“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.

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).

At the San Diego Comic Con last weekend, Entertainment Weekly gathered together several major players in today’s comics industry for the first in their SDCC Visionaries panel discussions which consisted of DC/Wildstorm’s Jim Lee, artist John Cassaday (Astonishing X-Men), writer Matt Fraction, Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, Robert Kirkman (Walking Dead, Invincible), Colleen Doran (A Distant Soil), and Grant Morrison (heh.. what isn’t Grant working on?).

The discussion covered thoughts on comics being adapted into big-budget films, the future of the digital comic medium, how the attitude toward independent comics has changed over the years, and touched on some of the notable up-and-coming comics creators to keep an eye on.

With the recent advent of Marvel’s Digital Comics Unlimited, which offers digital access to a massive archive of its catalog, and DC Comics newly launched online effort, Zuda comics, the panel was asked how they felt about the possibility of comics moving toward a digital distribution model.

While at the San Diego Comic Con this past weekend, I had the chance to sit down one-on-one with Gil Kenan, the Israel-American director of the Academy Award-nominated motion-capture animated Monster House.

While relaxing casually on the back upper patio at the convention center, Kenan talked to me mainly about his latest project, City of Ember, the big-screen adaptation of the Jeanne Duprau children’s fantasy novel.

Kenan gave a few details on his big-screen adaptation for City of Ember, which will be released in theaters by Fox Walden on October 10, 2008, and a bit about how Tom Hanks became involved with the film as a producer.

Last weekend, some of the geeks of Geeks of Doom made their way to San Diego for the annual International Comic-Con, the place to be.

There were tons of attendees dressed up as everything from Star Wars,G.I. JOE, and Watchmen (a big one this year), to anime, comic book, and video game characters. They definitely made this Con something special.

Below is set of pics, just a small sampling really, we took of people, events, and exhibits on the showroom floor — definitely a crazy place to be. Oh, it was mass insanity alright, but really not all that much different than walking the streets of NYC or riding the NYC transit system (something we NYC-based GoDs do every day). But it was also fun as hell.

McG was in attendance at the 2008 San Diego Comic Con for Terminator Salvation and he brought Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Bryce Dallas Howard, Common, and Moon Bloodgood with him. Christian Bale, who plays the adult John Conner in the upcoming film, obviously has some other things going on at the moment with this little film he’s in this summer, so he was in Japan promoting that.

I have to say, this was certainly the most informative group I’ve heard from the Con. They definitely buckled down and offered a lot of good, solid answers to good questions. Some were funny, but for the most part, we learned a lot, like McG has the go-ahead from the studio to make this movie rated R (see SDCC 08: McG Gets Blessing For R Rating For ‘Terminator Salvation’).

McG started off by sharing that this all started off by listening to the fans and they wanted to see the future of the Terminator world. They weren’t excited about making Terminator 4, but they were excited about re-inventing the franchise. He even told people that he spoke to a few gentlemen about the project whom you may have heard of, like James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger and the late, great Stan Winston whose studio did the designs, as it should be.

A man who will no doubt go down as a legend in the Geek Hall of Fame, Joss Whedon continues to provide great entertainment for us all. At the San Diego Comic Con this past weekend, Whedon was on hand to answer questions about his upcoming project Dollhouse, which stars Eliza Dushku and Tahmoh Penikett, both of whom were alongside Joss on the panel.

Any panel with Whedon in attendance will typically always have a lot of Buffy and Angel fans asking questions, no matter what Joss is currently working on. But Whedon was able to spend a fair chunk of the time shedding a little insight into the Dollhouse.

“Penikett is someone I’ve had a man crush on,” Whedon said, regarding the actor most famous for his role as Helo on Battlestar Galactica. “Oh wait, the term now is bro-mance.” He then continued to describe why Penikett’s character was a favorite of his. “He keeps getting closer and closer to Echo, and when he does, she’s someone else.”

This article could also be called “Why I Love the Comic Industry Fanbase” but I went with this solely so that we could get two names out and up front. You would be hard pressed to find another industry, or group of people, that are so dedicated to each other.

This fact was in clear evidence at the Michael Turner Tribute on Sunday afternoon at San Diego Comic Con. Together, a large group of professionals from the comics industry gathered, lining up in two rows upon the stage, in front of a packed room of fans and friends of Michael Turner, to celebrate a life that ended far too abruptly.

I wrote an obituary for Michael when I found out that he had passed away earlier this year. Suffering from chronrosarcoma, Michael was taken from us far too early.

