At SDCC Mary Gillespie was kind enough to help out with coverage when schedule conflicts arose and she has also given us loads of great pictures as well for Social Media.
Praise Petey
Praise Petey is a new animated series from Hulu/Freeform about a New York City career woman who appears to have it all while working for a fashion magazine, but things start going horribly wrong; she loses her job, fiancé (who is a piece of wood named Brian), best friend, and apartment all in the same day. She goes to see her very odd, and cold mother who tells her that her father has passed away and left her a town called New Utopia located in the middle of nowhere. What she doesn’t know is that the town is the home for a cult complete with human sacrifices, orgies, and a cast of very odd characters of which she is the prophesized leader! Sounds horrible, but it is actually pretty funny. Sick and demented funny, but funny nevertheless. She decides to give the town a try and upon arrival is welcomed by the town with open arms as the new leader. The only person who doesn’t welcome her is Bandit, who doesn’t like her or what her dad did to the town and wants her gone (and who I think will become her new boyfriend down the road).
Petey decides the town needs to be modernized and decides a barn wedding venue location would be a great way to get the town moving and generate money. Her first customer is her ex-fiancé and her ex-best friend. She tells the town to be “normal” and hides all of the weird stuff so it will appear more normal. Weird stuff includes a man who thinks he is a Shi-Tzu, a group of followers who talk about the cult openly, 2 women in that same group who don’t wear clothes (they are blurred out) and, of course the sacrificing which she bans as her first order of business. They have the wedding, things happen (I can’t tell you, spoilers) but in the end it is all ok. Well, as ok as it can be in New Utopia!
When I read the description of the show, I wasn’t sure how it would turn out being an animated series. It is done in a manner that is funny, makes jabs at cults and some small-town ways, along with adding likable characters and a lot of references to other shows. It all blends in perfectly and is funny, engaging, weird, and even a little demented, but it works!
Jim Lee
Announcement – DC has partnered with Legendary’s Monsterverse to create Justice League vs Godzilla vs King Kong. The 7-issue series will launch on October 17 and features several variant covers to collect. (I have photos of some included in the folder). Jim Lee is very excited about this new line and as Jim puts it (not a direct quote)… “it is fun and exciting to explore the “what ifs” when you combine fandoms”. As a Godzilla/King Kong fan, I am super excited about this and will be lining up to purchase my copies!
Peanuts
The Peanuts creators have a bunch in store for fans in the coming months in celebration of 50 years of Beagle Scouts! In August, a new special featuring Marcie will premier giving a different look into the mind of the character. Marcie is an introvert and is thrown into public by being elected class president! In 2024 a new series “Camp Snoopy” will premiere (the actual date still to be announced) which features Snoopy and the Beagle Scouts doing what they do best along with the rest of the gang at camp. And finally, in 2024 a special will premiere featuring Franklin. Franklin is the new kid on the block who, along with Charlie Brown, decide to join a soapbox derby race and we get to follow along with how they go about being winners (hopefully winners). The art being used for the specials is new-ish to Peanuts and is stunning. Very vibrant and beautiful colors. During the panel, something was on the table covered in a black cloth waiting to be unveiled. Finally, we got to see that it is the new Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon of Snoopy as a Beagle Scout with his faithful friend Woodstock perched on his hat! Snoopy has been in the parade since 1968 and is one of the longest-running balloons to appear.
Premier of Invincibles’ Atom Eve screening
Release date of November 3 on Prime Video. This screening featured a special episode of Prime Video’s Invincible featuring Atom Eve and her origin story. Eve thinks she is a normal teenager but soon finds out she has superpowers that were genetically engineered, stolen from her mom at birth, and adopted out by a “normal” family. It is very engaging and follows the angst of being a teen, finding out you aren’t who you think you are, to finally coming into your own. I enjoyed it!
Gala Games
I was able to record the interviews for both Last Expedition and Mirandus. I am not a gamer but these two definitely piqued my interest! Especially Mirandus. It is a fantasy game that takes the players through a world of magic and fantasy that looks to be fun and engaging. Mirandus is not ready for beta testing yet, but Last Expedition is! They are looking for people to try out the game and give feedback. To do that, you can go to their website and sign up. Sounds like fun to me!
Legion M
We found Legion M on the vendor floor and talked to them about their company. They are a media company that is owned by fans to produce movies, tv, and digital content. People can invest in the company and be in on the ground floor of what they are hoping will “change Hollywood forever”. We attended their panel where they showed trailers for a couple of their new movies. “You Can Call Me Bill” (William Shatner documentary), “Defiant, The Story of Robert Smalls”, and “My Dead Friend Zoe” were three that stuck out for me. All three are worth watching, especially My Dead Friend Zoe. This one has an all-star cast of Sonequa Martin-Green, Morgan Freeman, and Ed Harris (to name just a few) and is about a “female Afghanistan veteran who comes to head with her Vietnam veg grandfather at the family’s ancestral lake house”. Unfortunately, I did not catch release dates of any of the shows but I am pretty sure they are in 2024.
Other fun stuff we did…
Hulu’s Animayhem – We stood in line for almost 2 hours to go to the Hulu Animayhem activation. It was so much fun! The sets were from Archer, The Simpsons, Futurama, Bob’s Burgers, and a host of other animated series. We got lots of pictures, ate real Bob’s Burgers, and got a cool backpack and swag at the end.
Haunted Mansion doom buggies – I had to get a picture of these pedicabs! They also gave out posters for the new movie coming out this July 28th.
HillyWood panel – I am a fan of HillyWood so I had to go to the panel and am glad I did! They premiered their newest parody video, Good Omens. This was super cool and they explained how they got Neil Gaiman (yes, THE Neil Gaiman) to join them on the parody and in the video. My other favorite was Supernatural 2 which is set to the Ghostbuster theme song which was awesome
