Last year Kentucky Fried Chicken partnered with DC Comics to promote their
restaurant chain at 2015's New York Comic Con by
distributing a free comic book featuring Colonel Sanders that was available as a one shot collectible print edition that could be picked up at the event and a digital download from the online store Comixology.com that was available for a limited time. In "The Colonel of Two Worlds" which is a parody of a classic
DC Comics' FLASH story, the Colonel Sanders of our planet faces off against an
evil Colonel Sunder from an alternate dimension. Well Harland Sanders hasn't seen the last of his evil doppelganger as Colonel Sunder is back in an all new comic book adventure just in time for 2016's San Diego Comic Con.
In "Colonel Corps," Harland Sanders blacks out and awakens to realize he can remember only one of his 11 secret ingredients for "finger lickin good chicken." Suddenly Arla Sanders, a version of the Colonel from one of the multitude of alternate dimensions in the DC comics fictional multi-verse where in her world all the people are the reverse gender of those living in Harland's reality, warning him that someone has stolen the KFC recipe from the minds of all the Colonels that exist on all the variations of Earth and erased their memories off all but one ingredient just like him. Harland Sanders joins with the female versions of himself and the Flash to search out enough Colonels with unique memories of different ingredients to put the recipe back together again.
Arla, Harland and the Flash visit a variety of realities in the DC multi-verse including Bizarro, Steampunk, and Teen Titans Go! worlds plus a dimension where the inhabitants are all animals and KFC is run by a charming yet cannibalistic chicken. All these variations join together to create the Colonel Corps. Together they put the KFC secret recipe back together and track down the perpetrators of this dastardly scheme ... Colonel Sunders along with a new diabolical version of the Colonel with mind control powers who makes every member of the Colonel Corps face their most dreaded fear during the comic book's big confrontation segment.
This comic book works because it doesn't take itself more seriously than the promotional piece it is supposed to be. Filled with tongue-in-cheek one liners and humorous imagery it really is a fun read. The partnership with the DC Comics creative team provides the polish needed though to make the comic book an enjoyable gimmick rather than en eye rolling bad KFC ad. I personally really liked the big battle scene in the comic book and the letter to the editor section at the end with Colonel Sanders answering questions from fans of "Colonel of Two Worlds" made me chuckle. I'm also intrigued by the teaser in the Colonel's MailBucket section promoting a potential next installment in this comic book saga "The Chicken That Time Forgot" -- we'll have to keep an eye out for that!
If you are lucky enough to be going to Comic Con in San Diego this month keep an eye out for people passing these out at the exhibition hall. For the rest of us, "Colonel Corps" is available to download for FREE on Comixology. Just CLICK HERE to grab it for yourself to read.
What started out as a small comic book convention put together by three friends in 1970 over the years has evolved into a mega conference that gets international attention every year as the go to place to promote entertainment and lifestyle products geared towards people who enjoy the geeky side of life. I've been wanting to go to Comic Con in San Diego for years but alas another year has gone by with it still remaining uncrossed off on my bucket list. For those of you like me who wish they were there but couldn't make it out there this year, I've compiled a roundup of a few items that caught my attention that were announced or promoted at Comic Con International 2015.
COMIC BOOKS
While movie and television announcements and previews at Comic Con get a lot of attention the convention is still COMIC Con so we'll start off with a few of the comic book announcements that were made at this year's event.
Based upon the success they had last year, DC Comics will be celebrating Halloween throughout the month of October with special Monster themed variant covers for their comic book lineup. Here are a few examples of what to look out for later in 2015:
Aquaman #45
Batman Beyond #5
Justice League of America #5
Dark Horse Comicshas announced a new comic book series that will be a prequel to the story in the new Call of Duty: Black Ops III video game. It will be scripted by Larry Hama who is known for his work with on G.I.JOE comic books for Marvel and IDW and illustrated by Marcelo Ferreira. This new series will follow an elite squadron of cybernetically-enhanced soldiers as they wag war in a battlefield rife with treachery and transformed by incredible technology. The first issue of Call of Duty: Black Ops III will be released in November 2015.
Dark Horse also announced a brand new original series slated to come out in 2016 called Mystery Girl. Written by Paul Tobin and illustrated by Alberto Albuquerque, Mystery Girl is the story of a woman who knows the answer to any question and puts that skill to use as a detective. There is one mystery she can't solve though - her own past.
IDW Publishing had quite a few announcements this year for things in the work that range from Back to the Future to Street Fighter with a lot of appeal for sci-fi fans and people like me who grew up in the 1980s.
Coming soon will be a monthly serial based upon Back to the Future which will have its artwork and scripts supervised by the original movie's creator/screenwriter Bob Gale. It will feature iconic characters and time periods from the films plus explore untold adventures as the characters in the comic books head Back to (and from) the Future.
October will mark the 50th edition of IDW's ongoing STAR TREK series and will introduce the classic "Mirror/Mirror" storyline to the new film-based comic universe in an over-sized issue.
There will also be a new STAR TREK miniseries coming out in December focusing on Starfleet Academy. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will follow Kirk, Spock, and Uhura during their time spent training at Starfleet prior to the events of the 2009 film and will also introduce stories featuring a new class of cadets in a timeline that is concurrent with where the ongoing Star Trek comic book series is presently at.
