The sun has set on San Diego, and we've put together the most interesting news that fans of comics -- you know, the books -- shouldn't miss.

Coverage of this week's event seems mostly to center on how it went from "comic mecca" to a bloated pop culture marketing event of dubious relevance to anything in particular. But Bryan Bishop writes that there'll be plenty of new cool on show. You like Star Wars, don't you? Read the rest

Don't get too excited yet, but Peter Jackson is talking about possibly turning the two Hobbit movies he just completed filming -- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again -- into a trilogy. Why? Because 1. Warner Bros. has the rights to the additional notes from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, which has all this groovy stuff in it that relates to The Hobbit, and 2. Jackson has all this extra footage lying around, just waiting to be seen. He spoke with Collider, warning that all of this is only in the earliest of stages:

Well, it’s very, very premature. We have got incredible source material with the appendices. There’s the novel, but then we also have the rights to use the 125 pages of additional notes where Tolkien expanded the world of The Hobbit. We’ve used some of that so far, and just in the last few weeks, as we’ve been wrapping up the shooting and thinking about the shape of the story, Philippa [Boyens], Fran [Walsh] and I have been talking to the studio about other things that we haven’t been able to shoot and seeing if we could possibly persuade them to do a few more weeks of shooting. We’d probably need more than a few weeks, actually, next year. The discussions are pretty early, so there isn’t anything to report, but there are other parts of the story that we’d like to tell, that we haven’t had the chance to tell yet.

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Karl Urban, who plays Leonard McCoy in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies, promised Comic Con attendees that he'd show them new footage from the set of the wrapped sequel. But first: surfing. And a Judge Dredd teaser poster. Sorry, Cumberbitches. No Urban-spoilers today. (via Geeks of Doom) Read the rest

While the DC filmmaking universe languishes and prepares to go into hibernation after Man of Steel is released next year, Marvel is doubling down on every movie it's made already. Can you really blame them? I mean, they're kind of on a roll here. Marvel execs -- such as Kevin Feige -- might also might be convincing themselves that S.H.I.E.L.D. is real and they are S.H.I.E.L.D., what with their official announcement at Comic-Con of "Phase Two." No, really, Marvel's slate of sequels is being referred to as "Phase Two," as if it was a second wave of Chitauri arriving on Earth. I just hope that Phase Two includes a certain cellist-dating S.H.I.E.L.D. agent... Read the rest

Talk about those times when you really wish you could transport yourself to the opposite coast of a country for the nerdiest thing ever. There was a really fun-sounding panel for NBC's Community today, and it featured a reassuring quote from the new guys running the show, David Guarascio and Moses Port. You might recall that they were brought on when Dan Harmon was fired. Dan Harmon, the person responsible for creating the very specific, quirky voice of this hugely unique show. This show that is being banished to Friday nights following Whitney. Whitney. Whit. Ney. Here is what Guarascio had to say about preserving everything we love about Community:

"A couple of months ago, we were a lot like you: just huge fans of the show who thought it was one of the most special things on television," Guarascio said at the panel discussion. "Suddenly we're here, helping to keep it going. The only thing we care about is keeping it this weird, wonderful gem that it's always been. That's not gonna change."

Joel McHale went on to say that while it was going to be different moving forward with different people in charge of what he called "the greatest show in the history of television," he has confidence in them and vouches for their work.

"They're terrific guys and really good and a lot of the writers are back. So it's definitely like this strange transition time, but I'm still insanely excited to do the show.

Read the rest

The creator of The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman offered up this quote concerning the end of the series:

We have talked about an ending that we’d do if we ever got to that point, right before our joint suicide, but with the popularity of the comic, and now the show, I don’t see an end anytime soon.

So, that's a "No" on the end of the comic, right? Good to know.

Talking to the Walking Dead Panel [Bleeding Cool] Read the rest

Last night at Comic Con, during a DC Comics panel that focused on its Vertigo imprint, it was casually mentioned that Neil Gaiman would debut a prequel to his Sandman series in November 2013. In a prerecorded message, he provided the following quote:

"When I finished writing The Sandman, there was one tale still untold. The story of what had happened to Morpheus to allow him to be so easily captured in The Sandman #1, and why he was returned from far away, exhausted beyond imagining, and dressed for war."

We thought you might be interested.

Neil Gaiman's writing a prequel to Sandman in 2013 [io9] Read the rest

Photo: Port of San Deigo (cc)

Yesterday was the official first day of San Diego Comic Con following Preview Night last night, and that means that stuff happened! The panels have commenced, the pictures are starting to surface, and here are some of those points of interest.

AMC's The Walking Dead booth gives everyone the Madame Tussad experience by letting attendees pose as one of Michonne's armless pet. They will most likely get to keep their arms, unless wax Michonne comes to life. Oh my god, I just pitched Night at the Convention!

Attention Browncoats: Go to The Mary Sue to find out when you'll be able to see the Firefly reunion panel on TV, because you know that 13 episodes and a movie was never enough.

There might not be any new movies rom the DC universe after The Dark Knight Rises and the new Superman come out, but the CW screened its new Green Arrow show -- entitled Arrow -- last night. G4 has a recap. Read the rest

Unfortunately, I am not at San Diego Comic-Con to cover it because, well, I am in New York. But in my travels through the internet today, I've found some interesting developments leading into Preview Night tonight. For starters: a logo for the new Evil Dead. Read the rest