Comic Con Reveal: Merida Is Coming to OUAT (& a link to a Dark Swan preview)

So at Comic Con* this year are a number of fairy tale-pertinent events, including anything to do with Grimm, whatever Disney and Pixar are doing with tales, lots of smaller indie events (no Fables this year unfortunately, now the series is wrapped, and no news of a Fables movie update from Warner Bros... yet!) and, of course, Once Upon A Time.

The OUAT creators released a promo video Saturday, which unfortunately doesn't tell us much other than who it is (and that her costume is exactly the same as in the movie). I don't see any story set-up in there yet, but for most people, just knowing Merida is set to appear in the world of Once Upon A Time, is news enough.

Yep, Once Upon a Time meets Brave's Princess Merida next season. Now that we've seen her, we can't wait to hear that Scottish accent! And yes, the actress is Scottish. That's Amy Manson, who you may recognize from Torchwood, Being Human and Atlantis. (source)

Take a look:

I think it's been expected for a while and there's a lot of potential for some interesting story lines (transformed bear people and wisps please! Let's get some more classic fairy tale tropes back in there please..).

I have to say I'm disappointed this Merida isn't more robust, although I'm ridiculously glad she's Scottish! We have yet to see her in real action so I'm hoping for the best. I do like that she doesn't appear to be in that OUAT age range of mid-thirties, for something different. (It's like there's a time warp there! Mid-thirties is a great age, but not when EVERYBODY is the same age, barring Granny, Rumple and Grumpy!)

Anyway, lots of speculation from here on out and wish lists getting scribbled in a frenzy by fans as I type...

More updates from Comic Con as they appear (and as I have access to get them to you)...

Oh yes: and if you're curious about Dark Swan Emma, you can see a preview scene HERE.

* In case you're not aware, the annual San Diego Comic Con is currently happening and has grown from indie comic artists and toys to be one of the largest pop culture, comic convention and entertainment events in the US. It's that time of year where any (genre) TV series sends their fan favorite actors and crew to chat on panels, tease spoilers of the coming season and release exclusive clips, interviews, behind-the-scenes and (of course) merchandise. If you love movies, fantasy, sci-fi, comics, pop-culture, illustration, animation and art, this is the place to be - and to geek out and cosplay to your heart's content. (It's also incredibly crowded and hot but for many people it's worth it and a fantastic and fun experience.) 

An Update from Bill Willingham on the "Fables" Finale from the Vertigo Panel at ECCC 2015

I still cannot quite believe we are barreling toward the end of Fables. With not much time left and very little, if any news about the upcoming Fables movie (please let it be happening and be awesome!), everyone was very curious to see what Fables creator and chief writer, Bill Willingham, had to say at the Emerald City Comic Con, which began at the end of March.

Willingham headed up the Vertigo panel on the Opening Day of the Con, titled New Blood, immediately explaining this was an out-with-the-old (including himself) and in-with-the-new, sort of panel. (!)

From Newsarama:

"So why is this called New Blood?" Willingham began. "For one, the old blood is being moved out. I can reveal now that I did not decide to end Fables, I was told to end Fables. You'll notice that the 'Old Guard' like Kurt Busiek and Gail Simone haven't made it here yet because we're old, and we're tired, and our walkers just don't work the way they used to." 

...(Eventually) the panel switched gears (away from the new staff and talent), putting attention on the upcoming final issue of Fables. While Willingham spoke, exclusive art from Fables #150 was shuffled quickly across the projector screen. 

"The final issue of Fables is 150 story pages long," said Willingham. "So it's a collection and an individual issue, and it's coming out in July. Mark Buckingham is doing the best work of his career here, which is saying a lot. One thing Mark and I promised #150 would do, unlike the Jack of Fables series, is that we wouldn't kill everybody. If someone survives, we've kept our promise. The story spans from when #149 left off to about a hundred and fifty million years in the future. It's gonna be pretty fun." 

The floor was then opened up to audience questions..
... directed to Willingham - which Fable did he regret killing off the most?"I know you want me to say Boy Blue because it was a really good death," he replied. "I think we got a good story out of that, so I don't regret it. We got a good death out of Shere Khan, his was the first big death in terms of significance, and the atomic moment that the book was out and we couldn't take it back, I thought of all these things I could have done with him. We try to make the deaths count, so we couldn't bring him back."
"The truth is ideas are easy," finished Willingham. "Very similar ideas come to a lot of people. Execution is everything. That's what you need to know how to protect." 

