Article by Christian Navarrete

Hey there Cinemastians, it’s that amazing time of year when I get the distinguished opportunity of sharing an unforgettable adventure with your host, Adam Mast, at the ever magnificent San Diego Comic-Con. This will mark my fourth Comic-Con visit, and looking at the line up I can already tell I won’t have enough time to see everything my heart desires, but I’m making it a point to check out 5 panels that really get my inner fanboy quaking with anticipation.

VENOM

Tom Hardy once brought Batman to his knees as Bane in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, and now he is set to portray Eddie Brock, Peter Parker’s polar opposite, as the titular character in Sony’s VENOM. Well versed fans of the SPIDER-MAN mythos are aware that Venom is a popular, horror-inducing anti-hero icon with a complicated backstory that was introduced in 1984 during the “Secret Wars” storyline as an alien symbiote that Spider-Man mistook for a new pair of threads. Maybe that’s simplifying too much. The suit augmented Spider-Man’s already impressive abilities including giving him increased strength and amplifying his Spidey senses, but it wanted to bond with Spider-Man and was ultimately rejected by the web slinger causing their falling out. Shortly after, the symbiote found a depressed Eddie Brock on the brink of suicide and it bonded with him becoming the lethal Venom that many fans grew up with. The trailers for this film offer some beautiful cinematography and interesting visual effects. Fans have been waiting years for this movie and I only hope that they do Venom justice.

SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

Sony will also be presenting new footage for SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE featuring Miles Morales (the Ultimate Universe’s version of Spider-man created by Artist, Sara Pichelli and Writer, Brian Michael Bendis in 2011). Morales is an innovative take on a classic character and has garnered unparalleled popularity in such a short amount of time and it’s great to see him getting the animated treatment. If you haven’t seen any footage so far, I recommend you search for the trailer ASAP. The icing on top was finding out that Jake Johnson, (SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED, “New Girl“), is doing the voice of Peter Parker. Johnson is the perfect casting choice for an older Peter Parker ready to train a younger Spider-Man. Can wait to get a new look at what looks to be an amazing take on this legendary character.

GLASS

UNBREAKABLE was M. Night Shyamalan’s fresh and dramatic take on the superhero genre and was a terrific follow up to THE SIXTH SENSE. Sixteen years later, Shyamalan made a triumphant come back with SPLIT, a film we didn’t realize was actually a sequel to UNBREAKABLE until the very last moments when it was revealed by way of an ever loving Shyamalan twist. In January 2019, a trilogy that started nearly 20 years ago will come to a head with Blumhouse’s GLASS. Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, James McAvoy, and Anya Taylor-Joy are all reprising their roles and hopefully joining Mr. Shyamalan when he makes his presentation AT San Diego Comic-Con in Hall H on Friday July 20th. Hopefully, they’ll be bringing footage along to share with an enthusiastic crowd.

DEMOLITION MAN 25TH ANNIVERSARY
AT TACO BELL

I have many guilty pleasures, PLUTO NASH and JINGLE ALL THE WAY being my top 2, but I have no guilt about my love for DEMOLITION MAN. I honestly thought I was dreaming when I heard that San Diego Comic-Con would be an exclusive host to a pop-up Taco Bell fashioned after the one portrayed in the 1993 film starring Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. It’s all in commemoration of the film’s 25th anniversary. In the beloved  90s actioneer, Stallone plays John Spartan, a foul mouthed take no prisoners police officer who gets frozen in a liquid nitrogen cell for the deaths of innocent bystanders who were actually killed by the villainous Simon Phoenix, (Snipes). Phoenix is ultimately captured by Spartan and given his own frozen cell. In 2032 when Phoenix is thawed for a parole hearing, he escapes and wreaks such destruction on the future city of San Angeles that Spartan is brought out of his own frozen state to bring the villain to justice. Taco Bell will be bringing back their hugely successful limited edition Nacho Fries in addition to a few other surprise goodies that I simply cannot wait to sample.

JAY AND SILENT BOB GET OLD, LIVE

You may know them as Jay and Silent Bob from such films as DOGMA, CHASING AMY, and CLERKS. Now Director Kevin Smith and his long-time collaborator and best bud, Jason Mewes, are hosting their live podcast live at the American Comedy Co. during SDCC. I had the pleasure of being in the front row at the Egyptian theater at Sundance during a CLERKS 20th anniversary screening a few years ago, and I can tell you that these guys are an absolute riot. Kevin has directed two of my all-time favorite films (MALLRATS and DOGMA) so there’s no way I’m missing this show. On a side note, 2018 marks the first time Kevin Smith and Bruce Willis will be at the San Diego Comic-Con, and it sounds as though they haven’t exchanged many words since Smith directed Willis in COP OUT. Will these two Hollywood stars bury the metaphorical hatchet or will Willis attempt to bury an actual hatchet into Smith? We shall see.

Again, this will be my fourth SDCC trip and I’ve been counting down the days until I’m sleeping underneath the San Diego stars with 6,500 of my fellow Hall-H wristband possessors just biding our time until we get to infiltrate the crowded halls of the San Diego Convention Center, being herded into a magnificent ballroom where most of just hope to catch a glimpse of something that always seemed like fiction and too out of reach.

The fun begins tomorrow. I hope to see you there. Snoochie Boochies!

I will leave you with one of my highlights from last year’s Comic-Con. Enjoy!