Have we linked to Chris Butcher’s Flickr Photostream yet? Well, now we have. Check often!

The Wall Street Journal joins the parade of Comic-Con exclusives with Stephen King’s latest foray with Marvel:

In a promotion expected to be announced Friday at Comic-Con, the big comic-book convention in San Diego, a previously unpublished story by Mr. King has been transformed by Marvel Comics into an animated video. The 25 episodes will be distributed in a variety of online and mobile channels ahead of the book’s publication Nov. 11. Starting Monday, new episodes will be released daily, five times a week, through Aug. 29.

The story couches the venture in terms of the increasingly creative ways of marketing books to an increasingly visually-literate readership.

Twitter your anonymous snark!

Okay, so it was just the pipe and drape collapsing.
Still…CONMAGEDDON LOOMS.

Over at THR, Borys Kit notes rampant shark jumping with a piece called Comic-Con’s geek chic fading? as he notes vacant socialite P**** H***** and starlet Kim Kardashian, who is known apparently just for having a big-ass ass, will be bringing their own special brand of magic to the show:

There is talk that despite the high numbers of conventiongoers, or maybe in spite of them, Comic-Con as a measure of geek cool may have reached a tipping point.

Critics are pointing to the scheduled appearances by tabloid mainstays Paris Hilton, who will join Thursday night’s panel for Lionsgate’s “Repo! The Genetic Opera” as well as host a party, and fellow party girl Kim Kardashian, who is supposed to hit DC Comics’ party Friday night before appearing at a “Disaster Movie” panel Saturday. When Comic-Con becomes fodder for the Us Weekly crowd, has the event nuked the fridge? Folks wonder.

“This may be the 2012 of Comic-Cons,” said one comic writer-turned-screenwriter, referring to the year on the Mayan calendar that signals the end of the world.

We’re finally ensconced here at the Beat Local Action Rapid Deployment HQ, aka B.L.A.R.D., aka the Horton Grand. We’ve even managed to score a room with a balcony, excitingly enough. We were all set to enjoy a steaming cup of Vietnamese coffee out there when we realized the room comes with fan, shower cap and historic plaque, BUT NO COFFEEMAKER. The woman at the front desk informed us that only mini-suites have coffeemakers. We may have to send an operative on a run to the mall for one of those instant water heater thingies. Or we may have to bribe housekeeping to bring us a spare.

By the way, if you are looking for an ocean of calm and peace, or just to recreate your favorite scene from THE SHINING, stop by the lobby of the Horton Grand at just about any hour of the day — aside from the hotel staff and Future Mr. Beat, the only other person we’ve seen is The Incredible Hulk. Maybe he can get them to give him a coffeemaker?

Seriously, this place is supposed to be haunted and we can see why — while everything else in San Diego is buzzing and bursting at the seams, the hotel lobby is fit for a Scooby Doo inspection.

In social eventing, we had a nice dinner with some foreigners last night before heading over to the Sony party for the new DC Online game. The party wasn’t crowded — perhaps because of a competing Marvel/Activision soiree? — but it was odd to be in a place where people asked us blankly, “So what brings you to Comic-Con?” The only other people we recognized were Chris Butcher, Scott Robins, longtime Beat pal Paul from Action-Figure.com, who already has all the toy news from the show up, and of course the man of the hour, Jim Lee, who spent many hours designing the game. We’re not getting a full-on demo until Sunday, but the game looks to be a big success for DC, and another example of how DC is successfully licensing its stable.

Despite boycott hopes, it sounds like everyone else was over at the Hyatt, but we decided to get some vital supplies at Ralphs and call it an early night for tonight’s party-thon — there are at least six competing bashes, and probably many more.

The WB booth has a life-sized model of the Owlship from WATCHMEN.

This is a pretty shitty picture but the model is cooler than dirt.

Man, these iPhones really do have lame cameras. Could only snap this surreal composite. Better photos later.

Yay, back on the Wi-Fi grid. Saddened to report that the Omni lobby no longer has free Wi-Fi , making the former blogger’s paradise a wasteland, albeit one with much better food.

