The Countdown to SDCC 2025!

SDcomics · Jun 30, 2025

Oh no.

Jim Shooter, Marvel EIC & Founder Of Valiant Has Died, Aged 73, RIP

Jim Shooter, writer of Superman, Secret Wars and Legion, Editor-In-Chief of Marvel, co-founder of Valiant, Defiant and Broadway has died, aged 73.

bleedingcool.com

Jim Shooter, Former Marvel EIC, Dead At Age 73 | Comic Book Club

Jim Shooter, a comic book writer, editor and publisher known for his stint as EIC of Marvel Comics, has died at age 73.

comicbookclublive.com

Jim Shooter, Marvel Editor-In-Chief Through Crucial 80s Era, Dies At 73

Though his tenure was marked by controversy, Shooter brought Marvel to creative and commercial peaks.

www.forbes.com

Jim Shooter, 73, has reportedly died of esophageal cancer

www.comicsbeat.com

Jim Shooter, Comic Book Icon, Passes Away at Age 73

Jim Shooter, the comic book icon who began writing comics as a teenager, and was Marvel's longtime Editor-in-Chief, has died at 73

www.cbr.com

Well, this is terrible news. It's hard to figure out what to say here.

Jim Shooter started writing comics when he was 13 years old. 13 freaking years old. He eventually rose to the position of Editor in Chief at Marvel and he was with the company during their most significant era of growth in the 80's.

But Jim was ... complicated. He was a very polarizing person who was often accused of being too heavy handed. I'm sure there will be a lot of words said about Jim, both good and bad, over the next few days. For me personally, he was one of my favorite writers. I had no idea when I read his Legion stories back in the 1960's that he was only a few years older than me.

And his run on Avengers in the 70's was amazing.

Farewell and godspeed, Mr. Shooter. Maybe someday I'll see you and a bunch of other comics people at that big comic con up in the sky.

SDcomics · Jul 1, 2025

We are now in the month of July ... which means my pre-con anxiety has kicked into high gear.

It sucks.

SDcomics · Jul 1, 2025

From Comic Con 2015, the Game of Thrones panel.

Game of Thrones, or GoT if you're into the whole brevity thing, was an HBO series based on the novels by acclaimed fantasy writer George R. R. Martin ... well, you don't need me to tell you all that. Suffice it to say that, like The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones was a huge fan favorite with the comic con crowd and always one of the most anticipated Hall H panels of the year. If you've never read the books or watched the show, do it. They're amazing.

22 Days Until SDCC 2025!

TheSameIdiot · Jul 1, 2025

SDcomics said:
If you've never read the books or watched the show, do it. They're amazing.

At least until season six.

SDcomics · Jul 2, 2025

From 2015 (again), The Star Wars: The Force Awakens panel and surprise concert:

I have been to a lot of these comic-con thingies over the years (decades, actually) and I have made a lot of friends and talked to a lot of fans. And if you asked folks "What is your favorite Comic Con memory?" many of them would say it was on Friday, July 10th 2015. And it was for the Star Wars Force Awakens panel.

No doubt this was the most anticipated panel of the show that year, even more than Batman v Superman. The Force Awakens was the first new Star Wars movie in ten years and it reunited three legends: Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford.

Well, the panel was as cool and awesome as you might expect, but that wasn't all. Not by a long shot. J.J. Abrams had a special surprise: A free concert for all 6500 fans in Hall H happening immediately after the panel was over. So over 6000 people walked the roughly half mile to the Embarcadero Park outdoor concert venue right behind the convention center. The crowd was led by legion of Stormtroopers led by Kevin Doyle, a man who walked more than 500 miles to comic con in honor of his late wife, a major Star Wars fan. Everyone was issued a special pass and a free lightsaber. And in a special touch, there were fireworks that were synchronized to the music.

Do you ever have one of those moments in life where, as it's happening, you think to yourself "I'm never going to forget this as long as I live"? That's what it was like for everyone who was there that night. It was pure happiness. There's a special joy that comes with being a fan, a sense of bond and fellowship that's like nothing else. And we all felt it that night. It's a feeling that we'll take with us to our dying day.

The force will be with you, my friends. Always.

21 Days Until SDCC 2025!

Chooch555 · Jul 2, 2025

Fun fact: Kevin Smith had the Hall H panel directly after this when JJ took the entire crowd away. He thought it was funny.

