Comic-Con '07 - The Report

After five days of chaos, the 38th annual Comic-Con wrapped up on Sunday, following 137,000 wookies,fanboys and NUTS along with hundreds of programming hours, and more Hollywood stars than an Oscar ceremony.

"This is my first one — it's incredible," gushed Gwyneth Paltrow, who helped unveil footage from "Iron Man" to the rabid crowd. "It's amazing to see all these people, and everybody's so enthusiastic. It's exciting."

"Excitement" doesn't even begin to describe the buzz at the San Diego Convention Center as fans celebrated what the event billed "the popular arts." Dozens of rooms simultaneously hosted events exploring the minutiae of Harry Potter, "Star Wars," "Heroes" and many more; massive displays featured a life-size Jabba the Hutt, and cars ranging from the original Batmobile complete with creator George Barris in the Mattel booth to Speed Racer's Mach 5 and the killer's souped up ride in "Death Sentence." Lou Ferrigno charged $20 for a Polaroid while a man nearby dressed as Jesus (with a curved glo-stick for a halo) offered the same opportunity for free; another man held up a sign touting the hundreds of high-fives he had dispensed along with the collection of attendees just offering FREE HUGS.

Tickets to this annual $ 65.00 SOLDOUT event were running at $400.00 plus on EBAY on wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the movie news came fast and furious. Among the highlights:

Marvel executives and "Iron Man" director Jon Favreau revealed plans to begin teaming heroes in future flicks.

"300" director Zack Snyder revealed the poster and cast for his highly anticipated "Watchmen" movie.

Sam Raimi let it slip that he recently met with Marvel producer Avi Arad to lay the groundwork for a "Spider-Man 4" script.

Steven Spielberg revealed live via satellite that Karen Allen would return in the forthcoming fourth "Indiana Jones" as the whip-wielder's greatest love, Marion Ravenwood.

Jennifer Love Hewitt showed up on the show floor to promote Ghost Whisperer to the masses and they obliged by swarming the booth she was in.

Director Paul W.S. Anderson served up his newest "Death Race" stars, Tyrese and Joan Allen.

The villainous Zachary Quinto was announced as Mr. Spock in the upcoming "Star Trek" re-launch flick. His father will be Lenny Nimoy himself.

"Heroes", the NBC show was arguably the biggest success of Comic-Con, with a fire-regulations-pushing crowd in its booth each day and 10,000 fans showing up for a panel that had to turn most of them away. Movies like "Iron Man" and "The Dark Knight" engaged in a guerilla-marketing battle, while the biggest party in the history of the event was held across the street at Petco Park to celebrate this week's "300" DVD release. Competing with all that noise were comic titles like "Bob the Angry Flower," "Too Much Coffee Man," "Crying Macho Man" and "Pete the P.O.'d Postal Worker."

"It's a good time," grinned Snyder, after greeting some 6,500 "Watchmen" fans already eager for a 2009 release. "And next year, hopefully, we'll have a little trailer."

Fan favorite Kevin Smith showed a preview of Reaper to 6000 and spent the rest of his 2 hour time slot describing in detail his lab and dauhounds mating habits with each other.

Sunday morning brought out Oscar winning Nicholas Cage and his 16 year old Weston promoting "Voodoo Child" that tells of a teenager murdered 200 years ago then revived with special powers in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

Kevin Bacon brought wife Kyra Sedgwick onto the show floor to be among saturday's sea of nerds to promote his Death Sentence project.

Jessica Alba and Dane Cook worked a show booth to the shock and dismay to attendees on thursday evening. The sea of cellular cameras looked strangely like the lighters raised during the guitar solo in 1970's classic Free Bird.

Disney showed up with a huge 40 foot replica of The Black Pearl, filled with artifacts from the movie and handed out scarves and hologramed guitar picks to the fans who pasted throught its portal.

Over the course of the highly unpredictable festival of pop culture, random sights included Ed Burns and Shannyn Sossamon handing out free iPhones to promote their thriller "One Missed Call," Judd Apatow and Sam Raimi meeting for the first time at a red carpet, and a woman clad only in a makeshift dress fashioned from the free "Smallville" tote bags that were being handed out at the Warner Brothers booth. An unexpected Con star was born when 18-year-old Lacey Henderson attended on Thursday, a genuine amputee who promoted the "Grindhouse" DVD by walking around with a machine gun attached to her stump, a la Rose McGowan's Cherry Darling character.

While the movie studios say its all about the FILMS , the fans see it as the ultimate retail experience. Companies like Hasbro produce Comic- Con only toys that require winning a lottery even to spend your hard earned cash for that Super hero My Little Pony or a Transformer you'll only see on the shelves of Ebay. Among the eccentric finds this year:

Life-sized bust of Arnold Schwarzenegger as T-800, $550. It shows our honorable governor but with half the flesh on his face blown off, revealing his cyborg skull and a glowing red eye.

Chewbacca backpack, $40. A hot item this year. The kind-faced furry friend may not be the best for school days, though. The hair clogs the zipper, and on a hot afternoon it's like wearing a huge back toupee.

ThunderCats sword, $49.95. A spiffy replica of the bejeweled weapon of Lionel, the leader of the brave feline beasties.

Robin action figure, $200. The 1979 doll from Mego is still in a box that said "Les Extraordinaires." Why? "It's from Canada," the dealer explained.

Saturday evening had things in a fevored pitch with a massive party sponsored by the Sci Fi Channel and Entertainment Weekly magazine. The A-list crowd included Favreau, Edward Norton, J.J. Abrams and Sarah Silverman, mingling in strange combinations with Jenna Jameson, Kevin Bacon, Stan Lee and "Saw" mastermind James Wan.

Late Sunday afternoon, the last remaining geeks were dragged out of the convention center kicking and screaming after an audience with the stars of "The Suite Life of Zak and Cody", shopping bags filled with exclusive goodies about to make their way onto Ebay in one hand and light sabers in the other.Here's hoping that the last Wolverine impersonator out the door remembers to turn off the lights.