Another year, another Comic-Con. It’s the time of year in which all us geeks put aside past differences to enjoy all the cool and exciting news and trailers before reaffirming all those differences and pointlessly starting to argue about whose opinion is correct. I barely noticed that there was no Marvel movies at this year’s Con because DC gave us more than enough superhero content. So enough of this generalised introduction; let’s delve in to some specifics.
The best thing to come out of this Comic-Con for me was, without a doubt, the trailer for Ash vs The Evil Dead. The original Evil Dead trilogy is my favourite horror film series (even though it’s a lot closer to a comedy series by the third film ‘Army of Darkness’). The trailer captured that perfect mix of the goofy comedy and the gory horror the films are known for. Bruce Campbell is incredibly underrated and it’s great to see him return to a franchise that highlights his spot on comedic timing as well as his perfect chin. Hopefully details of a UK air date are given soon because it’s easily my most anticipated upcoming show.
Heroes Reborn on the other hand had the most uninteresting trailer of the Con. The original Heroes show may well have been a televisual landmark but now, over a decade later, television has become oversaturated with superheroes. The trailer looked cliché ridden and didn’t offer anything superhero fans haven’t seen a million times in the MCU or the X-men series. I’m not the biggest fan of the original series but I fail to see how anyone could be excited by that trailer.
It wouldn’t be Comic-Con without some actual comics. The second sequel of the classic Batman graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns is picking up steam with the announcement of a release window and the artists involved in the project. Even with Frank Miller’s involvement I can’t get the least bit excited for The Dark Knight 3 because the first sequel, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, was pretty bad and just wasn’t needed.
The only comics I’m currently reading are those within the rebooted Star Wars canon and so it was great to hear news of a crossover comic between the main Star Wars series and Kieron Gillen’s Star Wars: Darth Vader. The two series are constantly referencing events that take place in the other’s issues and so this special crossover issue makes perfect sense and I can’t wait to see the storylines come together. In other Star Wars comics news it was announced that everybody’s favourite fuzzball Chewbacca will be getting his own five issue mini-series. I wonder how they will deal with Chewbacca’s speech. Will the comic format mean we will finally see what Chewy is saying by using the speech bubbles or will his speech still be made up of a series of roars and growls. Only time will tell.
With all the crappy looking ‘leaked’ footage from the Suicide Squad set, I didn’t think a trailer could make me excited for the film but I really was wrong. Unlike Man of Steel, it’s a film in the DC universe that needs to have a dark tone. Leto’s Joker seems genuinely creepy and unique even though his voice is very similar to Heath Ledger’s and he still has those tattoos that I don’t think anyone likes. Whoever is in charge of Suicide Squad promotion needs to be replaced. Everyone’s first encounter with the film was the leaked photos and footage and then the trailer wasn’t available online for days after panel. No doubt for many people the first look at the first official footage would be an unofficial leaked recording of the trailer from the showing after the Hall H panel. They need to realise that if you show a trailer in a place like that then several people will be recording it and it’s best to just officially release it soon after to prevent that. The same thing with Deadpool. I can’t wait for that film but I don’t want my first experience of it to be a shitty leaked version of the trailer.
So finally we get to Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. I’m a bit of a Zack Snyder sceptic. I’m not one of these people who hate his work nor do I love everything he has ever done, I’m slap bang in the middle. I’m a big fan of Snyder’s Watchmen and prefer the ending to the giant squid ending of the graphic novel, on the other hand 300 really showed his style over substance approach. I enjoyed Man of Steel upon its release but liked it a lot less when I re-watched it on Blu ray. This left me conflicted on Snyder returning to helm one of the biggest superhero films ever. I didn’t particularly like the teaser trailer but after the main trailer shown at Comic-Con, I’m sold.
The tough seasoned Batman is unlike any we’ve seen before and the conflict between him and Superman has been set up in a realistic way by playing off the extravagant battle that occurred at the end of Man of Steel. I know enough to get excited for the film and yet the trailer is riddled with enigmas that are just as interesting as they are perplexing such as seeing Batman in the desert. The trailer was as good as it possibly could be: action filled yet driven by narrative. While it’s way, way too early to judge performances I will say the only down point of the trailer was Jesse Einsenberg’s Lex Luthor. Not a fan of the goofy performance and the sooner he shaves off that hair the better.
Other than the actual announcements and trailers, my favourite Comic-Con moment may be IGN’s interview with convicted rapist and ear-biter Mike Tyson. He answered Tilly’s questions with all the grace of someone who has been hit on the head a few too many times. Cringe comedy at its best.
What did you guys think of this year’s Comic-Con? Let me known in the comments, on Twitter @kylebrrtt or on the Out of Lives Facebook page. Now it’s time to write one of my many emails to IGN UK so see ya next week.
