At New York Comic Con the queuing hall leading into the IGN was packed and you could feel the energy of the crowd. This wasn’t over the excitement of The Walking Dead panel taking place and shown on big screens, this was in anticipation for the Firefly 10th Anniversary Special event hosted taking place after. Hosted by Entertainment Weekly’s Kyle Anderson the panel started with cast members Jewel Staite and Sean Maher. Nathan Fillion joined in by phone, but after some audio issues, the actor revealed himself causing the crowd and two actors he joined to burst out in excitement. This was the type of honest spontaneous emotion and reaction that peppered a panel celebrating a show that was canceled after running just 1 season.

And the cancellation was brought up numerous times by Anderson in the beginning much to the playful joking and irritation of the actors on stage. And boy did that topic dominate the first round of discussion. You could tell there was some pouring of salt on wounds, but it’s important to talk about. One wonders how the show would have fared if it had continued longer. That discussion lead into the first clip from the show the panel was there to pitch. The clip was the actors talking about…. cancellation.

The panel really was a pitch for the upcoming Science Channel anniversary event which airs November 11, but watching the actors interact and reactions to questions, you could feel the appreciation and amazement they feel towards the fans of the television show referred to as Browncoats. It was very much a celebration. While Fillion said they know it was a “special experience” and that the show was an “underdog” their validation and proof it was as cool as they thought, was the fandom that followed and coming to packed crowds at convention after convention.

Staite said the day of the cancellation was the first time she’d ever seen creator Joss Whedon angry and clearly shaken. All of the actors praised Whedon working with him made them better at their craft. Maher said there was no script when he came on board and that Whedon’s enthusiasm when they met is what sold him. Staite said she wanted to play River Tam as it was a meatier role but Whedon had a vision for her to play Kaylee. Fillion said he had a deal with 20th Century Fox and was forced upon Whedon. They chatted for 45 minutes and Whedon had ever detail worked out. This sold Fillion on the role and series.

Maher praised Fillion for his leadership on the set saying he really set the tone for the series. Fillion knew everyone’s name and made it a fun experience. Fillion following up in discussing if he’d knew the experience would really be a “family” experience. Fillion, choking up and fighting back tears, responded “you can’t imagine that.”

I’ve never watched Firefly, but the fun those three actors exuded on stage and the warmth and excitement that glowed from the audience, I think I might finally find out what I’ve been missing.

At New York Comic Con, Dark Horse announced that Mass Effect will be getting a super-deluxe oversized hardcover collecting every Mass Effect comic to date!

Made in close collaboration with the creators of the games, including Mass Effect 2 and 3 lead writer Mac Walters, the Mass Effect comics are tightly integrated and essential chapters of gaming’s most acclaimed science fiction epic.

This collection includes all four Mass Effect series—Redemption, Evolution, Invasion, and Homeworlds—as well as the short stories from MySpace Dark Horse Presents, USAToday.com, and the Dark Horse digital store, all annotated by the artists and writers who worked on them, as well as an extensive sketchbook of never-before-seen art. A must-own for any Mass Effect fan!

Emily the Strange creator Rob Reger teams up with cowriter Mariah Huehner and rising artist Emily Ivie for a brand-new, full-color miniseries titled Emily and the Strangers, featuring limited variant covers by rock-poster legends.

With the help of her trio of troublemaking cats, Emily is determined to make the most rockin’ song the world has ever known and win a legendary haunted guitar . . . but can she do it solo? Only one thing is for sure—what Emily wants, Emily gets . . . sometimes.

Now, Emily and her strange new bandmates are hard at work writing new songs and recording their first album, with big plans for 2013!

An Emily the Strange feature film is currently in development, with Chloë Grace Moretz in the role of Emily.

Friday is over for New York Comic Con and the soreness of my legs continues.  Here’s the results for Friday as far as how much I walked and ho many calories were burned.

Friday

Distance: 3.45 miles
Calories: 338
Steps: 8,488

Overall

Distance: 8.23 miles
Calories: 802
Steps: 20,002

Tim Bradstreet has entered the fray as the third world famous comic book artist to create a cover for Legendary Comics The Tower Chronicles. The cover was revealed for the first time yesterday at Legendary’s New York Comic Con panel.

