July
26 Hangover

Over again for another year, it's time to do some wrapup on Comic-Con.

The biggest Hollywood highlight Sunday was the panel on "Serenity," Joss Whedon's still-shooting bigscreen version of the short-lived but beloved sci-fi western TV series "Firefly." Whedon himself came out, showed a short montage of footage assembled for the Con, and then brought out the main cast. All nine of them. The cast — Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Jewel Staite, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Sean Maher, Summer Glau and Ron Glass — joked with each other and answered fans questions. Fans shouted out "We love you, Joss!" on more than one occasion and started a long line to ask their questions.

The floor was more relaxed, with Sunday usually the day to make those final purchases, say hi or goodbye to friends and figure out how you're ever going to fit all the books, toys, DVDs and T-shirts you bought into your car for the ride home.

Forgot to post the Eisner Awards winners yesterday. DC did extremely well again. Here's the list of winners:

* Best Short Story: "Death," by Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell, in The Sandman: Endless Nights (Vertigo/DC)
* Best Single Issue (tie!): Conan The Legend #0, by Kurt Busiek and Cary Nord (Dark Horse); The Goon #1, by Eric Powell (Dark Horse)
* Best Serialized Story: Gotham Central #6-10: "Half a Life," by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark (DC)
* Best Continuing Series: 100 Bullets, by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso (Vertigo/DC)
* Best Limited Series: Unstable Molecules, by James Sturm and Guy Davis (Marvel)
* Best New Series: Plastic Man, by Kyle Baker (DC)
* Best Title for a Younger Audience: Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge, by various (Gemstone)
* Best Humor Publication: Formerly Known as the Justice League, by Keith Giffen, J. M. DeMatteis, Kevin Maguire, and Joe Rubinstein (DC)
* Best Anthology: The Sandman: Endless Nights, by Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean, P. Craig Russell, Miguelanxo Prado, Barron Storey, Frank Quitely, Glenn Fabry, Milo Manara, and Bill Sienkiewicz; co-edited by Karen Berger and Shelly Bond (Vertigo/DC)
* Best Graphic Album-New: Blankets, by Craig Thompson (Top Shelf)
* Best Graphic Album-Reprint: Batman Adventures: Dangerous Dames and Demons, by Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and others (DC)
* Best Archival Collection/Project: Krazy and Ignatz, 1929-1930, by George Herriman, edited by Bill Blackbeard (Fantagraphics)
* Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material: Buddha, vols. 1 and 2, by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical)
* Best Writer: Alan Moore, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Promethea, Smax, Tom Strong, Tom Strong's Terrific Tales (ABC)
* Best Writer/Artist: Craig Thompson, Blankets (Top Shelf)
* Best Writer/Artist-Humor: Kyle Baker, Plastic Man (DC); The New Baker (Kyle Baker Publishing)
* Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team: John Cassaday, Planetary, Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth (WildStorm/DC); Hellboy Weird Tales (Dark Horse)
* Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art): Jill Thompson, "Stray," in The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings (Dark Horse)
* Best Coloring: Patricia Mulvihill, Batman, Wonder Woman (DC), 100 Bullets (Vertigo/DC)
* Best Lettering: Todd Klein, Detective Comics( DC); Fables, The Sandman: Endless Nights (Vertigo/DC); Tom Strong, Promethea (ABC); 1602 (Marvel)
* Best Cover Artist: James Jean, Fables (Vertigo/DC); Batgirl (DC)
* Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition: Derek Kirk Kim (writer/artist, Same Difference and Other Stories)
* Best Comics-Related Periodical: Comic Book Artist, edited by Jon B. Cooke (Top Shelf)
* Best Comics-Related Book: The Art of Hellboy, by Mike Mignola (Dark Horse)
* Best Publication Design: Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross, designed by Chip Kidd (Pantheon)
* Hall of Fame — Judges' Choices: Otto Binder, John Stanley. Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima; Al Capp, Jules Feiffer, Don Martin, Jerry Robinson

The winners of the Star Wars Fan Film Awards can be found on the official site.

Significant mainstream press coverage descended on the con, most of it pegged to the announcement of the title to the next "Star Wars" movie. Other stories focused on the increasing presence of Hollywood at the con.

Soon as we have a final attendance figure for the con, you'll see it here. Many people said a crowd of more than 100,000 was expected and having been on the floor on Saturday, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if it hit that.

Unbelievably, we forgot to link to this NPR story on comics and Hollywood, for which the writer of this blog was interviewed.

There was way more going on this year than in the past and there's no way one (or even five) people could cover it comprehensively. This year's con was, despite the air-conditioning problem, another excellent event.

And lastly, thanks very much to all the people at the show who had kind words for this blog. It's appreciated.