaining about their not being in the tale. A trailer was then shown of what was ready ahead of the film’s release in a couple years.

Bailey moved on to revealing a teaser trailer to the live-action Snow White. The first glimpse of who would be playing the Evil Queen got fans excited. Then being brought out to the stage were stars Rachel Zegler (Snow White) and Gal Gadot (The Evil Queen). Both explained how they looked forward to modernizing the tale while maintaining some of the classic animated feature’s magic. Snow White was scheduled to be released in a couple years.

Rounding out the live-action features would be The Little Mermaid. Director Rob Marshall appeared to talk about the challenge of adapting the beloved animated classic in a way that would be both faithful and unique. While they had just started post-production, Marshall felt the D23 Expo was as good of an event as any to show off the “Part of Your World” sequence in full. The footage looked pretty good, even if it needed fine-tuning, and it won over the audience. Star Halle Bailey came out right after the scene ended and expressed adoration for the opportunity to play Ariel. The teaser trailer was then shown with the feature coming out the following year.

The presentation moved over to animation, opening with Pixar and its chief creative officer Pete Docter. First up would be Elemental. Director Peter Sohn and producer Denise Ream came out to explain how Sohn drew upon his parents’ struggles as immigrants in communities that mixed multiple ethnicities to tell the story of a fire elemental and a water elemental bonding. Stars Leah Lewis (Ember) and Mamoudou Athie (Wade) appeared, accompanied by some exciting entrances, to explain their characters while showing off concept art and footage ahead of the film’s release the following year.

Next was the studio’s first full-form television series, Win or Lose. Directors Michael Yates and Carrie Hobson talked about the series exploring the lives of participants in an upcoming little league game. They showed off a very nifty trailer which was followed by a video message from star Will Forte (Coach Dan) to introduce a scene, though he was amused that the scene didn’t involve his character. The scene went over very well with the audience ahead of its release on Disney+ the following year.

Docter would be interrupted with a sudden “Bring Us Your Leader” message flashing on the screens, which led into presenting the studio’s next feature Elio. Director Adrian Molina and producer Mary Alice Drumm, with concept art and production art of the characters displayed, briefly explained the film would tell the story of a socially awkward young boy who would mistakenly become the ambassador for Earth by aliens wishing to know more about humanity. Stars Yonas Kibreab (Elio) and America Farrera (Olga) appeared to talk a bit about their excitement for the feature coming out in a couple years.

As Docter was wrapping things up, a familiar voice was heard and out came Amy Poehler. Poehler couldn’t contain her Joy as she joined Docter in officially announcing Inside Out 2 to great fanfare. What little could be announced was that Riley would be a teenager and new emotions would be discovered. Directing this time around would be Kelsey Mann while Meg LeFauve returned to write the screenplay with release scheduled in a couple years.

Rounding out the presentation would be Walt Disney Animation Studios and chief creative officer Jennifer Lee. She started on a couple of their Disney+ programs, showing off a trailer for Zootopia+ that tickled funny bones. She then introduced Kugali Media, a Pan-African entertainment company they were helping to launch their first project Iwájú. Creators Hamid Ibrahim, Olufikayo Ziki Adeola, and Tolu Olowofoyeku showed off concept art and explained the series would explore themes of class, innocence, and challenging the status quo. They finished by showing off a trailer to the fascinating limited series releasing the following year.

Next would be the forthcoming Disney animated feature Strange World. Director Don Hall and writer Qui Nguyen talked about the science fiction venture serving as the backdrop to the core story of generational rifts and understanding among the Clade family. Stars Jake Gyllenhaal (Searcher), Jaboukie Young-White (Ethan), Dennis Quaid (Jaeger), and Lucy Liu (Mal) came out to briefly explain their characters before showing off a new trailer and a dazzling extended preview clip ahead of the film’s release later in the year.

Closing the presentation would be the official announcement of the feature to be released the following year. A montage clip played of a common theme in the Disney animated films, the wishing star. This would be the basis for the film Wish. Directors Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn showed off some beautiful test animation and concept art while explaining the premise of a princess seeking the wishing star to overcome an evil that threatened her land.

Appearing in the film would be the company’s current “good luck charm” Alan Tudyk. The fan favorite went over his previous roles in Disney animated features to date, even voicing them as they were displayed, before revealing his character in Wish, a cute little goat named Valentino. They showed off a nice and humorous test animation of Valentino, whose wish to communicate yields an unusual result. In addition to Tudyk, Buck noted that there would be a lot of Easter Eggs fans would have fun looking out for.

The full presentation came to an end with the directors revealing that the songs would be done by Julia Michaels. Lee then came out to introduce star Ariana DeBose (Asha) to perform the song “More For Us”. Set to even more concept art and test animation, the performance was a show-stopper and blew away every attendee in Hall D23. As the song finished, star confetti rained down on the adoring fans. And even long after the wonderful presentation had wrapped, confetti continued to be poured out to delighted amusement. The whole presentation was a magical time to be hand.

The loss of Jim Henson in 1990 left the future of his company and the Muppets in question. It would be suggested to Brian Henson to adapt A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Envisioned as a television special, Disney would instead turn it into a theatrical feature. The Muppet Christmas Carol, starring Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge, was released in 1992 to positive critical reception and a modest box-office run. Since then, it would become a widely beloved Christmas hallmark that continued to enchant audiences of all ages. A 30th anniversary celebration of the film would be one of the most anticipated presentations at the D23 Expo on the Premiere Stage.

The presentation began with Gonzo introducing the host Nina West. West had a heavy presence throughout the weekend, hosting many programs including the Mousequerade, and her hosting the anniversary presentation of The Muppet Christmas Carol became a delightful time for all. She introduced other Muppets to join Gonzo in Kermit, Miss Piggy, and Robin. Gonzo stayed in character in that he presented himself as Charles Dickens. Each of the Muppets looked back fondly at the film with the Muppet antics one would expect, such as Piggy and West sparring verbally. After a few minutes of fun, they screened the blooper reel to fan enjoyment.

West then started the panel proper introducing director Brian Henson, songwriter Paul Williams, costume designer Polly Smith, and performer Dave Goelz (Gonzo). Among the factoids brought up was that in Britain the film was often voted as both the best and the most faithful adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Henson reasoned this was because of writer Jerry Juhl’s interest in having the Dickens prose present, resulting in the inclusion of Gonzo playing Charles Dickens. Goelz felt this added another dimension to Gonzo, starting as an outsider who then became an enthusiast before the film developed him into being a soulful figure.

Williams noted that when Henson asked him to work on the film it was incredible timing. He analyzed the Scrooge character as an addict of finance and greed who would experience a spiritual awakening to become a better man, similar to how Williams at the time had finally gotten sober after years of substance abuse and used it as inspiration in writing the songs. Smith admitted that she initially wasn’t prepared to design costumes for the film as she was still working on the Dinosaurs television series. She had her team work off photo copies of sketches from the actual period until she was able to properly focus and design for the main characters.

Discussion would come back around to the songs, specifically the deleted “When Love is Gone” scene. Henson reiterated that the scene was cut from the theatrical release because then-chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg didn’t think it appealed to the younger audience. When it came time for a high-definition release, Henson wanted to add the scene back in only to discover that the negative went missing. While the original negative had yet to be found, the Disney archivists did find a “first strike inter-positive”, which allowed them to restore the scene into the film and would be added to Disney+ on the exact day of the 30th anniversary.

This led to a big surprise of the presentation with a performance of the song by Jodi Benson. It was quite a lovely moment with Benson able to hit the notes just right to connect with the emotions of the lyrics. Some more behind-the-scenes stories were told afterward, mostly by Henson and Williams. Henson talked about the advantage of shooting the film entirely on sound stage and not on location for fear of forces of nature. Williams noted that when he introduced himself to Michael Caine as they were recording songs, a perplexed Caine responded, “Are you out of your mind? We spent an entire weekend together at the White Elephant in London.”

Following a few more stories, the panelists each got to share their lasting thoughts and reflections on The Muppet Christmas Carol and its impact on their lives. When they finished, they departed and West closed out the presentation performing alongside the Muppets a melody of the songs from the film. Goelz once again performed as Gonzo with Eric Jacobson as Miss Piggy, Peter Linz as Robin, David Rudman as Fozzie, and Matt Vogel as Kermit. The Muppets themselves book-ending the presentation made it all the more delightful and joyous. This was overall one of those grand moments that left me feeling all warm and fuzzy throughout.

Encanto was released in 2021 as the 60th feature from Walt Disney Animation. Coming out as the pandemic was still ongoing, it was reasonable that, like the preceding film Raya and the Last Dragon, it would not garner the magical box-office run the recent string of Disney animated features had been experiencing beforehand. And yet the film managed to find success and adoration. Encanto earned critical acclaim, was one of the most streamed programs to date, and would set music records thanks to the addictive songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda. With the film fresh on everyone’s minds, a celebration would be set up at the D23 Expo on the Premiere Stage.

As would be expected, the room in which the presentation was held in was nearly packed from wall to wall with excited fans. Serving as host would be Tamron Hall, just a day removed from hosting the Disney Legends ceremony. Hall would split the presentation into two halves, starting with the filmmakers. This method would be commonly used in other presentations throughout the weekend. Appearing for the filmmakers were director Jared Bush and producers Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer. They only lightly touched upon the genesis of the film and talked briefly about their fascination in Colombian culture as pre-production progressed.

They were soon joined by Jamal Sims, who served as choreographer. They showed off his reference video for “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”, only with Miranda’s demo left in. Sims added how he had trouble putting the dance together at first as Miranda sang for every character in his demo. This led to the presentation’s most fascinating moment where, using 5G technology, they brought in Lin-Manual Miranda via live hologram. For his brief appearance, he noted how he was writing the songs while staying with his in-laws at the height of the pandemic. This provided him some inspiration in building the lyrics around family.

After Miranda logged off, Hall moved into the second half with members of the cast. Appearing were Wilmer Valderrama (Agustín), Mauro Castillo (Félix), Carolina Gaitán (Pepa), Diane Guerrero (Isabela), and Adassa (Dolores). It was apparent as they spoke that the entire cast virtually said “Yes!” to joining the film based on the pitch before the script was even written. Gaitán couldn’t contain her excitement at meeting Miranda at the airport, and how it seemingly helped to get her cast. Bush revealed to her shock that she met Miranda just as he had returned from the research trip to Colombia with him and fellow director Byron Howard.

Each of the cast members got to explain a little insight into their approach to voicing the characters. They further noted that they managed to feel like a family even though they hadn’t properly met or been together until the premiere. To cap off the presentation, it was first announced that the whole cast would be performing a live-to-film concert at the Hollywood Bowl later in the year. Castillo, Gaitán, Guerrero, and Adassa then closed things out with another performance of “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”, this time with attendees singing along. A very nice presentation to attend overall and certainly one that fans of the film would relish.

The success of Zootopia superseded virtually all expectations. The 55th feature from Walt Disney Animation would garner massive critical acclaim as it grossed over $1 billion at the box-office and earned numerous accolades since its 2016 release. It seemed only natural that there would be more to the film, if nothing else than to expand upon a lush and vibrant world rich in unique characters. Six years later, Disney would finally return to the anthropomorphic metropolis with Zootopia+. It would be an anthology series of shorts that explored the lives of some of the supporting characters in parallel to events in the film.

Interestingly, this was the one presentation of those I attended that had a complete electronics lock-down one would have expected for the Hall D23 showcases. This likely had to do with shorts being screened in full, even it if was only two of the scheduled six, months ahead of the release. Heading the presentation on the Backlot Stage were the directors Trent Correy and Josie Trinidad. Both had worked on the film previously, Trinidad was co-head of story with a “Story by” credit and Correy was an animator who notably worked on the DMV sequence. Correy had been venturing into directing and would conceive of Zootopia+, asking Trinidad to join him.

Correy and Trinidad briefly described the six shorts that encompassed the series: Hopp on Board, about Judy’s parents racing to rescue their infant child; The Real Rodents of Rodentia, a reality show parody focused on Fru Fru; Duke The Musical, exploring Duke Weaselton’s desire for success; The Godfather of the Bride, where Mr. Big narrated his backstory; So You Think You Can Prance, with Clawhauser participating in a dance competition; and Dinner Rush, a rom-com look at Flash taking Priscilla on a date. The two that were screened were Hopp on Board and The Godfather of the Bride, the latter picked out by the directors as their favorite.

There was time after the screenings for audience questions. I liked that a good portion of the questions were from rather young attendees asking for advice on breaking into the business even if they believed they did not possess any artistic abilities. Correy and Trinidad themselves liked these questions and were more than happy to open up about the different paths one could take outside of being able to draw. I was one of the few that focused on the series itself, asking if they had considered other stories aside from the six made. Correy revealed one of the discarded ideas was a horror parody with the sloths that a lot of us really liked.

Dan’s Review: Based on the two shorts that were screened, Zootopia+ looked to do enough to whet the appetite of fans anxious wanting more of the anthropomorphic metropolis. Hopp on Board was a cute way to involve Judy’s parents in an adventure racer without altering their personalities. But, like the directors, The Godfather of the Bride was an outstanding short. Everything about it was done with loving affection for the story being told while having fun parodying the gangster genre. Across both shorts, the animation was beautiful and the narratives were told with the right amount of pacing to not feel too short or even too long.

As Walt Disney himself would often say, “It all started with a mouse.” The unparalleled success of Mickey Mouse following the release of the first synchronized sound cartoon Steamboat Willie in 1928 would become the foundation upon which the entire Disney enterprise would be built. Without Mickey Mouse, there would be no D23 Expo and the global landscape would be far different than what it was today. In the approach to Disney’s 100th anniversary, a documentary would soon be released on Disney+ that looked to chronicle the global and cultural impact of their flagship mascot, the good and even the bad, called Mickey: The Story of a Mouse.

The Backlot Stage was just above being half full, which I imagine was more to do with the Parks and Experiences presentation taking place at roughly the same time in Hall D23 than anything else. Nevertheless, those who did decide to give this one a shot were rewarded with a very nice discussion regarding Mickey, the documentary film, and some fascinating information about Disney folks might not have known beforehand. The presentation kicked off with a screening of the first ten minutes of the film, which included a look at the Disney family farm. The footage hooked in everyone as they definitely wanted to see more when the ten minutes were up.

Serving as host was the current voice of Mickey Mouse in Bret Iwan. It was nice including him in the presentation as he came off less like a moderator and more a participant himself. Present to talk about the film and other things Mickey were the documentary’s director Jeff Malmberg, producers Chris Shellen and Meghan Walsh, animators Eric Goldberg and Floyd Norman, and head of Walt Disney Archives Becky Cline. The filmmakers noted what an insightful journey it was making the documentary, exploring the full scope of Mickey’s cultural impact. They hoped they would offer audiences some new information about the character based on what they discovered.

Brought up was that there would be new animation specifically for the film called Mickey in a Minute. Goldberg talked a little about the project as he would be shown working on it in the documentary alongside Mark Henn and Randy Haycock. He explained that it was developed to fit into the film’s theme of Mickey’s evolution through the years. The premise would be that a reminiscent Mickey would get sucked into a whirlwind vortex and go through all of his previous iterations within the span of one minute. “My favorite kind of animation is animation that appears to enjoy itself,” Goldberg noted. “And who better embodies that than Mickey Mouse.”

A fun moment near the end was the question of which design was each panelist’s favorite and they all chose Fred Moore’s. “There’s just something so charming about his interpretation of Mickey Mouse,” Norman explained. Goldberg went further and pointed specifically to the cartoons from 1941 like The Little Whirlwind and The Nifty Nineties. “He was never more fluid or more joyous than in Freddie Moore’s hand,” Goldberg stated. Malmberg, Shellen, and Cline would add that, while some folks would have a personal favorite design, it didn’t really matter as one could jump between different cartoons and it would still be the same Mickey.

In 1982, Disney was struggling to recapture its past glory prior to the passing of Walt Disney. This resulted in many curious experimentation, often at the risk of losing touch with what made the company successful in the first place. Taking a chance, they released a film called TRON. While it had a modest box-office run upon release, it would grow in reverence over time. It’s pioneering use of computer graphics would lay the foundation for a groundbreaking evolution of visual entertainment. 40 years later, TRON would be hailed as a landmark milestone for Disney and a celebration was in order to be held at the D23 Expo.

Exhilarated fans filled the Backlot Stage to capacity in anticipation for a wonderful look back on the 40th anniversary of one of the most influential films in the business. I managed to actually be seated near one of the film’s visual effects artists. She was just as excited as the rest of us for the presentation, having not seen some of the others in the years since the film’s release. Hosting the proceedings would be TikTok influencer Juju Green and original TRON publicist Mike Bonifer. To kick things off, Bonifer had a surprise for his co-host as producer Donald Kushner come out to gift Green with a TRON jacket specifically for him.

The first half of the presentation would focus on the groundbreaking visual effects. To talk about that would be visual effects supervisors Richard Taylor and Harrison Ellenshaw, effects technical supervisor John Scheele, and animation compositing camera operator Glenn Campbell. Noted TRON fan David Fleming, dressed up in his replica Flynn costume, was present to provide assistance to Taylor. Fleming also walked down the aisles to show off features of the costume. Once the discussions started, the screens would cycle through displaying numerous concept artwork and behind-the-scenes production stills that Bonifer had in his possession.

Taylor and Ellenshaw would restate a lot of what they had said before about the challenges they faced in develop something that had never been done before. They’re no less fascinating to hear, though. Scheele brought along in hand some of the cels as Taylor and Campbell explained the complex process they had to go through in getting each frame animated and then added to film, well before it could be done digitally nowadays. With Fleming showing off, Campbell further talked about the need for the costume to have areas that were black in order to achieve the backlighting effect. Attention was humorously pointed to the rear end area.

Green would prompt Taylor into explaining the process into which a film went through to be nominated for the Visual Effects Academy Award and that the voters seemingly made up their minds already that they cheated. Ellenshaw added that, while he was disappointed, he wasn’t surprised that the film was refused to be recognized. “The Academy, in those days, was basically white, old… some things never change,” he said. It just so happened that the screen displayed photographs of the visual effects crew and Ellenshaw pointed out how part of the film’s revolutionary approach was to hire artists who were young with many being women.

After each of the panelists had a final say on the film’s lasting impression on them, the deleted “Love Scene” was screened to serve as the transition from the visual effects crew to the production crew. Taylor stayed behind, watching the scene with us in a very touching moment of an artist seeing his work appreciated. For the second half of the presentation, they brought Kushner back out and he was joined by the film’s DGA trainee Carol Green and star Bruce Boxleitner (Alan/TRON). Later on they would play a video message from Cindy Morgan (Lora/Yori) as she expressed fond feelings and memories in celebration of the film’s 40th anniversary.

Kushner explained that what ultimately got TRON made at Disney was a combination of timing, when the executives were experimenting with the types of films they made, and his tricking them into believing that another studio would pick-up the film. In retelling how he got involved with the film, Boxleitner added he signed on in wanting to make up for missing out on playing Luke Skywalker in Star Wars and also being a big admirer of co-star Jeff Bridges. He would later touch upon how the two had since maintained a friendship with Bridges often calling him “Tronster” and Boxleitner would respond by calling him “Flynnster”.

Carol Green brought up just how different it was working on a feature film, specifically a special effects film, versus television in terms of volume and how meticulous the process was. “You do TV, you [shoot] like eight, nine, [or] ten pages,” she explained. “So [on TRON], it’s like, ‘Yay! We did an eighth of a page of work today!’ [and that’s] like, ‘Wow! This is a whole different pace.'” She added that part of her job was to convince the largely male actors of the fun they would have in leotards. “They didn’t like it,” she chuckled. She noted some of the extras quit rather than wear them, taking one look at Boxleiter and going, “Oh, hell no!”

When prompted on how to budget a film like TRON, Kushner gleefully explained that they “backed into the number. Disney had an appetite to make this film for a certain number. So that’s the budget we gave them. And as we went on, the budget started to increase.” He further noted how he used then-studio chief Ron Miller’s football background to get more money for the film. “If USC would win [on Saturday] and the Los Angeles Rams would win [on Sunday], we’d go into his office [on Monday] and we’d show him some slides of what the picture looked like and it was easy to get the money after that.” Everyone was applauding with laughter after hearing this.

Bonifer took a moment to give some appreciation to Miller, saying that he was an unsung hero of the film and treated everyone at the studio like family. “[TRON] wouldn’t have been able to run the gauntlet if it hadn’t been for Ron Miller looking out for Donald, Harrison, Richard, [and writer/director] Steven [Lisberger],” he noted. “Once he committed to the film, he stuck with us.” Near the end of the presentation, Boxleitner gave a nice tribute to David Warner (Dillinger/Sark/MCP), who had passed away over a month prior. He had hoped Warner would’ve been able to make it for this event and called him, “A man that was totally inspiring.”

After the panelists gave their final memories on making the film, Bonifer introduced Scot Drake, the executive creative director of Walt Disney Imagineering. Drake was present to formally announce the TRON Lightcycle Power Run attraction would open at Walt Disney World in spring of the following year. Drake briefly explained the details of the ride and showed off footage from its successful introduction at Shanghai Disneyland. Those present on stage and Scheele posed for group photos to end the presentation, but Boxleitner spent a good ten minutes sticking around to interact with the fans. It added to what a wonderful and illuminating presentation it was.

It would go without saying that music would be just as an important of an element to the longevity and success of Disney over the company’s 100 year history. A good majority of the world grew up listening to songs from Disney features and many going on to garner their own mainstream popularity. Disney had taken advantage of this over the last few decades, launching music-based events and programs. Following a successful series of concerts known as the Broadway Princess Party, it was decided to expand the concept further and go on the road with Disney Princess – The Concert. It only seemed fitting that one of the stops would be the D23 Expo.

I kid you not in saying that there was justification for the concert being held in Hall D23. Those with reservations might have been quite small in comparison to the other presentations, but the line for standby was massive enough to practically fill the room. It’s a very strong testament to the adoration of Disney music. The potentiality of surprise performers might have also had some weight, but in the end attendees really were there for the concert regardless of who was singing. At the piano was the music director, or “Fairy Godfairy”, Benjamin Rauhala, who was previously an Original Program Producer of the Broadway Princess Party series.

The tour would rotate four out of ten performers with an emphasis on having been in the cast of a Disney stage musical. For the D23 Expo concert, the performers were Susan Egan, Anneliese van der Pol, Syndee Winters, and Isabelle McCalla. Egan was the most well-known, having been the voice of Meg in Hercules and the original Belle in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. van der Pol was the last to be Belle on Broadway and had starred in the That’s So Raven and Raven’s Home shows. Winters had played Nala in The Lion King in her Broadway debut. McCalla was the first to play Jasmine when Aladdin went on tour and got to transfer to Broadway.

They began the concert with a quartet rendition of “Starting Now” from the 2021 Ultimate Princess Celebration campaign. Next was van der Pol singing “When Will My Life Begin” from Tangled, followed by McCalla singing “Reflection” from Mulan. Winters next sang “Touch the Sky” from Brave with the others doing backing vocals, and then Egan and van der Pol sang a special duet rendition of “Home” from the Beauty and the Beast musical. They did a little bit that playfully poked fun at Egan’s age against the others, leading into her anticipated performance of “I Won’t Say (I’m in Love)” from Hercules with the others as the Muses.

In addition to Rauhala, the ladies would be joined by the resident “Prince Charming” Adam J. Levy, who was coming off of being a performer in Moulin Rouge! on Broadway. Levy would sing with McCalla “A Whole New World” from Aladdin. Winters followed by singing “Shadowland” from The Lion King musical. Egan started singing “All is Found” from Frozen II with the others joining before they all sang a lovey quartet rendition of “Into the Unknown”. Levy then sang a crowd pleasing Hero Melody consisting of “One Jump Ahead (Reprise)” from Aladdin, “Go the Distance” from Hercules, “Out There” from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and “Lost in the Woods” from Frozen II.

The ladies returned for a piano quartet rendition of “Just Around the Riverbend” from Pocahontas. This was followed by van der Pol performing a Princess Melody consisting of “Someday My Prince Will Come” from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, “So This is Love” from Cinderella, “Once Upon a Dream” from Sleeping Beauty, and “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes” from Cinderella. Winters then sang the Anna portion of “For the First Time in Forever” from Frozen before being joined by Levy in singing “Love is an Open Door”. Egan then did a delightful performance of “Mother Knows Best” from Tangled with van der Pol backing as Rapunzel.

The final solos were then performed, starting with McCalla singing “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana. The audience were ecstatic when van der Pol next sang “Journey to the Past” from “unofficial Disney Princess” Anastasia. Winters followed with “Almost There” from The Princess and the Frog. Egan then did a Beauty and the Beast mix, beginning with portions of “Belle” and finishing with “Beauty and the Beast”. The finale was all four singing a wonderful quartet rendition of “Let It Go” from Frozen, accompanied by snowflake confetti at the end. After the bows, Levy joined them for the encore in singing “When You Wish Upon a Star” from Pinocchio.

Dan’s Review: The concert was a real fun time to be had. With the emphasis on the songs themselves moreso than the performers allowed for a greater appreciation. I rather liked how the renditions of songs to allow multiple performers turned out, resulting in some unique melodies to hear. Egan remained a delight to hear sing and I enjoyed her performance of “Mother Knows Best”. van der Pol singing “Journey to the Past” was a big stand-out and I felt that Levy could’ve stolen the spotlight a little, thanks in no small part to the Hero Melody. Overall, this was an fantastic edition to the Disney experience and one worth checking out.

Setting up a closing presentation for the D23 Expo could be quite a daunting task to schedule. After all, hardly any one wanted the magical weekend of all things Disney to end. But when the time came, it was important for the festivities to end on a high note. For me, the end of the D23 Expo would seemingly grow more grandiose with each progressive year. The Disney Princess concert would have been an excellent way to close things out, but I was intrigued by one of the last presentations scheduled being Disney Character Voices. Having been to many voice actor panels in the past, I wanted to see how Disney did theirs and was in for quite a treat.

As folks were getting seated at the Premiere Stage, the screens played numerous multi-language videos to songs such as “Let It Go” from Frozen and “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Encanto. When it was time for the presentation to start, it held on a still image of the Millennium Falcon when a familiar voice was heard. Jim Cummings was seen on stage and spoke as his Star Wars character Hondo Ohnaka in introducing the host Rick Dempsey. Dempsey was Senior Vice President of Disney Character Voices, explaining briefly his division’s role to ensure consistency and faithfulness in how the characters spoke and sounded throughout the various Disney experiences.

Dempsey and Cummings sat down as they went over the latter’s over 35 year career as a voice actor. They even brought up non-Disney work on the Ghostbusters franchise with Cummings noting his singing the theme song for Extreme Ghostbusters and busting out a verse to absolute fan delight. Dempsey would run down a literal laundry list of Disney characters Cummings had voiced and he would speak a sentence or two as them. These included original characters such as Darkwing Duck, Ed from The Lion King, and Don Karnag from TailSpin along with legacy characters such as Winnie The Pooh, Tigger, King Louie from The Jungle Book, and Pete.

Joining Cummings would be Bill Farmer (Goofy), Tony Anselmo (Donald Duck), and Bret Iwan (Mickey Mouse). Farmer brought up anecdotes of him actually being Goofy, such as when he knocked over boom microphones in a domino fashion during a recording of Goof Troop. Anselmo related an insightful advice he got from original voice Clarence Nash, “The voice doesn’t come from your mouth, it doesn’t come from your vocal cords, it doesn’t come from your diaphragm. It comes from your soul.” Iwan noted that he had seemingly formed a symbiotic relationship with Mickey and would be influenced to be as optimistic and open-minded as the character.

Dempsey would next introduce the newest voice of Minnie Mouse in Kaitlyn Robrock. Robrock explained that she was actually unaware that she was chosen as the new voice of Minnie until she showed up for what she thought was a callback. Things moved along at a fairly brisk pace as they ended up doing so much in this one presentation. This included having Anselmo singing “Happy Birthday” to an audience member in Donald’s voice. After Robrock had been introduced, she joined Iwan, Farmer, Anselmo, and Cummings in performing a rendition of “Friendship”, as arranged for The MousePack album that had recently been released, to include Donald and Pete.

The second half of the presentation saw Dempsey be joined by some leading ladies from Disney animation. They were Jodi Benson (Ariel in The Little Mermaid), Susan Egan (Meg in Hercules), Anika Noni Rose (Tiana in The Princess and the Frog), and Linda Larkin (Jasmine in Aladdin). Benson related how, to voice Barbie in the Toy Story films, Pixar had her play around with a whole box of dolls they had until she made a voice they liked. It was later brought up that Benson wrote a book, Part of My World. She stressed was not an autobiography, but stories of working with Howard Ashman and others in the business she was encouraged to share by Egan.

2022 being the 25th anniversary of Hercules was mentioned and Egan, still buzzing from the Disney Princess concert, reiterated how the producers were reluctant to cast her as Meg as she was still playing Belle in the Beauty and the Beast musical. Rose related that she was very determined to voice Tiana. She told how she had just arrived in Australia for an acting gig when she received a callback for a second audition. She worked for a day in Australia and immediately flew to Los Angeles to do the audition. Larkin noted how she was still surprised her voice was recognizable, often catching folks turning around to see her when she spoke.

Dempsey brought up that Benson and Rose voiced characters who were referred to in the title of their films while Larkin’s wasn’t. A voice responded that this was because her film was called Aladdin, resulting in the surprise appearance of the voice of Aladdin himself Scott Weinger. Weinger related how his son only had a vague understanding as a kid his dad was Aladdin. When Weinger brought him along to the lot one day, the staff was taken aback he hadn’t seen the film so they put together a screening with Agrabah-inspired carnival. By now they were past the scheduled one hour length and the D23 Expo was technically over, but they kept going.

Weinger was asked to sample his ability to crack his voice, but he seemingly had trouble doing so and asked for water. A waiter appeared and it was Donny Osmond (singing voice of Shang in Mulan). Attendees were losing it over the increase of star-power before them. Osmond told of how Walt Disney had a hand in launching the careers of the Osmonds, explaining that his elder brothers were visiting Disneyland when they met the Dapper Dans. The two groups had a back-and-forth singing session, catching Walt’s attention. He added the Osmonds on Disneyland After Dark, which in turn led to their breakthrough appearance on The Andy Williams Show.

The finale of the presentation came about as two surprises. To honor the 30th anniversary of Aladdin, Dempsey had Weinger and Larkin do a live ADR session of the rooftop scene. As this was for fun they wouldn’t be perfectly synced, but it didn’t matter. Everyone was enthralled with how much they still sounded like Aladdin and Jasmine respectively. The second surprise was Osmond performing “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” from Mulan, as staged for his Harrah’s Las Vegas residency show. This was a fantastic spectacle and absolutely marvelous to see live. All of the participating actors took a group bow to close out the presentation and the D23 Expo.

As you can see, I spent a lot more time in presentations this year than I probably had in previously. Because of that, I wasn’t able to spend too much time on the Show Floor this time around. One unfortunate thing about the D23 Expo would be having to wait in line way more often than in other conventions. Fortunately, most of what you’re waiting in line for would be well worth the long wait. But waiting in line would take away from being able to explore the Show Floor, unless you had a buddy willing to hold your spot in line. The disadvantage of going solo meant it would be harder to do this beyond being able to go to the bathroom.

But the long line waiting would not be limited to the presentations. The Show Floor offered a great number of exhibits and interactive experiences that they themselves would have lines. It’s a big part of one having to figure out time management when scheduling for the D23 Expo as a whole. The presentations had scheduled times, the Show Floor exhibits and experiences generally do not. So unless you’re able to get into the Show Floor first thing in the morning, you might find yourself waiting in line for possibly hours for a chance to check out Walt’s private plane, the Mouse, which was brought out to show off for the first time in years.

One exhibit I was able to check out in full was the Wonderful World of Dreams. The exhibit booth offered fans a sneak preview at upcoming attractions to the theme parks, displaying models and screens to give audiences an idea of what Walt Disney Imagineering had up their sleeves for the future. This included a look at the plans they had for Arendelle from Frozen to be a land in Hong Kong Disneyland. From concept art and models for the rides to maquettes displaying the cast costumes to a looping video showing an animatic of how the land was expected to look. It was fascinating to see the early stages of what could soon become a reality in a couple years.

An area of interest was where miniature models were displayed to show how the remodeled Mickey’s Toontown will look when it would reopen at Disneyland the following year. Two of the designers were present to answer questions and to explain what would be new and updated for the remodeled land. This included a look at where to find Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Goofy’s House, and a new area to be called CenTOONial Park. Next to that was a scale model Te Fiti from Moana to be a major component for the upcoming Journey of Water area at EPCOT. Along the sides of the miniature models would be samples of concept art and development photos.

A popular section would be the miniature model providing a look at what Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will look like. Attendees were eager to look at what the attraction previously known as Splash Mountain would now become, which also featured a preview of the narrative to go along with the ride, concept art, and research photographs to add a flavor of New Orleans to the experience. A balcony was set up near the miniature model and every several minutes a cast member dressed as Tiana would appear for photographs. Another popular area of the exhibit was the developmental process of the robotic Spider-Man seen flying about Avengers Campus.

Some of the booths did have presentations of their own and just about any one wandering the Show Floor could sit in and check them out. These presentation were short, averaging about fifteen minutes, and didn’t go too in depth on whatever was being shown. The Disney Bundle Pavillion would host a great many short presentations. I checked out a presentation on American Born Chinese, an upcoming Disney+ adaptation of the renowned graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang. Yang and the developers talked about bringing the story, mixing coming of age with Chinese mythology interactions, to life and showed off a couple scenes including one featuring Michelle Yeoh.

Of course, one of the more popular booths was the Pixar & Walt Disney Animation Studios booth. There were so many displays, exhibits, and experiences to check out at any given time. I caught portions of a couple short presentations that took place there. One was a lovely ink and paint demonstration. The other was the tail end of a discussion on Wish which featured directors Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn along with producers Peter Del Vecho and Juan Pablo Reyes. By the time I got to them, Buck was at the conclusion of a comparison with Frozen and all four answered a nice audience question about how they took to fan reactions.

There was another area to the booth that I really enjoyed that displayed the many different processes to animation. This included a video screen that showed off the application of rigging to animate facial expressions using models of Elsa, Moana, Raya, and Mirabel. Alongside various maquettes and drawing sheets, there was also “The Big ‘A'”, which was an original signage of the Animation Building before it was renamed to the Roy E. Disney Animation Building in 2010. When the signage came down, many of the animators who had worked in the building since it first opened in 1994 signed it with Glen Keane’s at the very top.

And then there were the booths that were simply just to walk through. There weren’t many of these, but they certainly saw a lot of foot traffic given what’s in them. A good example was the Lucasfilm Pavilion, which essentially displayed costumes for their upcoming projects. I paid particular attention on those from the Willow television series. There was also costumes for Indiana Jones and the various eras of Star Wars. Marvel’s booth also had an impressive display of costumes, these based on the more fairly recent programs such as Thor: Love and Thunder and WandaVision. It’s rather easy to simply stop and admire them for a good long while, honestly.

Trying to obtain convention exclusive merchandise was difficult as it was in previous years. More often than not, attendees would have to get into the designated booths as early as possible in order to try to get their hands on the valuable dolls, figurines, or any other product they certainly would not be able to virtually anywhere else. I felt for this year they made it nearly impossible by trying to put the official stores in one area of the Show Floor with one entry point. While they introduced virtual queuing this year, the wait time even through that would be at best seven hours. With what little time I had, I didn’t bother.

The only one I made any effort to try to get was the pre-release set of the Lorcana trading card game from Ravensburger. Inspired by Magic The Gathering, I was intrigued by how it looked. Trouble was that I wasn’t the only one. Copies set aside for each day were gone within the first hour and my one attempt on Sunday saw how chaotic it was just trying to find the line. I was able to obtain the convention exclusive Mickey Mouse Brave Little Tailor card and pin on Friday, which they were handing out and probably ran out of by the end of the day. I even got the card signed by the game’s designers Ryan Miller (brand manager) and Shane Smith (graphic designer).

Frankly, I ended up not buying any merchandise at the D23 Expo this year. But that didn’t mean I didn’t walk off with some nifty Exclusives. Much like the Lorcana card, I merely had to be at the right place to obtain a free exclusive. Being a D23 gold member, I was already assured a copy of the convention poster by simply swinging by the D23 Gold Member Lounge. Sure the line was really long, but it moved at a very nice and very brisk pace. And not only did members receive the poster, but they also got a tote bag. I was merely passing by the Topps Trading Cards booth when they offered to give me a free pack just by scanning my badge.

In a couple of cases, one had to do some sort of activity to obtain an exclusive freebie. There was no better set up than to simply have your picture taken at one of the marked display spots. The Pixar & Walt Disney Animation Studios booth had plenty of those and were so popular that they would have queues. I swung by early enough on Sunday that I didn’t have to wait for the Wish display and the Strange World display. The Wish display actually didn’t open up until after it was announced at the Studio Showcase presentation. The Wish display garnered an exclusive concept art lithograph while the Strange World display had an exclusive pin.

Of course, just attending a presentation would net attendees some nice exclusives. Those who got into the Disney Legends ceremony received an exclusive Disney 100 pin. Attending the Mickey: The Story of a Mouse presentation would result in getting a poster and a button of the documentary. The TRON presentation handed out convention exclusive variants to the first issue of Marvel’s adaptation of the classic film. But the real score would belong to those who attended the Studio Showcase as they received exclusive posters of Elemental and Strange World. Getting these free exclusives were enough to walk off without buying merchandise.

It would go without saying that no convention would be complete without Cosplay. Aside from Halloween, it would be one of the few opportunities for hundreds to gather in the same vicinity dressed up as their favorite characters for fun and enjoyment. This being the D23 Expo, attendees who dressed up respectfully did so based on Disney properties. Fortunately, this would include Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Lucasfilm, and now anything from the re-branded 20th Century Studios. And even while fans stuck to the specific theme of Disney, they were still free to let their imagination run wild and be rather creative at times with what they wore.

Case in point would be what I would mark as my favorite costume of the whole convention. The fan dressed up as Bill Cipher from Gravity Falls. But it was more than just a humanoid approach to the character as they came up with the unique idea of a Bill Cipher merged with Journal No. 3. The result was one that took the breath away from everyone who looked and identified who they were portraying. The craftsmanship was remarkable, the pages spilling out in the back. The use of a hand fan adding another layer to the character’s persona. Ever since I saw it, I’ve had trouble thinking of any other that came as close to being this impressive.

Still, there were other great looking costumes throughout the convention. I couldn’t help but notice a lot of varied Scarlet Witch cosplayers throughout the weekend. In fact, it was the first costume I caught sight of to kick off the convention. Moments later, there was one alongside Agatha Harkness as they mimicked the 1950’s vibe right down to painting over their skin with grey tone. I also managed to catch a lot of women dressed up as Judy Hopps from Zootopia, obviously finding a number of them getting into the Zootopia+ presentation. I rather thought they did very well in coming up with interesting ways to making their cosplay work.

Some of my favorites turned out to be within groups. This included a lovely group made up of Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Honeymaren, and Ryder from Frozen II that just looked fabulous together. Another excellent group consisted of Rapunzel, Eugene, Cassandra, Mother Gothel, and Varian from the Tangled franchise. Of course, being a huge Atlantis: The Lost Empire fan I was on the look out for any costumes related to the film. I was rewarded with a few throughout the weekend. There was a Milo with grown facial hair as well as a pretty cool Rourke and Helga. But my favorite was a genderbent Milo that looked like if Milo and Helga fused together.

There were a number of crossover costumes I ran into. A cute one was Belle and Beast as X-Wing pilots with the jumpsuits being in their ballroom dance colors. There was another crossover Belle I found, this one teaming with Ariel as Ghostbusters. One that I liked a lot was Merida from Brave as a Mandalorian. What made this one stand out was the cosplayer included a tartan sash and a stylized crossbow to better mix the two cultures. Speaking of The Mandalorian, there was a fantastic Din Djarin cosplayer that showed up when I was at the Lucasfilm Pavilian and we got him to pose while admiring the costume that was being displayed in the booth.

Anxious attendees lined up well before the 4:30 am start time for queuing on Day One.

Pacha and Chicha taking a well-deserved vacation.

Max and Roxanne looking like they’re having a whole weekend date.

A fun family with clever costumes for Merlin, Arthur, Archimedes, and Madam Mim.

Tamron Hall introduced as host of the Disney Legends ceremony by CEO Bob Chapek, Disney Ambassadors, and a cast of characters.

“We [in Imagineering] have vision, we take risks, and we make a difference with blood, sweat, tears, and especially with love.” -Doris Hardoon

“To the person who rejected me at Disney casting headquarters in Orlando, Florida when I was eighteen years old and applying to be a Jungle Cruise skipper (true story), please make sure to update my resume to ‘Disney Legend Josh Gad’.” -Josh Gad

“As I think about [Chadwick], I think about how he honored our parents. How he honored his family. How he honored even his friends, and he made sure that his friends had good careers.” -Derrick Boseman

It would appear Belle and Beast had joined the Rebel Alliance.

“What’cha playin’?” -The Collector (The Owl House)

Ravensburger brand manager Ryan Miller signed copies of the convention exclusive Mickey Mouse Brave Little Tailor Lorcana card outside the Ravensburger booth.

Dan at a fun display at the Pixar & Walt Disney Animation Studios booth that showcased the posters to all of the Walt Disney Feature Animation titles released in the company’s 100 year history.

“Think your nanny goat would go berserk if you played hooky this afternoon?” -Meg (Hercules)

“Okay, Milo, don’t take no for an answer. ‘Look, I have some questions for you, and I’m not leaving this city until they’re answered!’ Yeah, that’s it. That’s good. That’s good.” -Milo Thatch (Atlantis: The Lost Empire)

Haunted Mansion director Justin Simien was surprised his Disneyland cast member badge was found and displayed at the Studio Showcase.

Gal Gagot (The Evil Queen) and Rachel Zegler (Snow White) expressed excitement after the teaser trailer for Snow White was screened at the Studio Showcase.

Pixar CCO Pete Docter introduced the next slate of projects from the renowned animation studio at the Studio Showcase.

Amy Poehler (Joy) made a surprise appearance at the Studio Showcase to officially announce Inside Out 2.

Kugali Media founders introduced the characters of their Disney+ series Iwájú at the Studio Showcase.

Lucy Liu (Mal) and Dennis Quaid (Jaeger) were among the stars on hand to give eager fans an extended preview of Strange World at the Studio Showcase.

Current Disney “good luck charm” Alan Tudyk introduced his character in Wish, the goat Valentino at the Studio Showcase.

Ariana DeBose (Asha) brought the house down to close out the Studio Showcase performing “More For Us” from Wish.

Rourke and Helga had their eyes on attendees as they exited the Studio Showcase.

Dipper was on the hunt with his new camera. Mabel tagging along because why not.

Willow’s new costume was on display at the Lucasfilm Pavilion.

Din Djarin spotted the very Mandalorian armor he wore on display at the Lucasfilm Pavilion.

“Oh, sweet cheese and crackers.” -Judy Hopps (Zootopia)

Robin Hood and Maid Marian were checking out the sights that the D23 Expo had to offer.

Gene Luen Yang expressed excitement at his graphic novel American Born Chinese being adapted into a Disney+ series at The Disney Bundle Pavilion.

