The rumours are true. San Diego is a beautiful city, and the San Diego Comic-Con is a madhouse. In a good way, though.

I know you guys have been reading about this thing for a couple of weeks, but I thought I'd tell you about some of the stuff I saw there (in chronological order, no less). Hopefully, I'll fill you in on some of the smaller Con happenings that might have gotten lost in all the excitement over George Lucas picking out a title for that little Ewan McGregor movie he's been shooting. 

The Other Adult Swim Panel (Thursday, 5 pm)

I didn't go to the Adult Swim Saturday panel that everybody else seemed all excited about -- I went to their "When They Touched Me, I Died" panel, which featured some Adult Swim guys explaining how to pitch new shows. Well, how to pitch shows to Adult Swim, at least.

If you couldn't tell from their programming (HARVEY BIRDMAN, AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE, SEALAB 2021), the guys who work on Adult Swim aren't exactly traditional Hollywood suits. They're looking for unusual ideas for shows, shows that couldn't play anywhere but Adult Swim.

Knowing little about the animation and television industries, I found this stuff interesting. I also thought it was funny that the main guy on the panel stressed multiple times that Adult Swim is not looking for any new zombie shows. So much for my HIDE AND CREEP: THE ANIMATED SERIES pitch.

SHAUN OF THE DEAD Tickets (Friday, 10 am)

We waited in a line for SHAUN OF THE DEAD passes, which turned into a line to meet the film's star (Simon Pegg) and director (Edgar Wright), who were giving out free autographed photos. I really didn't know what to talk to them about, since I'd yet to see the movie, but I spoke with them for a moment and found them to be charming and polite. As British folks often are.

Lions Gate Panel (Friday, 1 pm)

The stars of OPEN WATER were the "headliners" at the Lions Gate panel. They seemed nice enough and showed a short clip from the film. So now I've seen the trailer and a clip, and I'm still not really excited about this movie. Maybe it's one of those things that only works when taken as a whole. It opens in theaters tomorrow, so I guess we can all find out then.

They also showed footage from a couple of their forthcoming horror flicks, HAUTE TENSION and SAW. If the clip they showed is any indication, HAUTE TENSION features a lot of old-school suspense, which is definitely a good thing.

THE INCREDIBLES (Friday, 2:30 pm)

I'm a huge Pixar fan. I think every movie they've made is great, and they're easily the best 3-D guys working. They're really the only game in town -- I mean, SHREK and ICE AGE both looked pretty good, but neither has the heart of a Pixar flick.

I'm also a comic book fan from way back, so I've been excited about Pixar's forthcoming stab at the superhero genre, THE INCREDIBLES. After seeing a couple of full scenes from the movie at Friday's Comic-Con panel (maybe 5 minutes of footage), I'm even more excited. The scenes show off some great humor and wild action (superhero fights killer robot inside an active volcano!), and I'm already betting THE INCREDIBLES is going to be the flick to beat for best film of 2004. In my mind, at least.

Warner Animation (Friday, 4:30 pm)

Like many people, I'm a big fan of Warner's BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES from the 90s. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the promised "sneak peak" at a new Batman cartoon (simply called "THE BATMAN") turned out not to be a clip or two but a full episode.

This new Batman series seems to be aimed at a younger demographic than BTAS -- the episode Warner showed us featured much more action than character development. Still, I thought the animation was great and I was especially impressed by the moody, guitar-oriented score by the Edge from U2. I'll probably check out a few episodes of THE BATMAN when it hits the airwaves later this year.

We were also treated to a clip from the new season of the JUSTICE LEAGUE cartoon, now called JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED. UNLIMITED seems to have the same quality and tone as the earlier JUSTICE LEAGUE episodes, but they've added tons of guest stars (Supergirl and Green Arrow were in the clip we saw), which should be fun, especially for hard-core DC Comics fans.

Warner kicked their program off with some TEEN TITANS stuff, which is a little silly for my taste. I did get a kick out of the Puffy AmiYumi video of the TEEN TITANS theme song, featuring a special appearance by Guitar Wolf. I might start watching the show just to hear that theme.

SHAUN OF THE DEAD Screening (Friday, 8 pm)

Wow. Just wow. Not only is SHAUN OF THE DEAD a good zombie comedy, it's a good zombie movie. Period. I've heard people say it's the best zombie flick since DAY OF THE DEAD, and they might be right. It definitely kills the recent DAWN OF THE DEAD remake.

