On December 19, I ventured down to Ontario, California for the 2021 Comic Con Revolution, held annually at the Ontario Convention Center. I was curious to see how they were going to approach Covid protocols and I was greatly impressed with their forward thinking and planning. For those who were vaccinated, a simple check of your vaccination card was required. For those unvaccinated, they required a negative test within 72 hours of attending. Here was the best part…they had a testing facility on site where you could have a rapid test administered for $40. For those of you who would balk at that price, our local hospital charges $100 for rapid tests so I was quite impressed.
Outside of the venue, you were greeted by some of the most iconic vehicles from film and television including KITT from Knight Rider and the DeLorean from Back to the Future. Inside the venue, the badge pick up was run with impeccable efficiency. I was able to pick up my press pass and my daughter’s daily pass in a matter of moments. A QR code was displayed that gave you the entire layout of the convention center as well as autograph alley and the seminar rooms.
Staff was on hand at frequent intervals to direct you and answer any questions you might have. The only comparison I can give this is to that of the Disneyland staff. No convention worker left me without an answer to a question and they seemed as genuinely excited to be back as we were to have them back.
Autograph alley offered several opportunities to meet voice actors from shows like Avatar The Last Airbender and Naruto as well as the original Flash Gordon, Sam J. Jones. Legendary writer Chris Claremont of Uncanny X-Men fame was there and had a massive crowd. The highlight for me was Timothy Zahn. Zahn is the author of The Heir to the Empire saga of Star Wars novels which introduced us the character of Grand Admiral Thrawn. Thrawn has been featured in the animated Rebels show and will be making a live action appearance in the upcoming Ashoka Tano series on Disney+.
We here at NOWHERE CALIFORNIA will be looking forward to attending next year as well and will leave you with these pictures from this year‘s Ontario Comic Con Revolution.
It has been said that you can’t go home again and for Peter Parker, the journey home has been rougher then the average person. In “Far From Home”, we left the web slinger watching his world and secret identity being exposed to the world. Now, two years and some corporate entities coming to terms, we have our first look at the next entry in the saga of everyone’s favorite neighborhood Spiderman.
The world has been patiently waiting for our first look at the post “Far From Home” world and it was worth the wait. We get a quick taste of how Peter’s life is upside down and what lengths he is willing to go to fix things, but the problem is the aftermath of this resolution and the effects he is not ready to put into action. In this confusion and deeper dive into the multiverse, we get a peek into the variant worlds of the web slinger and some ghost’s of franchises past are unleashed in this current Marvel Cinematic Universe.
This trailer is the tip of the titanic sized iceberg, we know the casting “rumors” and the road leading to this film’s release, so the “No Way Home” reveals should be unleashed faster and we will be ready.
Spider-Man: No Way Home Hits Theaters December 17,2021
Since the post office can’t deliver any cease and desist orders, Nowhere California is back with another edition of SHOW US YOUR JUNK! I’m stepping back in front of the camera to show you what I got and continuing the feud with Nick that only seems to appear in this forum.
The Nano Gauntlet is currently available on multiple sites, but I would highly recommend picking up this item directly through HASBRO Pulse. You can CLICK HERE and head over to that site.
The world of pop culture is still feeling the after effects of the DC Fandome and our favorite villainous squad are jumping from the page to the screen to the next generation of video game consoles.
The Nowhere California team will be diving deep into the first images from “The Suicide Squad” movie, but we have to take a look at the next game from the creative minds behind the legendary Arkham City franchise, Rocksteady Studios.
The members of Task Force X have entered the battle damage city limits of Metropolis, they have one mission and one goal. The mission is to eliminate a target and their goal is to get time erased from their prison sentences, but there is one huge problem and that is the target. Harley Quinn (voiced by Tara Strong), Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, and King Shark (voiced by WWE superstar Samoa Joe) have to take down Superman. Will the goal outweigh the mission? Also, from the title of the game, we can only imagine that the team will have a lot more on their plates.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League will not hit stores until 2022, but this first look has given the world something to be excited for and is given me a reason to possibly upgrade my current video game system.
The first ever San Diego Comic-Con@HOME is a wrap and the only con crud case is traced to some under cooked pizza rolls in Oxnard. Anyways, there is a lot of announcements and other important news that came from this event, but we have to take a traditional trip to HALL H and check in with the Comic-Con icon Kevin Smith.
