Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer didn’t have the stage to themselves during the Adult Swim panel at Comic Con (though they did have a purely Venture Bros. slot the next day, which I wasn't able to attend), so they had to make it short and sweet. They divulged a few general strokes for the delayed remainder of The Venture Bros.’ fourth season, teased us with some footage, and chimed in from the side during other panelists’ presentations. That, plus talk of a potential crossover with Robot Chicken, all looked and sounded great, and the writers seem to be responding to what the fans liked and disliked in the first half of season 4 and the end of season 3.

As for the general content of the remaining episodes, Publick and Hammer promised more Brock, more Shore Leave, and less Sergeant Hated talking about liking little boys. Brock’s return is certainly welcome, as is the reduced talk of pedophilic tendencies, which I felt added more discomfort than humor to the show in such large quantities. A few months ago, in a blog post explaining the delay of the remaining episodes for season 4, Publick promised that they were taking the show back to its vintage adventure series roots, and he reiterated that here. From what we saw and heard at this panel, they seem to be staying true to that promise.

The teaser looked great. Cycling through a number of incidents with a slight focus on three or four scenes, it began with the Venture family and other characters like Brock, Shore Leave, and Sergeant Hatred playing tag football, with one team wearing Rusty Venture T-shirts (Shore Leave’s, of course, was tied up). Another scene appeared to be a dream sequence, which Master Billy Quizboy flying around as an angel (or Cupid) and an adolescent Rusty presenting a spinning platform of the more desirable Venture Bros. female characters -- Molotov Cocktease, Dr. Girlfriend, Dr. Quymn, Sally Impossible, etc. -- saying that he himself could have any of them if he put forth the effort.

There were some other quicker flashes of various incidents and exchanges of dialogue, and it ended with Orpheus performing an exorcism on Dr. Venture. It all seemed grounded in the show’s trademark half-funny/half-serious fashion. The writers didn’t discuss any specifics for what might be happening in the coming episodes, but when one audience member asked whether either of the Venture boys would ever get laid, Hammer responded, "That would be a spoiler, but buckle up for a bumpy season." It was difficult to tell whether he was joking.

Not surprisingly, Seth Green and the V Bros. writers’ mention of a possible Robot Chicken / Venture Bros. crossover episode brought huge applause, even though no one other than the writers has any idea as to what that might be like. It would seem to have to be a Robot Chicken take on V Bros., but with Green, Publick and Hammer at the helm, there’s no telling what they’ll throw at us. Hammer jokingly suggested to Green, "Why don't we just have them all hump each other 'cause that seems to be what you kids like," referring, in part, to Robot Chicken's Humping Robot (which, by the way, Green announced will be available as a wind-up toy soon). There’s still no guarantee that this crossover will occur, but the writers said they’ve discussed the possibility three times together, and Doc estimated a "72% chance" that it eventually will happen.

Some non-sci-fi shows were discussed, namely Robot Chicken in further detail and Metalocalypse, and that all looks hilarious, too. The Robot Chicken guys also touched on their third Star Wars episode. Green interestingly stated that it will be more linear in nature than Robot Chicken is accustomed to and will cover a span of time beginning before The Phantom Menace and ending after Return of the Jedi. As sort of became the theme for the panel, it’s difficult to see how this will be done, but it sounds awesome nonetheless.

Of all the panels I was able to attend at Comic Con, this one was by far the funniest. Adult Swim and, particularly, The Venture Bros., has a lot in store in the coming months, and everything they showed looks as good as what has come before, if not better. Adult Swim fans are probably about to be in for some really fun stuff.