Its booth packed with expectant fans, Dark Horse revealed Wednesday evening at Comic-Con International in San Diego that Director Guillermo del Toro, Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave's Tom Morello, and novelist PC Cast will all be producing comics for the publisher. CBR News was on hand for the announcement, which featured appearances by two of the three creators.

Dark Horse Publisher Mike Richardson began by regretfully announcing that Guillermo del Toro would not be in attendance. "He's making a movie and he hurt his back," Richardson said. "That's not an excuse-he did hurt his back. But he may be around this weekend."

In del Toro's stead, editor Sierra Hahn spoke about the adaptation of del Toro's novel series, "The Strain," which will be written by "Stray Bullets" and "Young Liars" creator David Lapham with art by Mike Huddleston. "We're very excited to have them as the creative team, and Guillermos is very involved," Hahn said.

Describing the series' concept, Hahn said, "'The Strain' is a vampire story, but he wanted them to be scary, and he wanted them to be monsters." The comics will adapt the novels "Fall" and "Night Eternal."

Richardson took to the stage again, saying that Dark Horse has recently "tried to expand into other areas, reach people who don't normally read comics," and cited Janet Evanovich's "Troublemaker" as an example. He then introduced PC Cast.

"I'm really excited to be working with Dark Horse," Cast said, adding that she's always enjoyed comics. "I grew up around boys, I was raised by a man-when most girls were playing Barbie, I was reading 'Swamp Thing.'"

Musician Tom Morello, best known for his politically-charged work with Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, and the Nightwatchman, was up next. He, too, said he grew up with comics but "put them down when I picked up my guitar." "Comics matured a great deal while I was away forging my rock career," Morello said. While he has long been tempted to do a series, "I didn't want to be another Hollywood jackass" infiltrating the medium.

"I wanted to make a book that's as exciting and intelligent as my music," he said. His series, "Orchid," finds a 16-year-old prostitute in a dystopian future "becoming the Spartacus of whores." Morello's series will also feature a new downloadable track by the Nightwatchman with each issue, serving as a soundtrack.

Concluding the panel, Dark Horse Director of Public Relations Jeremy Atkins directed fans to check out the publisher's panel at noon Thursday, where "our third guest will hopefully be in attendance."