San Diego Comic-Con kicked off this evening with Preview Night! SDCC 2019 takes place starting July 17 6pm-9pm, followed by four full days of programming July 18-21.
Usually we get into town Wednesday evening after driving down from work in Orange County, but this year we got into town a day early, due to attending Hugh Jackman’s concert on Tuesday, July 16. It was odd checking in on Tuesday night and the streets of the Gaslamp being virtually empty. However, it was the calm before the storm, as we saw throngs of attendees arrive throughout the day on Wednesday.
After eating at Richard Walker’s Pancake House on Wednesday morning, we walked around and looked at the offsites being set up, and then we even had time to swim at our hotel pool! In case you’re wondering, we are staying at the Marriott Marquis, right next door to the San Diego Convention Center. Our hotel room actually overlooks the convention center.
Before Preview Night began, we headed over to the Interdimensional Hole of Pancakes — which is actually the Maryjane’s restaurant at Hard Rock Hotel themed to the NBC TV show The Good Place. The restaurant traditionally gets themed to something every year, and we like to go check it out. No swag, but it was pretty cool if you’re a fan of the show.
After eating, we went over to the convention center to pick up our bags, books, and lanyards.
Although the Exhibit Hall officially wasn’t scheduled to open until 6pm, it actually opened up about 25 minutes early. We didn’t have any exclusives or anything we were after for Preview Night. We just went in and wandered around. It was extremely crowded, and difficult to move in some places.
New this year, WB and DC combined their booths into one giant mega-booth. Usually the two are completely separate. WB was giving out some swag, but when we tried to follow the line to the end, it was very long and windy, and we weren’t exactly sure where it went, so we eventually gave up and moved on. There were some pretty cool costumes on display from Batman movies, as well as fun photo ops, such as Pop’s Chock’Lit Shoppe booth from Riverdale. The Friends couch was in this area as well, but I wasn’t able to get a good photo of it, as it was too crowded by it.
Another booth we like to make sure to visit is the Marvel booth. There were some Captain Marvel costumes on display, and the flerken was there as well!
Another fun booth to visit is the LEGO booth, as they always have life size LEGO creations.
We also stopped by the Snowpiercer booth to pick up our “rations.” After entering your email address into the touch screen of what looked like a vending machine, there was a short “trailer” for the upcoming TV show version of the movie. Then your protein bar made from crickets (!) was dispensed below to reach in and get.
After walking around and seeing all the major booths, I decided to go check out the previews up in Ballroom 20. They were going to be screening the pilots for upcoming shows Batwoman, Pennyworth, and Prodigal Son. Unfortunately, they don’t announce a schedule for what time they’ll be showing each pilot, so you either have to be there from beginning to end to make sure you see what you want to see, or you just have to get lucky. Therefore, I had no idea what I would be walking in during when I went in.
As it turned out, I think I only missed the first few minutes of Epix’s Pennyworth. It’s about a young Alfred Pennyworth in 1960s London. In the pilot, we see him start up a romantic relationship and also meet Thomas Wayne. I actually liked it, but probably not enough to pay for another streaming service.
After Pennyworth ended, Prodigal Son immediately started up, but I decided to call it a night so I could rest up for the several days of SDCC to come! Stay tuned for more of our coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2019.
You can view more of our Preview Night photos of the Exhibit Hall floor below.
