We’ll be covering as much of the San Diego Comic Con news as we can across our many blogs, so stick with the Starstore blogs for a unique British perspective on the latest developments from SDCC 2009!

We swear one day we’ll make it there and report to you live from the event itself, but until then, we’ll be scouring the net for the best news and announcements so that you don’t have to!

This year’s event runs from the 23rd to the 26th of July, with a preview night on the 22nd before the shenanigans commence for real. There are some suitably awesome panels, previews and product unveilings going on this year, and we’ll cover as many of the big ones as we can.

There are some fantastic workshops and signings right across the event, but the big ones for many fans will be the TV previews, movie previews and merchandise previews. We’re personally really looking forward to finding out what Sideshow Collectibles have on offer this year in the way of new products.

Other panels and stuff of note throughout the SDCC weekend? Summit’s Astro Boy preview, the reveal of details on the next Tetsuo movie, a preview of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, a look at the groundbreaking new James Cameron science fiction epic Avatar, the next developments in the Halo franchise, a presentation of material from Terry Gilliam’s Imaginarium of Dr Parnassuss, a Doctor Who panel with Russell T Davies and David Tennant, a panel on the Kick Ass movie, a talk with fantasy legend Terry Brooks, the premier of the animated Green Lantern movie, The Guild, Farscape’s 10th Anniversary, a look at the new version of The Prisoner, Star Wars Day, Sideshow Collectibles‘ panel, Dr. Horrible The Totally Rad Show Live, Ray Bradbury… gah, so much!!!

We’ll be covering as much as we can right here! It may not be as cool as actually being there, but we’ll be bringing you as much of the AWESOME as we can.

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Have a look and see some sneak previews of the greatest movie collectibles from Sideshow - Visit now!

BATMAN TAKES ON SPIDER-MAN
The Dark Knight has officially passed the first Spider-Man movie as the most successful comic book movie blockbuster of all time. The new Batman film now stands at number 7 in the list of all-time blockbusters due to its massive opening run. It has now grossed well in excess of 400 million dollars at the US box office alone. Incidentally, you can still check out our discussion of the film from yesterday- THE DARK KNIGHT DEBATE.

McFARLANE NOT SOLD ON VENOM IDEA
Todd McFarlane has said in a recent online interview that he’s none too sure about the proposed Venom feature film. He stated that he didn’t think that the character, as popular as it is, had what was needed to be a viable movie lead. This can agree with as it is hard to feel any connection with a murderous alien symbiote who spends much of his time ripping people new orifices. While I can see an audience wanting to check out a full-on Venom movie, I do believe it would be a mistake to make him a hero, as that goes against the character’s history, not to mention his previous movie outing in Spider-Man 3.

SUSPIRIA IS THE NEXT TO BE BUTCHERED
Ho hum, another week, another stupid remake idea. Hollywood really have got every last drop out of their ideas well and have taken to seemingly castrating every popular horror franchise and film ever made. The latest film that is to get a dumbed-down, hyped-up makeover is to be none other than Dario Argento’s Suspiria. What makes this worse is that it is Natalie Portman who is trying to shop it around. What? Will she then try and follow it with Inferno and Mother of Tears? If not, whats the point? Suspiria should be left as it is- a surreal genre film that only horror elitists give a monkey’s about. Actually, maybe Portman is hoping that not enough people will have heard of it to realize it’ll be just another bland remake.

ZACK AND MIRI- R RATING APPROVED
The latest entry in Kevin Smith’s quest to fill our lives with rude words and even ruder situations has been granted the R rating in the US, which is what Smith was after. There were fears that the film would receive the NC-17 rating instead due to its subject matter, but the film has been passed without further cuts.

HALO 3 FIGURES- SERIES ONE

Yeah, they arrived at long last, and have flown off the shelves in suitably heroic fashion. These figures, while smaller than those made for previous Halo games, are fantastically detailed and a marvellous addition to your Spartan army. Naturally, the Master Chief figure has been the biggest hit (don’t forget there’s a 12 inch version on the way later this year), and the whole range of Halo 3 action figures is attracting a lot of attention from gamers and action figure fans alike. Supplied in clamshell packaging and with all the relevant accessories, these are a long-awaited must have series.

ALIENS VS PREDATOR: REQUIEM- THE PREDATOR FIGURES ARE HERE!

Something we’ve had to answer literally hundreds of questions about is the range of Predator figures from NECA’s selection of AVP:R movie figures. Released on the 4th of February in the US, they took their sweet time getting over to these shores, but now they’re here they are being snapped up almost as fast as we can get them in. There’s masked and unmasked versions of the AVPR Predator figures available, in the same clamshell packaging as the Alien Warrior and Predalien Hybrid figures that came out around last Christmas. These figures are superbly made, even if their facial features show a slightly different colour palette to any Predators onscreen, or indeed any previous figures.

HELLBOY ANIMATED FIGURES

A curious addition to our recent stock has been this trio of Hellboy figures- two of which are in a fantastic animated style in keeping with his recent DVD adventures. The third depicts Hellboy as he was portrayed in the feature film (and forthcoming sequel) by Ron Perlman. Both
Hellboy figures and the Abe Sapein figure are supplied in individual clamshell packages and look fantastic.

McFARLANE DRAGONS: THE EIGHTH WONDER OF ACTION FIGURES

The long awaited eighth set of the phenomenonally popular McFarlane’s Dragons action figures are here, and they are carrying on the range in fine style. Again they are on a smaller scale to the earlier monstrosities (however they do still stretch to 8 inches tall once assembled and out of the packaging), but they are every bit as impressive. This is apparently to be the final set of Dragons from the company, so fans are urged to complete their collections quickly. This set carries the title McFarlanes Dragons: The Rise of Man, and follows the era between the time of the Dragons and their descent into myth. A fitting climax to a superb range.