So once the doors opened to the exhibit hall tonight, I made a beeline to the IDW booth for a press conference they were holding to announce Darwyn Cooke’s new series of Parker graphic novels, which are adaptations of the crime fiction novels by Richard Stark (a.k.a. Donald Westlake). Newsarama chief Matt Brady was there and covered the announcement already, so I won’t repeat the details of it. But as you can see from the picture above, we all stood in front of Cooke as he spoke, holding out our tape recorders and scratching down notes … I think Maggie Thompson from Comic Buyer’s Guide even filmed it. Afterwards, when talking to Heidi MacDonald of The Beat, she commented that with all the big movie, TV, video game, etc. press conferences going on in San Diego this week, it was pretty cool to have a comic company doing a press conference about a comic book at Comic-Con. Sure, there are panels to cover and one-on-one interviews set up and stuff like that, but a good old fashioned press conference really seemed to work here. And IDW did a nice job with the collateral material as well, handing out Cooke artwork with a disc, as well as Parker T-shirts to the press. Well done, guys.

One more note, this one a bit more on the personal side … afterwards, I got to chat with Heidi, Maggie and blogger/retailer Chris Butcher, all of whom I’d never had a chance to meet in person before. CBG introduced me to the concept of fandom and comics journalism well before the internet was around, and of course Heidi is one of the pioneers of the whole comics news blog idea, so it was awesome (and maybe even a bit overwhelming) to get to meet them. Chris took a picture of us, which is up on his Flickr account.

Ah San Diego Comic-Con Preview Night … last year’s was pure mayhem. This year there was a little less mayhem, and it didn’t feel as packed in the exhibit hall as it did last year. Until you walked down the aisles to the big media booths, like WB and Fox, where mayhem ruled.

Needless to say, I spent most of my time tonight hanging out in the comics area. So let’s take a look at some pics …

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This isn’t directly related to comics, but Comic-Con teaser posters have been released for Alan Ball’s HBO vampire series True Blood and Fox Atomic’s thriller Jennifer’s Body. And, well, they’re an awful lot alike.

How uncanny is that? I imagine, though, that two companies coming to San Diego with similar promos is a little like two people attending a party wearing the same outfit.

That said, I’m looking forward to True Blood, Ball’s follow-up to Six Feet Under. The show is based on Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire series of novels.

Top Cow Productions will debut a prelude one-shot at Comic-Con called True Blood: The Great Revelation. You can read a preview here.

The doors haven’t opened on Preview Night, but already there are a ton of Comic-Con-related announcements from publishers, movie studios, television networks and production companies.

You can follow Blog@Newsarama’s Comic-Con coverage here. Also, JK Parkin and Carla Hoffman will be Twittering from the convention floor.

In other convention-related news:

• Just in time for Comic-Con, MTV.com has launched Splash Page, a blog devoted to comic-book movies. They have the first look at DC Direct’s statues of Dr. Manhattan and the Owl Ship from Watchmen.

• Although it’s not San Diego-specific, Random House has launched Suvudu, a blog devoted to comics, science fiction and fantasy. Boy, this comics-blogging field is getting crowded.

• Tor.com’s new blog has photos of booth and display setup.

• Bully is already photo-blogging from San Diego, with pictures from Neil Gaiman’s signing at Mysterious Galaxy bookstore.

Cartoon Network announced today that they’re working on animated movies of Phil Hester’s Firebreather and Mike Avon Oeming and Bryan Glass’ Mice Templar, both of which are published by Image. In addition, they’re also adapting Chuck Dixon’s The Vanishers, published by IDW, into a live-action film. No air dates have been announced yet.

Check out the complete press release after the jump.

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Just in time for Comic-Con, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Sony Online Entertainment have released a slew of screenshots for DC Universe Online, the upcoming massively multiplayer online game. Convention attendees will be able to test-drive the game as part of effort by the producers to gather feedback.

Related: Jim Lee discusses the game

Although the details are scant, The New York Times briefly reports DC Comics will start a new thriller imprint next summer.

Called Vertigo Crime, the mystery and crime-story line will be a subimprint of Vertigo Books — something that may be newsworthy in itself. I don’t recall seeing a previous reference to “Vertigo Books.” But given the imprint’s recent focus on graphic novels, it certainly makes sense.

Expect more details to emerge from Comic-Con.

Update: PW Daily reports the line will launch with two titles, one from 100 Bullets writer Brian Azzarello and the other from Scottish crime novelist Ian Rankin. More details will be released tomorrow.

Instead of producing a traditional video game tie-in, Warner Bros. is producing downloadable games based on its Watchmen adaptation.

Variety reports that Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment will publish at least two game episodes, the first hitting around the time of the movie’s release in March, and the second near the DVD launch:

WBIE execs said that by producing shorter downloadable games, rather than a full-priced disc version, they’ll have more flexibility to produce high-quality titles on a tight production schedule of just more than a year.

If successful, Warner Bros. could produce additional installments, and follow the model for future films.

The likely M-rated Watchmen game is being made by Danish developer Deadline Games, and will be available for download on PCs, Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360.

Related: MTV.com has previewed the game

On his blog, Greg Rucka shows off a poster he’ll be handing out on Saturday (I’m guessing at the Oni panel) promoting his upcoming book Stumptown. Be sure to click over for a bigger view of it and check out all the names in the phone book.

Jenna Dewan and Luke Goss are attached to star in a big-screen adaptation of Top Cow’s The Magdalena.

