Mortal Cinema's Complete Comic-Con 2026 Coverage
Every link, right here.
I know, I know. Getting two feature articles a day emailed by me was a lot, when you probably subscribe to others as well. Maybe you skimmed some, or skipped them all together. It was a fast pace, and the home page only holds so much. So here: bookmark this page to see it all, broken down by category:
MOVIES: I did not do Marvel’s Hall H panel, but it would be fair to say I covered a movie with a connection to the comics giant, and its once-creative force.
Plus a cartoon that was pretty bad.
Comic-Con 2026: Isla Monstro Movie Review
Let’s be clear – I really like to support animation for adults. There isn’t enough of it in the feature space, and that limits what ought to be an unlimited medium. Only in animation can you depict absolutely anything, telling any kind of story, so long as somebody cam draw or render it. I also have to like a voice cast that includes not just animation …
Comic-Con 2026: Stan Lee - The Final Chapter Movie Review
To a casual observer over the years, Stan Lee conveyed the persona of a benevolent carnival barker and perennial hype man. Those of us with long enough memories can remember him saying that he thought, for example, that David Hasselhoff would be the perfect Nick Fury and his TV movie would be great; it soon became clear he would say that about anything …
Comic-Con 2026: Brad Bird/Ray Gunn Hall H Panel Recap
This panel was hosted by Collider’s Steve Weintraub, also known in our film journalism profession as “How the hell do I get that guy’s job?” I’m his Facebook friend, and every other post is about some new overseas junket he’s going to, some fancy promo gift he got, or a new A-lister he’s going to talk to. I’m kidding, Steve, please hire me for Collider.…
Comic-Con 2026: Jon Bolerjack Speaks About Stan Lee
The moment I was done watching Stan Lee: The Final Chapter, I knew I wanted to talk to the director. Jon Bolerjack gave me the closest look I’d seen behind the hype of Stan Lee, to the extent that he could be separated from the hype, and left me with many questions.
Comic-Con 2026: Pan's Labyrinth 3D Footage
I will get to the footage description, I promise. But I plan to spin this into a bit of a story first.
TV: The Star Trek review was conveniently timed, and the Rick and Morty ride might have been the most fun thing I’ve ever done at Con. Simple yet effective.
Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 4 Review: They...Reach
It’s still surprisingly controversial in some Star Trek fan circles to genuinely like the episodes of the original series that are considered bad. Star Trek in general is known for taking its future science and history seriously – or at least it was; we can argue that the brilliant Lower Decks changed the calculus some. So when it comes to episodes like…
Comic-Con 2026: Adult Swim's Rick and Morty Ride Rules
Adult Swim typically does a big ol’ carnival in back of the San Diego Convention Center come Con time, and you don’t even need a badge to go — last year Julia and I went together. This year, I got a press preview, and while the setup may not have initially been as visually impressive as some of the prior years’ giant inflatables, the best thing is under…
Comic-Con 2026: Meow Wolf and Titmouse
It seems not everyone I know is familiar with Meow Wolf, the art collective that creates immersive, interactive installations like Omega Mart, a fake convenience store full of satirical products and secret areas. When I heard they were making a deal with Titmouse for a cartoon that might lay down some official lore and universe building, I knew it was …
Comic-Con 2026: Patrick Dennis, Hasbro's Ghostbusters Guy
While I did not obtain interviews with the Marvel or Star Wars teams at Hasbro this year, I was offered one with the Ghostbusters team, who turned out to be one, highly entertaining guy. You have to figure that if they’re talking about a Ghostbusters team, and offering them up to press to talk to, Ghostbusters is not going away as a priority. Right now,…
TOYS: Well, that’s what I did most of, as you saw. Ghostbusters was all TV based, and the rest, not so much, so here are all the others.
Comic-Con 2026: Rebooting Myself, and McFarlane Toys
Last year, I felt pretty sure I was doing my last San Diego Comic-Con for a while.
Comic-Con 2026: Hasbro Breakfast, Street Fighter Movie Toys
If you are, like me, one of the devotees of the Jean-Claude Van Damme Street Fighter movie, I regret if I gave you false hope that a Raul Julia M. Bison figure might be around the corner. Would you accept David Dastmalchian? Because he’s the new Bison, in a new Street Fighter movie that is a thing that is really coming out, apparently. And it’ll be the …
Comic-Con 2026: Nacelle Toys' Brian Volk-Weiss
Brian Volk-Weiss is always a fun guy to talk to, since he truly is as much of a toy fan as those of us who cover him. Whether making The Toys That Made Us for Netflix, or picking up older toy licenses that nobody is making right now, he’s passionate about the gig and willing to take a loss in order to make the things he likes.
Comic-Con 2026: Hasbro G.I. Joe Guys BMac and Mark Beasley
Last year’s G.I. Joe team interviewees, Lenny Panzica and Tony Collela, are no longer with Hasbro, and for toy collectors who follow along with convention panels and post-pandemic livestreams, it was the equivalent of top talents leaving WWE for AEW. A gentle giant with a distinctive beard and tattoos, Panzica in particular was solidly identified with …
Comic-Con 2026: Brian Flynn of Super7
For figure collectors, most toy companies are defined by their primary specialty. Hasbro does 6-inch figures. Mattel does 6.5. NECA makes 7-inch horror and TV figures. Playmates still make toys like it’s 1999.
Comic-Con 2026: NECA's Blaine Rodenbaugh
NECA’s booth looked very different this year at Comic-Con. Facing an imminent loss of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles license that can eat up as much as a third of their space sometimes, the company is also sharing with Kidrobot — which was selling very popular plushies of McDonaldland characters and Hello Kitty as the devil — and Diamond Brands, which…
Comic-Con 2026: Henry Varona Explains the New Diamond Brands
Diamond suddenly going out of business just over a year ago was a real sudden blow, both to comic stores that depended on them as suppliers, and toy collectors who loved Diamond Select’s deep rosters of Marvel figures and busts, along with niche action figure lines like House of the Dragon and Kevin Smith’s Askewniverse.
Comic-Con 2026: Bill Murphy of BigBadToyStore, Inc.
Last year, I thought Fresh Monkey Fiction won Comic-Con with their introduction of the NPC line, featuring generic characters from “Stay at Home Mom” to “Possessed Priest” with the same high level of detail and accessories they put into their more licensed line. This year, I didn’t want to leave without talking to them, but it took time to find their bo…
JULIA’S STUFF: This year, I let my wife write about her perspective on the whole thing. Let me know in comments if you’d like more of that.
FINALE:
Comic-Con 2026: Pics and Snapshots
One of the things I am reminded of, every Comic-Con, is the extent to which talent and security have no idea who is running anything. This is the sort of conversation that happens any time I have a booth appointment, or a supposedly reserved seat to a panel, and I don’t know anybody in advance:
Once again, I say without hyperbole, I am the best one-man coverage machine for Comic-Con. This is my case.
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