Can't do nuthin' without a schedule.

Same as it ever was, only this year, by the time this post is published, I won’t even have a job that feints at the prospect of affording San Diego Comic-Con...or will I? Seriously, will I? Anyway...

Thursday

12th Annual Musical Anatomy of a Superhero and Other Heroes | Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront | 10:00a - A lot of composers here from recent projects, including the son of Michael Giacchino (incidentally, also the panel’s moderator) and the wife of Atticus Ross. It really is who you know in this business.

Animation History with Jerry and Mark | Room 9 | 10:00a - Jerry Beck and Mark Evanier will answer questions about animation and express what must be a mind-blowing amount of combined knowledge about the subject.

Rhapsody PR’s 18th Annual Behind-the-Music Panel: Supersonic | Room 29CD | 11:30a - Another composer panel where I know only half the people on the dais...and even then, I only have one CD between them. Really, who knows what composers will be working by the time I break in?

Bear McCreary: Musical Worldbuilding | Room 6BCF | 11:45a - Okay, a promising (and familiar) talent in the field of film composition and he gets a panel all to himself. That’s how damn good he is.

Great Cartoonists and Comedians We Have Known | Room 9 | 12:00p - Evanier is back and this time, he and Leonard Maltin talk about the many artistic talents they've crossed paths with. 

Malcolm and Friends | Room 6A | 12:30p - Really hoping I can get in on this action someday. Not sure I’m extroverted enough to host a panel like this. I can be the guy on the end who chimes in, occasionally.

Anniversary of Deja Vu and the Art of Time Travel Writing for TV and Film | Room 25ABC | 1:00p - Haven’t seen Deja Vu since it opened, but I am interested in the mechanics of time travel, especially since I’m planning at least two different time travel scripts.

-Lunch break-

Thematic Tunes from Star Wars to Pokemon | Room 6A | 4:15p - Okay, I’m not sure how this will work as composers are pretty much forbidden from creating themes for film scores these days, but it’ll be interesting to see them flail their way through an explanation.

-Dinner break-

Fleischer Cartoons: Greatest Hits Vol. 1 | Room 28DE | 7:00p - A panel where one gets to hear about the history and restoration of legendary cartoons. I might even get to watch some of them.

The 29th Annual Superhero Kung Fu Extravaganza | Room 6A | 8:00p - A whole bunch of fight scenes and, really, what more could one ask?


Friday

Regular Show: the Lost Tapes | Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront | 10:00a - I am not loving the new direction the show is taking. “Stilt Walkers” and “Coffee Shop Wars” are the only episodes I would classify as legitimately good. Pretty much everything else seems to dump on Benson in some way and that gets awesomely offensive after a while.

Bad Medicine in TV and Film | Neil Morgan Auditorium, San Diego Central Library | 10:00a - Apparently, there’s a podcast that explores what movies and television get wrong about medicine and fixing people up...and it’s called ‘Hi, Everybody!’. 

Collector’s Call with Lisa Whelchel and MeTV | Room 6DE | 10:00a - At the same time, it is crazy that this is getting a Comic-Con panel, but also, it seems entirely appropriate.

Intro to TV Writing: From First Draft to Getting Staffed | Room 28DE | 10:00a - One question: are there even writers’ rooms anymore? Be really interesting to break an episode of a show and figure how to piece it together...but mainly, I suppose I’m nostalgic for the days of episodic television instead of a serialized show. Too many moving pieces there.

Love in Every Universe: The Great Romance Trope Debate | Room 32AB | 10:00a - A chance to debate which romance tropes work and which ones don’t. Not a problem. ‘I Love You, But Not When Anyone is Looking’, ‘I Treat You Like the Floor Around Stevie Wonder's Urinal Because I'm Not Emotionally Stable Enough to Tell You That I Really Love You’ and ‘I'm Annoying My Way Into Your Heart, Therefore You Have No Choice But to Fall In Love with Me’ can all go fuck themselves.

-Lunch break-

The Pitching Hour | Room 32AB | 12:00p - The time-honored ritual of explaining to the people with money exactly why they should carve out some of it for your heart’s desire...but the idea of getting in front of people is not my idea of a good time, so I think I’ll be heading to...

Writing Dialogue That Drives Your Scenes | Room 3 | 12:00p - Now, I consider myself pretty good when it comes to a line of dialogue or turn of phrase, but we could all use some help in this regard.

President Curtis Premiere Panel | Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront | 1:00p - I have to say that the ads for this look fun. Not much more I can say.

The Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics | Room 4 | 1:00p - There are so many aspects to McDuffie that I wish I could share, it’s hard not to admire the guy.

25 Years of Pearls Before Swine: Stephan Pastis and Bill Amend | Room 29CD | 1:30p -  Haven’t read the comic section - much less a newspaper - in an age, but I do remember the bite that this strip had (and, presumably, still does).

