Anne Marie is reporting from Comic Con in between her weekly A Year With Kate postings. And all with sprained shoulder. What a trouper. - Nathaniel
Anne Marie, Her Sling, and A DragonGreetings from San Diego! Comic Con officially started yesterday morning, and despite absolutely massive crowds, I managed to squeeze myself (and my sling) through the convention center floor and into a few panels to pass the good news on to you. Pro tip for first time congoers with sprained shoulders: A sling does not work as a well as a handicap sign. I got jostled and outright pushed until (no joke) a man dressed as Superman yelled out, "Step aside, citizens! This woman is injured!" He really is a boyscout after all.
Here are a five things I learned at Comic Con today...
1. Marvel dominates the movies, but DC has its eye on TV
DC has five different TV shows on network television this season: Arrow (3rd season on the CW), The Flash (CW), Constantine (NBC), a midseason replacement called iZombie (CW) that was pitched by DC's VP of Marketing as 'The Walking Dead meets Veronica Mars,' and Gotham, the much-buzzed-about police procedural/Batman prequel for Fox. Once again, DC is splitting its properties between different networks (as opposed to its competitor, which is keeping it all under one studio/network), which means that the only shows with a chance of creating a crossover universe are The Flash, Arrow, and iZombie on the CW. The Flash and Green Arrow fight zombies. That would be weird.
2. DC is riding Batman's cape-tails as long as possible...
This is the 75th Anniversary of the Bat Man, and DC is doing everything it can to capitalize on Bruce Wayne's popularity. Two new videogames are coming out in the next nine months: Lego Batman 3 and Arkham Knights. A cartoon based on the Arkham videogames will be released in August. One Batman comic is ending while another begins. Oh yeah, and the complete Batman '66 is being released on Blu Ray. To celebrate the Bat-Legacy, Adam West, Burt Ward, and Julie Newmar made their Comic Con debut, and the DC booth showed off several decades of Bat Cowls from the films. No word on Warner Bros's plans for the film yet, though.
Love is an open do-oohhh-oooohh-ooor ♫ love is an open door
3. Frozen is hands down the most popular cosplay of the year.
There are Elsas and Annas as far as the eye can see. There was even one group that brought its own karaoke machine and performed the entire score to a line of people waiting in front of the convention center. Lucky us.
4. Betty White is delightful.
I mean, the world had already agreed on this, but she really turned on the charm at the TV Land panel (Side note: TV Land has a panel? Comic Con is officially old). Ms. White was joined by Donald Faison (Scrubs) and William Shatner, and she teased both constantly. My favorite was the following:
Shatner: Everything with you is sex. Sex, sex, sex!
White: You got a better idea?
5. You can cosplay as anything you want.
Even half naked Rescue Rangers.
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