Every year Comic-Con invites special guests and puts a spotlight on them in solo panels. This year one of the special guests was cartoonist Mike Peters, creator of Mother Goose and Grimm and award-winning editorial cartoonist. In his solo panel, Peters delighted the audience with the most roundabout, rambling yet hilarious tales about his life. Panel moderator Mark Evanier only got to ask about three questions in the hour-long panel, and I'm not even sure any of them got answered. But it didn't matter because Peters was such an energetic and entertaining speaker. He talked about his mom and her TV show, about having a severe stuttering problem and being cross-eyed, and about returning to his school twenty years after graduating to be inducted into their hall of fame. The way Peters' mind hopscotches around and the details that he focuses in on provide a small clue to the way his creative process must function as he comes up with editorial cartoons and ideas for Mother Goose and Grimm. Click on the video above for his answer to Evanier's question about where he was from. The look on Evanier's face reflects the fact that Peters would just go off on a tear and only occasionally return to the question at hand. But then sometimes it's not the destination that's important but rather the journey and how much fun you had getting there. Peters provides a great trip.

Thanks to Comic-Con for clips from their spotlight panel for our news coverage.

Beth mourns the end of another Comic-Con.

Comic-Con 2008 is over. A moment of silence as I mourn all the things I didn't get to and all the purchases I didn't make.... Now for the high points: The Spirit panel with Frank Miller; the slo-mo shootout between Simon Pegg and fans at Spaced; the respect emanating from young fans for manga artist Tite Kubo; editorial cartoonist Mike Peters not being able to answer a single question succinctly; and Ralph Bakshi starting his panel a half hour early. I also want to thank the Twilight Moms for proving to me that no matter how well I think I know Comic-Con, there will always be surprises. It was also cool to see so many of my Anime Club kids running around the convention floor and saying hi. Those were all great moments and events. I know I heard a few people complain about lines or crowds, but the people I hung with all went into Comic-Con with a mix of high anticipation and a roll-with-the-punches attitude, and we all left the Con Sunday night with a happy buzz. I calculated that I walked two to four miles a day (the exhibit hall is a quarter mile long, so you can do the math on your travels), had only one real meal, and slept a total of 10 hours during the entire convention. I'm proud to say I had more stamina than my son and his teenage friend -- years of Con training triumphing over youth. Thank goodness I get a heady rush from the Con or else I would have collapsed!