Star Wars: Brightstar

Whilst Star Wars fans (myself included) wait for a new movie and further spin-off series on Disney+, fans continue to produce short films based on George Lucas' space opera.

Star Wars: Brightstar, directed by Raphaël Hébert, is an award-winning fan film sans Skywalkers or Mandalorians.



Read the official synopsis:

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, a fugitive family living in peace must brace itself when their past has tracked them down."

The 20-minute short film features an electrifying lightsabre duel and an emotional core evoking the original trilogy.

If you have a Star Wars fan film you'd like to share, please contact me.

Stormtroopers on the Fourth of July

Happy 4th of July to all our US-based readers!

Following months of successfully touring film festivals and comic cons, the next chapter in the Star Wars fan film Stormtroopers is released today.



Read the official synopsis:

"An Imperial Base Station is laid siege by battleship attack & haunting PTSD within its ranks."

I want to give huge congratulations to director Micheal Fitzgerald and his team, who've worked tirelessly on their latest Star Wars fan film.

What did you think of the latest Stormtroopers instalment? Let me know in the comments below.

The Might of the Daleks

The Might of the Daleks could be one of the best Doctor Who fan films I've ever seen!

YouTuber Josh Snares and a talented team perfectly distil the clawing claustrophobia of the First Doctor's era, most notably Mission to the Unknown, for the 60th anniversary.

Mission to the Unknown is a classic Doctor Who episode unique for not featuring William Hartnell as the titular time traveller, brilliantly remade by students at the University of Central Lancaster with Nicholas Briggs performing the voices of the Daleks. This was a passion project of Professor Andrew Ireland, a friend and fellow Bournemouth University alumni.

I'm sure Hartnell would be proud.



Read the synopsis for The Might of the Daleks:

"On the final days of Continent A, there are no heroes. Only the might of the Daleks."

Includes depiction of suicide. Viewer discretion is advised.

What did you think of The Might of the Daleks? Let me know in the comments below.

If you have a Doctor Who fan film you'd like to share, please contact me.

Stormtrooper unboxes a new blaster in E-11

This is the unboxing video Star Wars fans are looking for! Fan films are always fun to watch and sometimes they go above and beyond (special thanks to my friend Earl Barker for the tip-off).



Read the synopsis for E-11: Standard Issues:

"Today TK-421 shows you exclusive first pictures and outstanding test results of the new E-11 - the upcoming standard blaster rifle of the Imperial Forces. Enjoy increased precision, new firing mode and a reworked cooling system for much more power!"

If you have a Star Wars fan film you'd like to share, please contact me.

Holy DC FanDome, Batman!

DC FanDome was in response to the ongoing global pandemic and lockdowns, which saw conventions cancelled en masse last year.

Wisely, Warner Bros. has brought it back for a second year and, like many DC Comics fans, I'd be pleased to see DC FanDome become an annual online event to watch on my Apple TV.

Nick Smith, my US-based partner in comic book crime-fighting, has thoughts...

Guest post by Nick Smith

Batman is big business. After eight decades in the public consciousness, the franchise character is estimated to have earned almost $28 billion in retail, box office returns and other media. But it’s not just the Dark Knight who brings in the bucks – Bruce’s just a bonus. DC FanDome’s 2021 line-up shows how much the Bat-family has grown in popularity over recent years.

DC FanDome is a virtual event designed to showcase new or returning projects and celebrate the publishing company’s beloved characters. This year’s ‘ultimate DC fan experience’ included clips and interviews available to watch on YouTube. Many of those clips were based around the Bat.



The FanDome’s sneak peeks, presented by actors, directors and producers, included Batwoman, Batgirl, Titans, Harley Quinn, a Gotham Knights game, Catwoman: Hunted, Batman Unburied, Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, Batman: Caped Crusader and Pennyworth, all birthed in the streets of Gotham.

Even Todd McFarlane got in on the act, discussing the merger with DC Direct and McFarlane Toys, focusing on Batman-related figurines in what felt more like a sales expo pitch than a guest appearance from a well-known comics creator.

DC’s emphasis on its best-known characters – Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman (celebrating her 80th anniversary) – is understandable. They’re a known quantity that casual fans want to see and are more likely to spend money on. But the company has dozens of heroes and villains to promote in the hope that one of them will take off in movie theatres or on TV, so it would be good to see more balance and diversity on a day like this.

There were breaks from the big guns. Members of the general public don’t know Black Adam from… Adam. But they know Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, who hyped up a Black Adam flick last year. With a summer 2022 release date, Johnson was back with a preview showing Adam’s intro.

