Deering, Runton, Vosburg and the Simonsons at the Baltimore Comic-Con!

Be sure to attend the Baltimore Comic-Con‘s premiere inaugural three-day event the weekend of September 5-7, 2014 at the Baltimore Convention Center!

The list of comic book all-stars attending the 2014 Baltimore Comic-Con continues to grow!  This week, the convention has announced the addition of Rachel Deering, Andy Runton, Louise and Walter Simonson, and Mike Vosburg to the slate of comics luminaries!

Rachel Deering was born and raised in the backwoods of Kentucky, far from the influence of pop culture. She cites her love of Hammer horror films and monster magazines from the ’70s as the biggest influences on her writing. She has written comics and prose for such companies as Blizzard Entertainment, Vertigo, Dark Horse, IDW, Titan, and many more. Her work has recently seen publication in Creepy from Dark Horse and In The Dark from IDW.

Andy Runton is the creator behind Owly, a kind-hearted owl who experiences various adventures with his other animal friends. Published by Top Shelf, Owly has received numerous industry accolades, including the Harvey Award for Best New Talent in 2005, the Ignatz Award for Promising New Talent in 2005, another Ignatz in 2006 for Outstanding Series, a 2006 Eisner Award for Best Publication for a Younger Audience, and the Howard E. Day Memorial Prize for outstanding achievement in self-publishing in 2005. Runton also publishes Owly and Wormy books through Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon and Schuster.

Louise Simonson has, like her husband Walter, contributed significantly to the comic book industry. “Weezie”, as she is known, began her comics career as an editor at Warren Publishing before leaving for Marvel to edit titles including X-Men, New Mutants, and Star Wars. Departing the editorial role in favor of writing, Weezie has contributed to storylines in Marvel’s Marvel Team-Up, Web of Spider-Man, and Red Sonja, and was responsible for the introduction of Apocalypse in X-Factor as well as the launch of Power Pack.  At DC Comics, she worked on Superman: The Man of Steel and The Adventures of Superman.

Walter Simonson has made vast contributions to comics publishing, as a writer, an artist, and even in founding publishing imprints.  He was recognized in 2012 at the Harvey Awards in Special Award for Excellence in Production/Presentation and Best Domestic Reprint Project for Walt Simonson’s The Mighty Thor, Artist’s Edition from IDW, and in 2013 for Alien: The Illustrated Story from Titan Books for Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work. He also received the Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010 at the Harvey Awards. Walt’s career began in the 1970s at DC Comics, where he worked on titles such as Weird War TalesManhunterMetal MenOrion, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Vigilante, and Hercules Unbound. Over at Marvel Comics, Simonson has had numerous noteworthy runs, including The Rampaging Hulk magazine, X-Factor, Fantastic Four, and Thor, on which he was responsible for the introduction of Beta Ray Bill and Thor as a frog.

Mike Vosburg began his comics career in the 1970s, as part of the underground comics movement. He would later move onto larger publishers such as Western Publishing and Charlton Comics before moving onto the big two, DC and Marvel Comics. At the latter, he worked on Savage She-Hulk, Sisterhood of Steel, and G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. His most prolific work, though, is likely the covers created for TV’s Tales from the Crypt, drawn to mimic the style of 1950s horror comics. While he spends most of his time working on television and film projects, he still self-publishes his Lori Lovecraft title through Asylum Press.

This year’s previously confirmed guests for the show include: Marty Baumann (Pixar artist); Jeremy Bastian (Cursed Pirate Girl); Dave Bullock (Batman Black and White); Greg Capullo (Batman); Bernard Chang (Green Lantern Corps); Sean Chen (Amazing Spider-Man); Jimmy Cheung (Infinity); Cliff Chiang (Wonder Woman); Frank Cho (X-Men:  Battle of the Atom); Richard Clark (House of Gold & Bones); Steve Conley (Bloop); Alan Davis (Wolverine); Tommy Lee Edwards (Star Wars); Garth Ennis (Preacher, The Boys); David Finch (Forever Evil); Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (All-Star Western); Dave Gibbons (Watchmen); Bryan JL Glass (Mice Templar); Michael Golden (The Ravagers); Cully Hamner (Animal Man); Dean Haspiel (The Fox); Fred Hembeck (Garfield); Adam Hughes (Before Watchmen: Dr. Manhattan); JG Jones (Green Lantern Corps, Batman Black and White); Justin Jordan (Luther Strode, Green Lantern: New Guardians); Barry Kitson (Empire); Aaron Kuder (Action Comics); David Mack (Shadowman); Kevin Maguire (Guardians of the Galaxy); Alex Maleev (Moon Knight); Ron Marz (Witchblade); Bob McLeod (X-Men: Gold); Tradd Moore (Deadpool Annual); Mark Morales (New Avengers); Dan Parent (Archie, Veronica, Kevin Keller); David Peterson (Mouse Guard); Joe Prado (Justice League); Brian Pulido (Lady Death); Tom Raney (Incredible Hulk); Ivan Reis (Aquaman and The Others); Budd Root (Cavewoman); Alex Saviuk (Web of Spider-Man); Andy Smith (Superman #23.1: Bizarro); Allison Sohn (sketch card artist); Charles Soule (Thunderbolts); Jim Starlin (Thanos: The Infinity Revelation); Ben Templesmith (The Memory Collectors); Peter Tomasi (Batman and Two-Face); John Totleben (Swamp Thing); Herb Trimpe (GI Joe:  A Real American Hero); Billy Tucci (Shi); Rick Veitch (Saga of the Swamp Thing); Mark Waid (Daredevil); Bill Willingham (Fables); Renee Witterstaetter (Joe Jusko: Maelstrom); Thom Zahler (My Little Pony); and Mike Zeck (Secret Wars).