Popular crossover manga includes Bleach, Naruto and Fullmetal Alchemist (Viz Media)

Shojo -- or, the style of manga for young girls -- may be dominating the market, but don't discount the influence boys have on the manga market. Just because manga focus more on character development doesn't mean they don't have any action at all. You just have to look at the success of series like Naruto, Bleach, or Fullmetal Alchemist to see that isn't true.

All three of these series have the fighting, weaponry, and snappy banter readers find in American comics. The difference is that both boys and girls are reading Naruto, Bleach, and Fullmetal Alchemist, and it's that crossover appeal that makes the difference. Most girls -- at least in my library -- aren't picking up Spider-Man, Batman, or the Fantastic Four. But they are reading Fruits Basket, Hikaru no Go, Her Majesty's Dog, Land of the Blindfolded, Sugar Sugar Rune, Death Note, Kingdom Hearts, Yotsuba&!, and on, and on. They're also reading Bone, Oddly Normal, Kat and Mouse, Runaways, Sidescrollers, and other American comics that have a clear beginning, strong characters, and complex storytelling -- all things they've come to expect from comics by reading manga.

NOTE: Bleach creator Tite Kubo will be at the Con Saturday at 1:15 pm in Room 7AB, and then Viz Media will host a Shojo Beat Panel at 3:30 pm in Room 10.

Virgin Comics has a panel at this year's Comic Con.

With all the great programming happening at the Con every year, it's always a challenge to get to all the good stuff. With this in mind, I've distilled the list down to five of my personal favorite, must-see comics panels happening on Thursday, July 24th 2008.

Tom McLean's Blog at Variety... and don't try to click on it we're just showing you what it looks like! (Variety)

In the sixteen years since I first attended Comic-Con, the convention has become a hot spot event for the media, with hordes of reporters, editors and bloggers descending on San Diego each July to fight the crowds and get in on the next big thing.

Batman beats Spider-man... at least at the box office (Warner Brothers / Sony)

It's official. The Dark Knight just broke the box office record for biggest opening weekend, formerly set by rival superhero Spider-Man (3) last year. The Dark Knight is also the fourth superhero film based on a comic to hit this summer (following Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and Hellboy II, and five if you count Wanted's Wesley as a superhero). So is it any wonder that Hollywood has a big presence at Comic-Con? If you watched the Guillermo del Toro video, he comments on how the expansion of comics into movies and gaming has helped keep the publishing end of the business alive. I just interviewed a pair of San Diego comic book store owners who had strikingly similar reports from the retail trenches in regards to Hollywood and the comics industry.

There are probably more than 100,000 reasons for going to the San Diego Comic-Con International -- one for each person who attends because that's how different and precise everyone's motive is for going to this gathering of pop culture fanatics. And yes, we are fanatics because we care passionately about our obsessions and we appreciate that Comic-Con is put on by people who feel exactly like we do.