Peter Steigerwald, a longtime colleague of Turner’s, presided over the large group who had come to remember Turner, and in turn many of the biggest names in comics shared their memories of Michael Turner.

Director John Moore and stars Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, and Chris “Ludacris” Bridges were in attendance at the San Diego Comic-Con this weekend to discuss Max Payne, their upcoming film adaptation of the video game.

Right off the bat, Moore explained that his biggest goal in taking such a popular video game with a great story and turning it into a major motion picture was just not to mess it up.

Here’s the funny thing about video games and movies — the minute you take that controller out of the player’s hands, you better deliver something of equal value. Ya gotta give them something so exciting and kick-ass and we thought the way to do that is to be highly subjective and make you feel like you are Max Payne.

Without a doubt, DC has managed to get some of the greatest cartoons ever produced. For an entire generation of kids, our memories of our childhood are indelibly linked to watching Batman and Superman on a Saturday morning. Now, a new generation of kids are going to get to watch Batman team up with a variety of characters in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

News of this cartoon is not news in and of itself, but a new debut date and trailer are definitely newsworthy.

Cartoon Network has announced, after first announcing it would premiere Fall 2008, then pushing it back to March 2009, that Batman: The Brave and the Bold will debut on Friday, November 14, 2008!

Secondly, Warner Bros. Animation has released a new description and trailer for the series.

One of the more popular franchises attached to DC comics — outside of the comics themselves of course — is Smallville, and the reimagining of the Superman mythos. It’s teenage heartache drama at its corniest, but it’s got 7 seasons under its belt and they’re still going.

Lex Luthor is leaving, taking actor Michael Rosenbaum with him, but apparently Justin Hartley will see his role of Oliver Queen/Green Arrow upgraded to a series regular. And a female named Tess, and the introduction of Davis Bloome/Doomsday will definitely keep the season interesting.

However, news out of San Diego Comic Con this weekend has fans of the Legion of Super-Heroes excited. Geoff Johns, who is currently working on Legion of Three Worlds as a Final Crisis tie-in, wrote Rogues’ Revenge, and was just announced to be teaming back up with Ethan Van Scriver for The Flash: Rebirth, is also bringing the Legion to Smallville.

One of the highlights every year at the San Diego Comic Con is any panel that may involve Kevin Smith. It doesn’t matter if you love him or hate him, enjoy or loathe his movies, there’s just no arguing that the dude is funnier than a narcoleptic seagull.

This year, Smith’s big panel was for his upcoming movie Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and he brought an odd little bunch of friends along with him in regulars Scott Mosier and Jason Mewes, stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, Ricky Mabe, and male-favorites Katie Morgan and Traci Lords. How’s THAT for an entourage?

Smith got the dance going with a clip which was preceded by a silent-but-hilarious little progression of words warning everyone not to record said clip. The scene shown took place at a high school reunion where the attractive Miri (Banks) is trying to seduce the guy she had a crush in high school. She seems to be having a hard time of it, and her friend Zack finds out why when he meets Miri’s crush’s date.

As most of you Twilight fans know, Summit Entertainment had a Twilight panel at this year’s San Diego Comic Con this weekend (see SDCC 08: Summit Entertainment’s ‘Twilight’). On the Con floor, there was also a Twilight booth, which had freebies, contests, and a chance to get your picture taken with cardboard cut-outs of the stars from the upcoming film.

It’s safe to say the Twilight booth was one of the more frequented ones at the Con. I mean, the whole place was a madhouse, but that booth did real well this weekend. I fought my way over to it to see what kind of swag I could get my hands on. I missed out on the t-shirts, but I did snag a small poster and trading card sample set for myself … and extra ones for you guys who didn’t get a chance to go to the Con.

I have five extra sets of the Twilight trading card samples. If you want a pack, then just leave a comment here telling me why you think the Twilight movie will be awesome. I’ll pick 5 winners from those who leave a comment on this entry and one person will also get one of the posters.

I’m a big fan of the original Friday The 13th movies — all 11 of them — and since I’m really not big on remakes, I really had NO interest in the Michael Bay-produced Platinum Dunes remake of the classic horror film.

But, Geeks of Doom’s own Movie God made me promise that I’d attend the Friday The 13th panel here at the San Diego Comic Con so I could report back to him about the film, and now I’m glad I did, because I got to see the teaser trailer and I’m definitely impressed.

The film’s producers, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form, appeared on the panel along with the film’s stars Jared Padalecki (Supernatural), Amanda Righetti (The OC), and as the masked killer Jason Voorhees, Derek Meers.

