Comic-Con Wrap-Up

A few final thoughts and random notes jotted down on the flight home from San Diego:

No, stargazers, Christian Bale wasn’t in attendance for Saturday’s “Terminator Salvation” panel, but apparently not because of his recent legal troubles in London. The hyper-intense actor, who plays an adult John Connor in the film, was in Japan on a publicity junket for “The Dark Knight.” But fans did hear from Bale’s onscreen dad, Kyle Reese, played by 19-year-old Anton Yelchin (“Charlie Bartlett”). “Michael Biehn, [my predecessor] in ‘Terminator 1,’ is awesome, right? So the whole goal is to preserve that, to see how he became that awesome. Basically, you know, why he got to the point where Linda Hamilton would sleep with him.” Next time, look for a publicist to follow that with, “Thank you, and good night!”

Cue “Odd Couple” theme for Comic-Con’s most eclectic movie panel: “Death Race,” director Paul W.S. Anderson’s remake of the Roger Corman cult fave, which brought out B-movie hardcase Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Tyrese Gibson, Ian McShane, and Corman himself. McShane, at least, brought a little of the familiar to the atypical mix, describing the movie with a “Deadwood” flourish: “It’s NASCAR to the death, in prison, in the future, shown on the Internet, and Joan Allen says, ‘F---.’ What more do you want?” Later, the crowd of a few thousand all joined in singing happy birthday to Statham, which was sweet – and one clearly pre-adolescent fan asked him for a “Crank 2” status report, which was somewhat, um, less sweet, if you’ve seen “Crank.”

Those who’ve dug Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies but still sort of yearn for his “Evil Dead” days look to be in for a twisted treat with his May 2009 unplugged horror flick “Drag Me to Hell.” (Gotta love that title.) In some of the most startling, did-we-just-see-that footage screened at the convention, bank loan officer Alison Lohman (“Where the Truth Lies”) cat-fights with the old witch she ill-advisedly rejected. Yep, a stapler can be a weapon. “I wanted to get back to doing what I really like doing: telling a good, simple campfire ghost story,” said Raimi, who also said he plans to take a crack at some “Evil Dead 4” script ideas this week with his brother Ivan.

Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, and the rest of the cast of “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” made the requisite appearance, with fans seeming particularly jazzed about traditional screen allies Li and Yeoh finally squaring off in the film. Conspicuously absent: director Rob Cohen, who made a rocky convention appearance a few summers ago with “Stealth.” Maybe he was put off by, say, the fan who asked Jamie Foxx how it felt to be in a movie like “Ray”…and a movie like “Stealth.”

Whoever did Heath Ledger’s Joker makeup is an unsung hero to geeks everywhere. The deliberately ragged, smeary quality of it was easy enough to replicate that it had to have been the most common getup at the con – and one that actually looked (hola, chicas!) more creepy-cool than goofy.

My personal favorite on the costume front, though, was the guy dressed up as Edward Scissorhands, smoking a cigarette held between two blades. Now that’s a serious habit. Unless it was just some publicist’s oddball crossover plug for the “Mad Men” season premiere. Not sure.

Caught in passing: a wannabe Batman posed for a fan photo with a trio of male models dressed as Sexy Jesus (a promo bit for Steve Coogan’s “Hamlet 2”). I guess there’s some sort of metaphor in there for the Dark Knight being God right now…