Kiki and Tombo were having a fun time surrounded by all things Disney.

For Merida, “This is the way” to be a Mandalorian.

Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters Belle and Ariel!

Directors Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn along with producers Peter Del Vecho and Juan Pablo Reyes talked more about Wish at the Pixar & Walt Disney Animation Studios booth.

Illustrations of Simba by Mark Henn, Mirabel by Jin Kim, The Genie by Eric Goldberg, and Pocahontas by Rachel Bibb on display at the Pixar & Walt Disney Animation Studios booth.

How animation tools were used to bring characters like Elsa, Moana, Raya, and Mirabel to life were displayed at the Pixar & Walt Disney Animation Studios booth.

The Big “A” from the previous Animation Building signage signed by a who’s who of animation greats was displayed at the Pixar & Wat Disney Animation Studios booth.

Gadget joining genderbent Chip and Dale on what was no doubt a Rescue Rangers mission surely.

Disney Princess comics artist Brianna Garcia cosplaying as Rapunzel alongside Kit Leitmeyer as Cassandra.

“Stay away from my Luz!” -Amity Blight (The Owl House)

“Oh, isn’t this amazing, It’s my favorite part because, you’ll see, Here’s where she meets Prince Charming, But she won’t discover that it’s him, ‘Til chapter three.” -Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

“‘Surface Pressure’ is about ‘How do I keep my family safe?’ at the bottom of the day. And ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ is ‘What are we allowed to talk about in front of your mother?'” -Lin-Manuel Miranda

Carolina Gaitán (Pepa) talked about meeting Lin-Manuel Miranda at the airport with Diane Guerrero (Isabela), Mauro Castillo (Félix), and producer Yvett Merino listening in at the Encanto celebration.

Adassa (Dolores) explained her approach to singing “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” with choreographer Jamal Sims and producer Clark Spencer listening in at the Encanto celebration.

“Flash of ankle, flip of a skirt, Feel them excite, enflame and inspire. Come see me dance, hey, what can it hurt? It’s just a dance to the rhythm of the tambourine.” -Esmeralda (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

Dan partook in the official Wish photo opportunity at the Pixar & Wat Disney Animation Studios booth.

Preview of the Fantasy Springs land coming to Tokyo DisneySea were displayed at the Wonderful World of Dreams booth.

Preview of the Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs ride coming to Hong Kong Disneyland was displayed at the Wonderful World of Dreams booth.

Miniatures previewing the redesigned Mickey’s Toontown at Disneyland were displayed at the Wonderful World of Dreams booth.

Designers of the redesigned Mickey’s Toontown conversed with fans at the Wonderful World of Dreams booth.

Scale model of Te Fiti to be part of Journey of Water coming to EPCOT at Walt Disney World displayed at the Wonderful World of Dreams booth.

A replica bronze statue of Walt Disney coming to EPCOT at Walt Disney World displayed at the Wonderful World of Dreams booth.

Tiana greeted fans as they examined the miniature of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at the Wonderful World of Dreams booth.

Don’t pet the goats displayed with the Thor: Love and Thunder costumes at the Marvel booth. They will bite.

“We have the spectre, as animators, of all the greats who came before us looking over our shoulders going, ‘Don’t mess it up.'” -Eric Goldberg

“I had known Mickey [Mouse] all my life. So when you know a character and when you know them that well, it’s not just a cardboard cut-out. He’s real!” -Floyd Norman

“I was taught, early on, if you’re offered a job, always say, ‘Yes!’ Never admit that you don’t know what the hell you’re doing. Because, most likely, you’re not the only one.” -Harrison Ellenshaw

Animation compositing camera operator Glenn Campbell held up two cels effects technical supervisor John Scheele brought to explain the backlighting process during the 40th anniversary celebration of TRON.

Visual effects supervisor Richard Taylor joined attendees in watching the deleted “Love Scene” during the 40th anniversary celebration of TRON.

“I had come from the theater, and I had likened [acting in TRON] to being on a theatrical stage. And, for the audience often times in a play, you have to create something that isn’t there for them to see. That’s through your acting ability. And I thought this is something which I would really have to use my imagination.” -Bruce Boxleitner

Bruce Boxleitner stayed to interact with fans long after the 40th anniversary celebration of TRON had ended.

Did Milo and Helga fuse together to become one?

“I have something to say… Who’s hungry?” -Raya (Raya and the Last Dragon)

WALL-E and EVE looked like they’re having a nice little date outdoors.

“Hey, Gale, I’m going for a ride. Wanna come? Are you ready?” -Elsa (Frozen II)

Mother Gothel, Cassandra, Eugene, Rapunzel, and Varian posed for what was either just a regular group shot or a sort of weird family gathering maybe?

This very impressive costume was believed to be Isabela from Encanto celebrating the Day of the Dead as seen in Coco.

Syndee Winters performing “Shadowland” from The Lion King musical during Disney Princess – The Concert.

Susan Egan, Syndee Winters, Anneliese van der Pol, and Isabelle McCalla performing “Just Around the Riverbend” from Pocahontas during Disney Princess – The Concert.

Isabelle McCalla performing “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana during Disney Princess – The Concert.

Susan Egan performeing “Beauty and the Beast” from Beauty and the Beast during Disney Princess – The Musical.

Anneliese van der Pol, Syndee Winters, Isabelle McCalla, and Susan Egan performing “Let It Go” from Frozen during Disney Princess – The Concert.

“I can’t shake the feeling that these waters touch another shore I’ve visited.” -Aqua (Kingdom Hearts)

Senior Vice President of Disney Character Voices Rick Dempsey enjoyed hearing Jim Cummings voice the many characters he had played in his career during Conversations with Disney Character Voices.

Jim Cummings (Pete), Bill Farmer (Goofy), Tony Anselmo (Donald Duck), and Bret Iwan (Mickey Mouse) shared amusing stories about voicing their iconic Disney characters during Conversations with Disney Character Voices.

Jodi Benson (Ariel), Susan Egan (Meg), Anika Noni Rose (Tiana), Linda Larkin (Jasmine) and Scott Weinger (Aladdin) shared their own stories of voicing their popular Disney characters during Conversations with Disney Character Voices.

All of the participants of Conversations with Disney Character Voices brought the D23 Expo 2022 to a close.

Having first started as the Golden State Comic Book Convention at the U.S. Grant Hotel on March 21, 1970, it would progressively grow into a global entertainment event that now would fill the San Diego Convention Center to capacity and beyond every July. 2020 would have been a majestic affair in celebrating the convention’s 50th anniversary. But the emergence of COVID-19 put those plans on hold and for the first time Comic Con had to be postponed. The ongoing pandemic resulted in two attempts at creating a virtual experience with Comic-Con@Home, but most agreed that it just wasn’t the same as being immersed in a live setting.

The organizers wanted to ensure the time was right to bring the convention back. So instead of straight up opening their doors at full capacity like Los Angeles Comic Con and later Star Wars Celebration, the San Diego Comic Con ran a Special Edition on Thanksgiving weekend in 2021. Heavily scaled down, it was a test run to see how to best approach running the convention through an ongoing pandemic. The back-to-basics approach provided organizers with insightful information while it also gave attendees a positive glimmer of hope that the biggest entertainment event of the summer would return to form in no time. And so it came to be that Comic Con was back.

Mobile Suit Gundam is the premier franchise in the mecha anime and manga genre. Since the debut of the original anime series on April 7, 1979, it was recognized as the first “real robot” title in the genre, exploring the dramatic themes of mobile suits as weapons of destruction and the pilots as regular soldiers. The popularity of Gundam would generate a lucrative line of toys that became prolific with each series introduced being just different enough from one another. Bandai Namco will soon be releasing a new main series title in the franchise that will certainly be different from all the others, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury.

The panel for Gundam: The Witch from Mercury primarily consisted of members from the Bandai Namco Toys and Collectibles America team. Justin Cavender (senior marketing manager) served as moderator alongside David Edmundson (marketing director), AJ Velasco (marketing specialist), and David Clarke (brand manager). Added into the panel was cosplayer and Internet personality Linda Le (aka Vampy Bit Me), a noted fan who had hosted Gundam Base events in North America. They were accompanied by a video message from Naohiro Ogata, the franchise executive producer at Sunrise (which was what it was still called even though it was now Bandai Namco Filmworks).

In his video message, Ogata explained that The Witch from Mercury would be taking place in a new century they called Ad Stella. This would set the series even further away from the main Universal Century that the majority of the franchise took place in. Ogata hoped that this would establish the new series as an ideal jumping on point for new viewers to experience Gundam. What was known going into the presentation was that the series would feature the first female main protagonist, Suletta Mercury. There was definitely some positive interest within the room about a Gundam series in which female characters would be at the forefront.

A major appeal to Gundam would obviously be the mobile suits. The presentation included a brief video tour of the Gundam Facotry in Yokohama where the toys (which were nicknamed Gunpla) are manufactured. They then showed off the new series’ mechs with the main three identified as Aerial, Lfrith, and Beguir-Beu. Included were designs for both how they would look in the anime and as toys. But the biggest reason attendees packed the room pretty much to full capacity was that they would be given a full screening of the Prologue. It just had its debut in Japan the week before and Comic Con served as the stage to show it for first time in North America.

Dan’s Review: Watching the Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Prologue ranked very high on my favorite moments from Comic Con this year. The animation was crisp and beautiful, from when characters were just interacting with one another to the thrilling mobile suit battles in space. It did a splendid job of introducing characters, a few sure to be major figures, and managing to develop an emotional investment in them within thirty minutes. The story was fascinating and tragic, which I imagine would set the tone for how the series proper would play. This was an excellent showing and had me more excited than ever for The Witch from Mercury.

When one would think of the Disney Renaissance in the late 1980s through the 1990s, two names would often stick out as being important figures to the revitalization of Disney Feature Animation: John Musker and Ron Clements. For in that time period and beyond, the two directed some of the most popular and beloved titles in the Disney catalog: The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, Treasure Planet, The Princess and the Frog, and Moana. So it would be a given that, even in a comparatively medium sized room, fans would fill it up to listen to the two Disney animation greats reflect on their careers for an hour.

Musker and Clements started very briefly on where they came from and their individual paths into animation. Clements brought up his pre-Disney short film Shades of Sherlock Holmes before getting word of the Talent Development Program. They showed off a great picture of young Clements as part of a group of then-upstarts that included Glen Keane, Andy Gaskill, John Pomeroy, Gary Goldman, and Don Bluth. Musker touched upon his being part of the first CalArts character animation program class with John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Henry Selick, and Tim Burton, getting to show off a funny illustration he did of the latter’s living space at the time.

The two glossed over their short run as animators before becoming directors on The Great Mouse Detective with Burny Mattinson and Dave Michener. They noted that they hardly worked together on the film and divided up sequences for each to direct. In talking about The Little Mermaid, Musker got Clements to bring up an anecdote with promoting the film in Denmark. The Danish were initially unhappy with their giving the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale a happy ending and it bothered Clements enough that he apologized to the Queen for it. The Queen laughed it off and said, “[Andersen] never knew how to end his stories. Now it has a proper ending.”

Time forced the duo to be brief on the remaining films, though they accompanied these by being able to show off their little cameos in the films and displaying humorous illustrations Musker drew of interesting situations. A fascinating discussion was Musker noting Treasure Planet being a troubled project from the start largely due to Jeffrey Katzenberg not being fond of the premise, though Michael Eisner and Roy E. Disney were much more positive. They were finally able to make the film as a means of keeping them from jumping ship when DreamWorks was being formed and to get Glen Keane back from Paris, where he was staying during production of Tarzan.

While there was a moderator, he became such an afterthought that most forgot there was one within minutes. As soon as Musker and Clements got rolling, there was hardly anything that could be done to stop them. They could have spent multiple hours talking as opposed to the scheduled one hour. Attendees were engrossed throughout, learning about how the directors created their beloved films. There was great warmth in the atmosphere and it was simply a pleasure to hear the two talk about animation so fondly.

One of the great pleasures of Comic Con would be some of the programs that honored creators of the past. It’s a chance for some to discover and for others to learn from the legends who inspired them. Two names who had been influential in animation were Jane Baer and Floyd Norman. With over 150 credits to their names, and just as many years of experience, Baer and Norman had made unique impacts on the industry. A special presentation was put together to celebrate them with Leslie Combemale (owner ArtInsights Animation and Film Art Gallery) moderating and animation historian Jerry Beck present to provide cultural context to the stories being told.

Both noted that they got their start at the same time on the same film, Sleeping Beauty. Moreover, they managed to work on what Norman knew too well as Sequence 8, where Briar Rose met Phillip in the forest. They each then briefly went over some of the projects they worked on, Norman with Beck’s assistance making special note about I Am the Greatest: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali as that could have been an opportunity to push animation by black artists along had it not been a bust. Both Baer and Norman eventually managed to work again on the same show in The Smurfs before bringing things back to their respective runs at Disney.

The highlight for me was Baer’s tidbits about Milt Kahl. When asked about the Nine Old Men, Norman said they were mean. Baer responded specifically about Kahl, saying he was mean to the men but nice to the ladies. Norman’s attempt to debate that notion was met with Baer stating Kahl was so nice to the ladies that when he was mean to them they would never take him seriously, relating a time when he did yell at a female employee only for her to laugh it off and walk away, leaving him utterly dumbfounded. Baer would also add that when she was working under him animating on The Rescuers, he designed Madame Medusa almost entirely on his second wife.

I managed to be the last one when it came to audience questions. An earlier question asked about their interactions with Walt Disney, so I jumped off that by asking about their interactions with William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Norman answered that they were good guys that he and the other animators respected enough to call Mr. Hanna and Mr. Barbera. He added that he primarily worked under Hanna, noting that while he was very hands on and could be hard-nosed was actually a pretty sweet guy and even treated Norman to lunch on a number of occasions. Norman’s wife, who was in the audience, reminded him that Hanna would sometimes literally eat his lunch.

Beck ended up only speaking at few moments. Otherwise, he was like the rest of us, just sitting back and relishing the hour we had to hear from Baer and Norman. The stories they got to tell were fascinating and informative, leaving us with just a little bit more respect for them and the impact each left on animation. Norman may have had a lot more to say, but Baer was an absolute delight. They didn’t talk too much about challenges they might have encountered based on their diversity, be it Baer as a woman and Norman being black, but instead focused on having achieved fulfilling careers in animation and that was an absolute pleasure to hear.

For better or worse, the world changed 30 years ago when Mike Judge introduced two moronic teenagers named Beavis and Butt-Head with an animated short called Frog Baseball. The following year, they had their own animated series on MTV that would become one of the most controversial and yet one of the most impactful programs to ever be broadcast on television. The show’s creative and often clever subversion for social criticism would define the 1990s youth culture and influence adult animation programs to follow. And like cockroaches, the two had reared their ugly mugs back into the spotlight with a new revival courtesy of Paramount+.

Mike Judge returned to Comic Con to discuss his two most iconic characters making another comeback with Paul Scheer serving as moderator. Going back to the duo would just happen for Judge and often to maintain their personalities against the temptation of change. He did note there would be episodes that looked at the different variations introduced in the recently released Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe film including episodes centered on Smart Beavis and Butt-Head as well as episodes centered on Old Beavis and Butt-Head. Nevertheless, he stuck to them as idiotic teenagers as part of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mindset.

Judge showed off clips from the revival. One set seemed to screen almost in its entirety an episode that explored Beavis’ fascination with fire. The set included a cutaway to the boys commenting on a TikTok video about how to make prison tattoos that had everyone dying with laughter. Another set of clips teased an episode involving the boys wanting to throw a fancy bowl off a roof that, in their idiotic fashion, would get way more complicated than it ever needed to be. The set also included a hilarious cutaway that revealed one of the two was a BTS fan. The clips and the fan reaction made it clear the show had not lost its touch.

Most of the fan questions were about anything else Judge might bring back alongside Beavis and Butt-Head. With regards to the show proper, he noted that there would be returning faces in hippie teacher Mr. Van Driessen and the now very elderly neighbor Tom Anderson. As for his other animated programs, he stated to great fanfare, “There’s a very good chance of King of the Hill returning.” He also added wanting to continue his more recent animated offering in the documentary series Mike Judge Presents: Tales From the Tour Bus for a season focused on early hip-hop. He was merely aware that attempts at reviving Daria were in the works.

Much like with the previous revival more than ten years ago, the Comic Con showing for Beavis and Butt-Head was a thoroughly enjoyable one. Judge often seemed fairly laid back when talking about them, but there’s clear affection for the boys and for his willingness to return to them whenever he felt the time was right. Moreover, the Comic Con showing this time around further cemented how the fanbase for the two idiotic teenagers had continued to thrive after 30 years and would seemingly grow as each new generation got introduced to them. Sorry world, but I’m afraid there’s no getting rid of Beavis and Butt-Head any time soon.

On Halloween night 1992, Fox aired the first episode of X-Men: The Animated Series. The series would help usher a 1990s boom in Saturday morning cartoons for the network and, along with Batman: The Animated Series, laid the groundwork for superhero animated programs to follow. It was widely acclaimed for its faithfulness to the comic books it was adapting and incorporating mature storytelling in a show widely watched by children and young adults. 30 years later, the legacy of the series remained so strong to this day that some could point to it as the most recognized iteration of the X-Men, even over the comic books and the feature films.

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of X-Men: The Animated Series, Comic Con scheduled multiple events dedicated to the show including two retrospective panels. I just managed to sit in for the first one, finding myself a part of an ever growing line before getting in just a couple minutes after it started. That the room was completely full with anxious fans lined up outside hoping to get in on Day One only cemented the popularity of the show. I could only imagine how much of a hassle it would have been to try to get into the second retrospective panel, which took place at the San Diego Central Library on Day Three.

Present for this panel were producer/director Larry Houston, story artist Dan Veesenmeyer, and writer Steven Melching. Amusing anecdotes attendees enjoyed hearing about included how they slipped in cameos of other Marvel superheroes through listings in the script for a randomly described mutant. Another was mentioning some of the funny notes they received about how a scene should play out, in particular an executive wanting a scene depicting Sabretooth escaping a fight to show him throwing a chair through the window he would leap through as opposed to just breaking through the window himself because he was a villain.

Much of the fan questions included attendees spending time talking about the impact the animated series had on their lives, which caused convention staff to rush things along as they tried to do when I was asking my question about their thoughts on the fairly recent run at honoring the show with the X-Men ’92 comic books. Houston and Melching answered that it only seemed fair that Marvel would try to interpret and adapt the animated series to the comic medium and thought they turned out alright. A question about Rogue did reveal that her voice actress Lenore Zann was in the audience and she got to yell out a “Sugah!” line to fanfare.

That it was hard to get into this presentation was a testament to how beloved X-Men: The Animated Series was and remains to this day. What was also evident was just how passionate Houston, Veesenmeyer, and Melching were about wanting to make the show as faithful as they could and still make it the best show possible. Houston, in particular, was clearly proud of how the show turned out and how it continued to be as lovingly received today as it did 30 years ago. And with the X-Men ’92 comic books and the forthcoming animated series revival X-Men ’97, the original series would surely maintain a lasting legacy for a very long time.

The Animation Show of Shows first began in 1998 by Acme Filmworks founder Ron Diamond. He curated the most original, funny, and intelligent animated short films he could find and present them to major animation studios as a means of inspiring the influential animators under their employ. Over time, he started taking what became an ever expanding collection of films from around the world on the road and screened them to audiences at film festivals, movie theaters, and schools across the globe annually. It now served as a traveling showcase to inspire and even educate viewers of all kinds to the majestic beauty of the medium.

Comic Con had offered to host the Animation Show of Shows for years and, from what I had seen, the screenings were filled nearly close to capacity with fans who were either curious about the program or excited to watch a new series of shorts they likely never heard of. The films had often garnered the approval of those who watched and had managed to fit in nicely within the convention’s line-up of popular regulars. Ron Diamond would appear to explain what the Animation Show of Shows was an introduction before screening the films. This year, he would be joined by one of the filmmakers and they briefly answered questions after the screening.

The eight films that made up the 22nd Animation Show of Shows were Beyond Noh (2020) by Patrick Smith, Good and Better (2020) by Gil Alkabetz, Rain (2019) by Piotr Milkczerk, Empty Places (2020) by Geoffroy de Crécy, Yes-People (2020) by Gísli Darri Halldórsson, Ties (2019) by Dina Velikovskaya, Aurora (2020) by Jo Meuris, and The Man Who Planted Trees (1987) by Frédéric Back. Yes-People had been nominated for the Best Animated Short Academy Award the previous year while The Man Who Planted Trees won it in 1988. The version of The Man Who Planted Trees screened was with the English narration by Christopher Plummer.

The filmmaker to join Diamond was Jo Meuris, director of Aurora. She explained that the film was a semi-autobiographical account of her childhood that went in a different direction than in real life. When asked by an audience member about how she got her film to be selected for the Animation Show of Shows, Meuris said that she was actually surprised when Diamond told her he wanted to include it as she hadn’t even considered the idea. Without specifically naming it, Diamond noted in the introduction that The Man Who Planted Trees was one of the films that inspired him to begin curating the Animation Show of Shows in the first place.

Dan’s Review: The Animation Show of Shows was a wonderful and fascinating showcase that every fan of the medium should experience at least once. There’s a delightful mixture of styles and voices throughout and a good chance that one of the films would warm your heart. For this round, The Man Who Planted Trees was a stunning piece of work that had managed to hold up strong for 35 years and the simple, yet emotionally touching approach to Aurora made it a delight. Even if only some of the films would be able to connect with audiences better than others, seeing them together was still a joyful 90 minutes that I was honored to able to watch.

The monumental success of Marvel Studios had made their presentations at Comic Con must-see events. Attendees would camp out over night in order to ensure their place to see what Kevin Feige and company have up their sleeves. On October 2019, Feige was promoted to Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment. With it, virtually all multimedia divisions were brought together under one banner for more streamline and cohesive output. Animation had become the one fans were most excited to see grow under Marvel Studios following the successful What If…? [above right] first season. And there’s no better place than Comic Con to see what they had in store.

Serving as moderator was fan favorite actor/comedian Paul F. Tompkins. On the panel were Brad Winderbaum (head of streaming television and animation), Ryan Meinerding (head of visual development), Bryan Andrews (director of What If…? and executive producer of Marvel Zombies), AC Bradley (writer and executive producer of What If…?), Beau DeMayo (writer and executive producer of X-Men ’97), Kirsten Lepore (writer, director, and executive producer of I Am Groot), Jeff Trammell (writer and executive producer of Spider-Man: Freshman Year). But the ones every attendee was most looking forward to were the animated programs themselves.

The presentation started with a video package highlighting Meinerding’s invaluable work and how he’d be helping in animation. First up would be I Am Groot. Lepore noted Vin Diesel would reprise Groot in the series of shorts. They followed with screening a full episode ahead of the premiere the following month. Next up, Trammell showcased production art for Spider-Man: Freshman Year. Among the highlights for this take included Norman Orsborn as Peter’s mentor, his best friend being Nico Minoru from The Runaways, and Charlie Cox would reprise Daredevil. The series was scheduled for 2024 with a second season, Sophomore Year, already in development.

Andrews and Bradley then showed off a video preview of What If…? season two, which featured more Odin versus The Mandarin, Winter Soldier and Red Guardian teaming up, and Captain Carter winding up in 1602. Season two was scheduled for 2023 with season three also in development. Andrews moved onto Marvel Zombies, promising that the series would not be skimping on the violence. He showcased production art with turned heroes to include Captain Marvel, Ghost, and the wild card Ikaris. Those still human included Kamala Khan, Yelena Belova, Kate Bishop, Shang-Chi and Katy, and Jimmy Woo. There’s even a skrull biker gang! A release date was not announced.

Last up was the highly anticipated X-Men ’97 [right]. They first showed a video package paying tribute to the classic 1992 series and many of the cast and crew from the original were coming back. DeMayo displayed production art of the slightly updated look, showcasing returning characters that included the core eight X-Men, a secondary team, and villains. They could only show a scene in animatic as they were entering final animation for Fall 2023 release with a second season already in development. Closing out the presentation was the full screening of the first What If…? second season episode “What If… Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper?”

Dan’s Review: Marvel fans were spoiled good with not one, but two full episode screenings. The I Am Groot short was as cute and goofy as one would expect from a misadventure starring Baby Groot. The What If…? episode screened continued the series’ ability to tell an alternate story of an established film in thirty minutes without feeling like it was being rushed or condensed. This take on Captain America: The Winter Soldier went in a unique direction while also further developing Captain Carter as a great character within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I’m now even more excited with where Marvel Studios would be taking animation.

It would seem that over the last several years that adult western animation had “matured” as solid programs. While not all adult western animated offerings had been bad per se, the vast majority merely relish the freedom of the medium to be able to do anything, though at the cost of meaningful substance. But thanks to programs like The Venture Bros., Ricky and Morty, Arcane, The Legend of Vox Machina, and Helluva Boss, to name a few, we’re starting to see quality content amidst the sex, violence, and profanity. FX looked to continue that trend, coming to Comic Con to introduce to a curious audience their devilish new series Little Demon.

FX immediately went into screening in full the first episode of the series ahead of its release the following month. The series followed Laura and her teenage daughter Chrissy as they had finished moving again, this time to Delaware. An encounter with bullies at school would cause an unexpected event for Chrissy, forcing Laura to reveal that her biological father was Satan and the constant moving was to keep him from finding her. And now the manifestation of Chrissy’s powers had enabled him to pinpoint her exact location. But while the parents squabbled to her embarrassment, other forces had also been alerted and looked to eliminate the Antichrist.

The screening was wonderfully received by the attendees who packed the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront next door to the Convention Center. There was then a brief, yet rather informative panel. Serving as moderator was Damian Holbrook (TV Guide Magazine senior writer) and the panel consisted of creators, writers, and executive producers Darcy Fowler, Seth Kirschner, and Kieran Valla, executive producer Dan Harmon, and stars and executive producers Aubrey Plaza (Laura), Danny DeVito (Satan), and DeVito’s daughter Lucy (Chrissy). Given how many there were, it was quite impressive they were able to say as much in fifteen minutes.

Folwer explained that the premise for the show was inspired by Rosemary’s Baby, specifically the notion of a woman with a cursed womb, and then morphed into making the daughter the Antichrist as they thought about what the relationship between mother and daughter would be like. The DeVitos were thrilled to make a show that truly was a family affair in working together (Lucy’s brother Jake was also an executive producer and their mother Rhea Perlman would guest voice). Speaking of guest voices, they listed off quite a line up that was highlighted by Mel Brooks and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the latter eliciting interest of a Twins reunion.

Dan’s Review: Even with the slightly censored broadcast version being screened, Little Demon pulled no punches at just how over-the-top the violence, profanity, and excessive nudity would be present. And it was just so damned funny! With a surprisingly clean animation design and a narrative that was fascinating as it was hilarious, this could be a breakout sleeper hit of the year. Making the show all the more appealing was the unexpected directions they took in character development, further enhanced by the top notch voice acting of Plaza and the DeVitos. If the rest of the series manages to maintain this level of quality, I’ll be in for a helluva ride.

On July 12, 1997, Studio Ghibli released Princess Mononoke by Hayao Miyazaki. It told the story of an exiled prince who became drawn into a conflict between forest gods and resource consuming humans that resulted in the curse he carried and threatened greater destruction. Princess Mononoke was a critical and commercial blockbuster in Japan, breaking box-office records and becoming the first animated feature to win the Japan Academy Award for Best Picture. It was the first film released in North America under a distribution deal with Walt Disney Studios, garnering success on DVD and blu-ray despite a poor box-office performance.

2022 marked the film’s 25th anniversary and the film was celebrated during Comic Con with a special screening of the English dubbing. The translation was scripted by acclaimed writer Neil Gaiman and featured an ensemble cast that included Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver, and Billy Bob Thornton. Hot Topic was the sponsor of the screening, offering freebies to those who received a postcard of the Studio Ghibli Fest that included a unique sticker. Otherwise, attendees merely watched the film following an introduction by content creator Damiar Krogh and his brother Silas. The room the screening was held in was far from full as roughly three dozen sat in to watch. But it was clear that everyone in attendance had such great affection for the film that they would gladly watch Princess Mononoke than go to any other program or even calling it a day.

Dan’s Review: As Princess Mononoke was my favorite animate feature of all-time, I was not going to miss an opportunity to watch the film at Comic Con. This would be the second time I had done so at the convention, having previously attended the 20th anniversary screening sponsored by Ashley Eckstein and Her Universe. It’s still a beautiful and masterful piece of art rich in detail. Animation that was second to none, a narrative and characters that boldly explored the complexities of whether something could be seen as good or evil, and an emotional music score, I’ll never regret watching Princess Mononoke over anything else that occurred during Comic Con.

After a stint in animation was ending, San Diego artist Dave Stevens returned to comics in-between storyboard gigs. Drawing inspiration from the pulp stories of his youth, he introduced The Rocketeer in backup features of Mike Grell’s Starslayer in 1982. The Rocketeer proved to be a breakout success to emerge from the burgeoning independent comics movement. 40 years later, Comic Con would pay tribute to the hometown legend and his seminal creation with a presentation that gathered friends, family, and colleagues. With how fondly I was a fan of the character as a kid, primarily through the 1991 Disney film, this became a must attend panel for me.

Serving as moderator was friend and Bongo Comics co-founder Bill Morrison. Participating on the panel would be Stevens’ sister Jennifer Bawcum, studio mate and renowned paleontological artist William Stout, former wife and model turned scream queen icon Brinke Stevens, longtime friend and comics icon Jackie Estrada, and co-screenwriter of the 1991 feature Danny Bilson. It was noted at the start Morrison did a Rocketeer illustration that served as the cover for the Comic Con souvenir book, further establishing the importance the convention gave the celebratory occasion. Furthermore, the room was packed within minutes of the panel starting.

Bawcum said that, because she was sixteen years younger than her brother, she didn’t get to spend enough time with him. She did receive cards growing up with his art of Hanna-Barbera characters he worked on in animation. Brinke Stevens talked about becoming his model, specifically for the Betty character in The Rocketeer, even after they had divorced. This brought up mention of Stevens’ admiration of pin-up model Bettie Page and how he helped revitalize public interest in her. Stout added that Stevens became friends with Page, providing personal assistance and arranging for long overdue financial compensation for the use of her image.

Much of the talk came from Bilson, relating stories from The Rocketeer film. He said when he was working on the screenplay with Stevens and Paul De Meo, “We wrote The Rocketeer as a 1930s film and nobody stopped us.” Bilson felt Joe Johnston becoming director was a blessing as Johnston, a fan of the comic, protected Stevens’ creation. He even found ways for Stevens to be part of the art department so that “The artist was an artist on the film.” This led to an anecdote about Michael Eisner wanting to change the helmet and when he showed Johnston various designs, Johnston replied, “Wow, these are great. Who are you gonna get to direct the film?”

The presentation on The Rocketeer turned out to be quite the lovely affair. Even though a large portion of the discussion was on the 1991 film and not really enough on the comic itself, it was still fun and informative to hear the stories about the classic character and his creator. There was clear affection for the late artist throughout the presentation with everyone often pointing out examples of his being a good person, in particular his efforts to help Bettie Page in her later years. Moreover, all attendees in the room were fully engrossed in every story told. This was one of those pleasant presentations I could sit through for hours.

When one thought of television, chances were one of the first three shows that came to mind was The Simpsons. Matt Groening’s seminal work had come a long way since first debuting as a sketch on The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. As the longest-running scripted program on American television for well over 30 years, The Simpsons had superseded being a pop culture icon and was an entertainment milestone. People still continued to flock to just about anything related to the program, most especially at Comic Con where presentations were packed with fans looking forward to see and hear whatever it was that the animated institution had to offer.

Serving as moderator this year was Gravity Falls creator and self-professed Simpsons superfan Alex Hirsch. Serving on the panel were supervising director David Silverman, showrunners Matt Selman and Al Jean, and writers Carolyn Omine and Brian Kelley. One of the first things brought up was the show’s apparent penchant for predicting the future, such as Donald Trump as President and Disney buying Fox Entertainment. Jean stated that they “took a vow after Trump became President to only make good predictions.” On the subject of now being under the Disney banner, Jean noted that an upcoming Simpsons short for Disney+ would be about Disney princes.

Hirsch pointed out that Silverman had been with The Simpsons since the very beginning on The Tracey Ullman Show and was therefore as essential to the program as Groening. So he had Silverman illustrate live to the delight of attendees. Silverman was prompted, based on a handful of subjects the audience chose from, to draw Homer battling Shrek to the death. He couldn’t remember if Shrek had ears and when a fan yelled out that he didn’t it was too late, so he wrote “Ignore!” above it and signed the artwork as Groening. Out of great interest, Silverman drew Skinner and Chalmers making peace at the Aurora Borealis, complete with steamed hams.

The presentation did eventually show off a sizzle reel of what’s to come in the 34th season. Most notable was that there would be two “Treehouse of Horror” episodes this year. One would be a full episode spoof of Stephen King’s It with Krusty The Clown as Pennwise, as seen in the sizzle reel. They noted that another episode would include a segment that would spoof the popular thriller manga Death Note and Selman further explained that they’re hoping to achieve an “incredibly authentic” Simpsons anime, resulting in a whole different studio animating. The clip that was shown featuring Lisa, Homer, and Marge in their anime designs went over magnificently.

It could be debated on an individual level whether or not The Simpsons had declined in quality since the apparent “golden era” in the 1990s. What hadn’t declined was the genuine love and affection audiences had for the show no matter what condition it might be in. When gathered together, there’s a fabulous time to be had, as exemplified by the delight of watching Silverman draw live and Hirsch selecting recipients to win original illustrations by Groening for seemingly random reasons. It would certainly be quite the day when The Simpsons stopped producing content. Until then, fans would continue relishing every moment the show kept going.

It’s not often when a creator’s second television series managed to stay active while the highly successful first series was still running. Yet Seth MacFarlane’s American Dad had been able to do just that. Relying less on cutaway gags and more on character dynamics, the series had soldiered on since debuting after MacFarlane’s Family Guy on February 6, 2005. Even a full network change in 2014 from Fox to TBS, which could’ve spelled instant doom, turned out to be beneficial in allowing the show to take creative chances that had paid off since. American Dad had been a Comic Con regular since the show began and had been a fan favorite ever since.

The presentation kicked off with a sizzle reel of scenes from upcoming episodes to air later in the year. Curiously, there were inconsistencies with the identification of which season the series was on. The panelists were calling it the start of season 18, TBS labeled the sizzle reel on YouTube in the middle of season 17, and websites have it currently in the middle of season 19. After the sizzle reel finished, the panelists were introduced with former series producer Jordan Blum as moderator and featuring co-executive producer Nicole Shabtai, co-creator Matt Weitzman, and stars Jeff Fischer (Jeff Fischer) and Dee Bradley Baker (Klaus).

As they were being introduced, Weitzman, Fischer, and Baker threw out free hats and boxes of goodies to the audience. Once they were settled, they announced that they were celebrating Fischer finally being promoted to series regular. He was then presented with a shirt that simply read “I’m Regular”. Fischer noted he was most excited about a future episode that would parody Scooby-Doo where his character would be Shaggy. The producers noted that Fischer and Baker’s presence on the panel added representation to their characters hanging out together more often in upcoming episodes, in particular the Christmas episode that spoofed How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Going into audience questions, they showed a clip of some of their favorite death scenes with Roger causing a mobster’s head to explode in slow motion garnering heavy laughter from everyone, in particular Baker. This was done to get folks to first identify their favorite death scene before asking a question. One question that stood out was whether or not Klaus’ real family was aware what happened to him. This became an idea the producers seemed to give consideration at exploring, certainly as a follow-up to an upcoming episode where the Smiths would get into a situation requiring them to act out Klaus’ favorite childhood television show.

The American Dad presentation was a rather fun, almost laid back affair. The producers told just enough hints as to what was coming up to satisfy curious interest while the voice actors got to play around with glee. Even attendees were enjoying themselves just listening to the panel talk and watching a series of animated death scenes screen to stomach clenching laughter. It wasn’t a blow away presentation by any stretch of the imagination and certainly not in comparison with anything else that was shown on the same day. It nevertheless provided a pretty good time to be had for everyone in the room and that was all one could ask for.

Family Guy had emerged from a cult classic that overcame cancellation into an unlikely television institution. Seth MacFarlane’s first prime animated comedy managed to successfully follow in the footsteps of The Simpsons into becoming a national icon. And along with The Simpsons and American Dad, Family Guy had been a Saturday Ballroom 20 staple at Comic Con for over a decade. Fans would pack the room to hear from the cast and crew discuss what had passed in the previous season and what to expect in the next. Unfortunately, Family Guy become one of a number of programs that could not deliver on a presentation attendees would have expected.

While the programming guide didn’t specifically notate that there would be any one from the cast or crew appearing, it was generally accepted that this was often done to present surprise guests. However, this ended up not being the case as attendees were provided video messages from MacFarlane and co-star Alex Borstein in presenting an advance screening of an episode from the 21st season along with a sizzle reel of scenes from the forthcoming season. Some fans might have been satisfied enough with what they saw to be content. But it was ultimately a disappointment in comparison to other programs that managed to bring any sort of talent to get attendees interested and excited about their offerings. Certainly with what else was presented on the same day in the same room.

Dan’s Review: The episode screened was called “Oscars Guy” in which three Best Picture Oscar winning films were re-enacted Family Guy-style. The first was The Silence of the Lambs and that turned out pretty decent. The other two, American Beauty and Forrest Gump, weren’t that good to me. Those two featured Peter playing main characters who provided narration. I felt the smart aleck wit got real annoying very quickly and made the segments a chore to get through. The sizzle reel did have a couple interesting moments, though I doubt I’d go out of my way to watch.

It’s astonishing to imagine that a simple game of Dungeons & Dragons played by well-known animation voice actors would become a global pop culture phenomenon. Since first broadcasting via Geek & Sundry in March 2015, Critical Role had captured the imaginations of fans to such a degree that it helped pioneer a renaissance in tabletop role-playing games. As the years progressed, it spun off into its own multimedia production company with comic books, campaign books officially licensed with Dungeons & Dragons, their own line of unique tabletop games, and more recently a highly successful animated series The Legend of Vox Machina on Amazon Prime.

Since coming to Comic Con, the Critical Role presentation was originally held in Room 6BCF, the third largest room in the Convention Center after Hall H and Ballroom 20. It was inevitable that they would move to a bigger room as they would previously fill the room to capacity with a line of attendees hoping to get in waiting outside. Upgrading to Ballroom 20 had allowed for more fans to have fun interacting with Matthew Mercer, Laura Bailey, Liam O’Brien, Ashley Johnson, Taliesin Jaffe, Marisha Ray, Travis Willingham, and Sam Riegel, though the latter was absent this year. Serving as moderator this time around was actor and Critical Role fan (or “Critter”) Christian Navarro.

As soon as all of the present cast members had been introduced, they went straight into questions. Navarro did open asking how they had felt since The Legend of Vox Machina was released earlier this year with Ray seeing Comic Con as a chance to properly celebrate with the fans since they couldn’t do so normally due to the pandemic. There was a pleasant mixture of generalized questions for any or all to answer along with those that were specific to one, mainly directed at Mercer, Jaffe, or Willingham. Fans generally avoided spoilers to the current third campaign, but the previous campaigns and the Exandria Unlimited mini-campaigns were seen as fair game to discuss.

Throughout the hour long Q&A session, one thing was very clear. There was a great deal of interest and fascination in the mythology and lore that was being developed through the gaming sessions played by these animation voice actors. Many fans, and even the cast themselves, had become emotionally invested in exploring and learning more about the world and history of the game’s world Exandria with each new broadcast. And it was largely because of this that Critical Role had thrived as gloriously as it had and continued to do so.

The Critical Role: Q&A with the Cast presentation is available to watch below courtesy of Critical Role.

Twenty years ago, Kim Possible made its debut on Disney Channel and became one of the top-rated animated programs produced. In voicing main characters Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable, stars Christy Carlson Romano and Will Friedle achieved even greater heights of popularity even after previously garnering stardom in live-action shows. Both would continue to voice act in animation after the show ended. As they worked, they interacted with fellow actors and became fascinated by them. The interest in the other actors and their stories inspired Romano and Friedle to start a podcast this year to celebrate their colleagues called I Hear Voices.

The premise of I Hear Voices would be for Romano and Friedle to bring on a guest and have them tell a bit about themselves and how they ultimately ended up in animation. An added feature would be to run the guest through blind voice acting in being given a fan submitted illustration and bring it to life. Having started just a few months ago, it was quite surprising how well produced the podcast had been. Even after switching to doing the shows virtually for a brief period, it had done very well. For Comic Con, they would be recording an episode live. Weeks before, they recorded shows at FanExpo, so Romano and Friedle were well prepared.

The was an impressively high attendance going into the live recording, which managed to be in Room 6BCF. There was expectation that they would do a 20th anniversary celebration of Kim Possible. Even Comic Con was referring to the program as such in the program guide and by staffers. However, Romano and Friedle already recorded a reunion episode the previous month. So they decided to do something different that would be rather special. Their guest for the recording was Fred Tatasciore. The first half of the program was essentially the podcast in that Romano and Friedle delved into Tatasciore’s background and his becoming a voice actor.

The special surprise they had for the live recording was the announcement of a voice acting talent search contest. The winner would get signed to a one year deal with the voice acting agency CESD and be set up with jobs and auditions. To serve as prep for the contest, they spent the rest of the recording getting the audience to participate in the blind voice acting to fan submitted illustrations, with Tatasciore sneaking in a couple illustrations of his own for kicks. This last half was the most fun and enjoyable as attendees who stepped up to the microphones were really impressive as Romano, Friedle, and Tatsciore cheered them on.

The I Hear Voices live recording is available to watch below courtesy of I Hear Voices Podcast.

Being a four-to-five day event, there were all sorts of presentations taking place at Comic Con, often many at one time. Filling the schedule with unique programming could be seen as a challenge, trying to figure what would attract the attention of curious attendees who might be interested. Case in point was a panel called An Animated Life. The programming guide described it as an opportunity for fans to hear from well known creators as they explained how their own lives were just as fascinating as their creations. It seemed to me like it was another retrospective presentation, but I was nonetheless intrigued and decided to check it out.

Serving as moderator was film critic Grae Drake. The panel consisted of animator Jane Baer, actor Phil LaMarr, and writer Ezra Claytan Daniels. While there was some retrospective talk about their respective careers, there also was a sense that Drake at least tried to tie things into the described theme of the panel. This would lead into various discussions about creative satisfaction from their work impacting their lives or influences from reality being applied to their creations and vice versa. During this, LaMarr made a great statement that everyone in the room really liked when he said, “Animation is a metaphor for everything else on life.”

Baer did talk about a personal and professional low in her career. She actually brought this up earlier in the Legends Talk Animation presentation, but it seemed to have greater weight in this panel. She related to how her studio was not fond of Richard Williams during Who Framed Roger Rabbit. When Williams intended to make a visit once, the team wanted the producers to make sure he was hands off. Associate producer Don Hahn did his best to keep him occupied, but Williams eventually lost it and verbally unloaded on everyone and their work, going so far as to crumple up layout art for the film. LaMarr and Daniels were shocked at hearing this.

