Feature Details
San Diego Comic-Con 2008
Your one-stop spot for all the ComicMix coverage of the big show!
San Diego Comic-Con International is officially underway here in Southern California, and ComicMix is on location to bring you everything you need to know -- and some things you might not realize you needed to know -- about the people, places and geekery that make it one of the most feared anticipated events of the year for fans of comics and comics culture.
Be sure to bookmark this page and return for a running tally of our convention coverage, including all of the interviews, audio, video and photo galleries you enjoy here on ComicMix.
Want to meet some of the ComicMix team? Be sure to check out our Meet & Greet Schedule at the ComicMix/Insight Studios Table (Booth #2308). You can also follow all of our updates throughout the show on the official ComicMix Twitter Feed and ComicMix on Friendfeed.
News Articles Featured in San Diego Comic-Con 2008
Sat Jul 26, 2008 — by Van Jensen
SDCC: Playing 'DC Universe Online'
'Mortal Kombat vs. DCU' also previewed
A few lucky folks at Comic-Con have been able to test out the MMO DC Universe Online, and reports are starting to come in about the gameplay experience.
Over at Newsarama, the game gets a positive early review:
The character I was playing was called Rockslide, who had earth-based powers (similar to Terra from the Teen Titans), a staff and – my favorite part – super speed. The controls are similar to other Playstation games, where the buttons allow you to perform basic movies – two different attacks, jump and pick stuff up – while holding the R2 button and hitting the buttons lets you access your various super powers. I had a proximity attack that blew the earth out from under my enemies, I could fire boulders out of my staff and I could make crystals pop up out of the ground under my enemies, causing damage.
The coolest part, though, was when I hit the right joystick and turned on the Speed Force. Throwing rocks at my enemies and slamming them with my staff was cool and all, but you’d expect that in any superhero-based MMO. Having my character run through the streets of Metropolis at super speed, trailed by what looked like the Speed Force that all comic fans know from the comics? That’s the kind of detail this game needed to really set it apart. And from what I’ve seen so far, it has it in spades.
Meanwhile, Newsarama also reported extensively on the panel and preview for the upcoming Mortal Kombat vs. DCU game.
Superman battled Sub-Zero in a ruined Metropolis, slowing the icy warrior with his freeze breath. Batman battled Scorpion in hell, trading Batarangs and grappling spears. Catwoman used her agility to get in a few bloody scratches on Shang Tsung. Finally, the Flash darted around Soyna, leaving her spinning and dazed before running her off a cliff, the pair trading blows all the way down before the Flash got the upper hand and whipped his opponent into the ground, creating a small crater.
Sat Jul 26, 2008 — by Arthur Tebbel & Christopher Toia
SDCC: Stan Lee and Grant Morrison Panel
Comic legends take the stage for unique event
Thursday morning at San Diego Comic Con, the marquee comics panel was Virgin Comics' discussion featuring Stan Lee and Grant Morrison.
Before the discussion started, a brief video was screened showcasing Morrison's MBX, a new motion capture cartoon that retells an ancient Indian Myth.
"I think today there's an obsession with war," Morrison said, as he explained that although MBX is a 10,000 year old Indian Myth, it will function as a lens through which to explore many of today's pressing global issues.
The discussion was moderated by Sharad Devarajan, the CEO and publisher of Virgin Comics.
Morrison is known for being charismatic and engaging during discussions like this, but it was almost startling the degree to which Stan Lee's presence overshadowed Morrison's. Throughout the panel Morrison gave due deference to the gravity of Lee's body of work.
Sat Jul 26, 2008 — by Van Jensen
SDCC: The 'Watchmen' Panel
Batman asks a question
Friday's big event at Comic-Con was probably the Watchmen panel, which featured director Zack Snyder, Dave Gibbons and the main cast.
Snyder showed off a new, less-PG trailer, described at CBR:
The trailer opens with a shot of Rorschach, then cuts to a giant Dr Manhattan blasting apart Vietnamese soldiers. We then see Rorshach searching an apartment. His morphing mask gets a lot of play. We also see the Comedian's armor, a plain-clothes Night Owl collapsing in sorrow. And a flashback of the heroes in better days.Ozymandias's fortress rises from the desert, Night Owl and Silk Spectre kiss in front of a mushroom cloud, Time pieces feature heavily, we see the Owl Jet in flight, and the clip ends with the Comedian falling from a window, the bloodied Smiley falling after him.
