The big movie events of note this year, for guys and girls like us anyway, have been movies like Zack Snyder’s Watchmen adaptation, JJ Abram’s Star Trek, UP, Coraline and the aforementioned Avatar. These films have been powerful reminders of just what genre cinema is capable of. There has also been a large number of duds too, with films like the disappointing (yet hugely successful) Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Dragonball: Evolution, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li and the bizarre mish-mash that was X-men origins: Wolverine.

The Twilight phenomenon continued to grow, and fever pitch arrived in November when the second movie in the series of adaptations, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, opened to derision from critics and a gush of fan love from the Twilight addicts. Twilight did maintain its stranglehold on the publishing world too, and a huge range of other romantic vampire novels filled the void left by Twilight once fans had read the four books in Meyer’s series.

Harry Potter returned to our screens too, with the sixth film in the series. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince saw a shift in direction as well as a much darker tone, which has left us curious as to how the two-part adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will turn out.

Two genre films in particular must be noted in any review of 2009, namely the awe-inspiring District 9 and the terrifying Paranormal Activity, two films that reminded us that a good story and a powerful execution of it can be much more satisfying than a vapid blockbuster. This is something that the industry needs to take more note of in coming years, especially as movies with lower budgets mean more in the way of profits and more chance of recouping their costs of production. That’s not to say studios should scrimp on genre projects- just be a bit more creative with them.

The Comics scene had some notable titles too, including the Green Lantern tale ‘Blackest Night’ and the continued chaos following Batman’s ‘Death’. Marvel brought us Wolverine: Weapon X, Nomad: Girl Without a World and great runs of Iron Man and the Amazing Spider-Man. TV hits we loved included the Doctor Who special ‘The Waters Of Mars’, certainly the best out of David Tennant’s final year as the Doctor, the spectacular end of Battlestar Galactica and the impeccable Torchwood miniseries ‘Children of Earth’.

It’s been a good year for science fiction and fantasy fans on the whole, and our genres have seen an increase in both popularity and respect amongst the general populace. 2010 will see brand new Doctor Who, iron Man 2, Caprica and more delights than we could possibly list. We’ll be continuing our mission to bring you news and opinion on the very best of them. The future is coming, and it’s looking like fun.

Happy New Year to all of our readers from everyone at Starstoreblog!

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The song is a hit with Guild fans and geeks the world over already, and you can get the ‘Do you wanna date my Avatar?’ mp3 from Amazon.

While individual comic sales have slowed, the sales of complete graphic novels (or trades, if you’re an ubergeek like the rest of us) are up right across the board in comic shops around the world. Why is this? There are a number of reasons.

One is increased interest in the scene from movie fans who have loved stuff like The Dark Knight, Watchmen, Iron Man and so on. Then there are fans that have come to the scene through TV shows such as Heroes, The Ghost Whisperer and the continued Star Trek titles.

Video games have also sent a number of people to the graphic novel shelves thanks to things like the ultra-popular Halo: Uprising title. Then there are those who have come from word of mouth alone, picking up titles such as The Walking Dead, Y The Last Man and Powers due to the simple fact that so many other people love them.

These are good times for the scene. There are some publishers who are concentrating on new graphic novels over individual issues. This, far from being the death knell for the comics industry, just means that things are changing. Graphic novels/trades are excellent value, long lasting, and extremely powerful ways of telling a story.

There is also growing interest in titles outside of the traditional superhero/supernatural genres. With a huge number of humour, romance, thriller and geek titles on the market, interest in graphic novels is widening ever more into the general subconscious.

The quality of graphic storytelling has improved so much in recent years that the world at large is taking note and discovering graphic novels for themselves. Hello, we’ve been waiting for you.

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This has hit me hard. While most celebrity deaths don’t really hit home that much with me, the news of iconic director John Hughes dying from a heart attack while out walking in New York has had a profound effect on me. This man was the force behind the films that helped shape me as a person.

The pathos and integrity behind the laughs of films such as The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful and all of the others of his main active period remains as powerful as it ever was, and with his passing we have lost a true great of the cinema.

The reclusive genius of John Hughes had also created other things such as the massively popular Home Alone movies, but it is that spate of brat pack classics that he will probably be most remembered for, and those films are a legacy that anyone would be proud of.

A generation of film fans and filmmakers were created by those films, each of them containing a magic that teen movies have never been able to recapture since then, no matter how hard they try.

Thinking that the man that brought us those five misfits The Breakfast Club, Duckie from Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller and all of those other classic characters from Sixteen Candles, Weird Science and so on is gone is heartbreaking.

Many fans were hoping that John Hughes would return to his roots and create something meaningful and beautiful, like those early films, instead of the string of Beethoven sequels and the like. Sadly this wasn’t to be.

It is always sad when someone dies, but when their body of work was so respected and adored, it breaks the heart. here was a man who had little controversy in his life, and after his massive 80s fame drew back from the limelight and became something of an urban legend.

He continued to work, but he never returned to what he did best, which was making people think and making people realize that life wasn’t quite as clean-cut as your parents may have you believe.

Here’s to you, John. You were, and remain, my hero. You got me through my troubled teenage years with those films and those characters, as you did for millions of other people. I would imagine a lot of other people are feeling the same right now. Rest in peace.