Created by Joe Benitez and David Wohl, The Magdalena first appeared in The Darkness #15 (June 1998). Dewan (Wonderfalls) will play Patience, a woman who discovers she’s part of a line of female warriors descended from Mary Magdalene who serve as protectors of the Catholic Church.

Goss (Hellboy II: The Golden Army) will play Kristof, an agent of a secret organization that guards the lineage.

Gale Anne Hurd’s Valhalla Motion Pictures, Platinum Studios and Top Cow are behind the production, which will be a topic of the publisher’s panel at Comic-Con.

Hurd and Platinum’s Scott Mitchell Rosenberg are producing the film. Top Cow CEO Marc Silvestri and former Universal senior executive Randy Greenberg are executive producing; Top Cow president Matt Hawkins is set to co-produce.

Comic-Con hasn’t even started and already there’s a new license announcement: Wildstorm has acquired the comics rights to Summit Entertainment’s upcoming action-thriller Push.

The DC Comics imprint will release a six-issue prequel this fall by Highwaymen writers Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman, and artist Bruno Redondo. Jock will illustrate the covers.

Last month, Wildstorm announced a similar approach to J.J. Abrams’ sci-fi drama Fringe, with a miniseries building up to the TV show’s debut. The imprint also released an X-Files one-shot this week in advance of the new movie.

Directed by Paul McGuigan (Lucky Number Slevin), Push centers on a group of people with psychic abilities on the run from a government agency determined to hunt them down and harness their powers. It stars Chris Evans, Djimon Honsou and Dakota Fanning.

Push hits theaters in February.

The con hasn’t officially started yet, but the set-up is going on as we speak. And already Action Figure Insider has a picture of the Owlship from the Watchmen movie. They’ve got a whole lot more pictures of booths in their forums area. Click on over there and check’em out.

Hancock director Peter Berg will produce and develop Hercules: The Thracian Wars at Universal, based on the Radical Publishing miniseries by Steve Moore and Admira Wijaya.

Ryan Condal (Ocean) will pen the screenplay.

Hercules will be a co-production of of Spyglass Entertainment, Berg’s Film 44 and Radical Pictures. Spyglass and Universal will finance the film.

Just last week Radical announced it will produce an adaptation of its comic series Caliber with Johnny Depp’s Infinitum Nihil, Barry Levine’s Radical Comics and John Woo’s Lion Rock, with Woo attached to direct.

Summit Entertainment has acquired the film rights to Virgin Comics’ one-shot The Leaves, by Kevin J. Walsh and Ashwin Chikerur.

Walsh will write the screenplay.

The comic, released earlier this month, centers on New York surgeon Max Mellick, who travels to Bombay to attend a friend’s funeral. There, a fortuneteller informs him he’ll bring about the apocalypse. So Max flees the country to save himself and preserve his destiny.

Gotham Chopra, Virgin’s founder, COO and editor-in-chief, will produce the movie along with CEO Sharad Devarajan.

The last one before I head out to the San Diego Comic-Con … if I get any last-minute additions, though, I’ll post them once I’m on the ground.

A few Blog@ related items …

–I’ve set up an SDCC-specific photo gallery, which you can view here. The only thing in there right now are some images related to SDCC events, but we’ll add pics from the con as the week goes on.

–As a reminder, our Twitter feed can be found here … I’ll be posting updates from the con over there throughout the week.

–If you’re going to the con, I know for sure I’ll be at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund party on Thursday night. So stop by and say hi.

Now updates …

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Warner Bros. has picked up the film rights to Capeshooters, an upcoming comic from Rob Liefeld. Bryan Singer is set to produce through his WB-based Bad Hat Harry Productions.

In the comic, two slackers become paparazzi who specialize in shooting video of superheroes. But they find themselves on the run when they uncover evidence that a legendary hero is actually a villain.

The screenplay is being written by J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani, who work on Ryan Seacrest’s morning radio show and American Idol.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Brooklyn Weaver of Energy Entertainment and Liefield will produce in some capacity. Bad Hat Harry’s Alex Garcia will executive produce.

New York magazine’s Vulture blog has the first look at the special-edition poster celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Sandman. The poster, which will be released this week at Comic-Con, features Sandman characters drawn by such artists as Mike Allred, Jill Thompson, P. Craig Russell, Bryan Talbot, Colleen Doran and Tony Harris.

View the full poster, and artist/character key, here.

Related: Neil Gaiman talks briefly about the origin and early years of The Sandman

Retailer/blogger Chris Butcher dropped us a note saying that The Beguiling Books & Art is bringing original art to the San Diego Comic-Con by folks like Seth, Jason, Paul Pope, Kevin Huizenga, Jason Lutes and many, many others. You can find The Beguiling at booth #1529, which they’ll share with Drawn + Quarterly. Who, incidentally, will have folks like James Sturm, Lynda Barry, Rutu Modan and Adrian Tomine signing at their booth, so stop by, check out some art and meet a few creators.

The complete release from The Beguiling is after the jump. Drawn + Quarterly’s booth schedule can be found here.

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The New York Times confirms that Invincible and Walking Dead writer Robert Kirkman has been made a partner in Image Comics.

The move, first reported yesterday by Rich Johnston, will be announced at Comic-Con.

Eric Stephenson, who became publisher of Image last month, told the newspaper that Kirkman was asked to become a partner as a reward for his commitment to the company.

Kirkman, 29, joins Image founders, and current partners, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino.

The Greatest American Hero is returning next week at the San Diego Comic-Con … look for an interview with series creator Stephen J. Cannell and actor William Katt on Newsarama next week for more information. Until then, you can check out a video teaser and press release after the jump …

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