Wow. I can't imagine how that must have been, to be told to end Fables when you weren't really ready to do so. I can only hope that the popularity, excellent reviews and critical acclaim of the video game The Wolf Among Us, and the obvious anticipation of fans for the upcoming movie will mean that perhaps Willingham will be given license to work in his favorite fairy tale world again in some capacity - even if it's in a completely different way to anything ever hinted at before. 

I do know he's announced that he will continue writing and creating comics and that he plans to focus on novels for a while. I know there have been plans to create other Fables-based novels, like Peter & Max, that haven't yet seen the light of day, and I know that he remains passionate about fairy tales - in a more serious, critical studies manner than most of his fans have any idea about.

July is going to be a weird month when all this goes down - and that's likely when we'll have a better idea of which direction Willingham goes next. I have a feeling that it will also be around that time that we'll get some more concrete information on the Fables movie - even if Willingham continues to not be directly involved. Bittersweet times.

These end of the era-things can get rough on the tear ducts.

Note: all illustrations are from Fables comics covers from the last arc, titled Happily Ever After, except for the header (which is from a very early issue). We've yet to see if this is a literal description of the end of these stories, or if it's ironic.

Out of Comic-Con: OUAT - The Spoiler-y Trailer We Couldn't Show You Earlier (Hidden Under Jump)

Part of the OUAT presence at SD Comic Con 2013

Yep - the footage was finally released, mainly as a character teaser for Season 3.

It's less... professional looking (?) than I expected (maybe they shot it really quickly?) and it's less-than-subtle in it's "clues" but still a nice little way for a fairy tale character to appear.

So.... after the jump, is the trailer, described in the previous/earlier post's SPOILER section.

<<<<<<<<<<<< SPOILER ALERT! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ (click the "Read more" link below this line to see the trailer) ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ 

Out of Comic-Con: OUAT Season 3 Trailers & Spoilers (Hidden)

Out of San Diego Comic-Con come all sorts of wonders, including much anticipated sneak-peeks of new shows and next season reveals. Once Upon A Time didn't disappoint.

The trailers for Season 3 shown below have NO NEW FOOTAGE (ie spoiler-free) but they're a good summary to remind you of what the set-up is for next season.

There was, however, new footage shown which hasn't been publicly released yet. One is from some DVD extras which will be available on the Season 2 Blu-ray (& DVD) and the other was a preview from Season 3. We can't show it but we can describe it.

The most details appear to have come from Entertainment Weekly so I'll post excerpts from there:

First the non-spoilery DVD extra which sounds fun:

There was also (during the screening) a quick “commercial break” – a morning show called “Good Morning Storybrooke,” hosted by Yvette Nicole Brown and Paul Scheer featuring dating advice from Dr. Whale and a low budget commercial for Mr. Gold’s pawn shop. “If you lived it, I have it!” Robert Carlyle narrated in the clip – noting that all the significant magical objects from the show have found their way into his hands. (The full episode of “Good Morning Storybrooke” will be available on the season 2 DVD.)

Here's the trailer for "GMS":

And now for the Season 3 sneak peek description....

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<     SPOILERS BELOW!!!    >>>>>>>>>>>>>

✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ (If you want to read the spoilers, click the "Read more" link below) ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ 

Fairy Tale RoundUp For SDCC (San Diego Comic-Con) 2013!

My favorite of J. Scott Campbell's new Fairytale Fantasies illustrations - being released at San Diego ComicCon 2013

I haven't had much time this week to stay up to date on all the San Diego ComicCon fairy tale related goodness but I wanted to at least list it for you so that you can investigate more for yourself if you're interested (or already going) and to make it clear that fairy tales are big business right now - whether main stream, indie or in the Geek universe.