SHAUN features plenty of wonderfully dry British comedy, but it also features some nice suspense and horror. And some good gore, if you're into that sort of thing. The cast features actors from several popular British television shows, and the performances are very solid throughout. The editing is tight. The effects are good. The music, including both the original score and a few pop songs, is almost perfect. I can't wait for this movie to open in theaters (which should happen in September) so I can take all my friends to see it. Very highly recommended.

And, on top of all that, star Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright are really nice guys. Which I think I already mentioned. They hung around after the show for an entertaining Q & A session.

LOST Pilot Screening (Saturday, 10am)

Actually, they just showed the first half of the two-hour LOST pilot. No matter. It totally kicks ass. The Chief's review from a few weeks back was right on the money. This show had me on the edge of my seat for almost the entire hour. I don't watch much TV, but I'll be watching LOST this fall for sure.

IDW Panel (Saturday, 11:30 am)

I stopped by the IDW panel to see if I could get a feel for how Poop Shoot editor Chris Ryall's new comic book gig will work out. Verdict: he's gonna have a blast. I'll admit I'm envious. There were quite a few IDW creators present on the panel, including Steve Niles, Beau Smith, and the legendary Will Eisner, and they seem like a smart, fun bunch of guys.

They also discussed many of their forthcoming projects. I'm particularly looking forward to SECRET SKULL, which is apparently a retro pulp-influenced book.

SIN CITY: The Movie (Saturday, 2 pm)

This one's been covered all over the 'net already. I'll just chime in and say that the SIN CITY footage co-directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller showed us looked great. Very stylized and true to Miller's SIN CITY comic books. I'm not sure how well the comic dialogue, lifted pretty much word-for-word, will work in a movie, but I'll be there opening night to find out.

The only thing I didn't like about the panel was Rodriguez's now standard rant about how film is dead and high-definition video lets filmmakers work at "the speed of thought." I don't know about other filmmakers, but one thing that doesn't slow down the shooting day for me is my 16mm camera. It's lightweight (lighter than a hi-def camera, actually) and simple to operate.

Rodriguez is entitled to his opinion. And his work is an inspiration to many filmmakers, myself included. I just wish he wasn't so dogmatic about hi-def. It works for him, and that's great. But don't believe it when he, or anybody else, says hi-def is always faster, cheaper, and easier. Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't. And sometimes, there are more important issues to consider than speed, price, and simplicity.

Ray Bradbury (Saturday, 3 pm)

I wish everyone reading this could have heard Ray Bradbury talk on Saturday. Some people are writers. Bradbury is a storyteller. Even when he's just answering questions off the top of his head, there's a beauty in the way Bradbury puts words together. He's a great man who has lived, and continues to live, an extraordinary life.

If you haven't read any of his works, go pick up THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES or THE ILLUSTRATED MAN and lose yourself in his wonderful short stories. Go. Right now. You'll be glad you did.

Worst Cartoons Ever (Saturday, 8:30 pm)

I was booked for an early flight on Sunday, so this was the last program I got to attend at Comic-Con 2004. As you might guess from the title, the audience was subjected to some of the worst cartoons known to man. Ever heard of MIGHTY MR. TITAN or JOHNNY CYPHER IN DIMENSION ZERO? Me, neither. You're not missing much, though. These 'toons have been almost lost to history for good reason.

We were able to laugh at the badness of the first few cartoons at this screening. At some point, maybe when they showed COURAGEOUS CAT AND MINUTE MOUSE, things got ugly and we actually did a little booing and hissing.

As a fan of the obscure, though, I really enjoyed this program. If it returns to Comic-Con next year, and I return to Comic-Con next year, I'll be sure to check it out, just to see what other cartoon bombs Jerry Beck, the animation historian who put together the Worst Cartoons screening, manages to dig up.

It's probably obvious that I'm putting the technical filmmaking stuff on hold for a few weeks, while I try to get some more post-production stuff figured out to the point I understand it enough to write about it. I'll be back in two weeks to (hopefully) announce the first public screening of HIDE AND CREEP, along with... well, along with some other stuff I'm sure.

See you then...

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