Other segments had stars to help raise the stature of their projects: Jason Momoa (Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom), John Cena (Peacemaker), Zachary Levi (Shazam! Fury of the Gods). News Flashes were reported by Candice Patton (Iris West-Allen on TV). All these teases and news bites led up to a new trailer for The Batman, the COVID-slowed feature film arriving (we hope) in March 2022.

The major project delays were cheekily acknowledged, especially in a tiny tease for the live-action feature The Flash (adapting Flashpoint) and an animated pastiche plugging an unfinished new season of Harley Quinn. It might have been the music or Ezra Miller’s candid intro but the Flash tease proved less is more… right down to the final non-image of a batmobile. Which model will it be? We’ll have to wait until they film more of the movie to find out.

This brings us back to The Batman, keeping his presence felt throughout the FanDome. The latest take on the caped crusader is appropriately dark and gritty, with a Blade Runner-bricked landscape, an Edward Hopper-style opening image and other trailer tropes we’ve come to expect. Slowed-down rock song? Check. Rapid flashes to black? Check. Vengeful hero? Double-check. The focus this time is on violence (lots of punching, hitting and crashing) leavened by Zoe Kravitz’s caring Catwoman.

Director Matt Reeves has given this film a lot of TLC and attempts to give hoary chestnut images a new spin. Case in point: The Batman walks away from a wall of fire a la RoboCop and countless other movie heroes; this shot is upside down. We also get a good hard look at Batman’s bullet-proof chin; shots bounce of Robert Pattinson’s chiselled jaw.

The more I watch the trailer, the more I like it but the Flash tease gives me more goosebumps per second, even though we’ve seen Flashpoint regurgitated multiple timelines’ worth in comics, animated movies and on TV. Both new films look solid, as well as less famed features like Blue Beetle, starring Xolo Maridueña.

DC FanDome is a convention with no queues and no expensive entry fees. Everyone gets a front-row seat. There are downsides though: no Q&A this year, no one-on-one meetings with the stars and, most importantly, no in-person camaraderie among fans.

Presented as a digital storefront, this year’s DC FanDome seems more like lip service to comic book aficionados. We are told, ‘you’re the best fans ever.’ Yes, we are. But the best way to remind and reward us is to provide more collaborative content. It’s time to spend Bruce Wayne’s billions to utilize the internet’s full interactive capabilities.

Did you watch DC FanDome? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Jamie Costa as Robin Williams goes viral

"Mork calling Orson! Come in Orson..."

Previously, I've shared Jamie Costa's Star Wars fan films. Han Solo: A Smuggler's Trade, in which he played the titular captain of the Millennium Falcon, and Star Wars: Origins.

Costa's Robin Williams (The Fisher King) test footage scene is on another level. I implore you to watch it if you haven't already.



Williams was a household name growing up in the seventies and eighties. Mork & Mindy became a welcome escape from childhood trauma and Williams one of the first actors I remember doing impressions of to amuse family and friends.

Costa's clip has, deservedly, gone viral. He effortlessly captures the late actor's zaniness with many fans (myself included) calling for an official biopic.

ZomBeez

With the return of The Walking Dead this week, our resident US-based stellar scribe and comic book aficionado, Nick Smith, takes a well-earned break from reviewing all the things to talk about the inherent challenges of making a zombie horror B-movie during a pandemic.

It's not as easy as you might think.

Guest post by Nick Smith

It’s easy to watch a B-movie and ridicule the low budget, DIY production techniques. But making one is no laughing matter, as I was reminded when I agreed to produce a feature film about flesh-eating zombie bees called ZomBeez.

Executive Producer-Director-lead actress Elesia Marie had a good script that didn’t take itself too seriously, a strong cast and a determination to get her project picked up by the SyFy channel. There was only one drawback – we had no money.

While that salient fact has scuppered many movie projects, we soldiered stubbornly on, seeking funding and locations like a barn in the middle of nowhere (we found a farm specializing in ecotourism) and a school that wouldn’t mind being devastated by giant mutant anthophila (we secured an old school office building that was due to be torn down anyway).

Next, we jumped through a carnival’s worth of hoops dealing with the Screen Actors’ Guild (SAG), a union that has many rules to protect its actors from making movies. Er, I mean, to make sure they’re taken care of properly, with plenty of tea breaks, pensions and benefits, and fair billing in the credits.

SAG’s paperwork was tougher to take care of than any movie monster but we completed it while working on our next step – filming a proof of concept, in this case, a sequence from ZomBeez that we could use as a teaser trailer, showing the tone and basic concept of the film.



