The Short Version: A Final Comic-Con Countdown

Man, this has been one of those weeks where I've basically been counting down to the weekend since Monday morning. I'm still recovering from Comic-Con, and look forward to relaxing, catching up on sleep, and basically getting my life back in order following last week's San Diego adventure.

But, I still want to get down some final thoughts on Comic-Con, so this post will be a couple of quick lists recapping some of the coolest stuff I saw (or missed out on) at the show. I know, I know ... my last post was super-long. But hey, was there a better convention write-up anywhere else on the interwebs? There was not, says I.

Also, can I just say how strange of a summer movie season this has been / will be? For the first time that I can think of, there's the chance that August might just be the best month of the summer for great movies. I mean, in the next couple of weeks alone we've got Judd Apatow's FUNNY PEOPLE, the latest from the director of Oldboy - a crazy vampire thriller called THIRST, a sci-fi flick that might just be *the* event movie of the summer in DISTRICT 9, and also, a brand new Tarantino movie, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS. Oh yeah, there's also GI JOE which is supposed to be goofy fun, and hey, I've always liked Stephen Sommers as a director of over-the-top action movies - plus, it has Ray Park as Snake Eyes and Sienna Miller as Baroness. That's not bad, right there. Finally, there's PONYO, the latest from animation master Miyazaki. Not too shabby, eh?

But yeah, it's funny because while I've been looking forward to Basterds for a looong time now, District 9 kind of came in under most people's radars, I think. But thanks to great trailers, cool viral marketing, and now, a wave of glowing reviews, I think this one could just be THE movie to watch. Consider me officially psyched.

Anyways ...

Here are some of the highlights and lowlights from Comic-Con, now in list form.

TOP MOVIE & TV SHOW FOOTAGE SEEN AT COMIC-CON:

1. Avatar
2. Iron Man 2
3. Solomon Kane
4. The Prisoner (TV)
5. Tie: Zombieland and The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

TOP MOVIE & TV SHOW FOOTAGE I WISH I HAD SEEN:

1. Tron Legacy
2. Kickass
3. 24 - Season 8
4. Jonah Hex
5. Fringe - Season 2

BIGGEST COSTUMES / TRENDS AT THE CONVENTION THIS YEAR:

1. Blackest Night T-shirts
2. Watchmen characters
3. The Joker + Harley Quinn
4. Flynn's Arcade T-shirts
5. People with signs that said "Free Hugs"

COOLEST MARKETING STUNTS (That I Got to Go To):

1. Syfy's Cafe Diem
2. The True Blood-themed vampire bar
3. The Heroes-themed carnival

COOLEST MARKETING STUNTS (That I Missed Out On):

1. Flynn's Arcade

RANDOM CELEBS WE SAW IN SAN DIEGO (aka not as part of a panel):

1. Kevin Sorbo at the MGM party
2. Rob Van Dam and Shane Helms eating dinner next to us
3. Adam Baldwin walking to his car

MOVIES THAT NOW HAVE THE BIGGEST HYPE COMING OUT OF SAN DIEGO:

1. Avatar
2. Iron Man 2
3. Tron 2
4. Kickass
5. Twilight: New Moon
6. District 9
7. Alice In Wonderland
8. Solomon Kane
9. Jonah Hex
10. Tie: Zombieland / 2012

NEW TV SHOWS WITH THE BIGGEST HYPE COMING OUT OF SAN DIEGO:

1. V
2. The Prisoner
3. Flash Forward
4. Human Target
5. Stargate Universe

RETURNING TV SHOWS WITH THE MOST HYPE:

1. Lost
2. Dollhouse
3. Smallville
4. 24
5. Heroes

MOST BUZZED-ABOUT ON THE SHOW FLOOR:

1. The Avatar Footage
2. The Iron Man 2 Trailer
3. Twilight-mania: good or bad for Comic-Con?
4. Tron 2 footage / Flynn's Arcade
5. Blackest Night
6. Upcoming DC and Marvel movies - Green Lantern, Flash, Thor, Avengers, etc.
7. Kickass footage
8. Futurama - voice actors still not signed
9. Will Tom Welling wear the Superman suit on Smallville?
10. Lack of organization / long lines / too hot / etc.

OTHER SHOUT-OUTS:

1. The Suicide Girls
2. The Whip-It Derby Dolls
3. Catwoman at Sony's DC Universe online booth
4. The original Tron light-suit at Disney booth
5. The V recruitment center
6. Syfy's Cafe Diem, it's uber-friendly wait-staff, and its late-night eats
7. The Heroes carnival
8. Free comics at DC Comics booth
9. Kevin Smith for being hilarious (intentionally)
10. Roland Emmerich for being hilarious (unintentionally)

THINGS I WISH I HAD SEEN:

1. Jeffster play at the Chuck panel
2. The Mighty Boosh
3. Anna Torv, John Noble, etc. at the Fringe panel
4. Jack Bauer / new 24 footage
5. Peter Jackson and James Cameron discussing the future of movies at their panel

THE KINGS AND QUEENS OF COMIC-CON:

1. Robert Downey Jr.
2. Jon Favreau
3. James Cameron
4. Sigourney Weaver
5. Kevin Smith
6. The cast of Twilight
7. The cast of Lost
8. Johnny Depp
9. Megan Fox
10. Scarlett Johansson
11. Joss Whedon
12. Stan Lee
13. Geoff Johns
14. Robert Kirkman
15. Ray Bradbury
16. Jim Lee
17. The cast of Chuck
18. Peter Jackson
19. Cameron Diaz
20. Hayao Miyazaki
21. Matthew Vaughan
22. Damon Lindeloff and Carlton Cuse
23. Joe Quesada and Dan Didio
24. Gerard Way
25. Felicia Day

And on that note ... it's the weekend, baby. Goodnight, Irene!