During audience questions. I asked if there was any advice they received that helped them through personal career challenges. Baer didn’t mention any, but pointed out how she felt spoiled against prejudice working at Disney as they hired based on talent, not minding one’s gender or ethnicity. LaMarr noted his instructor at The Groundlings Cathy Shambley saying, “Don’t put energy into worrying about what other people are doing. Put that energy into making your stuff better.” Daniels said through working on the Doom Patrol television series, he came upon how “everything about you that you think makes you abnormal… are the exact things that give your voice texture.”

It might have been the most challenging to regard as a memorable presentation as it was seemingly a thrown together type panel that Comic Con would do to fill an otherwise hefty weekend schedule. Yet I still came out remembering enough to feel like it was worthwhile. Hearing from the likes of Baer, LaMarr, and Daniels discussing the impact their work had on their lives and vice versa turned out to be quite informative and very insightful. LaMarr had a lot of really great things to say while Baer continued to impress me even more with her stories and I’m now interested in seeing more from Daniels. A pleasant way to spend an hour.

A proper comic book panel I attended was Legends Lost and Remembered [right], which was a celebration of three of the most beloved comic book artists of the last several decades who passed away within a month of each other this year. Neal Adams, George Pérez, and Tim Sale were honored by half-a-dozen peers and associates influenced by their legendary work including Tim King, Dan Jurgens, Richard Starkings, Daniel Sampere, and others. I even got a chance to share my having gotten a Supergirl sketch from Adams at a price far lower than his usual asking price that the others found surprising and made us wonder if I had caught him at a very generous moment.

I’m generally not one to attend presentations on video games as I would rather play demos, whenever I am able to, either in the Exhibit Hall or somewhere offsite. I made an exception in checking out the Capcom: Street Fighter and Capcom Fighting Collection as I was curious to see if there would be anything fun revealed on the forthcoming Street Fighter 6. The main thing I got out of the presentation was a greater insight to the new gameplay mechanics that would be introduced to the fighter. I was also present to one of the more fascinating giveaways as those who could answer some of the hardest trivia questions asked scored some very exuberant prizes.

A common practice for seasoned attendees like myself would be to sit in on presentations that were scheduled ahead of one that was of interest. This led to me sitting in a many television panels this year. Probably the most enjoyable was The Orville [right], the live-action science fiction spoof of Star Trek from Seth MacFarlane that had managed to build its own unique fanbase. MacFarlane wasn’t present, but did call in live to join the cast and crew who did show up, getting a chance to break down the show’s growth and the creative opportunities the move from Fox to Hulu offered. He also announced that all seasons would be streaming on Disney+ as well.

An intriguing presentation to sit through was Inside Severance. The recently released Apple TV+ series had been garnering universal acclaim and on hand to talk about it were cast and crew, most notably director Ben Stiller. Stiller mentioned that Severance did seem envisioned as a workplace comedy similar to The Office, but it quickly transformed into a dark psychological thriller during preparations. Creator Dan Erickson brought up that reading through some of the fan theories had been fun, but he’s making sure to focus on what was true to the story as they started making the second season. To lighten things up, they showed off a blooper reel.

One panel I was interested in sitting through was Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire [right]. The beloved gothic horror was being made into a television series through AMC. Cast and crew discussed their approach in adapting the novel while remaining faithful. The footage that was shown impressed upon me that they might be able to pull it off as well as the classic 1994 film did. I got to ask how much of the Claudia character they would explore. Actress Bailey Bass, who would play Claudia, and showrunner Rolin Jones answered that they put a lot of thought in developing the character which included delving into her past and her varying relationships with Lestat and Louis.

Prior to the Critical Role presentation was The Players of Mythic Quest. Whereas Severance was a workplace thriller on Apple TV+, Mythic Quest was a workplace comedy on Apple TV+ set in a video game company. Another notable feature to the series was that it was co-created by It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia stars Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day, though only McElhenney featured on the show. McElhenney and fellow co-creator Megan Ganz were joined by the cast to preview the upcoming third season. The banter that was being thrown around by everyone throughout showed what a good time they were having at being able to continue on with their show.

As if to prove one could find just about anything at Comic Con, there had been a rather healthy presence of professional wrestling. Being a wrestling fan myself, I checked out the first year for emerging major promotion All Elite Wrestling to present themselves at the convention. AEW: Heroes and Villains [right] featured long-time fan favorites CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, and Chris Jericho along with rising stars Britt Baker, Jade Cargill, Darby Allin, and Orange Cassidy talking about wrestling. They also ventured into their various geekdom from comics, with Punk having written Marvel books, to cosplay, Cargill’s longtime hobby.

An interesting panel I ended up sitting in on ahead of the An Animated Life presentation was Concept Artists of Television and Film #2. A collection of top notch concept artists who were working on some upcoming major superhero films gathered to talk about their craft. This was a very fascinating panel for me as it gave some intriguing insight to how quickly and efficiently concept artists had to be able to juggle multiple projects and the varied styles they would often be challenged to deal with, leaving them extremely exhausted only to have to do it again without rest. I came away wanting to sit in on another like it in the future.

Part of the excitement of Comic Con would be the celebrity encounters. Often there would be plenty of opportunities to partake in signings either in the Exhibit Hall or in the Sails Pavilion. But there would also be unique moments where one could simply sit beside someone during a panel. The latter was roughly the case for many when Lenore Zann [right], voice of Rogue in X-Men: The Animated Series, sat with the audience for the Day One presentation. I was looking to catch her at one of her signings at Sails Pavilion, but this turned out to be a fun opportunity and managed to get a picture and a brief chat before she was too crowded with adoring fans.

I realized I had forgotten stuff in the room The Rocketeer presentation was after it ended. This occurring after having walked all the way from one end of the convention center to the other and had to walk all the way back to retrieve them. After picking my items, I noticed Danny Bilson and Jennifer Bawcum were still hanging out with fans outside the room. I joined in as we chatted about all things The Rocketeer, in particular Bawcum’s work as trustee of The Rocketeer Trust and our shared admiration for products we found in the Exhibit Hall like a lanyard Bilson really wanted to get his hands on. Absolute pleasant folks to hang out with.

I remembered almost too late I wanted to try to catch Jennie Kwan [right] at the We Can Be Heroes booth. The voice actress was best known for voicing Suki in Avatar: The Last Airbender, but she was on the cusp of getting a big boost becoming the new English language voice of Chun-Li in the forthcoming Street Fighter 6. As soon as I met her, Kwan noticed my mask said “got adobo!”, which she enjoyed a great deal being Filipino herself. We got into chatting briefly about her becoming Chun-Li and she got very excited when I noted that the Capcom booth had a life-size Chun-Li bust she definitely wanted to see before show’s end. Kwan was a lot of fun to hang out with.

Streamily had been turning into a fun service to use this year, offering unique fan interactions and participation for personalized autograph signings. They ended up having a presence at Comic Con, holding sessions at the Roddenberry Entertainment booth. A signing I managed to get into was one of the ones for Maggie Robertson, who exploded in popularity portraying the villainess Alcina Dimitrescu in Resident Evil Village. As part of Streamily, Robertson was streaming her sessions live through her Instagram account. Meeting her in person was quite lovely and a joy to see how much fun she was having with her newfound adoration.

Seeing Jane Baer [right] participating in presentations throughout the weekend raised my admiration a great deal for her. The legendary animator was a Comic Con Special Guest this year and was being celebrated throughout. I decided to chat with her following the An Animated Life panel and she appeared to be graciously enjoying the whole experience this year as I told her how appreciative I was to have heard her stories and she answered with how much fun she was having. We both noted our shared amusement in her Milt Kahl anecdotes, in particular his having based Madame Medusa on his second wife. Baer was just a wonderful lady to have met.

There were some friends and acquaintances I tried to visit whenever possible. Normally I would be able to make time, but this year my schedule was so heavily booked that I was barely able to see any of them. A few were in Artist Alley and when I finally managed to get there I remembered Dan Veesenmeyer had a table and decided to quick “Hi!” and to thank him for retweeting our Twitter post about the X-Men: The Animated Series presentation. He said that he wanted to Tweet something about the event and our post just happened to catch his eye. A really nice guy to meet from our very brief chat and one I’d like to meet again more properly.

It just wouldn’t be Comic Con, or any convention for that matter, without Cosplay. Hundreds of attendees roaming the floors, or indeed roaming the streets outside, dressed as characters from all across the pop culture spectrum would always be a sight to behold. Because part of the beauty would be the creativity being put into making the costumes that much more personal and unique. Be it a motorcycle riding Captain America showing a young Rey that he too was attuned with the Force [above] or Hera with a female humanoid variation of Chopper, it’s the biggest expression of one’s fandom and their passion for the arts to dress up so wonderfully.

Curiously, I had a feeling that I did not run into as many cosplayers this year as I would normally. That could be a mixture of my schedule being so packed that I was spending more time in presentations than wandering the floors as well as some folks probably being cautious enough in the middle of a pandemic to just not wear costumes. With regards to the latter, there were still many who dressed up. And while a lot of cosplayers simply removed their face masks when having their pictures taken, a few others got a little creative and figured ways to incorporate them, such as a Rapunzel having the sky lanterns added to her pink face mask.

Being a fan of Arcane, I was pleasantly satisfied that there was a nice number of such cosplayers out and about. While most were dressed as Jinx, I did come across one Mel and a few pairings of the sisters Vi and Jinx [right]. Of course, the Critical Role fandom was in full force around the time of their panel with so many characters to choose from. The most impressive were the ones dressed as Ashley Johnson’s current campaign character the faun druid/rogue Fearne. I was quite delighted to see a number of costumes for The Owl House such as a lovely Amity and an unplanned grouping of Luz, Eda, and the house with King and Hooty accessories.

Of course one of the most popular events at Comic Con would be the world famous Masquerade. A celebration showcase as much as a costume contest, fans filled Ballroom 20 on Day Three in the evening to watch the spectacle of cosplayers performing. Comic Con would simulcast the Masquerade from one of the other rooms and in the Sails Pavilion with snacks and a dance party afterwards. The Sails Pavilion simulcast wasn’t mentioned in the program guide for this year, but I did see that were setting up for it in the afternoon, so I got to check out a bit of the Masquerade there. I found a Vi with animatronic gauntlets and a Lydia from Beetlejuice to be the most impressive.

Adding to the appeal of Comic Con would be the activities taking place in downtown San Diego throughout the weekend. These offsite events were extensions of the convention experience and were open to the public without need of a badge, so long as they were willing to wait through long lines under the summer sun. There were openings in my schedule to check out a couple of these. The first was the Mooby’s Pop-Up [right]. Taking over the Tin Roof Bar & Grill, it was slightly redressed to be the McDonald’s knock-off from the films of Kevin Smith. Mooby’s was the primary setting for Clerks II and the pop-up was set up to promote the forthcoming Clerks III.

I ended up being among the first in line for the pop-up’s opening on Day One. As such, I was present for when Smith dropped by to perform the opening ceremonies, which was loads of fun to witness. I merely said “Hi!” to him as he ended up being occupied with an admirer who had just finished making her own film and wanted to thank him directly for being influential. Inside there were a bunch of neat displays such as a merchandise table, arcade machines with the Jay and Silent Bob video games, and a stage that would be used for sold out presentations and podcasts in the evening. Oh, and the food turned out to be some pretty good eats as well!

There was one offsite event I really wanted to check out that I was concerned would have been too difficult to get into, the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Tavern Experience [right]. Set up to promote the forthcoming feature film, it offered an immersive experience that sounded like a dream come true for those into Dungeons & Dragons like myself. I managed to get in line during the evening on Day One, which I later understood was not as hectic as any other time over the weekend. While waiting in line, they gave out color specific wristbands which would designate those who could drink alcohol and those who didn’t want to. Somehow I got both.

After less then an hour in line, I got inside and was blown away with how much work went into redressing the Nova SD Nightclub into a tavern. Every one was treated to a mug of Dragon Brew, thus the wristbands, and checked out the various props and looping character videos displayed. The barkeep welcomed everyone with a speech, followed by a barmaid leading a singing chant. They then went into the cool finale where the tavern was attacked by a black dragon. All of this was an absolute blast. As I was leaving, I caught sight of Matthew Lillard (Scooby-Doo‘s Shaggy and celebrity Dungeons & Dragons player) taking over the gelatinous cube photo op with glee.

Watch exclusive footage from the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Tavern Experience below.

It had become a tradition of mine to always swing by and visit in the Exhibit Hall Chris Sanders [right]. The Lilo & Stitch creator had a table every year selling off artwork and merchandise of his own. As far as I knew, there was no new update on the Rescue Sirens novels he was co-writing with his wife Jessica and didn’t have a new sketchbook. But he was selling off unique prints, in particular a Lilo & Stitch piece he did in watercolor. There were many copies available, but he also had the line drawing and the original watercolor sheet itself for sale. Only the originals were certainly not cheap and the watercolor sheet cost a pretty penny.

While cancellations were nothing new to Comic Con, this year saw a wave of programs and appearances that were called off leading up to and during the convention. A Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir presentation getting cancelled just a day or two after program schedules were announced set the tone for how this was going to go. Before any one knew it, major names scheduled to appear like Wesley Snipes and J. Michael Straczynski had suddenly bowed out. Strangely, George R.R. Martin did show up for the presentation on the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, but everything else he was scheduled for was cancelled.

The curious absence of DC and Dark Horse from the Exhibit Hall would result in some new faces as the other, more established booths like Marvel and Image didn’t seem fit to increase the floor space they generally covered in years past. Probably the only one to take advantage was Capcom [right], being slightly bigger than I remember them being previously. They were going big on promoting Street Fighter 6 with numerous opportunities for attendees to demo the exciting fighter all weekend long. The increased space also allowed for demos of Monster Hunter and Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium. They even got to display an impressive life-size bust of Chun-Li.

Interestingly enough, there were not too many merchandise items I tried to get this year. The only one I had to put a little effort into getting was the Hercules 25th Anniversary Pin at the Disney+ booth, but only because they wouldn’t put it on sale during Preview Night. Otherwise, I got my shopping out of the way as early as possible. This included the Dungeons & Dragons: The Lost Wave figures at the NECA booth and at the UDON Entertainment booth both variant covers of the Street Fighter Swimsuit Special 2022 comic book and the Street Fighter 6 Chun-Li T-Shirt, which was the first officially licensed merchandise for the upcoming fighter.

Because of the pandemic, Comic Con enforced some mandates attendees were required to follow. The most obvious being that they keep masks on pretty much at all times and to be verified of vaccination or negative testing. With regards to the latter, everyone had to go to an outdoor station [right] from which they would receive a wristband confirming verification. These wristbands were to be worn at all times, so it was kind of interesting seeing folks in costume having to wear this orange wristband that would crumple and fade as the weekend went on. They were indeed waterproof, but it still felt funny to have to wear them to sleep and in the shower.

Minutes before the start of the Critical Role presentation in Ballroom 20, which happened to be running at the exact same time as the big Marvel Studios presentation in Hall H, a sudden announcement was made. From what we gathered, there was suspicious tampering of the alarms and it was being investigated. I imagine if the alarms were to have been legitimate, it would have forced a complete evacuation of the convention center. Fortunately, an update was announced shortly that all was fine and everything could continue as normal. Critical Role‘s Sam Riegel, who was unable to attend, offered a suggestion to the show’s fans in response to our Twitter post.

I blame Delilah Briarwood

— Sam Riegel (@samriegel) July 24, 2022

Sam Riegel wasn’t the only one to interact with our Twitter posts. Our coverage of the event throughout the weekend was watched, liked, and retweeted by others. This included story artist Dan Veesenmeyer liking and retweeting our post of the X-Men: The Animated Series 30th anniversary presentation and animation studio Atomic Cartoons liking and retweeting our post of the Little Demon presentation, adding that they were excited to be working on the show. But our most popular post was for David Silverman illustrating live during The Simpsons presentation and I dare say a big part of the popularity was due to a response from moderator Alex Hirsch.

Someone had to do it

— Alex Hirsch (@_AlexHirsch) July 26, 2022

No Comic Con attendee was complete without their badge, lanyard, program guides, and carrying bag.

Shuttle buses being decked out to promote Amazon Prime shows such as The Legend of Vox Machina.

The Exhibit Hall on Preview Night before it really filled up with attendees.

The original watercolor sheet of Chris Sanders’ Lilo & Stitch piece costing a pretty penny.

A very happy young fan getting to meet SpongeBob SquarePants at the Nickelodeon booth.

Kevin Smith with Mooby The Cow conducting the opening ceremonies of the Mooby’s Pop-Up.

“I feel overdressed… and under-tattooed!” John Musker showing off his birthday card illustration for Lin-Manuel Miranda during the Animated Lives: John Musker and Ron Clements panel.

We all knew who really wore the pants in Batman and Catwoman’s relationship.

“In each and every one of you, there is a light, a spirit, that cannot be snuffed out.” (Supergirl)

Fans lining up hoping to get into the 30th Anniversary of X-Men: The Animated Series panel.

Writer/Aritst Dan Jurgens reminiscing on working with the late George Pérez at the Legends Lost and Remembered panel.

Matthew Lillard enjoying the gelatinous cube photo op at the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Tavern Experience.

Attendees lining up as early as 6 am to get into the convention center on Day Two.

The infamous Hall H line going out and through San Diego Bay Harbor by 7 am on Day Two.

Writer/Executive Producer Beau DeMayo talking about X-Men ’97 at the Marvel Studios panel.

“Make it there alive and he’ll find you.” (Quorra, TRON: Legacy)

“I recognize that any worthwhile venture involves risk.” (Mel Medarda, Arcane)

“And today, I’ll show Luz that I am an awesome girlfriend.” (Amity Blight, The Owl House)

Just keep walking, sir. No need to keep looking at the weirdo (Deadpool) wearing a Disney princess dress and wig over his costume holding a gun.

“Wherever I go, he goes.” (Din Djarin, The Mandalorian)

Executive Producers/Stars Aubrey Plaza (Laura), Lucy DeVito (Chrissy), and Danny DeVito (Satan) talking after the first episode screening at the FXX’s Little Demon Exclusive Pre-Series Premiere Sneak Peek Screening and Q&A panel.

“How can you know what you’re capable of if you don’t embrace the unknown?” (Esmeralda, The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

The Scarlet Witch and Hela were not messing around.

Harley Quinn being quite happy that Weasel was alive.

“You are a scholar, are you not? Judging from your diminished physique and large forehead you are suited for nothing else.” (Kidagakash Nedakh, Atlantis: The Lost Empire)

A beautiful life-size bust of Chun-Li on display at the Capcom booth.

“I’m not afraid to die! I’d do anything to get you humans out of my forest!” (San, Princess Mononoke)

The weirdos Luz Noceda, Hooty, Eda Clawthorne, and King sticking together.

Shego not quite as thrilled as Dr. Drakken to look like a conventional pair.

Kylo Ren seemingly not adapting well in The Lands Between from Elden Ring.

“Yo! I should let ya know I get torked when people ignore me!” (Jubilee, X-Men)

Jane Lane and Daria Morgendorffer, the most feared duo wandering around the convention.

Model/Ex-Wife Brinke Stevens, Colleague/Friend Jackie Estrada, and Colleague/Screenwriter Danny Bilson reminiscing on Dave Stevens and The Rocketeer during The Rocketeer: Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Dave Stevens’ Iconic Character panel.

“This could be a quick ticket to hell… or the wildest ride of my life!” (Cliff Secord, The Rocketeer)

“Too weak to handle myself out there, huh, Mother? Well… tell that to my frying pa–” (Rapunzel, Tangled)

Supervising Director David Silverman illustrating live Homer versus Shrek in a battle to the death during The Simpsons panel.

Stars Dee Bradley Baker (Klaus Heisler) and Jeff Fischer (Jeff Fischer) talking what’s in store for their characters during the American Dad panel.

Stars Bailey Bass (Claudia), Sam Reid (Lestat de Lioncourt), and Jacob Anderson (Louis de Pointe du Lac) talking about their interpretation of their characters during the Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire panel.

Creator/Executive Producer/Star Seth MacFarlane (Captain Edward Mercer) calling in live for The Orville panel.

Creator/Executive Producer/Star Rob McElhenney (Ian Grimm), Creator/Executive Producer Megan Ganz, and Executive Producer/Star David Harnsby (David Brittlesbee) talking about the new season during The Players of Mythic Quest panel.

“Time is a weird soup.” (Fearne Calloway, Critical Role)

Fans lining up to ask questions at the Critical Role: Q&A with the Cast panel.

“Keep it up, Cloud! Work it!” (Aerith Gainsborough, Final Fantasy VII)

“Let me make this as… monosyllabic as possible.” (Captain Amelia Smollet, Treasure Planet)

“Ready? Then show me!” (Chun-Li, Street Fighter)

“Do you want to build a snowman?” (Anna, Frozen)

Jade Cargill, Chris Jericho, and Britt Baker talking about wrestling and geekdom during the AEW: Heroes and Villains panel.

Will Friedle, Christy Carlson Romano, and Fred Tatasciore hearing an audience member voice the displayed illustration during the I Hear Voices with Will Friedle and Christy Carlson Romano panel.

Hera Syndulla might have modified Chopper to be… sassier.

“Uh… sometimes our strengths lie beneath the surface. … Far beneath… in some cases. But I’m sure there’s more to Hei Hei than meets the eye.” (Moana Waialiki, Moana)

Concept Artists Maybelle Pineda (Black Adam), Oksana Nedavniaya (Shazam! Fury of the Gods), Constantine Sekeris (Guadians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), Phillip Boutte Jr. (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Jen Hancock (American Horror Stories), and David Masson (Thor: Love and Thunder) making up the Concept Artists of Television and Film #2 panel.

Resident Evil fans lining up at the Roddenberry Entertainment booth for Streamily autograph sessions with Stephanie Panisello (Claire Redfield) and Maggie Robertson (Alcina Dimitrescu).

The Comic Con Exclusive Hercules 25th Anniversary Pin from the Disney+ booth.

Maggie Robertson (Alcina Dimitrescu, Resident Evil Village) and Jennie Kwan (Chun-Li, Street Fighter 6) autographs.

The Comic Con Exclusive Street Fighter Swimsuit Special 2022 Variant Cover Comic Books and Street Fighter 6 Chun-Li T-Shirt from the UDON Entertainment booth.

The Comic Con Exclusive AEW Brodie Lee Action Figure from the Gentle Giant Studios/Jazwares booth and Dungeons & Dragons: The Lost Wave Action Figure Set from the NECA booth.

The Stitch and Toothless Print and The Lilo, Nani, and Stitch Surfboard Watercolor Print from Chris Sanders’ booth.

Below you will find twenty panels and presentations that were of interest to the Animated Views crew. They are available to view at any time upon release between Wednesday, July 21 through Sunday, July 25. Enjoy!

Thanks for joining us virtually at Comic-Con@Home 2021. We hope to be back next year to bring you all of the excitement and wonder of the convention in person. Until then, enjoy all the treats that online entertainment can provide, and stay safe!

Of course, at the last minute, DC Comics split the convention in half, moving the majority of their panels on TV series to a later date on Saturday, September 12th. This meant that the first day of the event was mostly focused on movies, with panels which were wisely spread out throughout the day so that no one had to spend the entire afternoon glued to their laptop. One downside to everything was that every panel was streamed on schedule, meaning that fans had to be on their digital devices at a certain time otherwise they’d miss out.

In fairness, DC did run the panels in a 24-hour loop which ensured that each one would be shown three times, but anyone wishing to revisit them (or catch the ones that they missed) now that they’re over might be a little disappointed. On a bittersweet note, the event took place only days after the announcement that DC Comics was doing a huge amount of layoffs of their staff, adding a negative taste to an otherwise highly enjoyable day for fans.

The event was free to everyone, with Animated Views’s Dacey Booker making sure he was online for all of the major panels (though he sadly wasn’t able to catch everything), including the sneak peeks of Wonder Woman 1984, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and The Batman.

Kicking things after a traditional highlight reel celebrating a history of DC Comics in cinema (including the Burton Batman movies and Christopher Reeve Superman installments) was Wonder Woman 1984, the highly anticipated sequel which was originally supposed to open back in June. On hand were director Patty Jenkins, along with cast members Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Pedro Pascal and Kristen Wiig.

Immediately it was apparent that everything here was going to have more bells and whistles than the recent “Comic-Con@Home”, complete with sophisticated special effects being used to create the “dome” of the event’s namesake, and all of the actors standing in front of similar backdrops to provide a feeling of more visual unity between everyone despite them all ultimately speaking from their houses. From there, the usual fan questions followed (all pre-taped in this case), with everything livening up greatly after a surprise appearance by Wonder Woman TV star Lynda Carter (who everyone, naturally, was very flattering and affectionate towards).

The Q&A itself didn’t provide many details on what to expect from the sequel–many of the fan questions taken were silly ones such as Venus Williams asking “Could Diana and Cheetah set aside their differences to play tennis together?”–but that all changed with the reveal of a brand new trailer. Unlike a number of the panels done at “Comic-Con@Home”, which showed their previews right away, DC made the wise decision to use them as a way to whet the appetites of viewers for the new footage they were about to be treated to. It was much more similar to how such conventions are done in “real life” and really helped capture the feeling of watching similar events such as “Star Wars Celebration” from a home computer (albeit without all of the screaming audience members).

Even better, the full trailer delivered in terms of getting people pumped up for a movie which hasn’t had any marketing since its first teaser back in December. The main focus was on Captain Steve Trevor’s mysterious return after he seemed to die at the end of the first film, but the big “money shot” was the reveal of Wiig’s Cheetah, who looks about as you would expect for her to–even if that means she kind of resembles a character from Cats!

The action also continues to look absolutely spectacular here, especially as Wonder Woman leaps and shoves her way through open traffic in what looks to be a massive sequence. Wonder Woman 1984 is currently set for theatrical release in October, but given how uncertain things are right now (even with a handful of theaters reopening), there’s a good chance that might end up changing.

Just after the panel for Wonder Woman 1984 ended, DC wasted no time in getting the ball rolling with an announcement trailer, this time for an upcoming video game called Gotham Knights. The high concept game will take place after Bruce Wayne is killed (or, at least apparently killed; it wouldn’t be the first time Batman faked his death), leaving Gotham under the protection of his sidekicks and partners Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing, and Red Hood.

Unlike Wonder Woman, there was no attempt at a traditional “panel” for Gotham Knights, with things kicking off right away with a teaser trailer consisting of a posthumous message from Bruce Wayne: “If you’re watching this, it means I’m dead.” The preview was simply chill-inducing and did exactly what it had to do in terms of getting gamers excited. Following the trailer, there was a very brief Q&A with the game’s creators (in which they talked about how it put YOU in control of Gotham) before even more preview footage was shown, this time showing off seven minutes of gameplay.

Even without being able to touch any buttons on a control pad, this looks to be exciting, tense, and atmospheric on a level similar to the Arkham series. It might be enough to get me to invest in a console someday! Gotham Knights is set to hit store shelves in 2021.

The “Introducing Flash” (“ahh-ahh!”) event didn’t play like a panel so much as an extra feature on a DVD promoting a upcoming film, with star Ezra Miller providing trivia and jokes about the character alongside interviews with filmmakers Andy and Barbara Muschietti and screenwriter Christina Hodson. Days before FanDome went live, it had been revealed that Ben Affleck would be returning as Bruce Wayne for The Flash, along with the confirmation of rumors that Micheal Keaton would also be back in the batsuit.

Though no filming has taken place yet, there was some information provided about where the plot will go. Following up on the plot in Justice League where he was trying to clear the name of his wrongfully imprisoned father, the film will have Barry Allen attempting to go back in time to prevent his mother’s murder from ever happening. In doing so, The Flash will accidentally enter other dimensions via “The Multiverse” (a concept already explored on the current television series), and going by the montage of clips shown during the panel, this could lead to some intriguing possibilities.

Not only does it inevitably open up the door for Keaton’s Batman (that at least appears to be him in the exciting concept art which was also revealed) to come out and play, but footage from TV’s Gotham and Zack Snyder’s Watchmen was also showcased, indicating that Barry Allen will do quite a bit of world jumping.

The Flash has been in and out of production limbo for several years now (remember back when Phil Lord and Chris Miller were involved?), but this time they do seem to have a really strong concept behind it, so fingers crossed once everything finally gets back to “normal” (whenever that may be!), the movie will be able to speed into theaters.

Let’s face it, what Batman means has changed a lot over the years. For today’s generation, the character is a dark, brooding force of nature committed to fighting crime at almost all costs thanks largely to the Christopher Nolan installments. But in the 1960’s, Batman was the most modern television comedy on the air, poking fun at superheroes in a way which had never been done before all while the late Adam West maintained a straight face.

This is of course a huge contrast to more recent versions of the Caped Crusader, including the animated series Batman Beyond, which featured an older Bruce Wayne training a young ex-con to become the new Batman to defend a futuristic Gotham City. The comedy sketch “Beyond Batman” imagined what would happen that world crossed with the one of Adam West, with Wayne picking up a transmission from “another reality” which was actually an episode of the old show.

What followed was Mystery Science Theater 3000-style riffing as West’s Batman stopped the Joker from an evil plot involving throwing fish and a giant man-eating clam. Many of the jokes were quite sharp observations (“Why does the villain’s lair have so many randomly placed telescopes?”), and multiple jabs were made about the Joker having a mustache visibly under his clown makeup (Caesar Romano famously refused to shave it for the role). But it was all clearly being done from a place of love and nostalgia for the 60’s adventures, and hopefully it will make its way to YouTube officially soon.

When writer/director James Gunn was abruptly fired from Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 over some dirty jokes he made on Twitter several years beforehand, the entire internet reacted with shock. Many were quick to jump to Gunn’s defense, but Marvel made no indications they were going to change their minds. Fittingly, DC was like “Well, if Marvel doesn’t want him, then we’ll take him!”

Thus Gunn was hired to helm The Suicide Squad, a kind-of sequel to the 2016 blockbuster which will see a new team of supervillains take on another seemingly impossible mission. Proving that comic book nerds can in fact have their cake and eat it too, Marvel later announced that Gunn would be doing the third Guardians outing after all, meaning the fan-favorite director will now be doing two more big budget films for the genre.

The panel was much more crowded than the others, as Gunn has assembled an enormous cast for this movie, and almost all of them were present for roll call. Following this, a special preview revealed who the new cast members of the movie would be playing (King Shark! Polka Dot Man!) before everyone settled down for an extended game of trivia.

This was one of the instances of the event where the crowd was missed, as an audience laughing along with the cast as they got confused over who was on which team would’ve been a more rewarding experience in a full auditorium. As things did happen, there was still enjoyment to be had–particularly a running gag in which everyone pretended to hate working with Michael Rooker–but it still felt like it might’ve gone on for a bit too long.

Nevertheless, there was also plenty of talk over what to expect from the new movie. Gunn was extremely enthusiastic, saying that the studio absolutely loves the rough cut they’ve seen of it (which fortunately wrapped up filming before everything in the world went crazy). Gunn promised that it was by far the biggest movie he’s ever done, claiming it had more special effects than “all of the Marvel movies combined!”

There was no “trailer” for The Suicide Squad shown–it’s not set to open for an entire year–but Gunn did provide viewers with an impressive sizzle reel of behind-the-scenes footage. Going by all of the explosions and insanity on display, it appeared that he wasn’t overplaying the film’s scope.

The sneak peek also threatened that, unlike the first film where almost the entire Squad survived, the new film will have a much higher body count. “Don’t get attached!” Look for The Suicide Squad on the big screen August 6th, 2021.

Harley Quinn saw a resurgence in popularity largely thanks to Margot Robbie’s lovable take on the character in Suicide Squad (which she reprised in this year’s extremely entertaining and agile Birds of Prey), so it made sense that she would eventually get her own cartoon spin-off series, even if it is extremely profane and definitely intended for mature audiences (her eyes are also…weird).

“Ask Harley Quinn” was a brief sketch involving Harley (in a repeated animation, because the budget for this seems to have been quite small) answering fan questions. There was definitely funny material, however it was so crass that most of it won’t be mentioned here. What I can talk about was her blatantly dropping product placement for HBO Max (which the show is available on, along with DC Universe and SyFy) and not being able to confirm whether or not there would be a Season 3. An uncensored version of the “interview” without the constant bleeps is set to be shown during the second day of DC FanDome in September (where the focus will largely be on television).

Back in 2017, Zack Snyder abruptly left the director’s chair for Justice League following a family tragedy, handing over the reins over to Joss Whedon–a fitting choice given he had helmed a little movie called The Avengers. For better or for worse, this resulted in Whedon more or less taking over the movie that ended up in theaters, despite Snyder still maintaining top billing.

Now, for what it’s worth, I actually loved the theatrical version of Justice League–even if it’s hard to say who deserves the credit for that! With a ton of action and fast pacing, it’s the closest thing we’ll get today to something that truly feels like a 90’s superhero movie, even directly paying homage to the original Superman and Batman blockbusters thanks to subtle musical nods via Danny Elfman’s score.

Having said that, the change in tone from the previous DC films was pretty clear, and one sensed that Snyder had an even “bigger” film in mind than what we got on the big screen. Three years and many online fan petitions later, and we’re finally getting Zack Snyder’s Justice League–which most will undoubtedly refer to as
The Snyder Cut–on HBO Max in 2021.

For many, this panel may have been the biggest event of the day. Snyder himself served as the moderator, expressing extreme gratitude to the people who made the “Release The Snyder Cut” movement go viral. This was followed by fan questions being given by the cast members themselves, including Affleck asking who Snyder’s favorite comic book character was (the answer was Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen) and Ray Fisher inquiring if Cyborg would get more screen time (he will, with Snyder proclaiming him “the heart of the movie”).

There was also the announcement that the final runtime for the Snyder cut is four hours(!), and that it will be split into four separate “episodes” on HBO Max. Snyder also said that they’re working on a way to make “a complete version” available (hopefully this means a disc release?), and promised that those living in territories where HBO Max is not available will still have access to the film.

Finally, there was the moment everyone was there for: the trailer. In addition the showing off some of the spectacle (including the first glimpse of Darkseid), the preview was mostly moody and emotional as it was set to Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.

Sure, you could make the argument that the song is overused, but darn me if it wasn’t incredibly effective here, and the wait for The Snyder Cut just got a whole lot harder (curiously, the trailer wasn’t presented in widescreen, and it remains to be seen if this was merely a stylistic choice for the preview or if it’s something Snyder will use to visually set his cut apart from the theatrical version).

Again falling into the “feeling more like a DVD extra” category was the event for Black Adam. For the most part, Dwayne Johnson was the only one present for it, talking about what he hopes to accomplish with the movie (which hasn’t begun filming) and answering a handful of fan questions.

Johnson claimed that the movie would be faithful to the character’s “ruthless” nature, but didn’t specify whether or not he would be a hero in the film. In the comics, Black Adam is often a villain whose violent ways of dealing with criminals put him at odds with the likes of Superman and Green Lantern. What Johnson was able to show off was a brief “motion comic” teaser explaining Black Adam’s origin story (narrated by Johnson himself in character), but the biggest reveal was the news that the movie will also feature the Justice Society of America, including Hawkman, Dr. Fate, Calypso, and Atom Smasher.

Johnson also briefly chatted with his fellow cast member Noah Centineo (who appeared to be in his living room) about playing Atom Smasher, who has the ability to change into any size he wants. This lead to them hyping up what sounded like a huge battle that will take place in Paris in which Atom Smasher grows taller than the Eiffel Tower and fights Black Adam.

Then again, production hasn’t even started on Black Adam yet, and even with a big name like Dwayne Johnson attached to star, it feels like a movie–dues the character being a somewhat obscure one as far as nerd culture goes–that’s at risk of being cancelled if DC and Warner Bros. aren’t fully confident about its financial returns. It’s inclusion in the FanDome does inspire hope that it will actually get made, so fingers crossed that it’s able to meet its intended December 2021 release date.

This extended featurette featured interviews with voice actors from all over the world who have played Batman. It didn’t only cover those who have done the foreign language tracks for animation, but those who dubbed the live-action movies as well. It was pretty fascinating stuff, especially when hearing the actors talk about how dubbing for Christian Bale’s Batman (very intense) is a lot different than doing Ben Affleck’s (much louder, but also more emotional). Multiple actors on the panel also praised Will Arnett’s hilarious version of the character in The Lego Batman Movie, saying he was a delight to try to replicate.

The DC Extended Universe movies supposedly split up fans, but Aquaman seemed to be one that almost everyone agreed was pretty awesome, a spectacular action-packed undersea adventure which was also a worldwide box office hit. For the FanDome Panel, Ocean Master actor Patrick Wilson talked with James Wan about the film’s success, as well as some behind-the-scenes secrets about how the incredible visual effects were brought to life (the entire cast was often hoisted several feet off the ground for the underwater scenes).

From there, Wan was able to reveal just a little (but not much) about what to expect from the sequel, including the news that Wilson’s villainous character would return. Much has been made on other websites about Wan saying the next installment will be “more serious,” but in the actual event he only appeared to imply that it might be slightly darker, so there’s probably no reason for viewers to prepare themselves from something completely different from the fun they had last time (no word, however, on the status of Amber Heard returning as Mera amid her recent public controversy). Aquaman 2 will sail into in theaters in 2022.

This featurette provided a retrospective of Batman’s most famous enemy through the years, including interviews with actors who have played the iconic criminal such as Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamill, Jared Leto, and Joaquin Phoenix. If that sounds more like a documentary than a fan panel, it’s because it was one, and turned out to be an extended trailer for a 35-minute film called Joker: Put on a Happy Face, which is currently available to watch on the Apple TV app.

Concluding the day’s festivities was the panel for The Batman. Warner Bros. was clearly feeling confident about what they had here, as they gave it the most attention of the event and saved it for last. Director Matt Reeves (War of the Planet of the Apes) gave an interview which lasted nearly half an hour, talking about what attracted him to the project and explaining what he hoped to do with Batman that hadn’t been done before.

Of course, there’s so much that has been done with Batman over his 80 years of existence that it might be hard to put him in new situations. Rather than go over his origin story again, Reeves hopes to show Bruce Wayne “developing into” Batman, kicking things off a year after he began dawning the cape and cowl. Much discussion was also given to the casting of Twilight’s Robert Pattinson in the title role, which Reeves appeared to be quite excited about. “He’s a chameleon. He’s never the same person twice.”

Reeves also talked about how one of his main inspirations was 70’s cinema such as Taxi Driver (weirdly enough, that also had an enormous influence on last year’s Joker), and discussed how he was trying to do a movie that explored Batman’s detective skills more than previous big screen incarnations have. He also teased that audiences could anticipate “very different” takes on classic characters like Catwoman, Penguin, and the Riddler (he wasn’t kidding on that last part, but more on that later).

The conversation then shifted to the spin-off TV series which is already in early development for HBO Max. Told from the perspective of “the city,” it will chronicle the life of a corrupt cop “on a quest to find his soul” as everyone comes to learn of a vigilante that has just started taking the law into his own hands. It sounded similar to the well-received Gotham in a lot of ways. It will take place one year before the events of the new film.

Sadly, due to the pandemic, production on The Batman was shut down after only 25% of it was filmed…which made it all the more shocking that Reeves was able to surprise fans by showing off a full trailer! To say the movie looks “dark” might be an understatement–visually it feels as though Batman stepped into David Fincher’s Seven–with a brooding soundtrack which made the first look positively mesmerizing.

Previous versions of the Riddler have largely focused on his comedy and wackiness–there’s a reason Jim Carrey was cast to play him in Batman Forever–but Paul Dano is giving him a far more twisted personality, with him now being a serial killer who (true to form) is openly taunting a certain superhero into playing his demented game. Pattinson, meanwhile, expresses a haunted intensity through his eyes alone, his Bruce Wayne looking disheveled and exhausted, his Batman practically a tornado of fury as he absolutely pummels a thug with a swift combination of punches.

It was a very impressive preview for a movie that has barely begun production. Originally set for release this October, The Batman is now heading to theaters in 2021.

The DC FanDome served its purpose in providing those “attending” with an exciting experience even without being a full “convention” in the traditional sense. All of the major trailers shown were promising, and the panels did a good job of making the audience feel like a part of the action. We’re all of course hoping that things return to business as usual sooner rather than later, but for the time being–and when done right–online events such as this one are effective ways of keeping fans happy.

However, the ongoing global pandemic and the need for social distancing has resulted in what would’ve been the 50th anniversary of the convention to be postponed until next year. Nevertheless, the internet has proved to be a valuable asset in providing entertainment in these challenging times. Taking a cue from those who have experimented with them, the San Diego Comic-Con will be streaming their delightful panels and presentations online for everyone to watch and enjoy whenever they want without leaving their homes.

Thus, Comic-Con@Home is born!

Below you will find twenty panels and presentations that were of interest to the Animated Views crew. They range from insightful retrospectives to first-look previews of what’s to come, and from informative seminars to fandom celebrations. They are available to view at any time. Enjoy!

Thursday – July 23

Cartoon Network Studios: The Art of Storyboarding
In this masterclass virtual panel, hear from artists behind some of Cartoon Network Studios’ hit series as they share their journeys, learnings and top tips for aspiring storyboard artists worldwide. Join leading artists behind award-winning shows to learn how a concept or script is brought to life through the beloved art of storyboarding. Panelists include: Mic Graves, director of and voice on The Amazing World of Gumball; Chuck Klein, storyboard royalty and supervising producer/director, Apple & Onion; Julia Pott, creator of and voice on Summer Camp Island; Alabaster Pizzo, storyboard artist, Summer Camp Island.

His Dark Materials Virtual Panel and Q&A Session
Adapting Philip Pullman’s award-winning trilogy of the same name, which is considered a modern masterpiece of imaginative fiction, HBO/BBC’s His Dark Materials concluded its debut season in December. Join executive producers Jane Tranter and Jack Thorne, as well as cast members Dafne Keen (Lyra), Ruth Wilson (Mrs. Coulter), Ariyon Bakare (Lord Boreal), Amir Wilson (Will Parry), Andrew Scott (John Parry), and Lin-Manuel Miranda (Lee Scoresby) in a virtual panel discussion about the hit drama series which will be moderated by award-winning journalist Stacey Wilson Hunt.

Collider: Directors on Directing
Robert Rodriguez (Alita: Battle Angel), Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World: Dominion), and Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) take part in a wide-ranging and in-depth discussion about the craft of directing and projects past, present, and future. Moderated by Collider’s editor-in-chief Steven Weintraub.

Bugs Bunny’s 80th Anniversary Extravaganza
Take a trip through eight decades of laughs and carrots when Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE) presents an all-encompassing look at one of the world’s most beloved and recognizable stars. Join three of the current voices of Bugs Bunny–Billy West (Space Jam, Futurama, Doug), Jeff Bergman (Tiny Toon Adventures, Our Cartoon President), and Eric Bauza (Looney Tunes Cartoons, Muppet Babies)–alongside Looney Tunes Cartoons executive producer Pete Browngardt (Uncle Grandpa), movie historian, author and TV personality Leonard Maltin (Entertainment Tonight), animation historian and author Jerry Beck (Animation Scoop), and Warner Archive senior vice president George Feltenstein as they cover the gamut of Bugs’ history from theatrical shorts to Saturday morning cartoons and the new HBO-MAX series. Actress Yvette Nicole Brown (Community, Avengers: Endgame, DC Super Hero Girls) will moderate the panel.