We got a permit to film in a woodland location where we could tell our mini-story about strange bees chasing a pair of hapless joggers. But before the running could happen, there was another unanticipated hurdle.

Our camera didn’t work.

Without a way to repair our Black Magic camera on site, we had to return it to the manufacturer and they couldn’t tell us how long it would be until we got it back. The only proof we would have for our Proof of Concept was proof that we were screwed.

We could have given up. We could have gone home and left the trees to the bees. Instead, a kind colleague lent us his gear and we were able to make our day.

We were almost ready to release our Proof of Concept to an impatient public with our rough footage, bloody makeup, and ‘bee’s eye view’ shots using a Ronin and a superimposed swarm. We needed one more ingredient – and that came from local rock band Nik Flagstar and his Dirty Mangy Dogs, best known for the theme tune to the show Nightmare Theatre. They created a super catchy original song for us and it added to the whole impression we wanted to make with the raw teaser sequence.



There was a lot more work to do. After we completed principal production of the movie this summer, Elesia got stuck into the editing process, rough-cutting a two-and-a-half-hour version of the film. We have to trim that down to 90 minutes, colour grade the footage, add digital effects and clean up the sound.

Only then will we have a finished product to show to distributors and channels like SyFy. We’re starting to talk to sales agents, the first of whom says he’s ‘a sucker for films like Zombeavers and Big Bad Bugs.’

There certainly seems to be an audience for this kind of B-movie.

I’ve focused on our challenges while making this movie but there have been many highlights too – the camaraderie of our cast and crew, the excitement of making a feature in our own neighbourhood instead of having to travel to a different state, the kindness of local businesses and organizations as we looked for locations. All this helps to motivate us as much – if not more – than any A-list movie buzz.

ILM hires Deepfake expert

When Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) cameoed in The Mandalorian second season finale last Christmas, most Star Wars fans (myself included) were overwhelmingly surprised and delighted to see the beloved Jedi Knight at the peak of his audacious powers.

However, the de-ageing technology, utilised by Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), was divisive. And independent VFX wizards quickly got to work on subjectively improving the visuals (following in the hallowed footsteps of Star Wars creator George Lucas' endless tinkering on the original trilogy).

One stood out from the rest. YouTube Deepfake star, Shamook.



His work was so impressive, it caught the attention of the fine folks at Lucasfilm who have subsequently hired him. IndieWire confirms in this quote:

“Over the past several years ILM has been investing in both machine learning and A.I. as a means to produce compelling visual effects work and it’s been terrific to see momentum building in this space as the technology advances.”

This is a mission statement suggesting there'll be more classic characters appearing in Star Wars spin-offs both on the big screen and Disney+.

“As some of you may already know, I joined ILM/Lucasfilm a few months ago and haven’t had the time to work on any new YouTube content,” Shamook wrote in a comment this month. “Now I’ve settled into my job, uploads should start increasing again. They’ll still be slow, but hopefully not months apart. Enjoy!”

Are you a fan of Deepfake technology or more concerned with the possible ethical implications therein? Let me know in the comments below.

Doctor Who panel at Comic-Con 2021

During Sunday's Doctor Who panel at Comic-Con@Home 2021, the BBC dropped a trailer for series 13.



Watch showrunner Chris Chibnall, Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who), Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan), new companion John Bishop (Dan) and a very special surprise guest as they share exclusive content from Doctor Who.



“Before we started making it, there were times when we thought we were going to be unable to do the show under Covid conditions this year… there were two ways you could go,” Chibnall told Deadline. “You could go ‘let’s do lots of tiny little episodes in one room, with no monsters,’ or we could throw down the gauntlet and do the biggest story we’ve ever done. We’re going to go to all kinds of different places, we’re going to have all kinds of characters and monsters, and it’s all going to be part of a bigger whole. It’s definitely the most ambitious thing we’ve done since we’ve been on the series.”

Whittaker's tenure as the titular Time Lord is rumoured to be coming to an end. However, this is simply speculation, and there's the small matter of the beloved sci-fi series' 60th anniversary in 2023.

Are you looking forward to the new 6-part series later this year on BBC One, BBC America and HBO Max? Let me know in the comments below.

Worlds of Star Wars and Indiana Jones collide

The 40th anniversary of Indiana Jones is the ideal moment to share this award-winning Star Wars fan film approved by Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill.



