There’s nothing weirder than going to a characteristic panel at New York Comic Con specializing in a single actor and listening to them speak about… effectively… nothing. From Ewan McGregor evaluating the relative deserves of New York bagels, to David Tennant discussing Shakespeare, to Chris Evans solely spending 20 minutes on stage, most of it taken up with speak about his canine, Dodger, the celebs actually didn’t have a lot to say. Or, extra precisely, they weren’t actually allowed to speak about a lot of something.
It’s not simply these people both. The Our Flag Means Demise forged spent a complete hour answering superlative questions, ending up the panel with a freestyle beatbox/rap by star Rhys Darby, by no means as soon as saying the phrases Our Flag Means Demise. The forged of Guardians of the Galaxy performed “would you quite?” with the moderator. Star Trek did a single screening of subsequent week’s episode of Decrease Decks and didn’t announce any information. At the least for main networks and actors, the panel vibes of New York Comedian Con had been solely off.
It’s not anybody’s fault, actually. That is what occurs when actors aren’t allowed to speak about what they’re engaged on, and studios solely have govt producers and manufacturing designers chatting with the press. These persons are attention-grabbing, they usually have fascinating issues to say about their work, nevertheless it’s not who folks come to NYCC to see, and it’s not what folks need to examine afterwards.
AMC was the one main studio that was in a position to do something important. With a full slate of previews and teasers alongside an early displaying of the Daryl Dixon finale and a panel with star-executive producer Norman Reedus, The Strolling Lifeless walked away the winner. Or, shambled, actually. The bar, which was “actors speak about their work,” was fairly low. AMC might need realized that ready for the AMPTP to signal a good contract was a dropping sport, and determined early on to not maintain its breath. The Strolling Lifeless has been part of comedian cons for over a decade. It could have been a disgrace to let company greed break the streak.
However regardless of all of the weirdness, there have been nonetheless some good issues happening exterior of the massive levels. The cosplays had been unimaginable—NYCC appears to like iterations and inventive interpretation, and this 12 months followers turned out. The fan occasions had been additionally nice; I went to a really charming meetup for followers of Izzy Arms and got here away with washi tape, three pins, two non permanent tattoos, and having signed a petition to resume as a crew. There was additionally a medium winner: comedian books. Each DC and Marvel made massive bulletins concerning the books and arcs which are upcoming from their imprints. Regardless of this, even comics had their fair proportion of “what the fuck is going on?” floating round.
I’m speaking about Tom Hardy. The actor stopped by NYCC on Saturday to advertise Arcbound—the army sci-fi comedian he co-created alongside Scott Snyder. Arcbound is the primary sequence from Arcbound Studios, an organization with robust ties to web3, crypto, and digital collectibles, aka NFTs. There was no phrase on how Arcbound will cross over between leisure and digital collectibles, and Arcbound Studio’s website is equally sparse, with no information, a singular deal with Arcbound’s characters and plot, and an odd button for “Kickstarter” with no info supplied.
That is the form of information that will usually be overshadowed at NYCC by massive media occasions, trailers, large casts, and premieres. It’s nice that comics and cosplay acquired their probability within the highlight, particularly after how awkward it was at San Diego Comedian-Con, which went on regardless of many actors pulling out on the final minute as a result of timing of the SAG-AFTRA strike. However in a whole lot of methods, it actually felt like a few of the actors and forged panels most likely shouldn’t have come to NYCC in any respect.
A panel styled like a sport present is form of charming, however can also be completely meritless. It’s not attention-grabbing, it’s simply there to take up time in a schedule. These panels had been, within the least charitable phrases, disrespectful to actors who’re extraordinarily proficient and profitable and would most likely have fascinating issues to say in the event that they had been simply requested the fitting questions. It was additionally demoralizing as a fan to have spent cash to attend a panel the place you’d hope to get attention-grabbing insights into who these persons are, and as a substitute you’re caught cringing—very similar to the actors on stage—because the moderator asks “who can be almost definitely to take a selfie with Bigfoot?” as if that’s an actual query folks ask one another.
The most important difficulty with all these of us on stage was that only a few of them spoke concerning the strike, and solely a pair alluded to the labor motion in indirect phrases. Everybody appeared to understand that they had been strolling a really wonderful line between what was and was not thought-about promotion of struck work, however the full lack of labor dialogue felt odd after months of assist. The WGA strikes, which have solely been resolved up to now month, weren’t talked about in any respect. In the end, this combined messaging—are they right here to advertise their work or not? Are they going to speak concerning the strikes or not? Are they going to speak about something newsworthy or attention-grabbing?—produced an odd pressure between the viewers and the folks on stage.
The most effective NYCC panels that I attended wasn’t really held in any of the principle levels… and even on a stage. Within the again room of the fourth-floor River Pavilion, the National Association of Voice Actors held a panel discussion on AI that was insightful and full of non-public experiences. Though the panel came about in what was kind of a cafeteria, the subject was attention-grabbing sufficient that each desk was full and other people had been paying shut consideration to what was being stated. At a con the place each different panel gave the impression to be actively, painfully, avoiding speaking concerning the labor actions which are at present ongoing, the NAVA panel was a refreshing dialogue that not solely honored the time and experience of its panelists, however revered the intelligence of the viewers.
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