Long-time GoD writer and San Diego Comic-Con ‘08 correspondent Neverwanderer gives the play by play of his very first Comic-Con experience this July.

“The San Diego Convention Center is so huge that if you were to stand at one end of the exhibit hall and face the room, you couldn’t see the other end because of the curvature of the Earth.”
-William O’Neil, Co-Creator of Violent Messiahs

“NO! I’m not going to ‘sand eggo.’ I get twitchy just thinking about SDCC! I’ll be home watching the Sex & the City movie.”
-Brian Michael Bendis, Writer of Secret Invasion, among many, many others…

“Nerd Prom! NERD PROM!!!”
-Comic-Con Attendee

Friday, July 25 (In which we make the trip down to San Diego along freeways previously rumored to be backed up for miles…

“If you ever have an opportunity to see J.M. Straczynski speak live, do it.”

Seems like you can’t read a single article regarding the man’s work without having this piece of advice thrown your way. Indeed, the creator of hit sci-fi show Babylon 5 and prolific writer of such comic titles as Amazing Spider-Man, Supreme Power, and The Mighty Thor has built himself a reputation as not only a groundbreaking creative force, but an entertaining public speaker as well! 


This fact made my decision to attend his “Spotlight on…” panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con all the easier.

I’d sat through two panels before his (one of which — the Grant Morrison/Gerard Way affair — can be read about here), both of which had that sort of low-calorie rock concert feel to them. You know what I’m talking about… a room the size of a school auditorium… a small stage upon which sits a few long tables and a row of chairs… the lights go dim and the deep-throated announcer welcomes you to the show and introduces the guest(s) of honor… moderate applause fills the room as the speakers mount the stage, waving to the crowd… and then sit down and sip from their plastic cups of water. It’s the Diet Coke of venues.

Attention all sci-fi geeks and music freaks!

The LA Times geekblog, Hero Complex, broke the news early Wednesday morning that Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor is in talks with HBO to produce a two-season maxi-series based on the band’s concept album, Year Zero.

“It’s the most exciting thing on the horizon, it’s the thing that when I wake up in the morning it makes me say, ‘God it would be cool if that happened,” Reznor told me this week while sitting backstage before a Nails concert in Toronto. “This is my grand ambition. Will it happen? I don’t know. It was fun sitting and telling [the HBO] guys and watching them shake their head and having writers on board and producers that are in to it. It’s been a fun thing.”

Attending my first ever San Diego Comic-Con, one of the activities on my long (and, sadly, mostly checkless) list of Things To Do check list was attending a few panels (which, like going to Pismo Beach for the clams, are the reason one goes to Comic-Con). Since my only full day at the Con was Saturday, I decided this would have to be my panel day, and, not even considering weathering the soul-killing lines of the popular movie panels, I decided that the two most interesting programs on the schedule for me were Grant Morrison & Gerard Way: Born Under a Black Sun and the Spotlight on J. Michael Straczynski.

As luck would have it, both panels would be held in Hall 6B, which meant I only had to brave one line (and an hour-long Xbox panel in between, which turned out to not be so bad).

NeverWanderer gives us insight into why he hates getting insight into upcoming movies, namely The Dark Knight.

Five years after its release, we take a look back at Ang Lee’s Hulk, which starred then relative newcomer Eric Bana as Dr. Banner, the meek scientist who turns into the angry, raging Hulk.

Geeks of Doom met with a lot of great, hardworking independent comic creators during this year’s New York Comic Con. Here is the second installment of our series of reviews for the nearly 20 lbs. of books we came away with after all the smoke cleared.

This month marks the grand finale of Red 5’s four-issue miniseries from Kevin Rubio and Lucas Marangon.

Free Lunch Comics’ Sky Pirates #1 is the sort of book that fantasy geeks and sci-fi nerds have been waiting for: something that is pure fun, with interesting, diverse characters, and a fantasy world that doesn’t fall into hokey stereotypes.

NeverWanderer gives us the inside scoop on Ape Entertainment’s Bizarre New World, a comic where Skipper Martin creates a vision of a world in which people flying through the air is as common as people walking… Bizarre!

Free Lunch Comics brings the spooky back in their new supernatural anthology series, written by Steve Kanaras and Andrew Pollock.

This graphic novel tells the story of Agent Swete, an (eventual) operative of the FBI’s “Food Crime Division” who has the inimitable distinction of being world’s only person comprised of living organic chocolate.

A giant sun flare washes half the Earth in fire in this post-apocalyptic horror action-adventure comic from Red 5.

In this second issue, having come face to face with his father’s arch-nemesis, the Arrow, Eric must stay alive while trying to convince the hero that he is not the real Abyss.

This Pilot Season offering gets a B grade and a pat on the back.

Genres range from post-apocalyptica to horror to sci-fi to, and sometimes, a mix of all three, but the unifying factor of this anthology is that all these Peter Rogers-penned stories were at one point scheduled for publication elsewhere.

David Wohl and Bill Sienkiewicz’s Dark Sector Zero is a haunting, beautifully drawn tale that serves as a lead-in for the Dark Sector video game.

This series uses tried and true plot elements from countless “teen monster fighter” manga and anime to the already T&A-intensive mythos of the Witchblade.

In this title, science fiction writer Cory Doctorow’s previously published short stories are translate into comic book form.

In this series, writer Mark Powers gives the ‘Joes histories, families, and personal issues, transforming them from cartoon archetypes into living, breathing people.