After a decade of vowing never to return on a Tuesday, we now find it the most pleasant and relaxing method of travel yet. No staying up all night for a morning flight and arriving bleary-eyed and already behind the eightball. Instead we enjoyed an empty airport (both ways), a peaceful arrival, a pleasant dinner, and then an awesome kickoff cocktail party at Ben Templesmith’s. Meanwhile, the streets are rapidly filling with badges, Star Trek-themed T-shirts, and shortboxes.

No real news that we’ve heard yet. The biggest buzz was about the Image announcement yesterday, but speculation over its effects remains muted.

Just as a reminder, this panel on Friday is a must attend:

Remembering Rory: The Rory Root Tribute – 3:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. Room 22

When Comic Relief owner Rory Root passed away in May, a huge void was left in the comics’ world. Please join us as we pay tribute to a man who helped everyone in the world of comics – from publishers to creators to aspiring artists to retailers. Rory left a lasting legacy, so we hope you can join Joe Field (Flying Colors Comics), Bob Wayne (DC Comics) and Jim Friel (Comic Relief) for stories, anecdotes, and memories of perhaps Comicdom’s most ardent supporter and best friend.

Well, as you may have noticed, there’s a little Hollywood shindig coming up in a few days. Whereas once, San Diego prep — with the accompanying anxiety, dashed hopes and teeth gnashing — was exclusively the provenance of the comics industry, now, the entire entertainment industry is in full throttle PR mode, harried PR girls are cold calling journos, and planning hors d’oeuvres spreads, arranging mini-junkets and sending out press availabilities like there is no tomorrow.

We’ve drifted into a more “official” press list this year, so we’ve been flooded with invites of every kind, and it’s bean a real eye opener. While it’s a given that everyone thinks the Con has left comics behind, this year, we don’t think that’s the problem. This year, the con has left NERD MOVIES AND TV SHOWS BEHIND. And it’s sad.

We can’t tell you how many invites to see some teen sex comedy called SEX DRIVE we’ve received…and ignored. We like a free movie as much as the next Fourth Estater, but San Diego isn’t about teen sex comedies, for god’s sake. It’s about ACTION SCI-FI ADVENTURE COMIC BOOK MOVIES! STAR WARS! BLADE RUNNER! 300! IRON MAN!

With the Con’s place as THE consumer entertainment marketing showcase of the year, every production company in existence is staging a presentation or panel. Look, we’re thrilled to be breathing the same air as G.Butt again, but what does a Guy Richie gangster movie have to do with Comic-Con? Really now! Guy Richie may have written a comic book for Virgin but THAT DOESN’T COUNT.

The TV offerings are even more off-topic — what do BONES, 24 and PRISON BREAK have to do with Comic-Con? Or Samurai Girl? Or Dollhouse…okay, we get THAT one.

Seriously, if you could pull some kind of Life on Mars deal and travel back to a Comic-Con from the 70s with guests Dennis Weaver, Telly Savalas, and Robert Forster, that would be cool. Mannix. We’d like to meet Mannix.

To be fair, this year’s comic book movie slate is particularly weak, due to the writers’ strike. Only WATCHMEN and THE SPIRIT are representing the home team. (No WOLVERINE? Wait a minute…) And in the meantime, where are the comics, anyway? Have they just given up on getting ANY press during the show? Isn’t there a way to treat cartoonists like the superstars they are?

At the giant European comics fests, cartoonist guests spend often an entire day doing press, TV, newspaper and nerd. It’s surprising that more US comics shows don’t adopt this model. We’ve been offered C-list TV stars out the wazoo, but not Lynda Barry. Wouldn’t a comics star’s time be better spent mixing it up between press and signings just like movie stars?

In the spirit of full disclosure, we helped set up an actual comic book press conference this year. (We’ll tell you all about it when we attend it.) It’s a bold experiment, but one we expect to catch on. We’ve heard the idea of more comic books press conferences floated by a few comics publicists, although that’s really what panels have become. Still, for a busy, dizzy, harried mainstream journo, attending a single, say, Marvel or DC event is more practical than going to half a dozen panels.

There are quite a few ways to keep the comic in Comic-Con. To their credit, EW did it right in their Comic-Con preview, including actual comic books alongside movies and TV shows. Granted, it’s hard to compete with the level of excitement over a movie like DEATH RACE, but the funny thing is that all those movie people will just be ripping off the comics in a few months anyway.

