San Diego Comic-Con is possibly the most famous exhibition of its kind in the world. Naturally, mxdwn could not miss out on such an important event for the geek world. We went down this weekend to San Diego to the Special Edition of SDCC, the first in-person gathering of the convention since July 2019.

Despite this year’s in-person comic-con being cancelled back in June, around the time it usually takes place, the organizers went out of their way to welcome comic, manga, TV, and film fans alike to a very special edition this November. People from all over the country and the world came for a three-day weekend to breathe fandom in its purest form.

Due to its unusual calendar date in November there were fewer attendees than other years, which at first might have been considered a bad thing but was actually a blessing in disguise for everyone there. Fewer people also meant fewer crowds which would allow for shorter waiting lines, better individual experiences, better customer service, and most importantly fewer masses during panels.

Speaking of panels, the next Doctor Who was voted by the live audience attending on Friday. Many fans of the show have in recent years been very vocal about the quality of the writing and acting. It is now been confirmed that Jodie Whittaker, the first ever female Doctor, will leave the show after season 13.

The panel members listened to their fans and there is simply no room for doubt that everybody wants David Tennant as the 14th Doctor Who. However, the actor has already played the main role as the 10th Doctor for three seasons from 2006-2008, coming back for subsequent specials over the years. Though, they have now confirmed that Russell T. Davies, a huge lead writer during the Tenant era, will be back as the main screenwriter.

Kevin Eastman had a very special Comic-Con experience this year as he was the moderator for not one but three panels, two of which were about the incredibly successful return of the TMNT franchise to its original medium, paper-back comic books. In The Last Ronin, Michelangelo is the last surviving member of the Ninja Turtles in a dystopian, high-tech future controlled by the Foot Clan’s leader, the grandson of The Shredder. Mikey suffers from hallucinations as he mourns the death of his brothers and his father and swears to serve vengeance to the eternal enemy.

When mxdwn approached the panel about the possibility of a future feature film, given its overwhelmingly positive response by the fans, Mr. Eastman responded, “Not for the time being.” Despite the general animosity by the attendees towards Michael Bay’s vision of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014, 2016), a third and fourth installment of that franchise is already in the preproduction phase.

Last but definitely not least, members of theonering.net, the official and biggest fan website for all things Lord Of The Rings, exhibited their vast knowledge on the future of the franchise. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring, the panelists were proud to announce that finally they were given some small information directly from Amazon about the upcoming show on Amazon Prime. It is just one image of a glorious, lush, elven kingdom with Galadriel looking at one of the two giant, glowing trees of Middle-Earth.

Instead of confirming any speculations, this image has set the LOTR community into more confusion as the sacred trees of the elves died and stopped glowing after the First Age. Given that the show is supposedly about the Second Age of Middle-Earth it is hard to understand even for hardcore fans what this image means. The best explanation the panelists could muster was that it has to be a flashback to an even more ancient time. Amazon is being highly secretive about its one billion dollar project. It is hard to say whether such extreme secrecy is helping or hurting the marketing and “hype” for an enormous scheme such as this. It is rumored among the panel members that the first trailer will be released during the Super Bowl commercial break in February. The series will come out on September 2nd, 2022, exclusively for Amazon Primer members.

Friday was a fantastic start to the three days that would be the geek heaven on earth. As many attendees left the building late in the evening some mxdwn members had chocolate chip cookies for dinner with theonering.net crew to further discuss Tolkien’s legacy, the fanbase online,  and possibly witness some exclusive visual leaks about the dwarven halls of Kazad-Dum and the elven kingdom of Lindon.