Happy Tuesday, friends! I tried to think of a clever and fun analogy to describe what state of San Diego Comic-Con planning and announcements we are currently in, but frankly, I came up short. Badges have been arriving or are on their way. There seem to be new exclusives announced or teased every day. Parking reservations start next week. If it weren’t for the Marvel news and WGA and (potential) SAG-AFTRA strikes I’d think we were on perfect target for a typical SDCC.Â
Now let’s take a look at the news you could have missed, but won’t, because you’re here and we’re not going to let that happen:
- Independent comic book publisher Red 5 is kicking their San Diego Comic-Con plans in to high gear with the reveal of an exclusive variant cover for Prometheus in Chains #1. The modern take on the classic Frankenstein is written by Rich Davis with art by Jordan DiRenzo.
- And that won’t be the only exclusive from Red 5. They will also be offering a variant cover for Dead Kingdom Vol. 2 #1, the first issue in the second series written by Etienne Derepentigny.
- The Avengers will be assembling at Comic-Con, this time at the booth of artist Alex Ross. This impressive artwork celebrating the 60th Anniversary of The Avengers will be on display for the very first time at Ross’ booth during the event, #2415.
- There will be some new merch over at the booth of the Serenity/Firefly group the California Browncoats. This “shiny” patch is designed by artist Scott Derby and will be available for purchase at SDCC.
- Creator Jeff Pina’s booth, Small Press Q-06, will be a veritable one-stop-shop for comics for the whole family. He’ll have copies of many of this graphic novels for sale.
- But what about all of Jeff’s amazing originals that he offers at San Diego Comic-Con? Have no fear, he will not be letting us down.
- The Cartoon Art Museum is looking for some talented artists willing to donate that talent to their San Diego Comic-Con Sketch-A-Thon fundraiser. If you have the time and the skills, let them know. For the rest of us, we can plan on swinging by their booth to watch all the commissions being created.
- If you’re looking for high-end wearable Star Wars helmets and collectibles, use lightspeed to get to the Denuo Novo booth, #4049. Denuo Novo is a subsidiary of NECA, so you know the quality will be top notch.
- And while you’re getting kitted out in all the Star Wars finery, you’ll want to keep and eye on the #minicritterdrops from Shozumi. Finders-keepers drops will include miniature light sabers with glow sticks included.
- From the other side of the crochet spectrum, you’ll also want to watch for this teeny weeny Captain America, another finders-keepers crocheted item from the Geeky Hooker.
- You’d be very hard pressed to find a comic artist in more demand right now than Daniel Warren Johnson (Do A Powerbomb), who garners long lines for signatures and sketches wherever he goes (deservedly!) Felix Comic Art will be facilitating 6″ x 9″ sketches for Johnson at San Diego Comic-Con. We suggest signing up for their newsletter to get all the details when they are released.
- Another artist represented by Felix Comic Art, Sanford Greene (Bitter Root), will also be offering sketches at SDCC, just like those shown in this Tweet from Heroes Con.Â
- It’s impossible to miss the crowd of folks who make a beeline for Yesterdays booth every day of Comic-Con, usually to snag their amazing exclusive and very limited edition pins. Will this year be any different? Of course not.
- Elvin Hernandez had a great mail day, and no, we are not talking about his badges arriving. Hernandez, the creator of the independent comic Mundo Rubio: Cacique received copies of the first book fresh off the presses. The book will debut at San Diego Comic-Con.
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- How do you feel about “Robots in Disguise?” If they make you want to “Roll Out!” then you’ll want to pencil in the Transformers Brand Panel at San Diego Comic Con 2023. We don’t know the time or the room yet but according to TFormers.com, it will be taking place on Thursday, July 20.Â
- Many, many new independent comics have gotten their start via crowd-funding on Kickstarter and if you’ve backed any projects, you might just see the creators at SDCC. One of those creators is Second Sight Publishing, who announced on Twitter that they would be signing at the Kickstarter booth, as well as the Dark Horse booth.
- We hope you’ve earned your map-reading badge because the Con Rangers are moving to a larger spot on the exhibit floor, Booth #1336. Track them down to find all their super cool merit badges.
- The full schedule has been revealed for the San Diego International Children’s Film Festival, which takes place in conjunction with SDCC in Room 9AB on Sunday, July 23, 2023. If you do not have a badge for SDCC you can also catch the festival on​ Saturday, July 29, 2023 from 10am to 5pm at the San Diego Central Library, 330 Park Ave, San Diego.Â
- One of our favorite exhibitors at SDCC is Super 7 and we are patiently waiting to hear what they will have for us this year. During a recent Q&A over on Twitter, they hinted that we might see some reveals “soon” and maybe even some “fun” G.I. Joe stuff. Also, happy 75th Brian!
- After scrapping their original SDCC exclusive print a while back, Monkey Minion started from scratch and is now in the proofing stages. Something about this looks very familiar…we saw something sorta similar in our mailbox, maybe?
- Canto co-creator Drew Zucker is teasing some sort of exclusive over on Instagram, featuring a very recognizable building. Looks like we’ll have to wait a bit for the full reveal.
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- And lastly today, even when he’s on vacation, he’s still working on San Diego Comic-Con exclusives. There is no resting for Patrick Ballesteros. This “work in progress” will certainly be swinging it’s way to SDCC next month.
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
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