During the Q&A, a familiar cowl-covered face showed up to ask Snyder's favorite character from Watchmen:
"That's a good question, Batman," he [Snyder] said. "That's not really a fair question, though"I like them all for different reasons." Fans booed. "Everybody likes Rorshach best, so that rules him out." Next up was Comedian, which he also skipped over. "The girls... awesome, but also a cop out," he continued. "Maybe I'll just stay with the girls; I like the girls best. Thank you, Batman."
Sat Jul 26, 2008 — by Van Jensen
SDCC: Rockne S. O'Bannon Writing 'Farscape' Series
Show's creator returns to script Boom comics
Back in June at Heroes Con, the joke was made that John Byrne would be working with Mark Waid and Boom! Studios on the upcoming Farscape comics series, which quickly was turned into a bona fide Internet rumor (whoops).
There's now a no-joke announcement on the Farscape writer, and -- surprise, surprise -- it's Rockne S. O'Bannon, who created the TV show. Much like Joss Whedon continuing on Buffy the Vampire Slayer after it's TV run ended, O'Bannon will pick up where the show left off.
From a release:
"This is a dream opportunity for me - to get to continue the Farscape saga," O'Bannon said. "The comic book series starts off directly where the PEACEKEEPER WARS mini-series left us. It's like we're finally getting to experience Season Five of Farscape. Not only that, but the stories in the ongoing comic series will completely tie into the upcoming Farscape webisodes. Farscape lives!"
"I can't tell you how incredibly excited I am that Rockne will be part of the comic-book team. I'm a fan, and he's one of the best writers around," said BOOM! Studios Editor-in-Chief Mark Waid. "I'm doubly pleased that both Rockne and The Jim Henson Company folks have responded to the idea of making this series a direct continuation of the FARSCAPE TV series rather than an out-of-continuity tie-in. For fans of FARSCAPE, and with the show's creator involved, the comic series will fill that outer-space-sized void the show once occupied. In short, it's going to be frelling awesome!"
For a YouTube video interview with O'Bannon, check the jump.
Continue reading SDCC: Rockne S. O'Bannon Writing 'Farscape' Series ›
Sat Jul 26, 2008 — by Rick Marshall
SDCC Interview: Joss Whedon on "Shepherd's Tale," "Buffy: Season Eight" and "Angel: After the Fall"
Fan-favorite creator Joss Whedon is just about everywhere this weekend at San Diego Comic-Con, promoting his groundbreaking Internet series Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog [here's my recent interview with Joss Whedon on Doctor Horrible] as well as his work on various comic book spin-offs from his popular TV series Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, among other television and film projects.
I had a chance to sit down with Whedon recently to discuss The Shepherd's Tale, his upcoming miniseries featuring the enigmatic Derrial "Shepherd" Book, a character from Firefly whose origins remain one of the series most popular unresolved threads. We also spent some time chatting about the current comics based upon Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as his thoughts on bringing characters back from the dead.
COMICMIX: With The Shepherd's Tale, why is Shepherd Book the first character from Firefly to get a solo story?
JOSS WHEDON: I've done a breakdown of the story. I think Jim Krueger is going to write the actual script. The biggest mystery of what we never got to tell is Shepherd's backstory. Everybody knew there was something more than just being Shepherd in there. And poor Ron [Glass] came to me during the strike and said, "I'm going to another convention. You've got to give me something." It's been a number of years and they always ask [about Shepherd]. I said, "You know what, it has been long enough and this isn't something I'm going to save for the sequel that may never happen, so we'll make a comic book out of it."
Because it's an interesting story, really. It's the single most-asked question: "What's up with Book?" And now we're going to answer that.
CMIX: Have you considered doing spin-offs for any of the other Serenity characters?
JW: I'm spending a lot of time with the Buffy comic and that series just lends itself to the medium very well. The Serenity comics are a bit harder to pull together, so I haven't focused on them as much.
