Unbelievable but true, the man has reportedly never been to the mecca that is Comic-Con. He made a video appearance for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but otherwise nothing; not for War of the Worlds, Minority Report, A.I., any Jurrasic Park, or any other Raiders film. Not even ET. Every one of those would have worked at Comic-Con, but given panel titles for the last few years, he could have appeared for The Terminal and still fit right in.

So what is bringing him to the hallowed halls so that he can make them more hallowed? Word is it’s The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, the first of the Tintin trilogy he is producing; we showed you the trailer earlier this week.

Word is also that the film could use a little boost, as Tintin is a Belgian comic and not completely well-known in the U.S. Also, not everyone is as enamored with the look of this motion-capture film as I am, and many are just not fans of motion-capture in general.

Just as James Cameron gave Avatar a giant boost by previewing it at Comic-Con three years ago, an appearance by Steven Spielberg may be just the boost this animated film could use to raise it in the pop world’s estimation.

Geoff Boucher of the LA Times – The Hero Complex broke the news about the Tintin appearance, appropriate as he will be the moderator of the Tintin panel. Spielberg will also be receiving an Inkpot Award from Comic-Con, “an achievement award given to some of our guests” according to their website.

Tintin is scheduled for Friday at 11 in Hall H, with the program (as of this writing) still listed as “TBA”. Of course speculation will run wild as to whether Spielberg will be checking in to the Falling Skies or Terra Nova panels (he’s an executive producer on each show). Seat 42F is reporting that he will be on the red carpet for the Cowboys and Aliens world premiere at the San Diego Civic Theatre Saturday night.

Steven Spielberg belongs at Comic-Con, so it’s great that he’ll finally be there. Just exactly where he’ll be, though, will be the source of boundless speculation. But I’ll be disappointed if I don’t see at least three cos-players with graying stubble and geeky round glasses.