Samuel L. Jackson was a major presence at two panels this year at Comic-Con. He appeared on the Afro Samurai: Resurrection panel and on the panel for Frank Miller's adaptation of Will Eisner's The Spirit. If you haven't checked out Afro Samurai --the American made, anime style SPIKE TV series -- make an effort. It is awesome. Jackson is a popular celebrity at the Con because he seems to enjoy the fan interaction, and the characters he's played have become such iconic figures in pop culture. Someone at The Spirit panel asked him about all the action figures that have been made of his characters -- Shaft, Mace Windu, Afro Samurai and maybe upcoming ones for Nick Fury and the Octopus (the villain he plays in The Spirit). Jackson voiced preference for Mace as an action figure (because of all the various figures available) but says he has all his figures displayed. Jackson went on to discuss the comic book characters he has played, even though some of them began as white characters in the original comics.

Thanks to Comic-Con for video clips of the panel for our news coverage.

Eisner judges must read hundreds of books before voting for nominees in April (Beth Accomando)

The San Diego Comic-Con played host to the 20th Annual Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards on Friday July 25. The Awards are named in honor of pioneering comic book artist and writer Will Eisner. The Eisner Awards are often referred to as the "Oscars" of the comic industry. You can check out this year's winners or go behind the scenes to find out how the noiminations are determined.

Frank Miller and Will Eisner had a long history together. Their friendship and artistic viewpoints (which were not always the same) were brilliantly laid out in the book Eisner Miller by Charles Brownstein. At this year's Comic-Con, Frank Miller discussed his upcoming adaptation of Eisner's classic comic The Spirit. He recalled his first meeting with Eisner and the 25-year long debate their first encounter led to. He also unveiled some amazing footage of The Spirit, which opens this Christmas.

The Phantom sounds like the name for a superhero or villain so I guess it's thoroughly appropriate that two panels at this year's Comic-Con would sing the praises of the Phantom HD camera. Both John Moore, director of the film version of the video game Max Payne, and Frank Miller, who's adapting Will Eisner's The Spirit to the screen, were singing the praises of this new digital technology. 

Al Jaffee Fold-In from Mad Magazine

I just saw Al Jaffee, one of my favorite cartoonists from Mad Magazine.  He created recurring features like "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions" and the regular back cover feature, the Mad Fold -In.

I expected an hour of wall-to-wall tales of Mad. That ain't what happened.  Instead, Al talked about his early career, before going to Mad.

No, Scarlett Johansson will not be at the Con but I couldn't resist this gorgeous image from The Spirit. But Samuel L. Jackson is scheduled to appear. (Lionsgate)

Part of me wants to send everyone to the panel exactly opposite to the ones I want to go to in the hopes of reducing the crowds at mine. But that wouldn't be fair. So I'll throw caution to the wind and recommend the panels that I too will be fighting to get into.

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.