With a lead character created by Legendary founder Thomas Tull and developed by Tull and Matt Wagner, The Tower Chronicles creates a new mythology on familiar worlds through a unique take on the bounty hunter storyline.

The first volume in the series, The Tower Chronicles: Geisthawk, hit stores at the end of last month. The book featured a cover by Jim Lee. The second volume, which is due to hit stores in November, has a cover drawn by Alex Ross.

On the same day comiXology hit the 100,000,000 download mark, the digital comic book platform also announced a newly upgraded Comics4Kids iOS app featuring “parent-friendly sync” among other major upgrades as well as works by Ishimori.

The Comics4Kids app includes numerous publishers and filters out comics by an age restriction in a separate app, perfect for kids and taking advantage of comiXology’s buy once read anywhere ability. In addition to the unique “parent-friendly sync” feature, the Comics4Kids iOS app upgrade brings the app into to parity with the rest of the comiXology family of apps, delivering the same great shopping and reading experience that comiXology is known for.

ComiXology also announced the debut of Ishimori Production Inc.’s debut of the widely influential Cyborg 009 , Kikaider and Skull Man across comiXology’s entire platform. Ishimori Production Inc. and comiXology worked closely together to acquire the highest resolution source material possible to present Ishinomori’s classic manga creations.

Ishimori recently announced their working with Archaia to create a modern adaptation of the classic Cyborg 009 manga series. Written by F.J. DeSanto and Bradley Cramp and illustrated by Marcus To, Archaia is set to release the graphic novel based on Ishinomori’s original creation early in 2013 and will also be available digitally through comiXology.

Both of these announcements came of the same day comiXology hit their 100,000,000th download. The honor goes to Bill Willingham’s Pantheon #3.

I had the extreme pleasure to sit down with comic book legend David Lloyd. The conversation really did go through the ages as well as topics as we talked about V for Vendetta, the Occupy movement, comic books, politics and his new venture Aces Weekly.

Aces Weekly is a new digital comic magazine featuring a long list of talent. The series is being released in volumes which range from 20 to 32 pages or more and the run of 7 issues is $9.99. A pretty great deal especially for material you won’t find anywhere else.

Check out the full 30 minute interview below.

At the Marvel NOW! panel at New York Comic Con it was dropped by Axel Alonso that we can expect more unannounced Marvel NOW! comics out next year and most importantly a few of those new titles will be female focused. Right now there’s two in the pipeline, but possibly a third one which is in early stages right now.

This is on top of the new X-Force team which will be in their own comic which features four kick-ass female characters in a new team lead by Psylocke. Also on the team are Spiral, Storm (back to her mohawk look), a female Fantomex and Puck (the only man on the team). Expect this book to be a hot one.

Any guesses as to what those two or three comics may be?

Anomaly Productions, which is currently previewing its first book, Anomaly, which comes outNovember 15, at New York Comic-Con, today announced the upcoming releases of its next two graphic novels:

Shifter, releasing July 15, 2013 in time for San Diego Comic-Con, is the story of a man on the run from mysterious assassins who stumbles onto a technology that allows him to jump into the body of any animal or person.

Between Worlds: releasing Fall 2013.  A rebellious teenager and her friend venture into mysterious forest and fall asleep under a wishing tree that takes them to a magical world where they race against the clock to save another human trapped on that world.

You can see more at www.experienceanomaly.com, and be sure to stop by the Anomaly’s Booth #933 during New York Comic-Con to meet co-creators Skip Brittenham and Brian Haberlin.

Dark Horse offers fans and retailers alike the perfect jumping-on point for all of the titles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9.

In 2007, Dark Horse made comics history with a revolutionary new concept: Joss Whedon’s best-loved television series continued in comics with Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8. With Joss Whedon himself at the helm, the series launched with much critical acclaim, and sold out of multiple printings.

Following the success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, Dark Horse launched four separate series for the anticipated Buffy Season 9. Buffy Season 9 and Angel & Faith are direct follow-ups to Season 8, while Spike and Willow are spinoffs from those two ongoing series.

Collected here are all four #1 issues, with all-new cover art by C. L. Bradley!

Coming in at 96 pages, this issue carries the low cover price of only $4.99!

Look for this at your local comic shop on January 23, 2013!