Comic-Con: And the Winner is...

By Rebecca Winters Keegan



TIME.com shows the results of Comic Con, pop-culture marathon run by fans.


Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Hugh Jackman, who made a surprise appearance to promote upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He understands that Comic-Con is itself a performance. Jackman leaped off the stage, ran across the floor to shake the hand of Wolverine's creator and thanked the crowd.


Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Carla Gugino. Actresses are so marginalized at Comic-Con, there's no point in having a lead category. But Gugino contributed information at the Watchmen panel, discussing Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre's tragic character arc.


Best Vehicle: Attack-mode KITT. This Mustang on steroids designed for NBC's new Knight Rider boasts Lamborghini doors, a top speed of 377 m.p.h. and, most importantly, turbo-boost.


Most Popular Costume: The Joker. Guys with red lipstick-smeared smiles and purple dinner jackets were as plentiful at Comic-Con this year as those perennials, the Storm Troopers.


Most Enthusiastic Fans: The Twihards, devout readers of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, were the loudest and proudest, starting a Twilight chant while they waited, shrieking anytime a cast member, Meyer or director Catherine Hardwicke said anything.

For more pictures, click here.

Best Gimmick: City of Ember train. The folks at Fox Walden found a way around the competition while promoting City of Ember. They chartered a train and packed it with journalists and bloggers who got a look at some footage, cool props and art, and lots of one-on-one time with director Gil Kenan and other filmmakers.


Panel Most Likely to Yield a Drinking Game: Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The folks at Lucasfilm showed clips from the animated movie and animated show. The footage looked cool enough, but the moderator's and panelists' constant references to George Lucas' brilliance inspired eye-rolling and forced Gatorade sipping from fans.


Biggest Omission: Star Trek. Director J.J. Abrams said he has footage of Star Trek ready to show, but the only thing fans got was a poster. Paramount, the studio releasing Star Trek, was a no-show in the panels.


Most Tenuous Link to Comic Books: The Office. NBC had a panel and booth for The Office, which, while certainly a show with an alpha fan base, isn't really genre fare.


Best Party: EW and the Sci Fi Channel's bash on the roof of the Hotel Solamar. There were cast members from Heroes, Twilight, Lost and Battlestar Galactica.


Most Missed: Alan Moore. The Hollywood-averse Watchmen creator wants no part of the big-screen adaptation of his graphic novel, but the movie's attention has won Moore new fans. Opening night of the Con, comic-book vendors had stacks of the book on their tables. By Saturday, there wasn't a copy of Watchmen to be found.



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