SDcomics · Jul 2, 2025

https://twitter.com/x/status/1940444807685628077

PantherCult · Jul 3, 2025

So funny how comicon changed from a hotspot for comic creatives to Hollywood junket fest over the course of about a decade.

The first time I went was in the mid 1990's and it was still pretty chill and comic focused then. I do miss the number of comic vendors on the floor. Standard comic sellers can't really afford to bring stuff to the show anymore... so only the biggest dealers hawking high end key issues seem to show up.

And while some big name and 'hot' creators featured at the big company booths get alot of attention I remeber finding Marv Wolfman sitting at a table all alone with no one stopping to talk to him or paying any attention to him at all. I jad to go buy a couple of Tten Titans and Vigilante books for him to sign.

So yeah the actual printed comic stuff isn't as front and center as it once was. But on the other hand I watched the debut of the Scott Pilgrim film with Edgar Wright and some of the very most famous people in Hollywood and we got to watch Deadpool and Wolverine with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman... so, still super cool stuff happens.

TheSameIdiot · Jul 3, 2025

Man, the Scott Pilgrim movie rules. It's considered a classic in my household.

Chooch555 · Jul 3, 2025

It is a classic. Showed it to our now 15 year old when he was probably 10 or 11. He loved it. He loved it enough to watch the animated series with me which for context is the most time we've spent together in years. At 15 he'd rather endure physical torture than spend time with his family, much less his step-dad.

Ru1977 · Jul 3, 2025

Yes, we showed Scott Pilgrim to our 13, 11, and 9 year old a few months ago and they all loved it. The 13 year old will be 14 very soon, and I feel your pain about getting him to watch stuff with me he'd jump at just a year ago. He's all about the Jurassic movies right now though, so I'm grabbing that with both hands.

The coolest thing I got to see at Comic Con, I think, was Mallrats. I didn't usually go to see any movies at Con but so glad that was my exception.

SDcomics · Jul 3, 2025

From the very first San Diego comic con, held in the basement of the U.S. Grant hotel, Mr. Ray Bradbury:

If you google the name Ray Bradbury, you'll see a lot. That he was one of the most celebrated and beloved 20th century American authors. That he was a master storyteller, a space age visionary, a champion of creative freedom and one of the greatest writers of science fiction that ever lived. His works have been translated into 40 different languages and have sold millions of copies.

All of that is true. But here's why I'll always remember Ray Bradbury: Because he agreed to come to San Diego and headline the very first San Diego Comic Con in 1970. If it wasn't for Ray, Jack Kirby and Forrest Ackerman, there would be no San Diego Comic Con. It's as simple as that. Bradbury, Kirby and Ackerman helped put us on the map. And they're the reason why we're still here, all these years later.

But I have a special reason for remembering Ray and honoring his memory. Because 43 years ago, he helped a lost sailor wandering the streets of San Diego find the Convention and Performing Arts Center. And he was so kind and gracious.

Flashback to the year 1982. I was serving in the United States Navy and stationed in a little town in Ventura County California called Port Hueneme. I was driving a little 1972 Datsun B210 that was held together with spit and bailing wire. I had an apartment in Hollywood at the time which was about an hours drive from the base. One Saturday morning in June of that year, I was in a comic book store in Studio City and saw a flyer advertising the San Diego Comic Con.

Well, that looked like it was right up my alley. I had heard of the San Diego Comic Con. When I was a boy growing in Indiana in the 1960's and 70's, Stan Lee and Roy Thomas used to talk about SDCC in the old Bullpens Bulletins page of the Marvel Comics. It was something I always wanted to see. I stood there looking at that flyer and I was thinking "Let's see. San Diego is about a two and a half hour drive from here. My girl friend just dumped me so I don't have to worry about her. I have some money saved. Why not?" Really, there was no reason not to go. I had that weekend in July off because we were in home port and there wasn't that much for us to do.

I had never been to San Diego before in my life at that point. I'd never been further south than Anaheim. My friends warned me that San Diego was hard to navigate because of all the one way streets downtown. I just laughed that off. In my mind, I was an old Antarctic explorer that conquered that entire continent. I could surely handle one mid-sized city. Ha! That's the way it is when you're young. You don't always use your noodle. My plan was to drive down there on the morning of Friday July 11th, spend the day at the show, have dinner downtown and then drive back to Hollywood that night. I brought 60 bucks with me thinking that would be plenty. Now remember, I had never been to SDCC before and I had no freaking idea how much fun it was or that I wouldn't want to leave. But that's a story for part two of this little flashback tale.

