By Dan Barrett
With so much of the film and TV that we consume dominated by what was previously considered as nerd culture, large pop cultural events like the New York Comic Con have taken on increased importance. No longer are these events supporting ghettoised genre content, but rather the panel discussions at the NYCC have taken on considerable weight.
The NYCC ran October 6-9 with approximately 150,000 people expected to have attended. With an attendance figure of 20,000 more than that of the higher profile San Diego Comic Con, the NYCC is the largest pop culture and comic event in the US.
Among the many notable pop cultural announcements, some of the panels and screenings particularly caught our attention.
The X-Files Debuts To a Fan Audience
Following last week’s screening of The X-Files series return to critics and executives at Mipcom in France, Fox Television screened the same episode to a fan audience of 3,000 at NYCC. The WSJ report that the episode was met with “a raucous, enthusiastic response that seemed to surprise even those who made the show”. While a fan audience is always going to be primed to be enthusiastic over a preview screening like this, it does abate concern over whether it will hold up to modern viewer scrutiny.
Warners Superheroes Panel Takeover
With a high-profile suite of genre and superhero-themed TV series on the air in the US this season, Warner Bros held a broad panel highlighting Fox’s Gotham, The CW’s upcoming DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, NBC’s Blindspot, CBS’ Supergirl and the now long-running Person of Interest. Legends of Tomorrow showrunner Phil Klemmer advised fans that the show was focused on highlighting more obscure DC Comics characters to provide more room for reinterpretation.
Season two of The Flash will air on FOX8 from Wednesday, 7 October at 7.30pm, while season four of Arrow will air on FOX8 from Thursday, 8 October at 7.30pm. The channel will also screen Supergirl in December, along with Legends of Tomorrow early in the new year. Blindspot will be launched on Seven in the coming weeks.
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Ash Vs Evil Dead
A panel for the upcoming Ash Vs Evil Dead series revealed that the tone will lie somewhere between Evil Dead 2 and the third film in the series, Army of Darkness. With each film imbuing a wildly different tone, the Evil Dead series has never been entirely consistent. Director Sam Raimi also revealed that due to contractual reasons, the series is unable to reference any characters or mythology introduced in Army of Darkness.
The series launches on Stan on October 31.
Jessica Jones Wows Audience
Upcoming Netflix series Jessica Jones, inspired by the Marvel character, impressed the audience after a screening at NYCC. Collider report that the series is the most mature Marvel TV series yet, which is impressive following the dark and muted Daredevil TV series launched earlier this year on Netflix. Jessica Jones stars Don’t Trust The B—- In Apartment 23 actress Krysten Ritter as a super heroine who is suffering from PTSD.
All of the Marvel series on Netflix are designed to cross-over with one another, with Jessica Jones tied into Daredevil and more closely tied into the third series, Luke Cage. The star of Luke Cage, Mike Colter, first appears as a regular in Jessica Jones before spinning off into his own series. All of these characters, along with the yet-to-film Iron Fist, will team up in the upcoming series The Defenders.
Jessica Jones launches on Netflix on November 20.
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