And then you get home...

After Comic-Con it takes a little time to readjust to the real world, where people aren't lining up outside Hall H for this panel, or just inside Hall E for this booth... and just when you think Comic-Con had faded from your system, and you've returned to regular every day living, someone (your dentist for instance) will suddenly ask "Did I see you on G4? In the background? They had some great coverage from Comic Con!"

No, sorry, that wasn't me walking by the G4 booth during one of their live from the exhibit hall floor segments Mr. Dentist, but I did see them hard at work shooting the event!

The Comic-Con I Went To vs. The Comic-Con You Went To vs. The One I Heard About...

This first time someone commented to me on the three Comic Con's that happen in San Diego each summer I was beyond baffled. Then they explained, there's the Comic Con "I Went To" the Comic Con "You Went To" and told me about afterwards, and then there's the Comic Con "I heard about" or "Read about online." And I realized they were exactly right!

I can spend 4.5 days at the same convention as someone else, and yet never see them, or any of the things they saw! Afterwards when we talk about the convention, I can be gushing about how AWESOME the cast of Psych was during their panel, how impressed I was by the cast of White Collar, or how totally blown away I was by the kindness and down-to-earth nature of several of the people in Artists Alley and the Autograph Area, and yet be clueless when they say "but you saw Thor's chair, right?" (Okay, I admit, when they got more specific I knew what they'd meant! And yes, I had walked by it. :) )

Then I get home, start surfing the web, and find out about the dozens of panels that were going on simultaneously with the ones I was able to get a seat in.

In years past it was fans writing about the sessions, then more and more mainstream media started covering the event, reporting on panels, and getting interviews with the talent from the various avenues of popular culture (musicians and actors show up as well as artists for comic books, and voice talent that brings another dimension to those works that make it to an animated forms.)

Now I can even see highlights from the panels, as if I were there, in some cases the entire panel!

More and more the gap between the Comic-Con "I went to" and the Comic-Con "I heard about" seems to be narrowing!

Check out these links for a glimpse of what I'm talking about.

NBC Comic-Con Video (panels from 2009 and 2010 available!)
The CW at Comic-Con 2010

Sitting in a crowded panel room...

There are times, when I'm sitting inside a crowded panel room, or out under one of the tents set up to try and provide a little much-needed shade to the ever growing line for Ballroom 20, that I find it almost impossible to believe in just a few short days, not only will Comic Con be fading to a memory, but I'll be surrounded by wide open spaces.

Kids of all ages...

Kids of all ages lined up for a chance to have their picture taken with the power rangers.

It was actually a rare moment when I found the Rangers without a fan in their midst.

There was a time...

There was a time, probably last century, when you could grab a bite to eat, easily find a chair, and relax for a while, looking out over the entire exhibit hall.  Those days have come and gone.  Now you can still grab that bite to eat (though it costs more than it did), and if you are patient and lucky find a chair to relax in and rest your con-exhausted feet while you eat and glance out over a small fraction of the exhibit hall floor.

Comic-Con is still a Comic Book Convention, at heart, as it has always been, and likely always will be, but now, there are more panels for television shows and movies than there were twenty years ago, and more booths selling too wide a variety of things to even begin to try and list, and yet, that seems to be part of it's strength -- at Comic-Con, time and again, I've found, there's something for everyone.

Standing in line at a booth for an autographed novel, the lady behind me said the free books were not simply awesome because they fed her love of finding new authors, and her addiction to reading, but because her community had a collection of books to send on to servicemen in the war zone, and that's where her books went as soon as she was done reading them.

Everyone saw that...

When it is all said and done, and everyone leaves San Diego, perhaps the one sight everyone can agree they saw, is the banners lined up between the escalators... there's something not just memorable, but awesome about seeing this sight each year.

Fireworks ?

As if Comic-Con didn't already feel like an overload for the senses... from our hotel room we caught fireworks over the convention center!  May not be an every year occurrence, or a Comic-Con related one even... but there's something about the drama, the beauty, and the flash of fireworks that seemed to fit with the experience.

Shawn / Gus Wedding Toast Fun

Not to be out done, James Roday has an idea how Shawn would toast Gus and his new bride.

Psych!

The Psych cast members have come to Comic Con several times now... and each time they seem to make a point of setting the bar high for their appearances!

They make an entrance as they come out on stage, and keep the energy and fun rolling throughout the panel, to the point the room was so energized and happy when they left that it was hours afterwards I realized I was never aware of them selecting audience member names to be used in future episodes - a bit of fun they tried out for the first time at last year's Comic Con.