So I arrived in San Diego with my trusty little Thomas Brothers map (No GPS or cell phones in those days, kids) and sure enough, I got lost despite all the warnings (that I didn't listen to). I parked my car down on Harbor Boulevard and decided to try finding the place on foot. That was even harder. After wandering around like an idiot for close to an hour, a kindly, silver haired bespectacled gentleman saw me and noticed my plight. He walked up to me and said "Excuse me, son. You seem to be lost. Do you need help?" And I said "Yes sir. I don't think you'd know where this is, but I'm trying to find the San Diego Comic Con." He just laughed and said "That's exactly where I'm going! I'll take you there!" Oh My God, that was such a relief. I was afraid I'd be lost forever down there.

This man who found me was so nice. He appeared to be in his early 50's. And he was extremely intelligent. He could tell from my accent that I was from the midwest and he could see from my haircut that I was serving in the military. He asked me where I was from and I told him Indiana. He liked that. He told me he was from Illinois and that we were practically neighbors. He asked me about places I've been deployed to in my Navy career and I told him Antarctica. He REALLY liked that. He asked all kinds of questions about it. I could tell he had a science background.

We finally got to the convention center and he showed me where to buy my badge. I finally noticed he was wearing one too but I didn't see the name. We shook hands and I thanked him profusely for everything. He just laughed and said "A pleasure, my boy, a pleasure! Maybe I'll see you inside!" and then he disappeared through the doors. That guy was a true gentleman and unfortunately I didn't see him again for the rest of the weekend.

By some miracle I survived that weekend and made it home. It wasn't until I got back to my apartment that I had a chance to look through my program book. And that's when I saw a picture of the nice man who helped me find the convention center.

It was Ray Bradbury.

I wanted to scream. I was talking to Ray Bradbury. One of my childhood idols. A man who's work I have loved since I learned how to read. And I didn't know it was him.

But it was okay. I knew as I was driving back to LA that I would return to San Diego. I was never going to miss a San Diego Comic Con as long as I was physically able to get there.

Three years later I was out of the Navy and had a nice little apartment right by the beach in San Diego. Of course I went to comic con that year. I've never missed one just like I vowed. I went to the DC table, and lo and behold, guess who was sitting there? If you guessed the greatest science fiction writer of the 20th century you guessed right. He had just done a graphic novel for DC with artist Klaus Janson based on one of his short stories called Frost and Fire. I walked up to him and asked him to autograph my copy of the Illustrated Man. I then asked him if he remembered me. He looked at me for a second then said "You're the Antarctic sailor!" Bingo. He remembered. We both had a good laugh. I was so thankful I was able to talk to him again (This time knowing who he was).

People will remember Ray Bradbury because he was a brilliant story teller, a man who not only wrote with words but also with his heart and soul. I will remember him because of that, and also his kindness and warmth.

Goodbye, Ray. Because of your grace, I will always Sing The Body Electric.

20 Days Until SDCC 2025!

SDcomics · Jul 4, 2025

Happy Fourth of July to all of us Yanks!

Comic Con was actually held on Fourth of July weekend on two different occasions. The first time was in 1991. That was the year we first moved into the big convention center down on Harbor Drive that we still use to this day. The holiday weekend was the only dates the city had available but it worked out great. I loved seeing the fireworks over the bay front. IIRC, there was a full moon and you could see all the sailboats out on the water. Harlan Ellison, Joe Kubert, Jim Lee, Neil Gaiman, Keith Giffen and Clive Barker were all special guests that year. That was a great show.

And the second and last time was in 1996. The show had to be held on the Fourth that year because of the Republican National Convention. (It took city workers a month using deodorizers and disinfectant to get their toxic stink out of there.) What was really cool about that year was the surprise birthday party for Gil Kane. We celebrated his 70th birthday on the night of the Fourth. We were up on the mezzanine level of the convention center so we had a spectacular view of the fireworks over the bay. I've always been a big fan of Gil and I love his art. That was a perfect night and another great SDCC memory.

Here's a picture of Gil with Will Eisner from the 1975 show. Will is on the left, Gil is on the right.