There’s are not any “Women in Comics” panels in San Diego, but there are a few women-focused panels of various sorts; there’s also this:

11:00-12:00 LEGO and BrickJournal: Brave New World— See what grown-ups and “big kids” are doing with LEGO today and what fuels them to never put the brick down! With notable guests including Joe Meno, editor and creator of BrickJournal, the magazine for adult fans of LEGO; expert builders Bryce McGlone and Brandon Griffith; and female builder Jessi Pastor. This panel showcases amazing examples of how they put their LEGO building talents to use! Dust off those old bricks in your basement and join the brave new world of LEGO builders! Room 4

Ya hear that? Expert builders AND a female builder! Nice. Below the cut, other females.

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Okay we’re outtie. NO MORE PRESS RELEASES AND BOOTH SCHEDULES. We’re done. We leave the Beat in the hands of trusted operative Mark Coale, and a new operative, S. Stahl, who has taken on the job of Beat COPYEDITOR. Thank this wonderful person — he’s a demon for commas, which we usually aren’t.

We’re hitting ground zero tonight, setting up base camp and starting up the north face at about 0900 hours tomorrow. We hope to start our ascent sometime tomorrow night, and summit on Saturday. Our preparations have mostly gone well — we’re provisioned with a ton of Vietnamese instant coffee, dried apricots and flax seed. The only setback so far — frigging Apple doesn’t let you make your own ringtones or even import ones YOU LEGITIMATELY BOUGHT, so our sweet new iPhone won’t be able to ring out with our creepy new Amon Tobin ringtones in the middle of panels. That is sad.

We’ll be Twittering, posting from mobile locales and keeping you up to date with all the snark we can scarf up. Happy trails!

As usual, The Hero Initiative will have a spectacular lineup of events and guests at the big show, inlcuding the Marvel vs DC softball game. Much more below the cut.

BOOTH SCHEDULE
WED., 23 JUL (con hours 6:00-9:00)
6:30-7:30: Scott Koblish

THUR, 24 JUL (con hours 9:30-7:00)
12:00-1:00: Gordon Purcell
1:00-2:00: Whilce Portacio
2:00-3:00: Marv Wolfman

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Via PR:

Comics Fans Meet ROYAL FLUSH MAGAZINE
- an exquisitely-produced jammed-with-comics Rock / PopCulture magazine…
+ Patton Oswalt feature interview + Patton cover by Drew Friedman
+ Meet Royal Flush @ Comic-Con and get filmed for Toyota’s HEYA social network

You can meet ROYAL FLUSH Publisher / Editor in Chief Josh Bernstein @ San DiegoComic-Con — will be roaming the Con floor, giving out 100 free copies, and also scouting for illustrators / comic strips for the next issue
*****AND Comics creators, want to show off your stuff to Toyota-drivers? There’s a lot of ‘em out there and ROYAL FLUSH’s
Josh Bernstein is documenting the Con for Toyota’s brand new art/social networking site HEYA. Want to get in on it?
email jahfurry@gmail.com to coordinate..

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Via PR:

If you’re going to be in San Diego this week for Comic-Con International 2008, be sure to stop by the Red 5 Comics booth — L03 in the small press section at the back of the hall through entrance “C”.

We’d love to chat with you to thank you for your support of Red 5, to hear your feedback and suggestions, and maybe even talk about our upcoming projects.

Many of Red 5’s creators will be on-hand at the show and at the booth at various times to chat and sign autographs, including…

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A lot is going on.

Hey True Believers, do you know where you want to spend Comic-Con International? At the Marvel Booth (#2429) of course! We’ve got more programming at our booth than ever before, featuring trailers, celebrity appearances, Q&A with your favorite creators and more! Who else would bring you a Marvel Fashion Show or surprise Marvel giveaways? Don’t forget to make a date with Booth #2429—The Marvel Booth—for Comic-Con International, as the House Of Ideas presents the Comic-Con booth you can’t miss!

A lot. Read on.

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Beat pal Marz Richards sent us info on this wild sounding party, which includes a performance by his band, RENFIELD.

C Batts Fly and Adam & Eve are releasing the revolutionary sex fantasy KISS ATTACK on DVD, directed by Carlos Batts and featuring Sasha Grey, April Flores, La Cholita, Claire Adams and a host of crazies certain to twist the mind and titillate the senses of even the tightest tough guy on the midway.

