The International Comic Con in San Diego is this weekend, and some advance morsels of comic industry news has leaked out.  The big news so far is that World Of Warcraft is coming to comic books. Here’s a round-up of some of the big stories that we’ll hear about as the week progresses.

Heidi MacDonald has a comprehensive rundown of the event schedules for many of the publishers, and it’s from her that I swiped the cool poster by Gene Ha that you see to the right.  Heidi will have more updates all week long.

Direct from the press release, “DC Comics, the world’s largest English language comic book publisher and home to Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman announced plans today to publish a new comic book series based on World of Warcraft®, Blizzard Entertainment®’s popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Preview art from the series will debut at Comic-Con International, held in San Diego, CA from July 26–29. The World of Warcraft comic book will be published through DC’s WildStorm imprint and debut this fall.

“The ongoing monthly series will be written by industry veteran Walter Simonson (Thor, Orion) and feature art by Ludo Lullabi and inker Sandra Hope. The first six issues of the World of Warcraft comic series will each feature two covers, one by superstar comic book artist Jim Lee and a second by Blizzard Entertainment Senior Art Director Samwise Didier.

“The Warcraft® series has been a pillar of gaming culture for over a decade, with multiple #1-selling titles. Blizzard’s World of Warcraft MMORPG allows thousands of players to explore the rich, war-torn setting of the franchise together, and has attracted more than 8.5 million subscribers worldwide. The Burning Crusade, the first expansion to World of Warcraft, recently shattered PC game sales records by selling more than 2.4 million copies in its first 24 hours of release and approximately 3.5 million in its first month.”

Rich Johnston has a batch of insider stories in his “Lying In The Gutters” column over at Comic Book Resources.  His is the unique perspective of an Englishman staying in the UK, rather than crossing the Atlantic and then the continent. Johnston reports that the Degrassi High series of graphic novels will be moving to DC Comics’ Minx line.  Dave Eliot will unveil his new project for Radical Publishing, a grim-and-gritty take on “Aladdin.” Johnston also hints at some artistic surprises being lined up for DC’s “Countdown” series.

You should check out his parent site, CBR,  for even more San Diego coverage. Another top comics news site, Newsarama, is also loaded for bear in San Diego this week.  I’ll be posting tons of updates and new links in PopCult in the coming days.