Comic-Con 2011 has come to a close, and our sleep-depraved minds are still reeling from the whirlwind four days of lines, panels and offsite events. And because there was much more to see and do at the con than one person could ever dream of, we went to Twitter and asked our awesome readers what their favorite moments of 2011 were.

We’re looking for your favorite moments from #SDCC to be included in a future post. Tweet us your favs using hashtag #ccfavs!

July 25, 2011 9:34 AM via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@SD_Comic_Con

SD Comic Con Expert

Click past the jump to see the top five.

5. Conan O’Brien

No one was expecting this. If anyone predicted Conan would be on our top five list, we’d have all thought it was the upcoming fantasy reboot, right?

Our favorite late-night host surprised the convention by opening up his own offsite location in the Gaslamp – The Museum of Conan Art – to promote his new animated venture, The Flaming C. He event went as far as crashing the Green Lantern Animated Series panel to show off his new project, much to the audience’s approval.

Not only that, but Conan tweeted some of the most memorable lines from Comic-Con:

I have arrived @Comic_Con. The air is thick with the smell of Cheetos and celibacy. #SDCC

July 22, 2011 8:55 AM via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@ConanOBrien

Conan O’Brien

Currently walking around @Comic_Con. Good god, Batman has really let himself go. #SDCC

July 22, 2011 8:27 PM via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@ConanOBrien

Conan O’Brien

Had a great time @Comic_Con, but I’m kind of regretting this “Vampire Diaries” tattoo. #SDCC

July 23, 2011 1:01 PM via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@ConanOBrien

Conan O’Brien

4. Spielberg and Jackson (oh, and Tintin)

Who would have thought a week ago the first appearance of Steven Spielberg at Comic-Con would rank toward the bottom of our list? Well, that’s SDCC for you – always surprising us and providing the crowd-pleasing moments from where we didn’t expect them. That’s not to say this isn’t one of them, because it made our list after all, but Steven Spielberg, joined by a surprise appearance by Peter Jackson, and a hysterical pre-production look at the mo-cap technology and it still couldn’t make it past Nathan Fillion? And that, loyal readers, is pure Comic-Con.

Jackson didn’t give any reveals on The Hobbit worth mentioning, but Spielberg did announce that Jurassic Park 4 has a story, has hired a writer, and that we should see it in the next two to three years. Quick, someone email him the “Dinos with Guns” concept we all read about, before it’s too late! Nada on an Indiana Jones IV film though.

In all seriousness, how awesome is it for everyone in attendance to say they were once in the same room as Steven Spielberg? The sizzle reel of film clips prior to him receiving the Inkpot Award is evidence he is the reason why everyone in that room is the person they are today – including Jackson. Spielberg’s influence on the Comic-Con crowd cannot be overstated. Just ask the guy with the t-shirt.

3. Nathan Fillion

What more can be said about Nathan Fillion? He’s a SDCC favorite because he loves the con as much as the con loves him. Very few embrace and give back to the welcoming audience as much as the former Captain Reynolds does. Not only did he participate in the Castle panel on Sunday, ironically titled “One-on-One with Castle Star Nathan Fillion”, but also at Zachary Levi’s NERD HQ across the street from the convention center. Sadly, he wasn’t able to participate in the Firefly reunion at NERD HQ, but there certainly was enough of Mr. Fillion to please the con-goers during the weekend.

And what a crowd pleaser he is. Fillion doesn’t just show up to a panel, the man is prepared. He plans his bits and executes them flawlessly, judging from a cheering and hysterical audience. He speaks the geek lingo. He is, quite frankly, one of us, descending upon San Diego during the annual geek pilgrimage for the same reasons we all do. Heck, he even wandered the show floor in his spare time (in disguise, no less).

He’s frequently referred to as The Mayor of Comic-Con, and we agree. There is no better celebrity to bestow this title than Nathan Fillion.

2. Cowboys and Aliens Premiere

When Jon Favreau announced he would be bringing the worldwide red-carpet premiere of his new blockbuster film, Cowboys and Aliens, to this year’s Comic-Con, it was the biggest news of the pre-convention season. Sure, we have special screenings for fans, such as the free Attack The Block and the invite-only Captain America ones from this year, but rarely if ever have we had one with such attention. If that weren’t enough, Favreau reserved 2,000 tickets for SDCC attendees.

The internet was buzzing about how these tickets would be distributed. What chances did we have of attending? How difficult would it be to get a ticket? We all found out shortly before the start of the con, where we had heard gold bricks would be handed out to attendees at random locations and times, and within each gold brick was a chance to win tickets to the premiere.