The crowd was busy afterward talking about Corbin's pineapple -- and his taking a picture to show his family he had not sat home all alone while they were away.  (And heading over to the fulfillment room at the Marriott for a Psych t-shirt.)

Gus's Best Man Toast

If/when Shawn gets married, what would Gus offer up as a Best Man's toast? Dule Hill takes a moment to speculate for the crowd atComic Con in San Diego.

Willie Garson...

While Willie Garson might have had notes to make certain he covered specific points -- and introduced each of his fellow cast mates at the White Collar panel he moderated, the man quickly proved he did not require a script to entertain the gathered fans!

This is a cast that has clearly come together as a group of friends -- to the point I couldn't help but wonder as we watched a video they made for the panel, in which they were on the set of White Collar, discussing costumes they could wear at Comic Con if the actor's themselves had suggested the video, and perhaps done a tiny bit of ad libbing!

Tim Dekay and Tiffani Thiessen play husband and wife on White Collar, and during the panel mentioned that they are each married in real life, and loved the chemistry and strength of the relationship between their characters on screen... the marriage felt real to them.  It was a solid, though not perfect relationship, and something they have enjoyed bringing to the screen.

The cast shared stories about what it is like to film in New York City -- complete with Willie Garson relating the tale of tourist busses driving by, and his being able to hear the tour guide detail the nearby sites, including Willie standing in the median (trying to shoot a scene) by the sounds of it, Willie felt like a statue on display for the good tourists that day.

While there must be a thousand and one decisions to be made with bringing cast members to a panel at Comic Con, one of the interesting decisions is inevitably "bring the entire cast, or just the key players?" (And what if one of the key players has a conflict and can't make it?)

White Collar chose to bring the entire cast, and it was a true delight to watch this "gang" interact.  Poking fun at one another, sharing jokes, and fun experiences from the set -- giving the attendees a chance to glimpse the inside jokes and apparently true behind the scenes fun.

I don't attend Comic Con panels on television shows with expectations that the coming scenes major plot twists will be spoiled for me, and feel almost anti-climactic by the time I see them... but finding out that a props man accidentally served real alcohol during a scene that had to be shot several times, and the actors were a tad tipsy when they realized this was a slightly more than minor Oops???  That's entertainment!

Bruce Campbell and Tim Matheson

Whether or not you were a Burn Notice fan walking in to the room to hear about the USA summer show, Bruce Campbell, Tim Matheson and the rest of the panel filled the room with laughter and charm, leaving folks who admitted they had stayed after a previous panel out of curiosity, or come in early to make certain they had a seat for a later panel admitting this was a show they just might have to check out.

How much did I promise to pay you if you'd say something nice about me???

Tron at Comic Con

The TRON app will update with additional games, video, music and more as the December launch of the film - TRON: Legacy - draws near With "ComiTRON" in full swing at the San Diego Comic-Con International Convention, Disney Interactive Media Group's newly launched TRON app (http://www.itunes.com/app/tron) for the iPhone(r) and iPod(r) touch is a must-have for attendees. By downloading the TRON app, attendees can "Enter the Grid" by checking in at the show via the phone's GPS system, which also updates the user's Facebook status. Starting today, anyone who has checked in at ComiTRON (located on aisle #3712) and opens us the app will receive an exclusive "golden ticket" to the Studio's offsite ComiTRON event, revealing information about the event's location and timing.

The TRON app is free to download and fans can immediately play an all-new version of the classic Tanks game from the Tron Arcade, view a trailer of TRON: Legacy and receive pre-sale order information for the TRON Evolution video game from Disney Interactive Studios. The app will also update as the premiere of the TRON: Legacy film in December draws closer and include additional video, music, and free and premium games.

For more information and to download the TRON app, please visit:
http://www.itunes.com/app/tron

The Calm Before The Storm

Each year, San Diego somehow manages to take hold of the mass of pop-culture fans who descend for the annual Comic Con.  It is an amazing sight to behold, Tuesday the streets are calm -- there are large expanses of empty space, and somehow, Wednesday afternoon, the space just seems to absorb the many who come in search of that something they can find no where else.

Photo By Rich Schmelter

One day there's open, empty park space....

The next?

The people, and the hollywood props, begin to arrive.  (And yes, I do believe those folks are IN A LINE for something Comic Con related.)



Warner Bros. Television Group (WBTVG) and TV Guide Magazine have cooked up something special for fans at this year’s Comic-Con: a special edition of the magazine devoted solely to programming from the Studio, with four collectible covers featuring the hit television series “The Big Bang Theory,” “Fringe,” “Smallville” and “The Vampire Diaries.”