Well, I should correct myself, in a year where some traditions have had to change and Comic Con is a great example of this, this traditional trip detoured from HALL H to the Fat Cave. Kevin was true to form and lead the viewers through the current happenings in his universe. We learned about new merchandise and the current status of his future projects, but the biggest surprise came in the form of the world’s first look at “KILLROY WAS HERE”
This film was written by Kevin Smith and Andy McElfresh (co-host of the Edumacation podcast) Also, “KILLROY WAS HERE” has been in the works for awhile and the concept predates Kevin’s heart attack with Krampus in the lead monster role. Now, that time has passed and another Krampus movie has been released, we get KILLROY and the world is definitely ready.
Kevin describes KILLROY as “kind of like a kid Avenger… if you fuck with kids, KILLROY will show up.” That is pretty evident from the trailer and some evil fucks will be on the business end of Roy’s rage. The cast is stacked with some of Kevin Smith’s regulars and some new talented individuals are in the mix.
Currently, “KILLROY WAS HERE” does not have a release date or studio for distribution, so continue to watch this site or Kevin Smith’s site/social network for any breaking news.
The DC Animated Universe has set the bench mark with every release and they are ready for another beginning. As “Justice League Dark: Apokolips War” finishes the timeline that began with the 2013 “Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox”, Warner Bros. and DC are ready to hit the reset button. It’s time to check out the Man of Steel’s origins… again.
“Superman: Man Of Tomorrow” brings a new slant to one of the great comic book orgin of all-time, but before we dive into the trailer, I feel the need to point out the #MeToo elephant in the room. This story might look a little familiar to the trained eye, as this film is rumored to be loosely based on the comic “Superman:American Alien” and that book was written by a scumbag that I will not waste my breath to name, but through a little research and multiple source checks, that name in question is not linked to this project.
Now, with that out of the way, we return to the positive at hand and take a look at this preview of Kal-El’s younger years. In this film, as the official synopsis puts it…
Daily Planet intern Clark Kent takes learning-on-the-job to new extremes when Lobo and Parasite set their sights on Metropolis.
As the trailer and synopsis shows, we are heading from the farm and Metropolis with Clark Kent (voiced by Darren Criss). He is young and he is learning some new powers, but things are different this time around as Lobo makes a grand entrance into the Superman theatrical mythos.
The Cosmic Bounty Hunter (voiced by The Walking Dead’s Beta, Ryan Hurst) is ready to put Superman to the test and he is not alone, as Parasite is added into the mix. Before you wonder if Superman will be standing alone, he will not and he will get an assist from the legendary Martian Man Hunter.
“Superman: Man of Tomorrow” was written by Tim Sheridan, who co-wrote “Reign of the Supermen”, and directed by Chris Palmer. This production has gathered some big names to bring this world to life and takes the viewers on a familiar journey. This story has been told a few times, but this trailer peaks some interest on the return trip.
Superman: Man of Tomorrow Will Be Released August 2020
As 2019 comes to a close and the mourning continues for the ones we lost in Avengers: ENDGAME, one question continued to linger and one of those answers came in the form of the first trailer for MARVEL Studios: Black Widow.
The announcement of Natasha Romanoff’s solo movie excited the MARVEL universe, then ENDGAME left the movie watching public wondering about this movie and which direction we would see this character take. Luckily, the studio didn’t travel the same road as 2005’s Elektra and we are traveling back to the world post Captain America: Civil War.
The trailer drives us quickly into Natasha’s return to the world that built her and her attempts to disappear from the radar, but a life of a Red Room spy isn’t that easy and we see her reconnect with some “family”, one of them being a nostalgic Red Gaurdian (played by “Stranger Things” David Harbour).
Black Widow clearly shows the spy thriller vibe that The Winter Soldier gave us in the early phases of the Infinity Saga, but in a completely different world and it’s the world of a character that deserved a solo adventure.
Jay and Silent Bob are about to get rebooted, but Dante and Randal will soon be clocking in one last time. As “Jay And Silent Bob ReBoot” gets closer to its cinematic release, the man behind the dynamic duo unleashed some news about the on screen team that started it all…
Clerks III is showing life and, more importantly, another friendship from the View Askewniverse has returned. The details of the initial rift between Kevin and Jeff has never really seen the light of day, but that is something between two friends and it’s great to see them reconnect, let alone seeing them return to that garden state of mind.
