Entertainment

Here's some news that broken prior to Comicon. Diana Rigg, best known for her time as Emma Peel on The Avengers (the British spy show Mark Waid will adapting for BOOM!, not the Marvel movie) will be appearing on Doctor Who. Come to find out, she's going to be doing an episode with her daughter, Rachel Stirling. That's pretty much another royal wedding.

We already told you about the big Adventure Time display and interactive adventure at the Children's Museum during Comic-Con. For those who are inside the con, there's also a big scavenger hunt with maps and stamps and prizes. WE WANT ONE. In case you haven't figured it out, Adventure Time is this year's Scott Pilgrim!

Sea change at the box office with weekend, with three new films catching on and some lingerers falling off. Ted takes the prize and the Avengers exit the top 10, perhaps to cede the masked market for Amazing Spider-Man.

So what happens when a room full of librarians decide to hold a comic con? Quite a bit!

All the signs have been pointing to Guardians of the Galaxy as the mystery 2014 Marvel Movie...and guess what! It is!

We're not going to post every little piece of PR about Comic-Con that's flooding our inbox, but...well...a lot is happening! Here's some of the most unlikely and exceptional events looming. Let's just say does a My Little Pony trolley ring your bell?

by Jimmy Aquino, Comic News Insider, Special to The Beat

I sat down with old pal and amazing artist Francesco Francavilla on Sunday at HeroesCon. Always a great interview, Francesco and I talked about his recent work on Batman,  upcoming Captain America/Black Widow mini-series, The Black Beetle, cover work, Comic Twart, What Not, and his genuine love for cartooning. You can check out other great interviews I got at HeroesCon over at the Comic News Insider (my podcast) site! 

We've been to a few parties over at the Children's Museum in SD, located right across the tracks from the Hyatt—notably a concert by Cheap Trick a few years back—and often wondered why it wasn't used more by party-givers. Well, what with the original Tr!ckster venue going to the studios, and now this, it seems "right across the tracks" is the new DUMBO, as Cartoon Network is taking over the Children's Museum for an Adventure Time exhibit and a "fully immersive" Adventure Time experience! That won't be popular, oh no. The exhibit opens on Wednesday of the con.

Surely if you're anywhere near the comics biz you are guzzling vats of weapons-grade caffeine in order to get you through to The Big Show. Well this cartoon by the great Gary Leib may make you think twice. Plus, The New York Times is making cartoons now?

Disclosure: Author Sean Howe interviewed me for this; and he interviewed everyone else. Coming from Harper in October:

Blow me down! It looks like Popeye may be on his way back to the big screen, and with animation master Genndy Tartakovsky at the helm: Avi and Ari Arad are producing it for Sony Animation from a script by David Ronn and Jay Scherick.

How tailored to the Beat's demographic has the summer movie season been? 7 out of the top 10 films are hitting that cartoon/SF/F range. It's really remarkable. The comedies that were supposed to be "big" are massively under-performing and studio executives aren't likely to be skipping Comicon this year. Let's just look at the Top 10 and bask in themes: