They’ve just posted the complete schedule of programming for the San Diego Comic Con, July 26-29. Below I’ve extracted the animation related programming highlights - this is by no means the only programming of interest to our readers (we highly recommend Mark Evanier’s comics history panels, for one), nor does this represent a complete listing of all animation related activities. You’re advised to plan ahead and check the full schedule yourself.

Thursday

11:30-12:30 Nickelodeon: Making Fiends An animated web series which is becoming a new Nicktoon. A panel and sneak peek with creator Amy Winfrey. Moderated by Claudia Spinelli, executive in charge for Nickelodeon. Room 2

12:30-1:30 Cartoon Network: Ed, Edd & Eddy: The Final Goodbye Danny Antonucci, the creator of the show says goodbye. Joining him are Samuel Vincent (voice of Edd), Peter Kelamis (voice of Rolf), Janyse Jaud (voice of Sarah, Lee Kanker), Scott “Diggs� Underwood (storyboard director), and “Big Jim� Miller (storyboard director). Room 1AB

2:45-3:45 Hanna Barbera Retrospective A look back at the lives and times of two of the greatest characters in the history of animation, Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Animation author/historian Tom Sito moderates a panel that includes voice director Andrea Romano, actor Gary Owens (Space Ghost), author Michael Mallory, plus animators Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone who will discuss Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale, Joe Barbera’s final animated project. Room 6B

4:00-5:00 Popeye: Well Blow Me Down! Discussing the new Warner Bros. DVD collection, Popeye The Sailor 1933–1938 Volume 1. Panelists include King Features exec Frank Caruso, cartoonist Stephen DeStefano, cartoon historian Jerry Beck, and others. Room 6B

5:00-6:00 Cartoon Network Sneak Peek A behind-the-scenes look at Cartoon Network’s newest project. Room 3

5:00-6:00 Bill Plympton Goes to the Dark Side Plympton will screen a couple of his brand new shorts, including Shuteye Hotel, and then show selected clips from his newest film, Idiots and Angels. A Q&A session will follow. Room 5AB

6:00-7:00 UPA: Mavericks, Magic, and Magoo Tee Bosustow, son of UPA founder Stephen Bosustow, looks at the lasting legacy of his father’s studio, UPA, with screenings of rare films and commercials and footage from his upcoming documentary on the studio. Long-time UPA animator Fred Crippen, creator of Roger RamJet, joins the panel. Room 3

7:15-8:45 The Pixar Story: To Infinity and Beyond - a the latest film by Oscar nominated documentary director Leslie Iwerks. Room 6CDEF

8:30-10:30 Superman Doomsday - the world premiere of Warner Bros. Animation’s made-for-DVD movie with panelists Bruce Timm, writer Duane Capizzi and members of the voice cast. Ballroom 20

Friday
10:30-11:30 Pixar Short Films Three of Disney/Pixar’s most talented filmmakers, Ralph Eggelston (For the Birds), Andrew Jimenez (One Man Band), and Gary Rydstrom (Lifted) discuss the studio’s short films, with a Q&A session to follow. Room 6CDEF

1:30-2:30 Nickelodeon’s The Mighty B! A sneak peek at The Mighty B!, a brand new Nicktoon with co-creators Cynthia True and Erik Wiese as they screen the pilot episode. Art director Seonna Hong will join the Q&A moderated by Nick exec Claudia Spinelli. Room 2

2:30-3:30 Filmation Spotlight A panel with legendary Filmation founder Lou Scheimer, voice actress Erika Scheimer (She-Ra’s Frosta and Loo-Kee), actor and SF legend Bob Burns, animation director Tom Tataranowicz, voice actor Ron Dante (lead singer of The Archies) and actors from Filmation’s live action. Room 5AB

3:30-4:30 American Dad Seth MacFarlane and the entire cast of American Dad (Wendy Schaal, Rachael MacFarlane, Scott Grimes and Dee Bradley Baker) will read an episode live with exec producers Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman. Room 6CDEF

4:15-5:45 Warner Bros. Animation: The Batman/Legion of Super-Heroes Supervising producer Alan Burnett (The Batman), producer-director Michael Goguen (Batman: The Animated Series), producer James Tucker (Justice League Unlimited), director Brandon Vietti (Superman Doomsday), and story editor/writer Michael Jelenic (The Batman) will be joined on the panel by voice cast members. Room 6B

