Meeting "Buffy" franchise creators at Comic-Con!

As if Friday's "The Joss Whedon Experience" wasn't enough Whedon mania, Whedon also performed a Dark Horse signing for his Eisner/Diamond/GLAAD award-winning Buffy Season 8 comic book series, followed by a Jo Chen and Andy Owens signing on Sunday. IDW (love, love, love this comic book "house") has been releasing the Angel: After The Fall (and a slew of other subtitles, but basically a continuation of the Angel storyline beyond Season 5) and those have been phenomenal. Though I wouldn't characterize the recent appearance of Angel characters into Buffy's "Twilight" arc as a true cross-over of plot (YET), fans have been anxiously awaiting obvious signs of the fraternal Buffyverse twins series' disparate plots converging in a more obvious way. With L.A. having gone to hell and back, and Angel having esoteric knowledge about the universe... well, just how much does this feed into the new apocalypse in Buffy that appears to be catalyzed by, well, Buffy herself?

For those who haven't experienced Buffy Season 8's action-packed story (SPOILER ALERT), it picks up several years after the events on "Chosen" (the series television finale in which Buffy and Willow use the scythe's essence to harness slayer strength for all potential slayers all over the world, taking a vote from the potentials present for the final fight in Sunnydale, CA) and Angel (in the episode "Damaged," a psychologically disturbed girl awakens to slayer powers and, after being pursued by Angel Investigations, eventually goes into the custody of Andrew, who leads a slayer cell in Italy, where in the episode "The Girl In Question," Angel and Spike pursue "Buffy"). The comic explores Buffy and her team's efforts to collect the slayers and help train them to fight evil, but also shows how corrupt leadership and bureaucracy create cracks in the Slayers that can be taken advantage of by recently-out-of-the-supernatural-closet vampires who attempt to integrate with humans and give "full" disclosure of their existence. Recently, the series took many twists and revelations, bringing many of the franchise's most memorable heroes and villains back into the story in unexpected new alliances.



Read more about the Buffy creators we met, including Jane Espenson pitured above, and see photos of the meetings and the signed works, after the jump!

Event Review: Some Comic-Con Booth Highlights

＼（＾∀＾）メ（＾∀＾）ノ I HEART GUTS

(left) A happy pancreas!

At the I Heart Guts booth, I caught up with my friend Chuva, whose friend Wendy Miller conceived and illustrated the adorable hard-working body parts that smile sweetly, as if harvested from "a dissected Hello Kitty"!

There is something very moving about seeing our organs portrayed with sentience. I think it touches a part of our psyche to understand how our insides are our friends and can have personalities, and that all those parts work in concert to orchestrate our health and well-being!

More Comic-Con Days Favorites review (and PHOTOS, including signings!) after the jump!

FOX/FX, ABC, S.S. Wilson, Adrienne Wilkinson at Comic-Con

Day 3 and Day 4 of the Comic Con, most of the activity had transferred from Hall H to being primarily on the merchandise Exhibit Hall floor.

Master Amano at the "Shinjuku" panel.

In Room 8, I was able to meet a personal, and true, legend: Concept artist and illustrator Yoshitaka Amano. Many know him primarily due to his illustrations and concept art for the "Final Fantasy" franchise, and from "Vampire Hunter D." He was at the Con this year promoting his collaboration with Mink for the Dark Horse novel "Shinjuku." Mink shared his story of surprise, in that a mutual contact pitched Mink's intention for Amano to illustrate maybe just the cover or a few pages of the novel, and Amano shot back asking to illustrate the entire book. Many panel questioners gave credit to Master Amano for their own careers in illustration, and also asked him how they could buy even more merchandise. Amano said that before, he would post rare items on his site and do blitz sales for first comers, but that in the future he would like to perhaps create a stronger storefront. People, though, seem to forget that Amano himself is a fine artist, and merchandise does not really factor into the sales model of most artists, who otherwise sell original work. Mink, however, said there would plenty of Shinjuku merchandise!

More Comic-Con Days 3 and 4 review (and PHOTOS, including panels!) after the jump!

USA Networks, Showtime Networks Inc., Sailormoon! at Comic-Con

Yesterday kicked off the first day of Comic Con (minus Preview Night), San Diego's annual popular arts event. There was the usual: major networks and comic book companies promoting upcoming films (such as Salt, Red, and Tron: Legacy) and successful comics and television series, but Comic Con is bigger than ever, once again transforming the downtown cityscape into a pop wonderland. I sat in Ballroom 20 from USA Network panels to Showtime panels.

Some highlights were definitely the antics at the "Psych" panel (see the photo story below), and Willie Garson animatedly moderating the "White Collar" panel. Matt Bomer was charming, but not rakish -- rather, he was sweet, humble, and very relaxed for the "White Collar" panel. Bruce Campbell was slipping dollar bills to anyone who would stroke his ego, and being his usual lovable self for the "Burn Notice" panel, where a "Burn Notice" prequel film involving his character was unexpectedly announced by Jeff Wachtel, president of USA Networks, who admitted: "What the world needs right now is more Bruce Campbell!"

Tv's Nancy Botwin (Mary Louise Parker) of "Weeds" compared her character to Scarlett O'Hara, in that "She thinks she's gonna make up for [her parenting mishaps] later. Like, next month she'll take them on a family outing." As we all know, Scarlett had a tendency of putting off serious thoughts for tomorrow, often quipping: "I'll think about that later." Victoria Morrow revealed that she and the writing team saw grisly things during police-sanctioned tours of the Mexico-U.S. "no man's land" in east county San Diego, and when faced with the question of the Botwins experiencing a downward spiral in the upcoming season, said that the Botwins have been constantly in a downward spiral and that seeing them resolve the barrage of misfortune is the center of the show. Is it possible that the fan asking that question somehow distinguishes apart Agrestic as a stable period and Ren Mar/Tijuana as a beginning of a downward spiral? Feigning normalcy in Agrestic doesn't cover up the fact that the Botwins have been in a tornado upon Judah Botwin's death! This is a credit to Mary Louise Parker and the entire "Weeds" cast for making shit-hitting-the-fan look appealing to suburban television watchers! P.S. Victoria Morrow, when asked if Season 6 was the last season of "Weeds," said "No." :)

Also, Jennifer Carpenter clarified that though the "Dexter" audience is privy to Dexter's true nature, her character of Deb Morgan does not connect the dots to his serial killer tendency due to a lack of knowledge that the audience has to an advantage. "She's putting the puzzle together," Carpenter explained, "but it's not going to read 'My brother is a serial killer.'" She also said that, "Harry [Morgan] raised both of us," therefore Deb possesses aspects of Harry that Dexter possibly lacks, but both represent Harry's dual nature. The panel seemed impressed when a fan asked if the show would explore the reason the Dark Passenger can inhabit Dexter's host persona, suggesting a sentience in the Dark Passenger apart from Dexter's consciousness. That may border on United States of Tara material, and definitely a subtle nod to the book series' more esoteric content, but Executive Producer Sara Colleton (though explaining that since Season 1, the show has presented orignal material building from the immediately previous seasons and that the writers make a conscious effort to not read the books) still suggested that traces of that line of questioning will be present in Season 5.


The early morning line to get into the Exhibition Hall. I love the "True Blood" (Showtime) advertising overhead!

More Comic-Con Day 1 photos after the jump!