Read the official synopsis:

“Star Wars: Origins takes a unique look at where it all began. A thrilling action-adventure film drawing inspiration from both Star Wars and Indiana Jones to tell an epic story based on Earth during WWII. Behind what is possibly the most expensive fan film ever made are award-winning team, and life-long Star Wars fans; writer/director Phil Hawkins filmed on location in the Sahara Desert, Morocco, Star Wars: Origins is a self-funded not-for-profit project and the culmination of three years work.”

The movie stars Marie Everett (What Happened To Monday), Jamie Costa (Han Solo: A Smuggler’s Trade), Hadrian Howard (The Mummy) and Philip Walker.

On his ambitious love letter to George Lucas’ beloved sagas, writer and director Phil Hawkins said, “I’ve been lucky enough to make five feature films in the past — which were released by the likes of Sony Pictures and Netflix — but I could see a great divide from the low-budget films I was making to the scale and ambition of the films I’d like to make. Those films I grew up watching. Star Wars: Origins is hopefully a piece of work to help cross that divide and show the studios what I can do.”

Hawkins' fan film takes its inspiration from the Star Wars Easter eggs in Raiders of the Lost Ark and captures the essence of both beloved Lucasfilm franchises with aplomb.

If you have a Star Wars fan film you'd like to share, please contact me.

Holy viral fan film, Batman!

The Batman, directed by Matt Reeves, won't be in cinemas until 4th March 2022. So, here's an awesome Batman fan film that's gone viral.

Arriving days before Zack Snyder's Justice League. Batman: Dying is Easy.

The crowdfunded 25-minute fan film, directed by father and son duo Sean and Aaron Schoenke, stars Kevin Porter as Batman, Aaron Schoenke as Joker, Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs) as Bullock, Doug Jones as Riddler, Vera Bambi as Poison Ivy, Chris Daughtry as Hugo Strange, Amy Johnston as Harley Quinn and Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers) as Commissioner Gordon.

"Batman and Joker have always had such an interested psychological relationship, it's those dark concepts that make the characters so interesting," the movie description reads.



If you have a fan film you'd like to share, please contact me.

Steven Spielberg surprises E.T. star Drew Barrymore

Director Steven Spielberg (Jaws) surprised goddaughter Drew Barrymore on her 46th birthday with a special virtual appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show. No, you're crying.



"Director Steven Spielberg joins Drew's surprise birthday bash to share the first time he met an adorable six-year-old Drew when she came for an audition in his office for E.T.: The Extraterrestrial and his reaction to a very adult Drew Playboy spread years later in this digitally extended interview."

Spielberg talks affectionately about Barrymore's audition for the role of Carol Anne, played by the late Heather Michele O'Rourke, in director Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist (a suburban ghost story that continues to cause lively debate, among fellow film fans and friends, as to whether or not Spielberg was really at the helm as pre-production began on E.T.) and how he didn't hesitate to cast her as Gertie in E.T.

What are your memories of watching E.T., and do you think Spielberg directed Poltergeist? Let me know in the comments below.

Star Wars fan film: Prequel Trilogy remake

It's New Year's Eve and most of the UK is now in tier 4 (the highest level of restrictions) due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Tim Hoekstra, from New Zealand-based Knights of Renesmee, got in touch to 'shamelessly plug' his latest Star Wars fan film, a 6-hour prequel movie marathon filmed during the lockdown, that will help pass the time until 2021. How could I refuse?



I asked Tim: "What was the inspiration and, more importantly, is there going to be a holiday special in 2021?"

"The Star Wars Holiday Special would be extremely fertile ground haha. We'll see..." You heard it here first, folks! Tim went on to explain the creative impulse behind the shot-for-shot remake of Star Wars creator George Lucas' prequel trilogy. "We started almost 4 years ago with Revenge of the Sith, filming it over 5 days (it was holidays, we were bored and none of us had jobs). Our motivation was largely to have fun hanging out which I think you can see in our film. Another motivation was to make something nostalgic we could look back on in 10 years when we all have kids/families etc. After releasing it to Youtube and getting ~50 views in the first week, I woke up one morning and found it on Youtube trending with 100'000 views and from there, completing the trilogy was inevitable..."

If you have a fan film you'd like to share, please contact me.

Star Wars fan film: Scorekeeper

This past year, I've not shared many fan films and wanted to redress that. And to make a new year's resolution to further support the creative fanbases of Doctor Who, Star Wars and more as we continue to navigate the 'new normal' together in 2021.

Scorekeeper is a fun not-for-profit mash-up of Star Wars and Predator franchises from Creative Force Films (CFF), based out of Atlanta, GA. Featuring bounty hunter Bossk from The Empire Strikes Back and The Clone Wars.

