Dear Gossips,

Tomorrow is the second annual DC Fandome, a virtual event meant to whet the appetites of DC fans for projects like The Batman, Black Adam, Aquaman 2, and The Flash (But Secretly Batman Again). This event was created last year to (virtually) replace Hall H at Comic Con, since that was cancelled due to COVID. Having just covered Netflix’s similar Tudum event, and now facing another day of stilted online panels—I don’t care how slick the production or good the host, Zoom interviews are always a little awkward—I wonder if this is any better or worse than cramming all of pop culture into 72 hours at Comic Con. 

 

For the talent, it’s probably better because they’re not required to travel. But for us, it’s all a content stew, that, no matter how it’s presented, becomes a little overwhelming. I do not think these virtual events will replace in-person events like Comic Con in the long run, but I DO wonder if studios splitting off to host their own events as opposed to going to a centralized location like San Diego will become the new normal. It’s all about staging and control, and running your own event gives you maximum control.

On another level, though, I am just disappointed that we’re being cheated out of Robert Pattinson having to do the Comic Con cha-cha for The Batman. I was SO looking forward to it. They already stole Joaquin Phoenix’s Comic Con from us by making Joker a prestige movie, now we don’t get to see Pattinson return to Hall H years after Twilight “killed” Comic Con (“killed” = made it an unstoppable force in media publicity). DC keeps casting wildly interesting people in their movies and then not making them go to Comic Con. I know they can’t really help it in Pattinson’s case, but I’m still disappointed. He was such a lightning rod for the Comic Con crowd last decade, and now he would be returning as their nerd king character. It’s too delicious! And yet, we do not get to feast at that table. We’ll have to settle for however awkward RBattz can make his Zoom interview, which I am betting is still very, very awkward. This dude lives to torment interviewers and f-ck with fans. The Batman press tour next year is going to be WILD.

Live long and gossip,

Sarah