The news of these appearances came fast and furious. Multiple times per day, announcements were made via text and Twitter, and fans dropped what they were doing and rushed the location where they were being handed out. It was a cool promotion – the “bricks” were just paper, but inside everyone who grabbed one got a C&A t-shirt, and among them a few even got to go to the Saturday star-studded premiere. The cool thing about this was, no matter who you talked to during the con, you undoubtedly knew someone or ran into someone who won the tickets. That made the event feel less-exclusive and more of a gesture of gratitude toward the fans as it was intended.

For that, Mr. Favreau, we say on behalf of the Comic-Con crowd, thank you!

1. Zachary Levi (Chuck, Nerd HQ)

What a year for Zachary Levi. Traditionally a favorite among the Comic-Con crowd, Levi this year really propelled himself to the upper echelon of geekdom with two big events during the weekend.

First, it was an emotional and tearful send-off to NBC’s crowd-pleasing Chuck, entering it’s fifth and final season, and it’s final panel at Comic-Con as well. Levi and cast were on hand to kick off the crowded Saturday schedule and show their thanks to the welcoming crowd for the past few years of support. Few shows speak so directly to the Comic-Con audience – The Big Bang Theory and Community among them – which made this last appearance for the show in Ballroom 20 a heartfelt goodbye and with a standing ovation.

But it’s what Levi did outside of the con that propelled him to our number one spot.

Across the street from the convention center, Levi took over Jolt’N Joe’s restaurant in the Gaslamp with NERD HQ, an alternative to Comic-Con offering four days of events packed with big names like Nathan Fillion, Zachary Quinto, Dominic Monaghan and other friends of Levi’s. NERD HQ was an intimate setting which proved more accommodating to fans than the huge Ballroom lines and ticket registration insanity that Comic-Con has become. It also partnered with companies like Xbox to provide hands-on game previews of top upcoming titles, hosted a Tweet-Up with Xbox’s Major Nelson and held the second annual Nerd Party. On top of all this, 100% of the cost of the tickets for each panel, called “Conversations for a Cause”, raised over $40,000 for charity.

Levi made himself accessible to fans and could be found signing autographs and posing for pictures, always with a smile on his face. It seemed as if NERD HQ was the party Levi always wanted to throw at Comic-Con, and had a blast doing it for his fans. He’s already announced he’ll be doing it again next year, and we can’t wait. We hope this grows bigger and better every year!

What were your favorite moments of Comic_Con 2011? Let us know in the comments!

Click past the jump for a photo tour of what you’ll find in the Gaslamp District this year.

BioWare is holding court in the Hilton Gaslamp again this year – the same location where EA showed off Dead Space 2 and Dragon Age II last year. Hopefully we’ll get some inflatable lightsabers as swag.

Syfy’s annual Cafe Diém is home to the same spot as it was last year as well, right on 5th Avenue. And as you can see, it’s already open for business and packed as usual.

Just up 5th Avenue from the Cafe Diem is CoCo himself, The Museum of Conan O’Brien, complete with a lego statue of his superhero self. This one wasn’t yet open for business – hence the discouraging man standing in the doorway.

At the corner of 5th Avenue and L Street, Japanese restaurant Nobu was decked out in Amazing Spider-Man decor.

In front of the Tin Fish restaurant, between L Street and the Trolley tracks, was a movie screen looping the Total Recall logo. Nothing more, so let’s see if there’s a bigger viral campaign launched later in the week.

Turning my back on the Gaslamp District, I took a quick shot of the Immortals banner draped over the Marriott Marquis & Marina Hotel at dusk.

I took a look inside the Hard Rock Hotel for any celebs and then scooted upstairs for a peek at Microsoft setting up for the Xbox Lounge in the Edge room on the second floor.

Here’s the Marvel Monstergeddon offsite on 6th Avenue. This was the same location as Flynn’s Arcade last year. Lots of smoke, superheroes posing for photos and monster trucks. On Thursday July 21 at 5pm, they’ll be unveiling a special monster truck to the masses.

Right next door to Monstergeddon was the Sega Arcade set up with playable kiosks of upcoming and just-released titles, such as their Captain America movie tie-in, their Aliens side-scroller for the 3DS and their new Kinect title, Rise of Nightmares.

That’s it for tonight – be sure to check back tomorrow for coverage from the first official day of San Diego Comic-Con!

But they might have given up something far more delectable.

Here’s the quote:

The entrance will be off 1st Ave, right next to the Comedy Central interactive park.  Warner Brothers and Disney will also be doing projects in the lot.

What could it be? Warner Bros. is all over the show, so it could be anything from a big blockbuster movie to a push for a new TV show. And what about Disney? Could it be a tie-in with a Disney XD show, like Tron: Uprising? Hands on their Disney Universe game from Disney Interactive? Or when they say Disney do they mean Marvel? Only a couple of days until we all find out.

Thanks to readers Zach Marcus and Jeremy Wein who pointed out this buried treasure.