"An Elite Rebel Team infiltrates an Imperial outpost on a mission of securing an asset that has vital information. Unbeknownst to them, they are not the only ones on the hunt."



If you have a fan film you'd like to share, please contact me.

Daleks!

Ahead of the Doctor Who holiday special, Revolution of the Daleks, Nick Smith, our US-based stellar scribe, has been checking out the latest spin-off series streaming on YouTube.

Daleks! Tell on...

Guest post by Nick Smith

It’s not easy being mean. Just ask the Daleks, who sucker-punched their way into pop culture almost six decades ago, thrilling and chilling readers and audiences ever since.

My first encounter with the Skaro squad came with Genesis of the Daleks back in the mid-seventies. But it was their search for Davros in 1979’s Destiny of the Daleks that really captured my imagination. I didn’t care that they were a bit tatty, or that Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor made fun of them. I found them fearsome, fascinating and most important of all, easy to imitate in the school playground. The bullies of the small screen took my mind off the real-life bullies I couldn’t exterminate [you had me at exterminate - Ed].

A few years later I got hooked on a periodical called Doctor Who Monthly (DWM). One of the strips I loved to read was a reprint of Dalek adventures first published in TV Century 21 magazine from the sixties. Ron Turner’s art was packed with eye-catching design and colour, the supporting characters were memorable, and the Daleks’ devious plans were a big draw too.

Since then, I have been drawn to any little reference to those comic strips, whether in the Dalekmania documentary or in the hovering Dalek hordes of Bad Wolf. Imagine my delight when BBC’s new five-part animated series Daleks! delivered a golden emperor, hoverbouts, galactic machinations and conniving robots, all Terry Nation and David Whitaker-spawned staples retooled for 2020. Furthermore, this was new Who material, the first official on-screen spin-off since 2016’s Class [I didn't get beyond the pilot with Twelve - Ed].

Storywise, my expectations were low. This was a show for kids, surely; at just over ten minutes, the episodes didn’t have room for deep themes or grand character arcs. I was pleasantly surprised.

The Daleks in this show are fallible, backstabbing, on the run from a powerful space entity but still as devious as ever. The brass-bumped emperor is pompous and the scarred old strategist is loyal. Along with the entity, they face stubborn librarians, reprogramed rivals and (finally, after 55 years) the Mechanoids. I‘ve always had a soft spot for these big bots from the First Doctor story The Chase, with their beautiful architecture and their high-pitched voices, speaking a mix of code and broken English. It’s a delight to see them back in action.

Although the episodes are brief, there’s enough meat in them to tell a solid story, develop the main Dalek characters and squeeze in a twist or two. These Daleks aren’t as menacing as they appear in Doctor Who but their threat is in their numbers – we see their armada in full force – and in their Machiavellian antics.

The animation is uneven; while most of the spacecraft and alien cities are highly detailed, the explosions and robots are highly simplified and unrealistic [should've used the Unreal Engine - Ed]. Nevertheless, the faceless Daleks, obviously easier to animate than humans, are imbued with life and momentum, as are the slick ‘camera’ moves.

Daleks! provides a great opportunity for a new audience to familiarize themselves with Doctor Who’s main menace, and for die-hard fans to get a fix before the New Year’s Revolution. I dearly hope that this show leads to more seasons and more spin-offs. Anyone for Saturday Morning Cybermen? [an excellent suggestion - Ed]

Watch Daleks! for free on YouTube and let us know what you think in the comments below!

The Black Hole 'unofficial official trailer' on Disney+

To celebrate the launch of the official Disney+ YouTube channel, The Walt Disney Company has released fun new unofficial official trailers for some of its classic movies now streaming including The Black Hole, which was the House of Mouse's response to Star Wars decades before buying Lucasfilm from George Lucas and The Child AKA Baby Yoda was a twinkle in Jon Favreau's eye.



Here's the official synopsis:

"A beacon draws them to the edge of space and time, but once they arrive at the long-lost ship, the crew of the Palomino discovers a mysterious scientist and that things aren't always as they seem. Explore deep space in this modern trailer for the 1979 Disney sci-fi classic, The Black Hole."

The Black Hole will always occupy a special place in my formative cinemagoing years, with my family, as I underwent intensive rehabilitation for a life-changing head trauma. John Barry's original soundtrack underscored many after school action figure adventures and the official read-a-long book aided in my literacy.

The Black Hole is now streaming on Disney+.

Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds live on YouTube

"The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one..." Listening to Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds was synonymous with autumnal Sunday afternoons in childhood. Alongside Star Wars, it inspired me, from an early age, to pursue a career in media production. As I underwent years of rehabilitation for a head injury, I would listen to Richard Burton's (The Journalist) voice as part of speech therapy and record my own audio adventures on a Hitachi portable tape recorder.

H.G. Well’s Martian invasion of Earth is an allegorical commentary on cultural imperialism and Wayne’s album was my gateway into Victorian literature. Whilst I've owned the album on countless formats, nothing will eclipse the treasured childhood memory of listening to the double vinyl LP, borrowed from a friend's dad, on a mono Pye record player (owned by my late mum). Coincidentally, Marvel UK ran a comic book adaptation in the pages of Doctor Who Weekly.

Over forty years on, Wayne's adaptation remains my favourite followed by the 1953 Oscar-winning Hollywood movie - the action transposed to McCarthy-era America - and Orson Welles' infamous radio drama, broadcast live as a Halloween special in 1938. The recent BBC and Anglo-French television adaptations fell flatter than a Martian Fighting Machine after its occupant had finally succumbed to the common cold. The former lacked focus and the latter lacked, well, tripods!

Due to the ongoing pandemic, the 2021 arena tour of The War of the Worlds was postponed and will now tour from March 2022. Fans will be able to stream a live performance starring Liam Neeson and Jason Donovan, recorded at the O2 Arena and conducted by Jeff Wayne, for 48 hours on 23rd October from 7:00PM (BST).



Whilst free, The Shows Must Go On! YouTube channel is asking audiences to make a voluntary donation to support the arts during the pandemic.

What are your memories of listening to Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds? Let me know in the comments below.

Welcome to the FanDome

DC FanDome is over and I missed it! Mostly because of DC Comics' debatable decision to use its own online portal and not livestream the event on YouTube.

So, I opted to watch DC's Stargirl, streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime in the UK. Geoff Johns' live-action series is a superhero gem comparable to the early seasons of The CW's The Flash and Supergirl with a Wizarding World twist.

However, Nick Smith, our US-based stellar scribe, don's a virtual cowl to save the day (night if you were watching from the UK).

Guest post by Nick Smith

Unlike San Diego’s Comic-Con@Home event, a lot of which is still viewable on YouTube, the DC FanDome was live and direct, only existing for a giddy 24 hours. While some of the teases, trailers and concept art are now out and about on the internet, if you want to see Gal Gadot and Chris Pine playing Werewolf 1984, you’re out of luck.

With its FanDome, (presumably located somewhere beyond the Thunderdome round the corner from the Pleasuredome), DC Comics made a brave and bold attempt to embrace the interactivity of the internet, with rolling comments on the right-hand side of their Hall of Heroes (“Tweet with #DCFanDome for a chance to be featured”) and, in the main portion of the Hall, cast and crew talking to each other and answering questions from fans.

While the day had its tentpole movies to pitch, such as Wonder Woman 1984, The Flash and a Shazam! sequel, some of these flicks aren’t due for a couple of years and the ones in production – like The Batman, about 25% complete – whetted the appetite but weren’t worth holding your breath for (you would run out of air waiting for the release date). The trailer for The Batman looks great, suggesting that the Bat will be treated right. But more on that later…

Ironically, comic books didn’t really get a look-in; the closest we got was a laid-back, diversity-honouring interview with DC Comics Chief Creative Officer/Publisher Jim Lee (his favourite character as a kid was Matter Eater Lad!), a ‘Legacy of the Bat’ panel and a ‘Surprise DC Comics’ panel. The latter was about the return of Milestone Comics, with God Amongst Artists Denys Cowan amongst the panellists along with Lee, Reggie Hudlin, and actor Phil Lamarr (Static Shock). Yes, a Static film is on the cards – so even on a comic book panel, movies reared their powerful head.

Lee also reviewed portfolios of fan art focused on supervillains, a rare chance to hear opinions from the mentor and motivator. Other fan art was featured during the day, adding to the ‘for the fans’ aspect of the event.

A clip from the Joker documentary, “Put On a Happy Face,” included appearances by Jack Nicholson, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Frank Miller, Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Hamill, Stan Lee, Christian Bale, and a whole pack more. Any film that draws attention to Mark Hamill’s incredible talents is well worth a watch.

“I’m Batman: The Voices Behind the Cowl” was a panel that brought overdue attention to actors who voice the superhero. Not just the English-speaking ones, like LEGO Batman’s Will Arnett, but Jaron Löwenburg (who dubs a German version), Sergio Gutiérrez (Spanish), Claudio Santamaria (Italian), Iván Marín (Colombian) and others.

