Overthinking Comics

For the second year in a row, Wondercon is not having an in-person event due to the ongoing pandemic.

They are, however, continuing with Wondercon@Home! This is similar to the ComicCon@Home from last summer, and will mostly consist of online panels to check out.

The great thing about these panels is that they will all be available on Comic-Con International’s YouTube Channel after the fact, so they can be enjoyed at your leisure, and when we have free time.

(Free time seems to be at a premium for me these days)

I took a look through the schedule, and here is what looks interesting to me. I have updated the post with the links to each of these on YouTube, so you can check them out yourself.

Friday

10 a.m. – Jack Kirby Tribute

Jack Kirby is the King of Comics for a reason. While this may tread over the same ground as previous panels, I always enjoy taking some time to appreciate Kirby. The last time I saturated myself with Kirby appreciation, I was motivated to read the entire Fourth World saga, and I do not regret it. This panel has Neil Gaiman on it also, so I am interested to see what he adds to the conversation.

12 p.m. – Taking It Personally: Comics & Politics

This panel has Derf Backderf, Darrin Bell, Thi Bui, and Nate Powell discussing politics in comics. I am very interested to see what these creators have to say, hopefully it will include some thoughtful discussion of this aspect of comics.

2 p.m. – Image Comics

I am sometimes hesitant to go to these sort of “publisher panels”, because they sometimes seem like little more than an hour long publicity tour. I want to check in on this one though, some great writers talking about writing comics sounds like it could be interesting.

5 p.m. – 20th Anniversary Retrospective on Lord of the Rings

I am a huge Tolkien fan. Correspondingly, I am interested in all of the Lord of the Rings things. This panel looks like it will be a discussion of the films, which I also like, so this will hopefully be an enjoyable hour of programming.

5 p.m. – An Exclusive Look at Shadowman

Cullen Bunn, Jon Davis-Hunt, and Heather Antos talk about the upcoming Shadowman comic from Valiant. As a huge Valiant fan, I plan to tune in and see what secrets that have to share.

Saturday

10 a.m. – Dispatches from Middle Earth: Amazon Chronicles the 2nd Age

Again, huge Tolkien Fan. I am rather excited about the upcoming show on Amazon, and this panel looks like it will focus on that. The show will be set in the Second Age of Middle Earth, a time we only know about from The Silmarillion and other extended works. Let’s see what we can learn, shall we?

10 a.m. – Writers’ Coffeehouse

I am an avid reader of Sci-Fi and Fantasy books, so this sounds like an interesting hour of hearing from authors. I am not sure what to expect from this panel, it is not the sort of thing I usually attend, so we will see!

2 p.m. – Action Figure Insider: Women in Toys

I am a big fan of action figures, so any content focusing on them sounds cool to me! I am very interested to see what is in this panel. Since it focuses specifically on women in the action figure industry, I am curious to see if it focuses more on the women side, or the action figure side. Either way, should be interesting!

Other fun stuff

Want to make your own badge? Wondercon has you covered. You can go to this link and get the blank template of your choise to make your own badge for the at-home event. I had to modify mine, however, to make it a press badge.