TV is taking over at Comic-Con 2017
SAN DIEGO — While most of the headlines seem to come in the form of announcements about upcoming Marvel and D.C. movies, the reality is that TV is taking over Comic-Con.
It’s certainly overlooking it.
A 30-story poster for FX’s “Legion” is plastered on the Hilton Bayfront next to the convention center. Across the street, large portions of Petco Park are covered by smaller yet still impressive posters for ABC’s “Once Upon a Time” and “Inhumans.” Down the block, the Hilton Gaslamp has been overrun by The Netflix Experience and building wraps for Marvel’s “Defenders.”
The TBS comedy “People of Earth” greets attendees as soon as they arrive in San Diego, having branded the airport’s baggage carousel.
San Diego’s famous trolleys have been covered in promotions for Syfy, “Conan,” ABC’s upcoming futuristic “The Crossing” and Fox’s new “Star Trek”-esque Seth MacFarlane comedy “The Orville.” Some have been turned into Mutant Transport trains in support of Fox’s “X-Men” series, “The Gifted.”
Or if you simply need a free ride around downtown, be on the lookout for the trams/golf carts sponsored by DirecTV’s adaptation of Stephen King’s “Mr. Mercedes.”
Television is such a big part of Comic-Con, the only scheduled activity during Wednesday’s preview night was a screening of ABC’s midseason series “Deception,” along with brief looks at The CW’s “Black Lightning” and Syfy’s “Krypton.”
USA’s “Mr. Robot” is giving NBC showcased a special screening of its supernatural “Midnight, Texas” two days before it debuts Monday.
And that doesn’t even get into the off-site attractions, such as the “Game of Thrones: Winter Is Here” Experience that left some fans waiting as long as 11 hours Thursday to walk through re-created versions of Winterfell, Dragonstone, King’s Landing and North of the Wall.
Or the promotion for History’s “Vikings” in which costumed warriors carried a “corpse” around the Gaslamp for hours leading up to a true viking funeral aboard a 45-foot longship in the bay behind the convention center.
Comic-Con, though, is first and foremost about the panels.
Well, at least it has been since it stopped being about the comics.
Warner Bros. Television alone brought 20 series — including “The Big Bang Theory,” “Westworld,” “Gotham,” “The Flash” and the Vegas-based “Mike Tyson Mysteries” — for panels and autograph signings.
The casts of “Game of Thrones,” “The Walking Dead” and “Fear the Walking Dead” have been here.
Rapper Tyler, The Creator showed off “The Jellies!,” his new Adult Swim comedy. The best description of any new series paneling here, though, is Syfy’s “Happy!,” starring Chris Meloni, about “an intoxicated, corrupt cop-turned-hitman whose life is changed forever by a tiny, relentlessly positive, imaginary blue winged horse.”
The CBS drama “Wiseguy” had a 30th-anniversary panel, and cast members from Syfy’s “Battlestar Galactica” reassembled, well, just because. Think of it as the geek equivalent of the bands that reunite for Coachella.
Heck, even Lifetime’s remake of “Watcher in the Woods,” directed by Melissa Joan Hart, earned a panel.
Then there are the ones that are just so crazy, you have to admire everyone involved just for coming up with them. The panel “Westworld: Beyond Frontier Law” promised Ninth Circuit Justice John B. Owens and other legal professionals debating everything from the park’s liability obligations to who owns the intellectual property created by the park’s robots.
Yes, really.
Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567. Follow @life_onthecouch on Twitter.