Adult Swim is ready to once again take on one of the largest and most exciting fan experiences of the year during San Diego Comic-Con this month. Fans can always expect the unexpected from Adult Swim, as they dive into celebrity-filled panels and signings featuring series stars, creators and producers from Robot Chicken and Rick and Morty, a new animated sketch show Brad Neely’s Harg Nallin’ Sclopio Peepio and the much-anticipated Samurai Jack. The free swag will be flying at the network’s official booth in the convention center and also at the exciting Adult Swim on the Green experience overlooking the bay.
First stop, the convention center! Get your game on at the Adult Swim Booth (#3721) with the Return To Feline Fun Hole Slide Mouth, Part 2. Limber up and come lob fishy fun sacks into our illuminated cat holes. Steady your trembling paws and pray your sacrifice to our great glowing kitty doesn’t go unnoticed. If your aim is true, she may cough up something beautiful and exciting.
Need to escape the crowds inside and feel the sun on your face? Adult Swim On The Green is back and it’s gonna be greener than ever. It’s free, it’s fun and it’s on the green behind the convention center at 5th Avenue Landing and Convention Way, Thursday through Sunday from 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Everything you’ve ever dreamed of will be up for grabs at the Carnival Midway, which will be full of fancy games and Adult Swim themed prizes. Have your soul photo taken in the Mr. Pickles photo booth, then head over to The Meatwad Full Dome and challenge your mind and stomach to 360 degrees of trance-inducing hallucinations in “Six Minutes Of Your Life That You’ll Never Get Back.” Back for its fifth year, State Farm® is helping Adult Swim fans best prepare for the con with an Oversized Prizeball Machine that will dispense prizes to maximize fan experience on the green. A few lucky con-goers will win access to exclusive Adult Swim screenings and on-site games. All events are free for those that are 18+. RSVP at AdultSwimPresents.com to fast track your entrance.
The fun doesn’t stop when the sun goes down, so come cuddle up with Adult Swim under the stars and check out what’s on the horizon with Nighttime on the Green featuring screenings from 8:00 p.m. -10:00 p.m. with lineup starting at 7:00 p.m. On Thursday join Toonami Pre-Flight for a night of behind-the-scenes info on our popular anime programming block with your hosts Jason DeMarco, Gill Austin, Steve Blum (Voice of TOM), and Dana Swanson (Voice of SARA). Friday we expose you to the unknown with “Things You’ve Never Seen,” a night of specials and original pilots. For our final night on Saturday, don’t miss an improvised evening with Rick and Morty creators Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland. Arrive early to get suited up for the show by SNICKERS® in custom Ricky and Morty costumes.
Need more? Below is a full list of Adult Swim panels and signings for Friday, July 22 – Saturday, July 23. Panels and signings as well as talent scheduled to appear, are subject to change. For continuing information about Adult Swim’s plans at Comic-Con and to RSVP for events, please visit AdultSwimPresents.com.
ADULT SWIM PANELS
FRIDAY, JULY 22
Hilton San Diego Bayfront – Indigo Ballroom
Robot Chicken
12:15 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Perk up your feathers and lube your gears—the poultry posse’s back to show exclusive, never-before-seen, behind-the-scenes footage of their Emmy Award®-winning series! Co-creator / EP Matthew Senreich, EP / co-head writer Tom Root, EP / co-head writer Doug Goldstein, actor / writer Breckin Meyer and writer / director Tom Sheppard are joined by a very special guest: voice actor Donald Faison (Scrubs). Moderated by Keith Crofford, SVP of production for Adult Swim.
Brad Neely’s Harg Nalllin’ Sclopio Peepio
1:15 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Show creator Brad Neely (China, IL), executive producer Daniel Weidenfeld (China, IL), co-executive producer Dave Newberg (China, IL) invite you to an exclusive look at the first season of the animated sketch show Brad Neely’s Harg Nallin’ Sclopio Peepio premiering Sundays at 11:45 p.m. (ET/PT) on [adult swim].
Rick and Morty
2:15 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Executive producers Dan Harmon (Community) & Justin Roiland (Adventure Time), writer / producer Ryan Ridley (Community) and voice talent Spencer Grammer (Greek), Sarah Chalke (Scrubs) and Chris Parnell (Archer) invite fans for a sneak peek of the highly-anticipated third season. Moderated by Brian Q. Quinn (Impractical Jokers).
Samurai Jack
3:15pm – 4:00pm
Join creator / director Genndy Tartakovsky, head writer Darrick Bachman, art director Scott Wills, storyboard artist Bryan Andrews and character designer Craig Kellman as they give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming revival of hit animated action-adventure series Samurai Jack. Moderated by Tom Kenny (Samurai Jack, SpongeBob SquarePants).
ADULT SWIM SIGNINGS
Tickets are required for all signings at the Adult Swim Booth (#3721). A limited number of tickets will be given out at the booth on the day-of. First come. First served.
SATURDAY, JULY 23
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Samurai Jack
Adult Swim Booth #3721
1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Rick and Morty
Adult Swim Booth #3721
3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Brad Neely’s Harg Nallin’ Sclopio Peepio
Adult Swim Booth #3721
4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Robot Chicken
Adult Swim Booth #3721

