If you’ve never been to Comic-Con, in either New York or San Diego, allow me to sum it up for you in five words: fun, crowds, lines, crazies, crazycrowdsinlines. Note: one collection of letters in the previous sentence may or may not be a word.

Now, as an individual who tends to dislike lines, crowds and being immersed in either or both, I had to mentally prepare myself for my trip to this past weekend’s New York Comic-Con. But luckily, my affinity for fun prevailed, and I focused on what, to me, are the most interesting events at Comic-Con: TV show panels. The panels I attended featured the cast, creators, and crew of four Cartoon Network and Adult Swim shows that, non-coincidentally, I highly recommend checking out:

1. Adventure Time

Created by CalArts alum Pendleton Ward, Cartoon Network’s animated – is that redundant? - Adventure Time illustrates the adventures (obviously) of Jake the dog and Finn the human in the mystical land of Ooo. Between saving the ever-needing-to-be-rescued Princess Bubblegum, fending off the mischievous Ice King, and doing a whole lot of dancing, Finn and Jake split their time between being heroes and being adorable. Fun Fact: Tom Kenny, who is the voice of Spongebob and one of my favorite cast members of the HBO series Mr. Show, is also Adventure Time‘s Ice King. Check out Adventure Time here!

2. The Regular Show

The result of another fine CalArts education (seriously, if you want to work in animation, CalArts), The Regular Show is also a Cartoon Network cartoon – redundancy: 2, Rachel: 0. It was created by JG Quintel, and stars self-proclaimed slackers blue jay Mordecai and raccoon Rigby as they work – or don’t work, as the case may be – as groundskeepers at a park. Fun fact: Sam Marin, who voices the characters Pops and Benson, is also an artist for the show. Additionally, he did all of the character voices in Quintel’s short “The Naive Man from Lolliland,” where Pops made his first appearance. The Regular Show! Do it!

3. China, IL

Adult Swim’s animated China, IL is the synthesis of many of creator Brad Neely’s web shorts. It is set at the fictional University of China, IL, where students and faculty alike can work to make their dreams a reality (for the Professor Brothers, this means History Channel stardom). Although the show only premiered three weeks ago, the China, IL panel was packed, and the Q&A portion featured many “Qs” that started with the phrase “Brad, I just want to tell you how much of an inspiration you are.” Fun Fact: Neely also does a number of voices for the show, including both of the Professor Brothers and the beloved Baby Cakes. Apply to UCI!

4. The Heart, She Holler

Last but not least, the upcoming Adult Swim miniseries The Heart, She Holler features a slew of comedic talents, from Patton Oswalt to Kristen Schaal to Heather Lawless. The show itself is a hyperbolic King Lear-like tale set in the South – an extremely exaggerated version of the south – and the premiere episode, which was screened at the panel, was centered around death, incest, and more death. The only way I can describe it, really, is very, very strange. But good strange. Fun fact: The show comes from the creators of the bizarre MTV2 program Wonder Showzen, PFFR (present at the panel were John Lee and Alyson Levy). The Heart, She Holler trailer via Huffington Post

Featured image via Steven Leung, (http://www.flickr.com/photos/gluetree/)