The Sandman is receiving an audio adaptation and there was a panel to prove it, featuring Neil Gaiman, Dirk Maggs and Michael Sheen. The panel also covered the new spin-off comic (The Dreaming: Waking Hours) and the forthcoming Netflix show. The big news: the Netflix version of The Sandman will be set in the present day rather than the 1980s/’90s setting of the original comics.

The Twitter brigade jumped on Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s comment that his Black Adam was willing to kill, while Superman was not. Henry Cavill’s Supes knobbles General Zod, they tattled. The Rock’s Q&A session was a highlight of the FanDome, as he enthused about his 2022 movie Black Adam, revealed that the Justice Society of America (specifically Atom Smasher, Hawkman, Doctor Fate and Cyclone) would be involved. The project has been in development for over 10 years. The star described it as a passion project and a dream of his.

Mr. Rock likes Adam’s grey-area position on heroism (‘superhero, anti-hero… villain?’). He wants Adam to fight with Superman. I’d spend money in a comic shop where you can have a conversation with The Rock about superhero morals. This was as close as you could get.

In the new Suicide Squad game “Kill the Justice League,” they have good reason to - Superman kills somebody (he’s being controlled by Brainiac). The graphics (you can see Boomerang’s twitching whiskers!), character interplay and sense of fun made this look like a must-play from Rocksteady, developer of Batman: Arkham Asylum. Will Arnett teleported into the ‘Fanzone,’ as he called it, cracking silly jokes and interviewing Rocksteady’s steadfastly British Creative Director and Co-Founder Sefton Hill. Will proved he knew his stuff by dropping a Taskforce X reference and asking about the through-lines from the Arkham games. According to Hill, they will come to fruition in the new project.

Gotham Knights was the other game featured; Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin and Red Hood take up Batman’s mantle after his death. I guess Batman doesn’t know about this whole death thing since he has a movie coming out too, in which he’s played by Robert Pattinson. The pointy-chinned actor gave a watchable performance in Water for Elephants but I’m not on Team Edward. However, after watching director Matt Reeves talk about the gritty film – a kind of Batman: Year Two – and seeing the trailer, with Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon, Andy Serkis as Alfred and Zoe Kravitz with a tea cosy on her head, I’m sold.

‘Just like the OG animated series!’ enthused Tweeter Andre Saint-Albin. ‘The detective and the myth that is “The Batman”! Matt Reeves saying all the right things.’ Such as name-checking classic films Chinatown, The French Connection and Taxi Driver. What we really got from Reeves was an extended pitch for the movie and he’s excited, informed and intent on treating Batman as seriously as a playboy millionaire’s heart attack.

In other movie news, Aquaman 2 got a mention in a fun mini-panel with director James Wan and Ocean Master Patrick Wilson, discussing production of the first movie and the sight of, ‘Dolph Lundgren on a tater-totter.’ Wan admitted that nothing was easy underwater. Wilson reminisced about sitting on a blue oil drum, grateful he was made aware of the digital world that would be built around him. He compared the non-sets with, ‘black box theatre where there is nothing… that’s why we get into this business in the first place… we concentrate on relationships.’ Wan was friendly and confident, having done a great job with his team of creating creatures and making people look floaty in the first film.

Shazam 2’s title was announced (Fury of the Gods) in a splendidly goofy Shazoom meeting, and we were teased about the Zack Snyder Cut of Justice League; Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot formed part of the panel. The four-hour version of the Justice League epic will premiere on HBO Max in 2021.

With their Hall of Heroes day, DC Comics really attempted to provide variety and appeal to different ages; the Rock Q&A, for example, was accessible but he didn’t talk down to viewers/users/visitors. A different Q&A with an animated Harley Quinn was a lot sillier and filled with bleeped-out expletives. Like the Marvel Comics contributions to SDCC, their Distinguished Competition never forgot to be slick or fun.

This was the place to see actors from Wonder Woman 1984 play a whodunnit game – a little hard to follow but still fun. As one Tweeter said, ‘the cast… playing Werewolf on video is actually a fun and great idea for an event. Very creative #DCFanDome.’ For a Titans TV show segment, clips were shown then the panellists responded. The new season will visit a Gotham inhabited by the Scarecrow and Commissioner Barbara Gordon. CNN acknowledged real-life heroes around the globe, including the USA, India and our precious old Blighty.

