A lot of WonderCon news dropped today all of a sudden! The annual comic convention, which is a sister show to Comic-Con International’s San Diego Comic-Con, will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center Friday, March 23 through Sunday, March 25 — and it looks like there’s already a lot to get excited about.
Marvel
Marvel Television announced that it would be bringing three panels, plus a couple of signings to go along with them.
Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger
Friday, March 23, 4:45pm — North 200A
Join series stars Olivia Holt and Aubrey Joseph, along with executive producer and Head of Marvel Television, Jeph Loeb, executive producer and showrunner Joe Pokaski, and director Gina Prince-Bythewood for a must-see panel featuring a sneak peak at the highly-anticipated new Freeform series.
Exclusive signing on Friday, March 23, 1:30pm-2:30pm
Marvel Animation: From Pencil to Screen
Saturday, March 24, 12:30pm — 300D
You’ll get an exclusive look at how Marvel assembles acclaimed animated series and projects such as “Marvel’s Avengers: Secret Wars,” “Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout” and the highly-anticipated “Marvel Rising,” as well as an inside glimpse at the popular Marvel Funko animated shorts and “Marvel LEGO Super Heroes – Black Panther: Trouble in Wakanda.” Led by Cort Lane (SVP, Animation and Family Entertainment) and featuring several special guests.
Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD
Saturday, March 24, 4:45pm — Arena
Join Clark Gregg, Chloe Bennet, Ming-Na Wen, Elizabeth Henstridge, Iain De Caestecker, Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, and Jeff Ward, along with executive producers Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon, Jeff Bell, and Jeph Loeb, Head of Marvel Television, to talk all things “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” season five!
Exclusive Signing on Saturday, March 24, 3:00pm-4:00pm
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Television and Warner Bros. Animation announced that they would be featuring several of their shows on panels at WonderCon, and that the cast and producers of all those series (except Lucifer, which has no cast or crew attending) will be signing autographs at exclusive signings.
Friday, March 23
Unikitty!
2:30pm-3:30pm, North 200B
Featuring Unikitty! producers Ed Skudder, Lynn Wang and Aaron Horvath, along with art director Andrea Fernandez, animation director Anna Hollingsworth and voice cast Eric Bauza, H. Michael Croner and Roger Smith.
Teen Titans Go!
3:30pm-4:30pm, North 200B
Featuring Teen Titans Go! producers Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath, along with Beast Boy voice actor Greg Cipes.
The 100
6:00pm-7:00pm, North 200A
Featuring The 100 stars Eliza Taylor, Bob Morley, Christopher Larkin, Lindsey Morgan, Richard Harmon and Tasya Teles along with executive producer Jason Rothenberg.
Saturday, March 24
Constantine World Premiere Screening
10:00am-11:00am, North 200A
Don’t miss the world premiere screening of the first episodes of the animated Constantine series for CW Seed! Join series star Matt Ryan, plus series writer J.M. DeMatteis and Blue Ribbon Content & Warner Bros. Animation’s Peter Girardi for a Q&A session after the screening.
Krypton
2:00pm-3:00pm, North 200A
Featuring Krypton stars Cameron Cuffe, Georgina Campbell and Shaun Sipos along with executive producer Cameron Welsh and DC Entertainment’s Dan Evans, who will provide exclusive insight into this highly-anticipated new SYFY series.
Sunday, March 25
Lucifer Exclusive screening of Brand New Episode
10:30am-11:15am, Arena
Lucifer fans will not only have the opportunity to screen an upcoming episode of the devilish drama, but also a special video message from series stars Tom Ellis, Lauren German, Tom Welling and Aimee Garcia.
Black Lightning All-New Episode and Q&A
12:45pm-1:45pm, Arena
Join executive producer/showrunner Salim Akil and series writers Jan Nash, Pat Charles, Adam Giaudrone and Lamont Magee to watch the electrifying never-before-seen “Sins of the Father” episode of Black Lightning, followed by a Q&A session.
Siren
Additionally, the upcoming Freeform series Siren, which premieres on March 29, announced on Twitter that they’ll be at WonderCon on March 24.
Get ready. We’re going to @WonderCon. We’ll see you there March 24th. #Siren pic.twitter.com/Bj2fqZ8LN3
— Siren (@SirenTV) February 28, 2018
Exclusives Portal
As if all that WonderCon news wasn’t enough, we also learned that WonderCon would be implementing an online lottery system for exclusive autograph signings. If you have purchased or registered for a WonderCon 2018 badge, you can enter the lottery for each signing through the new Exclusives Portal. If you are eligible, you may access this Exclusives Portal by logging into your Member ID, click on the “Exclusives” tab, then clicking on “Load Exclusives Portal.”
Once you’re in, you’ll see a list of all the exclusive signings available. Currently, that list consists of Agents of SHIELD, Cloak and Dagger, The 100, Teen Titans Go!, Unikitty!, Constantine, Black Lightning, Jim Lee and Alex Sinclair (Friday), Jim Lee and Alex Sinclair (Saturday), Scott Snyder, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, and Batman Ninja.
If you’re interested in a particular signing, click on “Agree to Terms and Conditions.” A window will pop up with the Terms and Conditions. Click “OK” and it will go away. Then click “Submit.”
You may enter once for each signing. Once you are done selecting each signing you want, click on the small square icon that has appeared at the bottom right of your browser, which indicates the number of signings for which you want to enter. Then click “Confirm Interest” and it will enter you into a drawing for each of those signings. You should receive an email confirmation confirming your submissions. If you change your mind and decide you want to come back and sign up for more later, that’s fine too. But note that you have until March 14, 2018 at 10:00 PST to enter your submissions.
Participants will be randomly selected for each signing and be notified via email on or around March 19, 2018. Winners will then bring their selection confirmation to WonderCon and show ID to pick up their signing wristband.
Being that WonderCon is San Diego Comic-Con’s sister show, it begs the question: Will this system also be implemented for San Diego Comic-Con autograph signings? Given the complaints about the line cutting for autographs that goes on at the back of the Sails Pavilion at the San Diego Convention Center, and about Exhibitors getting in line on the Exhibit Hall floor ahead of attendees who slept in line overnight for their chance at an autograph, it seems likely that Comic-Con International (“CCI”) is taking the opportunity to test out this new system on its smaller show.
And the other elephant in the room question is: Might this system also be used to solve line problems for programming at San Diego Comic-Con… namely Hall H? With all the problems that went on during the Hall H lineup last year, not only with line cutting, but also with the counterfeit wristbands, CCI is bound to do something new and different this year to prevent such problems. Could an online lottery be the solution they use? If so, how would you feel about that?
Let us know in the comments below.