As of this post, the script is still in the early stages and no production date is in view, but the usual suspects seem to be ready to return to the Quick Stop.
Sid Haig was the most intimidating interview I had ever had the pleasure of conducting, mind you that I am using intimidating in the most positive meaning of the word. During the early days of Nowhere California, we crossed paths with Sid at the 2013 Days of the Dead Convention and my anxiety stepped forward as I tried to figure out how to approach this larger than life presence.
As a fan, I knew I wanted to simply shake the man’s hand and thank him for his talents. As a rookie podcaster, I needed to figure out the best way to approach this icon and hope to pick his brain, even for a few moments. It would be easy to say that his role as Captain Spaulding was the nerves inducing factor, but that would be partially true, it was the over 6 decades of film work that would make some of the most seasoned journalist speechless and I’m standing there hoping that I would remember how my mouth works.
“Josh and I were very lucky to meet this man at one of our first cons, The Days of the Dead Con. He was very generous with his time, a true gentleman. He gave us a very funny and wonderful interview. Sid has left a beautiful body of work and another bright shining star appears in the heavens,” Philip Morgan, one of the original guys from Nowhere, commenting on the passing of Sid.
As you can hear from that conversation and Phil’s comments, Sid treated us like this was second nature for us and helped us feel like we belonged. That is a trait that could be considered rare in any aspect, let alone a convention, but Sid was definitely a rare individual.
Sid Haig’s first film credit is listed in 1960 and the most recent Rob Zombie’s “3 From Hell” could be one of his last completed film roles, it was his recent work with Rob Zombie that brought him into a new generation and let a new breed of film nerds dive into his past work, which could be looked at as a visual history/evolution of Hollywood.
Rob and Sid first worked together for the music video for “Feel So Numb” off of Zombie’s 2001 album “The Sinister Urge”, this lead to Rob casting Sid in the iconic role of Captain Spaulding in the “House of 1,000 Corpses” Captain Spaulding and the entire Firefly clan became a new generation’s horror icons, this spotlight led Sid into becoming a convention staple and gave fans the ability to hold court with the man behind the clown make-up.
“I remember running into Sid Haig at San Diego Comic Con as he was exiting the autograph upper level. I didn’t want to jam a camera in his face so I opted to simply say “I loved your work with Rob”. Sid simply said “Hey thanks man!” in that southern drawl of his. He turned and asked my name and we chat for bit as we caught an elevator down. His last words to me were “Did you wanna grab a pic or something before I split?” I thanked him and said the conversation was better than any photo. He shook my hand and I left genuinely impressed with how personable and human the fearsome Captain Spaulding turned out to be. Gonna miss ya Sid,” these are the words of Nicholas Dye. He wanted to share this memory of Sid and this is a memory that rang throughout the night and into this morning.
It was an understatement that the fans loved Sid and the lucky fans that would get a chance to talk to Sid knew he loved us back. The floors at most conventions could be a slow moving cattle call, but there are always must visit tables and Sid’s was one of those. Sid was ready for any fan and it seemed like money never was that important as he was ready to take pictures with anyone for free and has donated some of his money earned at conventions to charities.
“Whenever a legend in any capacity is taken from us, it’s hard to put the words together that express just how heartbroken we are. Sid was not only a Horror icon but a Hollywood icon in his own right. Sid saw a second resurgence in his career after “House of 1000 Corpses” and being thrust back into the spotlight showed people this man who’d been in the acting game longer than most of his fan base had been alive. Sid was a staple in the Horror convention circuit, and that is where I was first able to meet this wonderful man. The one aspect of Sid’s appearances that set him apart from others was he only charged for his autograph. If you wanted to come up and say hi, he was very welcoming. Wanted to take a picture with him using your own camera, absolutely free, so long as you didn’t make him stand up. Sid was always a great conversationalist and had the ability to enthrall all those around him with great stories. I remember my 3rd Days of the Dead convention I approached his table to discuss having him do a small interview for our convention coverage. “Don’t ask me for a fucking interview anymore,” was his response. I felt utterly defeated. I had finally annoyed the man himself and I will forever be on his bad side. “Just hit the damn button and we will do an interview, I like you guys so you don’t need to ask anymore,” he said in the same tone as someone who tells a college student they don’t need to ask to go to the restroom anymore. It was at that moment I knew we had become a memorable presence at the Horror convention scene, cause if Sid Haig liked us, then everyone else can fuck off! I will always have a spot in my heart for Sid, and I am happy he is finally at peace. I wish his family well, and if there is some kind of an afterlife, I know Sid is up there asking someone to go to lunch with him,” these are the words of Douglas Porter and his thoughts on this icon that we were lucky enough to cross paths with.
