Allo everyone! So we went to ComicCon this year, and brought back a lot of pictures, a lot of good memories and stories, and also a lot of jet-lag. Here is a quick rundown of our experience this year.
San Diego ComicCon International is one of the biggest comic events around – a four-day convention dedicated to comics and related popular arts. That’s where you can check out all your favourite creators/artists, publishers and merchandising, and get snapped with wandering Transformers or Stormtroopers if you want to.

Of course, cosplay is rife, and I must say that with the exception of a few “interesting” Narutos it was done extremely well. Ask my zombie friend (mmm, brains).

The crowds were very mixed, with all ages and both genders represented fairly equally, and everyone looked very happy to be there to be there… Including little girls meeting their favourite princesses and heroines:

Of course you could also get your mitts on all kind of merchandise, including geek bling (d20 dice necklace anyone?) (I got two), accessories of all kinds, and great figurines and toys:

But mainly there were a whole lot of cool comics to be looked at and bought, and a lot of creators and famous comics personalities around (too many to list, or nearly!), signing and chatting away with the fans… I even managed to meet the talented and ever so friendly Ben Templesmith, who drew me a very nice Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse sketch. But no, I didn’t take pictures of Angelina Jolie or Ryan Reynolds, sorry.

As for ourselves, we got busy too and our Senior Producer Adriana participated in a very interesting panel about digital comics (“The Digital Age of Comics— Have we moved from the Bronze Age to the Modern Age to…the Digital Age of Comics?”), along with Jeff Webber (IDW Publishing), Michael Murphey (iVerse) and Jeff Smith, creator of Bone. Interesting forum, with a lot of positive comments on digital comics, and a healthy discussion on the relationship and future of print and digital mediums. It was also nice to hear good feedback from Mr Smith, who likes what we’ve done with his comics on PSP. If you want to see for yourselves, make sure you check out Bone– an epic fantasy saga with a solid sense of humour, which has won many awards and has been chosen as one of the 10 best English language graphic novels ever written by Time. Very cool comic!

Panels aside we also had the chance to catch up with all of our lovely publishers, and to get talking to some more, and hint: you’ll be hearing a lot of exciting news from us later this year! Oh yes.
And what of San Diego, you ask? We loved it! Beautiful, friendly city, with PALM TREES! I mean, how exotic when you live in London. Plus when you find the Batmobile randomly parked in the street, you know you’re in the right place.

So our ComicCon was exciting, interesting, busy, productive, thrilling, and tiring. Did I mention awesome?
Thanks for reading, and see you in the comments if you have any questions on ComicCon or on which pancakes we ate for breakfast.

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While we do our best to cover the most important events on the gaming calendar, there are some — such as ComicCon — that we just can’t get out to. Luckily, Jeff Rubenstein of the US PlayStation Blog has our communal back and has been blogging furiously. In case you missed it, here’s his handy round-up of the inFAMOUS 2 panel.

Panels are typically the highlights of Comic-Con, but truth be told, they’re a bit of a pain in the arse. You end up waiting in a long line (sometimes for hours), fight for good seats with people who are squatting for the Vampire Chick Lit panel happening like 2 days later in the same room, and endure one or more of the following: difficult lighting/audio issues/off-topic Q&As.

Wouldn’t it be easier if all the good stuff was cut down into, say, 7 minutes and 53 seconds?

In this highlight reel of the inFAMOUS 2 Comic-Con panel, the Sucker Punch team talks about the creation of Cole and the changes he’s gone through since the first inFAMOUS (including his voice), how New Orleans is an influence on inFAMOUS 2’s setting of New Marais, and, the all important question of why Cole can’t climb chain link fences:

And round of applause for IGN’s Greg Miller – huge inFAMOUS fan and panel host extraordinaire. Nice job moderating, Greg.

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Hot on the heels of our E3 inFAMOUS 2 playthrough, we wanted to share with you the very first sneak-peek at one of the 2D cut-scenes from inFAMOUS 2. Check out the below from Edward Pun, Senior Artist at Sucker Punch Productions:

For all of our awesome fans who weren’t at Comic-Con this year, I’m really excited to share the first look at the 2D cutscenes from inFamous 2 we debuted yesterday night!

As Senior Artist on the title, I work with the art teams to help production run smoothly and tackle the huge task of drawing every frame of our graphic cut scenes. It’s time consuming and a lot of hard work but in the end, I hope inFAMOUS 2 will reflect our love for comic books and give fans the experience of being a super powered hero. It means a lot to both me and the team to see all the love you have for inFAMOUS. In addition, we may have some Comic-Con panel highlights next week to share as well.

Also, some of you may have seen this behind the scenes video on the US blog – enjoy!

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As hype builds in preparation for San Diego Comic Con in North America, we’ll be updating the EU PlayStation.Blog with a raft of DC Universe Online news over the coming week.

And where better to start than with the confirmation that two fan favorites and top notch VO veterans will provide voices for the upcoming action MMO. Check out the below from SOE:

Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) announced today that two of animation’s most well-known talents lead a triple-A cast of voice actors in providing their skills for the upcoming online action game, DC Universe™ Online. Mark Hamill (Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: The Animated Series) will once again voice The Joker, while Kevin Conroy (Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League Unlimited, Batman: Arkham Asylum) brings to life everyone’s favorite dark knight, Batman.

