Last Saturday at the Comic-Con started off with a trip to the Simpsons panel (in Hall H) to celebrate the release of “The Simpsons Movie”. Speakers included Matt Groening (creator of “The Simpsons”), Bill Morrison (head of Bongo Comics), Al Jean, David Mirkin, Matt Selnick, Matt Selman, Michael Price, David Silverman, Matt Warburton, Don Payne, and Yeardley Smith (the voice of Lisa). They discussed the Simpsons Movie, the next season of the TV show and took questions from the audience. We learned that Groening’s favorite character is Ralph Wiggum, who oddly enough will be the front runner for president in an upcoming episode next season. They also discussed the upcoming Simpsons Ride, which will be replacing the “Back To The Future” ride at Universal Studios. (Make like a tree and get out of here.)

The audience was treated to a few clips including the opening of this year’s Halloween episode. In it, we watch Marge dealing with the Fox network pop-up promos (American Idol, Family Guy, 24 and House) show on the screen in front of her. She dispatches of each of them in a comical and unique way that leads to many laughs and applauds from the audience. When it came to the fans questions the one that interested me most was one directed at Groening about his “Life in Hell” comic. (I’ve been a fan of his “Hell” comic since the early 80’s.) It seems that he still carries a grudge against the San Diego Reader, which disliked his comic strip because the publisher didn’t like the two gay characters, Akbar and Jeff. Doh!

After the Simpsons panel, we headed for the Heroes panel, which was on the other side of the convention center in Ballroom 20. It seems that in order to have seen the Heroes panel, we should have skipped the Simpsons panel and gone to wait in line for Heroes. Several hundreds, if not thousands of people were waiting in line to see the cast of Heroes at this panel. While Ballroom 20 is a little smaller than Hall H (at nearly a 6,500 person capacity), it’s layout isn’t as organized or conducive for large crowds. So we didn’t get in for Heroes, but then a lot of other people didn’t either.

We did get in for the next panel for Battlestar Galactica. We got some great pictures and then waited for the Futurama panel. I’m a big fan and am glad the series will be returning. The panel included Matt Groening (creator), David X. Cohen, Ken Keeler (writer), Peter Avanzino and Dwayne Carey- Hill (animation directors), PLUS actors Billy West (Fry), Katey Sagal (Leela), John DiMaggio (Bender), and Maurice LaMarche (Kif Kroker)! Applause filled the room as the Groening took the stage for intros.

Lucky fans were treated to a video clip of an upcoming (straight-to-DVD) movie: “Futurama: Bender’s Big Score!”, which will be delicately sliced and reconfigured into 16 episodes aired on Comedy Central in 2008. Everyone in the audience got a copy of a mini comic promoting the return of the show and the movie. (You can win your own mini comic as part of the swag, if you enter our contest!) Plus we were pleasantly entertained by a cast reading of the mini comic. The Futurama panel was fun and the mutual appreciation between the cast and the fans was very evident. Saturday was another great day, even if we missed the Heroes panel.

Next up: Comic-Con Wrap-up (Sorry, I skipped Sunday so I could sleep).