This blog is turing into a giant plug for various events and booths at the San Diego Comic Con. Someday we are going to have to start accepting paid advertising (hint, hint).Here’s one more: Stephen Silver will be selling his book The Art of Silver at his booth #2202 - and will be doing a slideshow lecture THE ART OF SILVER: ANIMATION CHARACTER DESIGN on Thursday, July 22 from 1-2:30pm in Room 7B. He’s one of the best, so this should be a great lecture.

I had a wonderful time on Friday at the grand opening party of Toby Bluth and Dave Kuhn’s new character animation studio, CAAT Studios in North Hollywood. I wish them a lot of luck - they have incredible talent, fantastic ideas, an amazing studio and a great team of people on board.While there I ran into another cool “cat”, Cynthia Petrovic, the creator of RED TANGO, a product line based on her designs, and the webmaster of Tangoland.com. I’ve written about Petrovic before, she’s an ex-Disney, ex-Klasky (and ex-other studios) animator, artist & hyphenate who decided to create her own business, based on her own ideas and art. And she’s succeeding at it. Her website is a lot of fun and her products are neat. In an era when character animators are scrambling to find a position, Petrovic has used her head and found a nice niche for her ample talents.

BREW Co-editor Jerry Beck has two more comic con highlights to plug:#1 Wonderful World of Animation Art gallery (booth #215) along with Clampett Studio Collections will welcome the top voice talents from the popular Batman, Justice League of America, and Teen Titan cartoon series on Saturday July 24th, from 1:30-3:30pm for an exclusive two-hour authorized signing event. Scheduled to attend are ADRIENNE BARBEAU (Catwoman), KEVIN CONROY (Batman), SUSAN EISENBERG, (Wonder Woman), PHIL LAMARR (Green Lantern), SCOTT MENVILLE (Robin), GEORGE NEWBERN (Superman), TARA STRONG (Batgirl) and NICHOLLE TOM (Supergirl).#2 SpongeBob SquarePants writer and voice of Plankton and Larry Lobster, Mr. Lawrence, will sign cels on Sun. July 25th from 11:00 -12:30 PM at a special Nickelodeon booth (check with booth #215 for details).Needless to say, there are literally too many things of interest for fans of animation, comic books and motion pictures at this mega-event. My head is already spinning…

The producers sent some images from their new Comedy Central series, DRAWN TOGETHER, which will be previewing at the San Diego Comic Con on Thursday. Go here for an exclusive first look at some images of the series and the main characters.

The more things change, the more they remain the same.Back in the 1970s, animation fans waited impatiently, for many long tortuous months, for a new edition of Mike Barriers FUNNYWORLD. Today with the internet, we have the advantage of being able to read Barrier’s articles and opinions online at anytime. But now we have to wait several months for Mike to update his website.Well Mike updated it today. He’s just back from a trip to Europe with observations on Disneyland Paris, additional corrections to his Carl Barks research, and a nice letter from Steve Worth about Art Babbit.Good to have you back Mike!

Here’s a link to the SHARK TALE trailer where Jeffrey Katzenberg enthralls audiences with a fish who does an impression of MC Hammer and a story that parodies THE GODFATHER. Will Smith replaces Eddie Murphy as the obligatory fast-talking street smart black character. Katzenberg is slipping though. Where’s the slo-mo MATRIX fight scene parody? That, and any semblance of entertainment, are the only two thing lacking from the trailer.

Brew co-editor Jerry Beck has certainly plugged the San Diego Comic Con enough times already, but it won’t hurt to mention once more that the complete Con programming schedule has been posted HERE. Below is my own personal list of programs that I’d like to check out. You can also find out what MUCHA LUCHA creators Lili Chin and Eddie Mort are planning to see HERE and Jerry’s plans HERE.

THURSDAY
5:30-7:00 Spotlight on Bill Plympton Room 8 (also Bill’s new film HAIR HIGH is well worth checking out on Saturday evening)

FRIDAY

1:00-2:00 Spotlight on Sid Jacobson Room 3
1:00-2:30 Spotlight on Chuck McCann Room 5AB
2:30-3:30 Disney/Pixar: The Incredibles Room 20
3:00-4:00 TOKYOPOP with Lupin III creator Monkey Punch Room 2
3:00-4:00 Why We Love Peanuts Room 3 (hosted by Gary Groth, with Gilbert Hernandez, Chip Kidd and Jean Schulz)
4:00-5:00 Remembering Bob Clampett Room 8 (hosted by Mark Evanier, with Jerry Beck, Milt Gray, Ruth Clampett, and Leo Sullivan)
5:00-6:00 Pervasive Art: Gary Baseman Room 7B
6:00-7:00 Tom Sito: The Animation Strikes Room 7B (this is a topic that fascinates me and I believe Tom’s currently working on a book about the same subject)

SATURDAY
4:30-6:00 Birth of A Nation: Hollywood, Comics and Black Culture Room 9 (with Aaron McGruder, Reginald Hudlin, Kyle Baker, Dwayne McDuffie and Denys Cowan)
6:00-7:00 Developing an Animated Property Room 2 (moderated by Jon Gibson, with a line-up including Gabe Swarr, Dave Wasson, Jorge Gutierrez, Doug TenNapel, Heather Kenyon and Eric Coleman)

Also here’s something of a late development. Nickelodeon recently asked me if I’d moderate the panel previewing their new action-packed animated series AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER (Saturday, 1-2 pm). I saw the pilot a few months ago and enjoyed it quite a bit so I’m pleased to come on board for the panel. I’m looking forward to chatting with the creators Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, as well as other folks involved with the show. Join us in Room 8 on Saturday for a screening of the pilot and a discussion about this very different type of Nick cartoon.

Two more events of interest have been brought to our attention:DreamWorks Animation will have a booth (#4321) which will screen first-look footage from “Shark Tale,” “Father of the Pride,” “Madagascar,” “The Wallace and Gromit Movie,” and “Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.” Representatives from DreamWorks will also be doing mini portfolio reviews and taking reels from 10:00AM to 12:00PM and from 2:00PM to 4:00PM on both Friday, July 23rd and Saturday, July 24th in Comic-Con’s Portfolio Review Area.On Thursday (7/22) at 4:30-5:30 in Room 6AB, a panel and preview of Comedy Central’s Drawn Together an animated “reality” series tells the “true story of eight diverse cartoon characters from all over the animated universe who live together under the same roof and have their lives taped”. Matt Silverstein, Dave Jeser, and Pete Avanzino will be on the panel. It sounds like a fun series, with characters such as “Captain Hero,” a Saturday morning super hero of the 70’s; “Clara,” a naive fairy-tale princess; “Toot,” a black & white heart throb from the 20’s; and “Spanky Ham,” a foul-mouthed Internet download pig.San Diego Comic Con