The cast and crew of the popular CBS series The Big Bang Theory made an appearance at Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con today. The panelists included producers Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady, and Steven Molaro, along with cast members Mayim Bialik, Kaley Cuoco, Kunal Nayyar, Simon Helberg, Melissa Rauch, and via satellite, Jim Parsons (Johnny Galecki’s plane was delayed so he missed the panel, but was expected to appear for other events later today).

Check out our photos of the cast and crew from The Big Bang Theory panel.

Aside from a gag reel from Season 5 (out on DVD and Blu-ray this September 11th), no other new footage was shown, but the actors all managed to keep the fans entertained with a lot of jokes and quip. The time was taken up by the panelists fielding questions from the audience members, with the majority of the fans coming up to the mike being small children looking and sounding adorable [...]

The DC Comics Batman: Beyond the Night of Owls panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con had a few surreal moments and a lot of information on DC’s most popular character, and fans we’re treated to a good discussion with the creators, as well as some other gifts.

The panel started off with a look at Talon #0. The series revolves around Calvin Rose, the one Talon who got away from his masters in the Court of Owls. The series, co-written by Scott Snyder but mostly written by James Tynion, takes the reader through the entire DCU and is built off material that Snyder did not get to use in the Court of Owls story. Tynion was excited during the panel since he was in the SDCC crowd as little as a year ago and now he was on the other side. Art for the series is by Guillem March [...]

Chris Hardwick (of the Nerdist podcast) introduced Rich Moore, director of Wreck-it Ralph (and former director of many classic episodes of The Simpsons) to the SDCC Comic-Con audience. Moore described the film as the story of a 1980s coin-op video game bad guy who’s having an existential crisis, and no longer wants to be the villain.

They then played ten minutes of various scenes from the film, where Ralph describes the video game world he lives in, and how while “Fix-It Felix, Jr.” players just see sprites on a screen, there’s a whole real world behind the screen. [...]

The panel for The Expendables 2, the upcoming sequel to the surprise 2010 crackerjack action film which was written by, directed, and starred Sylvester Stallone, made an appearance in Hall H at the 2012 San Diego Comic Convention today.

The testosterone alpha male laden panel, comprised of Stallone, MMA champ Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren and actor cum politician cum actor again Arnold Schwarzenegger. [...]

Oz: The Great and Powerful is Sam Raimi‘s prequel to the 1939 adaptation of L. Frank Baum‘s classic book. It stars James Franco as the titular wizard, and Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, and Michelle Williams as the witches of Oz.

San Diego Comic-Con moderator Chris Hardwick (The Nerdist podcast) introduced director Sam Raimi with a montage of his past films, including Spider-Man, Drag Me To Hell, the Evil Dead series, and The Quick and the Dead, amongst others. Raimi described Comic-Con as “geek central,” and says he loves coming here. He said Oz is based on L. Frank Baum’s stories, but is really the story of the Wizard’s journey to Oz, and his relationship with Glinda, the Good Witch. [...]

Frankenweenie, the upcoming Tim Burton vehicle which has been a pet project for him since his inception as a filmmaker/animator almost three decades ago, first appearing as a short and now finding its way as a full length feature, had its debut today at Comic-Con.

Hosted by Chris Hardwick and first introduced by some 3D footage of the upcoming production which was akin to an old Universal Pictures trailer, replete with black and white and overblown narration, Frankenweenie is a film about a boy’s resurrection of his beloved dog. [...]

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 will bring The Twilight Saga film franchise to a close and its cast and crew were on hand today in Hall H at the San Diego Comic-Con to present the first seven minutes from this highly anticipated final installment.

Director Bill Condon couldn’t be on the panel because he’s currently scoring the film in London, but to treat the fans for what will be the film franchise’s final appearance at Comic-Con, he introduced the first 7 minutes of the film, beginning right where Breaking Dawn: Part 1 left off with Bella (Kristen Stewart) opening her eyes. Also, a short clip from the film was shown. You can read all of footage description here below. [...]

