The annual San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) kicks off today, and as ever, it's a massive promotional platform for brands.

Founded as the "Golden State Comic Book Convention" in 1970 by a group of San Diegan comic book fans, the annual fanfest has evolved to include video games, toys and other forms of genre entertainment. That's why Hollywood beats a path south to the show every year — to generate buzz among the estimated 250,000 comic book, sci-fi, fantasy, anime, and video game fans hitting town for the four day pop-culture fix.

One of the biggest movies being touted this year: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2, which marks the cast's last appearance as Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner hyping the Nov. 16th final bow with a 1pm ET (above) panel. Also red-hot: Iron Man 3, with Robert Downey Jr. and co-stars on hand to promote the movie scheduled for May 3rd of next year.Continue reading...

For a series of Batman movies that takes itself so seriously, it's a surprise to see it right there so prominent as one of only five menu items on the official The Dark Knight Rises website: "Imported From Gotham City."

The Dark Knight Rises has a number of other official partners. There is Nokia (remember them?) and No Fear (remember them?) and Mountain Dew, which features at the core of its tie-in "Sad Batman." But none of these brands even get a mention on the film's official website, let alone being featured on the site navigation.

It seems that the heavyweight "Imported from Detroit" campaign, which debuted with Eminem at the 2011 Super Bowl and was reborn with Clint Eastwood at the 2012 Super Bowl, is now so ingrained in the American psyche that it's worth lampooning. But the first rule of auto product placement is "be serious." Be so, so serious.Continue reading...

Charlie Brown may have been insecure, but he dominated the comics pages for decades. Now comics pages are disappearing and the Peanuts gang has been busy fading away into the annals of pen-and-ink history.

That’s all about to change. Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Peppermint Patty, and all the rest of Charles M. Schulz's iconic characters are entering into the digital and social-media worlds.Continue reading...

Dodge Charger's heavy partnership with this week's Fast and the Furious sequel Fast Five isn't the only team-up between an automaker and a muscle-bound hero. Acura is going all out to promote its upcoming role in the latest Marvel comic-to-movie adaptation, Thor, which opens on May 6th.Continue reading...

As you read earlier this week (unless you were locked up in Arkham Asylum), Disney is buying Marvel. A triumph for the current leadership at Marvel, considering past regimes have pushed the company right up to the edge (and over) of insolvency a couple times, even as arch-nemesis DC Comics trundled along, safe under the Time Warner umbrella.

The benefits to Disney are obvious: they have always understood the value of franchise characters and need to buy some revenue pronto. And Marvel, finally seeing an exit that wouldn’t result in shareholders comically running in place before they plunged into the freezing waters of Chapter 11 Ravine, must be more than pleased. Continue reading...

As a kid, the Marvel comics title "What If...?" was a personal favorite. It brought together two impossible worlds: "What if... Dr. Doom had Became a Hero?" "What if... the Hulk had the Brain of Bruce Banner?" "What if... Disney bought Marvel comics?"

It appears we will soon know the answer to that last "what if...", with Disney's announced purchase of Marvel comics — a deal worth $4 billion (just slightly more than a mint 1938 Action Comics #1).

The deal covers thousands of Marvel characters and titles, and includes bankable multi-platform (film, game, print) hero brands like Iron Man, Wolverine, Hulk and Spider-Man and recently buzzed about names Green Lantern and Deadpool. Continue reading...