SDCC '10

Read it and get exhausted all over again. Sob, sob, why did they have to put The Expendables opposite Look Around You? Some quick highlights: 10:00-11:00 Jeff Smith— The perfect way to start off Comic-Con...

San Diego Preview Night kicks off in exactly two weeks. A fortnight. And as of today we have exactly ONE PRESS RELEASE FROM A COMIC BOOK PUBLISHER IN OUR IN-BOX. While that can be explained by sheer...

In our San Diego news round-up yesterday we neglected to mention that a contest to win a pass to The Big Show is underway -- and one of its hosts is right here at the Beat! Just click on the Comic-Con banner ad at the top of the pae (if it isn't visible hit refresh and it should be) and the ink will take you to a page where you can enter the contest. Via PR, a few lucky folks have already won four-day passes:

We're gonna try not to have minutely news updates on this year's San Diego, but it's probably gonna be daily from here on out, so here's a round-up of pertinent links and ephemera. Which reminds us....isn't it time San Diego was renamed Douche Prom?

Suck it, gastroentologists! Comic-Con does SO make lots of money for the city of San Diego! At long last an in-depth survey has shown what most long suspected: the San Diego Comic-Con is a cash cow for the local economy. While the con's own internal estimates have the economic impact of the 130,000+ fans who attend Comic-Con every year at more than $50 million, official estimates by the local convention bureau had the show's fiscal impact much lower -- $32 million in 2008. However, an actual survey of con attendees in 2008 has revealed the stunning truth: the con brings in $163 million a year, QUADRUPLE what was thought.

Okay we're not going to post EVERY tv PR we find about Comic-Con, but this one struck very near and dear to our hearts -- it seems Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz, the stars of LOOK AROUND YOU are coming to comic-con. Yet another one of our favorite BBC cult shows, LOOK AROUND YOU has run on Adult Swim and if you've seen it you know that science has never been the same since these classic experiments, such as the creation of "sulphagne" or driving while asleep.

As reported here and a few other places, the San Diego Padres baseball team's schedule for July 16th contained an intriguing item called "Comic-Con Night." Which sounds promising. Sadly, it is just a mistake...

Via pr -- GLEE is coming again and it's gonna be huuuuuge; also lots and lots of Fox cartoons. Fox TV just sent out all the information on the panels for their various shows....

As you may know, in recent years, the Padres are scheduled to be on the road during Comic-Con, to alleviate congestion down by the Convention Center and probably so studios can rent out Petco...

Archie Comics has a big presence planned, and they even have Stan Lee. (Is there a publisher that doesn't have Stan Lee this year?) Other participants in Archie activity include Michael Uslan, Dan Parent, Batton Lash, Kevin Keller, Rich Koslowski and Tania del Rio.

The first time we mentioned Morgan Spurlock's upcoming documentary set at Comic-Con, both we and commenters were a bit skeptical that the casting call was aimed mostly at obsessive collector types. However we've just...

Via PR, due to the great number of hotels outside the usual shuttle route at this year's con, CCI is expanding the shuttle route, expanding bag check hours and facilitating advance parking permit purchases. All these changes will make getting to and from the con is not easy, at least easier. You can read all about it in the PR below, but it's of some note that the shuttle cost's are being partially paid by TravelPlanners -- it's no secret that Travelplanners kind of screwed things up this year, with what was supposed to be a first come, first served hotel system being changed to a willy nilly lottery.