If you are looking for some of the best coverage of Comic-Con, look no further, as Animated-News provides a recap and recommendations for websites reporting from the event:
In addition to holding a contest in which five lucky winners will receive an Incredibles poster, designed by Mike Mignola and autographed by Mignola and Incredibles director Brad Bird, Ain’t It Cool News brings the highlights of the Incredibles panel. First off, the movie will be Pixar’s first PG-rated film. Also, as of 10:00 a.m. Friday, The Incredibles is “done,” although it still needs some sound mixing and a few “little” touches. “Dig Dug” then describes the clips shown from the film.
Other tidbits from AICN include the report that producer Avi Arad has confirmed Fantastic Four will not be a comedy as was previously thought, but instead will have comedy elements incorporated into it. Meanwhile, Quint describes Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s presentation of the trailer and footage from Team America: World Police, along with showing some photos from the panel. Some information on the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Extended Edition arrives from “Quint“, “Dig Dug“, and Franklin “Foggy” Nelson. Finally, AICN provides some more knowledge of Batman Begins [warning: most of these previous articles contain some pervasive strong language].
Those looking for more enlightenment on Batman Begins will definitely find it in Superhero Hype‘s coverage of the film’s panel.
Toon Zone summarizes the events of Cartoon Network’s piece of Comic-Con. Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, and Megas XLR were the focus of Cartoon Network’s panel at the San Diego Comic-Con on Friday afternoon. Network executive Bob Higgins moderated a group that included Judd Winnick, creator of Juniper Lee; Craig McCracken and Craig Kellman of Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends; and Jody Schaeffer, George Krstic and Chris Prynoski of Megas XLR. Most of the audience questions were directed at Higgins and not his panelists.
When asked about the status of the What a Cartoon show, Higgins’ reply was that the network has recently re-initiated its shorts program, but only with the goal of developing show pilots. Though individual shorts may air, there is no definite plan to air such shorts in a scheduled block. Meanwhile, seventy-eight episodes of Codename: Kids Next Door have been ordered, while a direct-to-video project is now in development. Also, the final two episodes of Samurai Jack are scheduled to air on September 25 as part of a Toonami special event. The event will also include a rebroadcast of all twenty Clone Wars micro-shorts.
As for Time Squad, the show has finished production and there are no plans to bring it back, though he didn’t rule out that individual episodes might pop up on the schedule. However, the chances of Cartoon Network producing and airing new Invader Zim episodes on Cartoon Network are exactly “zero”. In addition, Higgins noted that Megas XLR will debut on Toonami UK some time in November of 2004.
The Teen Titans panel was heavy with voice talent, including Ron Perlman (Slade), Tara Strong (Raven), Scott Menville (Robin), and Greg Cipes (Beast Boy). Story editor David Slack and producer Glen Murakami rounded out the panel. The Justice League panel was moderated by Cartoon Network executive Sam Register, who directed questions to Bruce Timm, James Tucker, Dwayne McDuffie, Stan Berkowitz, and Sean McLaughlin.
Arguably the biggest event for Warner Bros. Animation at Comic-Con was the premiere of a complete episode of The Batman on Friday afternoon. Attendees treated the episode, which features the Man-Bat, with “polite but strong applause”. Register stated that he would be happy if The Batman were only “half” the show that predecessor Batman: The Animated Series was, since Bruce Timm and his crew “got it all right” the first time, and admitted that the new show is probably only “three quarters” there.
If finding out that the full title for Episode III is Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith was just not enough for you, be sure to check out the official Star Wars website and Rebel Scum, which features some great photos and news from the Star Wars front at Comic-Con.
Last but not least, IGN FilmForce has posted some excellent photos from the various presentations at Comic-Con, along with some nice coverage. A special note to animation fans is the news of the Ark trailer. Starring the voice of James Woods, it’s an animated project focusing on a giant space ship/transforming robot that is able to save civilization by harboring the world’s population inside itself. Controlled by a young girl, the ark races around the universe, as the girl grapples with her duties to civilization and her own needs. The computer animated Ark will be “coming soon”.