Do yourself a favor and check it out if you haven’t seen it in a while. You’ll be glad you did!

Hmmm…Dreamworks has been rumored to be largely sitting out of this year’s con, so why promote a movie so heavily when people won’t even be able to hear about it? We’ve heard an offsite promotional event is a likely surprise. Stay tuned for more information as we receive it.

And thanks Pat for the pics!

When news hit that Jon Favreau would be staging a big premiere of his upcoming summer blockbuster Cowboys & Aliens at Comic-Con, we reported that a big event was looking at using PETCO Park the Thursday during the con, per a tweet [since deleted] from Latino Review’s Elmayimbe.

It was later confirmed that the premiere was going to be held at the San Diego Civic Theater on Saturday, July 23. So what ever happened to that Thursday event at PETCO Park, then?

We now have the answer thanks to one of our readers.

Cirque Du Soleil will be performing a battle scene from their “KA” production, currently playing at the MGM Grand. Live at PETCO Park on Thursday July 21. The event will begin at sundown, and was featured in an advertisement in the July issue of Wired magazine. The best news yet, is that admission will be free and no ticket is required.

We’ve added this to our Offsite Events 2011 list as well, but thought this was cool enough to get separate mention.

I’ll be starting the Offsite Events 2011 page in early June, but I wanted to give everyone a heads up now about tickets to one of the most popular events. w00tstock is a geeky variety show that’s hosted by comedians Paul and Storm, Mythbusters co-host Adam Savage, and overall SDCC idol Wil Wheaton. Each event features various comedians, actors, singers, and other performers from the geek world having fun and doing whatever it is they do best.

Last year’s Comic-Con show featured musician Marian Call, comedian Chris Hardwick, all three of the Riftrax guys, and many more. Though the performers aren’t announced in advance, you can be confident they’ll have a great selection. This year’s show is on the Thursday of Comic-Con at 7 PM and only a few blocks away from the convention center. Another great thing is that you don’t need an SDCC pass to attend. Even if you’re just a San Diego resident or have individual day passes that don’t include Thursday, the show is open to you! In addition, unlike last year, this year’s w00stock is open to all ages.

Tickets just went on sale and though they probably won’t sell out for a while, the best ones will go quick! You can guarantee a great seat right now by picking up tickets right over here!

I was going to review the experience of riding in Black Beauty (the Green Hornet car), but unfortunately I was unable to. When I arrived at the designated spot the employees said they couldn’t drive the car after dark because of its green headlights. Thus, I was stuck in the garage and couldn’t ride the car. Still, the garage was an interesting experience.

You could tell Sony put this together really quickly because all they basically did was get a few cool cars and stick them in a building. There were some TVs scattered around too but they just played the 2 minute trailer on repeat (and some even had screwed up aspect ratios). Every person received a T-Shirt for “Brett Reid’s Garage” (the main character of the film) and they are perfectly fine but a bit boring. The reason I have so little to say about the event is that there really wasn’t much to it without the ride. I saw a few cool cars, got a shirt, and that was it. The employees promised that rides will be available every other day since the event only runs until 5 from now on. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to fit a return visit in my schedule but if anyone does end up going, make sure to tell me how it is!

Take a look at some pictures I took at the event:

Attendees looking for a bit of excitement can head over to the Candy Factory at Petco’s Park at the Park where they will be able to take a ride in Black Beauty, the car unveiled at SDCC last year and pictured above. Read on for the details!

The event will begin at 6 PM on Preview Night (Tomorrow) and run until 5 PM on Sunday. Here’s an official description:

Experience The Green Hornet like never before! Step into Britt Reid’s Garage where you’ll get see his official, weapons-laden 1965 Chrysler Imperial, Black Beauty, alongside other cars from his incredible collection. Take a ride in Britt’s famous car with one of the Hornettes for an up-close view of the advanced technology created exclusively for the upcoming feature film, The Green Hornet.

People that want to go should RSVP on its Facebook page here. This guarantees admission and will get you a Green Hornet shirt at the event. In addition, Foursquare users can friend Brett Reid (the main character of the film) here as it will provide you with inside tips such as how to jump the line for a ride. Finally, people can follow @GreenHornette on Twitter for updates on the event.

It sounds like another cool thing to do if you’re looking for activities around the convention center. Below is the flyer that they will be handing out around the convention center.

Well, So Diego Tours has you covered with there Comic Crawl! It’s a pub/bar crawl this Thursday from 7-10pm in the Gaslamp district of San Diego. Participants buy wristbands for $20 and this gets them two free drinks, bites, and happy hour prices. Read on for more details!

This is an awesome deal that allows you to experience all the best bars in the Gaslamp without blowing your SDCC money. The bars are all pretty close to the convention center so you don’t even need to walk very far. Check out the five stops:

You can take a look at the flyer below and buy tickets here if you’re interested.