John Cusack Showcases the Surreal World of Momo | Rom 5AB | 2:30p - The ol’ film career stalling out? Create a comic book. I wonder what Savage Steve Holland would think of Cusack having, more or less, become Hoops McCann.

Collider’s Showrunners on Showrunning | Ballroom 20 | 3:00p - Once upon a time, I had a fantasy of showrunning a reboot of “Danny Phantom” (better character motivations, organic humor, darker tone, all that good stuff). It wouldn’t hurt to know the ins and outs of putting a show together...but then, I would probably have to answer to that “Ha, Ha, You Clowns!”-looking mother running Paramount and, in the words of another Nickelodeon show, “Uh, no?”.

You’re Wrong Again, Leonard Maltin | Room 24ABC | 3:30p - Having discovered Witness to Murder (***/4) and The Man Who Knew Too Little (**/4), this panel is more needed than ever.

J. Michael Straczynski Workshop | Room 11 | 5:00p - Surely, I can learn something from a writer of movies, television, comics and books.

Spotlight on Jim Cummings | Room 6BCF | 5:45p - Not the indie filmmaker, which I suppose wouldn’t make much sense now that I think about it, but the acclaimed voice actor. Seriously, that guy needs to consider a middle initial.

Black Heroes Matter: Icons and Identity | Room 28DE | 7:00p - I’m not sure if I could work on an existing one, but I might be able to create one or two of my own.

-Dinner break-

Fourth Annual Ghostface’s Killer Trivia | Room 25ABC | 9:00p - Really, how can I not be curious? (Strange that I’m not very keen on horror movies and yet, I know so much about them.)


Saturday

Bob’s Burgers | Ballroom 20 | 10:00a - The fatigue is definitely setting in (One of the last two episodes of the season featured the kids snarking at Bob, even while he was enmeshed in a disgusting and dangerous situation he might never have come back from, and the other one spotlighted Hugo, which just…ugh!), but I’ll more than likely be watching the next season.

Dark Horse: Star-Powered Storytelling | Room 23ABC | 10:00a - I’m sure that the comics that Patton Oswalt and David Dastmalchian wrote are good, but watching them shoot the shit would be even better.

MeTV’s Svengoolie Returns: Camera Ready | Room 6DE | 10:00a - Ah, Saturday with Svengoolie and the Sven Squad, but Saturday morning? Most peculiar.

Why Do Saturday Morning Cartoons Still Matter and How Are They Shaping the Next Generation? | Room 9 | 10:00a - How Saturday morning cartoons came to be. As with traditional writers’ rooms, I guess I am just nostalgic for a time that does not exist anymore and probably never will again. (BTW, totes unfair that this and the Svengoolie panel are happening at the same time.)

Inside the Writers Room: Re-imagining Television for the New Normal | Room 24ABC | 10:00a - Pretty much what I said about yesterday’s “From First Draft to Getting Staffed”. Maybe, having a deadline staring me in the face would get me to produce stuff.

Futurama | Ballroom 20 | 11:00a - It’s weird to even list this show as I haven’t watched it since the Comedy Central era. Even so, could the Hulu run be that bad?

Next Stages of Movie and Theater Evolution | Neil Morgan Auditorium, San Diego Central Library | 11:00a - Despite people having forgotten their manners, overpriced concessions and ludicrously brief theatrical windows, I still believe in the moviegoing experience and I will fight like hell to maintain it. (I’m kind of reminded of that Ernest Hemingway line at the end of Se7en.)

-Lunch break-

American Dad! | Ballroom 20 | 12:45p - There’s been a couple of speed bumps along the way (fuck you, Mertz), but for the most part, things are sailing along quite well with this show. I can’t wait to see where it goes next. However, I don’t remember hearing about any premiere dates for this or “Bob’s Burgers”. Meanwhile, the fact that the sub-“Jeff and Some Aliens” bullshit airing alongside “The Simpsons” get Fall slots doesn’t exactly fill me with joy. 

The Greatest American Hero Returns | Grand 10 & 11, Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina | 1:00p - I’m certainly more familiar with the theme song than the show itself, but as I mentioned before, I did enjoy the sample on Free Comic Book Day.

The Saturday Cartoon Voices Panel | Room 6BCF | 1:00p - No matter how old I get and how many of these (sometimes hypothetical) cons I go to, I doubt I’ll ever get tired of a bunch of voice actors going ham on a pre-existing script.

Building a Pop Culture Podcast | Neil Morgan Auditorium, San Diego Central Library | 2:00p -  There seem to be a lot of moving parts to making a podcast. One thing is for certain: I do not want to leave listeners hanging. For example, no fewer than two different podcasts promising to cover every movie from the 1980s crapped out over the ears. This panel may help me out...or I could get some tips from my younger sister. I still can’t believe she has a podcast and I don’t.