Here's a run down, in no particular order. All the links take you to pages with more information about when during SDCC they will be appearing, the times, booths & rooms and any extra preview info (note: if you can't see the show you clicked on at the top of the page they will be further down in the line-up list):

• Once Upon A Time, ABC series (going into season 3)
• Once Upon A Time In Wonderland, ABC limited spin-off series (premiere)
• Grimm, NBC series (going into season 3, including sneak peek of Dracula - new series)
• Beauty & the Beast, CW series (going into season 2)
• J. Scott Campbell Fairytale Fantasies 2014 (comics, calendars and illustration)
• *Grimm Fairy Tales Comics and Animated Pilot Premiere, Zenescope (comics and new animated pilot/possible series)
• Ever After High - Mattel (new toy line with animated webisodes, debut appearance)
• Spotlight on Ruth Sanderson, fairy tale illustrator and storyteller (presentation/interview & panel)
• Lost Girl , Syfy (going into season 4) (Why have I put this on the fairy tale list? Because it makes excellent use of folklore and fairy tale creatures in a witty and gritty "Olde Worlde meets Nu". Not for kids though.)
• Fine art poster company, Mondo, will be having a limited release of new designs for Miyazaki films Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke among others.
• There will be a limited release of Guillermo del Toro's character El Fauno from Pan's Labyrinth this year as well (last year, 2012, it was The Pale Man. 2013 is for the Faun). You can pre-order at the link and they will ship after SDCC.

*The animated pilot is getting a lot of buzz and interest. Zenescope's Grimm Fairy Tales use fairly tales and set them in a largely horror genre. They've had many, many issues and been popular for many years but the animated series is a first. More on that in a bit.

Other Fairy Tale Friends at SDCC 2013:

The Faun: Limited release at SDCC 2013

• Acclaimed indie filmmaker, Lisa Stock of InByTheEye will also be there from July 17 to 19th, promoting her new film Hell and other projects. A true mythmaker, Lisa creates myth and fairy tale films and other works (including a stage adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Snow, Glass Apples) and has much more fairy tale related goodness underway that I hope to be sharing very soon.
• Speaking of Neil Gaiman, he will also there on the 19th and, as usual, in great demand over everything from his comics to his books. He will be speaking on panels and presentations, including talking about his new "fairy tale for adults" book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane.
• Joss Whedon will be there for Dark Horse comics talking about what's next for him (including the Buffy movie rumors).
• Other topics and shows that may be of interest to fairy tale people: Game of Thrones, The Hobbit II, Seventh Son, Sherlock (apparently this is a very popular among fairy tale fans!), Doctor Who (don't you think the Doctor makes for a very different sort of Beast? ;) and The Walking Dead (yes - this is also popular among fairy tale people. I may have to post on why one of these days...), Hannibal, True Blood, Supernatural, Arrow, the pilot of Sleepy Hollow (Ichabod Crane gets thrown into the future) and Dexter.

In case you are wondering Bill Willingham (Fables) will NOT be attending SDCC this year so we're unlikely to get any further scoops on the Fables film in development at this time.

Hollywood giant, Disney, is also (largely) MIA at the San Diego ComicCon this year with only having a presence via their newly acquired Marvel properties and the ABC series OUAT & OUATinWonderland. Frozen and Saving Mr. Banks will be spotlit at Disney's own expo D23 in the following week or so.

If you have any other tip off for fairy tale folks attending, please put them in the comments and I'll send out a FB and Tweet to let people know as well.

Spotlight on Ruth Sanderson NOON TODAY at ComicCon!

From The Twelve Dancing Princesses Retold & Illustrated by Ruth Sanderson

Ruth Sanderson is in the spotlight at ComicCon today! And yes, she WILL be talking about fairy tales and very specifically, according to the program. I hope those of us who can't be there will be able to get some notes or see a video excerpt of the presentation and panel.

From the official ComicCon Schedule:

A Token Of Love by Ruth Sanderson

Thursday July 18, 2013 12:00pm – 1:00pm 

Spotlight on Ruth Sanderson 

Award-winning illustrator and Comic-Con special guest Ruth Sanderson (The Twelve Dancing Princesses) will give a visual presentation on her career as a fantasy artist and fairy tale author/illustrator, and on her move to a more graphic format for a fairy tale for older children. Ruth’s work has appeared in fantasy magazines and on many book covers, and she has illustrated over 80 books for children. Her artwork can be seen in Spectrum, and she was the 2011 Artist Guest of Honor at the World Fantasy Convention in San Diego.Room 91: Programs, Art and Illustration, Comic-Con Special Guest Spotlights & Appearances, Science Fiction & Fantasy

from The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Ruth Sanderson

Here's a recent interview with Ms. Sanderson HERE on how she views retellings, what she thinks of "too many princesses" and a change in style she's working on. The preview below shows one of her illustrations for George MacDonald's fairy tale "The Golden Key". (Click on the link HERE to see more of the amazing things she's been up to including more on this tale.)

Scratchboard illustration - preview of The Golden Key illustrated by Ruth Sanderson