This is the first of three (possibly four) recap videos from San Diego Comic-Con International 2016 from my trip this year. As it is my eighth year going as a part of The Flickcast, it has been an honor covering the convention in a variety of ways such as photo galleries, interviews, visual tours and unboxings. This year will be no different. Later this week, our Comic Con shopping haul video will release followed by our Field Trip video where we take you down to the Con floor and even some of the VIP parties.

Our first video kicks off with the Loot Crate Gallery of Heroes Convention Exclusive Crate. Founders of the monthly geek in a box phenomenon, Loot Crate has maintained the top spot in the subscription box community.

With Comic-Con only about a week away expect lots more announcements of events, panels, signings and more over the next several day. This time around its the folks at Dark Horse Comics with the announcement.

They’ve got a whole bunch of events planned for Comic-Con including stuff at their booth, panels in various Con rooms and a green screen full of exciting showings.

To make things easier, we’ve included the full press release so you can make sure to include Dark Horse in your Comic-Con planning. Check out out right here:

DARK HORSE ANNOUNCES SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON 2011 SCHEDULE! SIGNINGS, PANELS, AND GREEN SCREENS, OH MY!

July 13, MILWAUKIE, OR—It’s here! San Diego Comic-Con 2011 is upon us, and Dark Horse Comics is telling you all the goods ahead of time! Plan accordingly!

SIGNINGS
Wednesday, July 20
7:30 p.m.—Preview Night Reveal

Thursday, July 21
11 a.m.— Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá
11 a.m.—Tara McPherson (The Art of Tara McPherson)
12:30 p.m.—Eric Powell (The Goon)
2 p.m.—Bruce Campbell (My Name Is Bruce) *Ticketed by Lottery
3 p.m.—Morgan Spurlock (Supersized)
3:30 p.m.—Jerry Robinson (Jet Scott)
4:30 p.m.—Jill Thompson (Beasts of Burden)

If one could call Chuck Norris a “Man’s Man,” then you should very easily be able to call Ron Perlman a “Geek’s Man.” His work on countless comic and fantasy projects like Hellboy, Alien: Resurrection, Blade, Conan and more has endeared him to fans everywhere, making him our go-to tough guy in the world of geek.

Now, Perlman has found a home on Kurt Sutter’s FX series Sons of Anarchy as, yes, a badass biker. All week long, we’ve brought you new interviews with other notables from the show, and now it’s time for the “Geek’s Man” to take center stage as we have a chat with Ron Perlman himself.

In the interview, Perlman discussed Sons of Anarchy, some of the new projects he has coming up, how much of a relief it is to work on a show that doesn’t require hours of makeup, and how quickly he’d return to the Hellboy franchise.

Check out the full interview after the break. Be sure to catch the season 3 premiere of Sons of Anarchy next Tuesday, September 7th, at 10/9C on FX.

Welcome to another edition of The Pull List Comic Reviews! We’ve got a lot off good issues to get through, so let’s get to it. As always, WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

PULL OF THE WEEK:

S.W.O.R.D. #1 – Marvel Comics – $3.99 US
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artists: Steven Sanders, Jamie McKelvie
Score: 9.0

Spinning out of Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s seminal Astonishing X-Men run, S.W.O.R.D. is the new title focusing on the organization entrusted to ensure that alien invasions are kept to a minimum. The Sentient World Observation and Response Department’s co-commander, Abigail Brand, has enough on her plate as it is, but having Henry Peter Gyrich – yes, THAT guy – as your co-commander simply can’t be a good thing.

After making a name for himself with the critically acclaimed Phonogram series, Marvel thought that writer Kieron Gillen would be able to handle the launch of a new, ongoing series that has a lot of ties to it, and boy were they right. The juggling parallels between what Agent Brand must endure and the various plot threads that Gillen must keep going wasn’t lost on me; in fact, I’d say it only added to the story’s flow. Imagine Men In Black done up right.

So new that he could be considered a rookie, artist Steven Sanders is anything but. Sharp, clean pencils fill this issue from cover to cover, and while his interpretation of how Beast looks takes a little getting used to, ultimately it’s nit picking on an otherwise near-perfect comic. His rendition of Gyrich, especially, should be noted, as the character has never looked more dick-ish.

About as entertaining as an issue can be, this first issue manages to draw you in with quirky moments – Beast’s lovesick commentary, Lockheed’s binge drinking – and stunning revelations – hello, Kitty! – made this an incredibly easy selection for our Pull of the Week.

