The 15 Must-See Panels at New York Comic Con

New York Comic Con is this weekend, and Comics Alliance is gearing up to pull all the news that's fit to print from the panels and events of the weekend. One look at the NYCC panel list, though, reveals 14 pages of user-unfriendly lists of panel titles and times. If you were just thinking that the list is too much trouble to pore over and decipher, good! We're here for you.

After the jump, we've picked out five must-see panels for each day of the con, ranging from the most corporate of panels to ones focused around just having fun. Read on, and we'll see you at the con.

Description: An exclusive screening of the multi-award-winning short film Street Angel, based on the hit comic by Jim Rugg & Brian Maruca ('Afrodisiac'). The screening will be followed by a Q&A with writer/director Lucas Testro, hosted by Chris Neseman, co-host of Around Comics, 11 O'Clock Comics and the iFanboy: Don't Miss podcast.

Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca's "Street Angel" was one of those books that knocks your socks off and leaves you begging for more. Some enterprising Australian filmmaker sat down and transformed a portion of it into a short film. The movie has been screened several times, but this may be its biggest venue yet. Drop by and get a taste of something special. Check out the trailer:

2. Image Comics: The Writers

Time: 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm

Location: Room 1A14

Description: Some of Image Comics' favorite writers get together to describe the writing process for their books, from inception to publication. Join juggernauts Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead), John Layman (Chew), Nick Spencer (Morning Glories), Ron Marz (Firebreather vs. Dragon Prince), and Steven T. Seagle (The Crusades) for a discussion about writing, followed by Q&A.

Image Comics has managed to stay relevant over the course of its existence by diversifying to an almost absurd extent. On this panel alone, you have people who have created zombie horror comics, an action/comedy, a series that's like a John Hughes film gone horribly wrong, a time-spanning crime comic, and a fantasy series. The future of comics doesn't have to be superhero comics, and these guys might just be able to point you in the right direction.

3. Editors on Editing Comics

Time: 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm

Location: Room 1A22

Description: Meet some of the industry's top editors. Learn what it takes to break into comics and stay in from an all-star editorial panel. Featuring: Mike Marts (DC), Nate Cosby (Marvel), Scott Allie (Dark Horse), Andy Schmidt (IDW). Moderator: Buddy Scalera

Editors are the invisible part of the comics creative team. Writers and artists have a clear influence, as do colorists and letterers, but how many people actually know what editors do? This seems like the best panel to find out exactly what "editing" means for comics and how they work with talent.

Description: Here's your chance to be at the forefront of breaking news from comics' most dynamic publishing house. Join Dark Horse Director of PR, Jeremy Atkins, Managing Editor, Scott Allie, and Senior Editor Chris Warner, along with a host of the industry's top creators, for a first hand look at the future of the medium. With huge announcements to be made, this is one panel you don't want to miss!

Dark Horse is one of the most consistently entertaining comics companies in the industry right now, with hit series from "Hellboy" and "BPRD" to "Umbrella Academy" and "Usagi Yojimbo." While Marvel and DC are hyping their next big event (just 48 tie-ins this time!), drop by this panel to hear about some good books.

5. The Digital Age of Comics

Time: 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Location: Room 1A24

Description: Now that every major publisher is going digital, it's the perfect time for a discussion with the publishers, creators, facilitators, and instigators to chat about the Wild Wild West of comics in the digital era. Techland's Douglas Wolk will moderate with representatives from DC, Marvel, Image, Top Cow, Comixology, Panelfly and an opinionated creator or two.

Comics going digital is still probably the most significant comics news story of the year, and this panel should be a good way to take the temperature of the slow slide into digital. Wolk is a talented enough moderator to keep the conversation from devolving into pure shilling, and the wide range of panelists should provide a number of opposing points of view, as well.

Description: Comics for kids are the new cool thing in libraries – some libraries are even starting a separate children's collection. But what do these collections look like? What comics are out there for kids? Does creating a kid-specific collection pose new and different challenges for librarians?

Every couple of months, someone laments the lack of comics for kids. That line of argument always seems a little artificially limited -- comics for kids exist, they just don't usually look like they did when the person complaining was a kid. If you want to see what kids are into, this librarian-focused panel seems like a good bet.

Description: Find out what compelling tales comics' edgiest imprint has in store for you in the months to come! Led by Senior VP-Executive Editor Karen Berger, with an all-star lineup of talent that includes Jason Aaron (Scalped), Sarah Glidden (How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less), Dean Haspiel (Cuba: My Revolution), Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth), Inverna Lockpez (Cuba: My Revolution), Sean Murphy (Hellblazer), Scott Snyder (American Vampire), Peter Straub (Green Woman), Brian Wood (DMZ, Northlanders), Mike Carey (The Unwritten) and RM Guera (Scalped).

Vertigo has been simultaneously thrust into the limelight as half of the new DC Comics and wounded by the loss of three extremely talented editors. This is their first panel since the news of the reorganization and layoffs broke, and I'm personally curious to see both the tone and content of the panel. Vertigo has been very critically successful over the past few years, with books like "Scalped" and "Hellblazer" maintaining a very high level of quality, and this panel will be the first look at what the new Vertigo may be like.

8. MARVEL: Cup O Joe

Time: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Location: Room 1A08

Description: This is it, Mighty Marvel fans, the no-holds-barred, anything goes, full of surprises panel you wait all year for, and it's here! Marvel Editor-in-Chief and Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada takes on all questions, shocks the audience with jaw-dropping announcements, and keeps you guessing with surprise guests. You never know who will show up, but you better be here, because this is the panel that everyone will be talking about!