The 2016 Days of the Dead convention was the last time I crossed paths with the man, there was a signing event at Dark Delicacies for the Holliston Season 2 Blu-Ray, but the convention was our last conversation with the man and my last chance to pick the brain of a true Hollywood legend.
The conversation might have been brief, but I enjoyed every moment of it and I still was in awe by that moment in my podcasting life and the reality of Sid Haig liking us, let alone remembering us is still an absolute honor. In 2013, we stepped on that convention floor as nobodies and left feeling like we belonged. In 2016, we entered that convention as an actual force and still felt like fans that could hold court with the captain.
In Hollywood, the label of legend can be stuck to a lot of people and there are some names that do not deserve that honor, Sid sure as hell deserved that status. He has his DNA attached in almost 7 decades of filmmaking and the film nerds of the world should consider ourselves lucky to have that vault to look through.
Thank you Sid for sharing your talents with the world. Oh Captain, Our Fucking Captain.
This weekend, Anaheim CA was the host to the annual D23 Disney Expo. Sprawled across the Anaheim Convention Center D23 is the Comic Con of Disney Studios. The 3 day event covers many aspects of the ins and outs happening within Disney. It has also become a showcase for many of the Disney properties and has become the host of many award ceremonies that Disney uses to honor what they have termed as “Disney Legends”. Much like Hall H in San Diego, Disney uses a large part of the convention halls, to
premier upcoming Disney Films, TV shows, and Documentaries. The main focuses of this year’s D23 were the launch of the new Disney streaming service, Disney+. The service will be launching November 12 th and will be the home of the past and future Disney media. New and Past movies, and TV shows will be hosted on the service, and subscribers to the service will also be able to add-on packages, unlocking things like ESPN, and other Disney owned subsidiaries. The other focus of D23 was the ever growing universe that is Star Wars.
Disney purchased the hibernating giant that is Lucasfilm from George Lucas on October 30 th , 2012 for the sum of $4.05 Billion dollars. Since the purchase Disney has begun to put Lucasfilm in hyperdrive.
They have created 4 movies (The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, Rogue One, Solo: A Star Wars story) with the 5 th movie, The Rise of Skywalker premiering December 20 th . They have produced 2 television shows
(Star Wars: Rebels, and Star Wars: Resistance), as well as countless web shorts. They retconned all current novels and comics to bring the “expanded universe” to a close, so that they could keep a linear story continuity in place to help control the new Disney narrative of Star Wars.
Disney begun their Star Wars announcements on Friday with Kathleen Kennedy (CEO, Lucasfilm) presenting the upcoming projects in a very Steve Job like format to the audience. The first announcement was for the 3 rd television series by Disney titled, The Mandalorian. The Mandalorian is a story set 5 years after the events of The Return of the Jedi. The story will follow the title character, simply dubbed “The Mandalorian”, played by veteran actor Pedro Pascal as a bounty hunter traversing the galaxy far from the reaches of the “New Republic”. This new show, written and produced by newly
awarded “Disney Legend” Jon Favearu will be more of a “a version of a show that took place after Return of the Jedi, after the revolution, after everybody’s done celebrating because the Empire is gone,” he said. “And then chaos reigns because there’s no central government in the galaxy and so it degrades into a world where, like the old Samurai movies and the old Westerns, where the gunfighters are roaming and people are fighting for their own safety.”
