Excelsior! In a panel that was as much love-fest as information session, convention guest of honor Stan Lee talked up Mosaic and The Condor, his pair of direct-to-video superhero films produced with Starz Home Media. The session skirted the thin edge of both farce and tragedy as Stan repeatedly tripped and nearly took a fall over some poorly placed cables while leaving the stage to view video clips projected overhead. (Stan ultimately earned a round of applause for avoiding a stumble at the final clip.) The two films were replete with familiar superhero motifs, including murdered parents, identity issues and a secret super-powered race of beings hiding in our midst, done in animation reminiscent of Marvel's many animated TV adaptations. Stan's big news: his third film with Starz, to be released at year's end will star ex-Beatle Ringo Starr.

The strangest -- and funniest -- session of the Con may have been the Venture Brothers' voice actors' panel, which began with a trailer for the April DVD release of the show's second season. Afterwards Steve Ratazzi ("Dr. Morpheus"), Michael Sinterniklass ("Dean Venture"), Jackson Publick ("Hank Venture"), Doc Hammer ("Dr. Girlfriend") and James Urbaniak ("Dr. Venture") indulged in non-sequitur conversations, insulted each other and feigned indignation over repeated questions regarding season II cliffhangers. "We're not Lost," one panelist assured the audience in mock exasperation, "we'll tell you what's going on." "All questions will be answered," added Doc Hammer, referring to the show's third season due to premiere in the spring of 2008, "and new questions will be asked." (A fourth season is also in the works.)

At an Afro Samurai panel, FUNimation's Scott McCarthy announced that 15 minutes of footage have been added to the miniseries DVD. Spike TV © 2006 Takashi Okazaki, Gonzo/Samurai Project. Licensed by FUNimation®.

The quartet mercilessly ragged on their fellow Adult Swim series, few of which approach the visual or narrative polish of Venture Brothers. The crowd was told "next season we're going to have a 30-minute episode with a talking football and a mouse changing a tire, discussing whatever comes into their heads -- it's cheaper to produce that way." Playing "can you top this," Urbaniak suggested, "an ice cube and a nail, and at the end the ice cube melts" to which Sinterniklaas responded, "we'll shoot it on my cell phone, that'll save some money."

Black Ent. Television's panel on their upcoming animated series got off to a rocky start, thanks to an uncooperative DVD player. Once the technical issues were resolved, BET president Reggie Hudlin and svp of animation Denys Cowan played several impressive shorts that will be rolled into an afternoon block of short-form programming: Bid 'em In animated the rap-like patter of a 19th century slave auctioneer, while Cipha teased a sci-fi serial set in a world where hip-hop music is illegal. A third short, Read a Book skewered "gangsta" stereotypes in the service of black uplift.

A promised preview of Hannibal, a six-episode, Vin Diesel-starring and Diesel-produced series, due in 2008, consisted of little more than a handful of rough concept sketches. With Hudlin and Cowan announcing themselves wide open to pitches from aspiring black animators, one couldn't avoid the impression that BET's animation program is still in the process of ramping up.

Sunday got off to a strange start with Nickelodeon a no-show for its scheduled session promoting its Latino superhero El Tigre, and the Chiodo Brothers likewise failing to appear for their own stop-motion panel. J.J. Sedelmaier did make it, however, and spoke about animating the work of illustrators like Gary Baseman, Mad magazine's Don Martin and Doonesbury creator Gary Trudeau. "It's marvelous to watch an artist see their stuff translated into animation, and we make sure they have full input," Sedelmaier said.

He quoted cartoonist Elwood Smith's reaction to the sight of one of his characters taking a fall: "'I could never figure out how to draw the bottom of his shoes and I always wondered what they looked like.'" Sedelmaier attributed his success at working with non-animators to reaching out to artists whose work he admires, even if there's no immediate project for them to collaborate on. "Something might happen years later."

Sedelmaier's most recent work includes a Schoolhouse Rock parody for The Daily Show and the ongoing Tek Jansen segments for Stephen Colbert. (Colbert himself put in appearance earlier in the weekend to promote an upcoming comic based on his sci-fi alter ego.) Sedelmaier observed, "the low end, low budget style works for parody," and described the Jansen segments as an anime spoof reflecting Colbert's "pompous, self-inflated, self-important" persona.

It was now late Sunday afternoon. Moments after Sedelmaier's session ended the convention center crew was already breaking down the room even as he chatted with a few lingering fans. NYC's sci-fi, comics and cartoon enthusiasts will have to wait an extra two months for next year's Comic Con, now scheduled for April 2008. Once again, the exhibit area will double in size as the Con takes over the Javits' entire main floor.

Anime fans won't have to wait quite as long; Reed Exhibitions is already planning a new show to fill the gap: the New York Anime Festival, coming to the Javits on Dec. 7, 2007.

Joe Strike is a regular contributor to AWN. His animation articles also appear in the NY Daily News and the New York Press.