Do you not get enough of people yelling at Joe Quesada for "One More Day" and ruining [your favorite franchise] on the internet? This is your chance to experience the frustration that comes with hearing several dozen questions about the same subject live in New York City! In all seriousness, though, Quesada is a pretty funny guy, and his irreverent way of pushing Marvel comics is usually worth a laugh.

Description: Join Comics Alliance's Editor-In-Chief Laura Hudson and Assistant Editor Caleb Goellner in this panel featuring Chris Sims, noted Batmanologist and humorist, along with writers David Brothers and David Uzumeri, as they bring one of Comics Alliance's most popular features to New York Comic Con!

Is this going to be the greatest panel of the con or will it devolve into name-calling and in-fighting? Are the Comics Alliance gang the best-looking group of comics journalists ever? The only way to find out is to show up!

10. Unusual Manga Genres

Time: 8:45 pm - 9:45 pm

Location: Room 1E12

Description: Thanks to the importing of manga you can read veterinarian manga, salaryman manga, fishing manga, and manga about baking bread! Erin and Noah from the Ninja Consultant podcast present the absolutely most insane manga titles available in English - and a few titles which won't be translated anytime soon.

Part of the fun of reading manga is checking out the genres we never see in American comics. Takehiko Inoue's "Real," a manga about wheelchair basketball, doesn't really have an American counterpart. I don't know about you, but I want to stay on the bleeding edge of obscure Japanese manga genres for as long as I can.

11. DC Nation: Town Hall Meeting

Time: 10:45 am - 11:45 am

Location: Room 1A06

Description: All are welcome to join DC Co-Publishers Dan DiDio & Jim Lee for a relaxed Sunday afternoon discussion. Share your thoughts on what you love about comics now and what you hope to see in the future. This panel is often imitated by others but rarely duplicated!

This is one of the rare comics company panels that isn't necessarily about selling you comics. Instead, DiDio leads a conversation about things people like about comics, whether those things are new or old, or Marvel or DC. This is a fun, relaxed panel, meant to be a gathering of people with diverse tastes and interests bonding over the fact that comics are just plain awesome. There are worse ways to kill a Sunday morning.

12. MARVEL: The Women of MARVEL

Time: 10:45 am - 11:45 am

Location: Room 1A14

Description: It's the grand finale to the year long celebration that everyone has been talking about! Forget Storm and She-Hulk, meet the real Ms. Marvels of the comic world! Join women from every discipline in the creative process at Marvel to hear what it's like working as a woman in comics today. These ladies are busting through the four-color ceiling! Guests include New York Times Best Selling author Marjorie Liu (X-23), Jelena Kevic-Djurdjevic (Women of Marvel), Sonia Oback (X-Force), Stephanie Hans (Women of Marvel), with moderator and Girl Comics editor Jeanine Schaefer!

Marvel's been pushing 2010 as their "Year of Marvel Women," and this panel features some of their best. Liu is wickedly clever, Hans and Kevic-Djurdjevic's covers are insanely good, and Oback is a great colorist. Schaefer, of course, masterminded "Girl Comics," one of the most fun anthologies to come out of the Big Two in ages.

Description: Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods is a feature-length documentary covering the entire career of legendary comics writer Grant Morrison, focusing on how his work ties to his life, his unique personal experiences, and his intellectual ideas. NOTE: This is a screening of Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods. Grant Morrison will not personally be appearing

The people behind Sequart have produced a documentary all about Grant Morrison, and this early screening is one of your first chances to check it out before it hits store shelves and online retailers.

14. MTV Presents 'Unbreakable: Ten Years Later' With M. Night Shyamalan

Time: 12:45 pm - 1:45 pm

Location: IGN Theater

Description: M. Night Shyamalan ("The Sixth Sense," "Signs," "The Village," "The Last Airbender"), one of the most successful filmmakers of our time, joins MTV News' Josh Horowitz for an anniversary retrospective of the groundbreaking comic book movie. Don't miss this exclusive one-time event as the director takes fans inside the fan-favorite film with never-before-heard stories and special surprises.

Psyche. Just kidding.

14. Oni Press Presents Panelmonium 2010

Time: 1:15 pm - 2:15 pm

Location: Room 1A14

Description: Often imitated but never duplicated! Get up close and personal with trend setting indie comic powerhouse Oni Press. Join in the Q&A with your favorite Oni creators including: Jen Van Meter (Hopeless Savages), Brahm Revel (Guerillas), Antony Johnston (Wasteland), Ray Fawkes (Possessions), Eduardo Medeiros, Rafael Albuquerque, & Mateus Santolouco (Mondo Urbano), Matt Loux (Yo Gabba Gabba!: Goodnight Gabba Land) and many more!. Get sneak peeks at upcoming Oni projects, news on Oni Press fan initiatives, free Oni comics, prizes and more! Guaranteed by Oni Press' totally biased employees to be "the most fun you'll ever have at a panel."

Oni Press is a lot more than Bryan Lee O'Malley's "Scott Pilgrim." They've been quietly pumping out some great little books, and their panels are fun, informal, and personal affairs, and always good for a laugh and a relaxed time. You can't really beat that line-up of creators, either.

The AMC release of Robert Kirkman's "The Walking Dead" is almost guaranteed to dominate the news cycle this New York Comic Con, so you might as well see it live and direct, right? You're almost definitely going to have to line up, though, so show up to the preview screening and Q&A early.