Englishman In San Diego

~ A LOOK AT THE FILMS & TELEVISION OF SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON ~ What a week - you'd think that we'd be talking about nothing but SDCC exclusives this week, with the deluge of updates of the goodies you'll be able to pick up at SDCC this July. Don't worry, we'll be covering all of that as well, but this week we have a couple of special guests talking about the content we'll get to experience, too. Kevin Walwyn will be joining us to talk about the shows that we could be getting panels and presentations on this year, following on from a post he's contributed to on the Friends Of Comic Con Forum, and cinephile Mark Searby will be giving us some insight to the big screen offerings we could be shown, off the back of the box office returns of THE MUMMY and the reception of Marvel's BLACK PANTHER teaser. That, and all of this weeks Comic-Con News (including a review of ICE Brighton, that Leonard attended and hosted at this weekend)... Join us from 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm GMT for a packed show! -----------------------

~ MARVEL AT COMIC-CON / WONDER WOMAN SPOILER-FREE REVIEW ~ Ever since Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige revealed that the company will be 'representing at San Diego Comic-Con', everyone has been speculating about what that will actually entail. This weeks added updates about what Marvel will be bringing to D23 Expo also adds to fuel to the fire, especially when you also add Netflix and the other television properties to the mix. What we need is a Marvel expert. And when you run a site called The Marvel Report, that pretty much puts you in the prime position! Andy Behbakht of the site joins Leonard and Alyssa to talk about what we could expect to see in terms of panels, presentations and exhibition floor content. But it's not all Marvel on this week's show: DC and Warner Bros. have knocked it out of the park with the latest entry to their superhero movie franchise. We'll be talking to Allie Hanley from geekscape.net about WONDER WOMAN and what that means for the future for the DCU, and what we could s

~ INTERVIEW: EMILY MOBERLY (Traveling Stories) / STEPHEN PARKER & STEVEN BRANDON (Game Of Thrones: The Musical) ~ We've got a cracking episode today, covering everything SDCC Off-Site - there are so many events and distractions taking place around San Diego Comic-Con, it's almost enough that you never have to set foot inside the Convention Centre! There's going to be a massive Wynonna Earp fan event, which also forms part of a prize package that Traveling Stories has put together for a lucky entrant. Emily Moberly from TS joins us to talk about the organisation's fine work, raising children's literacy in the community, as well as letting us spread the word about the SDCC sweepstake in its final stretch. (Find out more about Traveling Stories at http://travelingstories.org, and then enter the Ultimate SDCC Fan Experience at https://travelingstories.tapkat.org/wincomic-conexperience/) Then we're joined by Stephen Parker and Steven Brandon, the manic minds behind Game Of Thrones: The Musical, an incredible m

~ INTERVIEW: ERIC HENSON (Eden Comics, Comic-Con A Fan's Hope documentary) ~ Back in 2010, Morgan Sperlock took his documentary team to San Diego in an attempt to capture some of the excitement, energy and sheer fanaticism behind Comic-Con. In doing so, he also documented the efforts of a number of individuals, attempting to make their mark in the melee - one of those people, chasing the dream, was artist Eric Henson. We're very lucky to have Eric join us to talk about what that very first year of Comic-Con was like for him, what the immediate affect of that trip was, how his creative career was affected by the attention the documentary brought him and where he finds himself, eight years later. All of this and all of the weeks SDCC news and updates, including the released exclusives so far and off-site announcements... should be a fun show. Leonard and Alyssa would love to have you along! --------------------------------------------------- TALKIN’ COMIC-CON: A CUP O’ TEA WITH AN ENGLISHMAN IN SAN DIEGO i

Talkin' Comic-Con: A Cup O' Tea with An Englishman In San Diego s04e38 (7th May 2017) --------------------------------------------------- ~ HOTELPOCALYPSE EMAIL Round 1 / SDCC 2017 OFF-SITE NEWS / FREE COMIC BOOK DAY RECAP~ We've got a fair few incredible guests from the world of con culture coming up in the weeks between now and San Diego Comic-Con, including one or two organisers of conventions from across the globe. This week, we were hoping to be joined by Christopher Butcher, the man behind Toronto Comic Art Festival (TCAF) - however, timezones got the better of us. The good news is, we still had plenty to talk about, what with Round 1 of emails for Hotelpocalypse - the annual SDCC Hotel Sale - reaching inboxes this week, news of a number of SDCC Off-Site events getting announced, and a recap of this years Free Comic Book Day, taking place worldwide on Saturday 6th May. Alyssa and Leonard also look at all the news and headlines coming out of the world of comic conventions in another packed show - h

