Helen Mirren honors Harvey Pekar at Comic-Con

SAN DIEGO - Helen Mirren won some geek points at the annual Comic-Con convention on Thursday when she joined her co-stars to tubthump her upcoming movie "Red."

The spy action-comedy, opening October 15, is based on a DC/Wildstorm comic by Warrren Ellis and Culley Hamner, who shared the stage during a panel session with Mirren and co-stars Bruce Willis and Karl Urban. (The ensemble cast also includes Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich.)

The Oscar-winning English actress wore a white t-shirt memorializing cartoonist Harvey Pekar, who died July 12.

"As you know, he was a great artist and a great innovator," she said. "A guy who turned me on to the fact that graphic art can be personal. I wanted to salute him today."

Even though Ellis and Hamner were on stage, the creators said they stayed out of the way of the movie's translation.

"Pitfalls? There weren't any. They gave me money, man!" screamed Ellis. "I just kept my distance. You never write a graphic novel for it to be turned into a movie. That way lies madness. Or Mark Millar."

The remarks generated huge laughs among the crowd since Millar is the comic creator behind "Kick-Ass" and "Wanted," and is known for his penchant for getting his stories noticed by Hollywood -- and his shameless self-promotion.