The Mantis-Eye Experiment

io9 has a pretty good interview with Jackson and Doc from the press hour at SDCC. As is the custom there are a lot of hilarious meanderings about black and white cookies and Pulp (which isn't entirely off-topic) but there's also plenty of meaty goodness as well:

Jackson Publick: We expand the background stories of the characters from the OSI. The hardest thing about making up a name for a [fake] G.I. Joe guy is that all of the stupid names are actually taken by G.I. Joes.

Doc Hammer: Every time I come up with one, I think "Oh, this is so ridiculous!" Then I go on Wikipedia to check and they've done that one already. Who knew? The names we came up with are good because the dumb ones are actually G.I. Joe characters. Like "Headshot." That's a hot one!

To go along with the Jackson and Doc video interviews here's a collection of write-ups for the panel and potentially other things involving Venture Bros.. More will be added as they roll in. Enjoy!

• Spinoff Online has a nice write-up that gets into many of the details of the panel. Until an official video comes out this is a pretty good one to read to get all of the Jackson and Doc banter we all know and love. Just read it in their voices in your head.
  
  
• Geeks of Doom has a short write-up with listings of the special guests and a couple of photos from the panel as well.
  
  

For those of you, like me, who didn't attend SDCC this year but what to know what the heck is going on with Venture Bros., here's a rundown of all the goings ons.

The biggest news is that the previously announced long-form episode will be a one-hour special that airs between seasons five and six. Season five will end likely in March or April (depending on when it starts) but no news on how soon season six will begin after that.

Geeks of Doom has also reported on (among other things) some of the special guest voices for season five:

Several guest stars were announced for the upcoming season. J.K. Simmons will guest star in the Halloween special. Other guest voices for the season include Aziz Ansari, John Hodgman, Tim Meadows, Gillian Jacobs, and Paget Brewster.

Finally some more into about the Halloween special: it will actually take place after the season five premiere, so there will be a lot of confusing moments in it. This misordered timeline doesn't seem to be entirely intentional on Jackson and Doc's part, but they also seem to be pretty okay with it at this point. Jackson described it as a "happy accident" in at least one interview.

And, as always, keep checking back for any new info, interviews and that sort of thing.

Since there are usually a ton of these I'll just create this article and add to it over the next couple of days. If you want to see reporters ask Jackson & Doc questions for two or three minutes in front of a huge Comic-Con backdrop in a crowded press/interview area, this is the place to be!

• Grace Randolph of Bleeding Cool has the first interview with Jackson & Doc, questioning them about the Halloween special and Henchman 21, among other things. Thanks to Robert in the comments for pointing this one out!
  
  
• MTV Geek interviewed Jackson and Doc on their livestream. You'll need to skip to precisely 54:58 on the video to see it. It's a fairly meandering interview and the interviewer is slightly obnoxious but Doc at least threatens to Indian leg wrestle him, which pretty much saves it. Thanks (again) to Robert for sending this one in.
  
  

Jason Lenzi, founder and CEO of BifBangPow! gave a video interview with G4TV on all of the BifBangPow! stuff at SDCC this year. That of course includes a very brief look at the Venture Bros. line of toys which includes all the usual suspects, however some new items can be seen for the first time including Shore Leave (in SPHINX garb), The Alchemist and (drum roll, please) Sargent Hatred in Venture blues! That one may not be sold at Toys R Us. There are also more finalized versions of Pete White and Jefferson Twilight, so yes, you will be able to complete your Order of the Triad set. Those of you who are at the con' can check them out and also pick up the Brock Samson convention exclusive 3 3/4" figure.

Not sure it's warranted, but here's a brand new discussion thread for those of you who want to post about any news or happenings you hear from SDCC. If you're attending remember to check the Mantis-Eye Venture Bros.-centric SDCC 2012 schedule for all your Venture Bros. needs. Wednesday is preview night and Thurday is usually the slowest day of the public-accessible convention, but you never know what you might see! Things should get hopping on Friday though. Also feel free to speculate on what you hope Jackson, Doc and James will dress up as during the panel and whatever else you want!

I got a note from Jackson a few days ago and James Urbaniak confirmed it on Twitter the other day as well, but due to a scheduling conflict James won't be able to make the trek to San Diego. Fear not, Jackson and Doc will still be there as planned, doing what they do, but you'll have to get your serving of Urbaniak by some other method.

Kicking off the Comic-Con interview bonanza this year is Huffington Post Gay Voices, who put together a nice interview with Jackson and Doc that goes into the many gay characters in the series. There are also a few tidbits in there about the upcoming season, the most interesting being that Col. Gentleman will have a "decent episode" this season. Here's a snip:

And what of your other [straight] characters? What’s your mindset [when writing for them]?

Doc Hammer: Jackson and I are not gay and we’re not supervillains and we’re not women. We’re not any of these things. We draw upon them the same way we would any other character. If you write for a character that has the same sexual preference as you, doesn’t matter, they’re not you. So when we write a gay character, it’s just one more thing that he has.

Jackson Publick: Yeah, we write them differently but no differently than all the real character specifics that we take into account when we’re writing anybody else.

Thanks to Robert and Kevin for letting me know about this. Related item: there is also a slideshow of 35 LGBT characters on Adult Swim, a number of which are from Venture Bros.. Boom!

For those of you attending SDCC this year I've put up the usual Venture Bros.-centric schedule of events for your Venture Bros. needs. Jackson and Doc will both be there along with James, and with season five on the horizon and the Halloween special on an even closer horizon there should be some juicy news-bits for you to sink your teeth into. The schedule will also be updated if new events appear, so keep an eye on it. Barring a last-second hail mary I won't be in attendance this year, however I'll still be reporting on the goings ons and letting everyone know what's going on. Those of you who are attending, enjoy, and check out the rest of Adult Swim's SDCC offerings.

Douglas Lovelace put up the newest crop of storyboard eBay auctions for those of you into checking them out and possibly purchasing. This set features a variety of scenes from seasons one and two including a nice drawing of Hank and Dean from the opening of "Trail of the Monarch" and the Monarch's escape scene with King Gorilla in the season two premiere episode. Enjoy!