Rounding out the cast is former UFC fighter turned action movie starlet Gina Carano, veteran action movie actor Carl Weathers, actor/filmmaker Werner Herzohg, Breaking Bad villain Giancarlo Espisito, and New Zelander actor/filmmaker Taika Waititi who will be providing the voice of fellow bounty hunter, IG-11. Disney/Lucasfilm have been very selective of what they have shared in regards to the
show in the past, but they debuted a poster for Season 1 of the show:
They also premiered the first trailer for season 1:
Following on the tails of The Madalorian, Kennedy brought out actors Alan Tudyk and Diego Luna, 2 of the stars of the Star Wars standalone film Rogue One. Disney had previously announced a series following the adventures of Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), and K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) but details have always been very scarce. Sadly, details were not abundant on Friday, as the only pieces of information that were given is that its definitive place in the canon timeline is concurrent with the timeline of other post
Revenge of the Sith stories known as “The age of Rebellion”, and that the series will begin shooting in London next year. Alan Tuydk did offer up what he felt was a great title for the show: “Kay-Too Fast, Kay-Too Furious: A Cassian Andor Story.”
The biggest news to come out of Friday was the confirmation of a rumor that has been floating around the Star Wars community in one fashion or another since the completion of the prequel trilogy in 2005. News this week reinvigorated the rumors of an Obi-Wan Kenobi story, with such industry papers as The Hollywood Reporter, and Vanity Fair picking up the story as well. Kennedy doing her best to be settle, set up the audience to bring out one more actor, although by the amount of cheers that occurred before
she even mentioned the actors name, the audience was pretty clued into what was happening. That actor of course was young Obi-Wan Kenobi himself, Ewan McGregor. McGregor asked Kennedy to, infront of all the witnesses in the building, ask him if he is playing Obi-Wan Kenobi again. With resounding applause Kennedy asked this question to McGregor, who followed up with a simple yet Star Wars history defining, YES!
The story is now being touted as a Disney+ series, as compared to the long rumored movie trilogy, and there were no details given at the panel other than the confirmation of McGregor’s attachment and that the series which has its entire first season fully written will begin filming next year. The new current timeline was tweeted by Ryan Penagos, Vice President and Creative Executive of Marvel New Media.
This new timeline also confirms the official titles for each era of the series. Prequel stories, such as the trilogy films and the Clone Wars TV show, take place during the “Age of Republic” Stories between Solo: A Star Wars Story and Return of the Jedi take place at the “Age of Rebellion” Rounding out the end of the timeline everything from post Return of the Jedi which ends with The Rise of Skywalker exist within the “Age of Resistance”.
Disney also teased some episode 9 news with the release of the first “official” poster. There has been a teaser poster released previously but this is one is the first main poster to be made. This will be the poster that begins being placed in prominent locations in theatres nationwide.
Saturday was the big episode 9 day with the main panel stage being taken over for The Rise of Skywalker. Kathleen Kennedy, and J.J. Abrams were joined by cast members: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Keri Russell, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, and Naomi Ackie. However, much like the Cassian/K-2SO announcement, there was not much in the way of details shared beyond what we already now. J.J. told a very heartwarming story about Carrie Fisher,
which included him discussing her influence on him making the decision to return to helm The Rise of Skywalker. New cast member Keri Rusell the star of the J.J. Abrams tv show Felicity, shared some of her excitement of being part of the Star Wars saga. Hitting the point home with a nice quip about her son now finding her cool. The panel completed with a First-Look “sizzle” reel of footage from The Rise of Skywalker. Many news outlets broke the story of the footage, going into great detail of what was seen,
as Disney did a great job preventing this footage from leaking online. Disney, ever the media buzz generator did upload the footage to the official Star Wars YouTube channel early Monday morning.
The footage does a great job in furthering the point that this film will be the conclusion of the multi-generational story of the Skywalker saga. Disney announced earlier this year that The Rise of Skywalker will be the definitive conclusion to the 9 movie series, as they have no intention of further telling the Skywalker story. But instead intend to move the series outside the Skywalker saga and being to tell new stories occurring in all parts of the timeline. Disney did not include Star Wars media in their Sunday programming, but focused more on the theme park and upcoming hotel’s future. A trailer for the 2 nd
ride for Galaxy’s Edge, The Rise of the Resistance was shown and subsequently leaked online. At the time of writing this article, Disney has not released the trailer on any official source, and has not made movements to have the leaked footage removed from YouTube.
As the release date approaches, we here at Nowhere California will be sitting down once more to discuss all of what has been released prior to the premier of the movie, and give our opinions, theories, and emotional stories that are tied to the youth defining franchise. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker premiers in theatres nationwide December 20th,2019 with early bird screenings beginning on December 19th,2019.
Black Widow Hits Theater May 2020
NOWHERE CALIFORNIA 