New York Comic Con 2017: all the news from the pop culture party for fans – The Verge

Author Delilah S. Dawson on creating Captain Phasma’s backstory

2017-10-23T12:52:35-04:00

When The Force Awakens hit theaters in 2015, many moviegoers came away from the film disappointed by one character: Captain Phasma. The imposing stormtrooper captain was hyped as a formidable force on the battlefield, but ultimately ended up aiding the Resistance when threatened by one of her former soldiers, Finn.

In Delilah S. Dawson's new novel Phasma, readers are given new insight into where the character came from, and just what motivates her. As it turns out, Phasma isn't a die-hard First Order loyalist: she escaped from a hellish life on a post-apocalyptic planet when the First Order presented an opportunity for a better life.

At Ne …

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The focus on diversity gained momentum at this year’s New York Comic Con

2017-10-12T08:20:01-04:00

Audience members dressed in cosplay as members of the Sailor Moon franchise at the Women of Color Break Out the Books panel at the New York Comic Con 2017.

2017's entertainment has suggested some marginal progress in diversity, with an increasing trend toward film, TV shows, and anime telling the stories of marginalized groups. There's growing awareness of how representation affects entertainment, which has lead to, for instance, the whitewashing discussions about Ghost in the Shell and Death Note, or Ed Skrein's decision to turn down a role in Hellboy, once he learned the character was meant to be of Asian descent. As a celebration of fandom, 2017's New York Comic Con reflected the year's trends. It showed the same minute steps being made toward racial and gender equity in entertainment. It al …

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How costumers are using cosplay to overcome mental and physical disabilities

2017-10-11T13:56:45-04:00

Jayden cosplaying as the red Power Ranger

One of the most beautiful things about New York Comic Con this past weekend was the diverse array of attendees at the four-day celebration. New York's Jacob Javits Convention Center and its surrounding streets were filled with children, senior citizens, couples, families, seasoned cosplayers, self-proclaimed "blerds" (a portmanteau for "black nerds"), and everyone in between. It was hard to not be moved by the inclusive nature of the event, where thousands of people came to express their fandom for whatever character or property they identify with, whether that meant simply watching the crowd, or arriving in elaborate costumes they crafted t …

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Watch the first trailer for The X-Files’ 11th season

2017-10-09T09:58:51-04:00

The first trailer for the 11th season of The X-Files is here, having debuted at New York Comic Con over the weekend.

It looks like the stakes are pretty high, as we get chilling voiceover threatening the extinction of the entire human race throughout the trailer, and Gillian Anderson as Agent Scully croaking vague commands to David Duchovny's Agent Mulder from a hospital bed. There are guns, cigarettes, jump scares, and threats of "hell on Earth." But don't worry: "The truth still lies in the X-Files."

Fox announced the limited 11th season of The X-Files back in April, promising the return of Anderson and Duchovny, as well show creator Chr …

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Hulu’s Castle Rock will be an anthology show that connects the worlds of Stephen King

2017-10-09T09:27:31-04:00

Warner Bros. unveiled a first look at its upcoming Stephen King-inspired show Castle Rock with a teaser trailer at New York Comic Con today, which included details about a new cast and story planned for season 2.

In February, J.J. Abrams announced a new show for Hulu that would be heavily inspired by King's enormous, interconnected world, set in the familiar location of Castle Rock, but with few other details. The show is expected to begin streaming at some point in 2018.

Dustin Thomason, the show's executive producer and creator, described it as an original story that "brushes up against the characters" from King's many stories. He said …

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How Riverdale made Archie relevant for a new generation of fans

2017-10-08T17:00:34-04:00

Kids line up to ask questions about Archie comics, dressed as Jughead, Josie, and others.

The CW's Riverdale has become a hit by adapting one of the most unlikely pieces of source material: the all-American line of Archie Comics. With a darker, more glamorous take, the show has been able to bring an entirely new audience to the traditionally wholesome high school adventures of Archie and his friends Betty, Veronica, and Jughead. A panel dedicated to the character at New York Comic Con this past Saturday highlighted the schism between the old and the new, revealing an unlikely key to the success of both Archie and Riverdale.

The members of the Comic Con audience were largely young girls and boys, with a smattering of teenagers, a …

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Square Enix shows off its vision for the future of comics with virtual reality

2017-10-07T10:32:26-04:00

After a demonstration of the Oculus Dev Kit 1 in 2013, game developer and comic publisher Square Enix started work on a research project dubbed "Project Hikari." The project was an attempt to adapt comics into virtual reality, by not just making something that look like it was a comic come to life, but also to explore what a VR comic means.

The company is demoing the project, Tales of the Wedding Rings VR - based on a Japanese comic of the same name minus "VR" - on the Oculus Rift at New York Comic Con this weekend.

Tales of the Wedding Rings VR is a non-interactive viewing experience in a virtual space. It's not so much a virtual reality …

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Watch the first trailer for Hulu’s Marvel’s Runaways

2017-10-07T08:30:39-04:00

At New York City Comic Con yesterday, Hulu unveiled the first trailer for its upcoming Marvel Universe show, Runaways, as well as a release date: November 21st, 2017.

The show is based off of the 2003 Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona comic book series The Runaways, and this trailer introduces us to six teenagers who discover that their parent are members of The Pride, group of supervillains. After witnessing some sort of ritual, they're shocked at what they see, and begin to work out what their next steps are, while they contend with superpowers of their own.

Hulu announced that it would adapt the show in August 2016, and ordered the sh …

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Visiting Andy Weir’s lunar city Artemis at New York Comic Con

2017-10-06T14:43:18-04:00

When Andy Weir published his first novel The Martian a couple of years ago, it went on to become a major best-seller and blockbuster film. His next novel is Artemis, a crime thriller set on the Moon, and New York Comic Con fans have the opportunity to step right into that story. It's all part of an extensive exhibit put together by Audible to promote the book, entitled The Museum of Artemis: Life on the Moon.

The novel follows Jazz, a young woman who runs a smuggling operation out of the titular lunar city. When she's invited to take part in a scheme that promises a major payday, she suddenly finds herself in the midst of a vast conspiracy, …

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Question reality with the new trailer for Amazon’s Philip K. Dick anthology show

2017-10-06T13:47:01-04:00

At New York Comic Con, Amazon Studios unveiled a trailer for its upcoming anthology show, Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams. The series will be all about questioning what is real. The show shared the stage with the company's other Philip K. Dick show, The Man in the High Castle, showing off their common ground.

The snippets from the upcoming season give fans a preview of what will arrive to US Amazon Prime subscribers at some point in 2018. The show is presently airing on the UK's Channel 4.

Dick's work is frequently adapted by Hollywood, resulting in films such as Blade Runner, Minority Report, Total Recall, Screamers, and others. His daug …

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