Sunday was more aimed at kids, with the Children’s Film festival, Nickelodeon, the premiere of the new Scooby Doo movie and more being the main attractions for youngsters. Aside from those shenanigans, there was still plenty going on for older fans to enjoy.

Doctor Who and Torchwood panel

Russell T Davies, David Tennant, John Barrowman and Julie Gardner were on hand to talk about the future of the two shows (This was wrongly reported as taking place on saturday-oops!). According to Tennant, the tenth Doctor’s final episodes are ‘very emotional indeed’. Russell T Davies said that new Doctor Who series boss Steven Moffatt probably wouldn’t be using the established Davies-era characters such as Martha, Mickey, etc in favour of building his own new characters. The Lucy Saxon character will be returning in the finale (makes sense when you think about who the villain is…). Torchwood series 4 will be made, but it is not clear as yet what form it will continue in. Intriguing…

Ghost Whisperer

The next season of the Ghost Whisperer, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, was previewed to an appreciative audience. The cast and executive producers teased fans with clips that gave clues as to the new direction the series is taking. New characters are changing everything in the show, and it looks like fans are in for quite a ride.

There was also a very popular Harry Potter fan panel featuring prominent figures in the world of HP fandom and a showing of the latest installment of Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight. The event closed with a huge singalong screening of the famous Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode ‘Once More With Feeling’.

As ever, the San Diego Comic Con has left the fan world brimming with excitement for the delights to come, and people are already looking forward to the 2010 event. Who knows what SDCC 2010 will have in store? We’ll let you know as soon as we do…

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Check out the new items from Sideshow Collectibles unveiled at SDCC 2009!

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Iron Man 2 was the big event panel of the day, with the stars of the superhero sequel on hand to give the lowdown on the new movie, as well as showcase some freshly eduited footage friom the film itself, which by all accounts already looks brilliant in its unfinished state.

LOST fans got some very juicy tidbits indeed from the SDCC Lost panel, in which the people behidn the show promised that everything would be tied up in the final season of the series, and there may have been something of a slip-up when information of the actual ending was floated online.

Roland Emmerich’s disaster epic ’2012′ had footage shown and the poster revealed. The film looks INSANE. The scale of the effects work is flat out ridiculous, and promises some serious popcorn fare next year.

Doctor Who and Torchwood panels were also a big draw, with David Tennant, John Barrowman and Russell T Davies all making an appearance at the event, talking about the future of these British SF institutions.

Gary Oldman let slip that the next Batman film will be shooting next year, with an eye on a summer 2011 release. He then backtracked in later interviews, possibly down to having his wrists slapped by Warner Brothers for the slip.

Other big events at the con were Alice in Wonderland, Zombieland, The Box and a ton of other cool stuff, including news on the next series of True Blood, Ponyo, Family Guy and loads more.

But there is more to the San Diego Comic con than just movie premieres and stars. The con is about the fans first and foremost, and there has been the usual mix of outlandish costumes, games, fan meet-ups, signings, workshops and more that are the lifeblood of the event. The films and TV stars may get all of the press, but at its heart, SDCC is still a big party for likeminded people to get together from all over the world and enthuse about the cool things that are out there. That’s to be cherished, and appreciated.
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The San Diego Comic Con is in full swing now, and there have been some fantastic things revealed and previewed. Our coverage of SDCC continues!

15 minutes of footage from James Cameron’s AVATAR was screened in 3D to a wildly appreciative audience, proving that Cameron has delivered on his promise of a truly awe-inspiring science fiction epic. We can’t wait to get a look at this footage ourselves.

Tweets and early word from those that saw it allude to something that we really have not seen before, and something that is a genuine technological triumph.

Twilight fans got their first real taste of the new movie, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, along with a panel featuring the stars themselves.

It was revealed that while Edward doesn’t appear much in the book, the makers of New Moon have managed to get Robert Pattinson more screen time by including Edward as a strange apparition and not just a voice-over.

Tim Burton‘s Alice in Wonderland was previewed, and looks stunning thus far. Burton also mentioned that his next project may well be an adaptation of the classic Vampire soap opera Dark Shadows…

The long-awaited Tron sequel has an official title and logo! TRON: LEGACY will be the name of the hotly anticipated science fiction sequel, in which a young man must enter the Tron world in order to carry out a rescue mission.

Several of the original stars return for the film, which has just completed shooting. Teaser footage of an early sequence was shown at SDCC.

SAW VI had its poster revealed at the con, along with a trailer and the news that a seventh film is on the way.

In other horror news, the A Nightmare on Elm Street had the unveiling of its poster (See above), which looks good, but not that inspiring. Looks nice and dark though…

Smallville fans got their first look at the Superman costume Tom Welling will wear in the opening episode of season nine of the show.

There’s no cape, but the red and blue are very much there, along with the iconic Superman symbol. The costume is apparently a very modern update of the original look.

More updates from SDCC soon!

Remember to check out our coverage of the new items from Sideshow Collectibles at SDCC!
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Have a look and see some sneak previews of the greatest movie collectibles from Sideshow - Visit now!

In a special article over at our dedicated Sideshow Collectibles blog, we go through the whole list of Sideshow Collectibles’ San Diego Comic Con unveilings! Check it out!

New Sideshow Collectibles items at San Diego Comic Con

And also check out:

Sideshow Collectibles Exclusives and Special Offers at SDCC