Apple's iPhone and iPod are emerging as the preferred delivery device for online comic books. They're portable, hand-held and feature vivid screens capable of delivering any necessary colors. You can use the touch screen to flip the pages back and forth.
An online comics website, Comixology, is a central point for scores of online comics available via iTunes' App Store, including several titles based on popular genre shows of the recent and not-so-recent past.
You'll find that 80's anime after school favorite, Voltron living here. Marvel's animation-influenced X-Men flourishes in multiple versions. The Middleman, a now-canceled creative comic-book inspired children's live action show, continues in iPhone form. In fact, The Middleman stories on Comixology were written to continue the TV show's storyline.
The Comic-Con ad campaign that featured Showtime's Dexter buddying up with a bright-eyed little serial-killer-in-training is spreading into the mainstream media and onto the show's online merchandise page.
Dexter producers added the new diapered supporting character at the end of last season. To build buzz for the show's Comic-Con panel, Showtime plastered posters like the one shown around the San Diego Convention Center, area buses, billboards, etc.
I questioned at the time where the line between cute and creepy resides when the campaign equates baby behavior with serial murder -- and maybe cannibalism in the ads where the kid is splattered with red jam.
It's a source of perpetual heartbreak for me, knowing that the many people I convert with my DVDs are just a mere drop in the bucket. Even worse, despite the insane number of fans that flood convention floors to hear Hammer and Publick talk, other [adult swim] celebrities of arguably less awesome programming get the mainstream love. Just check out this great LA Weekly interview (and photoshoot, ladies) with Hammer and Publick to remind yourself why these guys are so marvelous.
Mike Judge doesn't strike anyone as the kind of guy who's created a legendary animated duo and a cult hit movie. And, you certainly wouldn't size him up as a creative mind with two active series on first-run network TV.
The native-Texan is just too unassuming, soft-spoken and self-deprecating to show up at Comic-Con International last week to discuss TV's The Goode Family and King of the Hill alongside his new feature film, Extract.
But there he was in Press Room 28e, preparing for his panel and eyeing the Mythbusters Comic-Con bag I'd just picked up on the convention floor.
"I've got to get me one of those bags before I go out there," Judge said.
On behalf of a grateful TV Squad nation, I offered him mine. He accepted the bag graciously. Then we begin the interview.
Jimmy Fallon is a geek. I don't mean this as an insult at all, even he would admit it. So I knew he'd be going to Comic-Con. In this funny clip, he tries to convince a bunch of famous people at the convention (including Jon Favreau, Stan Lee, and the cast of Lost) that his new comic book idea is a winner. (Video also here.)
It looks like an episode produced for the upcoming season of FOX's Family Guy may be too much for the network too handle. I can only imagine what a Family Guy episode about abortion would consist of. And in my imagination, none of it would survive the FCC. So what does that mean? It means more incentive for fans to pick up the DVD set where it will inevitably land.
FOX, however, says the decision isn't final on what to do with the episode (UPDATE: It is now!). I could see creator Seth MacFarlane actually being disappointed if FOX airs it. On a show that prides itself on pushing the envelope as far as he can, it's gotta feel good to take it too far from time to time.
He's already blasted religion, gay marriage, and plays with pedophelia almost constantly. Maybe abortion is the one topic you just can't lampoon. At the same time, I'd love to see what he comes up with. Really, all of this just raises awareness of the show and reminds us that it's supposed to be edgy. It's all for the ratings, baby!
Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, has been going to Comic-Con since 1977. That's before a lot of you were born and is so long ago that Lost used the year in their time travel story last season. TV Barn's Aaron Barnhart found Groening roaming the floor and buying comics and filed this video interview.
There's still plenty of Comic-Con International coverage en route from me, including exclusive interviews you'll only find here.
But, as the Monday morning after the madness dawns, we'll take a few minutes and review the major impressions left by the four day weekend.
What happened? What were the biggest themes of the convention and what didn't happen that everyone was hoping would. In other words, what was Comic-Con 2009, and where did it fall short?