5:00-6:00 Pitching an Animated Show Eric Coleman, VP animation, development & production at Nickelodeon; Heather Kenyon, senior director of development original animation for Cartoon Network; Jill Stewart, manager, original series, Disney Channel Animation, as well as creators Jorge R. Gutierrez (El Tigre) and Gabe Swarr (Big Pants Mouse), moderated by animation writer/creator Jon M. Gibson. Room 3CDEF

6:00-8:00 Ray Harryhausen and 20 Million Miles to Earth Stop-motion animation genius Ray Harryhausen will speak briefly, answer a few questions, then do live commentary while the film 20 Million Miles to Earth is screened. He’ll also answer more questions as the screening proceeds. Room 6B

6:30-7:30 The Chiodo Bros: Stop-Motion Animation in the Computer Age The Chiodo Bros. look at the surprising changes that computer technology has brought to stop motion. Room 5AB

9:15-10:15 Worst Cartoons Ever! Brewmaster Jerry Beck presents all-new, all awful, all-hilarious episodes of audience favorites Mighty Mr. Titan (the physical fitness superhero), Rocket Robin Hood (a spandex-clad space cadet), and Super President (a nuclear-powered weapon of mass destruction) and even more stuff you won’t believe. Room 6CDEF

Saturday
10:30-11:30 Into the Fire Nation: Nickelodeon’s Avatar Season 3 Sneak Peek Series creator Bryan Konietzko and director Joaquim Dos Santos (Justice League), head writer Aaron Ehasz (Futurama) and voice-over actor Dee Baker (Appa and Momo). Moderated by Eric Coleman, VP/executive producer. Room 6A

10:30-12:00 Animation Writers Caucus: Holy Bleep, Batman! or Censorship and Animation What can’t you say in a cartoon? What can’t you show? Why? Who says? Writers and producers of animated television series tell tales out of school about what they didn’t get to do and what they got away, in a panel sponsored by the Writers Guild of America’s Animation Writers Caucus. Featuring panelists Alan Burnett (Batman), Aaron Ehasz (Avatar), Eric Kaplan (The Drinky Crow Show), Craig Miller (Curious George), and Patric Verrone (Futurama). Room 8

10:45-12:00 The Simpsons Meet Matt Groening, Al Jean, David Mirkin, Matt Selman, Michael Price, David Silverman, Matt Warburton, Don Payne, and Yeardley Smith (voice of Lisa Simpson). Moderated by Bill Morrison. Hall H

11:30-12:30 BET Animation Reggie Hudlin (president, BET) and Denys Cowan (senior VP, BET Animation), share their vision for this new venture. Room 5AB

12:00-1:15 Cartoon Voices 1 Mark Evanier hosts his yearly panel with some of the greatest voice talent in the cartoon business. Today’s panel includes Neil Ross (GI Joe), Wally Wingert (Invader Zim), Kathy Garver (Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends), Will Ryan (Disney voice artist), and more. Room 6B

1:30-2:30 Family Guy Creator/star Seth MacFarlane, showrunner/executive producer David A. Goodman and the creative team behind Fox’s sucessful animated comedy. Room 6CDEF

2:00-3:00 State of the Animation Industry Industry experts assess the year in animation and take a look at the future. Panelists include Tim Johnson (co-director, Over the Hedge), Bill Plympton (independent animator extraordinaire), Sarah Baisley (editor, Animation World Network), Aki Umemoto (creative director, Mattel for 25 years and currently creative director of Base Station), Stephen Chiodo (Chiodo Bros. Studio), Aubry Mantz (formerly of ILM, chair of animation at Laguna College of Art & Design), and Kent Braun (DigiCel animation software). Room 8

2:15-4:00 WALL•E - Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) introduces Pixar’s newest star, WALL•E. Stanton and sound designer Ben Burtt (Star Wars) present a first look at Disney·Pixar’s next animated adventure! Hall H

2:30-4:00 Scott Shaw!: Oddball Comics Room 5AB

2:45-4:00 Cartoon Network: Class of 3000/My Gym Partner’s a Monkey - Tommy Lynch and Joe Horn, the men behind Class of 3000, talk about the upcoming season and answer questions. Also Tom Kenny (voice of Philly Phil) and the man himself, Andre Benjamin will appear. Plus, the creators and lead writer of My Gym Partner’s a Monkey, Tim Cahill, Julie McNally Cahill, and Tom Sheppard will fill you in on what’s new for the coming season. Plus, a sneak peek of the upcoming show Flapjack. Room 6A