San Diego Comic-con. Gosh, I love you. The sights. The sounds. The smells. While it can definitely be a tad overwhelming if you’re not prepared for it, my first night at SDCC is something I look forward to every year. As usual, my first evening on the convention floor was dominated by two distinct elements: Awesome Lego statues (pictured below), and copious amounts of body odor (feel free to imagine for yourself). Fellas… seriously. It’s not that hard to control yer musk.

It’s notable that this preview night seemed far, far busier then those of past years. Gone, it seems, are the days of strolling the serene, semi-packed rows of the convention center on the evening before all hell breaks loose. More and more con-goers look to be springing for the complete package and taking full advantage of the ‘night before’ the Con.

In any case, here are a few dozen photos that I snapped from the convention floor tonight. Enjoy. They’ll be many more to come over the next few days. [...]

Just recently we found out that the cast of Joss Whedon‘s cult classic series, Firefly, would be reuniting at San Diego Comic-Con in celebration of the 10-year anniversary of the show. It will be the first time the show has ever had a panel at Comic-Con, though if it had the popularity it has now back when it first arrived, surely this would be one of many memorable panels. Ah, yes…life may be too damn short for ifs and maybes, but they fit perfectly into dreams.

But alas, some good news is to be had! It’s being reported that a brand spankin’ new Firefly TV special titled Browncoats Unite is set to air November 11th on Science Channel. [...]

Well, here we are once again at San Diego Comic-Con and we’ve got a big announcement for fans of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy!

Coming December 5, 2012 will be the next Hellboy mini-series, Hellboy in Hell. Not only is this the first new Hellboy story since 2011, but it also marks the return of Mignola to full art duties for the series. It has been a number of years since Mignola did more than the covers for a full Hellboy mini, with art being handled admirably by Duncan Fegredo since 2007’s ‘Darkness Calls’. It will be great to see another series from Mignola, since this is his baby and also since he is an amazing artist with a unique style that can’t be duplicated [...]

Meanwhile, dudes creepily dressed as Pedobear and… creatures dressed as furies will be allowed in without so much as a second thought by convention security. [...]

Gaming giant Square Enix is bringing a video game party to this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, which gets started later this week.

The company has a pile of new titles they’re excited to show off, including two of the most anticipated upcoming games in Hitman: Absolution and Tomb Raider, which will be made available for hands-on demonstrations, the first time people will get the chance to try the games out for themselves. [...]

AMC’s fantastic horror series The Walking Dead is aiming to have a huge presence at the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con as they try and inject fans with more excitement for season 3 of the show, which arrives this October.

For those who missed it, Activision recently announced that they would be publishing a brand new first-person Walking Dead video game currently being developed by Terminal Reality where you’ll play as Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) as he and his brother Merle (Michael Rooker) make their way to Atlanta before most of the events of season 1.

Now comes a couple more announcements that should be exciting to those of you heading to Comic-Con—one related to the game (for a very lucky few), and another related to Michonne. [...]

Gone are the days of simply walking to any panel at the San Diego Comic-Con. Now people are doing full-fledged scheduling in order to at least cope with the insanity that the convention has evolved into. So take comfort (or worry even more, depending on your POV) that Warner Brothers is planning an outdoor festival called Extra Stage, and it will all take place during the Con.

Here’s what will go down during the event that will run throughout the convention: A massive 60,000 foot stage will be erected for Q&As from for favorite WB shows. [...]

This year’s San Diego Comic-Con convention is still a couple of weeks off, but already geeks who will be in attendance have something special to look forward to.

For the first time ever, Firefly will be making its way to Comic-Con 2012.

Don’t get too excited, however—it’s not to announce the show’s return or anything along those lines. The panel is to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the fan-favorite sci-fi western, which was canceled far too soon an immensely fast-moving decade ago. [...]