The State of the Industry: Animation Superstars
ASIFA-Hollywood and some of the brightest talents in animation will assemble for a lively discussion about the inner workings of the animation biz! Moderator David Derks (vice president of ASIFA-Hollywood VP), Jorge Gutierrez (The Book of Life), Peter Ramsey (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse), Brooke Keesling (head of animation talent development at Bento Box), Mike Hollingsworth (BoJack Horseman), and Alonso Ramirez Ramos (Disney Mickey Mouse).

Friday – July 24

Pixel Stories – Reimagining Video Game Narrative
Ever wanted to go behind-the-scenes on storytelling for games? Meet the industry’s most innovative writers working on today’s fan-favorite video games in this exclusive virtual Comic-Con panel! Take a closer look into their creative writing process, character development, world-creation, and production to hear how it’s all done. Learn from Aaron Contreras (Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order), Clay Murphy (Control), Amelia Gray (Telling Lies), Jennie Kong (Sky) as they chat with moderator John Wie (Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences) about their approach to narrative in blockbuster and indie games.

Harryhausen100: Into the Ray Harryhausen Archive
2020 marks what would have been legendary animator Ray Harryhausen’s 100th birthday. To mark this occasion, the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation present an exclusive look into the incredible collection which was gathered over a lifetime of creativity. Join Ray’s daughter Vanessa Harryhausen (foundation trustee), John Walsh (foundation trustee), and Connor Heaney (collections manager) for a chance to get close to some of Ray’s most iconic creations, as the three share memories and secrets from the archive, celebrating a century of cinema magic.

Water, Earth, Fire, Air: Continuing the Avatar Legacy
Dark Horse Comics, Abrams Books, and Nickelodeon are thrilled to treat fans to a panel worthy of the Avatar! Join Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra creators and writers, Michael DiMartino, Faith Erin Hicks, F.C. Yee, and Gene Luen Yang for a further exploration of the beloved world as it has grown and changed since the animated series has ended.

GirlsDrawinGirls: Industry Professional Women Artists in Quarantine: Balancing work, art, homeschooling, and life
GirlsDrawinGirls founder Melody Severns, The Simpsons director Debbie Bruce Mahan, Disney Television Animation artist Sherry DeLorme, and other industry professional women artists address working from home during a pandemic and all the challenges they’ve faced with staying productive in the ever changing world that is the year 2020.

The Annual Jack Kirby Tribute Panel
Every year, former Kirby assistant Mark Evanier hosts a gathering of fans of the man some call “The King of the Comics” and his vast, persistent impact on not only comic books but related fields, as well. This year, Mark and John Morrow (publisher of The Jack Kirby Collector) discuss all this with master artist Alex Ross who discusses the influence Kirby had on his work.

Saturday – July 25

Warner Archive’s Secret Origins of Saturday Morning Cartoons
Dip behind the curtain to reveal the beginnings of the beloved tradition of Saturday Morning cartoons with movie historian, author and TV personality Leonard Maltin (Entertainment Tonight), animation historian and author Jerry Beck (Animation Scoop), Warner Archive Home Entertainment senior vice president of theatre catalog marketing George Feltenstein, and the Warner Archive Podcast team of D.W. Ferranti and Matthew Patterson. The panelists will offer a grand history of the evolution of animation–from silver screen shorts to full-fledged television cartoons–with glimpses along the way of Tex Avery, Popeye, and Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies, as well as Space Ghost and DinoBoy, Jonny Quest, Lippy the Lion, and more! Accomplished author, NBC/MSNBC political analyst and SiriusXM on-air host and director of progressive programming Zerlina Maxwell (The End of White Politics) will moderate the proceedings.

Disney+’s Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe
Creators and executive producers Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh, director Bob Bowen and stars Ashley Tisdale, Vincent Martella, Maulik Pancholy, and Dee Bradley Baker share an exclusive sneak peek of Disney+’s upcoming Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe and discuss the origins of this iconic animated series!

American Dad!
Ever wanted to learn how to draw one of your favorite AD! characters? Now is your chance, join show supervising director, Brent Woods, as he teaches the cast and executive producers how to draw Roger! Grab a sketchbook & pens and learn to draw everyone’s favorite alien alongside Rachael MacFarlane (Hayley), Wendy Schaal (Francine), Scott Grimes (Steve), Dee Bradley Baker (Klaus), and EPs Nic Wegener and Joe Chandler as they chat about the current season and look toward the series’ 300th episode airing on TBS this fall.

Family Guy
Cast members Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Mila Kunis, Seth Green, and executive producers Rich Appel, Alec Sulkin, and Kara Vallow from FOX’s hit animated comedy Family Guy celebrates 350 episodes with a virtual table read! After, they’ll take a look back at some of their favorite moments from the last 18 seasons, plus a special sneak peek at the hilarity and hi-jinx coming up in their 19th season premiering this fall on FOX!

Cartoon Voices
Mark Evanier (The Garfield Show) hosts a celebration of those who speak for animated characters, featuring four of the most-heard voices around: Laraine Newman (Bob’s Burgers), Bill Farmer (Goofy), Misty Lee (Squirrel Girl) and Dee Bradley Baker (Daffy Duck). They discuss their craft and demonstrate what they do with a very odd reading of Little Red Riding Hood.

Sunday – July 26

Animated Illustration
The internet is now the primary tool for artists and designers. Illustration has a new level of demand because of the internet, animated or interactive, and this lecture will cover some of the basic needs for this new 21st century illustrator and the tools it will take to make the art. We will look at the adjustments an illustrator would need to take to seamlessly add this to their workflow.

First TMNT Film 30th Anniversary
Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie presents a bit of history of the making of this iconic film with panel guests producer Kim Dawson, writer and ex-offico producer Bobby Herbeck, and moderated by The Old Turtle Den’s creator Chris Castaneda.

Adventures in Spanish Voice Acting
Estimates place the Latin American dubbing market at 450 million consumers, and Mexico produces 65% of it. As entertainment providers look to profit in that area, they face the challenge of publishing in neutral Spanish to serve all countries equally. Hear the stories from Mexican voice actors Cristina Hernández (Catwoman/Selina Kyle, Padme Amidala), Sebastián Llapur (Darth Vader, Daffy Duck), and Claudia Motta (Bart Simpson, Pikachu) about the different obstacles they’ve had to overcome to become successful in this industry, and how Mexico is changing the way dubbing is done in Latin America. Hugo A. Castro (Gamacon founder and CEO) will moderate.

Bronies in the Post G4 Era
Eliana “Dexanth” Summers (founder, PonyFest Online), Cole “Simul” Daigneault (chair, Everfree Northwest), Andy “FableCharm” Reyes (chair, BABSCon), and Ted Visser (chairman, Pacific PonyCon), discuss the fandom of Hasbro’s My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic in its first year after the show’s finale. Moderated by James Udan (coordinator, San Diego Wikimedians User Group).

HBO Max: Looney Tunes Cartoons
Looney Tunes Cartoons executive producer Pete Browngardt, supervising producer Alex Kirwan, art director Aaron Spurgeon, and voice cast members Eric Bauza, Bob Bergen, and Candi Milo come together for the looniest and liveliest panel you’ll find at Comic-Con@Home. Fans will be delighted as the panel exclusively premieres an all-new cartoon and takes you into the process of how they brought back Bugs, Daffy, Porky, and the other iconic Looney Tunes characters.

Thanks for joining us virtually at Comic-Con@Home 2020. We hope to be back next year to bring you all of the excitement and wonder of the convention in person. Until then, enjoy all the treats that online entertainment can provide, and stay safe!

The following is a recap of this year’s event from Animated Views’ own Randall Cyrenne and Dan Short. This was the first D23 Expo for Randall and the third for Dan.

DS: Ever since I attended my first D23 Expo in 2015, I’ve been totally enamored by the amazing spectacle and delightful atmosphere of the convention. Each attendance has become a wonderful experience, rivaling the decades of enjoyment had at the San Diego Comic Con, with unique content and opportunities that are incredible to behold. So much so that I’m willing to wait in line for hours, even spending the night at the convention center, for fun unlike any other. Making this year all the more fun was that I would be getting a chance to hang out with Randall and share this majestic experience with him.

It should be noted that this year introduced an online reservation system. The idea was that attendees would get a chance to reserve their spot in panels, signings, and entry into some of the store booths without having to wait in line for a long while. It was also an attempt to help ease overcrowding at the booths. Well, it sounded good in practice. Execution was a different story. There were problems with getting the system working on time, so that they ended up delaying it a full day from its originally scheduled start date.

Once the system was online, virtually everything that was offered had all reservation spots filled within 90 minutes, while most who had logged on waited for an opportunity to make reservations. Many people were angry, as they felt without the reservations they were not going to be able to get into anything. I was merely amused by the whole process because it honestly didn’t change our plans too much, specifically for the panels. It was always planned to wait long hours in line even before the reservation system was introduced. The reservations would have been a nice back-up to have, but it wasn’t all that essential. We still got into all the panels we wanted. What was important was getting the most out of the experience, and by pre-planning were we able to do just that and enjoy the three days of Disney goodness on display.

RC: Whoa, what a show! I had a blast hanging out at D23 with Dan, and was glad that the decision that I made two years ago proved to be so worth it. I can see how this might not be an experience for everyone. The crowds and lineups could be off-putting to some, and there is no doubt that you are being manipulated to love… love… LOVE Disney and keep the money flowing through the coffers at the House of Mouse, but… I was all in! It would be easy to be cynical about the whole exercise, and it is not unfair to cite the sales pushes that happen at the show, but I could not help but be caught up in it all. Why?

Well, because there is so much more going on during the show, so many things to experience and enjoy. Secondly, there is an underlying sincerity that I totally bought. Bob Iger himself hosted the first presentation that I attended, and he was as warm and congenial as you could imagine. Iger thanked the fans, and the many thousands of Disney employees around the world, and said that he was grateful to us all. Sure, he said all the things that he was supposed to say, but darnit, I believed him. I like to believe that there are still people high up in the company that espouse the old-fashioned Disney values, and that was embodied by what I saw in Iger.

Later in the weekend, during another presentation, a slogan came up on a screen that read, “You’re not just fans, you’re family.” And it truly felt like it. From Iger’s gracious hosting, to the smiling celebrities who honestly looked like they were having fun, to the genuine enthusiasm seen in the staff and volunteers, and certainly to the excitement and friendliness seen in my fellow attendees and line-mates, there was a true sense of family at the show. Sure, one can read the news and see clips from the show on your computer at home, but it just ain’t the same, believe me. D23 has so much more to offer than videos and sound bites. It is a celebration of Disney, sure, but also a celebration of our own passions, and the inspirational vision of Walt Disney himself. And y’know what— it’s hard to celebrate sitting by yourself at your computer. If you’re not at the show, you’re not getting anywhere near the whole experience. However, not everyone is able to go, or wants to brave the crowds. We’re therefore happy to share with you what we were able to experience.

RC: Dan and I met in person for the first time at about 5:15pm on Thursday, at the hotel. We were practically next to the Anaheim Convention Center, where the Expo was being held – about a twenty-minute walk to Disneyland. That afternoon, I had already picked up my badge for the Expo, and taken a walk at Downtown Disney before having a little nap before Dan arrived. I had just been vacationing in Europe, only arriving home in Canada on that Tuesday (yes, I had an epic summer), so I was pretty exhausted. In fact, I was quite zombie-like that first evening at the hotel, not making too good of a first impression, I’m sure. However, having jet lag made it easy to fall asleep early, in order to get up at 4am and prepare for our first line-up at the Expo.

Dan, being a D23 veteran, was an invaluable mentor that weekend, and I followed his advice to the letter. We therefore got in line by 5am on Friday, with Dan looking forward to entry onto the exhibit floor to secure signings and photo ops, while I was determined to see the Disney Legends induction ceremony. (Like the San Diego Comic-Con, D23 Expo is many things to many people!) Even lining up at that early hour, it was not certain that I would get in to the Legends presentation; we first waited quite a while in that initial line, before arriving downstairs at Hall E, where we were then put into separate lines. Fortunately, my D23 Gold Membership enabled me to get a wristband that guaranteed me entry to Legends (though I was told that there was only one more Gold wristband left after I got mine!). So, with my “golden wristband,” I could rest easy, knowing that a chair awaited me inside Hall D23 upstairs. I was feeling relieved, and very pleased.

You see, while debating to myself months ago if this trip would really be worthwhile (hard to believe, now), I felt that I would be happy if I had the chance to at least see Robert Downey Jr. So, I was thrilled to find out that he would be in attendance, along with a number of other favorites, at the Disney Legends ceremony. Of course, this would not only end up being a great presentation, it was just the first of many magical experiences that weekend.

Disney Legends is Disney’s “Hall of Fame,” spotlighting people who have contributed the most to the Disney brand over the years, and it was a perfect beginning to D23. Bob Iger, the CEO of The Walt Disney Company, hosted the event, and it was here that we were all first made to feel not just welcome, but treated as honored guests. The Legends ceremony has evolved quite a bit over the years, as many of the more obvious Legends have already been recognized, and Disney has now begun to honor those from other companies that it has bought over the years.

This year, such Marvel Studios luminaries as Robert Downey Jr and actor-director-producer Jon Favreau were inducted, along with film and TV actress Ming-Na Wen (Mulan, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), singer Christina Aguilera (who identified herself as “the biggest Disney fan,” then erroneously cited The Sound Of Music as a “Disney musical” that she always loved!), Touchstone Pictures queen Bette Midler, ABC-TV broadcast personalities Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts, actor James Earl Jones (cited for his iconic voice work specifically), composer Hans Zimmer, and High School Musical director Kenny Ortega.

Ironically, the two people who I would consider to be the biggest actual Disney Legends this year were names less familiar to the average person; but long-serving Disney parks choreographer Barnette Ricci and architect Wing T. Chao (pictured above) were probably the most deserving of the Disney Legend title of all the inductees. Most of the honorees were present, though Bette Midler’s lookalike daughter had to fill in for her when Bette’s flight was canceled due to bad weather; her daughter gave a touching, emotion-filled reading of her mom’s speech, and it was a surprise highlight of the show for me. A few others had to send along video greetings, but overall it was a good turnout. From getting to watch Christina Aguilera perform live, to hearing Robert Downey Junior’s scandalous-yet-unsurprising first Disney parks experience (getting busted for smoking dope), it was a morning to remember.

DS: While attending the Disney Legends ceremony is something I would eventually like to do, I have usually found myself needing to do other things that ended up taking precedence. This year, it was making sure I got into the Auli’i Cravalho signing and checking up on whether or not some of the booth activities could be a possibility without reservations. Aside from those, I spent the first few hours of the convention just checking out the show floor while waiting to meet back up with Randall. It was during this walk around that I made my way to Center Stage and checked out the Toy Hunter at D23 Expo.

In 2012, the Travel Channel began to air a documentary series called Toy Hunter. The series followed Jordan Hembrough, a high-profile toy collector and operator of his own store, Hollywood Heroes, as he went around looking for rare or unique toys either to sell at conventions or later at the request of a client. The show ended in 2014 after three seasons, but Hembrough has since found himself rather busy doing work to showcase the culture of collectibles online with the likes of Marvel and LucasFilm. Disney figured it would be fun to showcase Hembrough at D23. He appeared many times at Center Stage to display some of the rare and unique Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars toys he currently possessed, spending time providing background on each of them. He skipped out on notating what the possible monetary value would be. He would also pick out a few people in the audience and run them through trivia challenges before they received fun prizes for participating.

I managed to catch his first presentation on Day One. The audience was relatively small then, but I have seen that each progressive appearance got more crowded. I do believe he showed off the same four toys in all of his presentations, but I imagine prizes differed. Hembrough presented a vintage Mickey Mouse school bus metal lunchbox and thermos from the 1960s, an Iron Man figure of the rare instance the mask had a nose, the first Millennium Falcon figure, and the original Disneyland Monorail toy set still in the box. Having been a fan of Toy Hunter (to the point that I actually appear in an episode), it was great to see Hembrough not only continuing to be active, but showing off some nifty toys to an audience who may be unfamiliar with him. The toys he presented were very cool, in particular the Monorail set, and his interaction with the audience was fun. The trivia participants of the presentation I went to got to take home copies of The Lion King Monopoly game, which was quite nice.

DS: On November 12, Disney will be launching their own streaming service. The highly anticipated Disney+ is set to make a big splash, as it will be backed by one of the largest libraries of programming content around – from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, LucasFilm, Fox, and National Geographic – along with a plethora of original movies and television shows. 7,000 attendees filled Hall D23 to take a look at some of the original content the service will be offering.

The presentation began with a live performance of “We’re All In This Together” by the cast of High School Musical: The Musical – The Series. Actress Yvette Nicole Brown was then introduced as the host of the proceedings. Following a brief summary of what’s to come, she turned things over to Kevin Mayer, Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer & International. Mayer gave an overview of the service, showing off a trailer and announcing a pre-order offer for D23 Gold members.

Mayer introduced Gary Marsh, President and Chief Creative Officer of Disney Channels Worldwide. Marsh noted what Disney Channel programs will be available at launch before going over the original content exclusive to Disney+. The first he announced was Phineas & Ferb: The Movie – Candace Against The Universe. The special will explore the boys’ relationship with their sister Candace when she is kidnapped by aliens. It will premiere sometime in 2020.

Next, Marsh announced a new Lizzy McGuire series. After teasing that it might be a reboot, he announced that it would be a continuation, as he brought out returning series star Hilary Duff. Duff explained that the revival will follow 30-year-old McGuire trying to live an adult life in New York while still having her animated teenage self present to express her feelings. They didn’t have a date yet for when the series will premiere.

Marsh wrapped up his portion of the proceedings by talking about High School Musical: The Musical – The Series. The series will be a mockumentary of students at East High, the setting of the film series, looking to put on a performance of the musical. The trailer for the 10-episode series was screened and it was announced that the first episode will premiere when Disney+ launches on November 12 and will stream weekly afterward.

Brown returned to discuss Pixar shows that will be exclusive to the service. First was the short-format series Forky Asks A Question. After failing to get the Toy Story 4 character to come out, she introduced Tony Hale, the voice of Forky. Following some joking around, Hale set up the full screening of an episode, in which Forky asks Hamm about money. At least one episode will be available at launch, though it wasn’t revealed how often episodes will stream later.

The other Pixar show announced was Monsters At Work. Brown introduced series stars Ben Feldman and Aisha Tyler to explain the premise as concept art was shown. Feldman will play Tylor Tuskmon, who is about to start work at Monsters, Inc. just when they transition from scaring kids to making them laugh. Tyler will be playing Tylor’s mom Millie. The series is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ sometime in 2020.

Brown introduced Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios, to go over the original content Marvel will offer. He began with the animated anthology What If…? He was joined by director Bryan Andrews and head writer Ashley Bradley to screen the trailer, with a featured story being “What if Peggy Carter took the super soldier serum?” This brought out actress Haley Atwell to discuss exploring an alternate take on Peggy. What If…? will premiere sometime in Mid-2021.

Next, Feige briefly discussed the Loki series. While there was no footage or production stills to show, director Kate Herron and head writer Michael Waldron came out to confirm that the series will explore what the god of mischief will be up to following the events of Avengers: Endgame. Star Tom Hiddleston sent a video message expressing his excitement for the series, which is set to debut sometime in early 2021.

Next was The Falcon And The Winter Soldier. Director Kari Skogland and head writer Malcom Spellman explained that the series would look at the political repercussions of Avengers: Endgame. Series stars Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson) and Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes) were introduced alongside Emily VanCamp, returning as Sharon Carter, and Marvel newcomer Wyatt Rusell, who will play John Walker. The series will debut in August 2020.

Feige moved onto WandaVision. Director Matt Shakman and head writer Jac Schaeffer discussed taking cues from classic sitcoms like The Dick Van Dyke Show, but injecting a dark spin, as exemplified in the teaser trailer. Stars Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch) and Paul Bettany (Vision) were introduced along with Kat Dennings (reprising Darcy Lewis from the Thor films), Randall Park (reprising Jimmy Woo from Ant-Man and the Wasp), and Kathryn Hahn. WandaVision premieres in early 2021.

Feige closed out Marvel’s portion of the presentation revealing that, along with the previously announced Hawkeye series starring Jeremy Renner, three more shows were in development. The shows would be Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk. Feige confirmed that they would be connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the characters introduced would be making appearances in the films. No dates were announced yet for any of the three shows.

Brown returned to go over a couple non-fiction shows to be released through National Geographic. The first was The World According To Jeff Goldblum. Goldblum was introduced to talk briefly about the show before showing off the trailer. The series follows the actor in his attempt to understand everyday things such as ice cream, sneakers, tattoos, and video games. The series will debut when the service launches on November 12.

The other non-fiction show presented was Encore! Executive producer Kristen Bell appeared to discuss the show and show off the trailer. Continuing off of the premise used in a 2017 ABC special, each episode will reunite now-older cast members of high school musicals and follow their attempts to recreate their performances long after they had graduated. Encore! is scheduled to premiere with the launch of Disney+ on November 12.

Brown then introduced Sean Bailey, President of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, to discuss the upcoming feature films exclusive to Disney+. The first is Stargirl, based on the acclaimed young adult novel about a teenage force of nature entering high school for the first time. Stars Grace VanderWaal (Stargirl) and Graham Verchere (Leo) were brought out to talk about making the film and to screen the trailer. Stargirl will stream sometime in 2020.

Bailey next talked about Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made. Based on the series of books by Stephan Pastis, the film centers on an 11-year-old who believes himself to be the best detective in town, and he is accompanied by his imaginary 1,500-pound polar bear sidekick Rollo Tookus. None of the stars nor director Tom McCarthy were present, but they did screen a scene from the film. Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made is scheduled to stream sometime in 2020.

Bailey moved on to the live-action adaption of the Disney animated classic Lady And The Tramp. Running down the cast list, it was announced that proceedings host Brown would be appearing as Aunt Sarah. Brown came out along with the primary canine performers, Rose and Monty. The majority of the dogs used for the film were rescues, with Brown revealing that she took home one of Rose’s doubles before screening the trailer. Lady And The Tramp will stream at launch on November 12.

Sticking to the subject of dogs, Bailey talked about Togo. The film will be based on the true story of one of the primary figures in the 1925 serum run to Nome, with Togo having been the lead sled dog of the initial relay. Willem Dafoe will play Togo’s owner, Leonhard Seppala. While neither Dafoe nor director Ericson Core were present, Bailey did show off an early scene from the film. Togo is expected to stream on Disney+ as early as December.

Bailey closed out his portion with Noelle. The film centers on Kris Kringle’s daughter, who is forced to leave the North Pole for the first time to find her brother and heir to the Santa Claus position, Nick, when he suffers a nervous breakdown. Stars Anna Kendrick (Noelle) and Billy Eichner (Gabriel) were brought out to discuss how excited they were to be making a classic holiday feature before screening the trailer. Noelle will premiere at launch on November 12.

Brown returned to bring up two more Disney shows. The first is a new Muppets show called Muppets Now, which will be an unscripted short-format series. They screened a teaser in which Kermit The Frog is trying to explain what the show is about, but “Joe From Legal” cuts him off at every turn to notate that because this was a teaser he was not legally allowed to reveal anything beyond the fact it was happening. The show is expected to stream sometime in 2020.

Brown then introduced the next show, Diary Of A Female President. Bringing out executive producer and recurring star Gina Rodriguez (Adult Elena) along with main star Tess Romero (Young Elena), they talked a bit about their excitement for the show before showing the trailer. The series will jump between the teenage life of Cuban American Elena and how her experiences influence her when she becomes President of the United States as an adult. The series will premiere in January 2020.

Brown then handed over to Kathleen Kennedy, President of Lucasfilm, to close out the proceedings with Star Wars. Kennedy first confirmed that all of the Star Wars films would be streaming exclusively through the Disney+ service once it launches. She then started by briefly bringing up the return of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, announcing that the revival season will begin streaming in February 2020.

Kennedy then moved on to the live-action television projects, beginning with the untitled series that serves as a prequel to Rogue One. She brought out stars Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk, confirming their return as Cassian Andor and K-2SO respectively. The two joked around about what the potential title for the show could be and consideration of incorporating Luna’s history in telenovelas into the storytelling. The show is expected to premiere sometime in 2021.

Kennedy then brought out executive producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni to talk about The Mandalorian. The two explained how they came about developing the project, and then introduced cast members Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), Gina Carano (Cara Dune), Carl Weathers (Greef Carga), Giancarlo Esposito (Moff Gideon), and Taika Waititi (IG-11). Each expressed excitement at telling a unique story in the Star Wars franchise before screening the full trailer. The Mandalorian will premiere at launch on November 12.

Kennedy ended the proceedings by bringing out Ewan McGregor. After a little teasing banter, the two confirmed the development of an Obi-Wan Kenobi television series with McGregor reprising the role. McGregor stated that he could not wait to return, and Kennedy further explained that the scripts were submitted and principal photography would begin sometime next year, though the premiere date had yet to be determined.

All attendees of the Disney+ presentation received a Disney+ baseball cap and a Marvel “We Love You 3000” button pin. Trailers for the Disney+ service, High School Musical: The Musical – The Series, The World According To Jeff Goldblum, Encore!, Lady and the Tramp, Noelle, and The Mandalorian are available online.

The Disney+ presentation was as spectacular as I had expected and then some. They covered a lot of ground in over 90 minutes and managed to show them off in a way that it got the 7,000 in Hall D23 very excited, me included. It certainly made me confirm my decision to get the service. Marvel was probably the biggest stand-out but the LucasFilm and even the National Geographic portions were also ones that I really liked from the proceedings.

RC: Dan has said it all, but I have to concur that this was an impressive show. By the end of it, I think everyone was ready to sign up!

Those reading about Disney+ at home may not have gotten the full idea behind the service. The thing to remember is that, while the Marvel and Star Wars films and TV shows have gotten all the publicity, Disney+ will have a lot more to offer. I don’t mean to sound like a Disney publicity guy, but early concerns about the service have been largely based on what Disney has been promoting most heavily— lots of recent films (Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars), and the aforementioned new TV shows. Going beyond that, though, we heard of new telefilms, a ton of Disney Channel content (everything from Hannah Montana to Phineas And Ferb), National Geographic shows, every season of The Simpsons, and potentially so much more. Remember, this is Disney, Fox, National Geographic, and ABC-owned programming, so there is loads of material that could show up as shows get digitized, and previous licensing deals with other services expire over the next year or two. It will be very interesting to see exactly what they debut with in the November launch, and how much gets added as time goes by. Personally, I’m really hoping for them to include 1950s-1970s Disney television shows, classic Muppets programming, and the Disney Afternoon shows. But time will tell if this channel really reaches its potential.

DS: As soon as we finished with the Disney+ presentation at around 5:15pm, we went looking for where the line for the Disney Studios presentation was. Officially the queue for the overnight was not to begin until 7pm, when the convention closed for the day. But as was expected from previous experience, fans lined up much earlier than that. We found them setting up right outside the bag check station on Katella Avenue and ran westward. We fortunately got in line early enough that it wasn’t yet past the Disneyland Drive entry point to Disneyland, so we knew we were going to get good seats.

This year, D23 has combined the formerly separate animation and live-action panels into one super presentation. As such, the 7,000 attendees looking to get into Hall D23 for the 2+ hour event would spend the night at the convention center ahead of the Saturday morning show. And with our electronics shut down in full force, Disney was looking to ensure that these fans would get a truly exclusive look at their film slate over the next 2 years.

Serving as host of the proceedings was Alan Horn, Co-Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of The Walt Disney Studios. He took a moment to recap the critical and commercial success of the company over the past 2 years since the last D23 Expo. He noted also the recent acquisitions of Fox and Blue Sky. While there wasn’t enough time to add them into the day’s presentation, he did list off a few projects coming out, including Spies In Disguise and the Avatar sequels.

The festivities properly began with Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker. Kathleen Kennedy, President of Lucasfilm, and writer/director JJ Abrams came out to briefly discuss bringing the Skywalker Saga of Star Wars to a close. They then brought out cast members Daisy Ridley (Rey), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Kelly Marie Tran (Rose Tico), Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca), Naomi Ackie (Jannah), Keri Russell (Zorri Bliss), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), and Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian) along with operational R2-D2, BB-8, and D/O droids.

Each of the cast members got a moment to express the joy they had on the film, with Ackie and Russell revealing a few details about their characters. They finished off by playing the montage sizzle reel, tracing the main Star Wars films in order of release leading up to the showing of new footage for the new film. The sizzle reel was made available online shortly after the presentation. Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker will close out the Skywalker Saga on December 20.

Horn returned to move things over to Marvel, bringing out Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios. Feige expressed gratitude for the highly successful past 2 years, in particular Avengers: Endgame becoming the highest grossing film of all-time. He then brought out writer/director Ryan Coogler to discuss Black Panther II. Coogler handed over the treatment and after some banter about what to reveal, they announced the release date as May 6, 2022.

Feige moved on to the films scheduled for 2020, starting with The Eternals. He brought out Richard Madden (Ikaris), Kumail Nanjiani (Kingo), Lauren Ridloff (Makkari), Brian Tyree Henry (Phastos), Salma Hayek (Ajak), Lia McHugh (Sprite), Don Lee (Gilgamesh), and Angelina Jolie (Thena). He then announced the newest cast members with Barry Keoghan (Druig) present and noting the addition of Gemma Chan (Sersi) and Kit Harington (Dane Whitman). Concept art that showed how the actors will look was displayed. The Eternals will be released on November 6, 2020.

Feige wrapped up his portion of the presentation with Black Widow. They played a video message from the set, where Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff), Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), and David Harbour (Alexei Shostakov), in character, try to determine how to best arrive in Anaheim before revealing that they were deep in the final weeks of principal photography. This would segue into the screening of new footage styled as the trailer. Black Widow will sneak into theaters May 1, 2020.

Horn brought the proceedings to Disney Studios, handing things over to Sean Bailey, President of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production. After highlighting the success of the live-action features the past 2 years, Bailey began his portion with Jungle Cruise. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, the film based on the classic Disney parks attraction follows a riverboat captain assisting a scientist and her brother on a race to find the Tree of Life. Bailey introduced star and co-producer Dwayne Johnson (Frank), who came out riding on a previously used boat from the attraction. Johnson showed off a trailer, that specifically highlighted his character; then co-star Emily Blunt (Lily) came out in an early 1900s car, and presented a trailer that specifically highlighted her character. After more back and forth banter, they expressed delight at partaking in an adventure feature. Jungle Cruise rolls into theaters July 24, 2020.

Bailey moved onto Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil with Angelina Jolie (Maleficent) returning. They talked about how the film will further explore the world the story inhabits before introducing Jolie’s co-stars Elle Fanning (Aurora), Michelle Pfeiffer (Ingrith), and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Connal) to discuss the nature of their characters. They showed off new footage that extends the scene where Maleficent meets Prince Phillip’s parents. Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil flies into theaters October 18.

Bailey next talked about the live-action adaption of the Disney animated classic Mulan. He introduced director Niki Caro, who explained that she wanted to explore the character and her journey in a real, visceral, and emotional manner. They showed off a couple of scenes, the re-imagined interpretation of the Matchmaker scene and Mulan’s father being called to service, along with more new footage. Mulan will “bring honor to us all” on March 27, 2020.

Bailey closed out his portion of the presentation by briefly talking about the latest live-action update to the Disney animated classic One Hundred And One Dalmatians. Simply titled Cruella, it will serve to explain how the villainess came to be. A video message from star Emma Stone was shown, along with the first production still of her as a young Cruella de Vil. Cruella will make her way into theaters May 28, 2021.

Horn moved the proceedings from live-action to animation, beginning with Pixar. He introduced Pete Docter, attending his first D23 Expo as Chief Creative Officer of Pixar Animation Studios. Docter briefly went over his having been with the company since the early years, being the third animator the studio ever hired, up to moving in to his new position. He assured the audience that Pixar would continue to produce the kind of quality films they have been for years, with two scheduled for 2020.

Docter began by discussing his latest feature, Soul. Along with producer Dana Murray and writers Ken Powers and Mike Jones, they talked about how the film will attempt to explore metaphysics with the story of Joe Gardner. A middle school music teacher, he is on the verge of realizing a life-long dream to play jazz at the Half Note Club when he gets into an accident that causes his soul to be separated from his body.

After showing off an early scene and concept art, they noted that they enlisted Jon Batiste to write original Jazz music for the film, while the score will be composed by the Academy Award winning team of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. They then brought out the cast with Questlove (Curly), Phylicia Rashad (Libba), Daveed Diggs (Paul), and stars Jamie Foxx (Joe) and Tina Fey (22). The cast expressed delight at partaking in an original Pixar production. Soul will arrive in theaters June 19, 2020.

Docter then wrapped up his portion with the next feature, Onward. After being introduced, director Dan Scanlon and producer Kori Rae briefly fleshed out a little more about the urban fantasy world the film in set in. Scanlon noted how influential his own upbringing was to the story of two elven brothers having grown up without their father and seeing a chance to have one day with him through the dying art of magic.

Stars Tom Holland (Ian) and Chris Pratt (Barley) were then introduced, coming out through the crowd, with co-star Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Laurel) appearing normally. The three stars talked about how fun it was playing their characters, along with their excitement at being in a Pixar film. They then screened a couple of scenes from the film, including one that ran for approximately eight minutes. Onward will cast its spell in theaters on March 6, 2020.

Horn then handed over to Walt Disney Feature Animation to close out the proceedings, introducing Jennifer Lee, attending her first D23 Expo as Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios. Like Docter, Lee took a brief moment to bring up how influential Disney had been in her life, showing off two Little Golden books that were her inspirations growing up. She assured everyone that she would continue to contribute to and honor the company’s legacy.

Lee began with the first public showing of the 59th Disney animated feature Raya And The Last Dragon. She introduced directors Paul Briggs and Dean Wellins, producer Osnat Shurer, and writer Adele Lim. Displaying concept art, they described the world of Kumandra, divided into five realms each with their own unique attributes. When a darkness threatens the world, a young warrior searches for the dragons, thought to be extinct, to save them.

They showed off a brief scene introducing the primary characters, played by Cassie Steele (Raya) and Awkwafina (Sisu). To some more concept art being displayed, Steele and Awkwafina briefly described their characters and the joy they were having in bringing them to life. The cast and creators were all the more enthusiastic about telling a story that would incorporate much South Pacific folklore. Raya And The Last Dragon will emerge in theaters November 25, 2020.

Lee ended the presentation with a look at her film Frozen II. Bringing out her fellow director Chris Buck, they noted that its development was driven by the constant question of why Elsa has powers. They introduced new cast members Evan Rachel Wood (Iduna) and Sterling K. Brown (Mattias). The two briefly described their characters, accompanied by the screening of clips, which included the introduction of Iduna’s lullaby “All Is Found”.

They then showed off a full sequence, itself nearly ten minutes, that presumably sets the main narrative into motion as well as plays out one of three big musical numbers from Elsa called “Into The Unknown”. The festivities was brought to a close with Idina Menzel (Elsa), Kristen Bell (Anna), Jonathan Groff (Kristoff), and Josh Gad (Olaf) coming out to perform in full another new song, “Some Things Never Change”. Frozen II will be released “for the first time in forever” on November 22.

All attendees of the Walt Disney Studios presentation received exclusive posters for Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker, Onward, and Frozen II.

What more can I say? Part of the joy of the D23 Expo has been these presentations, which are worth waiting in line and camping out for roughly 17 hours – because the atmosphere is amazing to be in, and the presentations themselves are wonderfully done. The rush while watching the Star Wars reel, to the delight in seeing Raya And The Last Dragon for the first time, to hearing the beautiful songs of Frozen II are feelings that are difficult to top.

RC: Well, I’m glad that Dan has such a good memory! I was too busy being dazzled to commit everything to my memory banks; but I was certainly made to feel excited about these films. Onward in particular looks to be a heartbreaker, and Soul also figures to be a special film. The cast’s enthusiasm for Rise Of Skywalker had even me feeling somewhat optimistic, though J.J. will really have to pull a rabbit out of his hat to salvage the film series for me. Ending the whole morning with the cast of Frozen singing was a nice touch.

After the presentation, I joked with Dan, “Kinda disappointing. Not enough star power.” I mean, wow— Not being from southern California myself, I had never seen so many A-level celebrities in one place. Sure, in the past at various shows I have met childhood hero Leonard Nimoy a couple of times and chatted with Adam West and various other folks that I grew up watching, but nothing could compare to the parade of stars that morning. Angelina Jolie and my all-time favourite Michelle Pfeiffer on stage at the same time? The Rock and Emily Blunt? Jamie Foxx and Tine Fey? Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams and the cast of Rise Of Skywalker? Pardon my pathetically fanboy-ish gushing, but that’s a pretty nice lineup. If Disney was trying to impress, they certainly succeeded with me. Disney is today what MGM once was, with a galaxy of stars at their disposal. The biggest ovation, I would like to point out, was given to Tom Holland. We had all only found out days earlier that Sony and Disney had failed to reach a new deal to keep Holland’s Spider-Man in the MCU, and fans were somewhat devastated. The ovation that he received showed that Holland is obviously well-loved by Spidey fans. Tom returned the sentiment, proclaiming his thanks and melting hearts by shouting to everyone, “I love you 3000!”

And I have to say, though camping out overnight may sound crazy to some people, it was a highlight of the weekend for me, and well worth it. What a cool experience. Sure, we waited for four hours on the sidewalk while the convention center was emptied and cleaned up, but we chatted in line with other fans, like the cool Brazilian lady behind us, who was as passionate as anyone about the weekend’s events.

Once we got inside, we were brought again to Hall E downstairs, where we camped out for the night with hundreds of other crazy fans. Okay, it was not the most comfortable experience, lying on a hard floor with a blanket and a neck pillow, while the lights were kept on all night; but it was fun to chat with other fans, as we played games and watched a constant loop of movies on the many TVs mounted on the walls. Concessions ran all night, serving snacks and hot food, including a hearty breakfast bowl. Bathrooms were open, and security walked the aisles, making sure everyone was okay. I can still see that a night like this would not be to everyone’s liking, but I got a total kick out of it, and was then rewarded with a fantastic show.

Also… again, you may have read stories and seen clips from the films presentation, but there’s nothing like being there. From seeing the many stars in person, to the flashing lights, the streamers falling from the ceiling, and the palpable energy of the crowd, it was another great morning that made me happy I’d made the trip.

DS: Since its release in 1992, Aladdin has been regarded as a hallmark of the Disney Renaissance. At one point the highest grossing animated feature of all time, the film has developed a lasting legacy with numerous accolades and various adaptations. One of the key elements to the film’s success has been the music, itself beloved and having withstood the test of time. A special performance was put together in the Expo Arena celebrating songs from across all of Aladdin.

The show opened with the background singers performing “Arabian Nights”. The first Master of Ceremonies was then introduced in Scott Weinger, the original speaking voice of Aladdin. Weinger briefly mentioned how he landed the role and spoke of the film’s legacy, before turning things back to the background singers. The singers led the audience into a sing-along of “Prince Ali” with Weinger returning in elaborate clothing during the closing verses.

Admitting that he was not a trained singer, Weinger would bring out the singing voice of Aladdin, Brad Kane. Kane briefly noted how he got the role, before he sang “One Jump Ahead” with the background singers. They also showed brief footage of when Kane and Lea Salonga, the singing voice of Jasmine, recorded “A Whole New World.” They got into talking about composer Alan Menken and showed footage of Menken and Kane going over the reprise of “One Jump Ahead.”

They brought up the originally-cut “Proud Of Your Boy” as the song they both sang for their auditions. Weinger then showed footage of his recent attempt at singing lessons with Menken. Afterward, they brought out Clinton Greenspan, who played Aladdin in the national tour of the stage musical, and would be transferring to Broadway a couple of weeks later. Greenspan talked a bit about the stage musical before performing “Proud Of Your Boy”.

The three then introduced the other Master of Ceremonies in Linda Larkin, the original speaking voice of Jasmine. Larkin talked a bit about her landing the role, along with showing footage of her recording lines. They then moved into the performance attraction at the Disney parks, Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular, bringing out Deedee Magno Hall, the original performer of Jasmine. She discussed her four-year run on the show before singing “To Be Free”.

Weigner and Larkin brought up the live-action adaptation after having earlier showed off some trivia and footage of the visual effects process. They first talked about the inclusion of the song “Speechless,” which would be performed on stage by Disney alumni Lillias White (voice of Calliope in Hercules). They then brought out Mena Massoud, who portrayed Aladdin in the live-action feature. Massoud talked a bit about his audition and helped introduce a screening of the deleted song “Desert Moon.”

Massoud stuck around a little longer to show off the film’s blooper reel, and then talked about working with Will Smith. This led to a video of Smith introducing Jamal Sims, the film’s choreographer and Genie dance double. Sims briefly discussed how he came on board and then brought out his dance team for the film, which included Nicky Andersen, the Aladdin dance double, for a live re-enactment of their dance routine for “Friend Like Me.”

To close things out, Weigner and Larkin introduced Regina Belle, who sang the original single version of “A Whole New World.” To perform with Belle, they brought out Broadway favorite and Disney alumnus Norm Lewis (original King Triton in The Little Mermaid on Broadway). All of the guests and background singers were brought out to thank fans for attending. With “Friend Like Me” playing, Sims and the dance team led everyone into an encore performance in party and celebratory fashion to end the show properly.

This was oodles of fun, watching all of the performers have a good time and express joy at being part of the musical legacy of Aladdin. There was a vibrant enthusiasm throughout the show and it translated into a jubilant energy expressed by the audience. It really was just a great performance from start to finish, with the big moments to me being the “Friend Like Me” dance routine, along with Belle and Lewis singing “A Whole New World.”

DS: In 1989, Disney released The Little Mermaid, their first animated fairy tale since Sleeping Beauty. It would go on to become a major success, kick-starting what would become known as the Disney Renaissance. With numerous accolades and spawning direct-to-video follow-ups, a television series, a Broadway musical, and forthcoming live-action adaptations, it was lovingly cherished by fans and the company on its 30th anniversary in the Expo Arena.

The proceedings began with host Jodi Benson (Ariel) singing “Part Of Your World,” alongside six young girls dressed as Ariel. Benson then welcomed all of the attendees and provided a brief introduction. She was then interrupted by a puppet Sebastian, speaking to Benson as if she were her character. Benson eventually managed to convince Sebastian to head backstage to coordinate the big finale for later in the show.

Benson moved the panel along by introducing her co-director/co-writer Ron Clements. Clements talked about how he came upon the idea of pitching the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale as an animated feature, how it was initially rejected due to the studio developing a sequel to the live-action mermaid comedy Splash, and, along with co-director John Musker, sought out Howard Ashman and Alan Menken to compose the songs and music.

In discussing Ashman, they noted that Benson was in a musical Ashman directed called Smile when they considered her to voice Ariel. Coincidentally, she sang a song in the musical called “Disneyland.” They showed video footage of Ashman instructing Benson on singing “Part Of Your World”, including an instance when he turned off the lights in an effort to simulate her being in an underwater grotto.

Going over the other voice cast, Clements mentioned that a young Jim Carrey had auditioned for Prince Eric before they went with Christopher Daniel Barnes. But it was Buddy Hackett they most fondly remembered. Clements noted that they didn’t need to audition Hackett, as they knew right away they wanted him to voice Scuttle. They then screened a video of both Hackett playing Scuttle and talking about his enjoyment at voicing the character.

