Comic-Con 2007: It's a Wrap

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Here are a few of our personal highlights, low points and some of the projects we saw at Comic-Con that we look forward to catching in the future.

Alison Bechdel brings the 'Fun Home'

The Brando of comics

When I was a kid there was no comics character I loved more than Batman, and the main reason was Neal Adams.

Adams, the top superstar artist of the 1970s, had a graceful, almost photo-realistic style that, for the first time, made Gotham City a place you believed was real. I got to spend a couple of hours with Adams and his wife, Marilyn, Friday night and it was an extraordinary treat for a grown-up fanboy.

Adams was not only a sublime illustrator, he was a lion for artist rights and, with his burly build and tough-guy talk, it struck me that he is the comics world's answer to Marlon Brando -- a brawny poet with a social conscience, a shining star of his generation who always clashed with conformity and took headstrong excursions from the predictable career path.

Real women read comics

The view from the easel

If you stop by the Marvel Comics booth right now you can chat with artist Ron Lim, who draws "The Fantastic Five." (If you don't follow recent Marvel history, that would be the Fantastic Four plus Franklin Richards, the son of Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman.)

I remember Lim best for his work on the Silver Surfer and wanted to know what he thought of seeing the character hit the movie screen this summer. "It was just great to see; I thought CGI was fantastic. It's a little strange to see a character you drew up there."

I told Lim about a conversation I had a few months ago with Frank Miller, who said he's had some conflicted reactions when he's seen some of his contributions to the Batman mythos up on the movie screen without credit or compensation.

"Sure, yeah, I think artists now are pretty used to that. The company owns it once you do the art, and people take that and use it in a lot of ways. But it's such an exciting time to be in comics, there's so much going on. And this today: I knew it was going to be huge; I wasn't ready for this. It's unbelievable."

--Geoff Boucher

Minx announces seven new titles for 2008

I just wanted to provide a quick list of the seven new titles from Minx, the first imprint from a major American comic-book publisher (DC Comics) devoted to teenage girls. My personal favorite from the new imprint is the debut title "The Plain Janes," by Cecil Castellucci (author) and Jim Rugg (illustrator).

We caught up with Castellucci and Rugg at the DC booth this afternoon at their book signing, and they gave us a sneak peek of "Janes in Love," the second book in the series. We'll have more for you on that later. But for now, I'm very curious to see these new titles and whether they're as strong as "The Plain Janes." Check out their descriptions and tell us which, if any, you look forward to most.

-- Sheigh Crabtree

Look! Up in the sky!

Plenty of actors have been Superman through the years, but Adam Baldwin is the first one to do a death scene. "It's pretty intense," Baldwin said by phone today from the set of the television show "Chuck."

He couldn't make it to Comic-Con for the world premiere Thursday night of "Superman: Doomsday," the first in DC's new line of direct-to-DVD movies. The animated movie adapts the "Death of Superman" story that remains the best-selling single issue in comics history.

"For the character, the main thing I tried to do was be consistent and not overact or try take him too far in any direction. To me Superman is 'Truth, justice and the American way.' I'm from the Midwest. I think that's why they picked me."

People who watched Baldwin in the recording studio said he is an especially, uh, animated guy.

"For the fight scenes and action you have to move around to get that to sound authentic, but you have to try to be constrained so you don't knock things down. And the director kept telling me not to 'pop your Ps.' Words with Ps can send a vibration through the microphone that doesn't sound good."

Baldwin didn't grow up as a comics kid ("I was too busy playing hockey"), but his pal Joss Whedon tuned him up. Baldwin (who is not a Baldwin brother, in case you were wondering) said the best thing about playing Superman was doing it in a cartoon. "That way you don't have to wear the tights."

--Geoff Boucher

Meet the Brain Janes

Mainstream fans made a beeline for Jessica Alba at an autograph signing for "Good Luck Chuck" on the show floor tonight.

But upstairs, off in a small meeting room a few hours later, a tiny but powerful group of women editors, artists and writers gathered to honor the Jessica Abel's of the world. Meaning, they celebrated the best work by women in the comics field at the annual Friends of Lulu Awards.

Photo: S. Crabtree LAT

(From left, Jennifer de Guzman, editor, Slave Labor Graphics; and Mary Kate Reed, co-editor, "The Girls' Guide to Guys' Stuff.")