“We’re excited that not only will Mark and Kevin bring their talent back to the DC Universe as part of DC Universe Online, but we’ve hit the jackpot with a full cast that are veterans of all the movies, TV shows, and games that our fans are crazy about,” said Sony Online Entertainment Vice President of Development John Blakely. “Several of these actors are recognized as the definitive voices for these characters, and will help us in creating an authentic and exciting experience for fans when they get in the game.”

Besides becoming an international pop-culture icon as the protagonist in George Lucas’s original Star Wars trilogy, Mark Hamill’s career has encompassed virtually all aspect of modern media available to an actor – stage, screen, television, movies and video games. He has performed in hundreds of TV cartoons: Batman: The Animated Series, The Simpsons, Ren & Stimpy, Samurai Jack, Spider-Man, Powerpuff Girls, The Hulk, Fantastic Four, Little Mermaid, Phantom 2040, Johnny Bravo, Fairly Odd Parents, The Flintstones, Jonny Quest and Scooby Doo. He’s also provided his voice for several animated feature films: Joseph, Prince of Dreams, Balto II, Wizards, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker, for which he received two “Annie” award nominations.

Kevin Conroy is best known to audiences for his role as Batman in Batman: The Animated Series. Conroy continued to voice Batman in the subsequent series The New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited. His tenure in the role also includes the films Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, and Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman. He also voiced Batman for the character’s guest appearances in Superman: The Animated Series, Static Shock, and The Zeta Project. Conroy has also voiced Batman in the DC Universe animated original movies Batman: Gotham Knight, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, and Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. In a full tally of his performances, Conroy has portrayed the superhero longer than any other actor in either live-action or animation.

The rest of the cast will provide voices for the following iconic characters: (more…)

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As I’m sure you’re acutely aware, Comic-Con 2010 is finally upon us. While the whole world (and his/her dog) descends in droves to the San Diego Convention Center, some of us have been left behind to make sure you all have some nice new books to read. Jealous? You bet.

Luckily, this week sees a veritable plethora of eye-catching new releases to, erm, catch your eye.
Ever fancy sinking your teeth into a nearby nubile neck? Longing for some erotically-charged romance, wry humour and intriguing mystery and suspense? Fill your boots with True Blood, an all-new comic book series based on HBO’s hit show about the lives and loves of vampires, mind readers and all manner of creatures. Bon Temps, Louisiana has never been stranger, or more twisted, in a story co-plotted by TRUE BLOOD series creator Alan Ball, with a script by David Tischman (Bite Club) and Mariah Huehner, and lush art by David Messina (Star Trek: Countdown).

Turning the tables somewhat, IDW also bring us a new volume of Hideyuki Kikuchi’s Vampire Hunter D from Digital Manga Publishing. A new breed of vampire has emerged; one which can seemingly hunt during the daytime. O-oh. Losing the safety daylight offers, panic and mass hysteria begins to grip the townspeople—inciting riots and lynch-mobs. Amidst the turmoil, the enigmatic vampire slayer known only as “D” is called in to investigate.

Jeff Smith’s beloved award-winning epic “Bone” and the ongoing “RASL” make their PSP debuts this week under the Cartoon Books imprint. Jeff will be making a number of appearances during Comic-Con – check out boneville.com for more info.

Matthew Michael “Matt” Murdock, or Daredevil as he’s known to everyone except his dear old mother (who probably calls him “Matty”) leaps out of Hell’s Kitchen once again in the groundbreaking “Without Fear” story arc. Check out the star-studded, triple-sized 100th issue for additional WIN.

That’s just some of the highlights. Here’s the full list.

• 2000AD Prog #1689 – 2000AD
• Astonishing Tales (2009) – #6 Marvel
• Azure #2 – DC Comics
• Bayou #3 & #4 – DC Comics
• Bone #1 – Cartoon Books
• DMZ #14: Public Works #2 – DC Comics
• Daredevil (1998) #100-#103 - Marvel
• Eleventh Hour #4 – Markosia
• Fables #16: Storybook Love #3 – DC Comics
• Gen13 #22 – DC Comics
• Green Lantern: Secret Origin #5 – DC Comics
• High Moon #4 – DC Comics
• Kingdom Come #2 – DC Comics
• Project Eon #3 – Markosia
• RASL #1 - Cartoon Books
• Red Faction: Armageddon #0 (FREE!) - DC Comics
• Red Faction: Guerrilla #1 – DC Comics
• Stormwatch PHD #14 – DC Comics
• Superman/Batman #26 – DC Comics
• The Authority #2 – DC Comics
• The Invaders (1975) #5-#8 – Marvel
• The Lexian Chronicles – Markosia
• The Night Owls #3 – DC Comics
• The Unwritten #3 – DC Comics
• True Blood #1 – IDW
• Vampire Hunter D Volume 2: Chapter #1 – IDW
• Wildcats #2 – DC Comics

We’ll be blogging and tweeting regularly during Comic-con (we’ve sent a crack team of glamourous spies to get the lowdown) so stay tuned to playstationcomics.com, where you can also see prices, age ratings or the whole catalogue.

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