Interview: Marco Beltrami (Composer, LOGAN)(8th March 2017) The latest installment of 20th Century Fox's X-MEN franchise is a radical departure from the past cinematic adventures of the mutant community - you could say that James Mangold's LOGAN is a departure from the superhero movie genre as a whole. Meditative, emotional, visceral and very, very violent, it acts more as a discussion on legacy and not-so-much as the passing on of a torch as how it feels to know that your flame is inevitably dying, especially for one as seemingly immortal at Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. One of the key elements to the film is the sharp and angular composition of Academy Award-nominated Marco Beltrami who has come up with something entirely unexpected for LOGAN: a score that swings between delicate and haunting themes, harking back to cinema past, to vicious and dirty experimental tonal pieces which certainly gets as under your skin as Wolverine's adamantium claws. AEISD's Leonard Sultana was incredibly lucky to get the chance

Talkin' Comic-Con: A Cup O' Tea with An Englishman In San Diego s04e24 (29th January 2017) ~~ TURBULENT TIMES ~~ We do try our best to keep our political leanings or opinions out of the show, as we find that once you are in the thick of a busy convention, those opinions do go mostly by the wayside as people dive into their fandoms with gusto. However, with recent events in the US political landscape, it can't be avoided that new policies could make an significant impact on the shows we love. Could artists, writers and creatives, especially those based outside of the US, make the decision not to make the journey as a protest to the current administration? More alarmingly, could some of those creatives be actively denied entry into the country, because of their home country? Alyssa and Leonard will be looking into the issues raised, as well as talking about the recent announcements from Comic-Con International. Hope you can join us! --------------------------------------------------- TALKIN' COMIC-CON: A

Talkin' Comic-Con: A Cup O' Tea with An Englishman In San Diego s04e21 (8th January 2017) --------------------------------------------------- ~~ WE'RE BACK! PHOENIX COMICON REPORT / CCI UPDATES ~~ 2016 is a distant memory... let's bring 2017 the hell on!! Leonard Sultana, and co-host Alyssa Franks, take a brief glance over what has transpired over the festive season, including the announcements coming out of Phoenix Comicon. We're also going to look forward to what news and developments are imminent from Comic-Con International, in regards to San Diego Comic-Con and WonderCon 2017. We'll be joined by superheroes.xyz blogger Jasmine to talk out all of the topics of the day... Enjoy! --------------------------------------------------- TALKIN' COMIC-CON: A CUP O' TEA WITH AN ENGLISHMAN IN SAN DIEGO is the weekly San Diego Comic-Con and con culture live podcast, broadcasting every Sunday (6pm GMT / 10am PT / 1pm ET) and hosted by Leonard Sultana, joined by Alyssa Franks. Each week, the best bloggers on t'

A Conversation with Tess Fowler (Thought Bubble Festival, 7th November 2016) On the last day of the convention for the Thought Bubble Sequential Art Festival 2016 (held over the weekend of 6th-7th November), Leonard Sultana was lucky enough to get some time to talk with artist Tess Fowler on her first visit to the UK. Tess is a creative that has inspired massive loyalty from her fans, not only for her artwork (including the cult favourite RAT QUEENS) but also for her highly personal and vocal social media presence. In this conversation, Leonard and Tess talk about her relationship with her fans at conventions and online, and how she balances her output with attending conventions in a busy calendar...

Exclusive Interview: Aftershock Comics ( CEO/Publisher Joe Pruett, ICE 2016, 10th September 2016) At the ICE International Comic Expo at Birmingham UK, Leonard Sultana (An Englishman In San Diego) talks to Aftershock Comics CEO Joe Pruett about the first year of the company, the strength of the releases out of the gate, and the commercial and controversial titles that Aftershock are now finding themselves in a position to release at this point of their inception.

Talkin' Comic-Con: A Cup O' Tea with An Englishman In San Diego s04e05 - 28th August 2016, 1000 PT / 1300 ET / 1800 GMT ~~ STAR TREK MISSION NYC / FAN EXPO CANADA ~~ Our Guests, this week: ~ Alyssa Franks, Friends Of Comic Con Forum ~ Michael Pea ~ Brian Stephenson, ReedPop YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24b2jIE4RVc --------------------------------------------------- We really enjoy our live reports from cons, across the globe - we've been very lucky to have insights into conventions, large and small, in recent weeks, and this week we're lucky enough to have some more out-and-about glimpses this Sunday. And this week, our regular co-host gets in on the action. Alyssa Franks joins us from STAR TREK: MISSION NEW YORK and, as an avid Trekker, it's going to be interesting to hear what she thinks of this celebration of everything Federation, especially with news reaching us of the new Bryan Fuller STAR TREK DISCOVERY series. She's also joined by Brian Stephenson, Global Brand Director for show org

Talkin' Comic-Con: A Cup O' Tea with An Englishman In San Diego s04e04 - 28th August 2016, 1000 PT / 1300 ET / 1800 GMT Google+ Event page: https://plus.google.com/events/cjs2b5q9e8gnotmts93df3el7ts YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmEqLwhnyzo --------------------------------------------------- ~~ NERDCON LIVE REPORT / INTERVIEW WITH SHANE CHEBSEY (ICE: INTERNATIONAL COMIC EXPO 2016) ~~ Another weekend, another con... the amazing thing about con culture isn't the fact that it has grown as fast as it has, it's that it has adapted and evolved to accept all of these events in quite a seemingly organic manner. That's down to the various events across the globe making sure they carve their own little niches in the culture, establishing themselves with the guests they attract and the attendees that come to them. Two such events are showcased on this week's episode. NerdCon, held in Escondido CA, has staked its claim to being a small and dedicated celebration of pop culture with a focus on cosplay

Talkin' Comic-Con: A Cup O' Tea with An Englishman In San Diego s04e03 - 21st August 2016, 1000 PT / 1300 ET / 1800 GMT ~~ SDCC 2016 RECAP: CONIVAL 2016 OFF-SITE SPECIAL ~~ How manic was this year's SDCC?? So much to see, so much to do... The event is no longer 'San Diego Comic-Con, held at +San Diego Convention Center', it's 'San Diego Comic-Con, held in SAN DIEGO' - we take over the town! And the action spreads to some of the other iconic buildings in the city, including Petco Park Stadium which hosted in 2016, for the second year, the incredible Nerdist/ Geek & Sundry off-site, CONIVAL, which saw an amazing array of talent from the big and small screen on stage in a small intimate conversation set up - all for free! Such a thing is an impressive feat of organisation - how on earth do they pull it off? We're joined by Nerdist Editor-In-Chief Rachel Heine to answer that question, as well as looking back at some of the highlights of CONIVAL this year... And there were TONS of them! We are also joined by

Talkin' Comic-Con: A Cup O' Tea with An Englishman In San Diego s04e02 - 14th August 2016, 1000 PT / 1300 ET / 1800 GMT ~~ LIVE REPORT FROM BOSTON COMIC CON 2016 ~~ It's our first live con report of the new season - these are always fun and we love doing them, reporting from the ground, giving you a taste of what the sights, sounds and smells of the world's best conventions. Okay, maybe not the smells. Alyssa Franks will be taking a wander thru the halls of Boston Comic Con and maybe bumping into some surprise guests along the way - we're also doing our best to try and organise a really coincidental conversation with one of the organisers, too. Don't hold your breath, you know how this works! We also get into the recent controversy about content recording at events such as SDCC, and the challenges made to channels such as Flicks And The City for uploading such panel content, especially when challenged by a large entity such as Comic-Con International and Comic-Con HQ. Should be a blast - hope you can joi

Talkin' Comic-Con: A Cup O' Tea with An Englishman In San Diego s04e01 - 7th August 2016, 1000 PT / 1300 ET / 1800 GMT Google+ Event page: https://plus.google.com/events/c0fv85il72g4r7u7262p9mkmpbc YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZceKZuGosY --------------------------------------------------- ~~ IT'S THE ALYSSA FRANKS POST-CON BLUES SHOW ~~ The dust has settled, the banners have been taken down, the tents have been put away for another year and San Diego Comic-Con is over and out! We've already said our farewells (in our Special SDCC Recap Episode), and Leonard is determined to have a couple of weeks off at least! ...but Alyssa wants to keep the momentum going, with a wrap-up show of her own, especially checking in with the efforts of #SDCCfit and also to look ahead to cons on the horizon, including Boston Comic Con, New York Comic Con - NYCC which is fast approaching, and more. Alyssa is joined by Jeff Mueller (The Mighty Jerd), Aaron Nabus (#SDCCfit) and Michael Leventhal (FoCCI) to talk abou

