If your favorite part of Comic-Con is panels, then this issue of Under the Tents is for you. We’ve got more panels than my parents’ living room in 1973. Plus, we have photo shoots, commissions, and more panels. Panels on panels. From first-time panels to panels from artists returning after 15 years, you guessed it, there’s panels.
(Author’s Note: Thanks to UBlog superstar Erin Tapken for the word “Panel-monium”)
Here’s a look at what you might have missed:
- Do you dress like a sailor and not look like one of the Village People? Do you end every conversation with a public service announcement? If so, you might be interested in the 2023 SDCC Fan GI Joe and Hasbro Characters Shoot happening during San Diego Comic-Con. The Coastal Defense Command, a Finest California Garrison, will send out the specific time, date, and location for the shoot the week before, but in the meantime, you can work on polishing those boots and ironing those summer creases out of your uniform. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.
- Let’s be honest; having a San Diego Comic-Con panel on your college application is pretty cool. Eisner Award nominee Tim Smyth is walking on air to have his entire family’s panel approved for SDCC 2023. Since we’re all introverts, too, I don’t think his kids will have anything to worry about.
- Super talented comic artist Liana Kangas also had her first ever panel approved for SDCC 2023, and she’s teasing a “very special guest and one of the best moderators in the industry.”
- Ask, and the answer shall be given unto you. That’s what happened when one of our readers inquired about any law-related panels this year, which are a lot of fun. The ever-vigilant Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) saw this and teased, “Watch this space…”. While we don’t know specifics, the answer to your question, @jdfurever, appears to be yes.
- Now this is a tease. Collider editor-in-chief (that’s how you spell it, San Diego) Steven Weintraub announced via his Twitter feed that he will be back at SDCC 2023 with a panel like the one he did last year, which will include exclusive footage from a really big upcoming movie. Not a lot of details, we know, but based on Weintraub’s previous panels (which have included conversations with the Russo Brothers, a “Directors on Directing” panel in which Keanu Reeves showed up to debut some John Wick: Chapter 4 footage, and more), you know it’s going to be good.
- Comic artist Mark Beyani Teodosio let his Instagram followers know that publisher The City Needs You will be bringing The Power of Kommunity in the Indie-Komik scene to San Diego Comic-Con this year.
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- Tony Kim, founder of Hero Within, also had a Star Trek-themed panel approved for SDCC 2023.
- Local Hillsdale Middle School Teacher William Stuchell thanked his assistant principal for helping him get his panel, just approved for SDCC 2023, submitted. I don’t know about you, but my teachers were never this cool in middle school.
- Quentin Lee, head of Margin Films, recently posted an unboxing video to his YouTube channel showing all the merch from his latest release, Pumpkin Head Lost His Head, he’ll be bringing with him to Small Press Table #O-07 at SDCC this year.
- Speaking of panels, horror author KC Grifant is excited to be another first-time panelist at SDCC this year.
- Super awesome artist and friend to the UBlog, Don Nguyen, is doing things a little differently this year. While he has opened his SDCC commissions (he’s on the list), he won’t have a booth/table on the Exhibit Hall floor. Instead, you’re more than welcome to pick them up after any of his panels or schedule a meet-up with him (no weirdos).
- Super talented San Diego sci-fi author J. Dianne Dotson is also pretty excited to be on at least one panel at San Diego Comic-Con this year.
- Cartoonist Colleen Doran is making her return to San Diego Comic-Con after a 15-year hiatus as a guest of the Comic-Con Museum and panelist. You’ll also find her in Artists’ Alley at Table #HH-07, where she’d love to have you drop by, and doing autographs though details are still TBA. [Editor’s Note: Will we hear more about the upcoming Good Omens graphic novel? I for one hope so.]
- If you’re a fan of any of the amazing talent represented by New Paradigm Studios, you’ll be excited to hear some of them will be on panels at SDCC this year.
- University of San Diego professor Chris Garcia will be presenting a panel at SDCC this year about the Engineering Design Process of Superhero Technology. It’s pretty neat to peek behind the curtain and see how something goes from concept to reality (and no matter what anyone says, there’s always a process).
- Newly-minted comic creator Cliff Bleszinski will be on not one, but two panels at San Diego Comic-Con this year to promote his new comic with Alex de Campi, SCRAPPER.
Anything we missed? Let us know by dropping us a line, or tweet us at @SD_Comic_Con.
If you missed our previous Under the Tents 2023 posts, you can find them HERE.