Benson then introduced the film’s art director Michael Peraza. Peraza mentioned he was on board the moment the directors asked him. Displaying his early sketches for the castles and Ariel’s grotto, he explained being tasked with developing the visual look of the film. They would also screen a clip of Peraza’s sketches to “Under The Sea” with Ashman’s demo playing, bringing up a brief discussion of Ashman determining that Sebastian should have a Jamaican accent.

The next to join the panel was Mark Henn, co-supervising animator of Ariel alongside Glen Keane. Henn noted the challenge having two supervising animators on a character when one for Ariel would’ve been hard enough. He brought up that, for a while, Ariel was to have been a blonde and they were looking to model her after Christie Brinkley, which nearly got Henn in trouble with his wife when she found numerous pictures of Brinkley at his desk.

Benson moved on to Alan Menken. They showed a video clip from a featurette on the Signature Collection disc release with Benson and Menken talking about the music, including how “Part Of Your World” was almost cut. They then screened a video message from Menken, who couldn’t attend the festivities due to working with the staging of Disney’s Hercules for performances in Central Park to begin the following week. He offered his thanks to the fans on this special occasion.

A quartet of singers interrupted the show for a surprise interlude. They brought out three male audience members for the rest of the attendees to determine who would best resemble Prince Eric. The chosen audience member was then seated next to Benson so that the quartet would serenade them with “Kiss The Girl” to Benson’s embarrassment, as her husband Ray was in the audience. “Eric” had to settle for a kiss on the cheek at the end of the song.

Returning to the panel proper, Benson introduced Ruben Aquino, supervising animator of the villainess Ursula. Aquino and Peraza talked briefly about how the character went through various designs before the art director was watching footage of an octopus getting out of a jar by itself, leading to their designing Ursula as half-human, half-octopus. Aquino added that, from Ashman’s suggestion, he referenced Joan Collins and Linda Evans for further design.

Staying with Ursula, they talked about the character’s voice actress Pat Carroll. They played a recent recording of Carroll from her home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts reflecting on the character and reading out a message expressing her joy at being part of a lasting legacy. Benson would also show footage of Samuel Wright in the recording studio voicing Sebastian, which made the puppet Sebastian on stage aghast that they needed anyone to voice him.

Before closing out the proceedings, Benson introduced a surprise in Auli’i Cravalho, who will be playing Ariel in The Little Mermaid Live, a television special airing on ABC on November 5. Cravalho expressed excitement at playing Ariel and noted that Queen Latifah would play Ursula and Shaggy would play Sebastian. They then ended the show with puppet Sebastian leading everyone into a sing-along of “Under The Sea.”

All attendees of The Little Mermaid panel received an exclusive lithograph of original concept art and a sample product bottle from sponsor H2O+.

This turned out to be a very nice panel in celebration of one of the most beloved animated classics. A lot of the information presented I was already familiar with, but it didn’t make things any less enjoyable. Everyone was having a good time, particularly when Benson was getting embarrassed with the serenade, and with Cravalho’s appearance. Just a fun little presentation that left many, including myself, feeling good inside.

RC: Dan has pretty much covered it. I also really enjoyed the Aladdin and The Little Mermaid presentations, and I was impressed that each got the full package— not only many guests associated with the films, but also complete sets and musical numbers. These were far from being dry panels on a sparse stage; they were major productions. On a personal note, seeing Jodi sing Little Mermaid songs on stage brought me a welcome sense of closure, since I had to miss her panel while attending the Calgary Entertainment Expo in 2018, though my wife and son had gotten to see it while I was unfortunately off doing something else.

DS: Twice a day throughout the weekend, there would be a parade that would march through the show floor. Going through an aisle known as Mickey Avenue, the D23 Expo Street Party hearkened to the Main Street Parades of the Disney parks, as dancers, characters, and the celebrity grand marshals say hi to attendees in a celebratory atmosphere. Each parade was unique, with differing grand marshals and often the marching band playing different tunes.

While I caught the Street Party at glances here and there, there was one on the last day I watched all the way through. The theme was the 40th anniversary of the Mickey Mouse Disco album with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto disco dancing to the tunes that were played. The grand marshals this time were Christy Carlson Romano (Kim Possible), Ally Maki (Toy Story 4), and Big Hero 6: The Series cast members Ryan Potter (Hiro), Scott Adsit (Baymax), Jamie Chung (Go Go), Genesis Rodriguez (Honey Lemon), and Brooks Wheelan (Fred).

The party atmosphere was in full affect and it was clear that everyone was having a good time. The marshals were jamming along to the music from their car transports while the dancers and the characters were displaying some fine energy. Even the marching band was having fun with the tunes they played, a mixture of the tracks from the Mickey Mouse Disco album and others, my favorite being the Captain America theme. I couldn’t stop smiling as I watched and it just added to the unique experience to be had attending a D23 Expo.

DS: In 1999, Disney released Tarzan, an animated adaptation of the classic series of adventure novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The film was a huge success, accumulating numerous accolades and spawning direct-to-video follow-ups, a television series, and a Broadway musical. It would also be seen as the last great feature in the Disney Renaissance. A celebration of the beloved film’s 20th anniversary in the Expo Arena would close out the D23 Expo for 2019.

Serving as host of the proceedings was Wayne Knight, who voiced Tantor in the film. Following a brief introduction, he brought out the directors Kevin Lima and Chris Buck. Lima went over the origins of the film, having been approached by then-studio head Jeffrey Katzenberg in 1995 with the idea of making the film from a Canadian satellite studio. Lima was hesitant, until Katzenberg left to form DreamWorks, and Michael Eisner then greenlit making the film in Burbank.

Buck said he was unsure about being a director as he hadn’t done anything like it up to that point, but he remembered a phrase about the biggest regrets being of experiences not attempted rather than those that were. Discussion was shifted to the research trips to Africa. Showing off video footage, a key visit was to a chimpanzee sanctuary seeing a young boy who was literally growing up with the chimpanzees, providing inspiration to young Tarzan’s behavior.

They continued on the research trips by talking about their encounter with the mountain gorillas. Again showing off video footage, the directors mentioned how they found themselves between the mothers and babies on one end and the silverback on the other. They were warned to avoid looking at the silverback, though Lima had a moment of staring at him. Buck mentioned a flatulent aspect from being around the gorillas eating that they decided not to put into the film.

Next to be introduced was Bonnie Arnold, the film’s producer. Arnold expressed joy at participating on Tarzan, having grown up on the Johnny Weissmuller films. One of her big contributions early on was enlisting Phil Collins to write the songs. They expanded on the well-known story that Collins had sent them three demo tapes before they even got far in pre-production; she showed off a picture of the tapes and then played the early presentation reel.

Discussion moved over to the cast. Tony Goldwyn, the voice of adult Tarzan, had sent an audio message expressing his gratitude and enjoyment at playing the character. The filmmakers talked about how Minnie Driver voicing Jane completely re-worked the character from posh Victorian lady to delightful comedic force. For Knight, they showed off footage of his recordings and he explained he based the neurotic mannerisms on a chef he had heard on the radio.

They also showed off footage of Goldwyn’s attempt at the Tarzan yell, with Lima saying that the final yell was not just Brian Blessed, who would voice the villain Clayton, as has been rumored. It was voice mixtures of Blessed, Goldwyn, and others, they just didn’t publicly correct Blessed’s claims until now. Buck decided this was a good time to put to rest the rumor he accidentally started and confirmed Tarzan’s parents were not Elsa and Anna’s parents from Frozen.

They moved on to the animation, starting with Glen Keane. As had been known, Keane drew inspiration of Tarzan’s movements from watching his son’s interest in extreme sports at the time, resulting in having to animate fully working human musculature. Keane was unable to attend the proceedings due having recently had surgery. He did send a video message expressing his gratitude, which included him illustrating Tarzan just for the audience.

The animators who were able to attend were Ken Duncan, supervising animator of Jane, and Bruce W. Smith, supervising animator of Kerchak. Duncan explained that he was just coming off of animating Meg on Hercules and wasn’t sure about doing another female lead until he saw Driver’s recordings. Showing off some of his animation tests, he noted it was challenging to design and animate the character’s yellow dress due to how detailed it was.

As Tarzan and Jane would be on screen together often, they brought up how Keane animating from Paris and Duncan animating Jane in Burbank could have potential complications. However, it turned out that the time zone differences, while making for a communication challenge, actually could also be advantageous; each animator could see what the other had done the night before, and work to match it. Duncan then showed off in full the pencil animation to the beloved scene of Jane’s exuberant explanation of her encounter with Tarzan, noting it was one of the longest animated scenes on record and took over six weeks to animate.

Smith explained it was challenging to transition to the stern, rather stoic Kerchak after coming off of being animation director on the wild and wacky Looney Tunes for Space Jam. He also felt intimidated that he had to animate against a master like Glen Keane, thereby forcing him to put forth his best effort. What helped was meeting and learning from Lance Henriksen, the voice of Kerchak, on the mannerisms and physical presence to visualize.

Introduced last was Eric Daniels, the computer graphics supervisor. Daniels jumped right into discussing the Deep Canvas process to make the the computer generated backgrounds look like traditional paintings so that the hand-drawn characters wouldn’t look out of place. Along with footage of an early test and video from a featurette, Daniels explained the challenge was having to understand where in space one brush stroke was in relation to all other strokes.

Due to time and what was planned, Knight wrapped the core portion of the proceedings. Closing out both the panel and the convention was a musical performance by Matthew Morrison, who is releasing an album of covers to his favorite Disney songs, called Disney Dreamin’, in early 2020. Along with a house band and a female dancer from his alma mater Orange Count High School of the Arts doing a ballet, Morrison performed “You’ll Be In My Heart” from Tarzan.

Morrison briefly noted his involvement in the workshop for the Tarzan Broadway production. He then went into the development of his upcoming album and performed “When You Wish Upon A Star” from Pinocchio. He followed by retrieving a ukulele and performing a mash-up of “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” from Song Of The South and “The Bare Necessities” from The Jungle Book. He finished, along with the female dancer and a male dancer, performing “Friend Like Me” from Aladdin.

Tarzan is one of my all-time favorite Disney animated features and I really enjoyed the panel celebrating its 20th anniversary. Some of the information presented was known, but there were a few anecdotes that were nice to hear about. The most fun was when Duncan talked about animating Jane. Honestly, the whole panel could have talked another couple of hours and it would still be wonderful. Morrison’s mini-concert turned out to be a nice way to close everything out.

RC: It was pretty cool that they had Wayne Knight (“Newman!”) host this event, and I was really pleased that Deep Canvas was highlighted, as it was a very impressive achievement at the time. The only disappointment, of course, was that the legendary Glen Keane was unable to attend; but having the opportunity to even see a recorded message from him, featuring him drawing Tarzan, was still a special treat. And the surprise closing concert was the icing on the cake for a weekend full of entertainment and surprises.

Auli’i Cravalho

DS: The Disney Music Emporium booth was one of the few whose signings were not part of the reservation system. Instead, attendees had to buy an associated product to the signing they wished to enter during the weekend. Instead of a wristband, their entry was assured by being coded into the badge so that they could scan in when it came time for the signing. Those who were signing included Randy Newman (Toy Story), Matthew Morrison (Glee), Anthony Gonzalez (Coco), and JD McCrary (The Lion King).

One name added at the last minute was the voice of Moana herself, Auli’i Cravalho, making a return. While I had done her signing at the last D23 Expo, I decided to go again as I really wanted to get a picture with her. The immediate overcrowding an hour ahead of the signing had me worried, but we fortunately found that everyone would be getting their picture with her. She was just excited about the whole experience and happy to meet everyone, even willing to once or twice record video messages. She got a kick out of folks who were cosplaying as characters from her film.

Paige O’Hara

DS: One of the booths at the section known simply as The Emporium was Magical Memories Galleries. A premier gallery at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas displaying the Disney Fine Art collection, their showing offered attendees an opportunity to pick up some high end artwork. They also became a place to meet a few Disney artists throughout the weekend. One in particular was none other than the voice of Belle from Beauty And The Beast, Paige O’Hara.

Not one to pass up an opportunity like this, I purchased a print of one of her Belle paintings for her to autograph. We had a nice little discussion about her art. I noted that I recently came into possession of a canvas copy of Thomas Kinkade’s Beauty And The Beast piece, and she explained how it was Kinkade and his brother Patrick that helped her when she had her first art exhibition. O’Hara was a wonderful woman to meet and pleasant to have a chat with.

Jeff Kurtti

RC: While Dan pursued signings with performers, I went after the authors. First up, at the Disney Publishing booth, was Jeff Kurtti, who is on his way to becoming a Disney Legend himself. Kurtti has many years attached to the company in various ways. He has written over 30 books, and he was signing two of his most recent ones at the D23 show. I was very happy to finally make a purchase of his uniquely engaging From All Of Us To All Of You: The Disney Christmas Card book, as well as the very enjoyable Practically Poppins In Every Way.

Jeff could not have been friendlier, and seemed interested in everyone who came up to him. It made for a slow-moving line, but the warm reception he gave you made it worth it. He told me of the amazing Sunday he had had, meeting a woman who was a huge Disney fan, who emotionally told him how thrilled she was to be on her first Disney vacation; and of introducing his friend, a massive Jodi Benson fan, to Jodi herself. His friend apparently became quite overwhelmed, making Jeff thrilled to help make Disney magic happen. It was that kind of weekend, and that kind of show.

J.B. Kaufman and Didier Ghez

RC: I also had the pleasure of meeting Disney historian J.B. Kaufman at another publishing booth. Kaufman’s books also help to line my shelves at home, and he has become one of the preeminent chroniclers of Disney history. Kaufman has just published the first of a series of “monographs” put out by the Hyperion Historical Alliance, smaller books that focus on previously (relatively) undocumented parts of the Disney legacy. His book covers the making of Fun And Fancy Free, and I could not love the book more. Though not as massive as his Snow White or Pinocchio books, it is still a delightful and ample volume, full of history and artwork. I was speaking to Kaufman about Animated Views’ series of interviews with his colleague Didier Ghez, not realizing that Didier was right there, sitting just out of sight. Ghez poked his head up, and came over to say hi, noting that I must work with Jeremie, who has handled all of those interviews for Animated Views (I noted that I edit all of those interview pieces). It’s always nice to make a connection. I was planning to get a signed copy of Ghez’s latest They Drew As They Pleased book, but he had already sold out.

We hope to have an interview with Kaufman soon, and a closer look at his book, as well.

DS: It went without saying that the Disney Store was one of the hardest booths to get into the entire weekend. It was here that a great many of the most sought after convention exclusives would be sold. Generally speaking, the most efficient way to get in would be the acquire a Store Pass. However, the reservation system this year caused virtually all tickets to get snatched up within the blink of an eye. Thus, all other attendees had to endure a very long wait in line to get in. My venture on the last day had me waiting 90 minutes.

I actually wasn’t sure I wanted to chance being in line for so long because the initial listing of merchandise being sold this year didn’t seem as interesting to me as last time. Then I got a peek into the booth while passing by and saw the Midnight Masquerade series of dolls and collectibles. The lovely designs of how the characters looked in the Designer Collection theme was more than enough to tempt me into jumping in. It turned out to be a good thing I did when I got further information about the dolls as I was buying the lithographs.

Sold during the convention were the couples sets of Aurora and Phillip (Sleeping Beauty), Tiana and Naveen (The Princess and the Frog), and Giselle and Edward (Enchanted). There would also be individual dolls of Meg (Hercules), Esmeralda (The Hunchback Of Notre Dame), Belle (Beauty And The Beast), Cinderella (Cinderella), and Rapunzel (Tangled), only they wouldn’t be available until October and November. As Meg and Esmeralda were the ones I wanted the most, I learned I needed to pre-order all five as a set at the convention to guarantee I would get either one by release, which I did. It was explained that otherwise I would have had to participate in a lottery system at select Disney Stores to buy the dolls.

Of other merchandise I picked up, I caught wind ahead of time of a couple neat exclusives being sold at the Dark Horse Comics booth. They were the lovely looking Disney Storied Places hardcover and the Ralph Breaks the Internet: Heart From the Star, Eyes on the Prize comic. The comic was done by Amy Mebberson, best known for her Pocket Princesses funnies online that led to her illustrating the official Disney Princess comics. Mebberson had a table at The Emporium, so I swung by and picked up a sketchbook. For purchasing that, Mebberson did a doodle of Elsa (Frozen) inside.

RC: I only got to The Disney Store, as well as The Disney Dreamstore, towards the end of the weekend, when lines were thankfully shorter. I did not nab any exclusives, but I did buy some Disney jewelry to bring home to my wife, who was so supportive of my taking the trip.

The exhibit floor was divided into two areas: One had booths run by Disney and their partners, and then there was the Disney Emporium, where various dealers and shops were invited to set up booths. The first area included the various Disney stores, of course, plus many of the attractions that Dan will mention. My first target was the Dark Horse Comics booth, where Dan had told me of the Disney Storied Places hardcover; I ended up buying several Disney tie-in comics collections. The Walt Disney Family Museum was there, too, and I picked up an exclusive Blu-ray of the full cut of Walt: The Man Behind The Myth, and a couple of books, including Andreas Deja’s excellent Mickey Mouse book, based on the current exhibit. Over at the Emporium, I had a great time looking at various collectibles, and buying old Disney books and records. Finally, the Ludwig Von Drake Little Golden Book is mine!

DS: To go to a convention is to see attendees wander around dressed up as their favorite characters. With D23, you get a plethora of folks looking like Disney characters. The inclusion of Marvel, LucasFilm, and even the recent acquisition of Fox allowed for an even bigger roster for cosplaying fans to choose from. And that’s not taking into consideration some of the creativity that can be done, be it crossovers or clever spins that make them fun to admire.

It’s actually kind of hard to choose a favorite when there were some really wonderful costumes at this year’s event. Nevertheless, I got lucky in being present when a group doing some photo shoots of themselves stumbled upon an excellent opportunity at one of the staircases. One of the girls was dressed as Cinderella as she appeared in the live-action film. Just as they started, a Captain America passed by and this resulted in an awesome play of the two together.

There was probably three individual cosplayers that stood out the most. The first was Belle as she appeared in Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, the dress being done quite beautifully. I also liked a fantastic and very well crafted Ursula from The Little Mermaid. Seriously, that was some spectacular work with the tentacles. The other was Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit due to the incredible detail, adding sparkles to the dress.

Some of the more notable ones that I liked included a couple as Milo and Kida from Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Speaking of, there was a rare sighting of someone dressed as Audrey. There was also a nicely designed Pocahontas whose carrying a spear wouldn’t look out of place. I managed to catch sight of a great looking Meg from Hercules, with a nice spin on how to work the impossible hairstyle. And I also admired someone who dressed as Anastasia, one of the rare Fox-based costumes I saw throughout the weekend.

DS: I found time to check out the “Inside the World of Avatar” exhibit. Taking place inside a pretty big room on the second floor, it offered a near up-close look at props, costumes, and models from the James Cameron film. It was all the more fascinating to be able to compare one’s human size with that of the Na’vi. From just how large their weapons are to seeing how they measure to a life-size bust of the 9′ 1″ Neytiri, this was a really nice exhibit to explore.

There were a lot of interactive show floor attractions for attendees to check out, but they often had really long lines. One of the easier booths to explore was at Disney Parks, which included a sample exhibit of the forthcoming “Avengers Campus” attraction. Fans could operate touchscreens the way Tony Stark would and check out some fun displays. A popular display allowed for direct interaction with a Vyloo from Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout!

Believe it or not, there were long lines even to merely get your picture taken with a display. Some displays, like the costumes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe at the Marvel booth, were easy to get. But you would be amazed to see people wait as much as thirty minutes for a picture with the Elsa and Anna (Frozen II) statues at the Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios booth. I happened to be around early enough on the first day that I decided to get a picture, waiting in line for only a few minutes. The other popular photo op display at the booth was Guinevere, the van that will be featured in Onward.

While there were not as many displays this time around as there were two years ago, fans could still head outside of the convention center for a little rest and relief from all that was happenings inside. There were plenty of food trucks out and about for attendees to try out some unique eats. At least on the third day, Disney Fine Art and street artist Arcy displayed a beautiful mural he had painted. He was also selling prints of the piece to interested fans.

If there was one thing in which it was a necessity to obtain a reservation for, it was for some of the booth signings. In particular were some events at the Marvel and the Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios booths in which the talent would be surprises. The results were that for the Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios booth they had the creative team for Raya And The Last Dragon and Marvel had two: one with Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter) and another for Lauren Ridloff and Don Lee (Makkari and Gilgamesh in The Eternals).

Like last time, they played full movies and additional content in-between on television screens for those queuing in Hall E for the presentations in Hall D23. All day Friday and into Saturday morning, the four movies being looped were The Incredibles, Lady And The Tramp, The Aristocats, and Captain Marvel. While we didn’t catch if anything changed through the rest of Saturday, we did see on Sunday morning that The Little Mermaid was part of an updated loop.

RC: There was lots to see on the exhibit floor, and though I gave a cursory view at just about everything, there is lots that I would have taken a closer peek at if I had had another day there. It was nice to see Avengers and Star Wars costumes on display, and I enjoyed what many of the sales booths had to show, too, everything from statues and figurines, to comic books and waffle makers. We took lots of photos, so some of those more interesting items can be seen below.

RC: Since returning home and telling people of my experience, the reactions range from thinking that the show must have been the coolest thing ever, to thinking that it must have been a line-ridden, overcrowded, product-pushing nightmare. Personally, I lean heavily towards the former. We did spend a lot of time in lines, but that was primarily before the show opened every day. And hanging out with other fans is no burden for me – it was often pretty fun!

Certainly, it helps to be with a buddy, too. There was not really any aspect of the show that I did not enjoy. The presentations were impressive and exciting, the panels & retrospectives were grand fun, and the shopping was great as well, especially when it meant meeting respected authors and historians. Naturally, it was also cool to meet Dan in person, after knowing each other for a few years online. I think we hit it off pretty good! I am not certain yet if I will be able to attend the next D23 Expo in 2021, but I could certainly see myself going!

DS: There’s little doubt that I will be continuing to attend the D23 Expo for as long as I am physically able to. The atmosphere is majestic, and the big events make the long wait in line – even an overnight stay at the convention center – well worth it. I actually like that they hold it every two years as opposed to making it annual, as it allows for Disney to really develop the experience. Each convention can be different enough that they are fresh and exciting. The pure joy is that there is always something to check out over the three days of Disney fun. This year was all the more fun as I got to hang out with Randall. It made me real happy throughout that I got to share the experience with a friend, and we definitely had a great time getting to know one another as well as enjoying all of the pageantry being displayed.

Fans lining up as early as 5am on the first day just to get into the show floor.

The Disney on Broadway booth allowing fans to experience being in a musical number via VR headsets.

Cosplayers mixing Disney Princesses with the Avengers being interviewed on the show floor.

Screen worn Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch costumes on display at the Marvel booth.

Guinevere, the van from Onward, on display at the Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios booth.

Dan hanging out with Elsa and Anna (Frozen II) at the Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios booth.

Fans sampling the upcoming “Avengers Campus” attraction at the Disney Parks booth.

“And a song someone sings, Once upon a December.” (Anastasia)

Jordan Hembrough displaying the original Disneyland Monorail toy set during The Toy Hunter at D23 Expo.

Belle as she appears in Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas.

Tony Hale (Forky) treating attendees of the Disney+ presentation to a full episode of Forky Asks a Question.

Ben Feldman (Tylor) and Aisha Tyler (Millie) describing Monsters At Work to attendees of the Disney+ presentation.

Kevin Feige announcing Ms. Marvel as one of three new shows in development during the Disney+ presentation.

Executive producers Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), Gina Carano (Cara Dune), Carl Weathers (Greef Carga), Giancarlo Esposito (Moff Gideon), and Taika Waititi (IG-11) introduce The Mandalorian during the Disney+ presentation.

“Come on you poor unfortunate soul, Go ahead, Make your choice.” (Ursula, The Little Mermaid)

Attendees spending the night at the Anaheim Convention Center in line for the Disney Studios presentation.

Auli’i Cravalho (Moana) with a cute baby Maui during her signing at the Disney Music Emporium booth.

“Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me!” (Pirates of the Caribbean)

“You don’t know how hard it is being a woman looking the way I do.” (Jessica Rabbit, Who Framed Roger Rabbit)

“Ki-Ki-Kidamaschnaga… Uh, hey, you got a nickname?” (Kida and Milo, Atlantis: The Lost Empire)

“But still I cannot see, if the savage one is me, How can there be so much that you don’t know?” (Pocahontas)

“Two for flinching” (Audrey, Atlantis: The Lost Empire)

Ariel co-supervising animator Mark Henn displaying his illustrations during The Little Mermaid 30th Anniversary.

Jodi Benson (Ariel) and a fan being serenade with “Kiss the Girl” during The Little Mermaid 30th Anniversary.

Jodi Benson (Ariel), Ruben Aquino (Ursula supervising animator), Mark Henn (Ariel co-supervising animator), Michael Peraza (art director), and Ron Clements (co-director/co-writer) during The Little Mermaid 30th Anniversary.

Production design of The Little Mermaid Live stage being displayed during The Little Mermaid 30th Anniversary.

Jodi Benson (Ariel) and Auli’i Cravalho (Ariel, The Little Mermaid Live) during The Little Mermaid 30th Anniversary.

“It’s been a real slice.” (Meg, Hercules)

Dan comparing himself to a life-size bust of Neytiri (Avatar) at the “Inside the World of Avatar” exhibit.

Background film props on display at the “Inside the World of Avatar” exhibit.

Replica of Na’vi necklaces on display at the “Inside the World of Avatar” exhibit.

“Are you always this charming, or am I just lucky?” (Esmeralda, The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

Minnie and Mickey Mouse celebrate the Mickey Mouse Disco 40th Anniversary during the D23 Expo Street Party.

Christy Carlson Romano (Kim Possible) serving as a grand marshal of the D23 Expo Street Party.

Attendees checking out the unique eateries offered by food trucks outside the Anaheim Convention Center.

Fans waiting in line as long as 90 minutes to get into the Disney Store booth for exclusive merchandise.

Attendees crowd Center Stage for a presentation on The Haunted Mansion 50th Anniversary.

Another look at the Pixar booth and the replica of the Onwards van.

The Disney+ streaming service was being promoted heavily, as evidenced by the large amount of space given the Disney+ booth.

While Disney had their own stores set up, many other shops were also hawking Disney-licensed merchandise, including these collectible dolls.

These Star Wars costumes had a striking presence on the exhibit floor.

The Disney Emporium area had a number of vendors selling either new or vintage collectibles.

If artwork is more your thing, you would have had a number of choices at the Expo, too.

The Walt Disney Family Museum had a variety of exclusive items to sell, while promoting the Museum as a great place to include in your vacation planning.

At the Disney+ panel, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy gave us a vision of the current and planned state of the Star Wars universe.

Rand and Dan enjoyed meeting book designer Paul Wolski and author Jeff Kurtti, here showing off their uniquely magical Disney Christmas cards book.

Disney Legend inductees included singer and former Mouseketeer Christina Aguilera…

… choreographer Barnette Ricci…

… Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Junior…

… and actress Ming Na Wen.

Rand couldn’t help posing with his favourite super-hero (next to Superman. Shssshhhhh…)

These puppets were pricey, but pretty neat.

This is one of the hugest Precious Moments figurines that we have ever seen.

This massive X-Men statue was pretty impressive, too.

And who doesn’t love Spider-Verse? …Uh, wasn’t that a Sony film—?

More large, detailed Marvel statues on display at the Expo.

Another Disney store to visit!

The Hulk enjoys mashing as much as smashing.

Our thanks to Disney, not just for putting on the biennial event, but for also releasing official photographs from the show, in particular presentations with “no electronics” policies, to be used for press.

Of course, for those who manage to do get inside the Convention Center, it goes without saying that to get the most of the experience is to pre-plan one’s schedule to cover as much ground as possible. Take it from me, this helps in making sure that the event is not disappointing amid the heavy crowds and confusion. Surprisingly, this is one of those years where nearly all of my priorities were accomplished, resulting in a highly satisfying attendance this year. From fun panels to cool celebrity encounters, it continues to show why Comic Con is one of the finest events around.

It is a Comic Con tradition of mine to visit Chris Sanders, the creator/director of Lilo & Stitch and director of the first How to Train Your Dragon. Every year, Sanders sets up a booth and sells his own merchandise ranging from books to T-shirts to figurines. This year, he had a new sketchbook to sell along with stickers of some of his illustrations. I didn’t hear anything new regarding the Rescue Sirens series of novels he co-writes with his wife Jessica.

One other thing Sanders offered this year was commissioned sketches of Stitch. It’s rare for him to offer sketches, given how time consuming it would be for him to fill however many requests he would likely get due to his popularity. So a chance at getting a commissioned sketch of his beloved creation by him was definitely a must for me.

Introduced in the Thimble Theatre comic strip on January 17, 1929, Popeye the Sailor Man became one of the most recognizable cartoon characters following his animated debut in 1933. The adventures of the spinach-eating strongman have thrilled audiences for generations both in theaters and later on television. In celebration of the character’s 90th anniversary, Warner Archives held a panel looking back at Popeye’s history while also exploring his possible future going forward.

Gary Miereanu, Director of Publicity for Warner Bros. Animation, moderated the panel that consisted of Warner Archive Podcast hosts DW Ferranti and Matthew Patterson, illustrator of the Popeye comic books published by IDW in Tom Neely, animation historian Jerry Beck, and President of King Features in CJ Kettler.

Beck would primarily relate the history of Popeye along with Ferranti and Patterson, the latter two only ever briefly discussing the restoration process of the cartoons before the DVD and blu-ray releases. Kettler would throw in additional perspectives on the character’s journey through the decades and then, along with Neely, talked about the challenges they face keeping the character relevant. In-between discussions were scenes from various generations of Popeye cartoons screened, including one from the Popeye for Kids series of shorts published on YouTube that had some hilariously noticeable departures to the designs.

As is common with Warner Archives panels, attendees who ask questions got a chance to receive prizes. I managed to snag the first volume blu-ray asking about whether or not Robert Altman’s live-action feature added to the Popeye lore. Beck felt it didn’t really, perhaps more so that Altman may not have been the right director in retrospect. Peterson did like that the sets were still up in Malta, now as an open-air museum, and wants to visit it some day. Most questions were definitely more about learning what King Features had planned for Popeye in the future with Kettler assuring that they’ve got projects in development that would be faithful.

The first two volumes of the Popeye cartoons on blu-ray, covering his move to color in the 1940s, are now available. The third volume is expected to be released within the next year.

2019 marked the 50th San Diego Comic Con, but there were numerous anniversaries taking place. In particular the number of Disney animated features. This year was the 60th anniversary of Sleeping Beauty, the 30th of The Little Mermaid, the 25th of The Lion King, the 20th of Tarzan, and the 10th of The Princess and the Frog, just to name a few. In honor of these classics, a few of the animators were brought together to talk about their experiences in making these films and their influence on audiences and the industry since.

Lesie Combemale of ASIFA-Hollywood served as moderator of a panel that included Disney legend Floyd Norman (Clean-up Artist on Sleeping Beauty), Jane Baer (Assistant Animator on Sleeping Beauty), Nik Ranieri (Character Animator on The Little Mermaid), Kathy Zielinski (Character Animator on The Little Mermaid), and Dave Bossert (Effects Animator on The Lion King).

Norman and Baer discussed their work on Sleeping Beauty, Norman on the fairies and Baer explaining just how detailed drawing Aurora had to be. Ranieri and Zielinski talked about their varying approach to animating Ursula for The Little Mermaid, with Ranieri struggling to adapt to the Disney-style at the time and Zielinski’s love for animating evil characters allowing her to draw dynamic moments. Bossert went over some of the work that went into the effects animation for The Lion King, in particular the wildebeest stampede.

The Q&A portion saw attendees ask questions that often deviated from the films that were celebrating anniversaries and were more towards celebrating the overall careers of the animators. In doing so, it actually made the panel a lot more fun. One particular factoid Zielinski revealed when audience members were asking questions about The Hunchback of Notre Dame was that a scene where Frollo sniffs Esmeralda’s hair was longer and would have apparently been enough to threaten the film with a PG-13 rating, which made Zielinski quite proud.

In desperate need of a hit by 1999, the television network UPN enlisted Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist producer Loren Bouchard to come up with an animated series for them. Along with comedian and star Brendon Small, they would create Home Movies, a slice-of-life series centered on the childhood surroundings of a fictionalized version of Small. The show was cut after one season, but would be resurrected on Cartoon Network’s adult swim block and developed a cult following.

For the first time, Home Movies had a panel at Comic Con in celebrating the show’s 20th anniversary. Dan Casey, Senior Editor of Nerdist, served as the moderator of a panel that included Bouchard and Small as well as cast members H. Jon Benjamin (Jason/Coach John) and Melissa Galsky (Melissa).

There was no audience Q&A at any point in the panel. This was largely the result of Casey merely asking a few questions and the answers resulting in everyone telling hilarious stories that seemed to build upon one another. An example of this was a simple question of how the show came to be seeing Bouchard and Small take about ten minutes to really answer and delightfully taking detours whenever Benjamin and Galsky added comments, such as Small deciding to explain how he convinced Galsky to join the show and how it was in the middle of a first broadcast party that they received word UPN was cancelling the show.

It was just fun to hear everyone talk fondly about Home Movies throughout the hour the panel ran for. Bouchard and Small expressed the joy they had at the creative freedom they were given in developing the show while Benjamin and Galsky talked about how much fun it was just being involved. There was also a sense that they were all content with the 52 episodes that were produced, feeling that the series had pretty much gone as far as they could go and were quite proud of what they made.

All four seasons of Home Movies is available on DVD from Shout! Factory in individual sets and in a complete series set that was released to commemorate the show’s then-10th anniversary.

Since debuting on Netflix last November, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power from DreamWorks Animation has garnered widespread acclaim and has been building an ever passionate fanbase. The re-imagined series has been fueled by excellent writing headed by developer Noelle Stevenson and features a rich cast of wonderfully diverse characters. So it seemed fitting that the show’s panel would be held in one of the largest rooms in all of Comic Con.

Serving as moderator was Entertainment Weekly Senior Editor Patrick Gomez. The panel consisted of Stevenson and cast members Lauren Ash (Scorpia), Marcus Scribner (Bow), Karen Fukuhara (Glimmer), and Aimee Carrero (Adora/She-Ra).

Prior to the start of the panel, all attendees received She-Ra crowns and swords with many immediately putting on the crowns to join in with those who were already in costume. There was no traditional Q&A as Gomez would instead field questions that had earlier been posted through Twitter. In looking back at the previous two seasons, the cast felt fortunate to partake in a show that was a lot of fun to work on with writing that was endearing to them.

Stevenson remarked on the willingness she and her writing staff had in wanting to take the established characters and redefine them in ways that were interesting and organic. She noted examples with exploring Bow’s almost feral-like approach and the mysterious connections Shadow Weaver seemed to have with everyone. Discussion eventually came to the third season, which was a couple weeks away from when the panel took place, with clips showing how Adora would be tested spiritually and emotionally in the episodes to come.

Following the panel, there was a signing at the Mattel booth. Fans who were mindful and quick enough to get there when the Exhibit Floor opened that morning scored tickets into the event. Nevertheless, obtaining a ticket could be seen as being lucky overall given that the booth staff just didn’t have the ability to manage and organize these things. Be it giving misinformation on where the ticket distribution would take place to the actual lining up process that was so chaotic that fire marshals were constantly threatening to shut things down if they didn’t get their act together.

Upon managing to get into the signing, though, it was a delight. Of the panelists, only Fukuhara was not present. I believe she was needed elsewhere. Fortunately, there was another cast member who could take her place in Merit Leighton (Frosta). Given just how crowded the booth was, and how disorganized the staff seemed, it ended up roughly being sign and go as the panel would autograph an exclusive poster. I was able to chat briefly with Stevenson, who along with Carrero was the primary panelist I wanted to meet.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is currently streaming its third season on Netflix.

For the past couple of years, the panel for Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir seemed to be on the verge of rivaling My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic for having some of the most passionate fans packing the room to capacity. It was quite amusing to be in a sea of fans literally screaming at every little thing talked about or shown that would be comparable to the likes of attending a boy band concert. Simply put, the Miraculous animated series has developed into quite the international phenomenon.

Serving as moderator this year was Director of Digital Strategy at ZAG in Kevin Marciano. The panel consisted of writer Martin Meunier and cast members Cristina Vee (Marinette/Ladybug), Andrew Russell (Luka), Keith Silverstein (Gabriel/Hawk Moth), Mela Lee (Tikki), and Selah Victor (Chloé). Vee appeared cosplaying as her character.

Admittedly, this was perhaps the most low-key showing of all the Miraculous panels I’ve attended to date. It was essentially built around the full screening of a third season episode that has yet to air. The episode, titled “Ikari Gozen”, revolves around Marinette’s participation in a Friendship Day game with an unexpected partner. Social media plays a part in the game’s activities, which was later used after the episode’s screening to announce the Instagram accounts of characters Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Chloé fans can actually follow.

Aside from that, there really wasn’t much that happened. There wasn’t any major updates to the live-action film that The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey was involved with and there was little regarding the development of a fourth season. They barely had a Q&A in which only one person was able to ask a question before they curiously wrapped up the panel rather early. Very much a disappointment considering how vibrant and enthusiastic the last couple of years had been.

There was usually a signing at the Action Lab Comics booth following the panel, but I typically avoided it in part because of how incredibly packed it would be. It was to my surprise that many hours later Vee was still there signing autographs. And the line was relatively light, so I decided to swing in and meet her. We had a quick moment to chat about the show as well as the incredible fanfare it had. All the while she was still in her Ladybug cosplay.

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir has started to air its third season. In North America, it primarily streams on Netflix, but recently older episodes have begun to air on Disney Channel. The North American premiere date for “Ikari Gozen” has yet to be announced.

Founded on January 12, 1939 as Timely Comics, Marvel has gone on to become a major multimedia giant whose name has become common place in entertainment. Shortly after Stan Lee began creating an entire universe of superheroes alongside the likes of Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, Marvel looked into other mediums to tell their stories. As part of this year marking the 80th anniversary of the company, a panel was put together to take a look at their history in animation since first venturing into the medium in 1966.

Serving as moderator was Senior Vice President of Animation and Family Entertainment in Cort Lane. The panel consisted of Director of Family Entertainment, Development and Partnerships in Kalia Ramirez, writers Mark Hoffmeier (Spider-Man: The Animated Series) and Marty Isenberg (X-Men: The Animated Series), and voice actors Jennifer Hale (Jean Grey in various Marvel projects) and Josh Keaton (Spider-Man in various Marvel projects).

To play up the historical aspect of the panel, Lane made a point to list all of the Marvel animated projects each panelist worked on, with Ramirez having arguably the second most credits after Stan Lee. This turned into a quick segue into a lovely montage of Lee’s appearances in Marvel animation. From there, much of the discussion was on the past Marvel animation projects and the joy they had in helping add to the superhero mythos through the medium. Much of the talk was based around the X-Men and Spider-Man shows from the 90s as they were seen as the most influential.

After running through previews of upcoming projects, including the “Maximum Venom” season of the current Spider-Man series, they opened to audience Q&A. I managed to ask about Wolverine and the X-Men, specifically what plans were in place had the show received a second season. Ramirez and Lane ended up answering that the plan was definitely to develop the show’s version of the “Age of Apocalypse” story arc, as teased in the last episode’s cliffhanger.

Marvel’s Spider-Man on Disney XD is the present remaining active series from Marvel Animation. In development are Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur and for Hulu The Offenders to consist of also in their own individual series Tigra & Dazzler, Howard the Duck, M.O.D.O.K., and Hit-Monkey.

With two successful seasons of Castlevania under their belt, Netflix and Powerhouse Animation are teaming up to produce another original anime series. Partnering with Viz Media, they are putting together an action-packed hybrid series that will combine a great number of genres from martial arts to grindhouse exploitation to Mexican horror. And with some all-star talent voicing the characters, Seis Manos is set to be a show like no other.

Viz Media Marketing Associate Urian Brown served as moderator to a panel that included creators Brad Graeber and Álvaro Rodriguez, writer Daniel Dominguez, and cast members Mike Colter (Brister), Jonny Cruz (Jesus), Angélica Vale (Garcia), Vic Chao (Chiu), and Danny Trejo (El Balde).

The screening of the opening scene and intro credits makes it very clear that this would not be a typical kind of show, as did a couple other scenes that were showed afterward. It certainly was crazy, violent, and all kinds of fun. One of the major aspects to the show, aside from the mixing of various genres, was Graeber and Rodriguez really wanting to showcase diversity in its cast and in the culture of the world the show inhabits. This was something that was echoed by the cast, Vale in particular, who relished at the opportunity to play an action heroine.

They didn’t have an audience Q&A, but the panel would occasionally quiz the audience on what was presented in the panel with those getting answers correct garnering either a poster signed by the panel or a ticket into the autograph session later in the day. But the real highlight of the panel really was whenever Trejo talked, coming off quite laid back and amused in his gruff manner. The funny part was when the panel was asked what other projects they had going, his mention of Dora and the Lost City of Gold was enthusiastically received.

Seis Manos is set to premiere on Netflix sometime this Fall.

There’s no Comic Con tradition quite like the Quick Draw. Every year, animation and comic book personality Mark Evanier gathers together Sergio Aragonés, Scott Shaw, and a rotating third person to show off how fast they can draw silly sketches on the spot. A sort of improv cartooning, the Quick Draw is one of the most hilarious panels as a result of just how imaginative the illustrators can be when told to sketch something within a minute.

The third person this year was a regular in Disney Legend Floyd Norman. Even before the panel started proper, Aragonés was making some funny doodles such as one of himself throwing a bomb at the sleeping audience in cartoon fashion. When Evanier finally got the show running, it was non-stop laughs with situations drawn such as what each of the cartoonists were doing when Comic Con first started and the Quick Draw regular of fan suggesting two characters having a baby.

As with every year, there were two rounds of the celebrity guessing game. Each celebrity would try to guess three secret words based on the illustrations the cartoonists come up with, usually leading to some stomach clenching comedy. This year’s celebrities were voice actors Fred Tatasciore and Laraine Newman, two faces who would actually end up in the Cartoon Voices panel that would follow. Part of the fun was watching the celebrities struggle to figure out the secret word while the cartoonists felt their illustrations were obvious.

Other fun moments that were illustrated included a humorous celebration of Mad Magazine, the negatives to being Aquaman, and how each turned off a date by showing off their cartooning. Part of the appeal to the panel would also be the banter between Evanier and Aragonés, such as when the latter feigned not understanding the subject of illustrating around the caption “If you don’t like it, you can go back where you came from”. The subject would also allow a brief moment for Norman to lightly compare working for Walt Disney to working for William Hanna.

Immediately after the Quick Draw every year, Mark Evanier would host another panel. It would be the first of two Cartoon Voices. At one point in his animation career serving as voice director, Evanier would often let the actors go to town with their performances and these panels allowed for him to show attendees what he would experience in the recording booth. All the while everyone had a good time in the stories and antics shared.