SDCC 2016 - 'The British Invasion Spirit Of '86' Panel (Friday 22nd July 2016) moderated by Leonard Sultana (An Englishman In San Diego) featuring Paul Levitz, Kieron Gillen and David Lloyd recording by Alyssa Franks (Friends Of CC Forum) This is a recording of THE BRITISH INVASION: SPIRIT OF ’86 panel held at San Diego Comic-Con 2016, in which we discussed a period in comics history in which a number of artists and writers from the UK – creatives such as Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Brian Bolland, Grant Morrison, Peter Milligan and more – were lured by their American counterparts across the pond and, in doing so, had an immeasurable impact on not only the creative approach and literary recognition of comics, but also the lasting business of the industry itself, to this day. In this 30th Anniversary year of the 1986 release of Moore/Gibbons/Higgins‘ seminal comic WATCHMEN, I felt that this was a timely opportunity to show light on this period, celebrate the key works of the Invasion and see where their influen

On Sunday 24th July 2016, CCI President John Rogers addresses the concerns, questions and acknowledgements of various attendees at the Annual Talkbavk Panel - warning. amongst the praise, swears may be involved....

Talkin' Comic-Con: A Cup O' Tea with An Englishman In San Diego (25th July 2016, 1200 PT / 1500 ET / 2000 GMT) Google+ Event page: https://plus.google.com/events/ci8gloifahfh7jqttqhmvghjpd8 YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GRsmqP4_9c --------------------------------------------------- ~~ IT'S OUR SDCC 2016 RECAP EPISODE - WE'RE ON A BOAT! ~~ And so, after all the planning, the preparation, the questions and answers, the interviews, the live reports and all of the fun we've had on this season of Talkin' Comic-Con, the party has to come to an end after what has most certainly been the most epic of Comic-Con International events of all time! As is our want, Leonard Sultana and Alyssa Franks will be meeting up to discuss our own highs and lows of this years SDCC... but this year we're doing it slightly different! Thanks to our friends at Dark Bunny Tees, we'll be broadcasting live from the Pegasus, a ship moored in Bayside (you may have seen her through the fence while waiting in line!). Joined

Talkin' Comic-Con: A Cup O' Tea with An Englishman In San Diego (17th July 2016, 1000 PT / 1300 ET / 1800 GMT) Google+ Event page: https://plus.google.com/events/cdeq59n1iopsnseto9ou4l1pg14 YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_MMxM3FhKE --------------------------------------------------- ~~ LIVE REPORT FROM STAR WARS CELEBRATION... AND ONLY DAYS TO GO TO SDCC 2016! ~~ It's the last #CupOTeaSDCC show before San Diego Comic-Con... People will be pouring into the city and flights will be packed with nerds, geeks and fandoms, ready to get up close and personal with their pop culture idols! Exciting stuff! Leonard won't be their just yet, though - he's still going to be in London, surfing off the high of attending the biggest party for Star Wars fans on the planet, ReedPOP Supply Co. and LucasFilm's Star Wars Celebration! Leonard will be reporting LIVE from the ExCeL London, before heading off for the first flight out of the capital to head to the West Coast. He'll be joining Alyssa Franks to talk

Talkin' Comic-Con: A Cup O' Tea with An Englishman In San Diego (10th July 2016, 1000 PT / 1300 ET / 1800 GMT) Google+ Event page: https://plus.google.com/events/c4nm3kvjvovvhu64ca6cjsihcko YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUC2wQgz0CQ --------------------------------------------------- ~~ SDCC SCHEDULES ANALYSIS EPISODE ~~ Over the course of the days from Thursday 7th July to the transmission of this hangout, Comic-Con International have been revealing the eagerly awaiting programming schedules for this years San Diego Comic-Con. Leonard Sultana and a select panel of special guests will be pouring over the highlights, clashes and surprises of the schedules, as well as giving their immediate thoughts on the Sunday schedules as they are unveiled live on the show! Not long to go!! --------------------------------------------------- TALKIN' COMIC-CON: A CUP O' TEA WITH AN ENGLISHMAN IN SAN DIEGO is the weekly San Diego +Comic-Con International Hangout On Air taking place every Sunday (6pm GMT