OTHER PULLS:

Own an iPhone? Check. Love comics like Hellboy and Umbrella Academy? Check. Wish you could read them on your iPhone instead of having to lug around a bunch of paper comics? Check. But how? Fortunately, as of this week, you’re in luck because Dark Horse is making that last one possible and has released both Hellboy and Umbrella Academy for the iPhone and iPod Touch, much as they did recently with Star Wars. Can’t believe what you’re reading? Well, believe the following, from the official Dark Horse press release.

HELLBOY and UMBRELLA ACADEMY NOW AVAILABLE ON THE iPHONE

Dark Horse is proud to announce that Mike Mignola’s Hellboy and Gerard Way’s The Umbrella Academy are now available on the iPhone.

At the time of their publication, both Seed of Destruction and Apocalypse Suite were immediately renowned by critics as unique and talented debuts by independent creators.
Soon, industry heavyweights joined the chorus. Hellboy: Seed of Destruction is the beginning of the now legendary series Alan Moore calls, “a passport to a corner of funnybook heaven you may never want to leave.”
Similarly, Grant Morrison calls The Umbrella Academy “one of the great new comic books of this decade,” while Newsarama says the first volume of the series, Apocalypse Suite, is “flawless.”

Besides Marvel and DC, one of the biggest comic book companies around is Portland based Dark Horse Comics. With a diverse lineup of titles such as Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Hellboy, B.P.R.D., Star Wars, Umbrella Academy and Solomon Grundy, and a lots of movie and TV tie-ins as well, the company is a major player.

Fortunately, Dark Horse is bringing pretty much everyone they work with to Comic-Con in San Diego next week so if you happen to be there and are a fan of one or more Dark Horse properties, you’ve got lots of opportunities to see and interact with your favorites.

Here’s all the info about Dark Horse’s plans from the official press release:

Over at MTV’s Splash Page, they’ve got an interview with Helboy and future Hobbit director Guillermo Del Toro. Among the many things discussed in the interview was the future of the Hellboy film franchise. The director would do another film but doubts Hellboy himself, actor Ron Perlman would be up for it because he hates the makeup. One other great bit of info revealed in the interview was that the director had come very close to taking on the big screen adaptation of Marvel’s Thor.

In the interview, Del Toro says: “They approached me for Thor. And for a long time we talked about that, because the mythology and the images were very attractive to me. This was before Hellboy II,” he said. While director Kenneth Branagh was eventually tapped to take on Thor, Del Toro had quite a bit to say in the interview about why he was so attracted to the character and the idea of doing the film.

“I’m a fan of [Jack] Kirby and the power he has, and I’m a fan of the original mythology,” explained Del Toro. “So I thought we could go back to the original mythology a lot. I love Loki, I think he’s a great figure.”

Interesting indeed but not really surprising. The director has proven he can handle big, effects-driven films in the past so it would make sense that Marvel would consider him for one of its films. Plus, he certainly seems to have an affinity for the characters and the mythology. Plus, he’s an extremely talented director with a unioque vision. Its too bad we won’t ever get to see what a Guillermo Del Toro Thor movie would look like.

That said, I’m pretty interested to see what someone like Kenneth Branagh can bring to the table. He certainly has the chops to handle actors and has already made some interesting choices in that area. Plus, he’s done effects-driven films before as well so handling the demands of a movie as big as Thor should be no problem. I, for one, can’t wait to see how it turns out.

Be sure to check out the Del Toro interview after the jump.

Director Guillermo del Toro has had a unique and varied career so far. His range of films from Mimic, Blade II and Pan’s Labyrinth to Hellboy I and II, have managed to keep us interested, entertained and sometimes even a little scared. Currently, del Toro is working on a live-action version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic The Hobbit. But apparently, that’s not enough to keep him busy.

He’s also co-written a novel with Chuck Hogan called The Strain, which concerns a mysterious virus that turns humans into horrifying vampiric creatures. Over at Wired, they’ve got a first look at the video trailer for the book. Yes, even books have trailers now — especially if they are co-written by directors.

The video, according to Wired, “includes brief NSFW language and some monstrous imagery, (and) offers a glimpse of the gory horrors that await upon The Strain’s printed pages.”

The Strain, published by William Morrow, goes on sale June 2. Meanwhile, click through to check out the trailer.