3:30-4:30 Futurama Matt Groening is proud to announce the long-awaited return of the animated sci-fi comedy classic Futurama! Matt and executive producer David X. Cohen will be on the dais, accompanied by writer Ken Keeler, animation directors Peter Avanzino and Dwayne Carey-Hill, and for the first time together on stage in any universe, actors Billy West (Fry), Katey Sagal (Leela), John DiMaggio (Bender), and Maurice LaMarche (Kif Kroker)! The cast and crew will entertain your questions and present a sneak peek at Bender’s Big Score! in glorious wide-screen format! Moderated by Bill Morrison. Ballroom 20

6:00-7:00 Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions - Author/animator Tom Sito discusses the secrets behind the animation labor movement, from his new book, Drawing the Line. Room 4

6:30-7:30 The Animation Production Process - What goes into bringing an animated script to screen? Producers Stephanie Graziano (X-Men: The Animated Series), Tad Stones (Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms), and Greg Weisman (Spectacular Spider-Man) take you behind the scenes and into the trenches. Moderated by Shannon Muir, management coordinator at Animation World Network. Room 3

Sunday
10:45-11:45 El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera - Creators and co-executive producers Jorge Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua and supervising director Dave Thomas offer an inside look at what’s coming up this fall on their hit series El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera. Then, sit back and laugh as you enjoy a live table read of a never-before-seen episode El Tigre, featuring series leads Alana Ubach (voice of Manny), Grey DeLisle (voice of Frida), Eric Bauza (voice of Rodolfo), and Carlos Alazraqui (voice of Granpapi).Room 6B

12:00-1:15 Cartoon Voices II - Back for more with some of the greatest voice talent in cartoons today! Moderator Mark Evanier talks with Tom Kenny (Spongebob Squarepants), Michael Bell (Rugrats), Gregg Berger (Transformers), Joe Alaskey (Duck Dodgers), and others in this second installment. Room 6B

1:30-2:30 Cartoon Network: Ben-10 - Creator Alex Soto answers the questions you’ve been dying to know. Meagan Smith (voice of Gwen) will be on hand to liven things up. Room 6B

Props to Ruben Procopio — who worked at Disney animation for many years, and whose father was a sculptor at Disney for 35 years — who has been doing great sculpts for Tracy Mark Lee and Electric Tiki. The Woody Woodpecker statues he did are particulary great (and I should know, I have ‘em myself).

Speaking of Woody, my friends at StoryMakers Studio tell me that response to our announcement last week about the big Salute to Woody Woodpecker and Walter Lantz at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood has been tremendous.

Preceeding a screening of 12 Lantz classics, they’ve got a panel with June Foray, Maurice LeMarche and Billy West, who will now be joined by animator Phil Roman and our friend Leonard Maltin — sounds like a fun evening. The panel will be video taped and available online at a later date (to be announced). I’ve been informed there is still a small block of seats available for the live event – which for Cartoon Brew readers is free. To sign up for the event, or to reserve your online viewing pass, click here. If you sign up for the live event or an online viewing pass, you can post questions for the panel.

I forgot to mention I’m showing a few cartoons tonight at the Janet Klein concert in Hollywood. 8pm at the Steve Allen Theatre. More details here.

The awards ceremony of the Platform festival had some pretty funny moments, one of the funnier being Don Hertzfeldt’s acceptance speech after winning the prize for “Best Film Under $5000.” Check out what happened during his speech. The award presenter is Marv Newland.

If I weren’t going to the San Diego Comic Con, I’d love to be at the multiple Animation Block Party screenings around New York City, July 27-30. The line-up of films has just been announced and the programming includes work by our friends Bill Plympton, Don Hertzfeldt and lots of local talents. More info posted here.

I’ll share my thoughts on the Platform festival in a bit, but first, a few snaps from this past week. As you can probably tell from these few photos, it was quite the star-studded deal. If you want to check out even more photos, FPS magazine has two great sets posted onto Flickr: one by Jason Vanderhill and another by Tamu Townsend. The official Platform photographers also have hundreds of photos posted onto Picasa. Also if you have other photos that really need to be posted up here, you can send them to me.

Indie animation is alive and well in the States thanks to guys like Don Hertzfeldt (l.) and PES.

Holland Animation Film Festival director Gerben Schermer (l.) and legendary indie animator George Griffin

JJ Sedelmaier is startled to see me in person as he reads Cartoon Brew on his laptop.

Jerry Beck moderates a fine panel about Basil Wolverton. Panelists from left to right are Monte Wolverton, Kenny Scharf and Marv Newland.