Sat Jul 26, 2008 — by Glenn Hauman
Overheard at San Diego 2008, part 3: Warlord, Milestone, and S&M
Look, I'm not all that inconspicuous-- I'm 6'6 with bushy hair and a ComicMix t-shirt. If you keep saying interesting things within earshot of me, it's not my fault. (Okay, I have lots of spies and moles out there too, but that's still no excuse.) So if you're a famous comics writer who's looking to hire a dominatrix while you're in town, just use Google like the rest of us, okay?
First, the things where I'm completely removing the sources except that I heard them at the Manchester Hyatt, but expect to hear them confirmed at DC Nation panels before the weekend is through:
- Mike Grell (Jon Sable Freelance) will be returning to his most famous creation at DC, The Warlord, in time for the character's 35th anniversary. This from a Mike Grell panel on Friday from Mike Gold, who commented, "I haven't worked for DC for years, what are they going to do to me for telling?"
- Milestone is coming back, and will be (pardon the choice of words) integrated into the mainstream DC universe. How they'll do this exactly is unclear, and we won't commit potential spoilers by speculating... but there are a couple of ways they could do so.
And with those out of the way, back to the other tidbits overheard...
Continue reading Overheard at San Diego 2008, part 3: Warlord, Milestone, and S&M ›
Fri Jul 25, 2008 — by Van Jensen
SDCC: 'The Brave and the Bold' Trailer
Warner Bros. previews animated show
Warner Bros. wasn't all about Watchmen at San Diego on Friday. They also showed off the trailer to the upcoming The Brave and the Bold animated series.
It's a pretty funky cartoon, from appearances, with a score that harks back to the Adam West days. Watch it below.
Fri Jul 25, 2008 — by Chris Ullrich
SDCC Interview: Jamie Chung Talks 'Samurai Girl'
The former 'Real World' star talks about her latest sword fighting adventure
In a few short years actress Jamie Chung has began to establish herself as one of the most sought-after young actresses working in Hollywood. From her first apperance as a cast member of MTV's Real World San Diego through appearances on Days of Our Lives, Veronica Mars and CSI: New York, Jamie's career continues to advance into bigger and more challenging roles.
More recently, Jamie is co-starring as Chi Chi in the Dragonball feature film based on the hugely popular media franchise and will be starring in ABC Family's mini-series Samurai Girl, which debuts in September, as the title character Heaven. We caught up with Jamie recently at the San Diego Comic-Con to talk with her a bit about Samurai Girl, her character and how she feels naked without a sword.
COMICMIX: Hi Jamie, thanks for talking to us.
JAMIE CHUNG: Sure, my pleasure.
CMix: So, tell us a bit about your character in Samuari Girl.
JC: Sure. She's a 19 year old girl named Heaven who's adopted by one of the wealthiest families in Japan. During some tragic events she ends up finding out her family is influenced by the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia.
In an effort to find out how involved her family is with the mafia, she also discovers that she's a part of some ancient prophecy which leads her to question who she really is and makes her go a journey of self-discovery to find out the truth about herself and where she comes from.
Continue reading SDCC Interview: Jamie Chung Talks 'Samurai Girl' ›
Fri Jul 25, 2008 — by Van Jensen
Image Founders 'United' for Comic Series
New partner Robert Kirkman will write 'Image United'
It's been a big week for Image, which started early on Comic-Con with the revelation that Robert Kirkman is joining the publisher as a partner.
Friday brought word that all the Image founders (minus Jim Lee) will be joining together on a six-issue miniseries called Image United. They'll be providing art, while the story comes from Kirkman.
The artists are: Erik Larsen, Rob Liefeld, Todd MacFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Jim Valentino and Marc Silvestri.
Comic Book Resources caught up with Kirkman, who explained a bit about the project (which scores an amazing 100 on the Probable-Delayometer):
It'll be a six-issue series. It's not going to focus on individual characters in the issues. It's going to be an all-encompassing, grand, epic crossover featuring all the characters together - intermingling and working together and fighting together. It's going to have the unprecedented art team of all the Image founders minus Jim Lee, and it's going to have every creator drawing their own characters, so it's going to be a hodge podge of different art on every page where all of the Savage Dragon figures are going to be drawn by Erik Larsen and all of the Youngblood characters are going to be drawn by Rob Liefeld. Every time Spawn appears, he'll be drawn by Todd McFarlane and so on and so on. It's going to be a unique reading experience, and we're very excited about that.