WBTVG will distribute copies of the magazine throughout the five days of Comic-Con (including Preview Night) exclusively at the Warner Bros. booth, #4545, on the convention floor. The special issue will then go on sale nationally to the public on newsstands beginning Monday, July 26.

In addition to the four collectible covers and features on those series, the 88-page special issue is stuffed with sections about the following programs:

Warner Bros. Television’s (WBTV) continuing series “Chuck,” “Human Target,” “Supernatural” and “V,” WBTV’s new action hour “Nikita” and HBO’s “True Blood”

Making a second appearance at Comic Con - Spartacus!

 
Friday, July 23

3:15-4:15 Spartacus: Blood and Sand— Andy Whitfield (McLeod's Daughters) makes his Comic-Con debut, along with Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess), John Hannah (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor), and Viva Bianca (Bad Bush). Executive producer Stephen S. DeKnight (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) joins the cast to discuss the upcoming prequel, titled Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, expected to air on Starz in January 2011, and the exclusive content found on the first season Blu-ray discs, available September 21. Room 6BCF

Comic Con fans continue to love the work of Firefly alums...

Friday, July 23

1:00-2:00 Super— Writer/director James Gunn (Slither), stars Rainn Wilson (The Office), Liv Tyler (Lord of the Rings), Nathan Fillion (Firefly), and Michael Rooker (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer), and producers Ted Hope (Adventureland) and Miranda Bailey (The Squid and the Whale) reveal footage from their latest feature production Super, including the first peek at Rainn and Ellen Page's costume design. Super is a hyper-real and shockingly funny look at the extremely violent antics of a down-on-his-luck man as he attempts to win his wife back from a glamorous drug dealer by teaming up with a psychopathic teen to become costumed crimefighters. Hall H

2:15-3:15 The Cape: Sneak Peek and Panel Discussion— One man can make a difference...When Vince Faraday, an honest cop on a corrupt police force, is framed for murder and presumed killed, he assumes the identity of his son's favorite comic book superhero -- The Cape -- to reclaim his name, family, and his city from the ruthless ARK Corporation and the masked villain known as Chess. Join the cast and creators including David Lyons (ER), Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles), Dorian Missick (Six Degrees), James Frain (True Blood), Keith David (Gamer), Vinnie Jones (X-Men: Last Stand), Martin Klebba (Pirates of the Caribbean), composer Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica), creator/executive producer Thomas Wheeler (Empire), and
showrunner/executive producer John Wirth (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) for this sneak peek at the pilot episode and panel discussion. A limited collector edition of The Cape comic book, with a cover by superstar artist John Cassady (Astonishing X-Men), will be given away at the panel. Room 6A

Saturday, July 24

2:30-3:15 V Screening and Q&A— The cast and creative team behind this thrilling drama series about the world's first alien encounter make their return to Comic-Con. Actors Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost), Morris Chestnut (Boyz n the Hood), Joel Gretsch (The 4400), Logan Huffman (America), Laura Vandervoort (Smallville), Charles Mesure (Xena: Warrior Princess), Morena Baccarin (Firefly), and Scott Wolf (Go) join executive producers Scott Rosenbaum (Chuck, The Shield) and Steve Pearlman (Related) for a Q&A session with fans and to screen a special highlight reel from the show's first season. From HDFilms in association with Warner Bros. Television, V will
return midseason on ABC, and V: The Complete First Season will be released on Blu-ray and DVD this fall. Ballroom 20

Sunday, July 25

10:30-11:30 ABC's Castle: Nathan Fillion & Stana Katic— Up close and personal with actors Nathan Fillion (Firefly) and Stana Katic (Quantum of Solace), creator Andrew Marlowe (Air Force One), and executive producers Rob Bowman (X-Files) and Laurie Zaks. BE sure to be on hand for the Q&A session, filled with exclusive videos and fun surprises. Whether you're a fan of the show or a fan of Nathan Fillion, you won't want to miss this panel! The panel will
feature stars Nathan Fillion (Richard Castle), Stana Katic (Detective Kate Beckett), Tamala Jones (Medical Examiner Lanie Parish), Jon Huertas (NYPD Detective Javier Esposito), Seamus Dever (NYPD Detective Kevin Ryan), Molly Quinn (Alexis Castle) and Susan Sullivan (Martha Rodgers); plus executive producers Andrew Marlowe, Rob Bowman and Laurie Zaks. Room 6BCF