This year’s voice actors in the first panel consisted of Laraine Newman (Tales of Arcadia), Fred Tatasciore (Hulk in various Marvel projects), Adam McArthur (Star vs. the Forces of Evil), Marieve Herington (Big City Greens), Lex Lang (Star Wars Resistance), and Eric Lopez (Young Justice).

As was customary, Evanier would have the panel act out some of the voices they do as well as list something obscure few might know. He would also get them to relate a time when they were awe-struck performing with someone else, be it a well-known voice actor or celebrity. This year, he also ran them through a couple acting exercises in talking alien gibberish and performing as a walla group, a name used to describe background crowds talking.

The panel would close out with Evanier directing the panel into a reading of a generic script in whatever manner they chose to make it more interesting. For the last few years, he had apparently been using the same Rapunzel script and announced that after this year it would be retired. Evanier would interject with moments of directing, but otherwise left the actors to do as they pleased, much to the hilarious delight of attendees. It was always fun to watch what the voice actors would come up with to make a boring script more entertaining.

On November 10, 1969, PBS stations across the country began to broadcast Sesame Street. Designed to utilize television as a more positive means to help young children prepare for school, it has since become a cultural mainstay in American society. One would think that Comic Con would be an unusual setting to celebrate the show’s 50th anniversary. But how fondly beloved the show and its wonderful cast of characters created by the Jim Henson Creature Shop have become is a testament of the impact it has on all kinds of people for generations.

Actress Yvette Nicole Brown got to serve as moderator with the panel consisting of human cast member Sonia Manzano (Maria), Senior Vice President of Sesame Workshop Content and Curriculum in Dr. Rosemarie Truglio, and puppeteers Eric Jacobson (Grover), Ryan Dillon (Elmo), and Matt Vogel (Big Bird/Count von Count).

Big Bird came out to welcome everyone and introduce the panel. When Vogel “didn’t show”, they suggested Big Bird go look for him. By the time Vogel appeared proper, the panel went into a lovely discussion about the history of the show and managing to make things fresh and still be the same, aided by a wonderful highlight video that is available to view online. The puppeteers would then bring out some of their characters in Grover, Elmo, and The Count to the delight of attendees, displaying how real they can be whenever and wherever they are.

Many of the audience questions related to the evolution of the show over its fifty year history, particularly when it came to addressing serious subjects such as divorce. I added to those type of questions by asking about the determination of when to create new characters and how they went about defining them. Dr. Truglio shared some fascinating insight to the process, particularly in the development of recent characters Abby Cadabby and Julia. It was great to hear about the thought and care they put into bringing a character to life.

Sesame Street airs regularly, with first run episodes broadcast on HBO and then second run airing on PBS.

For the past few years, I have become obsessed with Critical Role. What started as simply a live stream of animation voice actors playing Dungeons & Dragons has transformed into a pop culture phenomenon the likes of which no one could have ever imagined. Coming into Comic Con this year, they’ve only gotten bigger following one of the most successful crowdfunding campaigns in Kickstarter history to adapt their stories into an animated series.

Every year, the Comic Con panel doubles as a taping of Talks Machina, the post-episode talk show with host Brian Foster servicing as moderator. All eight cast members Travis Willingham (Fjord), Marisha Ray (Beau), Taliesin Jaffe (Caduceus), Ashley Johnson (Yasha), Sam Riegel (Nott), Liam O’Brien (Caleb), Laura Bailey (Jester), and Matthew Mercer (Dungeon Master) were present this year.

The panel pretty much was just a nearly one-hour Q&A as all they were able to talk about beforehand was the launch of the second volume to the Critical Role: Vox Machina – Origins comic book series published by Dark Horse. After a live reading of the first three pages to the then-unreleased second issue, they jumped right over to the fans. I got to ask the first question, resulting in a hilarious response regarding the epilogue to the first campaign.

The majority of questions were considered spoilers to both gaming campaigns. One fan did get to ask a question regarding the animated series, specifically asking Mercer how it was going adapting hundreds of hours of gameplay into 22-minute episodes. Mercer noted how challenging it has been to condense the very intricate narrative to fit a different medium and having to best figure what can be cut over what is essential to the storytelling.

Critical Role streams live everything Thursday on their Twitch channel and then the episodes are posted in full on the following Monday on their YouTube channel. The Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina animated series is scheduled to be released sometime in Fall 2020.

As with any convention, about one in every three attendees could be found wandering the floors in costume. Cosplay is a tradition dating back to the beginnings of Comic Con and fans will go out of their way to dress up like their favorite characters and willingly pose for cameras while being admired by others. Even celebrities were willing to dress up, as noted with Cristina Vee during the Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir panel.

And yet I found that my two favorites this year were not actually costumes per se. Rather there were a couple of girls who beautifully crafted puppets of the Jim Henson variety and would play around with them when asked. The most outstanding of the two was Spider-Ham, but the other puppet I saw and liked was of Orko from Masters of the Universe. I really admired the design and craftsmanship that went into the creation of these two.

But while the puppets were my favorites this year, there were still some great costumes that I managed to capture on camera. There were obviously some great Critical Role cosplayers present prior to, during, and after the Talks Machina recording, with the ones I liked the most were those dressing up as first campaign characters Percy and Vex. I also like a couple that did Chloe and Max from the Life is Strange video game series.

A big stand out were a group of four dressed as characters from Gravity Falls with the one dressed as Grunkle Stan being the finest of the bunch. I got a kick out of a couple dressed as Dread Pirate Roberts and Princess Buttercup from The Princess Bride while also having their infant dressed up. There was a great pair dressed as Beetlejuice and Lydia as visualized in the Beetlejuice animated series. And perhaps one of the more unique was a samurai variant of Darth Vader. Not to be confused with a fun mash-up of Darth Vader and the Yellow M&M I also spotted.

I managed to get into the Hasbro store booth this year, thanks to getting picked in the online lottery system introduced last year. Believe it or not, the main thing I wanted was the Disney Princess Comic Treasure Trove figures based on designs by Amy Mebberson. But since I got in on Preview Night, I managed to snag the first run Sith Trooper figure and the two pack of The Collector from Guardians of the Galaxy and The Grandmaster from Thor: Ragnarok. I even got the My Little Pony Through The Years Twilight Sparkle set.

Booth displays were always fun for attendees to check out, though sometimes this would lead to them being rather crowded. Probably the easiest display to admire was at the LucasFilm Pavilion, which had models showcasing the evolution of the Stormtrooper designs and classes leading up to the upcoming Sith Trooper in Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker. A really popular display was at the SquareEnix booth where fans got a chance to get their picture taken perched on Cloud Strife’s motorcycle from Final Fantasy VII via the bullet time technique.

My favorite panel this year turned out to be one for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Illusionists Jamie Harrison, Chris Fisher and Skylar Fox revealed as little as they allowed themselves about bringing to life J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World and making the magic effects as real as possible on stage. As they were showing off a few tricks, both live on stage and through filmed scenes of the play, they were joined by Nicholas Podany, who currently plays Albus Potter in the Broadway production, and Jon Steiger, who will play Scorpius Malfoy in the upcoming San Francisco production. It was a wonderful and fascinating presentation.

Other panels that I attended included an emotional tribute to Stan Lee that was comprised solely of people who got to meet Lee over the years and individually tell their stories and fond memories. It was not a typical panel as a result, but it was no less heartfelt. Other interesting panels included one with Michael Uslan going over his journey to bring Batman to the big screen in celebration of the film’s 30th anniversary and a spotlight on acclaimed comic book writer Jonathan Hickman ahead of his taking over the X-Men franchise.

This year, I accomplished meeting a couple folks I’ve been trying for years to meet. First was professional wrestler Becky Lynch when she and other World Wrestling Entertainment talent had a signing at the Mattel booth. What’s funny was that I became a fan of hers for a few years and it was when she become one of the top stars of WWE over the past year that I was finally able to meet her. She was appreciative of my efforts and greeted me warmly.

The other I’ve been trying to meet was filmmaker Kevin Smith. As an ambassador of Comic Con, Smith had continuously been one of the toughest to meet. It took Gallery Nucleus having an autograph session at their booth on the last day of the convention. Smith would be signing with Pernille Ørum, an Internet-discovered artist I liked who illustrated Smith’s four-issue run on the current Hit-Girl comic book series. Smith displayed great enthusiasm hearing that it took me years to finally meet him and made sure our brief encounter was worth it.

Trolley cars all through San Diego getting wrapped up with content related to Comic Con.

Fans waiting to get into the Exhibit Hall on Preview Night.

The Hasbro store booth is so popular it requires being chosen through lottery to get in.

Chris Sanders selling his latest sketchbook to a fan.

Chloe and Max searching for Rachel. (Life is Strange)

An obvious Popeye fan asking a question during the Popeye 90th Anniversary panel.

“For like the first time ever I’m completely free!” (Rapunzel with Pascal, Tangled)

Is the Force strong enough to be around this much evil? (Star Wars)

Dan with Disney animator Kathy Zielinski.

Fans reminiscing emotionally and fondly about Stan Lee.

H. Jon Benjamin and Melissa Galsky thinking back on making Home Movies.

Seems like Ron is now the third wheel to Kim and Shego. (Kim Possible)

“Wingardium Leviosa!” Fans experiencing the magic of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child firsthand.

The evolution of the Stormtrooper on display at the LucasFilm Pavilion.

Visual Effects Society busts of Stan Lee, Jim Henson, and George Lucas on display at the Gentle Giant booth.

Gender-bending both Spider-Man and Mary Jane. (Spider-Man)

“A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” (Prince Charming and Cinderella, Cinderella)

“You do swim, do you not?” (Kida, Atantis: The Lost Empire)

Dan chatting with Noelle Stevenson and Merit Leighton during the She-Ra and the Princesses of Power signing at the Mattel booth.

Stylized versions of Gambit, Jubilee, Rogue, and Wolverine. (X-Men)

“It’s showtime!” (Lydia and Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice)

The Battle of the Century: Star Wars vs. Marvel!

“Who put the glad in gladiator?” (Hercules)

A very stylized samurai Darth Vader. (Star Wars)

Cristina Vee greeting fans after the Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir panel.

The post-panel group shot celebrating Marvel’s 80th Anniversary through animation.

“Hellooooooo, Nurse!” (Hello Nurse with Yakko and Wakko, Animaniacs)

The Dread Pirate Roberts, Princess Buttercup, and their baby. (The Princess Bride)

The post-panel group shot of the crew and cast of Seis Manos.

Floyd Norman illustrating a self-portrait as he’s getting yelled at by Walt Disney.

Sergio Aragonés illustrating the fan suggestion of Alfred E. Neuman and Morticia Addams having a baby.

Fred Tatasciore struggling to guess the secret words being illustrated during the Quick Draw.

Scott Shaw illustrating how cartooning might fail to pick up a date.

Mark Evanier moderating so many panels that he had numerous copies of his name tag.

Big Bird welcoming attendees to the panel celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Sesame Street.

Grover, Elo, and Count von Count joining the Sesame Street 50th Anniversary panel.

A fan cosplaying as second campaign character Jester asking the Critical Role cast a question.

Many fans cosplaying as first campaign characters Percy and Vex. (Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina)

Superman, Wonder Woman, and Supergirl standing together!

“This place has more twists than a pretzel factory.” (Orko, Masters of the Universe)

Executive Producer Michael Uslan talking about the Batman film in celebration of its 30th anniversary.

Former Spawn character turned current Marvel heroine Angela.

X-Men writer Jonathan Hickman receiving Comic Con’s Inkpot Award ahead of spotlight panel.

San (Princess Mononoke) and Starfire (Teen Titans) making quite the team up.

Dan meeting Kevin Smith during his and Pernille Ørum’s signing at the Gallery Nucleus booth.

“Do animals talk in this dimension? ‘Cause I don’t wanna freak him out.” (Spider-Ham)

An all-female Wendy Darling, Captain Hook, and Tinkerbell. (Peter Pan)

Comic Con exclusive She-Ra and the Princesses of Power poster signed by Noelle Stevenson, Aimee Carrero, Marcus Scribner, Lauren Ash, and Merit Leighton.

The Disney Princess Comic Treasure Trove figures designed by Amy Mebberson.

Comic Con exclusive edition of the Star Wars Black Series: Sith Trooper figure.

For over three years since Critical Role has been broadcasting, fans have submitted thousands of creative content in support and in celebration. From art work to songs to material used on the show and more, the love and appreciation has been quite overwhelming. Player Liam O’Brien, with assistance from fellow player Taliesin Jaffe, would go on to spearhead the creation of two art books, called The Chronicles of Exandria and named after the world in which the show is set in, showcasing pieces from the fan community. The success of the books would later result in the organization of an art exhibition at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, California.

Having hosted a number of unique events and galleries for such pop culture programs as Star Wars, Beauty and the Beast, Star vs. The Forces of Evil, Gravity Falls, Adventure Time, Steven Universe, and more recently Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, Gallery Nucleus was an ideal setting for such an exhibition. However, it’s popular use did mean that the Critical Role gallery would only have a small window to be displayed, running from January 18 through 20. So that fans would have more to do than just checking out fan art pieces on display, a live show was set for January 19 at the prestigious Theatre at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

Tickets for the live show sold out almost instantly, to the point that the web site for the ticket provider apparently crashed within minutes and fans had to telephone quickly. In the meantime, the opening night festivities of the exhibition, known as The Art of Exandria, was as packed as one would see for a major program having a gallery at Gallery Nucleus. Members of the Critical Role cast and crew were present to see just how much love and appreciation the show received as fans from literally around the world showed up to see fan art showcased.

Over forty pieces from various artists were displayed. Chief among them were a pair of pieces by comic book artists Matteo Scalera and Moreno Dinisio. One, showing the primary characters from the first campaign known as Vox Machina, was used as the cover to the standard edition of the second art book. The other being a parallel piece using the primary characters from the second and current campaign known as The Mighty Nein. Prints of the two pieces were made available during the exhibition and a limited number would later be sold online at the end of January.

A highlight piece was a bust of second campaign character Jester, played by Laura Bailey. The wonderfully crafted display was made by Chris Gutierrez, Lindsey Crummett, and comic book artist Tess Fowler. Another eye-catching piece was a beautiful giant painting of a landscape in the continent of Wildemount, the setting of the second campaign. Along with the Jester bust, this was one of the most admired pieces and one that fans tended to get their pictures taken in front of. Other notable pieces included a campaign one scene illustration by Disney storyboard artist Wendy Sullivan and an illustrated portrait of the cast by Fowler.

The Theatre at the Ace Hotel has a seating capacity of approximately 1,600 people. It’s a big deal for a live show of self-proclaimed “nerdy ass voice actors” playing Dungeons & Dragons to sell out almost instantly. Fans began lining up at least an hour ahead of when the doors would open any way. About a third of the attendees managed to purchase VIP tickets, which allowed them to partake in an hour-long Q&A session with the cast prior to the live show. VIP attendees also received a cool swag bag that contained copper gaming dice, a copper pin of The Mighty Nein insignia, and a print of an illustration of Vox Machina signed by the cast.

Present for the Q&A was the full cast of the show in Matthew Mercer, Sam Riegel, Taliesin Jaffe, Marisha Ray, Liam O’Brien, Laura Bailey, Ashley Johnson, and Travis Willingham, along with Brian Foster, host of the after show Talks Machina, to serve as a moderator. When an opportunity arose, the entire audience sang “Happy Birthday” to Jaffe as January 19 was indeed his birthday. Foster didn’t have to do much in setting up or asking any introductory questions as they went straight to the fans, having a microphone be passed from person to person.

The majority of questions asked were considered spoilers to events that took place in both campaign one and campaign two. There were several that were a bit more open and general. One in particular was a question that every fan wanted to know, which was when the show would be adapted into an animated series. The cast directed the question to Willingham, who spearheaded the new animated introduction to the show in December. Willingham simply answered “Patience.” The others convinced him to change it to the more commonly used response on the show, “Wait!”

Another interesting question asked was when Johnson would serve as game master of a one-shot separate from the main game. While the question was extended for Jaffe to also answer, he, like the rest of the cast, has served as a game master previously. Johnson noted that she does have an idea for a game, but scheduling availability is an on-going issue for her. While Critical Role broadcasts live every Thursday from Los Angeles, Johnson is also a main cast member of the NBC drama Blindspot, which is filmed in New York through a large portion of the year. She was able to find an opening in her schedule to partake in the weekend’s festivities.

After the Q&A ended, there was an hour break to let the general admission attendees in. Many fans took this opportunity to take pictures of those in cosplay as characters from both campaigns in front of the stage as the gaming tables were being set up. A large gathering of artists within the fan community, a few having had their pieces on display in the exhibition, were seated on the balcony level and hung out with some well known friends of the cast such as voice actress Julie Nathanson and Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows writer Jody Houser.

The live show itself started at around 9 pm. Broadcasts of Critical Role typically run between three to five hours, including a fifteen minute break, depending on Mercer’s feel for when a good place in the storytelling to end the session would be. They were about ten minutes shy of 2 am by the time Mercer called it a night, jokingly saying that they needed to leave before everyone got fined by parking attendants. The show itself was absolutely fantastic, playing upon the always great storytelling Mercer does with the cast and the unwavering excitement and energy from a live crowd of 1,600 in attendance. It was a great way to end an amazing weekend.

For Critical Role fans, or “Critters” as they are affectionately called, the weekend was a majestic celebration of a show they continue to love and support. Those not quite as familiar with the idea of people watching animation voice actors playing Dungeons & Dragons may see this as a confirmation of its breakthrough into pop culture over the past couple years. To have an art exhibition at a well known gallery like Gallery Nucleus and then to hold a live show in a prestigious venue that sold out 1,600 tickets in minutes is no small feat. This weekend was highly successful for the cast, crew, and fans and one they will never forget.

Critical Role broadcasts live every Thursday on the Geek & Sundry Twitch, YouTube, and Project Alpha channels, which are then available every Monday on YouTube. The live show from January 19 will be available on the Critical Role Twitch and YouTube channels in February. The second volume of The Chronicles of Exandria art book is available through the Critical Role web site in both a standard edition, featuring the Vox Machina piece by Scalera and Dinisio displayed at the Art of Exandria exhibition on the cover, and a deluxe limited edition.

Fans checking out the Critical Role art exhibition at Gallery Nucleus ahead of the night’s live show.

Beautiful landscape piece of the continent Wildemount from the second campaign.

Portrait of the Critical Role cast by Tess Fowler.

First campaign characters Vox Machina by Carlos Ruiz.

First campaign characters Vex’ahlia (Laura Bailey), Pike (Ashley Johnson), and Keyleth (Marisha Ray) by Meg Simmons.

Second campaign characters The Mighty Nein by Matteo Scalera and Moreno Dinisio.

Second campaign character Nott (Sam Riegel) by Jonah Baumann.

Critical Role live show at a prestigious venue The Theatre at The Ace Hotel.

Fan cosplaying as first campaign character Percy.

Brian Foster, Sam Riegel, Taliesin Jaffe, Marisha Ray, Matthew Mercer, and Liam O’Brien during the Q&A.

Marisha Ray, Matthew Mercer, Laura Bailey, Ashley Johnson, and Travis Willingham during the Q&A.

The Theatre at The Ace Hotel housing 1,600 to watch voice actors playing Dungeons and Dragons.

Fans cosplaying as second campaign characters two as Jester, Caduceus, Caleb, and Nott and first campaign characters Percy and Vax’ildan.

The cast of Critical Role and Brian Foster thanking the fans for attending after the live show ends.

VIP swag bag with copper gaming dice, copper Mighty Nein pin, and Vox Machina illustration signed by the cast.

There’s nothing like July in San Diego, California as hundreds of thousands flock to the city for the mecca of comics books and pop culture that is the San Diego Comic Con. From July 18-21, 2018, downtown was the hotbed of entertainment. From comic books to movies to television to video games to animation and beyond, this was the place to be. And even if one wasn’t able to be among the over 170,000 that got into the convention center itself there was still plenty that could be found and done throughout the weekend to keep cool against the summer sun.

As with years past, I made sure to enter the convention with a game plan so that I could get the most out of my experience. There was a moment on the first day that very nearly derailed my plans quite badly, but fortunately things afterward managed to make up for it, including a couple really neat surprises. If nothing else, this year continues to showcase why, despite the heavy crowds and the occasional confusion with security and staffers as to where to go, the San Diego Comic Con is the most fantastic event to attend.

Ten years ago, Lucasfilm launched Star Wars: The Clone Wars, an animated series of adventures taking place between the prequel films Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Despite a rocky start with a theatrical film that was critically savaged, the television series was quite beloved and only got better with each progressive season. The show’s cancellation in March 2013 was seen as a casualty of the Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm and while Star Wars Rebels proved to be an outstanding successor, fans still yearned for The Clone Wars. Thus a celebration of the series took place at Comic Con, packing well over 2,500 fans in one of the biggest rooms outside of Hall H and Ballroom 20.

Present for the momentous occasion were executive producer Dave Filoni, producer Athena Portillo, Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka Tano), Matt Lanter (Anakin Skywalker), and music composer Kevin Kiner with Nerdist managing editor Amy Ratcliffe serving as moderator. After showcasing the very first trailer to The Clone Wars film, Filoni talked about the genesis of the series and how involved George Lucas himself was when mapping out the stories each season. The neat bit was that Filoni’s original concept design for the series and pictures of Lucas participating in the story sessions were displayed.

While Filoni did most of talking, going over some of the more unique stories explored in the series while displaying his concept artwork for them, the others still got chances to discuss key moments they were involved in. Portillo explained how the production team would work to try to achieve whatever Filoni and the story team wanted to create. Kiner would touch upon looking for ways to create music that echoed John Williams’ epic themes while still able to create his own. Lanter discussed being able to develop the arc of Skywalker’s fall from heroic Jedi to eventual Sith lord. Eckstein, wearing an Ahsoka-inspired dress from her fashion line Her Universe, touching on the character’s evolution from initially being despised to becoming an overwhelming fan favorite in the whole of Star Wars.

Near the end of the panel, they went over some of the story lines that would have been explored had the series not been cancelled. After screening the final few minutes of the fifth season finale “The Wrong Jedi”, Filoni, Latner, and Eckstein talked briefly about the impact the series had on them, the people they worked with, and the fans they’ve met over the years. All of this, of course, was leading up to the surprise reveal that the series was coming back. After the trailer played, the room was on fire with excitement with even some of the panelists getting emotional. And then they played it again to end the panel proper. All attendees received a ticket which, when brought to the Comic Con Redemption Room, was used to score a poster promoting the series return.

The panel was a lot of fun to attend. Filoni did a nice job being informative about the creative process without sounding droll. Whenever they did get to speak, the rest of the panel got to talk about some great stories. Prior to the big finale, this would have been a fine panel as it was. The trailer put it over the top as the crowd reaction was one of the strongest I’ve experienced at Comic Con, and I’ve been in the middle of some awesome crowds. Star Wars: The Clone Wars will return within the next year or so through Disney’s forthcoming direct-to-consumer streaming service.

Following the critical and commercial disappointment of Superman III, father and son producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind decided they needed to take a different approach in an attempt to bring the Superman franchise back to its former glory. Thus they went with making the first English language superhero film with a female lead in Supergirl. However, the film was a critical disaster and a box office bomb, resulting in the Salkinds losing the Superman film license. Over the years, Supergirl would develop a bit of a cult following, in part by Helen Slater’s impressive performance as the title character and some enjoyable, if cheesy, effects. As such, Warner Archive Collection selected it for a remastered Blu-ray release.

Five days ahead of the Blu-ray release, a panel was held in honor of the film with Director of Publicity for Warner Bros. Animation in Gary Miereanu serving as moderator and featuring Warner Archive Podcast hosts DW Ferranti and Matthew Patterson, Helen Slater (Supergirl), and Marc McClure (Jimmy Olsen). Ferranti and Patterson talked a bit about the restoration process in bringing the “International Cut” to Blu-Ray, noting that there’s a scene where wires were visible and because it was originally shown that way they didn’t delete it so that fans could retain the appeal of enjoying the film’s quirkiness. They also explained that the added “Director’s Cut” was on a DVD because the only surviving element they could get was the mastered standard definition that had been discovered in the StudioCanal archives and released by Anchor Bay in 2000.

Having been the only actor to appear in all four Christopher Reeve Superman films and Supergirl, McClure got a moment to convey how Reeve and Slater were ideal in portraying Superman and Supergirl respectively in performing with them. He also enjoyed how he got to do just a little bit more in Supergirl, as was exemplified with the brief screening of the magical tractor scene. But in truth, much of the panel was centered on Supergirl herself, Slater, as everyone on the panel, even McClure, asked her questions. She got to explain how awed she was getting to be in a movie alongside the likes of Peter O’Toole, Faye Dunaway, and Peter Cook in what was essentially her first real acting gig outside of an ABC Afterschool Special. Slater related some fun stories of learning from O’Toole about acting while making the film. She also remembered how slightly embarrassed she was when her mother sewed her a costume to wear to one of the auditions.

Near the end was when they opened to audience questions. As with past Warner Archive Collection panels, five who asked what were deemed good enough questions would score early copies of the Blu-Ray. I managed to be one of the five when I asked Slater, given that Supergirl was essentially the first superhero film with a female lead, if there were any attempts to add a feminist approach to the genre. Finding the question very interesting, she did admit that the film was developed more in fantasy, along the lines of an Ugly Duckling-type of a girl learning how to fit into the world, and not really incorporating feminism. Other fans questions included Slater’s impressions of Melissa Benoist, star of the current Supergirl television series, and McClure’s thoughts on the Salkinds given their troubled history with some of the cast and crew on the Superman film franchise despite its initial success, which allowed for a brief moment to recognize Margot Kidder who passed away months earlier.

This was a very nice panel. It was very clear that everyone had honest appreciation for the film, even with its flaws, and spoke quite positively about it. Slater was given the spotlight almost from the start and was quite graceful in how she spoke about her memories of the film and in answering questions from everyone. And the behind-the-scenes stories told were quite fun to hear. The Warner Archive Collection Blu-Ray release of Supergirl is now available primarily through online retailers such as Amazon.

If you’ve read my previous Comic Con reports, you know that I like going to the My Little Pony panel every year whenever I can. It’s more than because I’m a fan of the series, with it’s impressive storytelling that is attractive to audiences of all ages and genders as well as some of the loveliest animation currently on television. The panel is just oodles of fun to attend as everyone is clearly having a good time and the fans are just as excited to not only know about what’s to come from Equestria, but also to interact with the cast and crew of the beloved series. This year’s panel was certainly no different in that it continues to be all sorts of fun to attend.

In a change up from the previous years, producer Eliza Hart served as moderator while writer/producer Mike Vogel hung out in the crowd. Hart brought a different kind of enthusiasm and energy in comparison. On the panel this year were writer/producer Meghan McCarthy, writers Nicole Dubuc and Josh Haber, and voice cast members Cathy Weseluck (Spike), Andrea Libman (Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie), and Tara Strong (Twilight Sparkle). They talked about the present arc for season eight in Twilight opening a school following the events of the theatrical film as well as the continuing growth of news characters to showcase, such as students dubbed the Young Six, along with development of some of the established characters. There was also a cute and goofy moment where, since the cast and crew didn’t want to reveal too many spoilers, Hart asked the actresses to reveal character secrets.

They then showed a trailer for the next Equestria Girls special, The Other Side, which sees the human girls discover a portal into Equestria proper. McCarthy only teased a little about the special, which was later noted as airing sometime in spring 2019, but it was clear that the premise had been built up since Friendship Games. Returning to discussions on season eight of the core series, they showed a wonderful musical clip from an upcoming episode introducing a new character in a kirin named Autumn Blaze. After the scene played they brought out the surprise guest voicing the character, Rachel Bloom. The Golden Globe winning creator/actress of the hit CW series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend talked briefly about how much fun it was to see herself as a pony, what a great song it was she got to sing, and briefly explaining the difference between acting on screen and through her voice.

Taking advantage of Bloom’s background in improv acting, they decided to do an improvisational skit for the audience. The writers came up with the prompts and the actresses performed as their characters, though Bloom was assigned to voice Shining Armor to hilarious results. Afterward they moved over to fan questions, with the continued tradition of kids getting priority over the teens and adults. Some of the questions asked include what each panelist’s cutie marks would be, how many parties does Pinkie Pie have planned (she responded with a number that was well over a gazillion), does Discord have a family, and if we’ll see a reformed Chrysalis. The panel closed out with animatics to a musical sequence for the next holiday special “Best Gift Ever”.

The pure joy I get going to a My Little Pony panel at Comic Con is infectious. The panelists are clearly having a good time and the fans take great pleasure in interacting with the cast and crew in a friendly environment. The inclusion of an improvisational skit to take advantage of Bloom’s presence was a great breath of fresh air that made the panel all the more wonderful. The second half of season eight to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has resumed with new episodes airing every Saturday morning on Discovery Family.

Last year, I attended a panel for Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir for the first time. The French CG animated series highly influenced by the magical girl genre popularized in Japan has developed a super huge following, in particular with female audiences. The panel exhibited just how great the Miraculous fandom was, overcrowding the room with fans screaming nearly every five seconds at just about everything that was said. It was one of the most fascinating spectacles I had been in the middle of and decided to attend it again this year. Making it all the more interesting was that it was scheduled back-to-back with My Little Pony, allowing for a very unique opportunity to compare two fandoms whose panels packed their rooms to capacity every time out.

English voice director Ezra Weisz once again moderated the panel and took his fantastic high enthusiasm to another level, pumping the fans up to go crazy even when doing something like leading them on to a sing-a-long of the main theme. The panel this year consisted of just members of the English voice cast, though it was the main players in Cristina Vee (Marinette/Ladybug), Mela Lee (Tikki), Bryce Papenbrook (Adrien/Cat Noir), Max Mittelman (Plagg), and Keith Silverman (Hawk Moth). They would later be joined by Joe Ochman (Mayor Bourgeois) and Jessica Ángeles (Marinette/Ladybug in Latin American broadcasts). Producer Jeremy Zag was unable to be present, but Weisz was able to get him on the phone at the beginning to reveal that he was working on the show’s third season as well as the forthcoming feature film and announcing the development of a live stage musical.

Technical issues caused some things in the panel to get moved around, leading to a fun moment where Silverman as Hawk Moth attempted to akumatize the technician, before they were finally able to settle with some selected script readings of fourthcoming episodes. The cast read two scenes from “Sandboy”, one of which featured the seemingly anticipated first to feature Tikki and Plagg together, and then from “Malediktator”, showcasing Ladybug and Cat Noir contending with an akumatized Mayor Bourgeois. In between the readings of the two episodes, they aired ahead of its online premiere the completed form of the Zag Chibi short “Rooftop Dinner” that was first shown in storyboards last year. After the script readings, they showed off clips from some of the season two episodes that have yet to air in the United States.

They started wrapping up by featuring Vee and and Ángeles comparing how they would speak their lines in English and Spanish. This was followed by a teasing video message from Zag, in which he was joined by The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey, revealing that he would be involved in the forthcoming feature film. They also announced that the live stage musical is scheduled to be running around March 2019. Due to time, they could only get to two fan questions to end the panel. The first about Hawk Moth changing up his tactics due to his continued short-comings led to a great improvised moment of Silverman playing Hawk Moth akumatizing himself. The other question was a cute question of what each panelist’s own personal Miraculous would be, a couple humorously answering they would be their own dogs. All attendees were given a Miraculous key chain, randomly chosen to be either Ladybug or Cat Noir.

In spite of the technical issues that seemed to have moved things around, this panel continued to showcase what a spectacle it still was to attend. The fandom also continued to make it all the more fascinating. The panelists were clearly having some fun, in particular Silverman when he got to improvise some moments, and we got to hear some intriguing surprises like Michael Gracey’s involvement in the franchise. Scheduling it back-to-back with My Little Pony was an interesting choice, but it did showcase that each had a fantastic following with their panels exhibiting them quite nicely. The second season of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir is scheduled to resume in the United States this December streaming through Netflix.

In 2001, Nickelodeon took a chance and enlisted Jhonen Vasquez, then best known for his dark comedy comic book Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, to develop an animated series that would appeal to a slightly older audience. The result was Invader Zim, telling the exploits of an extraterrestrial’s attempts to conquer Earth. While numerous behind-the-scenes hardships resulted in the series getting cancelled after two seasons, it was nonetheless widely acclaimed and would go on to become a cult classic. As Nickelodeon began reviving some of their more popular animated properties over the years, it seemed only a matter of time before Invader Zim was given another chance at global domination in the television film Enter the Florpus!

Hector Navarro, host of the Nickelodeon Animation Podcast, moderated the panel that included Vasquez, art director Jenny Goldberg, and cast members Richard Horvitz (Zim), Rikki Simons (Gir), Wally Wingert (Almighty Tallest Red), and Kevin McDonald (Almighty Tallest Purple). Alongside his original early concept designs for the show, Vasquez said that his making the hilarious Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles short Don vs. Raph was the foundation for his eventual decision to revisit Invader Zim as he had fun again for the first time in a while. According to Goldberg, though, the process of making the revival film was just as difficult as it was to make the series as, at the time of the panel, they were still in the process of getting animation back on the first act and finishing color on the third act.

It was noted that much of the crew on Enter the Florpus! had grown up on the original television series, many of them having gone on to some success themselves. Among those recognized was supervising producer Breehn Burns, director of the popular web series Bravest Warriors. Having been constantly asked to voice their characters for years, Horovitz and Simons talked about some of the strange things they encountered in the fandom, such as the painful places fans would put Invader Zim tattoos. Wingert and McDonald got to bring up humorous behind-the-scenes stories, such as how McDonald recalled Nickelodeon executives thought an improvised line had been intentionally written by Vasquez to be dark and Wingert explaining how an animation screw up led McDonald having a popular line originally recorded by Wingert.

Goldberg explained a bit at how the visual look was updated from last seen sixteen years ago while still maintaining the original design. This was exemplified with model sheets comparing how they looked then to now being displayed on screen, piquing the interest of fans as they examined the changes as carefully as they could with the brief amount of time the visuals were shown. Fan questions were chosen from Twitter, resulting in some funny questions receiving funny answers. Among the questions included whether or not the Tallests were actually regular sized Irkens in mech suits, how Zim bathes himself if rain harms him, and which character they would choose if they had to get a tattoo of one on their butt. The panel capped off with the screening of the teaser trailer, which got the fans howling with delight.

Words can’t really describe just how funny and entertaining the Invader Zim panel was. Everyone on the panel was clearly having a good time, always finding an opportunity to throw in a joke or say something witty. There wasn’t too much discussion about Enter the Florpus! itself, though that’s largely due to them apparently not being far enough done to actually say any more than they could without spoiling it. Nevertheless, I think everyone was just having a blast reminiscing about Invader Zim and just getting very excited about the return. Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus! was originally planned to broadcast on Nickelodeon sometime in fall 2018, but it might get pushed given where production is at presently.

In 1928, Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks created a character named Mickey Mouse. Initially developed as a replacement to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and one Disney would have full ownership of, Mickey would change the face of entertainment as a result of his third short Steamboat Willie becoming the first synchronized sound cartoon released. In the decades that followed since his inception, Mickey Mouse has transcended from his original role of cartoon character to studio mascot to top billing Hollywood star to cultural icon and beyond. 2018 marks the character’s 90th anniversary and Disney decided Comic Con was as good of a place as any to celebrate the special occasion.

After a trailer and an appearance from D23 Vice President Michael Vargo to quickly promote the D23 program, the panel proper began with a nice video that showcased Mickey from the past 90 years. Disney Archivist and D23 contributor Justin Arthur served as moderator with the panel consisting of Walt Disney Archives director Becky Cline, legendary animator Mark Henn, and present official voice of Mickey Mouse in Bret Iwan. The panelists took turns going over Mickey in as close to a chronological order as they could with Cline explaining the historical context, Henn revealing the evolving animation styles and techniques, and Iwan talking of the voice actors who brought life to and shaped the character’s personality.

In discussions regarding the character’s early years, Henn noted that Walt Disney was too embarrassed to serve as reference model for the animators, but was talked into being one for Frank Thomas in developing a walk for the short The Pointer. Cline talked briefly about the popular Charlotte Clark plush dolls. This led to further discussion of the original Mickey Mouse merchandise, specifically the more curious items from one of the first catalogs such as undies, pocket knives, and costumes that in retrospect looked terrifying. Mention of Walt Disney insisting on voicing Mickey for the Mickey Mouse Club introductions long after handing the reigns to Jimmy MacDonald led to a screening of the original “Mickey Mouse Club March”. Iwan couldn’t help but jump in and voice Mickey whenever his lines came up at the end.

Henn was eventually able to talk about animating Mickey. He noted how challenging it was to draw the character, particularly on Get a Horse! as he had to essentially unlearn everything he had been taught so that they could draw in the original Ub Iwerks style over Fred Moore. Iwan noted how his interest in the Fantasmic! show and his attempts to recreate it with his brother using the soundtrack would be the foundation for his becoming the fourth official voice of Mickey. Wrapping up the panel, Cline brought up the Mickey portraits that John Hench painted to commemorate special anniversaries from 1953 to 2003 with Paul Felix doing the portrait for the 80th anniversary in 2008. For the 90th anniversary, Henn was selected and his portrait was physically unveiled to the attendees along with showing a time-lapse video of his painting the portrait. All attendees received a packet of magnets of some of the Hench portraits as well as a hand fan for the panel.

This was a very nice, quite informative panel that did what they could to jam 90 years of Mickey Mouse into one hour. I think Arthur did a good job in trying to give all three equal spotlight time, as Cline could have easily dominated the panel with the amount of historical information she had. The inclusion of clips from various programs helped put whatever they talked about into perspective and it was clear everyone had great fondness and admiration for the character. I really liked the reveal of Henn’s portrait to cap things off while it was great to see the fun Iwan had when he got to play around with Mickey’s voice.

The Quick Draw is such a beloved annual Comic Con tradition that it has no problem packing over 2,500 attendees into one of the biggest rooms of the convention to watch Sergio Aragonés and Scott Shaw draw silly cartoons in seconds. It’s oodles of fun and absolutely hilarious. Part of the appeal is the witty banter that gets thrown around between them and host Mark Evanier. And the rotating third person, this year being Lalo Alcaraz, adding flavor to it all continue to make this a must-attend event of Comic Con. Good clean fun that continues to leave all fans rolling on the floor, laughing with tears in their eyes.

Some of the fun drawings thought up included a Quick Draw tradition of having the audience coming up with an implausible couple and the artists drawing what the offspring would be like. Aragonés scored the nuttiest by drawing what the baby of Betty Boop and Howard The Duck looked like. Another fun moment was to illustrate the dangers of riding a scooter through the convention, specifically if the artists themselves were using them. One of the more wacky was the artists given something pre-drawn and then finish the illustration based on audience suggestions with the biggest laugh being Aragonés drawing “Donald Trump”. Alcaraz had some projector issues a couple of times, but it didn’t really disrupt the flow of things. He had some pretty good ones with regards to how some women would react to being in a relationship with a cartoonist.

Another Quick Draw tradition was for a couple of guests in attendance to try to figure out three words based on the illustrated clues the artists gave them. This year featured voice actors Fred Tatasciore and John Mariano. Tatasciore managed to completely rip through the challenge, quickly guessing his words “fake”, “anxiety”, and “hide”. He did so well that Aragonés threw up incorrect words to try to throw him off at one point. The only one that took him more than a minute to figure out was “fake”. Mariano had a more difficult time with his words “steel”, “bitter”, and “deja vu”, in particular “bitter” to the point that eventually Evanier had the audience reveal what it was. The artists tried illustrating how something would taste bitter, but Mariano just couldn’t figure it out.

A very special guest in attendance was Joye Murchison Kelly, the first female to write superhero comics, albeit as a ghost writer, writing on Wonder Woman for three years beginning in 1945 while working as a secretary for co-creator William Moulton Marston. Also known as Joye Hummel, the 94-year-old was attending her first comic convention this year, on hand to be a recipient of the Bill Finger Award during the Eisner Awards as a means by the industry to give her her long overdue recognition. She was taken aback by the fanfare she received throughout the weekend, even during a hilarious event like the Quick Draw. After a brief discussion with Kelly, Evanier had the artists draw how disastrous a date with Wonder Woman would be for themselves.

The joy of the Quick Draw has and will always be looking forward to seeing what the artists come up with on the spot. What we do know is that we can expect them to be silly and hilarious, leading to an hour of everyone just having an absolutely good time. What I also like about the Quick Draw is how clever the artists can be at times with whatever they come up with. Some of the more amusing are ones that let you think about it even after its time to move on to other things, which I tend to find usually belong to the rotating third guest and Alcaraz was no exception this year. If ever one gets a chance to attend anything like the Quick Draw, it is well worth checking out.

Another Comic Con tradition is the Cartoon Voices panels. Twice a year, Mark Evanier gathers together a collection of voice actors to spotlight them and show off their talents before a live audience. The first generally takes place immediately after Quick Draw so Evanier doesn’t have to do much to set up shop. And just like Quick Draw, the panel packs the room almost every time out, even in one that’s able to hold 2,500 attendees. I haven’t been to Cartoon Voices too often in recent years largely because most of the talent gathered have been present before on numerous occasions. This year offered up a fresh set of voice actors, so I decided to check them out this time around to see how they would do.

For the first panel, the collected voice actors consisted of Julie Nathanson (present voice of Belle in various Disney projects), JP Karliak (title character in The Boss Baby: Back in Business), Kari Wahlgren (Jessica and Rick’s space ship in Rick and Morty), John Mariano (Bobby from The Goodfeathers in Animaniacs), Matthew Mercer (Leon Kennedy in various Resident Evil projects), and Roger L. Jackson (Mojo Jojo in The Powerpuff Girls). To start, each introduced themselves by listing off some of their more well known voices and then offering up an obscure voice job they did. The interesting obscure factoids was among the few Jackson listed off, mentioning that for one project he had to come up with a least a hundred different sounding dogs and a hundred different sounding cats. Evanier jokingly asked if we could hear all of them.

Evanier then asked each of the panelists to talk about a moment where they were starstruck to be in the same room as someone. The most amusing was when Nathanson mentioned how she had wanted to meet James Earl Jones and when she did she was so nervous she embarrassingly asked him to say her name. It was during Karliak talking about his friendship with mentor Bob Bergen and how the latter would work for voice actor rights that the looming voice actors’ strike was brought up, in regards to residuals not being received from content being played through streaming services like Netflix. A member of the negotiating committee, Karliak was given a moment to explain how important the issue was to voice actors present and future. Evanier noted that the hardships would be further explored in another, more serious voice acting panel he hosted every year called the Business of Cartoon Voices.

They eventually moved on to the highlight of every Cartoon Voices panel, the blind script reading. Evanier would give each panelist a bland script, this year being a telling of Rapunzel, and assign roles. The actors were given the liberty to perform and improvise however they wish. Evanier mentioned that, as a voice director himself, he’d give direction as he saw fit, but usually let the actors go to town. His one direction was having Mariano perform the King as Burgess Meredith. The actors were absolutely hilarious from the start and only got funnier as they played with different voices for their characters. The house was brought down when Walgren, as Rapunzel, starting singing pop songs and the rest of the panel eventually started dancing to them. Evanier brought on Gregg Berger (Cornfed in Duckman) at the end to fill in for an unassigned part to really put the whole thing even further over the top.

