Brits Invade ComicCon Again: Morrison, Mills, Abnett and many more

(Updated 20/7/10): If you're a Grant Morrison fan and you're lucky enough to be at the San Diego Comic Convention next week, you won't want to miss the Grant Morrison: Talking with Gods panel.

Sequart and Respect Films have produced an authorized, feature-length documentary on Grant Morrison that features interviews with the creator of The Invisibles and 2000AD's Zenith, and many of his collaborators.

Hosted by the director, Patrick Meaney (author of Our Sentence is Up: Seeing Grant Morrision's The Invisibles), the hour-long panel will feature 20 minutes of exclusive footage from the documentary, stories about the crew’s time with Grant, and a special guest.

The panel will take place in Room 9 from 7.30 to 8.30pm on Friday 23rd July. The organisers admit there are some other interesting panels happening at the same time, but while the comic-book sites may report on those other panels, you won't be able to get another look at this documentary until the DVD comes out in October.

If you're a big Morrison fan, consider swinging by. Here's a trailer of the documentary...







Grant, whose credits also include Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne, and Final Crisis will be on hand on Friday to give a candid chat about DC Comics projects past, present and future, at a panel hosted by DC's senior story editor Ian Sattler.

While US comics, films and TV dominate much of the programming - Marvel legend Stan Lee being one of the top guests - there's will be plenty British talent on hand this year, as well as the presence of already-occupying forces such as Active Images Richard Starkings, who will hopefully have lots more to say about the upcoming Elephantmen movie.

Elephantmen creator Richard will be at the Con with Comicraft's Secret Weapon J.G. Roshell manning booth #2106, with fellow men Axel Medellin and Gabriel Bautista, and the distinctly un-manly Miki.

2000AD will have a major presence, with its original co-creator Pat Mills spearheading the weekly comic's promotional activity at this huge event.

In addition to signing new editions of ABC Warriors Meknificent Seven and Judge Dredd Case Files 01 at the 2000AD exhibition booth 2-4.00pm each day of the convention, Pat will be doing a pre–convention signing at Barnes & Noble’s Mira Mesa store, 10775 Westview Parkway San Diego. This signing will take place at 2.00 pm, Tuesday 20th July where all attendees have the opportunity to win an original large scale piece of ABC Warriors artwork by current series artist Clint Langley.

SFX Mgaazine will also presenting a panel titled The British Invasion. Five top UK writers from the worlds of TV, comics, books, and movies discuss what makes modern British SF unique. Dan Abnett (Ultramarines), SF author China Miéville, Paul Cornell (Doctor Who, Superman), Kieron Gillen (Thor), Pat Mills and Toby Whithouse (creator of the TV series Being Human) talk to SFX editor Dave Bradley in this panel and Q&A session on Thursday.

Among others, Eisner Award–-winning artist Sean Phillips is also on the guest list, as is John Cassady, Duncan Fegredo, Eddie Campbell (talking about the acclaimed graphic novel The Playwright, alongside the editor of Australia's DeeVee magazine,  Daren White), Tony Lee, and  Sean Michael Wilson (promoting his stunning looking new manga title, AX, published by Top Shelf).

"So far the AX book has been received exactly as we hoped for, in that a lot of critics have said, basically, it takes a large step forward in expanding the range of mature manga available in English," says Sean of the project. "It's been touted as a must buy for such manga fans. I'm interested to see what people say to me about it in the San Diego con."

Tripwire magazine editor Joel Meadows will be promoting his latest fab-looking new issue (see news story); and plenty of US TV shows screening here, such as Warehouse 13, Futurama, Stargate Universe and Sanctuary will be previewing their upcoming seasons.

ComicCon is a massive event that attracts thousands of comics, film and TV fans: if you're going for the first time, you'll soon realize it's impossible to see everything. But if you take advantage of the official web site's handy schedule planner, you should be able to keep tabs on the Brit events and other things you don't want to miss.

• Please note, the Comic-Con International 2010 Programming Schedule is subject to change. Check the schedule signs outside each door at the event for updated information.