The programming schedules for Saturday and Sunday have been released.

What was once the most insane day at the con is now the most pleasant one to spend on the dealer room floor, for the most part ... with every single day being a sellout, the crowds never let up, but last year there were so many huge media panels on Saturday that you could actually walk across the movie section of the dealer room floor and get a decent look around. So bring on those pilot premieres and Q&A's, Hall H ....

Here are some of the Saturday highlights:

  • Comic-wise, you've got publisher panels for Wildstorm, SLG Publishing, Dark Horse, IDW's Angel panel, Marvel's Dark Reign event, BOOM!'s Farscape books, Aspen, Del Rey Manga and Del Rey Comics, Archaia, American Original and DC's Blackest Night event, among others. Gerard Way will be announcing his next project, while Terry Moore will talk about Echo.
  • Marvel and DC also have panels for their big upcoming video game releases, Marvel Ultimate Alliances 2 and the DCU MMORG.
  • There are lots of TV panels on Saturday, for old con stalwarts like Lost, Heroes, Chuck, Spongebob SquarePants, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Ben 10, Venture Bros. and Futurama as well as new shows like Eastwick, The Cleveland Show, Glee, Warehouse 13, Human Target, The Vampire Diaries, V and Marvel's The Super Hero Squad Show.
  • Movie wise, look for panels on Iron Man 2, Zombieland (which has a great trailer here), 2012, Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day and Emo Boy.
  • Saturday's spotlight panels, which get up close and personal with the con's special guests, include Ray Bradbury, Lewis Trondheim, Hope Larson, Francis Manapul, Gary Gianni, James Jean, Dennis Kitchen, Doug Moench, J. Michael Straczynski and Seth.
  • Saturday night brings The San Diego Comic-Con International Masquerade, which should be on every comic fan's bucket list. There's also a screening and panel of the Watchmen movie director's cut.

Sunday, meanwhile, is Kid's Day, and after my quick glance through the programming, it's probably the most kid-friendly day at the con since I've been attending. Let's have a look:

  • As I said, Sunday is loaded with kid stuff, including numerous comics and graphic novel panels, the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series panel, a couple of Nickelodeon panels and a Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins DVD panel.
  • On the comics front, Dan DiDio will host his usual and always delightful Sunday Conversations panel. There's also the annual Jack Kirby tribute panel, a CMX panel, a Making Webcomics panel, a Women of Marvel panel and a Q&A with Bryan Talbot.
  • Television wise, there are panels for Supernatural, Ghost Whisperer, American Dad and Smallville.
  • It looks like there are only three spotlight panels on Sunday: Bill Willingham, Stan Sakai and David Petersen.

In case you missed them, you can check out my rundowns of Thursday and Friday.