SDCC Recap: Preview Night & Day 1
By: Mithrandiel
It seems like only yesterday when I was enjoying myself at WonderCon and San Diego Comic Con felt like it was a lifetime away. Yet, here I am, seeing SDCC in the rearview after an exciting weekend full of amazing connections and memories. I spent the majority of the con alongside podcaster extraordinaire and friend, Lance Watkins (AKA RogueSymbiote).
Let’s walk through the weekend together, shall we?
Preview Night
Being local to San Diego, getting to the convention center wasn’t too much of a hassle. I took the day off to take care of some errands in the morning, but also to give myself plenty of time in the afternoon to show up early and wait in line to get into the exhibit hall.
Settling in for the next few hours, I made friends with my neighbors and flipped through the program. As many fans were aware of coming into the show, this year’s SDCC would be a little different than what they’ve come to expect, thanks to the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike. As Hollywood’s talented writers and actors battle to secure fair compensation for all their members, discussion and promotion of many notable series and projects has become impossible. Therefore, quite a few panels (particularly those large enough to fill Hall H or Ballroom 20) were canceled, and the presence of these AAA entertainment titles was largely absent.
Of course, there are two sides to this: on the one hand, many fans (myself included) felt that this would be a great way to return to SDCC’s roots as a comic show. Let the spotlight shine more on independent creators, and filter attendees to the smaller panels that otherwise would be left unattended. On the other, it was unfortunate for many fans who purchased their tickets and made plans with those AAA studios in mind, and it’s hard to deny the pull that they can have in bringing fans to the show.
Soon enough, the doors to the hall opened and it was off to the races! Many fans on preview night are there for one thing: exclusives. Whether it’s an exclusive variant or figure, t-shirt or pin, fans laid out maps of which booths they planned to hit. With only 3 hours to spend in the hall, and long lines to contend with, strategy was key! I knew what I was on the hunt for right away: Skybound’s exclusive Transformers/Void Rivals and Invincible variants. The Transformers and Void Rivals issues were both drawn by the immensely talented Daniel Warren Johnson, and turned out to be one of the hottest exclusives from the show, with the pair selling out by early Friday.
I also nabbed Capullo’s exclusive variant as well, and the Burger Mart exclusive (which could have possibly had a Kirkman signed Invincible trading card - mine did not).
The rest of the evening I enjoyed wandering the hall, checking out some of the larger activations and making my plan for Thursday.
Before long, the hall was closed and Lance and I hopped on the trolley to head home, ready for our first full day of Comic Con!
Day 1
Thursday was an early start for me, as I got up early to try and grab some Funko exclusives from their website. While Gol D. Roger escaped my reach, I was able to get a few on my wishlist, and then went to pick up Lance and head downtown.
The trek getting into the hall was quite a bit longer on Day 1, with a line running the entirety of the convention center, looping back and forth. It took us about 30 minutes to get into the hall that morning!
Once inside however (and enjoying the air conditioning), things started to look up.
I spent my first hour checking out the exhibit hall, specifically heading over to the Mondo booth to admire their exclusive poster series for the weekend:
I was really gunning for the Cowboy Bebop poster, but sadly it was not meant to be. However…there is a happy ending when it comes to Mondo! We’ll get there eventually…
After spending a bit of time wandering the floor, I went to my first panel of the show - Oni Press. Interested to see what the comic publisher had in store, I was not disappointed by the lineup, or the titles they spotlighted.
The panel was headed up by Hunter Gorinson, President and Publisher for Oni Press. He was joined by Editor in Chief Sierra Hahn and a handful of talented artists and creators.
First up on the block was Xino - an anthology of futuristic horror that features Black Mirror-esque stories; such as a blind man given lenses that allows him to see on every wavelength: revealing previously unseen horrors, or a video game console that requires you to ingest it intravenously like a drug.
Another very interesting title coming up is called Faceless & The Family from Matt Lesniewski. Being colorblind, Matt’s artistic style is incredibly unique and is best served by a black and white presentation. Hunter shared that as a result they will be printing this book with the highest DPI possible to preserve as much clarity and detail as possible.
Lots of amazing stories were spotlighted, but near the end it was Invasive that really got me excited again. I’m famously a gigantic chicken when it comes to horror films, but I thoroughly enjoy horror manga and comics, and Cullen Bunn can deliver some of the best in the genre. Telling the story of a young female surgeon who goes missing, only to re-emerge some time later, terribly mutilated and with her vocal cords surgically removed, her mother goes on a journey to discover who did this to her - uncovering a secret society of “Murder-surgeons”.
Bunn has previously shared that this story was motivated and inspired by his own nightmares, and so I’m really looking forward to this story coming to life later this year!
As a closing point, Hunter briefly discussed Genderqueer - the most banned book in America. He thanked the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund for their support, and shared that Oni Press would be fundraising for them with a special auction very soon. If you haven’t had a chance to support the CBLDF, you can do so here!
After Oni Press, I returned to the exhibit floor, bee-lining to the Oni Press booth to get a better look at Matt Lesniewski’s art. It’s really something else, and we look forward to connecting with the artist soon to learn more about his style!
After this I took a few more stops on the exhibit hall floor, including checking out CMON’s booth, where the stunning minis and exciting game demos brought gamers and comic book fans alike over to admire and engage in their products.
After leaving the CMON booth, I went over to BOOM! studios, where the talented Lee Bermejo was doing some signings. I brought my full-art copies of A Vicious Circle issues 1 and 2 for him to sign, and snapped a selfie too of course! (Don’t mind the sun-hat, it was hot out there before I got into the hall!)
That afternoon I took a walk over to the DiamondView tower to attend Funko Games’ exclusive event: the Rooftop Tabletop experience! A number of games from Funko were on demo/display, including Avatar: The Last Airbender Crossroads of Destiny, Scream: The Game, Star Trek: Cryptic and Indiana Jones: Sands of Adventure. I had a great demo with David, and definitely think Indiana Jones: Sands of Adventure would make for a great gaming appetizer at your next game night. Plus, the views were amazing!
Heading back to the exhibit hall, I was ready to for my next quick meet-and-greet with an amazing artist: Jenny Frison! Ms. Frison was doing signings at BOOM! and so I had to stop by with the Poetry of Madness sets I picked up.
As the hall began to wind down for the day, I decided to take a chance - I went back to the Mondo booth to see if there was any chance of nabbing a poster.
Amazingly, I was in luck! There was hardly any line, and there was still inventory for the amazing X-Men exclusive poster. I knew I had to have it, and so I picked it up!
All in all, it was a great start to my weekend…but it was only just beginning. the Eisners, the Energon Universe panel, Bandai Namco and more were just around the corner.
Make sure to check out the next installment of our SDCC recap, which will cover days 2 through 4!
Were you at SDCC last weekend? What were some of your favorite memories/experiences? Let us know in the comments!
