This coming weekend the Baltimore Comic-Con kicks things off in a unique manner as Jim Lee will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Baltimore Orioles game at 7:05 p.m.  Lee, a baseball fan, will toss the pitch to start the con and the Orioles-Toronto Blue Jays matchup at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

"We know how well he can draw Batman — let’s see if he can throw a strike," promoter Marc Nathan said.

Lee will sign autographs, promoting the con, located across the street at the Baltimore Convention Center.

Fans for the convention can witness this themselves, as the Orioles are offering a discounted group rate for visitors coming into town for the Baltimore Comic-Con. Tickets begin as low at $8 for both Friday and Saturday nights’ games. Those who wish to see the artist deliver that first pitch should be in their seats 20 minutes ahead of time, at 6:45 p.m.
 
"The Orioles recognize how many people come to our event downtown," continued Nathan, "and they wanted to enhance everyone’s experience.  All you have to do is mention that you are with the Baltimore Comic-Con group, and the discounts will apply.  They have also made an easy-to-fill-out form to help chose which kind of seat you prefer."
 
Please go to Gate "H", the Orioles Main Box Office, to present your completed form.  See our website for more details about the event and the show, and for copies of the form – http://www.baltimorecomiccon.com/.
 
There will be fireworks at the end of Friday’s game to celebrate the weekend.

The Orioles, who are partly owned by Diamond Comics’ Steve Geppi, have had another dreadful season, with a record of 67-88 as of last night’s game.  They occupy the American League East’s basement, 26 games away from first place.  Their weekend opponents, the Blue Jays, are 15.5 games better off than the O’s.
 

After laying dormant for nearly a year, Rosario Dawson is ready to kick start The Occult Crimes Task Force back to comics and a film. She tells us why she believes morethan ever in comic based movies,  plus:

• Jimmy Palmiotti takes on Vampire Hunter D
• Warehouse 13 set for The SciFi Channel
• Our rundown of this week’s huge line-uo of new comics and DVDs

Don’t forget, ComicMix Radio will be broadcasting direct from the floor of the Baltimore ComicCon  with extended broadcasts Saturday and Sunday, and to join us all you have to do is Press the Button!

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via or RSS!

The Sunburst Awards for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic were won by Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet by Joanne Proulx and The New Moon’s
Arms by Nalo Hopkinson. Hopkinson’s previously won in 2003.

Proulx’s Sunburst is the first winner in the new separate category for young adult speculative fiction.

The Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic is a prized  and juried award presented annually. It is based on excellence of  writing and awarded to a Canadian writer who has published a  speculative fiction novel or book-length collection any time during the  previous calendar year. The award consists of a cash prize of $1,000  Canadian and a hand-crafted medallion.

IDW Publishing has announced that veteran entertainment and media executive Greg Goldstein has joined the company as Chief Operating Officer.  Goldstein will manage the company’s day-to-day operations as well as help guide IDW as it expands its existing product lines and enters new categories.

Goldstein is an industry veteran since working for Topps Comics followed by stints at Inkworks, Activision, Acclaim and most recently Upper Deck.  He also founded and ran his own entertainment concern, Popmania.

Well be presenting an exclusive interview with Goldstein later this week.

This comes at a time when IDW has surpassed Image as the number four comic book publisher in America.  It’s best known for its mix of media tie-ins from the just acquired G.I. Joe to Star Trek.  They also publish original works such as Joe Hill’s Locke & Key.

Note: Click here to relive the past episode!

This Week’s Operation: "The Mousetrap"

Mission Briefing:
Charley Dixon and his wife Michelle are fleeing town from the big bad Terminator, when Cromartie himself shows up and abducts Michelle. Charley enlists the help of Sarah and Derek Reese, who track Michelle to an abandoned shack in the desert. She’s strung up to a series of explosives, that turn out to be fake. Cromartie was trying to lure Sarah out in the open so she’d contact John, and then he could trace his location. His mission successful, Cromartie blows up the shack and drives off in pursuit of John. Michelle is severely injured in the blast and needs a hospital, but Cromartie has sabotaged Sarah’s car. They hijack a van and race against time to save both John and Michelle.

Meanwhile, John goes to buy a computer with Cameron, but ditches her to hang out with his new friend Riley. Cameron stalks them from a distance, but Riley and John catch on and run off. John gets a phone call from Cromartie posing as his mother. Using Sarah’s voice, he tells John to meet at a nearby pier. John shows up and sees that it’s not his mom at all, unless she’d undergone extensive work in the past couple hours. John pulls some Mission: Impossible moves to evade Cromartie, and the two eventually wind up in the ocean. Luckily for John, Terminators don’t move so well in the water, and Cromartie sinks to the bottom. John and Cameron later reunite with Derek and Sarah, and John notices blood in the hijacked van. It’s revealed that Michelle died from her wounds, and Charley is not happy at all.

Elsewhere, former FBI agent James Ellison is contacted by mysterious CEO Catherine Weaver, who is secretly a T-1000. She tells him that her company has been trying to reverse engineer Terminator technology from parts they’ve found in recent years, but their attempts haven’t been successful. She wants answers, but more importantly, she wants Ellison to help her find another Terminator.

(more…)

While promoting his role on TNT’s Raising the Bar, J. August Richards was asked about Gunn’s role in the Angel: After the Fall comic.  The comic, from IDW, continues the WB’s series as a sixth season which saw Gunn turned into a vampire and becoming the latest Big Bad.

“You’re kidding!” he exclaimed to ifmagazine. “Oh, my God. I need to see this. That is crazy. I was told that that was what was going to happen if we were to continue or do a TV movie, but I’m so happy to actually see it happening somewhere. I always thought Gunn’s end should be, he should turn into a vampire and kill himself. That’s always how I saw that character ending. I hope I get to act that one day, I really do. I’m still connected to that character.”