The Countdown to SDCC 2025!

So, Friday July 25th. I'm excited. I don't even know who I want to see revealed in the way of figures. They've made pretty much everyone I could hope for. but I'm sure they'll show a bunch of stuff that i end up buying. I'm always hoping to see anything X-men related.

I'm sure most folks in here are going after the Savage Lands Exclusive pack, but what other SDCC Exclusives are you after?

I think all I need this year is the Savage Lands Pack and probably the Retro Real Ghostbusters Glow in the Dark 4 pack. I was going to get the Black Series Revenge of the Sith set for Star Wars, but since they are just letting the new ROTS Kenobi and Anakin out individually as well, I'll probably just get those. Probably.
Savage Land and maybe the RoTS set.

Light year, thankfully.
 
From SDCC 2024, writer/editor Jack C. Harris

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Jack was a writer and editor in the 70's, 80's and early 90's and worked mainly for DC Comics. He wrote Kamandi and Wonder Woman, and in 1992 he and artist Joe Quesada co-created an updated version of the Golden Age Ray.

Here's a photo of Jack at his spotlight panel last year being interviewed by Mark Evanier:

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Some of Jack's comics that he edited or wrote (sometimes both):

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10 Days Until SDCC 2025!
 
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From Comic Con Special Edition in 2021, the Peacemaker panel and offsite event.

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As you know, Comic Con was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic. That sucked. However, in November of 2021, the SDCC organizers put on Comic-Con Special Edition, which was held on Thanksgiving Weekend. It was a much smaller, scaled down show than we were used to, but what the hell. It was a lot better than nothing. We had to wear masks, show proof of vaccination to gain admittance, and try and social distance as much as possible. That was no problem for most of us. A great time was had by all and it was so good to be with my tribe again. There was no Hall H that year, but in a move that surprised the Hell out of all of us, The Peacemaker himself, John Cena, made an unannounced appearance at the masquerade in Ballroom 20. It was just like old times.

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Warner Brothers and DC put on a Peacemaker offsite event, which was pretty cool. It was right across Harbor Drive from the Convention Center.

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There's going to be a Peacemaker panel at this year's comic con. It will be in Hall H on Saturday the 26th from 3:30 to 4:30 PM. The cast of the show will be there along with the writer and producer, James Gunn himself. That should be interesting.

And because I wouldn't be SDcomics if I didn't do this, some comic book covers:

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9 Days Until SDCC 2025!
 
From SDCC 2006, Stan the Man Lee:

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There's a whole lot of things that I can say about Stan. That he started as an assistant (gofer, actually) for his cousin's husband, Martin Goodman, at the newly minted Timely Comics in 1939. That Stan rose through the ranks of the company quickly and by late in 1941 became the editor in chief, head writer and art director. How in 1961 Stan, along with Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and a few other very talented artists, helped usher in Marvel's Silver Age. They created the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Spider-Man, Dr Strange, the Avengers, X-Men, Daredevil, SHIELD, the Black Panther and the list goes on. Stan wrote his stories for an older slightly more mature audience than DC and the other comic book companies and it worked. It turned out there was a real appetite on High School and College Campuses for these types of fantasy tales that addressed more serious themes and featured heroes who had feet of clay. Marvel clicked. They really clicked.

Yes, I could tell you that and a whole lot more. But why? You already know all that.

Here's something you may not know. Let me ask you a question. Who is the most important person in Marvel History? I can tell you right now that without this individual, there would be no Marvel, not as we know them today. The company wouldn't exist.

No, it's not Stan. And it's not Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita Sr or Martin Goodman.

Give up?

It's Stan's wife, Joan Lee. We owe it all to her.

Let me explain.

Stan has told the famous story about how his publisher, Martin Goodman, was playing golf one Saturday in 1961 with the publisher of rival DC Comics, Jack Liebowitz. Jack told Martin that he had a book that was selling well for his company that featured a group of superheroes called the Justice League of America. Martin, sensing an opportunity, ran to a pay phone as soon the game ended and called up Stan. "Create a team of superheroes now", he bellowed over the phone. Stan said sure, why not. And then hung up the phone.

(Quick aside: There are some doubts that the "famous golf game" ever actually happened. Jack and Martin have both gone on record as not remembering it. What likely happened was Stan and Martin were going over the sales figures for the competition's comics and saw that Justice League was a best seller, so they decided to get on the superhero bandwagon. But the golf story is more colorful and Stan loves spinning a good yarn, so we're gonna go with that.)

Stan's first thought was to bring back the Timely golden age heroes. Captain America, Sub-Mariner, original Human Torch ... but, been there, done that. See, at this point in his life, Stan felt like he needed a change. He wanted to get out of the comics industry, get out of New York, move to Hollywood and get a job in the new field of Saturday morning cartoons. He had worked in comics his whole life up to that point but nothing much was happening. They did all kinds of comics. Superheroes in the 40's, Teen comedies, westerns, horror, sci-fi, funny animals, suspense and war books in the 50's ... they sold ok but not great. Stan saw comics as dead end and he wanted to be famous. So he talked it over with Joan. She was an actress and liked working on stage, but she was fine with moving to Hollywood. But, she told him, "Stan, You're 40 years old. You've spent your entire adult life working in comics. Before you give it all up, do this one last book for Martin. But do it the way YOU want it. Write the kind of stories that you would enjoy reading if you were a fan."

Sage advice from a wise lady. So Stan got together with Jack "King" Kirby, and together they created the Fantastic Four. And the world would never again be the same. And that's not mere hyperbole. That is an undeniable fact.

