San Diego Comic-Con Recap: Day 1 & Day 2

It’s that time of year again — the San Diego Comic-Con is now in full swing. As in years past, the 2016 geek gathering is packed with panels connected to The Walt Disney Company, some of which occurred during the convention’s first two days.

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Without further ado, here’s a quick look at the Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars news coming out of SDCC, starting with something you may not get a whole lot of at Comic-Con these days: actual comics.

Disney Comics

One of the first Disney-related panels of the convention happened on Thursday morning when Disney Comics revealed a host of new titles:

Graphic Novels for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Episodes I, II, and III

With the original trilogy having already received the graphic novel treatment, Mike Siglain announced that four more Star Wars titles were on the way. Books based on all three prequels and last year’s The Force Awakens will be hitting store shelves sometime in the relatively near future.

Star vs. the Forces of Evil Comics

Fans of Disney XD’s Star vs. the Force of Evil have a new set of comics to look forward to. You’ll be happy to now that these books will tell original stories inspired by the series and won’t just be retellings of existing episodes.

Beauty and the Beast Manga Series from TOKYOPOP

Perhaps the most buzzed about title announced at the panel was a two-part manga series that will be based on the upcoming live-action version of Beauty and the Beast. What’s really cool about this idea from TOKYOPOP is that one book will be from the Beast’s perspective while the other will be told from Belle’s. To tease fans, an image that’s essentially a manga version of the film’s first poster was released.

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Other titles

Other titles discussed during the panel include DuckTales Cinestory Volume 1, as well as comics based on hits Zootopia, Finding Dory, and Frozen.

 Marvel Shows on Netflix

While Marvel’s blockbuster films have taken a decidedly PG-13 tone, Netflix has been an outlet for the studio to tell some of their more R-rated tales in the form of various television series. That slate of shows is set to expand with the release of Luke CageIron Fist, and The Defenders:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBZtM8q2Z1g

Beauty and the Beast 25th anniversary

Yes, it’s true — our beloved Beauty and the Beast is now a quarter of a century old. What better way to celebrate than hold a Comic-Con panel featuring Don Hahn and other familiar faces talking about the film? Panel attendees were treated to a look some concept art for the film and some other goodies:

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 

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This fall the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will return to ABC for a fourth season. While the crowd enjoyed seeing some audition tapes, screen tests, blooper reels, and getting some of their burning questions answered, the most exciting part came when the show confirmed that Ghost Rider would be making an appearance during the next season.

Hasbro Star Wars toys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrZ4hgfFblE

Hasbro’s partnership with Disney has been a boon for both brands — a trend they’re hoping to continue with their latest creations. Naturally, with Disney making more Star Wars films and shows, Hasbro is cranking out more merch including additions to their Black Series, a walking AT-ACT (the ‘c’ is for “cargo”) toy from Rogue One, and a 3.75″ figure depicting Grand Admiral Thrawn as he will appear on Star Wars Rebels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIoWbcMsw3Y

Star Wars Publishing

In even more Star Wars news, some new books from Star Wars publishing were also unveiled today. This includes a first look at some the books that will be released around the time of Rogue One, a new children’s book called Obi-123, the return of Thrawn, a book that will expand upon Poe Dameron’s story in The Force Awakens, and two sequels to the hit Aftermath.

Tsum Tsum

While there wasn’t a panel, one popular stop on the show floor is the Tsum Tsum booth which has some upcoming sets on display:

Moana

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Disney’s next animated classic made an appearance at the convention this year and introduced the world to Auli’i Cravalho. Some of the revelations are that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will indeed be singing a song in the film and that filmmakers researched in Fiji, New Zealand, Tahiti, and Hawaii while preparing for the movie. Meanwhile, over at the Hasbro booth, some Moana toys were on display (seen above).

Her Universe Fashion Show

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On Thursday night, Ashley Eckstein and Her Universe showed off some geek couture. The highlight has to be Eckstein herself wearing a Lego dress featuring Ahsoka Tano — the character she voiced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. The dress was made of more than 10,000 bricks and weighed in at 25 pounds!


Well, that’s it for now but stayed tuned to LaughingPlace, our Twitter, and our live blog for more from San Diego Comic-Con 2016.