Comic-Con Preview '08 - The Truth Is Out There!

What a week it's been already - I still don't think I've really recovered from Saturday's Dark Knight odyssey (check back-posts of my blog for the whole story), and things at work have been pretty crazy to boot. But no rest for the weary - tomorrow morning I'm bound for San Diego, where it will be four straight days of freaks, geeks, and general insanity, as I make my second annual trek to Comic-Con.

Oh, I also saw Tori Spelling at work today.

Oddly, that sentance seemed to fit in with this post's overall theme more than I thought it would ... But yeah, in all of my recent rush to post about E3 and all things Dark Knight, I've barely gotten a chance to get the hype train rolling for Comic-Con. If it's anything like last year's adventure, it's going to be crazy. Although, already I think the crew and I have planned a bit better this time around. We've mapped out a game plan, got our passes way in advance, reserved lodgings very close to the convention center, and secured invites to more than one swanky Comic-Con shindig.

As far as panels go, there's so much going on at any given moment that you'd have to have about 10 body doubles to see it all. Personally, my #1 must-see panel going in is the Warner Brothers WATCHMEN event, scheduled to take place Friday afternoon. That first trailer has me extremely pumped for more Watchmen, and if any single panel has the potential to rival the awesomeness of last year's Marvel movie panel (where the now-famous Iron Man trailer was first unveiled), this is it. I also can't wait to check out the TWENTY FOUR (24) panel. Apparently, Kiefer, TONY ALMEDA, and the rest of the cast and crew will be on hand to talk up the upcoming seventh season and its prequel TV movie. I can't wait to get an early glimpse of Jack Bauer kicking-ass-with-gravitas one mo' time. Immediately following that one there's also a PRISON BREAK panel, at which I predict William Fichtner may get a lot of love for his awesomeness in Dark Knight.

As a quick plug, NBC Universal is going to really have a great presence at the show. There's going to be a bigtime HEROES panel, featuring an early look at Season 3. Also, fans in attendance will have the chance to enter to win a special-edition Zune portable music/video player, which is specially-engraved with the Heroes logo. Pretty sweet, eh? There's going to be a CHUCK panel, which I'm sure will be lots of fun, and then an OFFICE panel, which will see Rainn Wilson moderating a group of the show's writers / cast members. Most definitely will bring the funny. We're also doing panels for new shows like KINGS, KNIGHT RIDER, and SciFi's SANCTUARY (SciFi will also host panels for Battlestar and Eureka) - so check 'em out.

But hey, this is Comic-Con, and the heart and soul of the show will always be the comics, no matter how much Hollywood likes to use the show to establish its geek cred. Can't wait to get my fix of DC panel-age, and get the latest scoops on what's cooking with Superman, Batman, Final Crisis, etc, and get the first word on upcoming and as-of-yet unannounced projects. And nothing beats roaming the show floor and seeing all the great artists sketching and chatting up the fans. That's what's great about Comic-Con - sure, it's cool that Hollywood celebs are in the house, but this is a house that was built by Stan Lee, Jim Lee, Frank Miller, Geoff Johns, and all the other comic book greats past and present.

And hey, who can forget all the great photo ops? You can be sure I'll be having my picture taken with everyone from Supergirl to Zatanna. Check out my Facebook or MySpace page soon - 'nuff said!

Can't forget the presence that the likes of Sony, Microsoft, Capcom, and Konami will have at the show either -- can't wait to check out huge games on the show floor like DC Universe Online, Little Big Planet, and Street Fighter IV. Shoryuken.

And don't worry - we'll be cruising around Sand Diego in style, hitting up some big parties and events, and making sure to rendezevous with Aksel, Jules, and tons of other special guest stars who will be there for the festivities. It will be great to just soak in that atmosphere that made the show so much fun last year - everyone is so friendly, so talkative, so eager to be around their fellow fanboys - it really is a geektopia of sorts. Better make sure to keep my business cards handy.

And finally - this weekend gives us another HUGE summer movie in THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE. For me, this one ranked amongst my most-anticipated summer flicks, and the reason is simple: I am a diehard X-Phile. I watched the show from Day 1, and for me it became a weekly tradition through middle school, high school, and into college. I stuck around for even the final few seasons when some had jumped ship, and am now a proud owner of all 9 seasons on DVD. I had Fox Mulder quotes on my yearbook page, I wrote an op-ed about the show for my college newspaper, I own the X-Files videogame for PS2 (never actually completed it, though!), and am always quick to assert that "Jose Chung's From Outer Space" is the single greatest episode of television ever aired (because it is!). I've seen some slightly mixed reviews for the new film, but the sheer nostalgia-kick of seeing Mulder and Scully back in action is enough to keep me excited to see two of my all-time favorite characters on the big screen. It saddens me that the marketing for the movie has been a bit underwhelming (thanks, FOX), but I'm hopeful that there will be a groundswell of support for the film, as longtime fans come out in droves to see it. I know that in recent weeks I've done my best to hold a few marathon viewing sessions in an effort to both get myself hyped and also to bring some friends aboard the bandwagon. In any case, I hope the movie makes decent bank, so that, if nothing else, we can get that Invasion-themed movie in 2012! I mean, the series finale has to have been good for SOMETHING, right? And man, I'd love to see some key cameos in the movie. I hear Skinner's in there somewhere, but what I'd love to see is the Lone Gunmen back from the dead - as the door seemed to have been left open for a return. But really, just the experience of seeing an all-new X-Files case will be pretty darn cool. My hope is that in San Diego, maybe during that classic Sunday night timeslot that was once synonomous with The X-File, we can catch a showing and see the movie with a great crowd of fellow fans. The Truth IS out there, baby.

Whoah, better get packing, as the hour is getting late and tomorrow we travel early. Check back soon as I report back from the show, and if you'll be in San Diego, drop me a line.