They are starting with a demo of Criminal: The Last of the Innocent, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, but it’s not the whole comic, just a 5-page preview. Let’s hope the publishers aren’t too stingy with this and are willing to put up whole issues, as that would make the feature a lot more worthwhile.

We got to see the first episode of the Iron Man anime at New York Comic Con, but it was subtitled, not dubbed. Now Marvel has posted a clip of the dubbed version on their website, so you can hear for yourself what the voice actor playing Tony Stark sounds like.

The anime will start running on the G4 network on July 29.

What she does reveal, however, is that a new character named Detroit Steel will be introduced in Invincible Iron Man #25, just as Hammer Industries returns to the comic. (Hammer Industries will play a role in the second Iron Man film). The company is now run by Justine Hammer, Justin Hammer’s daughter, who you may remember was under the Crimson Cowl hood in Thunderbolts some years back. I think Justin Hammer was last seen being shot into space in a block of ice, in the Bad Blood mini-series … although maybe he made a return and I just missed it.

Here’s the video:

Jonathan Hickman's new series at Marvel

Marvel.com has posted a teaser image for a new project by writer Jonathan Hickman, the details of which will be revealed today on G4‘s Attack of the Show. It comes on at 7 p.m. Eastern, so set your Tivos.

Update: the cover shown above is by Gerald Parel.

As a totally unrelated aside, I gotta say that I really dig what Marvel has done with their images over on Marvel.com. Previously when you clicked on an image in one of their stories, it opened a larger version that was supposed to be “locked down” by code so you couldn’t download it. The code, however, didn’t work in Firefox, making it annoying and useless at the same time.

Now they’re using a new image gallery that not only allows you to actually download an image, but lets you look through their databases to find other images. This is probably more “inside baseball” than most people care about, but I just wanted to give them props for a welcome change.

Siege: The Cabal

In an extensive interview with Attack of the Show‘s Blair Butler, Avengers writer Brian Michael Bendis confirms that Marvel’s “Dark Reign” storyline will come to an end with a “big Marvel event” called Siege. It starts in December with a one-shot called Siege: The Cabal, which is followed in January by a four-issue Siege series.

Michael Lark will draw the Cabal one-shot, while Olivier Coipel will draw Siege. Both are written by Bendis. He says the storyline will bring a “seismic shift” in the Avengers titles on the level of what happened in Avengers: Disassembled and will reunite Thor, Iron Man and Captain America.

Siege was just one of several subjects Butler asked Bendis about; he also talked about Powers, various Marvel films, Fortune & Glory‘s 10th anniversary edition and much more. Check out the second part of the interview below (he talks about Siege at the very end) and go here to find the first half.

Also be sure to check out Dave Richards’ interview with Bendis on Dark Avengers over on the main CBR site.

Jon Favreau

Between panels, autographs, world premieres, sneak previews, merchandise, booths and meeting other fans, the San Diego Comic Con offers a full plate for the movie fan. Here are six things — a small sampling, really — for the movie fan to do at the con:

1. Check out some clips from Iron Man 2: I haven’t seen any announcements about who exactly will be at the Iron Man 2 panel yet, but no doubt with principal photography finished up, a few of the folks involved probably have an opening in their schedule. So I wouldn’t be surprised if Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Mickey Rourke or any of the other cast members show up for the con. And no doubt they’ll bring something cool to show the audience. (4-5 p.m. Saturday, Hall H).

2. Hear from a few visionaries: Entertainment Weekly has a panel scheduled for Friday at 6:30 p.m. called “Entertainment Weekly: The Visionaries,” where directors James Cameron and Peter Jackson will sit down to chat. But they aren’t the only visionaries appearing at the con; you can also hear from Robert Zemeckis and Tim Burton on Thursday at 11 a.m., and animation visionaries Hayao Miyazaki and John Lasseter at 12:45 on Friday. In any case, come prepared to be inspired.

Watchmen

3. See the complete director’s cut of Watchmen, live with director’s commentary: If you don’t want to just hear about movies, you can also watch them at the con, too. From 8:30-12:15 Saturday night, Zack Snyder will host a live “director’s cut” of his own, showing the complete film … and even folks who bought the Watchmen DVD will be able to participate in this at home. (Room 6BCF)

4. Feel the force: Friday is Star Wars Day at the con, which means they’ll have several panels focused on the classic space opera. But one panel in particular is going to be a must-see — the first-ever panel broadcast live from Comic Con. Lucasfilm: “Star Wars Spectacular” promises to reveal all the “latest news from the Star Wars universe—including some of Lucasfilm’s most tightly guarded secrets.” And what’s cool about this panel is you don’t even have to be in San Diego to watch it … just tune into G4. For those of us who might have a conflict, just remember to set the TiVo before you leave. (5:15-6:15 p.m. Saturday, Hall H).

5. See Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins before everyone else: So maybe Watchmen doesn’t do it for you, or you have kids in tow and want to find something they can enjoy. On Sunday, the direct-to-DVD prequel to the Scooby Doo movies will be shown in its entirety. Zoinks! (Sunday, 12:30-2:30 p.m. Room 6DE)

6. Get scared: This Comic-Con horror is in full effect, as zombies, werewolves, vampires and other things that go bump in the night make their way to San Diego. The cast of Zombieland will be on hand to talk about their upcoming horror comedy. Leslie Nielsen will be there to promote his next film, Stan Helsing. Sony’s Legion, which features angels and the Apocalypse, sounds pretty cool, while Thursday night bring Halloween early, as Trick ‘r Treat is shown in its entirety. And if you want vampires and werewolves, fight your way into the New Moon panel on Thursday.

Although if you want real horror, there’s always those squids …

No word on when the third Pilot Season competition starts. Last year’s winners were Twilight Guardian by writer Troy Hickman and artist Reza, and Genius by writers Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman and artist Afua Richardson.

Runaways #11

To make its latest creative-team announcement, Marvel Comics turned to television — specifically, G4′s Attack of the Show.

In yesterday’s episode, host Blair Butler announced that writer Kathryn Immonen (Patsy Walker: Helcat) and artist Sara Pichelli (NYX) will pick up Runaways after Terry Moore and Humberto Ramos end their run in April. David Lafuente (Ultimate Spider-Man) will provide the covers.

Butler showed glimpses of art from the premiere issue and teased, “Marvel promises that one Runaway will die in the new story arc, and one might live again.”

Presumably the new team debuts with Issue 11, whose creative lineup and content is listed as “classified” in the solicitations for June.

You can watch Butler’s “Fresh Ink” segment after the break.

Update: Lafuente posts links on Twitter to his covers for issues 11 and 12.