Seth Rogen, not-cosplayers and not-tyson
‘Blade Runner’ Experience rocks
D2 of Comic-con featured Seth Rogen, random sightings of most of Netflix’s “Defenders” and a missing Mike Tyson.
‘Preacher’
After a slow start in Season 1, AMC’S “Preacher” — a drama focusing on a criminal-turned-preacher with otherworldly powers (Dominic Cooper), his true love (Oscar nominee Ruth Negga) and a 119-year-old vampire (Joseph Gilgun) all searching for God — really has found its voice in Season 2.
There’s a good reason for the improvement between seasons, co-creator Seth Rogen said during a press conference Friday.
Rogen told me that he and Evan Goldberg, his writing and directing partner, said throughout the first season, “there were maybe, like, a dozen moments where when you look at them, you’re, like, ‘Wow, that (stuff ) can only happen on one thing on Earth, and that is the TV show ‘Preacher.’ And then me and Evan were like, ‘What if there was 200 things like that instead of just a dozen?’ And that was something we really encouraged the writers to try to do, is take big, crazy swings.”
Celebrity encounters
Cosplayers have gotten really good. So much so that I couldn’t believe how impressive the guy in the Hard Rock lobby looked as Danny Rand from Netflix’s “Iron Fist.”
Then he was followed by look-alikes of Karen Page from “Daredevil” and Frank Castle from “The Punisher.” It was amazing. It finally took seeing an impossibly buff Luke Cage to realize they weren’t cosplayers but the actual actors from the Netflix dramas. My “Defenders” experience was completed later Friday afternoon when I saw Krysten Ritter, who portrays my current Twitter crush, Jessica Jones.
Random celebrity encounters are a big part of Comic-con. I’ve seen Nolan Gould (“Modern Family”) just being a fanboy, Yvette Nicole Brown (“Community”) strolling the convention floor, and I’ve run into Michael Rooker (“Guardians of the Galaxy”) on opposite sides of downtown.
‘Blade Runner 2049’
The Comic-con schedule is light on movies this year. To make up for it, fans can feel like they’re in one.
The off-site “Blade Runner 2049” Experience begins with a virtual-reality chase high above the streets of
Los Angeles inside a Spinner, one of the franchise’s flying police cars. Once it crashes, a panel opens to reveal the real Spinner from the movie. It’s interactive in the truest sense of the word, as 34 costumed actors accost you along a street scene populated with landmarks from both films. More than 50 props and costumes from the sequel line the streetscape. And, exiting through Bibi’s Bar, guests 21 and older can sample three varieties of Johnnie Walker, which is exactly what every Comic-con attendee needs first thing in the morning when the lines are shortest.
Fandom Fest
As Janet Jackson and the late Luther Vandross once sang, the best things in life are free.
Fandom Fest at the Petco Park interactive center may not qualify as one of life’s best things. But it’s free, you don’t even need a Comic-con badge, and the lines are relatively short.
Attendees can have their photos taken on reproductions of sets from “Game of Thrones,” “Orange Is the New Black” and “Luke Cage.” Something called the Schick Hydro Robot Razor wanders around terrifying small children. And a food truck offers free Wookiee Cookies. But the highlight is the filthy-looking school bus containing an “IT” virtual-reality experience that’s so advanced, it feels as though you’re actually moving through the sewers of Derry, Maine.
‘Mike Tyson Mysteries’
Hundreds of fans of
Adult Swim’s absurd Las Vegas-based cartoon “Mike Tyson Mysteries” packed the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront. They happily sat through two episodes of the series and cheered when they ended. Then, when it was announced that Tyson, a scheduled panelist, wasn’t able to attend, they streamed for the exits. Any true fan would have stayed around to try to solve that mystery.
Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@ reviewjournal.com or 702380-4567. Follow @life_ onthecouch on Twitter.