TV
Top Ten Times Willow was the Worst

With all the discourse surrounding the much anticipated Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot, not
to mention Sarah Michelle Gellar’s and Alyson Hannigan’s joint interview on the Today show
discussing the show’s legacy! Many fans have revised their opinions on some of the
original show’s titular characters. One such character is Hannigan’s own, Willow Rosenberg. Once seen as the shy, lovable, nerdy sidekick, now her image is less than rosy. Manipulative? Petty? And maybe worst of all: a bad friend.
10. Easing us in with a somewhat annoying one. In Season 6, Episode 11, ‘Gone’, it is
morning in the Summers household. After throwing out most of Willow’s magical stash as
the fallen wiccan tries to go cold turkey with her magic addiction (more on that later). Buffy
is post-traumatic-resurrection trying to keep it all together after a night of hot,
passionate…fighting with a vampire. Willow appears to be living in the Summers’ home rent-free and is cooking Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg) an apology omelette. She is making a
mess while cooking, as one does, but leaves her traumatised friend to clean up after her! Poor
Buffy (you’ll hear that a lot) was just lambasting herself for not noticing Willow’s self-
inflicted downfall. Buffy is literally chopping off her own hair in distress, and no one notices!
The audacity!
9. In Season 3, Episode 2, ‘Dead Man’s Party’, Buffy has returned to Sunnydale after her
secondment in LA. After a traumatic year, Buffy clearly just wants to hang out with her
friends like a regular teenager. Willow agrees to meet Buffy in town to re-bond over
shopping. Yes, Willow did say earlier in the episode that she had school work that she would
have to rearrange, which is fair enough, but at least cancel instead of leaving poor Buffy
(see?) sitting alone waiting for you!