IDW will also be publishing a six issue miniseries sometime in 2016 that combines the popular video game franchise STREET FIGHTER with the classic action figure toys G.I. JOE. Street Fighter X G.I. Joe will pit the heroes of these two franchises versus the combined threat of Cobra and Shadaloo. Capcom is releasing Streat Fighter 5 next year and it will be interesting to see if elements of the comic book are included in the game and vice versa.
Also relating to G.I. Joe there will be an 8-issue bi-monthly story arc beginning in October that is meant to be an epic event for the comic book series. In COBRA WORLD ORDER, the evil forces of COBRA finally unleash their master plan. After fighting COBRA for decades it is zero hour for G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.
Following its recent partnership with DC Comics in bringing to life a Green Lantern/Star Trek cross-over, IDW announced the companies will be bringing together two more of their hot properties in November. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Batman are going to be joining forces in a six issue miniseries. Oh robin is my son excited about this comic book combo flying onto store shelves!
Marvel made some news announcing two Star Wars comic book events. First, there will be a special 6 issue Darth Vader themed story called Star Wars: Vader Down beginning with a special one shot issue coming out in November and crossing over to continue the story in the ongoing Star Wars and Darth Vader ongoing series.
A Princess Leia limited series has just wrapped up and a Lando one is just starting up so it appears these type of Star Wars short character focused stories will be an ongoing thing for Marvel. Continuing with that trend Marvel announced a Chewbacca miniseries will be arriving in stores in October.
Two of Marvel's most smart-talking, wise-cracking characters will be teaming up for an upcoming monthly series. Spider-Man/Deadpool #1 is set to premiere this fall.
If you never saw the packaging for Atari video game cartridges from the'70s & '80s you missed out. There was some really great art created to help market those games! Too bad the graphics for the games weren't as impressive as the artwork on the boxes. Dynamite has signed a licensing agreement with Atari to create a hardcover book detailing the artwork from the company's marketing history. Dynamite also has retained the rights to create new original comic books and graphic novels based upon Atari's catalog of artwork and imagery. Additionally, the publisher will bring back to print the comic book series ATARI FORCE that had a 20 issue run with DC Comics from 1984 through 1986.
James Bond's adventures will be returning to the pages of comic books in November when Dynamite begins publishing its new 007 series. Dynamite has partnered with Ian Fleming Publications Ltd., the Fleming-family owned company that owns and administers the literary copyright of Ian Fleming's published works, including his fourteen James Bond books, to retain worldwide rights to publish comic books, digital comics, and graphic novels starring 007. The new 007 comic book series will be scripted by highly regarded author Warren Ellis.
Dynamite will also be bringing back Betty Boop, the first female animated screen star, to comics after a hiatus of 20 years by publishing brand new comic books and graphic novels featuring the character. Could she be one of the new Bond girls for the upcoming 007 series?
Voltron is making a comeback in an all new six issue miniseries launching in September. Voltron: From the Ashes will be set two hundred years after the events of Dynamite's previous Voltron Force comic book series concluded and will introduce a new team to pilot the five lions that form the Defender of the Universe.
Just in time for Halloween, Dynamite is launching the six issue miniseries Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Storm Surge which is an original reworking of the classic Frankenstein story.
TV SHOWS
Plenty of trailers for upcoming TV shows are always shown at Comic Con but the two I really wanted to see were for the new prequel series Fear the Walking Dead and for the next season of The Walking Dead. After seeing these two trailers I can't wait for the premiere of Fear The Walking Dead in August and the return of The Walking Dead in October. Check them out!
Are you bummed like me that there won't be any new Game of Thrones episodes until next spring, watching the cast's panel presentation from Comic-Con might help out:
MOVIES
Warner Brothers gave us a sneak peek of footage from Batman vs Superman and it appears DC Comics may be a worthy adversary to Disney's Marvel superhero films at the box office after seeing this clip.
Talking about Super Hero movies, who else is excited to see the new Fantastic Four movie in August?
Next year's Suicide Squad is getting a lot of buzz but from the trailer it looks like it could really be a bust. I'm not that enthused after seeing the trailer though I do like the comic books.
Star Wars also held a great panel for its upcoming The Force Awakens movie that brought together Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill on the same stage and showed some behind the scenes photos from the making of the new film. If you were like me and couldn't be there, courtesy of my friends at Disney here is the presentation in its entirety:
After the panel presentation, everyone in the room was invited to a special concert by the San Diego Symphony performing music from the Star Wars movie soundtracks. Plus Verizon gave 100 lucky Comic Con attendees (+ a guest) who subscribe to their wireless service access to this surprise concert as a thank you for being their customer. Verizon has partnered with Star Wars: The Force Awakens to provide content and exclusive offers to help fans gear up for the next installment in the Star Wars movie lineup and provided A Geek Daddy blog the pictures below to share with our readers.
So as usual a lot of exciting stuff went down at Comic Con ... maybe next year I'll be there! This is just a brief glimpse of what went down in San Diego so you know there was a lot going on. What is your favorite announcement or moment from this year's Comic Con? If we didn't mention it please share the details with the rest of us!
