2011 San Diego Comic Con in Review

Preview Night
A meaningless extra day, about as meaningless as a preseason football game. Upon receiving my badge, the souvenir bags sponsored by Warner Bros were being passed out at random, so I had to trade my Thundercats design to get the Big Bang Theory design I really wanted.

THURSDAY
Thursday I attempted to buy the tickets for next year but got locked out. Afterwards, I went to the THQ booth where they gave a demo of their newest game Saints Row The Third, the third installment of a sandbox crime game franchise that is more comedic in tone than the GTA series.

The highlight of the day was the panel for the return of MTV's Beavis and Butthead. Johnny Knoxville and Mike Judge were on hand for previews of the new episodes, which will air in October. The animation is similar to what we knew from the original series, and everyone in the audience laughed their asses off. In addition to the music video commentary, the two dumbasses will also comment on other MTV shows like Jersey Shore and Sixteen and Pregnant, as well as UFC Fights and YouTube clips. As fans stepped up to the mic for Q&A, many offered condolences to Knoxville's late friend Ryan Dunn, who died in a car crash earlier this summer.

FRIDAY
The highlight of this day was seeing the panel for Phineas and Ferb. Clips of future episodes were previewed, including the new 2nd Dimension TV movie airing August 5th on the Disney Channel, and a bonus music video with Guns N Roses guitarist Slash. Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh were on hand, along with Vincent Martella (Phineas), Ashley Tisdale (Candace), Olivia Olson (Vanessa), Tyler Mann (Carl) and Dee Bradley Baker (Perry).

I heard at least a couple of guys barking at Tisdale to marry them, while one kid asked if Phineas and Ferb would ever kiss. Martella answered most of his questions in his Phineas voice, even dropping a Kanye West reference. Baker demonstrated the wide range of growls and other vocal effects he provides for Perry. Each actor demonstrated their voices to the audience.

The hinted relationship between Ferb and Vanessa was revealed to go back all the way to Olson and Thomas Sangster's (Ferb) appearances in the film Love Actually.

After the panel was over, I managed to get the autographs of both Povenmire and Marsh, and suggested they attempt a crossover of their show with Discovery's Mythbusters. I even complemented their previous work on Rocko's Modern Life and Povenmire's work on Family Guy.

SATURDAY
I lined up early to see panels for the Simpsons, whose 500th episode will debut in February 2012, and Family Guy. I got in early enough to catch Futurama much before those two. New seasons for the Simpsons and Family Guy will debut September 25th with the Treehouse of Horror on October 30th.

As I was walking up to the Spaghetti Factory for lunch, an Adventure Time parade was taking place.

SUNDAY
I lined up super early for the Cleveland Show, the third of Seth MacFarlane's trio of shows on Fox. A laugh riot from start to finish. It started off with a clip from a previous episode where the Brown family rounds up the other fans to take the comic con back from the twitards. The highlight of that panel was the animatic preview for a Christmas special parodying the action film Die Hard.

OTHER NEWS
Other than the panels, all else I did at the Con was roam the exhibit hall soaking up the freebies and visiting the usual suspects:
Bobby Rubio, creator of Alcatraz High.
Michael Aushenker, Pacific Palisades-based indie cartoonist.
Sergio Aragones, member of MAD's usual gang of idiots.
Scott Shaw!, a cartoonist always next door to Aragones.
Patrick and Shelly Block, husband and wife team of cartoonists.
Peter Kuper, current Spy vs. Spy artist.