It was great to see a fresh cast of voice actors partake in the Cartoon Voices panel. It’s all the more fun when unique approaches to improving a scene are made and these guys clearly are having a blast doing so. I was primarily interested in seeing how Mercer, and to an extent Wahlgren, do in this environment, but it was just as fun watching Nathanson and Karliak go to town with their performances, Karliak in particular. While I do feel there was a missed opportunity to see how Evanier and Mercer might play up their connection through Dungeons and Dragons, Evanier having developed the 80’s cartoon series and Mercer running Critical Role, the hilarious antics of the Rapunzel reading more than made up for it.

Last year, I sat in on the Talks Machina with Critical Role panel, which at the time was scheduled ahead of the Quick Draw. It was my introduction to what would become a highly addictive, yet no less majestic world of voice actors playing Dungeons and Dragons. At the time of the panel last year, which happened as the first campaign was coming to a close, the popular Geek and Sundry Internet series was really starting to emerge in the mainstream. Coming into this year’s panel, which is six months into the new campaign, the show is becoming a pop culture phenomenon with high profile guest stars such as Joe Manganiello (True Blood) and Khary Payton (The Walking Dead), comic books published by Dark Horse, art books, a campaign settings book based in the narrative’s world of Exandria, and even a billboard in Los Angeles. As such, Critical Role was given one of the biggest rooms of the convention, filling to capacity over 2,500 attendees.

After a great video that featured the entire cast explaining the code of conduct in the form of airline instructions, moderator Brian W. Foster came out to introduce the available cast members Marisha Ray (Beau), Taliesin Jaffe (Molly), Sam Riegel (Nott), Liam O’Brien (Caleb), and Matthew Mercer (Dungeon Master). Ashley Johnson (Yasha) was in New York filming the upcoming season of Blindspot while Laura Bailey (Jester) and Travis Willingham (Fjord) were on leave at the time after Bailey gave birth to their first child. Mercer announced that, following the success of the first six-issue comic, Dark Horse would be publishing more, this time covering the pre-stream sessions of the first campaign. They showed off the panels that would introduce Johnson’s Pike and Jaffe’s Percy.

They then moved on to subtly discussing the events of the last couple of episodes, trying not to spoil too much. They mentioned how the tragic circumstances were certainly unexpected, but it allowed for storytelling opportunities to emerge. It did allow for Mercer to bring up how in a pre-Critical Role game he ran with Jaffe, the entire party were nearly killed facing ghouls and only two managed to survive after quickly assessing how far south the battle went in the first round. Ray noted that she had started dating Mercer at the time (they have since gotten married right after the first campaign ended) and it was that very same game that introduced her to Dungeons and Dragons. They brought up how the games were now being run in a new studio as well as new dedicated streaming channels on Twitch and YouTube. Ray noted that original content for the new channels are coming, but is focusing on bite-size material first since the cast was down a few at the moment.

Turning over to fan questions to end the panel, a lot of the fans asked about some of the differences between playing in the first campaign and now in the second. A good question brought up was how the cast handled separating themselves from their characters in real life. I managed to ask an incredibly geeky question in reference to the first campaign characters making a cameo in Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows that, since was directed at Ray, left her dumbfounded. Jaffe, the big comic book nerd of the bunch, jokingly wondered if I was on the payroll of Jody Houser (current writer of Renew Your Vows), who had said she would troll him during the weekend. It did lead to Riegel making a hilarious remark that had Mercer feign walking out due to what was being referenced from the first campaign. Right after me was the most adorable little girl asking O’Brien what his favorite monster was, causing everyone in the room to die of cuteness overload.

Part of the joy in discovering Critical Role was how much the world of Exandria and its characters seem to touch the audience at the core. Utilizing fantastic storytelling from all involved with great drama and excellent improvised comedy, it’s no wonder the show is on the verge of breaking through in pop culture. This panel, which can be viewed on YouTube in nearly its entirety, showcased just how beloved the show was and how appreciative the cast were at such a wonderful opportunity for their fun little game to have won the hearts of its fans. Critical Role streams live every Thursday on Twitch, YouTube, and Project Alpha with the full episode uploaded on the Geek and Sundry YouTube channel the following Monday.

With the first Cartoon Voices taking place on a Saturday, the second would take place on a Sunday. This one would generally be a little low key, often taking place in a smaller room and being more in tune with how the programming on the last day of the convention would be catered to children and families. Nonetheless, Mark Evanier would still bring together some of the finest voice actors, a different collection from the previous day’s panel, to display their craft to hilarious results.

The second set of voice actors featured Vanessa Marshall (Hera in Star Wars Rebels), André Sogliuzzo (King Bumi in Avatar: The Last Airbender), Elle Newlands (Moria Thaurissan in the World of Warcraft video games), Dino Andrade (Speedy Gonzales in New Looney Tunes), Kiff VandenHeuvel (Older Han Solo in Star Wars Forces of Destiny), and Evanier would later add Gregg Berger. In terms of obscure voicing projects, Andrade had the funniest in that he managed to voice one of the little critters in the 1985 horror comedy House while working as a member of the film’s Foley team, hired by director Steve Miner while wearing high heels to make its sound effect.

When the actors each talked about a moment they were in awe of working with someone, Sogliuzzo got to explain a bit about the friendship he has with Al Pacino since working with him on the latter’s documentary Looking for Richard, essentially becoming his go-to voice double and even picking him to be the voice of Tony Montana for the Scarface: The World Is Yours video game. Newlands had a very amusing story about just how nervous she was doing ADR for Rob Reiner on his latest film Shock and Awe that a certain body part was quivering right in front of the director. After Berger joined the panel, Evanier had them all run through some voicing exercises. After Sogliuzzo did an exercise in screaming, Andrade talked about how he disliked a particular company because they ended every audition with extreme screams.

Before getting into the script reading, Evanier gave Andrade an opportunity to talk a bit about his first wife famed voice actress Mary Kay Bergman, the affect her passing had on him and how he would recover and rediscover love. Andrade encouraged helping and finding help in suicide prevention with Evanier adding how the late Lorenzo Music would work on the suicide prevention hotline one night a week, leading to fun reactions from callers upon recognizing his voice. This round of voice actors read from the same Rapunzel script as the first round, but that made it all the more fun to be able to compare how each group approached the material. Evanier didn’t really have any direction for this group, so they seemingly had a little more freedom to go in whatever direction they wished when they read their lines. One hilarious bit was when Marshall and Newlands acted like they were in a hip-hop music video.

The second round was another breath of fresh air for the Comic Con tradition, both in general and in comparison with the first round. This group had some fun, but they also took time to educate the attendees about how hard their profession can be. Andrade stood out the most both in his approach to voicing and in some of the information he revealed, about the job and in his personal life. Some of the funniest material came from Newlands, in particular her embarrassing story of working for Rob Reiner. While I kind of liked the first group just a little bit better, the second group was just as good.

In recent years, Marvel Animation has been building off of the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to attract the younger audience into learning more about the Marvel superheroes at large. Whether it is adapting an existing story from the comic books or developing a tale unique for animation, Marvel seemed to have fond a formula that was working as the shows have now become the centerpiece of Disney XD. And there’s plenty for fans to get excited about with what they have planned in the months to come.

Serving as moderator was Senior Vice President of Animation and Family Entertainment in Cort Lane with initial panelists being Senior Vice President of Production and Marvel Animation Creative Director in Eric Radomski and Senior Director of Development and Production in Harrison Wilcox. Spotlighting the forthcoming Black Panther’s Quest season of Avengers Assemble, they also brought out voice actors James Mathis III (Black Panther) and Daisy Lightfoot (Shuri). After showing impressive clips from the first couple of episodes, they got to talk about the approach the show would be taking in showcasing Black Panther as well as exploring the sibling relationship between T’Challa and Shuri.

As the panel was designed to go beyond just Avengers Assemble, they brought out their first surprise panelist in voice actress Kathreen Khavari (Ms. Marvel). Though she voiced the character on Avengers Assemble, she was primarily promoting her voicing the character again for the upcoming television feature Marvel Rising and how it was a great opportunity for the younger generation of Marvel heroes, heroines in particular, to be in the lead. After showing a clip from the film, they moved over to Marvel’s Spider-Man and how things were picking up for the second season. This brought out the other surprise panelist in voice actor Robbie Daymond (Spider-Man), who talked about how excited he was for the roster of villains being introduced as part of the four-episode arc “Bring on the Bad Guys”, which started airing the next day and showed a clip from in the meantime.

They moved on to the Marvel Team-Up Live skit they’ve been slowly introducing into the panels at various conventions. Lane would ask for a series of adjectives, nouns, and verbs from the audience that would be used to fill in the blanks for a script the voice actors read in character, resulting a very funny performance. It turned out great as a result of what was incorporated. They spent what time they had left on fan questions, one of which did touch upon what influence the Black Panther film had on how T’Challa and Shuri would be presented for animation. Mathis and Lightfoot noted that the animation had actually been done while the film was being made, so they had a chance to develop their own iteration of the characters.

The panel was a nice mixture of informative about what’s to come and entertaining with the Marvel Team-Up Live skit. There was clear interest from the voice actors, in particular Mathis and Lightfoot as they see the success of the Black Panther film as driving interest in the animated iterations. Marvel’s Avengers: Black Panther’s Quest is set to premiere on September 23 on Disney XD, Marvel’s Spider-Man continues to air new episodes every Monday on Disney XD, and Marvel Rising will premiere in late 2018 on Disney Channel.

While I had thought about meeting Helen Slater prior to Comic Con, I definitely wanted to meet her after the Supergirl film panel. If nothing else than to get my early copy of the Blu-Ray I had won signed by her. Upon seeing that I was one of the winners of the Blu-Ray, we had a nice little chat about Supergirl in general as well as just how exhausting the convention could be even after only one day. She was a pleasure to meet and a very nice woman to talk to. Her’s wasn’t the only signature I got on the Blu-Ray cover as I also managed to get one from Marc McClure at the end of the panel before he was rushed off by the convention staff.

I almost missed an opportunity to get into the Invader Zim signing that occurred in the Nickelodeon booth following the panel. Initially my one chance to get a ticket was right as the doors opened on the first day, but apparently the printer was down and they couldn’t print any then. Fortunately, someone was considerate enough to hold a ticket back that when I asked just before the signing happened they were kind enough to give it to me. Just another reason the Nickelodeon booth is one of my favorites at Comic Con. Didn’t get to interact with the panel due to the slight attempt at sign and go with selfies, but Jhonen Vasquez and I did note our agreement that Nickelodeon should have left their logo be blue as opposed to the trademark orange on the poster being signed so that it looked cool and flowed better.

To help out my brother and his wife, I decided to pick up as many Twin Peaks signatures as I could get as they were big fans of the cult classic series. It was actually quite fun to meet Sherilyn Fenn (Audrey Horne), Kimmy Robertson (Lucy Moran), Chrysta Bell (Tammy Preston) and more while sharing with them my “mission”. But it wasn’t until I got to the table that I kind of wished I paid better attention to the list of actors present. Because it wasn’t until I got to Amy Shiels (Candie) that I realized, from looking at the 8×10 photos she had available, that she was also the voice of Lunafreya in Final Fantasy XV. We had a nice little talk about this and I even threw in getting a picture with her as a bonus to my “mission”.

One person I wanted to find time to meet to rectify a missed opportunity at a photo with was author Timothy Zahn. Regarded as one of the architects of the Star Wars expanded universe, Zahn created Grand Admiral Thrawn, a beloved villain arguably at the level of respect and popularity to Darth Vader, who managed to cross into the Disney-established canon as a major antagonist in Star Wars Rebels. I met Zahn fourteen years ago to get a copy of Survivor’s Quest signed, but totally didn’t think about getting a photo then. This year, Zahn would be available the whole weekend along with early copies of his latest book Thrawn: Alliances, which featured a convention exclusive slipcover. Before getting our picture taken, he personalized my copy of the new book and we talked briefly of how exciting it was to see Thrawn successfully brought over into the Disney-established canon.

Other autographs I managed to get were an early copy of the Gravity Falls: Lost Legends graphic novel signed by Alex Hirsch and artist Dana Terrace, the guide to life DuckTales: Solvine Mysteries and Rewriting History book signed by authors Rob Renzetti and Rachel Vine, and The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins graphic novel signed by Justin McElroy (Taako).

It’s a tradition of virtually every convention for there to be many out and about dressed up like their favorite characters, willing to pose for cameras and be admired by other fans. Going through the photos I took, I found it curious that I didn’t take too many pictures of cosplayers this year compared to previous ventures. I still had a good many, but I noticed I was apparently interested in those dressed as Astrid Hofferson (How to Train Your Dragon), Chloe Price (Life is Strange), and any of the characters from Critical Role. Though I will say that my personal favorite of the whole convention were a group of four dressed as Miss Piggy, Kermit, Dr. Bunsen, and Beaker. It was a great display of clever design in being able to get so much out of so little material.

As mentioned, I was apparently interested in those dressed as Astrid to the point that I literally stopped whatever I was doing and had to get a picture of the cosplayers. One of them went with the first film appearance while the others were more towards the second film, including my favorite that had a great battle axe and a Stormfly plushie. The only other cosplayer to make me do that this year was one who dressed as a very cute Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII and Kingdom Hearts. I also seemingly made an unconscious point to look out for any one cosplaying as characters from Atlantis: The Lost Empire, managing to catch a cute Kida and a couple as Kida and Milo.

Finding folks dressed as characters from Critical Role was not going to be too hard, particularly when we were all going to be attending the panel. What was a lot of fun was seeing cosplayers dress up as the characters from this current campaign given the amount of detail that had to be put into some of those designs. After the panel, we tried to gather all of the cosplayers for one giant group shot outside of the room. For the longest time we couldn’t get find someone cosplaying as Beau, even though we had seen at least four prior to the panel. One eventually showed up and turned out to be a great shoot before we were all eventually told by security to move it along so that we didn’t crowd up the hallway.

Other interesting cosplayers who stood out to me included a woman and four children she was with wearing hoodies stylized after Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic). There was a great Doc Brown (Back to the Future) I managed to see while waiting in line to get in one morning. Among the various Star Wars cosplayers that were present ahead of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars panel, we liked two girls cosplaying as Ahsoka Tano who posed together, even mimicking the Wonder Twins pose. There was a cute girl dressed as Supergirl from the current television series that I caught outside the Convention Center and I really liked one girl dressed as Merida (Brave) stylized for World of Warcraft and even encountering someone dressed as a night elf.

One of my Comic Con traditions every year would be to visit Chris Sanders (director of How to Train Your Dragon) and see what new material he had for sale. This year saw a new sketchbook on sale, which was an automatic buy for me. While he was busy conversing with fans and admirers, which has generally been the case with each progressive year, I did get a chance to speak with his wife Jessica regarding the book series they write together in Rescue Sirens. According to her, the writing of the second book is taking longer than they anticipated as they found themselves getting busier of late and thus finding little time to write. She did assure me that it was on the way.

While waiting in line to get into the convention center on the second day, we noticed there were folks handing out doughnuts. It was certainly a nice gesture, until we realized that the folks handing out doughnuts turned out to be cast members of Star Trek: Discovery. I saw this as an opportunity and managed to run into one of the cast members I really wanted to meet in Anthony Rapp (Paul Stamets). Certainly one of my favorite moments this year in getting my picture taken with him, getting to talk about the stage musical If/Then he starred in with fellow original Rent alumni Idina Menzel, and receiving a doughnut from him.

It’s common practice for attendees to sit through a panel ahead of one they really want to ensure having a seat as opposed to waiting in line and potentially not getting in. This was how I discovered Critical Role. This year, ahead of the Quick Draw was a fascinating panel called IGN’s Heroes of Fandom. It explored how a few celebrities and known personalities utilized the Internet and their fandom for groundbreaking and even world-changing ways. While the popular panelist was Supernatural star Misha Collins, it was fun to see Final Space creator Olan Rogers and actress Milana Vayntrub, who voices Squirrel Girl in Marvel Rising and will also play her in a forthcoming live-action New Warriors series. Vayntrub even wore Squirrel Girl attire throughout.

The Dark Horse booth included displays for some upcoming titles being published. The two obvious eye-catchers were Frozen: Breaking Boundaries and The Incredibles 2: Crisis in Mid-Life! and Other Stories, both of which have since had their first issues released. I was curious at the absence of How to Train Your Dragon: Dragonvine, which was the second graphic novel director Dean DeBlois wrote that would serve as a bridge between the second and third films. When I asked a booth staffer, we concluded that it had been delayed from its original February date to later in the year. Retailers presently have it scheduled for wide release on September 4.

Comic Con served as an opportunity for folks to see Teen Titans Go! To The Movies a couple weeks ahead of its release. The thing was that getting a ticket to one of its two screenings required going through the lottery system similar to how one might try to get into a limited signing. Furthermore, the theater playing the film had at best a capacity of 100, so clearly not everyone was going to get in. Which, according to my uncle, presented quite the moral conundrum for those who succeeded in scoring a ticket while surrounded by sobbing children who didn’t.

Separate from the main Fox booth, Fox Home Entertainment pulled something really fun and silly to promote the Deadpool 2 Blu-Ray, which has since been released and includes an unrated cut that fans got a chance to see early at Comic Con through the lottery system. What they did was set up a stage that looked like Deadpool’s strange version of Chuck E. Cheese’s and at random points throughout the convention they would activate and play Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”. Fans would often crowd the area around the booth trying to wait for the animatronics to start up again so they could video record the spectacle. I happened to be at the right place at the right time on the last day of the convention.

Chloe Price (Life is Strange) out and about on preview night.

Ahsoka Tano clones? Cosplayers pull the Wonder Twins pose ahead of the 10th Anniversary of Star Wars: The Clone Wars panel.

Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka Tano) and Matt Lanter (Anakin Skywalker) talk voicing iconic characters at the 10th Anniversary of Star Wars: The Clone Wars panel.

Helen Slater (Supergirl) and Marc McClure (Jimmy Olsen) share fond memories at the Supergirl 1984 panel.

A cute cosplay of Supergirl from the current TV series out and about.

Cast members of Star Trek: Discovery handed out doughnuts to attendees waiting in line.

Dan receiving a doughnut from Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp (Paul Stamets).

Great Scott! Doc Brown is out and about.

Fans displaying their homemade hoodies to five of the Mane Six ahead of the Hasbro My Little Pony Panel.

Dan with the original Supergirl in Helen Slater.

Tara Strong (Twilight Sparkle) and special guest Rachel Bloom (Autumn Blaze) improvise a scene at the Hasbro My Little Pony panel.

Fans cosplaying at Ladybug, Rena Rouge, Hawk Moth, and Cat Noir ahead of the ZAG Heroez Miraculous panel.

Jessica Ángeles (Marinette/Ladybug in Latin American broadcasts) compares voicing in different languages at the ZAG Heroez Miraculous panel.

Jhonen Vasquez (Creator), Jenny Goldberg (Art Director) and Richard Horvitz (Zim) discuss returning to a cult classic at the Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus! panel.

Astrid and Stormfly (How to Train Your Dragon) are not to be taken lightly.

Dan with Kevin McDonald (Almighty Tallest Purple) and Rikki Simons (Gir) at the Invader Zim signing.

Merida (Brave) crossing into World of Warcraft and encountering a night elf.

Mark Henn (Mickey’s Christmas Carol) unveils his 90th anniversary portrait of Mickey Mouse at the Celebrating 90 Years of Mickey Mouse panel.

Attendees getting to color enlarged panels from Avatar: The Last Airbender comics at the Dark Horse booth.

Olan Rogers (Final Space Creator) and Milana Vayntrub (Voice of Squirrel Girl in Marvel Rising) talk about utilizing fandom for world-changing ways at the IGN’s Heroes of Fandom panel.

Scott Shaw about to illustrate at the Quick Draw.

Sergio Aragonés illustrates himself being a disastrous contestant on America’s Got Talent at the Quick Draw.

Scott Shaw illustrates why scooters aren’t allowed inside the convention center at the Quick Draw.

Mark Evanier interviews first female Wonder Woman writer Joye Murchison Kelly at the Quick Draw.

Lalo Alcaraz illustrates a bride angrily discovering she’s marrying a cartoonist at the Quick Draw.

Julie Nathanson (present voice of Belle in various Disney projects) and JP Karliak (title character in The Boss Baby: Back in Business) reminisce over obscure voicing gigs at the Cartoon Voices I panel.

Kida and Milo (Atlantis: The Lost Empire) exploring the exhibit hall together.

Sam Riegel (Nott) and Liam O’Brien (Caleb) talk about developing their second campaign characters at the Talks Machina with Critical Role panel.

A handful of Critical Role cosplayers gather for a group photo after the Talks Machina with Critical Role panel.

Lucky fans got to play a demo of Kingdom Hearts III at the Square Enix booth.

Vanessa Marshall (Hera in Star Wars Rebels) explains an obscure voicing gig at the Cartoon Voices II.

James Mathis III (Black Panther) and Daisy Lightfoot (Shuri) talk Marvel’s Avengers: Black Panther’s Quest at the Marvel Animation Presents panel.

Dan with author Timothy Zahn and an early copy of Star Wars – Thrawn: Alliances.

Autographed Blu-Ray of Supergirl signed by Helen Slater (Supergirl) and Marc McClure (Jimmy Olsen).

Autographed poster of Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus! signed by Jhonen Vasquez (Creator), Jenny Goldberg (Art Director), Richard Horvitz (Zim), Rikki Simons (Gir), Wally Wingert (Almighty Tallest Red), and Kevin McDonald (Almighty Tallest Purple).

July is the most wonderful time of the year for San Diego, California. It plays host to the mecca of comic books and pop culture in the form of the legendary San Diego Comic Con. From July 19-23, 2017, downtown San Diego was the hottest place in the world as the biggest names in nearly every form of entertainment were present to promote upcoming projects, look back on past favorites, and interact with fans through fun and exciting activities. Since its inception as the Golden State Comic Book Convention in 1970, it has progressively gotten harder and harder for fans to attend as badges tend to sell out within an hour of going on sale months in advance. This year, nearly 170,000 were expected to have gotten in.

And with how packed the San Diego Convention Center got, the name of the game right from the start was planning. Picking which panels or events were most important while also figuring out if certain opportunities would be worth taking. Because without careful planning, one would find themselves running around trying to figure out what they should do next. As such, I pieced together my schedule for the convention in such a way that I got the most enjoyment out of what I wanted and was able to attend. A couple of moments did fall apart here and there, but everything else fell into place and I even managed to get in a few surprises along the way!

Unikitty! New Episode Premiere and Q&A

In addition to being far more successful than anticipated, one of the surprises to The Lego Movie was the character of Princess Unikitty. A Master Builder hailing from Cloud Cuckoo Land, she was all about positivity (almost to a point of concern). The popularity of the character was to such a point that Warner Bros. greenlit the creation of an animated series based around her. Simply titled Unikitty!, it will chronicle her adventures and her own friends within Cloud Cuckoo Land as she spreads positivity to everyone against the growing fear of any form of negativity.

Before the panel proper started, they put out four Unikitty displays built from Lego bricks that were about a couple feet high. Tara Strong, who will voice Unikitty in the new series, came out for a quick cameo to say “Hello!”, both as herself and as Unikitty. She couldn’t stay for the panel because she had to partake in a signing with the rest of the Teen Titans cast. They then proceeded to air the pilot episode of the series, which revolved around Unikitty celebrating her younger brother Puppycorn’s birthday. I thought it played out very nicely and ideally set in place how the series as a whole would be like. The animation was also very nice, as vibrant and colorful as one would expect from a series centered on a character like Unikitty. Personally, I believe this is a series that was best suited for the 11-minute format most animated shows are going for these days.

The panel featured The Mary Sue assistant editor Teresa Jusino as moderator, art director Andrea Fernandez, producers Edward Skudder and Lynn Wang, and voice actor Eric Bauza, who voices antagonist Master Frown. The panel talked about some of the freedom they had being able to build Unkitty’s world from the ground up, with Fernandez explaining designs and characters that would be distinct and unique. Skudder noted that the show was set up to allow for them to be able to really explore all types of genres and situations, not having to stick to one storytelling path all the time. Bauza got to talk a bit about how his character’s overly negative outlook was an ideal counter to Unikitty’s overly positive optimism. Among the questions asked in the Q&A portion did involve how The Lego Movie would be incorporated, with the producers hinting that a future episode may involve characters from the film crossing over.

This turned out to be a pretty nice panel. The pilot certainly played as one would expect and turned out to be pretty good, giving hope that the series will do well when it airs. The panel presented some nice information about what fans will look forward to and expressed great enthusiasm for the freedom they had to go wherever they wanted. Unikitty! will on Cartoon Network sometime in 2018.

Justice League Action Video Presentation and Q&A

It had been ten years since the last true animated series on the Justice League aired on television. In the interim, Bruce Timm and his staff in Warner Bros. Animation had been producing direct-to-video films adapting some of the more recent comic book storylines. Then Cartoon Network launched Justice League Action at the end of 2016. Following in the eleven-minute episode format that many animated shows nowadays seem to be operating on, it became an anthology series that allowed for various members of the enlarged cast of DC super heroes to be focused upon within their own little character developing story framed within action sequences and a little more comedy. And while the early Saturday morning timeslot has made it difficult to really build up its fanbase, the series has garnered praise from critics and audiences who have seen it.

The panel kicked off by airing not just one, but two yet to be aired episodes. The first episode finds Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, and Booster Gold battling a group of villains in Metropolis, but Batman realizes that something is off about the whole situation. The second episode finds Booster Gold holding fort at the Watchtower, only to be instead running into an unauthroized tour guide that goes about as south as one would expect and then some. The episodes were well received by attendees for presenting a fun adventure story with the first and a nice comedy tale with the second, both certainly giving Booster Gold some spotlight time.

Having aired the episodes, the panel proper began with Comic Book Resources managing editor Albert Ching as moderator and the panelists consisting of voice director Wes Gleason, producers Butch Lukic and Jim Krieg, voice of Booster Gold in Diedrich Bader, voice of Wonder Woman in Richael Kimsey, and voice of Superman in Jason J. Lewis. The producers explained how they wanted to make this Justice League series unique, understanding that it was a tough task to follow in the popular series from ten years before, so the format and the anthology approach allowed for them to accomplish this. Lewis talked about the joy in voicing Superman and working with a growing list of guest actors coming in to voice villains, in particular James Woods as Lex Luthor. Kimsey expressed how honored she was to voice Wonder Woman despite a relatively small body of work and now as the character’s popularity was shooting upward as a result of the Wonder Woman movie’s success. Bader talked about being able to have fun as Booster Gold as he liked playing dimwitted characters every now and then.

A lot of the fan questions seemed to look upon various characters, even those at the bottom of the barrel, that they would like to see in the show. Lukic commented that, should the show receive a second season, they would consider going further in exploring the library of characters to use. Bader added how fun it would be to voice a character like Penny Plunderer with his son even cosplaying as the character in the audience. But one character they could confirm was Supergirl, which interestingly enough was asked about by a cute little girl cosplaying as the character. Lewis noted that Supergirl will appear in what he considered to be a great episode and Lukic added that she will also show up in the episodes of the web series, which launched on the DC Kids’ YouTube channel back in June. This was a nice panel and showed that the show continued to have growing potential into being a big hit for Cartoon Network as the crew liked working on it and audiences were enjoying what’s been seen. New episodes of Justice League Action air Saturday mornings on Cartoon Network.

Rocko’s Modern Life: Return to Earth!

In 1993, Nickelodeon launched their fourth original animated series in Rocko’s Modern Life. Created by Joe Murray, it told of an anthropomorphic Australian-immigrant wallaby named Rocko and his various misadventures through day-to-day life within the fictional city of O-Town. The show was a big hit for the network and was recognized for being a rather edgier show similar to Ren and Stimpy by quietly slipping in adult humor and satirical social commentary beneath what was seen as a children’s cartoon. After ending in 1996, the show had a lasting legacy with an active fanbase and many of the show’s crew going on to develop successful shows of their own such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Camp Lazlo, and Phineas and Ferb. As part of what looked to be a concentrated effort by Nickelodeon in reviving some of their older animated properties, Rocko’s Modern Life would be return with a television special subtitled Static Cling.

Serving as moderator was Entertainment Weekly managing editor Marc Snetiker and featured series creator Joe Murray, Static Cling co-director and co-writer Cosmo Segurson, and voice cast Carlos Alazraqui (Rocko, Spunky), Tom Kenny (Heffer), Mr. (Doug) Lawrence (Filburt), and Charlie Adler (Mr. and Mrs. Bighead). They quickly noted that it was Alazraqui’s birthday, which everyone cheered for. Murray went into discussing some of the original development of the series and the process in bringing both the show back as well as many of the original cast and crew that were available. He noted that how the original series ended, with Rocko, Spunky, Heffer, and Filburt having been rocketed into space, was designed to be the backdoor that led to a return. The twenty plus years since it last aired allowed for them to explore how they would function in an advanced world with smartphones and exuberant caffinated drinks. This was later followed with the screening of a scene of their return, which is now viewable online, to standing cheers as it seemed the show was going to be as wonderful as it was before.

Segurson got to explain a little about getting the resources together and looking for a way to bring back the look, personality, and spirit of the original series while slowly adding in new modern world advancements both in the story and in how the special was being made. But the sheer delight was getting to the cast members, who each got to explain, with some voice acting, how their characters took to the changing world. Alazraqui noted that Rocko would be trying to adapt even though he clearly missed the old ways, Kenny said that Heffer would jump in with the same mindless enthusiasm he always had, Lawrence explained Filburt would embrace the change the most with the new social media approach, and Adler revealed how Mrs. Bighead turned to activism while Mr. Bighead was just as happy as could be when Rocko was gone.

I managed to get in on the Q&A early and asked about what they did to seemingly hide some of the adult humor, noting how as a child most of the references went over my head but as an adult I got a better realization of what they actually meant. This did lead to Alazraqui and Adler doing a delightful new spin on a rather popular scene when Rocko, who was job hunting in one episode, ended up as a phone operator of an implied sort with Mrs. Bighead as a caller. Murray did answer my question, saying that they never really thought too much about who would be watching the show and just went ahead and did what they thought was funny. Some of the questions that followed revolved more around bringing the show back and the creative differences over twenty years ago and now. As this was happening, they were running through a slide of model sheets that showed how supporting and background characters were slightly updated.

This was a really fun panel. It was clear everyone on the panel was having just a good time both reliving such a classic show and getting the chance to do more with it after more than twenty years. Attendees were hooked on every word and were enjoying all that was being presented to them, both on screen and from the panelists. It was certainly fun whenever the cast broke into their voices. Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling is set to land on Nickelodeon sometime in 2018 as part of the show’s 25th anniversary.

Rocko’s Modern Life Signing

The panel signing would take place in the Nickelodeon booth on the Exhibit Floor. Entry required attendees getting to the booth as soon as the floor opened in the morning to obtain a ticket. Generally the tickets handed out were for signings on the same day, but Nickelodeon would sometimes include half of tickets for signings that would take place the next day. I imagine this set up was to limit overcrowding for the big signings like Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and SpongeBob SquarePants. I managed to get there early enough for what I figured would be my one shot at getting in on the Rocko’s Modern Life signing, which I was able to achieve.

Signings at the Nickelodeon booth were fairly loose, so it wasn’t necessarily sign-and-go. This allowed for folks to take selfies with the panelists. The staff did hint that they would like things to move along and they would only allow a Con exclusive poster to be signed. Nevertheless, it was a great chance to meet everyone and say more than just a greeting. A lot of folks, myself included, took full advantage of this to express their joy at meeting Murray, Alazraqui, and Kenny, though we were just as happy to meet Lawrence and Segurson.

With Murray, I got to thank him for making the show in the first place. With Alazraqui, I surprised him by mentioning how I remembered him from one of the early Comedy Central shows Make Me Laugh, where comedians would try to make a series of people laugh and the one to succeed the most was deemed the winner. He was rather humbled that someone remembered that outside of his more recognizable Comedy Central show Reno 911! With Kenny, I noted how I still remember fondly the year he did the Cartoon Voices panel at Comic Con with the late Janet Waldo, Phil LaMarr, and others in a great reading of an otherwise plain Cinderella script, which he also enjoyed.

Adler was one I was looking forward to meeting as much as Murray and Alazraqui. As soon as I got up to him, I told him how much I was a fan of his given he voiced Buster Bunny in one of my all-time favorite animated shows Tiny Toon Adventures. He was very happy to hear that, but also looked to test my fandom by asking about Cow and Chicken. I noted I enjoyed the show and even met creator David Feiss, happening back when I participated in the press day event for Open Season: Scared Silly. He was happily taken aback by this and wanted to get into a conversation with me, but had to settle with noting that he got to officiate Feiss’ wedding. Absolute fun to meet everyone.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Remastered and Ready for Blu-Ray

It came as quite a surprise to fans when Warner Archive Collection announced they were releasing Batman: Mask of the Phantasm on Blu-ray as part of the 25th anniversary of Batman: The Animated Series. Often considered one of the best Batman films to date, a panel about the disc was sure to draw interest from fans. I missed the first fifteen minutes of this panel due to the Rocko’s Modern Life signing running a little over. But I managed to get in as a great discussion was going on about the making of the film and the process of remastering it for Blu-ray. Director of Publicity for Warner Bros. Animation in Gary Miereanu moderated a panel that included Warner Archive Podcast hosts DW Ferranti and Matthew Patterson, co-writer Alan Burnett, director Bruce Timm, and the voice of Batman himself Kevin Conroy.

When I got in, Timm, Burnett, and Conroy were talking about the making of the film, specifically the sudden shift from Warner Bros. to release it theatrically as opposed to direct-to-video. The filmmakers talked about some of the difficulties they encountered, including an influential film editor suggesting they cut the film to run in chronological order. This was fortunately averted when it was realized through a screening of the cut that it dragged the narrative and Batman didn’t really appear until the second half. Timm also noted that Hans Zimmer provided uncredited assistance to the film’s composer Shirley Walker by helping to set up some of the synthesizing programs used. Ferranti and Patterson would explain a bit about the process of remastering the film for Blu-ray, which turned out to be quite complicated given that it required extensive work in cleaning up the film without it affecting the appearance of a classic film noir that Timm was going for.

They then screened the first ten minutes of the film, showing off just how the remastered version looked. Attendees were frankly more absorbed in watching the film itself as opposed to paying attention to how it looked, showing that it appeared to have aged quite well. They threw it to audience for questions, at the end of which they chose five who asked questions to receive advance copies of the Blu-ray. Some of the questions were about the Andrea Beaumont character, regarding whether they were trying to develop her as the true love of Bruce’s life or if they had future plans for her. Timm did note that, while he had read Batman: Year Two in the past, he had forgotten about it and really didn’t know that his design for the Phantasm character looked similar to The Reaper from the comic until after the fact. A question about Mark Hamill led to Timm noting that Tim Curry was the first choice to play The Joker and Conroy added how Hamill’s acting abilities were on par with that of Jim Carrey, but his being Luke Skywalker had pigeon-holed him career-wise. One question about special features on the Blu-ray led to Ferranti and Patterson explaining that the process to remaster the film was so expensive they really had no money left to add any bonuses outside of the trailer.

This was a nice panel to have attended. Most o the good stuff for me really was about exploring the narrative of the film more so than the process of remastering the film for Blu-ray, but everything else was still quite fascinating. It was great to hear the panel tell such interesting stories about the making of the film and the impact it had over the years. The viewing of the film (albeit the first ten minutes) gave attendees goosebumps and was fun to watch. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is now available on Blu-ray primarily through online retailers such as Amazon.

The Miraculous Phenomenon Continues

In 2015 in France, Zagtoon launched a computer generated animated series called Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir. The show was highly influenced by the magical girl genre of anime titles, to the point that Toei Animation became a contributor to the development, set around two teenagers who become costumed superheroes while seemingly oblivious to each other’s dual identities and attraction to one another. The show managed to crossover into other countries, first through Nickelodeon and now Netflix in the United States, and had since drawn an unbelievably huge female following since. The fandom to Miraculous was one to be seen, as I found when sitting in on the panel for it at Comic Con.

The absolutely packed room, with attendees consisting maybe ninety percent female by my ears, was on fire right from the start. They were screaming and cheering every thirty seconds, even over the littlest of things that were said. It was quite amazing. Moderating was English voice director Ezra Weisz and the panel consisted of producer Jeremy Zag, digital producer Kevin Marciano, brand manager André Lake Mayer, and English voice cast Cristina Vee (Marinette/Ladybug), Bryce Papenbrook (Adrien/Cat Noir), Mela Lee (Tiki), Max Mittelman (Plagg), Keith Silverman (Hawk Moth), and Joe Ochman (Mayor Bourgeois). This was apparently Papenbrook’s first time participating in a Miraculous panel anywhere, so him and Vee being on stage together certainly got the fans losing their minds.

The panel started off with Zag encouraging the attendees to sing the show’s theme song, after which they announced that they were wrapping up production on the second season through a video message from creator Thomas Astruc. But the majority of the panel was centered almost entirely around them doing a table reading to a heavy chunk of a second season episode to be titled Troublemaker, enlisting three audience members to participate. This turned into a fun experience watching Weisz direct with absolute enthusiasm and the cast enjoying themselves while the crowd seemed to react to every key moment and line that happened, in particular a rather embarrassing situation that will befall Marinette.

They had fifteen minutes to get through their announcements after the table read, leaving no room for a Q&A. First, Zag announced they would be producing a series of shorts with the characters in chibi, or super deformed, format and showed off the storyboards, and providing the sound effects, to a very funny episode of Cat Noir’s attempt at rooftop romance going awry. Mayer then announced the partnership with popular clothing brand Guess in producing a line of fashions inspired by the show to be released globally. Zag then announced that, hours earlier, he had just closed a deal with Lionsgate to produce a feature film, presumably live-action. Following more fashion announcements from Mayer, they previewed an upcoming Zagtoon series coming to Netflix in October called Zak Storm, a sci-fi pirate adventure set within the Bermuda Triangle. Finally, Mayer announced that the first issue of the Miraculous comic book from Action Labs was published that day.

This panel would certainly rank as one of the most outrageous I had ever attended at Comic Con. I’m surprised all the attendees didn’t lose their voices from the constant screaming they were making throughout. I liked that all the panelists were clearly having fun and enjoying the admiration they were receiving even before the panel started, with Weisz doing a nice job managing everything while maintaining such high enthusiasm. If they some how manage to replicate this in future Comic Con appearances, they could rival My Little Pony as an unbelievable regular panel that must be experienced at least once. All attendees received a copy of the comic and the first T-shirt from the Guess partnership as they exited, which made for an interesting moment as the exit doorway was completely jammed. The second season of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir will stream on Netflix in December.

Adam West Celebration

The first day capped off with a loving tribute to Adam West, who sadly passed away on June 9. Moderated also by Miereanu, the panel featured comedian Ralph Gorman, who is considered the ultimate Batman ’66 collector and was one of West’s closest friends, filmmaker and well known Batman fan Kevin Smith, Warner Bros. Animation producer James Tucker, and the surprise entry of Lee Meriwether, who played Catwoman in the 1966 Batman film. It was clearly an emotional occasion, but one that everyone made sure to get through with big smiles and fond memories.

Each of the panelists got to tell nice, touching anecdotes about West that usually ended with a laugh. Gorman noted the first time he met West as a child and was nearly horrified when West proclaimed, in dramatic fashion, that the photograph he brought to be signed turned out not to be an authorized piece. Smith told of having West on set during an episode of Comic Book Men where the Batmobile raced the Black Beauty from The Green Hornet and a Gorman-related conversation they had. Meriwether expressed how awestruck she was being around West throughout the entire shoot of the 1966 film. And Tucker, who said that he got into animation specifically for the chance to work with West, talked about how they seemed to think alike when it came to making the recent animated feature Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders. Even Miereanu got to tell a great anecdote involving a meeting he set up between West and a former Batman in George Clooney.

They showed two lovely montages during the panel. The first was a great collection of scenes from the Batman television series with attendees often yelling out the sound effect words whenever they appeared on screen. Then they showed a shortened version of a video tribute Seth MacFarlane and the Family Guy team had posted online showing off hilarious moments of Mayor Adam West, as voiced by West himself. Attendees just couldn’t stop laughing at the classic scenes they showed. One of the last moments of the panel was a collection of interviews taped of West during recording for what will be one of his last performances in the animated feature Batman vs. Two-Face. A lovely mixture of West being humorous and reflective that touched everyone in the room.

This was just a nice panel that really was a celebration of a man who inspired generations. There was a great deal of love coming from the panel and from attendees looking back at fond memories. There wasn’t much in the ways of choking up, except maybe during the clips of West being interviewed, but nonetheless it was a moment for everyone to smile and give thanks to Adam West. Batman vs. Two-Face, which features West’s final performance as Batman, will be released on Blu-ray October 17.

Hasbro: My Little Pony

For roughly the last five years, the My Little Pony panel at Comic Con seemed to be getting bigger and bigger in terms of attendance. I was there the first year it was held in one of the smaller rooms that clearly could not accommodate the long line for it and the following year had to move to a bigger room and than move again the next year. At present, it sits rather comfortably in Room 6A, the largest available room outside of the big three (Hall H, Ballroom 20, and the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel across the street). But following this year’s panel, there could be a possibility of the panel moving up yet again.

This year’s panel was all about the forthcoming movie. After a spiffy video montage of footage spliced with cast interviews hyping the film, writer/producer and moderator Mike Vogel introduced the panel in writer/producer Meghan McCarthy, composer Daniel Ingram, and main cast Cathy Weseluck (Spike), Andrea Libman (Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy), Tabitha St. Germain (Rarity), Ashleigh Ball (Rainbow Dash and Applejack), and Tara Strong (Twilight Sparkle). McCarthy noted that writing the film, in comparison to an episode of the television show, took much longer and admitted that she was far from done when the first draft was due the Monday after the 2015 Comic Con. They showed off a nicely animated scene showing the Mane Six and Spike coming to the conclusion that they must leave Equestria for the first time.

This became a segue to talking about the villains, resulting in the surprise appearance of Liev Schreiber. Schreiber, who will voice the main antagonist The Storm King, also brought along his two sons, one dressed as Anakin Skywalker and the other as Harley Quinn, the latter experiencing a brief moment of stage fright that Strong tried to fix by voicing Harley to the delight of the audience. Schreiber said he had a completely different take on the character at first, thinking he was like a Tibetan demi-god and got to voice it for the audience a couple times. A neat scene was then screened showing off some of The Storm King as he conferred with his ally Tempest, to be voiced by Emily Blunt. Moving over to music, Ingram figured it was probably better to just show off a scene as opposed to talking about it. They showed a fun musical sequence where Rainbow Dash broke into song to convince a band of pirates to rebel against The Storm King.

The panel was capped with what was always one of the more fun aspects of the My Little Pony panels, audience questions. As before, children were given priority to ask first, leading to some nice moments like which was each panelists’ favorite villain (Libman: “Say Storm King or else everyone gets in trouble!”), if there will be any more dude ponies, and what would happen if a human crossed through the portal into Equestria (in relation to Equestria Girls). A couple of the more interesting questions were the animation style used for the film in comparison to the television show and how to keep the storytelling between the varying mediums (television, movie, comics) cohesive.

