This is part of my ongoing coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2016. In my 2015 feature on Marvel Entertainment, I opened by noting that “they elected to not have much of a presence or major announcements at Comic Con this time around” and compared their display of one Ant-Man costume to that of historic competitor DC Comics and their more impressive display of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman costumes as well as television costumes, all in stand alone displays that allow fans to get up close to check them out. The divide between the lackluster and the impressive was widened further this year, as Disney-owned Marvel seems to have lost any sense of self awareness and their 2016 Comic Con presentation felt like it was invented by a hype machine-driven PR company. Trying to get a glimpse of what was going on with Marvel this year had all the charm of a clumsy Target clerk trying to pressure you into signing up for one of their Target-branded credit cards (“make mine Marvel” is becoming “make mine MasterCard”). They did put a few things from upcoming movies on display on their stage, but with overflowing crowds they would take it away and hide it before you could even snap a poor photo by trying to hold your camera over the heads of the crowd. I guess the upside is, I can’t imagine a worse showing next year, so it leaves tons of room for improvement. But 2016 seemed crafted for generating hype among those who weren’t there rather than those who were, as reading Twitter paints an entirely different picture (see #MarvelSDCC). [Read more…]
San Diego Comic-Con 2015: Marvel Entertainment’s “Ant-Man” Costume at Exhibitor Booth (#SDCC)
This is part of my ongoing coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2015. This is an off year for Marvel Entertainment, meaning that they elected to not have much of a presence or major announcements at Comic Con this time around. They do have a giant space on the exhibitor floor, so rather than vacate it completely, they brought their stage and one costume for display – one of the Ant-Man costumes from the film of the same name, due to hit theaters on July 17th. DC Entertainment, in contrast, have a lot going on at their own space within Comic Con, with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman costumes (duplicated at their two booths) from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as well as a variety of costumes from their television series The Flash and Arrow (see prior article). With Disney owning both Marvel Entertainment and Star Wars, it might be more about competing with Comic Con than anything else (there is not much Star Wars activity this time around, and with the conclusion of Celebration in April, they announced the 2016 Celebration will be held in London just a week after next year’s Comic Con. [Read more…]
San Diego Comic-Con 2015: DC Entertainment’s “Batman v Superman”, “Arrow”, “The Flash” Props and Costumes at Exhibitor Booth (#SDCC)
This is part of my ongoing coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2015. As has been the case for several years, DC Entertainment has put together another amazing collection of original props and costumes within their exhibitor space at Comic-Con. This year, they have Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman costumes (duplicated at their two booths) from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as well as a variety of costumes from their television series The Flash and Arrow. [Read more…]
San Diego Comic-Con 2014: DC Entertainment’s 75th Anniversary of Batman Props and Costumes at Exhibitor Booth (#SDCC)
This is part of my ongoing coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2014. As has been the case for several years, DC Entertainment has put together an amazing collection of original props and costumes within their exhibitor space at Comic-Con, and this one might be the best yet, with costumes and props from all of the various Batman films, all to celebrate 75 years of the Caped Crusader. The outside of the case holding cowls from the different movies reads, “The Batman Film Anthology: 1989-1997”. [Read more…]