Mad Rewind: Talking About Mad TV | Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront | 3:00p - Honestly, I can count on one hand the recurring characters on this show that didn’t annoy me, but the sketches they weren’t in were damn funny and the performers were up for anything. Some good times I had with this.

Dugout Dads: From the Sandlot to the Dugout | Room 6DE | 4:15p - I would not have expected The Sandlot to get a legacy sequel, but fate has a way of surprising you. The whole crew (minus the sadly trouble-prone Mike Vitar) is back. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious.

Spotlight on J. Michael Straczynski | Room 7AB | 4:30p - Getting to know one of the more interesting talents in film, television and comics. Sounds cool.

Dread the Hall H 2026: More (Fictional) Comic Convention Horror Stories | Room 23ABC | 5:00p - I get the sense that you could squeeze a damn good thriller out of one or two of the stories recounted here (with the names changed, obvi), which is reason enough to check this panel out. Until then, the comic will have to suffice.

1980s Comic-Con Lost Videos Part III: The Trilogy | Room 29CD | 5:30p - Footage from Comic-Cons from the early 1980s. That should be enough of a lure for anyone.

From Indies to Blockbusters: The Storytelling Power of Diversity | Room 6A | 5:30p -  I want to help. The casts of my projects will not - and should not - be limited to one color.

A Look Back at Animated Series from the '80s | Room 7AB | 6:30p - Over the last couple weeks on the ‘80s cartoons’ subreddit, people have been posting the Saturday Morning schedules from every year of the decade and I can’t help but thank my lucky stars I was too young to register anything from that era, because 90% of the shows from the first half of the decade sound absolutely dire. Still, it’s hard not to feel a twinge of vicarious nostalgia for that time.

The Unsung Heroes of Superhero Films | Room 29CD | 6:30p - Various below-the-line talents, including Christopher Young! - offer their know-how and insight into what goes into creating a superhero movie and that alone works for me.

-Dinner break-

An Evening with Kevin Smith | Hall H | 7:15p - A lot of Hall H’s offerings leave me cold, but this one I absolutely need to get into, at some point. Smith is a master of these stories, more so than telling stories on film. Go figure.

Trivia for the Rest of Us: Let’s Play! | Room 29AB | 9:00p - Panels like this are, let us face it, the closest I will ever get to being on a game show. (Honestly, I would much rather play as a nobody and squirrel away money for myself than as a celebrity and give the money to a charity and if you think that sounds greedy, take a good look in the mirror and try to disagree.)


Sunday

90s Cartoon Draft 2026 | Neil Morgan Auditorium, San Diego Central Library | 10:00a - A bit of audience participation seems to be encouraged for four comedians drafting their perfect team of 90s cartoon characters. Should be fun.

Writing Cozy Villains | Grand 10 & 11, Marriott Marquis, San Diego Marina | 10:00a - The villains in my movies I’m writing for the Complete Monster page at TV Tropes (because - let’s face it - some motherstuffers cannot be rehabilitated), but it’d be interesting to see how to create an adversary you love to watch.

The Voices of Billy West | Room 6A | 10:30a - From “Ren & Stimpy” to “Doug” to “Futurama”, I’ve grown up listening to this cat. He’ll be sharing stories from his memoirs, which could be promising.

Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor at 50 | Room 4 | 11:00a - It was primarily the movie that led me to the comics so maybe, this panel will affect me and maybe, it won’t.

The Sunday Cartoon Voices Panel | Room 6A | 11:45a - Pretty much what I said about Saturday’s panel, but with a different group of voice actors. I just can’t get enough.

The Choice Behind the Voice | Neil Morgan Auditorium, San Diego Central Library | 12:00p - How to pick the right voice for the right character is a question I just know every voice actor has asked themselves at one time or another. I would love to know how it works.

-Lunch break-

Starship Smackdown XXXIII: We're Getting Too Old for This Ship Edition | Room 6A | 2:45p - The best ship for an interstellar journey. Who’s to say? Maybe, this panel can.

In My Y2K Era: Anime Fandom Before Streaming and Social Media | Room 24ABC | 3:00p - Watching Sailor Moon before school on 29 and moving onto the likes of Outlaw Star and Yu Yu Hakusho on Toonami? I remember it well.

It Came from the Black Lagoon: Universal’s 3-D Movies of the 1950s | Room 28DE | 4:00p - Having been raised on a steady diet of these things thanks to Svengoolie, I can think of no better way to close out San Diego Comic-Con, then a retrospective on Universal’s 3-D offerings.

The festivities begin on July 23rd. Hell, if I could somehow hop into someone else’s body that’s already in San Diego, I would love to go, but elaborating on that kink is for another time.