The My Little Pony panels were always some of the more fun panels at Comic Con with this year being no exception. I actually think they managed to do a bit more this year within the one hour time-frame than before because they were able to stick to one specific topic for the most part, which was the movie. Having all the voices behind the Mane Six and Spike was great and they were able to ad lib wonderfully. But Schreiber stole the show from the moment he announced his appearance through his character’s maniacal laugh. He was clearly enjoying himself and played along swimmingly in whatever direction the conversation was going. My Little Pony: The Movie gallops into theaters October 6.

Hey Arnold!: From Hillwood to the Jungle!

Since its premiere in 1996, Hey Arnold! has been a treasured title in the Nicktoons library. Created by Craig Bartlett and loosely spinning off a character he created while working on the Penny claymation shorts for Pee-Wee’s Playhouse back in the 1980’s, the hand-drawn series explored the everyday life of the title character navigating through experiences in a big city and dealing with problems he and his friends encountered. It was popular enough through its five-year run to produce 100 episodes that were followed by a theatrical feature film in 2002 (one which, unfortunately for its box office returns, opened one week after Lilo and Stitch). The series had remained dormant since, but fifteen years later Nickelodeon would be bringing it back, another part of their recent efforts to revive classic cartoons, for one last hooray with the forthcoming television special The Jungle Movie.

The panel started off with a bang as series composer Jim Lang appeared briefly to play the panelists onto the stage with the Hey Arnold! theme. Dancing their way to the stage were moderator Marc Snetiker of Entertainment Weekly, Bartlett, original cast members Lane Toran (first voice of Arnold), Jamil Walker Smith (first voice of Gerald), Francesca Marie Smith (Helga), and Anndi McAfee (Phoebe), and new voices Mason Vale Cotton (Arnold) and Benjamin “Lil’ P-Nut” Flores Jr (Gerald). This was a fun moment that got everyone in a jolly mood with Bartlett throwing up que cards for the audience to shot out Helga’s lines at the right moments. During the panel they screened a clip from the special, which has since been made available online, to the delight of fans as well as some of the artwork showing the slight changes to the characters from when they were last seen to how they will look in the special.

Bartlett further explained how The Jungle Movie was being developed to be the proper finale to the series, wrapping up some of the questions that had been left unanswered for fifteen years, the most prominent being the fate of Arnold’s parents. He noted that it wasn’t that hard to get back into the series narrative after being away for so long as he had been thinking on it for some time. The cast was thrilled to be back, having enjoyed working on the series, and were really excited to see what their characters would become. It was noted that Lane and Smith would have roles in the special and they jokingly imparted wisdom on Cotton and Flores, who appeared to take it in stride. The two youngsters actually seemed to know their way around being part of a panel as they came off rather experienced in how they answered questions.

This was a nice panel, probably the nicest of the bunch I got to sit through. Aside from Lang playing the theme to open the panel, it was relatively low key, and yet it came off as something special nonetheless. Fans of the series were clearly in love with seeing Bartlett and the cast talk fondly of the show and what can be expected with the upcoming special. It was just nice, relaxed, and fun, perhaps very much like how the series itself was. A fun little moment before the panel started was that Bartlett’s name tag was spelled incorrectly and he corrected it with an Arnold doodle before a proper replacement tag was brought out. Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie is set to premiere on Nickelodeon this November.

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Since launching in 2012, the current Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Nickelodeon has become the most popular series featuring the characters since the 1987 original. Praised for its smooth anime-inspired use of computer generated animation, a nice mix of comedy with often dark narratives, and a top-notch voice cast of regulars and special guests, it has been ranked among the best iterations of the franchise. The series is also a favorite at Comic Con and its sister convention Wondercon, often drawing thousands to both the panel and the autograph signing at the Nickelodeon booth. YouTube personality Andre “Black Nerd” Meadows has served as the moderator of the panel consecutively for years at both conventions.

On the Comic Con panel this year were executive producer Ciro Nieli, franchise co-creator Kevin Eastman, and voice actors Rob Paulsen (Donatello), Greg Cipes (Michelangelo), and Eric Bauza (Tiger Claw). At the time, the three-part Usagi Yojimbo crossover arc was about to start broadcasting on television, so joining the panel were Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai and new voice of Miyamoto Usagi in Yuki Matsuzaki. After showing a clip from one of the episodes in the story arc, they got into talking about the excitement they had of doing their spin on what had been a popular concept in both the original comics and across various animation series of pairing the Ninja Turtles with the Ronin Rabbit.

They then proceeded with the panel tradition of airing in full an episode weeks ahead of its broadcast. This year’s episode was the delightful Lone Rat and Cubs, which was the first episode Eastman had written for the show and chronicled Splinter raising the then-baby turtles following their shared mutations. Nieli noted after the screening that the episode was an example of how this current and final season of the series would explore various storylines now that the main narrative had wrapped, thus the re-title to Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The panel wrapped with a trailer for the DVD special Wanted: Bebop & Rocksteady, which will feature another crossover with the 1987 animated counterparts.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles panel was fairly nice, as it’s always fun to watch a full episode ahead of it’s airing with other fans and enjoy. But I couldn’t help but feel that this would’ve been a nice opportunity to give the series a send-off before Nickelodeon moved over to next year’s successor Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Some of how Paulsen noted to Matsuzaki about how voicing a character would be inspiring generations from now seemed to feel like an attempt at acknowledging the current series wrapping up. Then again, everyone still seemed to have fun and, given Nickelodeon’s scheduling patterns, they might have a proper send-off next year. Wanted: Bebop & Rocksteady is now available on DVD and new episodes of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ final season will resume on October 8.

Disney XD’s Star vs. the Forces of Evil and Milo Murphy’s Law

Disney seemed to want to leave a lasting impression on attendees about how solid their animated programming for Disney XD was becoming with a pair of power panels. Before each one, they screened a pair of clips for upcoming shows, the main title sequences for next year’s Big City Greens and a scene from the anticipated Big Hero 6 series premiering this November. Both clips delighted attendees and are available to watch online. The first of the Disney XD panels combined two of the channel’s most popular shows airing in Star vs. The Forces of Evil and Milo Murphy’s Law. Disney XD General Manager Marc Buhaj served as moderator, doing a rather marvelous job juggling the two together evenly.

First up was Star vs. The Forces of Evil, represented on the panel by creator Daron Nefcy and voice actors Eden Sher (Star) and Adam McArthur (Marco). Nefcy first announced that she had begun writing for publication Star’s Magic Book of Spells, which would be similar to Journal No. 3 from Gravity Falls. They then did a quick table read of a scene from The Battle for Mewni arc that aired a week prior for fun that everyone enjoyed. Not wanting to reveal spoilers to the remainder of the third season, they had a little more fun by listing off some of the more intriguing fan theories to confirm or debunk, like the character Jackie possibly being a mermaid, Star’s mom Moon might have dated antagonist Toffee, and the character StarFan13 being the true evil mastermind. They capped their section with a scene from a forthcoming episode that will explore Star’s past relationship with demon boy Tom that intrigued audiences. The clip is available to watch online.

They then moved over to Milo Murphy’s Law, represented by creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh along with star “Weird Al” Yankovic (Milo). After screening the goofy “We’re Gonna Do It Again” music video teaser from last year, Povenmire and Marsh talked about how they came about to casting Yankovic, wanting the voice to sound positively enthusiastic when speaking while avoiding any pathos. Yankovic noted how interesting it was to record as he was in the midst of his Mandatory Fun tour, so Disney would look up recording studios for him to go to near concert stops. After screening the promo for the Missing Milo special that would air the following day, Povenmire and Marsh announced that the second season would feature a much anticipated crossover with their previous series Phineas and Ferb to great fanfare.

There managed to be enough time for Q&A. Povenmire and Marsh confirmed my question about the Murphy’s Law curse seeming to be applied genetically to just the male side of the family. This led to them explaining how they would often think about whatever actual science they would tackle from time to time and how to use them as part of their narrative. It was the first question asked that offered a great response when Nefcy was asked about how she wrote a story that balanced incorporating strong drama while keeping it accessible to children. She answered that she never thought about writing down to kids and just wrote what she thought was interesting. Povenmire noted that, from when he and Marsh worked on Family Guy, they found the best way to make kids laugh would be to do something shocking or off-color. They applied this lesson upon creating their own shows, but to avoid coming off mean-spirited were creatively challenged to write smarter jokes. Marsh added by brilliantly saying, “You can never go wrong over-estimating the intelligence of children. They are so much smarter than you know.”

This was just a fun panel to attended. Everyone was clearly having a good time and the fandom for both shows was clearly strong in their enthusiasm for what was being presented. I was actually surprised that it seemed like they were able to show off a good amount of material between both shows and still be able to have fan questions in the end. I imagine if each show was given an hour there would be a lot more fun to be had, but what we got was just right. Season one of Milo Murphy’s Law is set to resume on September 25 and season three of Star vs. The Forces of Evil will start back up in November.

Disney XD’s DuckTales

While I had already attended a DuckTales panel at D23, I decided to sit through the one for Comic Con as well. I had a feeling that a little more might have been revealed and there was one thing the Comic Con panel would have that the D23 panel didn’t: Scrooge McDuck himself in David Tennant. As with the previous Disney XD panel, they screened the Big City Greens and Big Hero 6 clips before starting the panel proper. And it began with the DuckTales theme, causing everyone to merrily sing along. Joining Tennant on the panel were executive producer Matt Youngberg, story editor Francisco Angones, and fellow cast members Beck Bennett (Launchpad), Toks Olagundoye (Mrs. Beakley), Kate Micucci (Webby), Ben Schwartz (Dewey), and Danny Pudi (Huey). Serving as moderator was Marc Snetiker of Entertainment Weekly.

Some of what was said from Youngberg and Angones regarding how they were approaching DuckTales and drawing inspiration from both the 1987 series as well as the original Carl Barks comics was reiterated from the D23 panel, as well as Bennett, Olagundoye, Micucci, and Schwartz in describing their characters. The addition of Pudi fleshed out some more of the further development and dynamic of the brothers, how Huey seemed to be the most prepared of the trio and Dewey being the most daring in wanting to stand-out. But virtually everyone in the room knew they all wanted to hear from Tennant, who seemed to have this glee in his voice when describing his take on Scrooge as a man of great mystery and never revealing the full spectrum of his character even as layers would seemingly get shown as the series progressed.

They showed off two clips, the first from the premiere special that aired weeks ago (which hadn’t been seen by anyone at the time) with Scrooge, Launchpad and the kids making their way by submarine to Atlantis. The second clip they showed was from a later (and unfinished) episode, complete with a section which was a section in the scene that was still in storyboards, of Scrooge, Launchpad and the kids venturing into a tomb. Everyone enjoyed what they saw, which got them all the more excited for a reboot that might do right with the original material. Angones teased showing off a third clip before looking like he was messing up badly and revealing character and model sheets he seemingly was not supposed to show, giving attendees a couple seconds to see full designs of how characters like Gizmoduck, the Beagle Boys, and what looked to be a new, sinister design for Magica De Spell. What got the fans screaming with crazy joy were the designs for Darkwing Duck as well as his villains Liquidator and Megavolt, confirming their presence in the series. Angones jokingly asked everyone to snap their phones in half afterward.

There was a mad dash to line up for the Q&A portion and the majority of folks clearly wanted to talk to Tennant. So much so that half of them started with the fan proclaiming that he was their “Doctor (Who)”, with Schwartz wondering “How many patients do you have?” Nearly all of his questions were to further elaborate on his approach to Scrooge with his noting that, having lived in Scotland and therefore wasn’t privy to the original series fandom, was recognizing what an iconic character he was voicing. A fan request for Tennant to say one of Scrooge’s “famous freak-outs” led to Angones to quickly write a line for Tennant to say. Schwartz wanted in as well and Angones wrote a funny bit of how Dewey would take to reading War and Peace. Some of the non-Tennant questions that got asked included whether the show would feature brand new characters, how excited the cast were to voice on the show, and if Disney would consider reviving some classic merchandise as well, to which Angones demanded that a fishing rod for the original series be the first produced.

There was a lot of love being felt and expressed throughout the panel. Whether it was for such a classic show getting revived in an exciting way or for getting to see a beloved Doctor Who being in the room to talk about Disney, there was rarely a moment one couldn’t stop smiling. A purely fun hour that was informative and a joy to be part of. And while Tennant being in the room was enough to make the panel magical, I would dare say that the Darkwing Duck material that we got to see ever so briefly had everyone all the more hyped than before. Season one of DuckTales is scheduled to begin proper on September 23.

DuckTales Signing

Following the panel, most everyone headed straight for the Sails Pavilion to try to get into the autograph signing. Previously, one would have to decide if they would rather do the panel or the signing as many would line up more than an hour before the signing time, which was usually held thirty minutes after the panel ended. As such, those who generally attended the panel would have little chance to get into the signing. This year, they seemed to change things up by having folks line up and then have them reach into a bag to pull out one of two colored tickets. For the DuckTales signing, a yellow ticket did not gain entry while a red one did. I managed to get a red ticket and got in.

The signing started a little late, but nevertheless moved along rather smoothly. The staff enforced the sign-and-go approach right from the beginning and only a poster would be signed. This was largely because, despite the lottery system they had, there were still a large number of attendees to get through and they wanted to prevent too many hold ups as a result of fans wanting to meet Tennant up-close. Even still, it looked like everyone was having a good time. The entire panel was present and were in high spirits after the positve response they received earlier. I managed to thank everyone individually and even got to shake Tennant’s hand as I quickly went down the line. A very nice and more efficient process than past panel signing experiences in the Sails Pavilion.

Princess Mononoke Screening

As part of Comic Con expanding outside of the San Diego Convention Center and into nearby venues in recent years, panels and other programming events have been held at the Horton Grand Theatre just a few blocks away. Because it could only accommodate roughly a hundred people, attendees needed to pull a ticket in the morning at the convention center’s Sails Pavilion to gain entry. Among the events taking place at the Horton Grand Theatre was an annual screening of a Studio Ghibli film sponsored by voice actress Ashely Eckstein through her fashion business Her Universe. This year was seeming a no-brainer as it marks the 20th anniversary of Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece Princess Mononoke.

As Princess Mononoke was my all-time favorite animated feature, I wanted in on the screening and managed to score a ticket with some help from another attendee. It wasn’t completely full, as there were a couple empty seats here and there including one next to me, but it was nonetheless packed. While waiting for the program to start, Joe Hisaishi’s beautiful score to the film was playing. Eckstein came out to introduce the film, wearing both a shirt and a San hoodie that Her Universe was selling. Eckstein related to how influential the film was in explaining that Dave Filoni, when first crafting Star Wars: The Clone Wars, drew inspiration in developing Eckstein’s character Ahsoka Tano, specifically how Ahsoka’s face markings were an homage to San.

Eckstein then conducted a quick trivia contest with winners receiving another Princess Mononoke shirt that was being made through Her Universe. She noted that the shirts were unisex as last year shirts were specifically for women and numerous guys had won some. To put the attendees on their toes, all the questions drew from a random Studio Ghibli film. I managed to score a shirt successfully answering a question about Ponyo. While the size was medium, and therefore couldn’t fit me, just getting it at all made my evening. There was one person who did show up in costume, dressed as San, and she herself managed to score a shirt. After the contest, Eckstein noted that the shirt and hoodie she was wearing were available to purchase at the Her Universe booth back at the show floor before taking off for the film to screen.

They screened the English dubbing Disney did, specifically from the Blu-ray as the Disney intro played as opposed to Miramax. Princess Mononoke holds up beautifully after twenty years, and that’s not just the fanboy in me speaking. The animation remains as lush and vibrant as ever, the narrative does not feel dated, and even the eighteen year old dubbing sounds good. I continue to be impressed with the great job Billy Crudup did as Ashitaka and how well everyone else in the ensemble came off. Watching the film again on a big screen and with an audience was an absolute joy, particularly on its 20th anniversary. After the screening, many looked for the cosplaying girl to get pictures with her, which she and her father didn’t mind a bit. Princess Mononoke is presently available on Blu-ray, but will receive a new reissue, this time through GKIDS though keeping the Disney produced English dub in tact, on October 17.

Talks Machina with the Cast of Critical Role

Critical Role is a popular Internet show among those emerging based around the recording of Dungeons & Dragons gaming sessions. It is one of the more high profile as it is produced by Geek & Sundry and all the players are well known voice actors. The cast consists of Travis Willingham (Grog), Marisha Ray (Keyleth), Taliesin Jaffe (Percy), Ashley Johnson (Pike), Sam Riegel (Scanlan), Liam O’Brien (Vax), Laura Bailey (Vex), and Matthew Mercer as Dungeon Master. Since launching in 2015, it generated a huge audience, even within Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast. This has resulted in numerous fan work, popular merchandise, the publication of a campaign setting book through Green Ronin Publishing, and the launch of an after show talk series Talks Machina, hosted by Brian Foster, of which an episode was recorded at Comic Con.

After Foster introduced the cast, Mercer announced that an official Critical Role comic book would be published. It will be written by Matthew Colville and illustrated by Olivia Samson and chronicle the origins of the characters first coming together as well as the adventures they had prior to the first streamed episode. He also announced that the third season been written and he later noted that the next campaign would be set twenty years after the end of the current story arc. It was also announced that Ray had just been named Creative Director for Geek & Sundry. As they were about to get into audience questions, a fan ran up to the panel with a box of doughnuts, which the girls were more than happy to accept.

A good number of the questions asked involved each panelist giving their answer to the subject, such as what their favorite story arc had been so far, what they would like for their characters to come back as if they were to be reincarnated, and which one non-playable character ally they would choose if they had to partake in a trial by combat. Other questions Mercer, as the Dungeon master, would answer, such as the scenario he was most proud to set the group in, the possibility of incorporating material from the older editions of Dungeons & Dragons, and the chance of a live show being held on the west coast of the United States. All attendees who got to ask a question received a pin.

This was a nice panel to sit through and it served as my introduction to the show. It’s really fun to see a Dungeons & Dragons game explode into a universe with its own fandom. All the more fun is the involvement of some known voice actors and just how well developed and beloved their characters have become. In fact, I started getting heavily addicted to the show shortly after the convention ended. Critical Role streams a new episode live every Thursday on the Geek & Sundry Twitch channel and is posted the following Monday on the Geek & Sundry website via YouTube. The comic book, since titled Critical Role – Vox Machina: Origins, will be published through Dark Horse Comics with the first issue to be released digitally September 20 and the first physical graphic collection set for sometime in spring 2018.

Quick Draw

There is no annual tradition at Comic Con quite like the ever popular Quick Draw. Hosted by legendary comic book and animation writer Mark Evanier, three of the fastest drawing cartoonists put sharpie to paper and created some of the funniest, most hilarious illustrations ever seen in just a short amount of time. With the regulars Sergio Aragonés and Scott Shaw, this year’s third participant was emerging cartoonist Maria Scrivan. No one knew what was going to happen, but they were all the more excited to what crazy, silly visuals they were going to see that would cause them to fall to the floor laughing.

Evanier got the trio started by drawing how each got their start in cartooning while he properly introduced them to the audience. Then the funnies kicked in with the popular portion where each of the cartoonists were to illustrate the offspring of characters suggested by the audience, such as Shaw illustrating the child of Popeye and Wilma Flintstone. They were then tasked with drawing a moment in cartooning that got them into some form of trouble. Shaw had the funniest one, noting one time he was in his underwear trying to pile up boxes of work when he forgot that he was supposed to go on a date just as the doorbell rang. Evanier then brought up one of the famous Mystery Boxes from the show floor, where folks buy a box from a dealer and find out goodies they got. He had the cartoonists come up with what they think might be in the box before it was opened with a funny suggestion being the mustache of Stan Lee and a smaller Mystery Box. Shaw wasn’t keen on the actual contents of the Mystery Box, but Aragonés didn’t mind goofing around with them.

The first guest brought up for a game of word guessing was Cheri Steinkellner, a beloved television writer and producer on shows Cheers and the Disney animated Teacher’s Pet. The game had Steinkellner having to guess a word based on the illustrations made. The word “Ignorant” was challenging as it could often be confused with… “Confused”. “Mayor” was simple, but “Stench” had her laughing with all the various visuals of horrible smells the cartoonists came up with, the most popular being Scrivan’s illustration of a dog farting. The next set of ideas that came afterward included adding to a drawing to the word balloon “Somebody needs a hug!” which Aragonés initially misinterpreted as “Somebody needs a hog!”, a look at the Comic Con complaints department, and absurd super heroes based on a noun suggested by the audience like TV remote and bread crumbs. For the TV remote super hero, Scrivan got witty and added, “Super Power: You can always find him!”

The next guest brought up for word guessing was popular voice actor Phil LaMarr. They decided to really throw him for a loop by starting out with “There’s no list. Just draw random images.” Everyone in the room straight up died with laughter at the crazy chaos that ensued with LaMarr being absolutely dumbfounded for a few minutes, trying to figure out what all the strange illustrations were supposed to mean. He did feel that they were just drawing random things, but he honestly wasn’t sure and continued to attempt piecing it all together before they finally revealed the joke to his dismay. When it was time for the game proper, LaMarr figured out “Adorable” fairly quickly, had trouble with “Clumsy”, and then recovered with “Rice”.

They capped things off with picture pass off. The trio were joined by Mad Magazine cartoonists Tom Richmond, Sam Viviano, and Peter Kuper and they would pair up. One would start by drawing the top half of a character and then their partner would draw the bottom half while the former’s illustration was covered. Some of the popular results include a hillbilly pig with Wonder Woman’s legs and Donald Trump with octopus tentacles. The funniest moment of clever irony saw a resulting illustration of Alfred E. Neuman on the top half with his classical “What, me worry?” expression while the bottom half fire and devils with pitchforks. Writing down in words what it’s like attending a Quick Draw will never be able to do justice the fantastic fun to be had experiencing it.

Sailor Moon Signing

Sailor Moon remains, to this day, one of the elite anime titles. So much so that it’s generally among those people immediately think of first when the word “anime” is brought up. Having gone on to inspire generations of magical girl shows across varying cultures over the last 25 years, there’s no denying that its legacy is ever-lasting. Just getting into the panel is rather difficult, as a big line of fans were left out once the room was filled to capacity. So one could easily imagine how crazy a Sailor Moon autograph signing would be. Sure enough, a sea of fans were waiting impatiently at the Viz Media booth for a chance to be one of the 100 to get in on the signing. People squeezed into one another as they started handing out tickets, nearly to the point of potentially causing a fight. I was crushed between fans for a good while before I managed to get in and be able to breathe again.

The signing consisted of Amanda C. Miller, Cherami Leigh, and Robbie Daymond, who were the voices for Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Venus, and Tuxedo Mask respectively for the Viz re-dub of the original animated series as well as the English dubbing for the current Sailor Moon Crystal series. They were quite excited to meet everyone and tried to interact with them as much as they could despite booth staffers trying to rush things. In fact, the actors were quite calm and inviting while the staffers were rather anxious as some of the folks who didn’t get into the signing seemed to be hanging around in the hopes of potentially slipping in. They were pretty much about to switch to the sign-and-go as I got up to the actors, so I merely shook their hands and said my pleasantries. They signed a Sailor Moon Crystal poster that all attendees would receive. Had things been a little less chaotic and better managed at the start, this probably would’ve been a more delightful moment. At least the actors were nice and tried to make things fun for everyone.

Marvel’s Spider-Man World Premiere

There is no character in the Marvel roster of super heroes as iconic as Spider-Man. The embodiment of the every man from head to toe, fans have been enthralled with the adventures of Peter Parker since being introduced by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko 55 years ago. And with such popularity comes a plethora of associated media. The first animated series in 1967 spawned one of the most memorable theme songs and the 1994 series is considered one of the finest super hero shows at the time. And while Disney had already wrapped on Ultimate Spider-Man earlier this year, the first Marvel animated series to surpass 100 episodes, they’ve already launched in a whole new Spider-Man series airing on Disney XD.

Serving as moderator was Head of Marvel Animation Cort Lane. The panel consisted of executive producer Eric Radomski, supervising producers Marsha Griffin and Kevin Shinick, director Phil Pignotti, and voice cast Robbie Daymond (Peter Parker/Spider-Man), Fred Tatasciore (Max Modell), and Melanie Minichino (Anya Corazon). The panel was rather brief, given that they were going to screen both parts of the premiere Horizon High in their entirety. The panel explained how it seemed more challenging to develop this series when they were coming straight off of Ultimate Spider-Man and needed to figure a way to make it distinctly different in style and tone. While there really wasn’t any time for fan questions, there was a cute moment where the panel liked a little kid cosplaying as Spider-Man that they let him onto the stage, sit on Shinick’s lap, and quizzed him on what he was looking forward to seeing from the series.

As noted, Comic Con was the setting to premiere the first two episodes of Marvel’s Spider-Man, which began to broadcast on Disney XD a month later. I think there were a number of folks in the audience who were a bit burned out by Ultimate Spider-Man‘s presentation and it may have affected some of the potential interest in this series given that it was immediately airing just as the former ended. But I did like that there was a strong effort to really explore Peter’s struggles with power and responsibility while still being a high school student and its affect on others, in particular best friend Harry Osborn. I liked, from what I saw in the two episodes, the inclusion of flashbacks to a particular advice Peter received from Uncle Ben, interestingly voiced in the series by Patton Oswalt. The inclusion of elements from recent events in the comic books written by Dan Slott could also be a potential for affecting one’s enjoyment, but overall I think there’s some good potential in the series to really work and the audience seemed to enjoy it a lot. Marvel’s Spider-Man currently airs every Saturday on Disney XD.

The Comic Book Elements of Avatar and Korra

Much like its predecessor Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra has gone on to become a widely acclaimed and beloved animated series in its own right. And like the former, the latter looked to continue its story through Dark Horse Comics following the conclusion of the show. But what made the arrival of The Legend of Korra comic book perhaps much more anticipated than Avatar: The Last Airbender was how it would pick up from the now legendary final scene showing Korra and Asami’s friendship growing into a romantic relationship. As such, this was going to be a super packed panel and there were scores of fans who were unable to attend. It was also because of this that the panel started late.

Serving as moderator was Dark Horse Comics public relations coordinator Dustin Nelson and the panel featured comic illustrator Irene Koh, franchise co-creator and comic writer Michael Dante DiMartino, and the voice of Korra herself Janet Varney. They started by knocking out a couple of the probable fan questions, like which character each of the panelist related to or which they would go on a Spirit realm vacation with, and followed with Nelson getting DiMartino to explain how Avatar and Korra seemed to supersede their original children’s show label into something greater that all ages and generations could enjoy.

They finally went into the comics, which everyone in the room was waiting for. As panels to the first part of Turf Wars were shown, Koh and DiMartino explained how it was natural for them to start in immediately after the end of the show as opposed to how between seasons the shows would jump ahead in time. They wanted to show the development of Korra and Asami’s relationship as well as letting them have some fun on their date before things got serious. Advance copies of the first part were on sale at the Dark Horse booth ahead of its release a couple weeks later, along with advance copies of the poster book and the coloring book. They added at the end that the second part would be released in January.

The last few moments of the panel saw each explain some element that resonated to them on a personal level. For DiMartino, it was the interest in developing a different type of Avatar that an audience that had grown up with the original series could relate to in a new way. For Varney, it was playing a character that was inspiring and determined while still being believable as some one in their late teens and early adulthood. For Koh, it was taking part in a franchise that was breaking ground and exploring ideas and concepts that appealed to her as an Asian bisexual and always wanted to see in popular media. The panel decided to throw a loop to the Q&A portion by having those lining up for questions instead having to answer trivia questions. Successful answers resulted in the attendee getting signed copies of the core books being sold. I stuck around to see the first run, where the fan froze up at the unexpected turn of events, before leaving to get to a signing.

While not too much was based around the development of the comic series itself, this was still a nice panel to go to as it was a chance for the panelists to get into the impact of the franchise both on their fans and on themselves. Varney’s love for having played Korra was quite evident, getting rather close to choking up over it. Koh was great to hear how it was the kind of franchise she had wanted to see and I really liked a lot of what DiMartino had to say about how he came about developing the stories the way he did. Part One of The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars is now available with Part Two set to be released January 31.

Nickelodeon Creators Signing

A bonus signing Nickelodeon added to their booth was a trio of animation creators. Neither appeared to be participating in any panel function relating to their work, they just presumably showed to interact with the fans and sign individual material. The creators participating in the signing were Butch Hartman (Danny Phantom), Billy Lopez (Welcome to the Wayne), and Chris Savino (The Loud House). I nearly missed out on the signing given the Korra panel was running concurrent, but fortunately I had a ticket and it got me in as the last attendee.

Hartman was fun to meet, seemingly like he was having a blast just meeting people who enjoyed his work. He was signing copies a mini-comic he wrote and drew that was to serve as the crossover of all of his Nickelodeon properties, which I imagine continued to tease fans of such a show ever possibly happening. Lopez was signing a poster for this show, which was merely days away from its broadcast premiere at the time of the convention, and I got to wish him luck.

But while it was fun meeting Hartman and Lopez, I was rather interested in meeting Savino. Savino was signing a poster for The Loud House and we got to talk about the show as it was starting to hit its stride. I was most curious if he had plans involving Sam, the girl one of Lincoln’s older sisters Luna left a love note to. Savino admitted to being surprised by how big the positive buzz they received was for the reveal, so her presence won’t be immediate as it typically took ten months to get an idea from conception to screen. He did note to “stay tuned”. New episodes of Hartman’s current Bunsen is a Beast, Lopez’ Welcome to the Wayne, and Savino’s The Loud House air regularly on Nickelodeon.

The Legend of Korra Autograph Signing

The autograph signing for the Korra panel took place at the Dark Horse Entertainment booth. It was also one of the few that required a wristband. Obtaining a wristband required attendees to reach into a bag and pull out a colored bead. Drawing a black bead meant they were not getting in, though attendees had the option to go to the back of the line and try again. Drawing a red bead meant being rewarded a wristband. I managed to draw the red bead on my first try, which was rather lucky given how badly some fans wanted in on the signing.

The primary piece the panelists would be signing was a poster of the cover to the first part of Turf Wars, though attendees also had the opportunity to purchase an advance copy of the actual book. Most had already purchased the book prior to the signing, like I did before it had sold out completely in the booth’s store, though they managed to pull up extra copies to sell at the table. There was a strict enforcement that one could only purchase one copy of the book. A booth staffer told me how one guy literally tried to grab an entire row’s worth of the book on the first day of the convention before receiving a stern talking from security.

I’ve done a signing with DiMartino and Varney years before with other members of the Korra cast and crew, but this was my first with Koh. Primarily, I was hoping to score selfies with all of them. The guy in line before me inspired me to copy him when he pulled out a piece of paper and asked DiMartino to illustrate a character. I instantly pulled out my artists sketchbook and asked him for one as well, which he graciously did. He actually did a sketch of Pabu years back, but that was on a poster. This time, in the sketchbook, he did a headshot of Aang in chibi form. I decided to chance asking Koh to do a sketch and she was more than happy to do a mini-bust of Korra to fill in some of the space DiMartino had left over. I thanked her for the sketch and also expressed my admiration for her work in the comic.

Varney was pleasant to meet once again. While she wasn’t the artist DiMartino and Koh were, she nonetheless did an extra signature and the hashtag #KorrAsami to the page. She asked about how I felt about the relationship and I told her how the series end coincided with my cousin having married her wife, so it was a rather celebratory occasion for me. Varney glowed at having been a part of something that generated such a positive impact on people. A very nice and quite lovely signing I’m glad I got to attend.

Hanna-Barbera 60th Anniversary

My Comic Con venture for the year was capped off with a anniversary celebration I did not want to pass up on. Having grown up on Hanna-Barbera cartoons as a kid during the launch years of Cartoon Network, I was very much looking forward to hearing stories about the company and what they had planned for the future. To both my surprise and delight, there was a fantastic mix of generations packing the room as young and old fans alike were of the same mindset as I. And I’m not kidding when I say this was a packed room, I barely managed to get into this one just as it was starting. This truly was a must-see panel at Comic Con.

Moderating was Director of Publicity for Warner Bros. Animation in Gary Miereanu and the panel consisted of directors Tony Cervone and Spike Brandt (Scooby-Doo! and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery), animation historian Jerry Beck, producer Alan Burnett (The Smurfs), and personal assistant to Joseph Hanna and William Barbera in Carlton Zapp Clay. While Hanna-Barbera as a studio was formed 60 years ago, they spent a moment going back to what made the duo famous in the first place, being the creators of Tom and Jerry. Carvone and Brandt, having been the primary directors of Tom and Jerry productions since 2005 when Brandt co-directed the short The Karate Guard with Barbera, talked extensively of how important timing was to Hanna and Barbera. Beck added that comparing Tom and Jerry with a competitor at the time like Herman and Katnip would provide a better appreciation for Hanna and Barbera’s understanding of timing.

While the panel did talk a bit about the legacy the Hanna-Barbera studios itself, which included explaining how Hanna and Barbera operated so that production on all programs ran efficiently as well as Cervone being announced as co-director of the forthcoming Scooby-Doo animated theatrical film, Clay’s personal stories of Hanna and Barbera were so good and so funny that they were what everyone remembered the most. Among the stories he told include when he introduced film director Spike Lee to Hanna and the family bond he formed with the Barberas. But the one that had everyone howling was how he used his working for them as a pick-up line during side gigs as a DJ. One day a girl he met called the studio and Barbera answered. When she asked for Clay, Barbera wanted to make sure she meant his personal assistant. The girl was rather aghast and said, “Assistant? He told he was the Head of Black Animation!”

This turned into a rather lovely panel. It was a little different then I’m sure what many were expecting, but it was nonetheless quite informative about Joseph Hanna and William Barbera themselves. There was clearly a great deal and love and appreciation from the panel over the two men, in particular from Clay through his hilarious stories, and it clearly impacted the audience in a way that made them love the legendary figures all the more. During the panel each attendee received copies of a preview comic for DC’s projects based on Hanna-Barbera cartoons, such as Scooby Apocalypse. The Scooby-Doo animated feature co-directed by Cervone is currently scheduled for a theatrical release on May 15, 2020.

Cosplay

It wouldn’t be a convention without cosplay. Though I decided not to attend the ever popular Masquerade this year, I never the less kept my eyes opened for any costumes that sparked my fancy. My favorite this year was a trio dressed up as Austin Powers and two Fembots. They walked around with a portable device playing the main theme on loop. They garnered a lot of attention that for a good while they were stuck in one place getting their pictures taken with other folks. I particularly liked with they hooked up with a quartet of Disney villains in Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty), Cruella de Vil (101 Dalmatians), the Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland), and the Hunter from Bambi.

There was a pretty cool pair dressed as Captain America and Agent Peggy Carter that I got to see along with a real nifty pair as Jack Frost and Tooth Fairy from Rise of the Guardians. Ahead of the Disney XD panel with Star vs. The Forces of Evil there was a really cute kid dressed as Janna from the former and was actively sought by those dressed as Star and Marco for pictures, a favorite being one where they managed to include a Pony Head puppet into the shot. There was also a cute family dressed up as four of the Teen Titans with dad as Beast Boy, mom as Starfire, and the two daughters as Raven and Robin.

Some of the more nifty cosplayers encountered included someone who went full suit as Gir from Invader Zim in the body part of his dog disguise, a young Bulma from Dragon Ball, and a pair as Daria and Jane Lane. It’s almost a given that there would be some form of Deadpool variant and this year saw one crossing the character with Pikachu from Pokémon for a highly amusing costume. One interesting cosplayer I couldn’t quite figure out. The gun she carried looked like one carried by Sgt. Calhoun from Wreck-It Ralph. But her body armor design was very different, as was the hair style. I think it was a mash-up with other stuff like Mass Effect and Halo.

Random Sightings

Line management had always been an issue for Comic Con as attendance kept getting bigger and bigger every year. But it was apparently really bad this year as I heard about poor handling of the lines for the Funko and Hasbro shops all weekend. Saturday was even worse when volunteers really screwed up and allowed attendees to snag wristbands into that day’s Justice League signing not only before they were supposed to be handed out, but also without having to go through the lottery system like they were supposed to. On top of that, there were reports of folks managing to get into Hall H with counterfeit wristbands. Attendees with the official wristbands who ended up not getting in were understandably livid and ended up getting comped for next year. It was these events that made us jump down on two guys attempting to cut the line, in front of me no less, into the Korra panel when there were hundreds waiting to get in. Fortunately, they were immediately pulled out by staffers as we called on them.

I always made it a point to visit Chris Sanders at his booth. The Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon director had been a regular for a long while now and usually had something that was worth picking up. This year he had a illustrated book for his and his wife Jessica’s novel series Rescue Sirens called The Great Fish Round-Up. The illustrations were by Dylan Bonner and what was interesting about this book was that it was apparently wet-proof. I have yet to test this out, but then I doubt I ever will. Sanders was quite busy with a large group of fans that I wasn’t able to find out how far he and his wife have gotten in writing the second Rescue Sirens book.

One of my good friends is former professional wrestler turned comic book artist Scott Lost. I’ve constantly looked for him at convention to say, “Hello!” and see if there was anything he had that I might pick up. I’ve also been trying to get him to add to my artists sketchbook for years, but either I’ve been too late to spot him or his ability to draw had been incapacitated in some fashion, like an injured thumb or he forgot to bring his art gear. This time, I made sure I was visited his table at Artist Alley as early as possible and he was finally able to do an illustration. I asked him to surprise me and, as a result of my suggesting him to check out Gravity Falls, did a neat Gravity Falls-Twin Peaks crossover piece of Dipper Pines meeting Killer Bob. I also bought a copy of the Accidental Aliens anthology comic he worked on recently.

I was delighted to find that our good friend and animation great Bob Scott had a booth this year. In addition to currently working as a story artist for Walt Disney Feature Animation on Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2, he had a comic strip called Molly and the Bear. That was getting the comic book treatment this year under a new title Bear with Me. I had a chance to greet him and he remembered me from our interaction at the CTN Expo last year. When I noted to him that I got to attend the animation presentation at D23 the previous week, he said he was surprised that Disney would show off the Disney Princesses scene in Wreck-It Ralph 2, but conceded that it was a big way to draw buzz to the film. I picked up a copy of the Bear with Me comic, which Scott signed and did a doodle in.

Comic Con exclusive figures have always been hot items for fans to try to get. So much so that store booths for the likes of Hasbro, Mattel, Funko, and Lego have to set up lines in the morning for entry drawings. Nevertheless, through some careful timing, I managed to nab a couple nifty exclusives in the Coraline display set from NECA and the Gravity Falls 8-piece set from UCC Distributing. But it was by chance that a friend of mine was able to get into the Hasbro store and they were able to get me the Star Wars Black Series Grand Admiral Thrawn figure. Getting that figure alone totally made my day and I couldn’t thank my friend enough for getting it.

While waiting in line for the Korra panel signing, I noticed the Dark Horse booth walls had images of upcoming books. Among them was what looked to be the cover to the next How to Train Your Dragon graphic novel called Dragonvine. The sequel to this year’s The Serpent’s Heir, it will again be co-written by film director Dean DeBlois and set between the second and third films. Dragonvine is scheduled to be published January 24.

As I had a fairly full schedule throughout the weekend, I didn’t really get a chance to go outside of the Convention Center save for the Princess Mononoke screening, which was just as well as Entertainment Weekly did not bring back last year’s Con-X alternative and the lines for the interactive displays for the likes of Game of Thrones, Blade Runner 2049, and even the Laika Experience had wait times up to five hours. As tempting as it was to try out these off-site places, my schedule left very little wiggle room and I was not up to enduring the summer sun.

Fans got to make their own Nicktoons T-shirts at the Nickelodeon booth.

 

Helga’s Arnold Shrine from Hey Arnold! as displayed in the Nickelodeon booth.

 

The line just to get into the Exhibit Hall stretched as far as a quarter mile away from the Convention Center at 7am on Day One.

 

Fans lining up in the morning on Day One just to get into Hall H the next day.

 

A cute family cosplaying as four of the Teen Titans.

 

Tara Strong (Unikitty) made a cameo appearance during the Unikitty! panel.

 

Diedrich Bader (Booster Gold), Richael Kimsey (Wonder Woman), and Jason J. Lewis (Superman) during the Justice League Action panel.

 

Carlos Alazraqui (Rocko, Spunky), Tom Kenny (Heffer), Mr. (Doug) Lawrence (Filburt), and Charlie Adler (Mr. and Mrs. Bighead) during the Rocko’s Modern Life Panel.

 

Dan with Charlie Adler (Mr. and Mrs. Bighead) at the Rocko’s Modern Life signing in the Nickelodeon booth.

 

Bruce Timm (co-director) and Kevin Conroy (Batman) during the Batman: Mask of the Phantasm panel.

 

Cristina Vee (Marinette/Ladybug), Bryce Papenbrook (Adrien/Cat Noir), and Mela Lee (Tiki) script reading during the Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir panel.

 

Lee Meriwether (Catwoman) reminisced fondly on working with Adam West on the 1966 Batman movie during the Adam West Celebreation panel.

 

Liev Schreiber (The Storm King) being hushed by one of his sons during the My Little Pony panel.

 

Craig Bartlett (creator) corrected his name tag ahead of the Hey Arnold! panel.

 

The Comic Con exclusive Miyamoto Usagi figure signed by Stan Sakai (creator) and displayed during the Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles panel.

 

Fans cosplaying as characters from Star vs. The Forces of Evil.

 

Eden Sher (Star) and Adam McArthur (Marco) re-enacting a scene from Star vs. The Forces of Evil during the Disney XD panel.

 

“Weird Al” Yankovic (Milo) talking Milo Murphy’s Law during the Disney XD panel.

 

David Tennant (Scrooge McDuck) greeting fans during the DuckTales panel.

 

Fan cosplaying as San at the Princess Mononoke screening.

 

The cast of Critical Role received doughnuts from a fan during the Talks Machina recording panel.

 

Sergio Aragonés doodling during the Quick Draw panel.

 

Scott Shaw illustrated an embarrassing moment during the Quick Draw panel.

 

Maria Scrivan confused Phil LaMarr with random illustrations during the Quick Draw panel.

 

Pika-pool?

 

Fan cosplaying as Gir from Invader Zim.

 

A young fan cosplaying as Spider-Man got to join the Marvel’s Spider-Man panel.

 

A very long line of fans hoping to get into The Legend of Korra panel.

 

Dan with Butch Hartman (Danny Phantom creator) at the Nickelodeon Creators signing in the Nickelodeon booth.

 

Dan with Janet Varney (Korra) at The Legend of Korra signing in the Dark Horse booth.

 

Alan Burnett and Carlton Zapp Clay reminisced fondly during the Hanna-Barbera 60th Anniversary panel.

 

Fans cosplaying as Tooth Fairy and Jack Frost from Rise of the Guardians.

 

Cover for How to Train Your Dragon: Dragonvine as displayed in the Dark Horse booth.

 

Killer Bob (Twin Peaks) and Dipper Pines (Gravity Falls) illustration by Scott Lost and Accidental Aliens anthology comic book.

 

The free shirt and comic book fans received for attending the Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir panel.

 

Autographed posters from the Rocko’s Modern Life, DuckTales, and Sailor Moon signings.

 

Autographed comic book and poster from The Legend of Korra signing with illustrations of Aang by Michael Dante DiMartino and Korra by Irene Koh.