Culture

Comic-Con Cometh: 11 Must-See Panels at the Pop Culture Extravaganza

Comic-Con is coming. Although press will be attending preview night at the San Diego Convention center this evening, the madness of Comic-Con International--where attendance topped 100,000 in recent years--begins tomorrow for the general public, offering first looks, creator commentary and celebrity appearances for fan-favorite movies, TV shows and comics that attendees can lord over friends who didn't make it for months to come.
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Godzilla
Comic-Con is coming. Although press will be attending preview night at the San Diego Convention center this evening, the madness of Comic-Con International--where attendance topped 100,000 in recent years--begins tomorrow for the general public, offering first looks, creator commentary and celebrity appearances for fan-favorite movies, TV shows and comics that attendees can lord over friends who didn't make it for months to come. But looking through the programming schedule, much like walking through the convention itself, can be a daunting affair. There's just too much. Every year Comic-Con gets bigger and broader in its scope as an entertainment event, making it's nearly impossible to hit every relevant panel and still make it to every necessary comic signing and photo op (especially considering the gargantuan lines). But we're here to help. While it's impossible to pack everything interesting into one trip to Comic-Con--or one article--we combed the schedule and located 11 must-see panels coming to the San Diego Convention Center, from epic trilogy-ending flicks like The World's End to Marvel-universe uniting television shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Peruse the gallery above to check out our list of picks, from Walking Dead to digital comics. Above:

Godzilla

Why It's a Must-See: Last year Legendary Pictures head honcho Thomas Tull surprised the crap out of Comic-Con's Hall H by showing a dark, brooding, J. Robert Oppenheimer-quoting teaser for Godzilla. The crowd went nuts. Now that Pacific Rim has put Legendary firmly in the kaiju business, it only seems right that the OG of the genre gets a big showing at this year's con. Considering the above teaser in which director Gareth Edwards says, "for all of you Godzilla fans something very big is heading to San Diego," it's probably safe to say the monster himself will be sitting in on the Legendary panel. Right? Right?! Either way, we can't wait to find out. —Angela Watercutter