* I'm going out on a limb here with a prediction: Watchmen will be the first blockbuster hit of 2009. Take it to the bank. How do I know this? Because hundreds and hundreds of people (including me) were shut out of the Watchmen panel this morning. Reports were that a few hundred were camped out by 3 a.m.

* But when I got to the convention center at 9:45, there was no line that could keep me from talking to Spaced writer/stars Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes and director Edgar Wright. Now eight years old, the British show finally had its U.S. DVD release this week - if you haven't bought it yet, finish reading this post then get thee to a Best Buy!

* I was lucky enough to catch the latter half of The Wolfman panel, which featured a surprise appearance by star Benicio Del Toro and a nicely teasing trailer. Four - count 'em, four! - clips were shown, featuring star Gabriel Macht and a hypervisual style reminiscent of Sin City, but Samuel L. Jackson (who plays the film's heavy) stole the panel with his coolness and riffed on his Iron Man cameo as Nick Fury, the super spy who was a white dude in the comics Jackson read growing up. "Don't worry, kids! You can be a black man, too!" he quipped.

* The rest of the day revolved around indie film director Kevin Smith. I caught the tail end of the Visionaries panel about Hollywood geek culture with him, Miller, Judd Apatow and Zack Snyder, where Smith said Watchmen could be the most important comic book movie ever after seeing the footage earlier that day. And later, he had his own 90-minute panel for his upcoming October comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno. He screened five solidly funny minutes of the flick, and then had a grand time talking to the audience with his leads, Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, adult film stars Katie Morgan and Tracy Lords, Justin Long, Jason Mewes (the Jay to Smith's Silent Bob) and others. Right now, Zack and Miri is rated NC-17 -- Smith's tried (and failed) to get the ratings board to drop it to an R, and he has one more shot early next month, since he's contractually obligated to give the studio an R movie. One bit of Smith scoop I was exciting by: He's writing a Batman miniseries for DC Comics, although he has in the past had issues with deadlines. (His Black Cat mini went a good three years between two issues.)

* So all in all, the day ended well. Tomorrow will be jam-packed, too, but with mucho TV - NBC's Heroes panel (I'll be getting to that one super early!), press rooms for Chuck and Pushing Daisies  and a sitdown with THE man himself, J.J. Abrams. For a complete Saturday schedule, visit www.comic-con.org.