8. Anya (Emma Caulfield), the ex-vengeance demon, was treated pretty coolly by the
Scoobies. Willow was clearly jealous of Anya’s relationship with Xander (Nicholas
Brendon), taking Xander’s attention from her. Throughout the final seasons, Willow treated
Anya like an annoyance at best and undermined her with cruel remarks at worst. In no
episode was this more obvious than Season 5, Episode 11, ‘Triangle’. Willow is brazenly
stealing spell ingredients from Anya’s and Giles’s (her friends) small business. Willow even
says herself she is not “stealing”, she is “…just taking things without paying for them. In what
twisted dictionary is that stealing?”.
Willow comes off as a bully throughout this episode, cruelly mimicking Anya and trying to
make Xander choose between his childhood best friend and his girlfriend. I want to mention
that not only is Willow gay, but has her own girlfriend at this point. So her possessiveness of
Xander comes off as particularly childish.
7. Willow’s irresponsibility with magic becomes a large feature of the series. Even her most
ardent fans can’t explain what she was thinking in Season 5, Episode 17, ‘Forever’ when she
draws Dawn’s attention to a dark spell book. This book encourages 15-year-old Dawn to raise
her mother from the dead. Culminating in what is, in my opinion, one of the creepiest scenes
in Buffy: the shadow of zombie Joyce walking past Summer’s curtained window, returning
home. Presumably, Willow knew the dangers but was fine with a child dabbling in dark
magic.
6. Back to Season 3, Episode 2 ‘Dead Man’s Party’. After not being satisfied standing Buffy
up, she also wants to rant at a clearly distressed Buffy that Willow’s now got a boyfriend and is
practicing witchcraft, AND had no one to talk to about it when Buffy ran away. Bear in mind
that Buffy had to stab her boyfriend through the heart and send him to Hell after months of
his evil alter ego psychologically torturing her. But Willow needs her gal pal.
Very similar to Season 7, Episode 19 ‘Empty Places’ when Willow joined the group pile on,
blaming poor Buffy (and again) for everything that’s gone wrong. And then throwing Buffy
out of her own house (you know the one she pays for?)! In the words of one Buffy fan ‘Y’all
hate her so much, why did you resurrect her?’
5. Going to my personal favourite season, Season 6 (I’m not arguing about it), Episode 10
‘Wrecked’. Willow is caught in the throes of magic addiction. Within the Buffy universe,
magic was a metaphor for lesbian sex, but the metaphor changes in Season 6 to substance
abuse. Willow takes Dawn to what is essentially a magical drug den and leaves her waiting
there for over an hour. Then, high on magic, he proceeds to not take Dawn home, instead
offering to teleport her back home. Willow then gets behind the wheel of a car with Dawn
while high and crashes the car.
Buffy was known to tackle social issues, and its handling of substance abuse was surprisingly
Realistic, mainly due to Alyson Hannigan’s amazing acting!

4. In Season 4, Episode 6, ‘Wild at Heart,’ we get to see the true darkness that appears to live
inside Willow. After being cheated on by her long-time boyfriend Oz (Seth Green), Willow
takes it upon herself to hex both Oz and his cheating partner, Veruca. She casts ‘in the name
of Hell’ wanting to break both their hearts and find no peace or solace…harsh. To be fair to
her, she does stop herself, but Willow, I appreciate you got cheated on, but we can’t just go
about hexing people.
3. And now to one of the best episodes ever! Season 6, Episode 8 ‘Tabula Rasa’ delivers
some serious comic gold, but the premise of the episode is rather disturbing. Despite
promising Tara (Amber Benson), her long-term partner, that she would give up magic for a
week, Willow casts a spell. Tara is understandably upset that the woman she loves cast a
memory spell on her to make her forget their arguments. Willow’s answer to this is to cast yet
another memory spell to make Tara forget the first memory spell (stay with me). Willow also tries to cast a spell on Buffy (you know her friend suffering from depression) to make her forget being in Heaven. As is a staple in the Buffy universe, the spell goes awry, making the whole gang forget who they are, leading to hilarious hijinks.
Yes, it’s one of the funniest Buffy episodes, but if the spell hadn’t accidentally been broken, then they all could have been stuck like that.
2. For such a trailblazing relationship, Willow and Tara have a lot of problems when
scrutinised. Almost everything stems from Willow’s overuse of magic. The relationship
gets darker the more you examine it. As Tara said in ‘Tabula Rasa’, Willow violated her
mind. Some fans have pointed out; not only was the flower Willow used to cast the forgetting
spell (Season 6, Episode 6) is in an oddly convenient place in their bedroom. This begs the
question: how many times has Willow cast these spells? Fans have also pointed out that if
Tara had sex with Willow after any spell was cast on her, she wouldn’t be consenting.
1. As a surprise to literally no one, the number one time Willow was a bad friend on top of
being completely irresponsible, resurrecting one Miss Buffy Summers. Now, many may
argue that after the finale of Season 5, ‘The Gift’, it would be understandable that Willow
would think Buffy was trapped in some Hell dimension.
Ok, let’s stay with that logic. Willow is aware that resurrection spells are extremely volatile,
presumably why the Scoobies have been planning it for weeks. Xander voices it perfectly, in
Season 6, Episode 1 ‘Bargaining Pt 1’, Buffy may try to “eat our brains”. Willow even
comments (Season 6, Episode 3) on how messed up Angel was when he came back from Hell.
Willow could have caused an emotional and physical catastrophe for them all by bringing
back a ‘wrong’ Buffy who still possesses super-strength and super-speed. Spike (James
Marsters) declares in the same episode that he shut down any idea Willow had about bringing
Buffy, back in case it went so badly, they would have to “get rid of what came back”. It’s bad
when the soulless vampire is more mature than you, isn’t it?

