TVSquad

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.

Disneyland hosted its own Disney Convention, called D23, in the style of Comic Con this past weekend. The name comes from the year Walt Disney moved to Hollywood and the event was held at the Anaheim Convention Center across the street from Disneyland . Among other announcements was that of a new Muppet movie called The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made (hopefully it's a working title). There was also a live performance by Miley Cyrus, whom Disney owns the soul of.

Admittedly, it's a pretty good idea which caters to the real Disney enthusiasts out there (having met a few, I know they certainly exist). Disney is one of the few companies that is large enough to have its own version of Comic Con. While the convention had announcements for most of its franchises, I noted the absence of any mention of the recently-acquired Marvel Comics.

On the other hand, the company already has a Disney convention open all year round. It's called Disneyland (or Disneyworld for the East Coast). What do you think of this development?

When the San Diego Comic-Con opened its doors to allow every corner of television onto their floors, they weren't kidding. After seeing the roster of panels, I'm surprised the original panel from PBS's Washington Week didn't field questions from guys dressed in Transformer cosplay.

Apparently, Warner Brothers set up a panel for just about every television show that have in development including Patricia Heaton's new ABC sitcom The Middle, making it the most "fish out of water" selection for a panel at the geek confab.

And so did the geeks in attendance. The panel only drew around 75 attendees and studio heads ordered Heaton not to introduce the panel because the crowd was too small.

As our own John Scott Lewinski pointed out in his interview with Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick, the Venture Bros. masterminds, the show is a cult treasure, but not so hot in the big picture.

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.

I imagine a lot of stalkers must love a place like Comic-Con. All of their most sought after celebrities are together in one place for easy pickings. It must be their Costco.

One star, however, decided to turn the tables on his fans and used his own costume to stalk and hunt down a few of his fans on the floor of this year's convention.

To make it even creepier, he dressed up like a clown. That slurping sound you hear is my spine falling out of its socket from uncontrollable shivering.

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?

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.

Even though TV Squad's very own John Scott Lewinski is fighting his way through hordes of overweight Rorschachs and pre-pubescent Chun Lis to get exclusive interviews and scoops on the newest TV news at the San Diego Comic Con, don't forget that our partners-in-crime from Cinematical are also there covering the latest flim-flam in film.

The movie side of the annual pop-culture cavalcade opened with one of the biggest names in the history of film and what could very well be one of the biggest names in the future of film. Director James Cameron screened a solid 25 minutes of his forthcoming sci-fi epic Avatar. Blogger Todd Gilchrist got a hint of the plot and special effects movie-goers can expect when the film hits theaters later this year and said it "promises to be both hugely entertaining and technically groundbreaking." Man, that's got me worried. That's what they also said about Titanic.

The Preview Night for San Diego's Comic-Con 2009 is in the books, and it looked a lot like every other day of the event -- crowded and incredibly busy on all fronts.

While the extensive panel schedule doesn't start until Thursday morning, thousands of fans hit the convention floor tonight to check out the mega-displays and to get a jump-start on spending lots of money on merchandise.

And, this year's Preview Night brought an immediate rumor that could affect next year's convention.

George Lucas will come as close to San Diego's Comic-Con as he could ever dare when he appears via video conference as part of the event's Star Wars presentation.

It's not top secret news that George Lucas is planning a live-action Star Wars television series that would fill in the gaps between big screen entries Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV: A New Hope. With talk of the show preparing to roll camera in Australia, the status of the TV production will be first and foremost on most fans' minds.

Speculation has it that Lucas might even shine his Death Star super laser of wisdom down on his followers by answering fan-submitted questions during the convention appearance.

(Check out part three of this four-part report)

Tired of hearing about Comic-Con? Figured all the talk was over? Sorry to disappoint you, but due to an untimely vacation (vacation untimely? Wha...how?) and a bit of reflection on my first trip to the big 'Con, I was able to get this last bit complete for you.

The Sci Fi / Entertainment Weekly Party

Man did it feel good to have gone to my last panel. I had much sympathy for Rich, who had another nearly-full day ahead of him on Sunday. So, we went out to finally get a decent meal at an actual restaurant downtown before we had to head off to the party. We had no idea at all what to expect from the party -- would there be food? Free booze? Who would be there?

(Check out part two of this four-part report)

Saturday

This should have felt like the home stretch. I should have felt like the end of it all was near. But a glance at the day's schedule reminded me I was going to be running around like a madman all day, trying to make some of the most popular panels of the weekend.

Saturday was a schedule that Rich and I had been contemplating since the schedule was released. The problem: With only two people, how would we get me from the extremely popular Lost panel in Hall H, all the way over to the other extremely popular Dollhouse panel, while Rich covered The Office? It simply wasn't possible. So, we made the decision that Rich would sit in Ballroom 20 after covering Futurama and The Simpsons, right through the oddly-placed Dean Koontz panel, and save my seat for Dollhouse. The Office would have to suffer.

By the time the Fringe panel started, I wasn't the only one who was exhausted. This was one of the final television panels of the day, with the exception, I believe, of MythBusters -- a panel I regret having to miss but, since I literally hadn't eaten anything but two Clif Bars all day, I had no choice. Otherwise you would have heard about the guy who passed out in Room 6B.

Since I'd already seen the Fringe pilot, I considered not attending the panel. I think a lot of people felt the same way, as Ballroom 20 wasn't even full for it. I'm glad I did attend, however, because it was interesting to hear what people wanted to ask of J. J. Abrams.

For those of you attending Comic-Con in San Diego, my hat is off to you. After looking at the schedule for the opening day, Thursday, July 24th, it is a wonder that your eyes don't grow glassy and that vein on the side of your temple doesn't throb with all of the events listed for that day. For those of you not attending, you may be breathing a sigh of relief that you won't have to decide what to attend and what to miss.

Granted, we here at TV Squad are only going to Comic-Con to cover the television-related events. Still, there are quite a few of them going on Thursday, starting when the convention opens and ending as the next day creeps into the night. Panels cover the gamut: public television shows, show revivals, anniversary panels about shows that have been revived, and Robert Smigel. So, if you are going, bring some comfortable shoes, plenty of snacks, and a ton of questions.

If you are not going, but are still interested in seeing what's going on in San Diego, here is a list of TV-related events for the first day of the convention. If you are interested in the complete list of events you can go to Spout blog for Thursday's full Comic-Con schedule.

To use a well-worn phrase...Good News, Everyone! Your friends over here at TV Squad are heading on out to San Diego during the last week in July to cover one of the bigger, if not biggest, comic book and science fiction conventions on mainland America and the world. I speak, of course, of ComicCon.

From July 24th through July 27th you'll see us with our TV Squad T-Shirts (and underwear -- viewings of those by appointment) as we join the rest of the throngs attending the convention. At some point we may even be doing a bit of Twittering to find out where you are at the convention so you can find us in order to shake our hands (or, in the case of some of our commenters, punch and kick us) and potentially get some free stuff as well.