To celebrate the completion and release of KISS ATTACK, we are throwing a hell of a party for all y’all to partake in at the Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd in San Diego, CA on Saturday, July 26. This is a free show, but in order to take advantage of the FREE SHUTTLE FROM THE CON you’ll need to RSVP to kacomic@gmail.com by July 22.

Doors open at the Casbah, San Diego’s eldest and greatest hard rock venue, at 7:00 p.m.

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Not exactly sure where this is being thrown, but it’s a cute poster:

Art agent Kasra Ghanbari writes:

Ted McKeever and my company, VEI Studios, will be set up at booth #4405 in the Illustrator’s section from Thursday through Sunday. We’ll have original art by Ted available to purchase, as well as Ted’s first-ever sketchbook, a 28-page full color book that Ted will sign and number. It will be limited to 150 and sold for $20 each, $30 if the buyer would like a head sketch drawn in. There will also be a deluxe edition limited to 40 and sold for $50 each that will include an inked single-figure drawing by Ted.

Ted will appear at the Image Comics/Tori Amos panel on Saturday, July 26 between 11:30-12:30 along with Tori, David Mack, Elizabeth Genco, Kelly Sue DeConnick, and others involved in this new Image book.

Lastly, Ted will be appearing at Image’s booth #2729 for some autograph sessions. These are the times as best as we could tell from the schedule Image sent over, all 20 minute sessions, though folks may want to make sure of these times and duration at Image’s booth:

* Thursday 12:00pm
* Friday 4:40pm
* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 1:20pm

Where to find the one and only Kyle Baker:

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Steven Robson or Fanfare/Ponent Mon, publisher of some of the best manga on earth, writes that he’ll have sneak peeks of Eisner nominee Jiro Taniguchi’s THE QUEST FOR THE MISSING GIRL and some announcements:

I am exhibiting at SDCC and the Fanfare / Ponent Mon booth is C04 - it’s waaaay in the top right hand corner of the show (enter at door A and walk straight ’til you hit a wall, then turn round and wave!).

For the public I will, of course, have all my titles on sale (including the last few copies of the “awaiting reprint Blue” by Kiriko Nananan). Center stage will be Eisner nominee “The Ice Wanderer” by Jiro Taniguchi. Come wish me luck for Frdiay night! SDCC will also mark the first West Coast appearance of Disappearance Diary by Hideo Azuma which caused quite a stir during it’s unveiling at NYCC! That title will ship from Diamond soon after the show.

For the more serious and all professionals I will be unveiling Taniguchi’s next book from us “The Quest For The Missing Girl”.

Also I will have foreign language editions of several upcoming titles including “Awabi”, “Korea”, “My Mommy” and “Summit of the Gods” to show. In addition I have two massive new signings to announce. Shhhh! I have to keep some surprises!!

It’s all about dressing up over at Marvel — not only are they holding a costume contest, but a fashion show! With superheroines.

This year, the sidewalk won’t be the hottest place in San Diego– it will be in the Marvel Booth! On Friday, July 25, at 2:00, Marvel Entertainment and Disguise are proud to present their first ever fashion show. This is no cosplay; these are seriously fierce costumes worn by incredible models, strutting their stuff down the catwalk, for the debut of the sexiest line of costumes ever created and inspired by Marvel super heroes.

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Andrew Farago writes:

Here’s the lineup for The Second Annual Cartoon Art Museum Sketch-A-Thon at San Diego Comic-Con! Professional cartoonists and up-and-coming illustrators will be drawing at the Cartoon Art Museum’s booth throughout the weekend, raising funds and awareness for the only museum of its kind in the western United States.

Please visit our Facebook page for more information or contact Andrew Farago at gallery[at]cartoonart.org to volunteer your services. We’re still looking for artists for Sunday, and we’re also accepting sketches from artists who aren’t able to commit to one-hour drawing sessions at our booth.

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Craig Yoe writes:

I’m joining the San Diego Zoo next week, i.e. the San Diego ComicCon. I’ll be signing my new books “Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings” and “Comic Arf,” and I’ll be on some panels. The rest of the time I’m just hanging out. So I wuz wondering if you’re coming and if you wanna hang? If so call me on my cell at 914-325-0917 or come by the following booths and panels when I’m there as listed below.

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