This past weekend was one of the best reasons to be a geek… San Diego Comic-Con! SDCC is the pinnacle of geekdom with tons of cosplayers, celebrities, and plenty of new trailers of upcoming movies and TV shows. It is, without a doubt, the mecca for nerds.

This year was no exception. With the debut of the most anticipated trailers for Aquaman and Shazam, along with the debut of Jodie Whittaker, the 13th Doctor in Doctor Who, as well as the premiere of the new DC Comics “streaming” service and their flagship TV series, Titans, and the return of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, this was a monumental comic-con. I think, though, DC Comics stole the show with the myriad of movies and television to show off.

I have to start with television. There were plenty of trailers for the complete line-up of the CW’s DC shows, from The Flash to Arrow, Supergirl, Black Lightning, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. The biggest announcement from that is the theme for it’s mid-season crossover event and next new series… Batwoman. This character has grown in popularity as part of the mainstream Batman universe over the past few years and now, she gets a starring role on her own. From the looks of things, she’ll be part of Supergirl’s Earth. It should be exciting come December.

The DC’s new series, Titans, is a lot darker than the cartoon. When you have Robin declaring “F*#k Batman!” you know it’s got a grim future. The other characters appearance was questionable, at first glance, but with the added CGI, it’s a lot better. Starfire and Beast Boy are looking more like they should, and Raven’s coming along too. It should be a great start to their new service.

Star Trek: Discovery made a surprise showing with Captain Christopher Pike (first Captain of the Enterprise) taking over the helm and the hint of Spock as well, bringing the mainstream Star Trek universe in line with it. On the opposite side, the return of the popular Star Wars series, The Clone Wars, it seems that Star Wars universe is back-tracking after the end of Rebels. I know fans of the series like this, but personally, I wish they would go forward instead of backwards.

The big TV debut at SDCC was Jodie Whittaker and the new companions to Doctor Who. The new trailer definitely showed us a strange, new world for the 13th Doctor, but not a lot of teaser-worthy material. There is still plenty of mystery about the new Doctor, her companions, and what they will face. “I felt if I was very much in someone else’s shoes,” Whittaker herself said of her first days playing the character, “which is an amazing way to start this journey.”

The one thing we do know is that the Daleks will not appear in the first season. Sad, but true, according to executive producer Chris Chibnall. “We need a pillar of hope in these times, “Chibnall added later to a roar from the fans about Whittaker being handed the keys to the Tardis. “That pillar of hope is Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor Who,” he added. “This Doctor treats everything with a sense of awe, wonder and respect.”

The last thing to mention about SDCC is the movie trailers. There were so many awe-inspiring trailers this year that there is not enough space in my blog to talk about them all. Aquaman was, by far, the best of the trailers. I mean, as soon as I saw a comic book accurate Black Manta, I was done. Give James Wan the award for best comic book movie director because this was awesome! It has lived up to the hype, so take my money and let me see the damn movie.

Shazam was on another level as it accurately portrayed the origin from the comics and gave us the movie Big in comic book form. Seeing Billy Batson learn to use his powers, complain about how to pee in his superhero suit, and generally act like a kid in a super-powered form is exactly what we were expecting from Shazam. Zachary Levi was perfectly cast as Shazam and his comedy props are definitely in use here. This is going to be a bright spot in the DC Universe movies.

Wonder Woman ’84 was shown to the audience at SDCC, but no trailer as of yet. The thing I found out recently is that it was being filmed at a defunct mall just blocks from where I live in Alexandria, Va., and I didn’t know about it. That could have been a big moment for me and I missed it. Unreal!

Besides the stars, celebrities, and the merchandise on display at SDCC, it’s always great to see the cosplayers come out in full force. These people know what it means to be a fan and show it in the hard work they do in making comic and movie accurate costumes. And yes, the women who cosplay are incredibly beautiful and sexy, so it makes it easy to watch them bring your favorite characters to life.

SDCC is a treasure to end the summer, at least for geeks, filled with plenty of surprises. This one was no exception. I wish we had a little more from Marvel, but I guess they’re keeping things under wraps, for now. In any case, I hope that one day I get to attend SDCC. It would be a blast.

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Mark Piggott is the author of the Forever Avalon book series. Forever Avalon is available for purchase as a book/ebook at Amazon. The Dark Tides is available for purchase as a book/ebook at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iUniverse publishing. The Outlander War, Book Three of the Forever Avalon series is coming soon.