Willow Rosenberg is indeed a very complex character played expertly by Alyson Hannigan. Willow has her flaws, but it is those flaws that make her such a compelling character. I, for one, am very interested to see what they do with the character in the reboot.
Movie
Review: From the World of John Wick: Ballerina

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is a stylish and brutal addition to the ever-expanding John Wick universe. Set between the explosive events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and Chapter 4, the film seamlessly slots into the timeline without feeling like a stopgap. Instead, it builds something fresh, introducing a new protagonist on a vengeful journey of her own.
Ana de Armas delivers a fierce and emotionally layered performance as Eve Macarro, a ballerina-trained assassin seeking justice for her family. While her motivations mirror Wick’s, the film avoids repetition by diving deeper into the Ruska Roma and High Table lore. It’s a testament to the world-building that this spin-off doesn’t just feel justified—it feels essential.
As expected, the fight choreography is at its peak—gritty, inventive, and ruthlessly beautiful. Every action set-piece hits with a kinetic energy that’s both thrilling and brutal. This franchise continues to prove that when it comes to stunt work and direction, it’s in a league of its own. Can the John Wick series really disappoint? So far, no.
The story is tight, the pacing brisk, and each supporting performance, especially the cameos from familiar faces, adds weight and continuity to the narrative. Ballerina proves that this universe is more than just one man’s war; it’s a whole underworld waiting to be explored.
With compelling characters, rich mythology, and jaw-dropping action, Ballerina is a strong 9/10—one of the best spin-offs in recent memory.
Movie
The Top 5 Movies of James Gunn — A Symphony of Heart, Humor, and Heroism

Few directors in the modern cinematic landscape have reshaped genre filmmaking quite like James Gunn. Known for blending irreverent humor with profound emotional depth, Gunn has left an indelible mark on both indie horror and superhero franchises. As he transitions into leading DC Studios, it’s the perfect time to revisit his five finest works—each a statement of his unique voice in an often formulaic industry.

1. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Rating: 9.5/10
A rare sequel that deepens its characters rather than merely expanding its universe, Vol. 2 is Gunn at his most personal. The film wrestles with the pain of abandonment, the search for belonging, and the complexity of father-son dynamics—cloaked in vibrant visuals and a killer soundtrack. Yondu’s “He may have been your father, boy, but he wasn’t your daddy” line alone secures its legacy.

2. The Suicide Squad (2021)
Rating: 9/10
Chaotic, gory, and gleefully anarchic, The Suicide Squad is a wild remix of the superhero genre. Gunn injects pathos into misfits like Ratcatcher 2 and Polka-Dot Man, proving his unmatched talent for humanizing the bizarre. It’s a subversive spectacle that doubles as an anti-war allegory—with a giant alien starfish to boot.

3. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Rating: 8.8/10
The film that redefined Marvel’s creative boundaries, Guardians took a gang of obscure comic-book characters and turned them into pop culture icons. With its perfect balance of humor, heart, and ‘70s mixtape vibes, it’s the origin story of Gunn’s mainstream rise and one of the MCU’s most beloved entries.

4. Slither (2006)
Rating: 8/10
Before superheroes and intergalactic misfits, Gunn gave us Slither—a grotesque and hilarious horror-comedy with serious B-movie charm. This film showcases his roots: practical effects, quotable dialogue, and an affection for the genre’s oddballs. It’s disgusting, delightful, and distinctly Gunn.

5. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
Rating: 8/10
An emotionally charged finale to the Guardians trilogy, *Vol