Comic-Con love for 'The Office,' Jim/Pam and d-bag Ryan

Shippers for The Office will be happy to hear that Jim and Pam aren't breaking up ... for now.

During the Comic-Con panel for a dozen Office writers -- including cast members Mindy Kaling (Kelly), BJ Novak (Ryan) and Mike Schur (Mose Schrute) -- showrunner Greg Daniels and writer Jennifer Celotta weigh in on what makes Jim and Pam work, flouting the typical TV series relationship traps.

"When we decided to get them together at end of Season Three, we kind of thought like, 'What are we going to do in Season Four?'" reveals Daniels. "And you could have done 'they break up and not like each other and whatever,' but then we thought, 'Maybe they should just hang out and be happy for a while. Maybe that will be good.'"

"It's a documentary too, so it's 'What's a real thing that happens between two people like this?'" adds Celotta.

"And they're soul mates," says Daniels. "So why would they break up?"

Don't start planning the wedding yet though. In the same conversation, Daniels adds, "I don't think we should say what will happen in the future either way."

The panel is a rather fun, yet hectic affair presided over by Rainn Wilson, who add commentary throughout the hourlong Q&A, calling on certain writers, pointing out an audience member dressed as Radioactive Man and even judging Novak's response: "Terrible answer."

Kaling reveals that one of her characters to write for is Ryan.

"I like how he -- in this last season if you guys watched it -- turned into the biggest d-bag of all time," she says to raucous hoots and laughter. "I mean, our show takes place in this dreary office, and to have a character who is like Mr. New York, like for us it's a very kind of glamorous, irritating person that doesn't live in our world. So when you come to visit, it's like, 'Oh great, I can exorcise all these demons in the character.' And Ryan is a character this season who I think a lot of people are excited to see what happens to him now."

Novak prefers to write for Steve Carell's character, boss Michael Scott.

"This is a person who really has such an interesting logical structure that he operates from," explains Novak. "The way he sees the world makes such sense on such an interesting light. It's so cool to see someone in authority be so innocent ... and so wrong."

Other highlights from the panel:

- Kaling would love a musical episode: "It's imminent I hope. [But it's only] in my fantasy world when I'm in charge and could run [the show] into the ground."
- Celotta on why Michael hates Toby: "It not being a specific thing. He just didn't like him. Steve tapped into that so well."
- Novak on more torture for Ryan in Season Five: "We'll put him through more. It's been very fun to push him that far."
- One of Kaling's influences is The Simpsons, but Novak gives a nod to The Sopranos: "Sometimes the funniest moments will come out of a dramatic setup."
- Wilson does not have a MySpace page (so the Dwight Schrute out there is a poser), but confirms that Jenna Fischer, Brian Baumgartner, Angela Kinsey and Kate Flannery all update their pages while on set.