The producers said they were committed to making a new Friday The 13th movie that was based in reality and not in the supernatural. The franchise’s later sequels introduced supernatural elements to it, making Jason — who was actually a little boy who drowned while at sleepaway camp — an invincible super-powered being. The filmmakers wanted their Jason to be believable to today’s audiences.

One of the last panels of the San Diego Comic Con was the second DC Nation panel, One Weekend Later. DC Executive Editor Dan DiDio was promising a big announcement to do with Batman RIP at the end, so we all had to stick around — either at the panel or refreshing our web pages — to find out what it was.

And the big news that has everyone in a mild state of shock is that Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert are teaming up after Batman RIP, in January of next year, to write Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?

The book not only is a direct reference to the 1986 Superman story, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, written by Alan Moore and Curt Swann, but will also see the reuniting of the team who wrote Marvel 1602 for Marvel back in 2003.

One of the most anticipated panels of this year’s San Diego Comic Con was for the upcoming movie, Watchmen. Moderated by Jeff Jansen of Entertainment Weekly, the panel consisted of director Zack Snyder and Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons, as well as the cast from the movie.

The movie stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the Comedian, Billy Crudup as Dr. Manhattan, Malin Akerman as the Silk Spectre II and Carla Gugino as her predecessor, Matthew Goode as Ozymandias, Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach, and Patrick Wilson as Night Owl, all who joined Snyder and Gibbons on stage.

The atmosphere in Hall H was electric, with people cheering at the obvious respect that these people have for arguably one of the greatest novels and comics of all time. Their reverence and referencing the TPB as “a bible” was very reminiscent of the atmosphere on the set of Lord of the Rings, where the book was lore and everybody had at least one battered copy lying around to refer too.

Director Andy Fickman, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (who worked together on The Game Plan) and Carla Gugino from Disney’s upcoming Race to Witch Mountain sat down and answered a few questions (some appropriate, some not) yesterday about the movie for the San Diego Comic Con crowd.

Fickman — who was obviously thrilled to be part of a panel after 9 years of being a spectator — filled us in that it was sort of a re-imagining and not a sequel, although it does take place 30 years after the 1975 original film, Escape to Witch Mountain. Also, the actors who played the kids from the original movie — Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann — will play a large part in this movie.

Fickman also talked a bit about the upcoming film’s mythology.

Director Sam Raimi said that a fourth Evil Dead movie is in the works!

While speaking at the San Diego Comic-Con panel for his upcoming horror film, Drag Me To Hell, Raimi said that he’d love to do another Evil Dead film with actor Bruce Campbell and that he’d like to work on it with his brother Ivan Raimi starting next week.

“I love working with Bruce Campbell and he’s like Allison [Lohman, star of Raimi's Drag Me To Hell]. He’s super willing to do anything to make it right. He’s a very funny guy, but mostly he’s got this quality where he will physically do anything to get the shot done right, so I would love to work with Bruce again because I’d love to test those limits. I’d love to make another Evil Dead picture. And actually that’s in the wheelhouse. I’d like to work on it with my brother Ivan [Raimi] when he comes up next week.“

We lucky few (thousand) who made it into San Diego Comic Con’s Hall H this morning were treated to the first episode from the upcoming season three of Heroes. And Holy Hell, it was great! The episode is titled Second Coming and it definitely kicks off the new season with an entirely different tone from season two’s ambling disarray. The feel of the episode was dark, with nearly everyone of the heroes seeming to go against character and making some very questionable decisions.

Before I get into serious spoiler territory, I’ll say that although they brought out the entire ensemble cast, plus writer/creator Tim Kring, and co-producer Jeph Loeb, there was very little time for panel discussion and audience Q&A (for obvious reasons — they spent the time showing the entire episode!). But audience reaction the panel was immense, and especially towards Zachary Quinto, who plays Heroes villain Sylar.

Also, the Season 2 DVD, which will be released August 26th, will include some unaired episodes that didn’t make it on screen because of the writers’ strike.

Terminator Salvation director McG appeared on the panel for his upcoming Terminator film, which stars Christian Bale as the adult John Connor.

McG dove right into the main question on every Terminator fan’s mind: What will Terminator Salvation be rated? It’s been speculated that T4 would be rating PG-13, which met with disdain from fans of the franchise, considering the original film trilogy was R rated.

While McG is currently in New Mexico filming the fourth film, it’s not definite yet what the rating will be. But, the director did assure everyone that he’s been given the blessing from Warner Bros. to make an R-rated movie. This means that if when McG completes the movie and it ends up being an R-rated film, he has the go-ahead to release it that way without pressure to cut it down for PG-13.