Innovators like Guilherme Marcondes and Miwa Matreyek help make the LA animation scene exciting nowadays.

The amazing directing duo Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes with PES’s producer Sarah Phelps.

Finnish animation artist Eliza Jäppinen was a troublemaker at my Tom Oreb lecture but we made up after she gave me one of her insanely cool business cards.

I have no idea what Bill Plympton (l.), ASIFA-East prez Dave Levy and commercial producer John Andrews are discussing but judging from Plympton’s hand gesture, it’s pretty important.

Laika hand-drawn animation director Ward Jenkins tries to convince stop motion animators Jerold Howard and Musa Brooker that they’re still relevant in today’s CG world.

Stop-mo powerhouses Seamus Walsh and Mark Caballero of Screen Novelties fame are captured in the middle of a delicate business negotiation.

It was invigorating to see painter Kenny Scharf and other artists from non-animation disciplines participating in the festival.

Plympton collaborator Lisa LaBracio gets her twisted kicks by stealing the hats of important animation historians.

Installations and performance art were big items at this year’s Platform as evidenced by this balloon installation created in Biljana Labovic’s hair. Jessica Plummer (c.) and Pat Smith don’t know quite what to think.

Gunnar Strom (l.) tells Steve Segal about all of the wondrous sights to see in Norway…all three of them.

Danny Antonucci (right) and A.K.A. co-workers Hyuck (c.) and Dan Sioui admire vintage motorcycles hanging in the air at this fine Portland bar.

Jennifer Shiman, creator of the popular Flash series 30 Second Bunnies Theatre and her fiance.

Animators Paul Harrod, Joanna Priestley and Brooke Keesling could have just eaten the most amazing pizza ever but opted to order other items on the menu.

CN exec (and former MTV exec) Peter Dougherty, filmmaker and Royal College of Art instructor Ruth Lingford, and Projector Festival director Susie Wilson. Photo by Biljana Labovic.

UPDATES:
*Frederator exec Eric Homan points out that there’s a Flickr set from Frederator’s Drinking & Drawing event. And remember, at the end of the day, we’re all one big happy family in the animation world.

* Filmmaker and historian John Canemaker has sent in a couple pics from his presentation with Marge Champion, the dancer and choreographer who provided the live-action reference for Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

In this second pic, Canemaker writes that, “The child in the shot is Ava Jenkins, Ward Jenkins’s little girl. Marge is telling her that she once worked with a girl at MGM named Ava: Ava Gardner!”

* And here’s a tip: if you’re not feeling well and have a long lecture coming up about Tom Oreb, you probably shouldn’t be doing this right before your presentation. The photo is by Matt Tamaru who’s posting some nice shots on his Flickr, including pics of Joel Trussell, Bill Plympton and Will Vinton.

* Brooke Keesling has sent in a couple terrific photos. This first one has from left to right: Brooke, Jerry Beck, Nick exec Eric Coleman and PBS exec Linda Simensky.

And this one is Brooke, myself, John Canemaker and Ward Jenkins.

* Ward Jenkins has posted his festival photoset onto Flickr.

* A nice Platform photo set by Eric Urban

This is my last report from the Platform Fest in Portland, the last time you’ll see my mug here for a long while. That’s me on the left and award winner Lee Rubenstein (Best Film for the Internet, Secret Life of Robots) holding the coolest animation trophy ever created, The God Of Animation (designed by James Jarvis).

Winners of the festival competition included Aardman’s The Pearce Sisters (Grand Priz award, shared with installation project, No Never Alone), Pen Ward’s Adventure Time (Best Film For Children), and Don Hertzfedlt’s Everything Will Be Okay (Best Film Under $5000). Click here for complete list.

The Awards ceremony and after party, tonight, were a blast. Bill Plympton was the host and guest presenters included Marv Newland, Danny Antonucci, Gary Rydstrom and Will Vinton. I’m a bit too tired at the moment to write a full report, but the entire week was an incredible success. But let it be known: a new major animation festival has been born.

Yes, it’s Jerry sniffing Gromit’s butt. A cel phone photo snapped at Platform Animation Festival, Portland OR — Thursday, 6.28.07, 04:00 pm

Amid gives a great presentation on designer Tom Oreb. Two photos by Tom Knott, Platform Animation Festival, Portland OR — Wednesday, 6.27.07, 04:20 pm

Jerry meets Marge Champion on Broadway - in Portland Oregon. Photo snapped on my funky cel phone by Toby Bluth. Platform Animation Festival, Portland OR — Thursday, 6.28.07, 05:00 pm