The best of San Diego Comic-Con 2013 – The Verge

Paramount Plus dropped its big Star Trek crossover episode early, and it’s a delight

2023-07-22T19:04:16-04:00

This photo is technically a spoiler, but it was released months ago by the studio, so is it actually a spoiler? | Photo by Michael Gibson / Paramount Plus

There might not be any actors or big casting announcements at San Diego Comic-Con this year, but Paramount Plus did find one way to surprise fans. It's dropping the next episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds five days early. The episode also happens to be the very anticipated crossover episode featuring the live-action version of some of the cast of Star Trek: Lower Decks. Having already seen this episode, I can confirm this is all exactly as delightful as it sounds.

With the actors on strike, SDCC has been much more muted than in previous years. There aren't as many star-studded panels and zero major casting announcements. This has mean …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Watch this: our weekend at San Diego Comic-Con, in video

2013-07-27T15:02:03-04:00

SDCC OTV

Our biggest worry going into The Verge's first San Diego Comic-Con was that it'd be as "corporate" as people had warned. As it turns out, though, Comic-Con is still all about the fans, a veritable nexus for nerd culture. Here's a taste of what we saw through the dark magick of motion picture.

Video production by Christian Mazza

Seth Meyers (The Awesomes)

Jeff Wadlow (Kick-Ass 2)

David Twohy (Riddick)

Roberto Orci and Gavin Hood (Ender's Game)

Read the full story at The Verge.

For Comic-Con’s street preachers, hate gets results

2013-07-26T09:30:02-04:00

San Diego Comic-Con evangelists

As much as costumes and badges, street preachers are a part of Comic-Con. Some simply hand out tracts or display scripture, while others deliver sermons or pepper their signs with topical references. "Don't be Comic Conned!" reads one. "Your life is not fiction."

The preachers have been there for years, promoting religion next to company booths passing out party invitations or hawkers carrying cans of Coke. But when I first saw them, I didn't realize that I was about to witness one of the ugliest facets of Comic-Con: the subset of vicious provocateurs who set out to "win" people over by telling them they're going to burn in Hell… and get th …

Read the full story at The Verge.

The nexus of nerd culture: Comic-Con 2013 in photos

2013-07-23T15:45:04-04:00

via cdn3.sbnation.com

The 2013 San Diego Comic-Con International wrapped up Sunday, capping a four-and-a-half day cultural carnival covering just about every form of entertainment imaginable. Fresh from our trip, we look back at our experience this year - and some of the coolest things we saw along the way.

Adi Robertson

I will admit: Comic-Con almost broke me. Waking up before dawn to sit in lines, living on overpriced microwave pizza and energy bars - it's a mass-market entertainment event, after all, and being a fan there is a brutal calling. But there is also nothing on earth like being carried along in a sea of people who love pulp so much that they're will …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Inked at Comic-Con: a superfan marks every year with a new tattoo

2013-07-23T10:30:03-04:00

comic con tattoo whole room

During Comic-Con 2009, Timmy Madere got drunk in the middle of the day and stumbled into Nothing Sacred Tattoo, the closest tattoo parlor to the convention center. He walked out with his first tattoo ever: a Green Lantern symbol on the middle finger of his right hand. Since then, it's become a tradition. Every year he comes to Nothing Sacred and gets tattooed by Todd Smithson, a skater who has tribal tattoos covering his face and zero interest in comics.

"I came in and looked at Todd's face and body and went, okay this is the guy I want to tattoo me," recalled Madere, who is from New Orleans. He's not interested in getting a tattoo from any …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Chuck Palahniuk continuing ‘Fight Club’ with graphic novel sequel

2013-07-22T19:09:05-04:00

via ia.media-imdb.com

Chuck Palahniuk is working on a comic book sequel to his era-defining novel Fight Club. Palahniuk confirmed the news on his official site today, saying he was in the early process of figuring out the best way to create and publish a series of graphic novels set ten years after the events of the first book. "Nowadays, Tyler is telling the story, lurking inside Jack, and ready to launch a comeback," he wrote. "Jack is oblivious. Marla is bored. Their marriage has run aground on the rocky coastline of middle-aged suburban boredom. It's only when their little boy disappears, kidnapped by Tyler, that Jack is dragged back into the world of Mayhem. …

Read the full story at The Verge.

‘Breaking Bad’ actor Bryan Cranston hid in plain sight at Comic-Con wearing a Heisenberg mask

2013-07-22T14:56:26-04:00

comic-con cranston

Here's a new Heisenberg uncertainty principle for you: if you see a guy walking around in a Heisenberg mask, it might actually be the guy who plays Heisenberg. Bryan Cranston, star of AMC's Breaking Bad, walked the floor of San Diego Comic-Con on Sunday undetected while dressed as his drug lord character. He revealed his true identity only after walking to the front of a Breaking Bad panel and dramatically removing his mask. Cranston appeared at Comic-Con to promote the final eight episodes of the series, which will begin airing Aug. 11 on AMC. No new footage was shown, but AMC did show off a trailer featuring highlights from the series so f …

Read the full story at The Verge.

From ‘Saturday Night Live’ to streaming: Seth Meyers on his new Hulu series ‘The Awesomes’

2013-07-22T12:30:04-04:00

The Awesomes promo shot

Original streaming video programming got a boost of legitimacy last week when two Netflix shows received Emmy nominations. Now Saturday Night Live stalwart (and future Late Night host) Seth Meyers is bringing his latest venture to life as an animated show on Hulu.

Hulu was the "perfect vessel"

The Awesomes is a comedy about the adventures of some not-so-super heroes. Conceived of back in 2006 by Meyers and Michael Shoemaker (Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon), the show didn't find the right creative home until Hulu stepped up in 2011. "They were the first place that were willing to let us tell it the way we wanted to tell it, …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Being Spider Girl: a day at Comic-Con with a master of make-believe

2013-07-22T11:45:03-04:00

linda le show floor focus

It's the last day of Comic-Con, and Linda Le is sitting in her hotel room in a black body suit and 6-inch heels, delicately scrunching her long black hair into a hairnet as she completes the transformation into Spider Girl, a Marvel superhero. "It takes me about two hours to get ready," she said. "So from putting my hair into a hairnet - which people don't usually do, but I don't want my wig to fall off on the floor - then I have to do the drag makeup, which is really funny, then eyelashes."

Le is part of an elite group of so-called cosplayers - people who dress up as fictional characters on days other than Halloween - who actually make a l …

Read the full story at The Verge.

‘Community’ showrunner Dan Harmon promises to bring back the series’ glory days

2013-07-21T20:16:43-04:00

Community

After near-cancellation and a maligned fourth season without original showrunner Dan Harmon, Community will return next year with what Harmon hopes will be a clean slate. At a Comic-Con panel today, Harmon promised that the show will bounce back from its slump and said that he's still angling hard for the requested six seasons, though he was fairly mum on a movie. "Nobody wants to not fail more than me at this point," said Harmon, who is retaking the helm for Season 5. "This is a whole new thing. We have to reground, reestablish these characters, get back to the emotional basics, and then have the most fun we've ever had."

Harmon admitted t …

Read the full story at The Verge.