A nod to Wonder Woman’s 80th anniversary next year was too short and we didn’t really get the ‘celebration’ we were promised, but it was worth popping in to see Gal Gadot and Linda Carter together. We didn’t get too much information about The Flash movie but we did get confirmation that Ben Affleck would return as Old Man Bats.

Shazaam! star Zachary Levi hit the nail on the head when he jokingly described this day as trotting out known names to sell something. There was definitely a reliance on currently popular characters like the Joker (thanks to the excellent Joaquin Phoenix movie), Aquaman (thanks to hunky Jason Momoa), the much-anticipated Wonder Woman 1984, a follow-up to the hit Arkham Asylum game, and the ever-popular Batman. Thankfully, amidst all the Hollywood hoop-la, it was made clear that comics won’t go away – if nothing else they are a great testing ground for new ideas.

With hosts from around the world, including the US, Australia and New Zealand, and fan questions from as far afield as Brazil, DC Comics showed how global its reach truly is and how its fans help to spread the comic book gospel far and wide. By acknowledging the fans, there’s an inherent intent to do right by them, placing them all in a virtual Hall of Heroes.

Stay-at-home Comic-Con

Comic-Con@Home has begun. As we all continue to make sense of the 'new normal', Nick Smith, our resident US-based stellar scribe, looks back to the beginning of San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) and forward to its possible future in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic...

Guest post by Nick Smith

I have always been intrigued by Comic-Con International: San Diego but have never been able to attend due to limitations of cost, distance, time, chilblains and a totally rational fear of people dressed as orcs. You know, with big plastic axes.

If you’re like me (apart from the orc bit) then this is your year! The show will go on despite the current COVID crisis. The event is online for all to see on YouTube for a concise 5 days, from July 22nd-26th.

Despite its name, Comic-Con has always been about more than mere funny books. It started life as the Golden State Comic Book Convention exactly 50 years ago. In 1970, the big draws were writer/artist Jack Kirby and authors Ray Bradbury and A. E. van Vogt. These days the massive convention covers anything that studios and publishers want to sell, and fans want to celebrate. Anything pop culture goes.

With over 350 panels, an exhibit hall, an Eisner Awards Ceremony, game demos… the event can be overwhelming. The panels alone cover Hot Wheels, History’s Vikings show, Star Wars audiobooks, The Walking Dead TV spin-offs, Ray Harryhausen, Bob’s Burgers and American Dad, to name just a few prominent topics. The best way to get a handle on them all is to go to Comic-Con’s “My Sched” tab (whether you use the app or not). You’ll see all the panels listed here, then you can pick and choose from there. As in past years, schedules are subject to change.

Cleverly, the exhibit hall is displayed like a floor plan. Click on an exhibitor and you’ll see their merchandise. Need that Mandalorian Chia Child? Visit the Star Wars booth. On the mezzanine, click on a Fan Club table and you get more info or a link to their corresponding website.

Like all conventions, the San Diego mob thrives on its camaraderie. Not everyone dresses up, not everyone wants to socialise, but this year’s event will show a whole new crowd of fans that their interests are shared by people from all kinds of backgrounds. Comic-Con has always strived to be accessible but now fans who can’t leave their homes can attend. As the organisers joke, since you’re watching from home you can sit in a comfy seat, eat your favourite snacks and bring your pet… sort of. Orcs do not count as pets BTW.

Comic-Con International is a non-profit and the organisers are asking for donations. If enough site visitors support the Con, at least by purchasing merchandise, then this could be a format we’ll be seeing more of in the future.

How are you getting involved with Comic-Con? Let me know in the comments below.

Captain Marvel's Brie Larson joins YouTube

Brie Larson, who plays the titular Captain Marvel in the MCU, has launched her own YouTube channel in the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic and was ably assisted by YouTubers including iJustine AKA Justine Ezarik.

"YouTube has been a place that I've learned so much, whether it's been like how to use my printer, or it's been watching like how to be a considerate activist, this is like the place to talk about things that are important and that matter," Larson said. "It doesn't mean that there also isn't silly content. That there are ways to express myself personally, but there will also be deep conversations, anti-racist rhetoric, inclusive content. So with all that said, the following video is just me getting warmed up and feeling this out and getting to talk to a lot of really brilliant creators."



In related news. Larson is purportedly set to play Mara Jade, a Star Wars Legends character who married Luke Skywalker, in Kevin Feige's untitled Star Wars movie.

Larson's personal YouTube channel promises to bring some sunshine into our lives and much-needed distraction from the 'new normal'. A lifelong Nintendo fan, I wonder if she also plays Animal Crossing?