Fri Jul 25, 2008 — by Mike Raub
ComicMix Radio: Kevin Smith And The Greatest American Hero
Episode #236: And who was that lady we saw at Comic Con?
As things heat up at Comic Con '08, The Big Announcements come fast and furious. We don't just report them, we let you share the exact moment in time when they happen, like:
* Kevin Smith wowing the DC Nation with news on his Batman project
* William Katt bringing The Greatest American Hero back into comics
* Mortal Kombat Vs DC - just who are the players?
And yes, that was comedian Margaret Cho seen on the con floor? Yes, and she's joins us here, too so Press The Button
And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via 
or RSS!
Fri Jul 25, 2008 — by Arthur Tebbel & Christopher Toia
ComicMix Six: Six Groups of People to Kick Out of San Diego Comic-Con
... and stay out!
[EDITOR'S NOTE: As San Diego Comic-Con gets crazier and crazier, so does the mood of some of our ComicMix contributors. Case in point, the following ComicMix Six list that appeared in the queue earlier today from contributor Arthur Tebbel, who I've only managed to glimpse as he sprints from one panel to the next throughout the weekend. Here, Arthur offers up his thoughts on the six groups that he could do without at this year's Comic-Con. -RM]
THE SECURITY STAFF: The assembled masses at any comic book convention are probably too meek to takeover a Starbucks, so why do we need what appears to be thousands of volunteer security guards to give us conflicting information and, most importantly, prevent me from being where I need to be to do my job. If these guys got drunk on as little liquor as they do power they would be in the emergency room after two beers.
STORMTROOPERS: Thank God we aren’t trying to run a Death Star, because we would be dramatically overstaffed. How did we get to the point where people go through all this trouble to express themselves in exactly the same way as everyone else? We respect the effort but… no, actually we don’t respect the effort. Try harder.
PEOPLE WHO BRING BABIES TO A PANEL DISCUSSION: Your baby won’t appreciate the discussion and, thanks to them, now I won’t either. Hire a babysitter; the convention will even look after your kid for you. If your child is too precious to part with for even an hour, go to the park instead.
PEOPLE WHO START THEIR PANEL QUESTIONS WITH "I DON'T READ/WATCH [PANEL TOPIC], BUT...": These questions are always embarrassingly bad. What happened? Do you have some compulsion that makes you go up to any open microphone? Next year, we will most certainly go to a Battlestar Galactica panel and ask, “I don’t watch Battlestar Galactica but why aren’t there more tits in it?”
JESUS FREAKS: Okay, these guys weren’t in the convention exactly -- but I could really do without people telling me how much I’m going to hell for my choice in media. Furthermore, this inspires legions of fanboys to trot out the same tired comebacks about how much they worship Satan or some such. No you don’t, Hell doesn’t have a basement you could live in.
ABOUT 20% OF THE ATTENDEES: Sometime before the show begins they need to assemble all of the con-goers for that day and someone (we’ll volunteer, in fact) will walk through the crowd and eliminate 20 percent of the people. These people will have their money cheerfully refunded and they can try again next year. Next, we’ll do this for the exhibitors.
Want more ComicMix Six? Check out the ComicMix Six Archive for previous editions of CM6.
Fri Jul 25, 2008 — by Rick Marshall
SDCC Interview: Rick Geary on "Blanche" and Dark Horse Comics Collection
From New York to Paris and everywhere between...
Among the many projects on Dark Horse Comics' long list of San Diego Comic-Con announcements this year is an upcoming collection of the well-received Blanche stories created by well-known Gumby and Classics Illustrated artist Rick Geary.
Originally published in 1992 by Dark Horse, Geary's Blanche Goes to New York first introduced readers to Blanche Womack, the character whose adventures would pair Geary's already highly regarded and artistic talents with original stories of his own plotting. Only three Blanche stories saw print in the decade that followed, with the last -- Blanche Goes to Paris -- released in 2001 by Headless Shakespeare Press.
