CCI: Oh, how I wish I were there.

I'm going to try and recap the news that jumps out at me from this weekend's mildly interesting Comic-Con International. You may have heard of it? Anyway, here's a list of newsworthy items that I deemed, well, newsworthy. This will be a linkfest, so apologies there for the lack of originality. When it comes to SDCC/CCI, you just let CBR and Bleeding Cool do the work for you.

Paul Tobin discusses Dark Horse's new Savage Sword anthology, a sort of homage to famous pulp writer (and DH cash cow) Robert E. Howard.

Marvel to publish CrossGen. I wasn't much of a CrossGen reader but this has to be exciting to those of you who were. I wonder if they'll bring back original books and creative teams (Way of the Rat, anyone?) or if they'll use the CrossGen brand as a place to launch newer talent?

Marvel Movie Panel. I'm a huge fan of Joss Whedon and I love that Marvel is ambitious enough to attempt this merging of all their films into one big Avengers franchise, but I have misgivings. Much as I love Joss, the guy has pretty much worked with the same actors (and second-tier actors at that) his whole career. I hope he can handle the egos of people like Jackson and Downey, Jr. well enough to get a good, coherent picture and not just an ensemble mess.

"He'll be charged with assault with a deadly weapon, due to the stabbing in the eye..." Of all the things to stab somebody over, the Resident Evil panel? Seriously dude? Where the hell is Shade when we need him? It seems like the American Scream was in the house at Comic-Con this year.

The collapse of all nerd marriages and the abject neglect of all children produced by these relationships has caused a massive disruption in the nation's economy.

IDW announces a new Rocketeer anthology to include talent such as Darwyn Cooke, John Cassaday and Mike Allred. As a bonus, partial proceeds from the book go to benefit the Hairy Cell Leukemia foundation.

A fan at the DCU panel reminds us all that stories can help save lives, even if we're not all fans of those stories. "The first fan said that he began reading comics with 'Blackest Night,' around the time he was diagnosed with HIV. He thanked DC for publishing a story about literally fighting death, which inspired him. In the midst of applause, Sattler walked down to hug the fan."

DC's Vertigo-bound chickens finally coming home to roost.

Morrison and Stewart on Thunderworld, Grant's take on the Marvel Family. Also, Absolute WE3 in the works.

It just gets wackier in Gotham City and I, for one, couldn't be happier. Eventually Grant Morrison is just going to write Batman for me and only me. It's almost happening already. I think at some point I'm just going to get a copy of Morrison's Batman on my doorstep each
month and it will be my job to just explain it to everyone else in the world. Ah, dreams.

DnA to do a Rocket Raccoon/Groot mini-series!

Stan's Back! The Boom Studios Stan Lee Panel.

There was more news than you can shake Big Barda's cosmic rod at coming out of Comic-Con this weekend, but those were the bits I found most interesting. What did you see at CCI this weekend that you are excited about? Did you go to the show or were you just watching from the sidelines like myself? What other cons do you plan to hit up this year?