The Big News from Comic Con

Comic Con is on my list of places I’d like to visit someday, like Burning Man, or Octoberfest, or the dentist.  I’ve always relied on second-hand sources for Comic Con information, so I spent the weekend watching for headlines for announcements about my favorite shows or trailers for movies I’m wanting to see.  Seems like this was a quieter year than usual, but there were some headlines I was excited about.  Here are my four biggest takeaways from Comic Con in 2018.

You guys must have gotten my texts. Thanks for getting here before DC did any more dreary, brooding movies.

DC Got The Message

It looks like DC has taken some criticism to heart.  After re-vamping Justice League midway through filming in order to make it lighter and funnier, the next two movies seem to have fully embraced the idea that audiences would prefer to have a good time at the movies.  The age of brooding is over.  Aquaman looks like fun, though the special effects-heavy movie looks a lot like Thor to me and so I hope the movie aims to be more like Ragnarok than the earlier titles.  Shazam was probably the biggest hit.  The movies looks like a cross between Spiderman: Homecoming and Big, though it probably won’t aim to capture that sense of angst that Peter Parker experiences.  DC dark days may be done, at least until Marvel makes it cool again.

This was the best news I saw the entire time (well, this and the Shazam trailer).

Invader Zim Is Back

I’d heard that new episodes of Invader Zim were coming and I was thrilled to see the preview here.  Invader Zim was such a unique cartoon back in the day.  The animation was impressive and unique, the social commentary was pretty biting, and the whole tone of the show was so bleak and brutal.  It wasn’t a show that was meant to run for six seasons and a movie.  Still, Nickelodeon knows the power of nostalgia, and it’s great to know that one of my favorite cartoons is getting at least a TV movie, if not a full-on revival (but, hey, who knows?).

How should he leave the show? I think he should hop in a car with Agent Mulder, Eric Foreman, and Ned Stark and speed off to central protagonist Valhalla.

Rick Is Leaving The Walking Dead

Yeah, Rick is leaving The Walking Dead, and I’m a little conflicted about it.  I mean, we wrote a while ago that the show definitely needed to move in a new direction to keep things interesting.  However, the list of shows that lost their central protagonist this late in the run and continued for several seasons is pretty short.  The X-Files, Scrubs, That 70’s Show, The Practice, and The Office (not to mention shows about the join this list like House of Cards, Roseanne, and Transparent) didn’t continue long without their central character, despite having strong supporting cast members.  Maybe Darryl and Carol can carry on, but – if history is any indication – I’m not optimistic about the future of the series.

If this is all a dream, I’ll be deeply disappointed.

Glass Looks Surprisingly Unpredictable

After the surprisingly good Split, I thought I knew what to expect from Glass.  Bruce Willis would be investigating the case, he’d go to prison to speak to Mr. Glass who would be somehow connected to The Beast.  In the preview, we’d see clips of Bruce Willis and James McAvoy fighting on a rooftop or something while Mr. Glass talks about the universe being weird and unpredictable.  Needless to say, that’s not what we got.  All three characters seem to be incarcerated in a mental institution while Sarah Paulson interviews them.  Watching this, it’s pretty clear that I have no idea what to expect from this movie.  M. Night Shyamalan has had a pretty good streak lately, with his season of Wayward Pines and Split both being surprisingly good movies.  I’m actually really looking forward to his next movie, which is something I never thought I’d say about another M. Night Shyamalan movie (what a twist!).