Back in those early days of comics, the publishers felt that their readers were mostly children. You read comics from about the time you learned to read until you were 12 or 13, and then you stopped. There really wasn't any such thing as comics for adults. But the Fantastic Four came along and everything changed. The heroes didn't wear costumes. They didn't have secret identities. Everyone knew who they were. They had distinct personalities. They argued and bickered a lot. The villains had real motivation. They weren't bad just simply for the sake of being bad. If you were an adult and read that, you might think it was pretty cool. And that's what happened. All of a sudden the Marvel offices started getting fan mail. Newspapers and radio stations wanted to do interviews. Fan clubs were set up. I myself joined the Merry Marvel Marching Society. Those days were great.

And really, we owe it all to Joanie Lee.

Some of Stan's best:

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A blast from the past, penciled and inked by Mirthful Marie Severin:

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Excelsior!

8 Days Until SDCC 2025!
 
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I predict we'll see either a deluxe Pulse-only Rachel/Phoenix/Hound or a Mephisto and his throne at the press breakfast, just like Kang last year.
 
From SDCC 2006, Jim Lee.

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If you're a comics fan, you know who this guy is. No need for me to say anything.

But in case you've been living on the Planet Mongo your whole life, a brief bio:

Jim Lee is an artist, writer, editor and publisher. He is currently the President, Publisher, and Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics.

He got his start for Marvel Comics in 1987 drawing Alpha Flight and Punisher War Journal. In 1989, Lee filled in for regular illustrator Marc Silvestri on Uncanny X-Men #248 and did another guest stint on issues 256 through 258 as part of the "Acts of Vengeance" storyline. He eventually became the series' ongoing artist with issue #268, following Silvestri's departure. Jim was a great artist who got put on Marvel's best selling title. Boom. He became Jim Lee, industry superstar. When you get that kind of clout, you can do what you want.

In 1991, Lee helped launch a second X-Men series simply called X-Men vol. 2, as both the artist and as co-writer with Claremont. X-Men vol. 2 #1 is still the best-selling comic book of all-time with sales of over 8.1 million copies, according to a public proclamation by Guinness World Records at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con.

In 1992, Lee and six other best selling Marvel artists (Todd McFarlane, Jim Valentino, Marc Silvestri, Rob Liefeld, Erik Larsen and Whilce Portacio) started their own company, Image Comics. Lee's division was called Wildstorm Productions, and his group produced such titles as WildC.A.T.S., Stormwatch, Deathblow and Gen13.

Jim left Image and sold Wildstorm to DC in 1998. He wanted to spend less time on the business end of things and more time drawing and this move enabled him to do so. In 2003, he collaborated on a 12-issue run on Batman with writer Jeph Loeb called "Hush". Jim Lee on Batman? Yeah. That sold about a zillion copies.

In 2010, Jim was named co-publisher of DC along with Dan DiDio. In September 2011, DC Comics instituted an initiative called The New 52, in which the publisher cancelled all of its superhero titles and relaunched 52 new series with No. 1 issues, wiping out most of the then-current continuity. Lee and writer Geoff Johns, DC Comics' Chief Creative Officer, were the architects of the relaunch, which was initiated with a new Justice League series, written and illustrated by Johns and Lee, respectively.

In late February 2020, following the departure of Co-Publisher Dan DiDio, Lee became the sole Publisher of DC Comics. Lee was promoted to President of DC Comics in May 2023.

And that pretty much brings us up to date. Besides being an incredibly talented artist, Jim is a very nice guy who's real easy to talk to. He does seem to enjoy spending time with the fans. He's produced an incredible body of work and I hope he continues to do so for years to come.

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7 Days Until SDCC 2025!
 
Dan posted this on X/Twitter:


"Setting of expectations SDCC: Excited to talk to Marvel Legends fans in 1 week! Panel will have the usual amount of reveals & something at the end. Obviously it will probably not feel the same but we’ll try our best. We are saving some reveals for events at the end of the year

Im sure we will have some sort of reveal recap on Pulse for those not physically at the panel. But it’s tbd on when and how the info will flow out. Again someone from the toy community will recap too. For those coming to see us, please note we can only control what we can control

But we’re always happy to listen and discuss! We always appreciate the passion, knowledge, & love that you have for the brand! If you want to give us feedback, we only ask it is done respectfully. Again excited and hope you all enjoy in about one week’s time

Much credit to Steve Evans in making our SDCC panel deck look awesome!"







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Maybe I'm being dense here, but I don't understand what Dan is saying.

First he says "Panel will have the usual amount of reveals & something at the end." Okay, cool. That's what they do every year.

And then he says "Obviously it will probably not feel the same but we’ll try our best." Um, what? Why wouldn't it feel the same?

Am I missing something here? Can someone please explain?
 
I think he means either Ryan won't be at the panel or Ryan will be on the panel but not leading the panel, so it won't feel the same or have the same energy.
Perhaps the panel will be led by Steve Evans who put the panel deck together, which I think means the video presentation, but I could be completely wrong.
Maybe Dan will lead the panel, which he's never done before, so it won't have the same feeling than when Ryan led the panel.
Maybe we'll meet Ryan's replacement, if there is one.

I really appreciate Dan stating to give feedback respectively. There were some guys at the booth last year that were just overbearing and obnoxious. This is the time for fun and friendly banter, not being rude. The loss of Ryan is still very fresh and I'm sure a lot of questions and comments will be about that, so our guys may be a tad bit more sensitive.
Being rude isn't gonna convince them make Skurge, Firebird or Jack of Hearts any faster but being fun, memorable and charming might leave a lasting impression.
 
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