San Diego Comic Con returns to the San Diego Convention Center and surrounding area. Saturday’s programming schedule has been revealed and a couple Sentries who are attending will be sharing their thoughts on the panels they hope to attend at the convention. But will they? Only time and their post-convention posts will tell. You can follow them on X: Gordon S. Miller and Shawn Bourdo.
40 Years of Usagi Yojimbo with Stan Sakai – 10:00am – 11:00am – Room 23ABC
2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the beloved comic series Usagi Yojimbo. The creator of the epic series, Stan Sakai is joined by Julie Sakai (Chibi Usagi: Attack of the Heebie Chibis), Jerry Blank (CEO, Dogu Publishing), Emi Fujii (creative director, colorist), and Daniel Fujii (president/publisher, Dogu Publishing), to discuss the legacy of Stan’s stories and everyone’s favorite rōnin-rabbit, Miyamoto Usagi.
Buy Usagi Yojimbo: 40th Anniversary ReaderUsagi Yojimbo is one of my favorite comic series so can’t wait to hear what’s next.
American Splendor: Celebrating Harvey Pekar at 85 – 11:00am – 12:00pm – Room 29AB
Moderator Danny Fingeroth (A Marvelous Life: The Amazing Story of Stan Lee; Jack Ruby: The Many Faces of Oswald’s Assassin), Rick Parker (The Pekar Project; Drafted), Jackie Estrada (Will Eisner Awards administrator; Comic Book People: Photographs from the 1990s), Andrew Kunka (The Life and Comics of Howard Cruse: Taking Risks in the Service of Truth; Autobiographical Comics), and Jeff Newelt (The Pekar Project; Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland) discuss the work of the man who mined the mundane for magic in the form of autobiographical comics, as well as his splendorous legacy in the indie comics, film, and TV of today.
Buy The New American Splendor Anthology bookI first discovered Harvey in his interviews/verbal battles with David Letterman on Late Night and became intrigued by his comics, a medium which typically presents stories about extraordinary people saw Harvey tell stories from his ordinary life.
Spotlight on J. Michael Straczynski – 1:00pm – 2:00pm – Room 7AB
This has been a hell of a year. As executor and director of the Harlan and Susan Ellison Foundation, J. Michael Straczynski has overseen the publication of Harlan Ellison’s Greatest Hits, the relaunch of Harlan’s first two Dangerous Visions anthologies, and coming in October, after a half-century delay, the debut of The Last Dangerous Visions. For his own part, in the last year Straczynski has published The Glass Box, a novel, and the nonfiction book Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer; has taken over the monthly Captain America book for Marvel, for which he’s also written a prestige miniseries coming in 2025; created an audio drama available now from Penguin Random House (Earthlight); and has produced original creator-owned books for Dark Horse. This summer also marks JMS’s 40th anniversary as a television writer, proving once more that only the good die young.
Buy Becoming Superman: My Journey From Poverty to Hollywood bookStraczynski has been quite prolific over 40 years. I am curious to hear about his career and if there will be any Ellison-related news.
Intergalactic Friendship Panel: Star Trek X Doctor Who – 5:30pm – 6:30pm – Room 6A
Alex Kurtzman (showrunner and executive producer at the helm of the Star Trek franchise) and Russell T. Davies (showrunner and executive producer spearheading the Doctor Who Whoniverse) come together to celebrate the power of friendship. The Star Trek and Doctor Who franchises are teaming up to spotlight shared values of friendship, hope, and fandom, in an exclusive creator-to-creator conversation about the art of storytelling across time and space.
Buy Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 1 Blu-rayConsidering how fractured the fanbases are over the current state of these franchises, there is no panel I more want to see the audience ask the creators questions. A shame they couldn’t get anyone of the Star Wars showrunners involved.
Marvel Studios – 6:00pm – 7:00pm – Hall H
Marvel Studios president and producer Kevin Feige and special guests provide an inside look at the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Buy MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios bookAlthough no longer in vogue as they once were, I have mostly enjoyed the recent movies, so am very curious about what’s to come. And I appreciate Feige coming to San Diego when he could have waited to make announcements at next month’s D23 convention in Anaheim.