The hardcover collection of Blanche stories published by Dark Horse will feature an all-new introductory comic by Geary, as well as the previously published trio of Blanche Goes to New York, Blanche Goes to Hollywood and Blanche Goes to Paris. The project is currently scheduled for an early-2009 release.
I recently had the opportunity to ask Geary about Blanche, the series' place in his greater body of work and what's next for his favorite heroine.
COMICMIX: For readers who might not be familiar with Blanche, can you provide a little background on the character and her adventures?
RICK GEARY: Blanche is a young woman from a small town in Kansas who tours the world as a concert pianist during the early decades of the 20th century.
In the first story she goes to New York (in 1907, as a piano student in Greenwich Village), in the second to Hollywood (in 1915, as the musical director for a film studio) and the third to Paris (in 1921, as the director of an avant garde musical production).
In the stories, she deals with various intrigues and challenges, some of a supernatural origin, and interacts with historical figures like D.W. Griffith, Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway. The character of Blanche is based ever so loosely on my grandmother, who taught piano in her small Kansas town and, as a young woman, studied in New York. From these facts I let my imagination fabricate her outlandish adventures.
Continue reading SDCC Interview: Rick Geary on "Blanche" and Dark Horse Comics Collection ›
Fri Jul 25, 2008 — by Glenn Hauman
Overheard at San Diego 2008, part 2
Rumors, chatter, and the real low-down
Continuing our shameless eavesdropping, ComicMix presents the stuff that you missed while you were trying to get into the party last night...
"Alfred is the new Batman."
—overheard at the DC Nation panel
"Steven Moffat and Neil Gaiman are 'going on a date'."
—from somewhere around Hall H, further speculation that Neil may write an episode of Doctor Who
"What happened to me? What happened to my life? I used to have a career..."
—artist who was real big in the 90's
"I've only heard blissful things this year. Everything is going fine."
—Bill Willingham
Fri Jul 25, 2008 — by Van Jensen
SDCC: Fox's Special 'Wolverine' Surprise
Hugh Jackman invades Comic-Con
Fans already had seen quite a lot at Twentieth Century Fox's Comic-Con panel -- getting early peeks and cast Q&As from The Day the Earth Stood Still and Max Payne -- when they got quite a surprise from a man with wicked sideburns.
Fresh off a plane from Australia, Hugh Jackman snuck in to announce that shooting had just wrapped on X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and to unveil a clip from the movie. Newsarama has the details, including the big reveal that Gambit will show up in the film.
“I’ve been waiting to bring Wolverine to Comic-Con for years,” Jackman said. “I owe you guys my career.” He pointed out that the three X-Men movies never did huge presentations at SDCC for one reason or another and said there was no way he would miss it this time around.
Jackman then earned huge points with the gathering by not only lavishing praise on Wolverine co-creator Len Wein, and then ran offstage to shake Wein’s hand, who was sitting up front. Is it any wonder fanboys love this guy?
Jackman told Wein “thank you for creating this character. It made my career,” he said.
The Aussie actor talked about the film being action-packed and bad ass, and said to expect ‘lots of berserker rage in this one.’
Fri Jul 25, 2008 — by Van Jensen
SDCC: Stephen King and Marvel Make Video Comics
King's unpublished story 'N' gets animated
Hot on the heels of announcements of the pseudo-animated versions of DC's Watchmen and Image's Invincible, the Wall Street Journal breaks early word that Marvel will join that game with an adaptation of an unpublished Stephen King short story.
Marvel's announcement probably will come today. The story, N, will be available in 25 installments starting next week, available for download on iTunes, Amazon and elsewhere.
It's sort of a tie-in promotion for King's new book of stories, including N, from publisher Scribner. And no one's sure what to expect:
For Scribner, the venture is a shot in the dark. There's no way of forecasting how well the videos will translate into book sales. While Scribner's corporate sibling, CBS Mobile, cites Nielsen data showing that roughly 14 million cellphone users in the U.S. pay for video services, it doesn't know how many of those people are regular book buyers. However, the links from the videos to the NisHere.com pre-ordering Web site will allow Scribner to get a sense of how many sales result from video viewings.
Mr. King is optimistic about the video's prospects. "I think they're readers," he says of likely video viewers. But he admits that the venture is "something of a test" whose outcome isn't certain.