At a special panel over the weekend at Comic-Con, Devil's Due Publishing presented the new "season" of Jericho, coming this October to a comic shop near you. And they've brought the original writing team from the series to the comic book. Which means, this will be about as true a continuation of the true ongoing vision for Jericho as you can imagine.
Executive producers Jon Steinberg and Dan Shotz revealed that the new series will take the characters right into the Civil War that was brewing in the second season. They're excited about the possibilities the comic format allows them. As a comparable example, when IDW brought "season six" of Angel to comics, they transported much of L.A. to a plane of hell, something that would have been cost prohibitive in a live action series.
When I looked at the panel schedule for Comic-Con International, I asked myself, "What's Ghost Whisperer doing on there? Really? Ghost Whisperer?"
I have nothing against the show, and I guess it has supernatural elements that put it in enough of a genre category to qualify for Comic-Con treatment. But I thought it was just an uber-sensitive, feminine product.
Then again, when you consider how Twilight dominated this convention, "chick stuff" ruled the day. There's no reason why Ghost Whisperer can't have its moment, too.
So, creators took the chance to announce two product tie-ins coming for Whisperer fans.
Our friends at ComicsAlliance attended the Comic-Con panel for Futurama. Laura Hudson reports a curious absence there:
The original panel for Futurama was billed as event where we would "join executive producers Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, and stars Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio, and Maurice LaMarche for high-stakes thrills as a top-ranking FOX executive decides live, on stage, whether Futurama will make yet another triumphant return or whether it is gone forever!"
It was an obvious setup for a Fox exec to reunite the cast and creator and cue wild applause from fans for the revival of the cult favorite cartoon. Unfortunately, as a result of the recent contract disputes and salary cuts for the voice cast -- and the subsequent threats from Fox that they would recast the characters -- none of the voice actors were in attendance, although series creator Matt Groening voiced his support for them, saying that "we love our Futurama actors. We hope that FOX and the actors can come to an agreement as soon as possible."
The Venture Brothers have all the trappings of a major, cross-media animated comedy phenomena -- except the popularity and notoriety that comes with it.
Written on the same brilliant scale as The Simpsons or South Park and drenched in hip pop culture references, Venture Brothers remains a show with a devoted cult following that stays just off the mass media's radar. And series creators Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer aren't sure why.
"We didn't even get nominated for an Annie (animation) Award," Hammer told me. "Never mind an Emmy. We thought we could at least get an Annie. We can't explain it. You probably have a better idea of why that is than we do."
Since the creators of Lost, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, are always being accused of making the show up as they go along, they decided it was time to prove they had the last page of the show written.
So at this year's Lost Comic-Con panel, which will be the show's last, Damon and Carlton pulled out the final scene to get that chip off of their shoulders: Two pieces of paper they taunted the audience to steal. Although it won't be easy for anyone to get their hands on those pages.
You'll have to watch the panel video to see why, after the jump.
(Post originally published by sister site ComicsAlliance)
Apple's iPhone and iPod are emerging as the preferred delivery device for online comic books. They're portable, hand-held and feature vivid screens capable of delivering any necessary colors. You can use the touch screen to flip the pages back and forth.
USA has a House marathon all night.
The Comic-Con ad campaign that featured Showtime's 
As our own 
Mike Judge doesn't strike anyone as the kind of guy who's created a legendary animated duo and a cult hit movie. And, you certainly wouldn't size him up as a creative mind with two active series on first-run network TV.
It looks like an episode produced for the upcoming season of FOX's 
There's still plenty of Comic-Con International coverage en route from me, including exclusive interviews you'll only find here.
At a special panel over the weekend at 
When I looked at the panel schedule for 
Our friends at 
The Venture Brothers have all the trappings of a major, cross-media animated comedy phenomena -- except the popularity and notoriety that comes with it.
Since the creators of 
A new gallery is up and running featuring some of the fun sites of Saturday -- the busiest day of Comic-Con.
The TV Squad Podcast: Linda Purl talks about The Office, we talk spoilers, and more
Ask TV Squad: Ghost Whisperer and more!
The TV Squad Podcast: Bill Scheft of The Late Show, Cake Boss, Mad Men and more
