[Kevin Smith] Anyone familiar with Kevin Smith’s panels knows that nothing is out of bounds and no topics are taboo. Often times, new information is hard to come by and most of what’s said has already been made available somewhere online. A Kevin Smith panel is usually light on information and big on laughs.

But at this Kevin Smith panel, at Wizard World: LA this Saturday, Smith had a treat for his audience: a clip from the upcoming “Clerks II.”

Before showing the clip, Smith took questions from the audience. A sample of what was said:

* On Bryan Singer’s “Superman Returns”: “I look forward to it. Any Superman movie is better than no Superman movie with the exception of ‘Quest for Peace.’”

* He mentioned how the X-Men films were “over the top gay” and how you could interchange the world “mutant” for “gay” and the movie would have the same affect - something he considers a positive thing.

* “I’m just not talented enough,” Smith said when talking about why he’s not directing the “Green Hornet” movie.

* “The trick of making those movies is that you have to make them mainstream,” Smith said of comic book movies. He suggested that sequels sometimes work better than the originals as they can avoid telling the origin story.

* Smith likes “My Name Is Earl.”

* Smith is considering making a direct to DVD Clerks cartoon called “Clerks: Sell Out,” which would be about Dante and Randall making a movie about working in a convenience store. Evidently, Harvey Weinstein’s reaction to this was “You’ve just run out of ideas, haven’t you?”

* An audience member suggested that Smith himself sold out when he did an episode of the Canadian teenager melodrama “Degrassi.” He suggested that selling out was doing an episode of “Joey.” Said Smith: “I’ve never fallen out of love with the notion of seeing myself on TV.”

* Smith called Ben Affleck about being in "Clerks II," but Affleck claimed to be taking a break from acting for a while. Smith pointed out that the movie would be the first Smith movie in a decade that didn’t feature Affleck, so the actor changed his mind and agreed to appear as an extra, although he was later given a line.

* Smith has roles in two movies to be released in the near future: “Southland Tales,” directed by Richard Kelly, and “Catch and Release” co-starring Jennifer Garner. He said that he has one of the main roles in the latter.

* Batman is his favorite comic book character.

* His Top Five movies in no order are “Jaws,” “A Man for All Seasons,” “The Last Temptation of Christ,” “JFK,” and “Do the Right Thing.”

* “I like writing and I like editing the best,” Smith said when asked what parts of making movies he enjoyed the most. “Directing to me is more of a necessary evil.”

* When asked what his next comic book project would be, Smith said he still had to finish “Daredevil/Bullseye: Target,” but that after that he had no plans. “Based on my inability to turn in a comic book script on time, I shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a comic book.”

* He said his best experience making a movie so far was on “Clerks II”, but that the most fun was on “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,” and the best performances came on “Chasing Amy.”

* He liked ’Batman Begins’: “I thought it was pretty earnest.”

* “I’m not working on the Star Wars TV show,” he responded when asked by an audience member.

* If he were ever to do a sequel to Mallrats, it would most likely be in comic book form and would be called “Mallrats 2: Die Hard in a Mall.”

Finally, it was time for the two clips Smith had brought along, the first being a full scene from his new film, “Clerks II.” Prefaced by numerous warnings that the clip would be shut off if anyone tried recording it, the scene featured Randall and another Mooby fast food employee debating which trilogy was better, the original “Star Wars” or the “Lord of the Rings.”

After that, Smith premiered the trailer for the film, which will be shown before “Scary Movie 4,” when ”SM4” hits theaters.

“Clerks II” will be released on August 18th.