The Baltimore Comic-Con is coming up this October 22-24, 2021 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. The Baltimore Comic-Con is pleased to welcome Marty Baumann, Jim Calafiore, Trish Forstner, Jim Pascoe, Joe Staton, Brian Stelfreeze, and Billi Tucci to this year’s event. Get your tickets online!

Marty Baumann is an illustrator, graphic artist, and production designer. He has contributed to some of the most popular, Oscar-winning animated films of all time. Marty has worked as an artist at Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios as an illustrator, graphic artist, and production designer on such films as Toy Story 3, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, Cars 2, Planes, Wreck-It Ralph 2, and many others. He also helped develop theme park installations, toy packaging, and Pixar corporate branding. Marty has rendered illustrations and developed characters for toy manufacturers, magazines, and newspapers, and illustrated children’s books, created logos, info-graphics, broadcast promotions, and presentation art for Hasbro, Universal Studios, National Geographic, Scholastic Books, Nickelodeon, and many others. Recent projects include his role as concept artist for the new Mystery Science Theater 3000 and the visual development of Sir Paul McCartney’s feature film, High in the Clouds.

In 30 years working in comics, Jim Calafiore has spent extended time at Valiant, DC, and Marvel, notably on Peter David’s Aquaman, Judd Winnick’s Exiles, Gotham Underground with Frank Tieri, Red Lanterns with Charles Soule, various Batman books, Deadpool, and Black Panther. After a run on the critically-acclaimed Secret Six with Gail Simone, they reunited with for their creator-owned Kickstarter success Leaving Megalopolis, and volume 2 of the saga, Surviving Megalopolis. Volume 3 is in the works.

Trish Forstner is from Baltimore, Maryland and is a relative newcomer to the comic industry but brings a lifetime of experience in creating fun, lovable characters. She’s been drawing since she could hold a pencil. Trish is inspired by classic animation and has drawn influence from many sources, particularly Classic 80s and 90s toons. You’ve seen her work in IDW’s My Little Pony comic series. Most recently she co-creates Stray Dogs with Tony Fleecs, published by Image Comics.

James Pascoe has been a freelance illustrator for over 30 years, most of it in the comics field. He has done inking, pencilling, painting and/or digital coloring for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and Valiant. His credits include Azrael, Empire, Batman/Punisher, and Thor, among others. He also lovingly restores comic book and comic strip art with missing logos, balloons, and captions, does cover re-creations, and is currently illustrating the California Tarot – Shadows & Light tarot card deck.

Joe Staton has been drawing comics since he started working for Charlton Comics in 1971, where he co-created E-Man and Michael Mauser. Though the bulk of his work has been for DC Comics, at last count, Staton has worked for at least 30 publishers and 100 different editors. Among his many comics credits are Action Comics, Green Lantern, The Legion, Classics Illustrated, and various incarnations of Batman. During his time on Green Lantern, he co-created several GLs, including Kilowog, Arisia, and Salakk. He also designed GL Guy Gardner’s “bad boy” look. More recently, with his writer-wife Hilarie, he produces medical comics such as Pete Learns All About Crohn’s and Colitis and Amy Goes Gluten-Free. In 1998, he received the Eisner Award for his work on World’s Finest: The Superman-Batman Adventures. He penciled over 100 issues of the Cartoon Network’s Scooby Doo comic. He illustrated a graphic novel adaptation of Ayn Rand’s Anthem for NAL and a graphic biography of Ronald Reagan. Since 2011, working with writer Mike Curtis, Joe has been the regular artist for the long-running Dick Tracy newspaper strip (available online at www.gocomics.com/dicktracy). Dick Tracy received Harvey Awards in 2013, 2014, and 2015 for Best Syndicated Strip or Feature.

Brian Stelfreeze, one of the original Gaijin Studios members, is a multi-talented artist, with experience and credits penciling, inking, coloring, painting, and even writing. His comic book covers have gained him much attention and lauding, and his run painting covers on DC Comics’ Shadow of the Bat for over 50 issues is noteworthy by itself. Brian’s creative output can be found on BOOM! Studios’ Day Men, Marvel Comics’ Black Panther, and be sure to pick up BOOM! Studios’ The Signature Art of Brian Stelfreeze to get a definitive look at the works of his publishing career.

Billy Tucci is an award-winning cartoonist best known for his modern-day samurai fable, Shi. Through Billy’s Crusade Fine Arts, the multi-Eisner Award-nominated Shi has been printed in five languages and sold more than 3 million comic books. He has also worked on a litany of projects for DC Comics, including Sgt. Rock, Harley Quinn, Flash Vs. Superman, and Batman. His earnest retelling of the Christmas story, A Child Is Born, has quietly turned into an international blockbuster after winning the Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award. 2021 celebrates Billy’s 27th Anniversary in comics with the release of the Shi: Return of the Warrior, Shi: Haikyo, and the Shi: Omnibus Vol. 1. He also illustrated Wonder Woman: Angel of Battle for DC Comics and wrote the comics return of June Tarpe’ Mills’ golden age icon, Miss Fury for Dynamite Entertainment.

---

2021 GUESTS

This year’s confirmed guests for the show include: Tom Akel (Stan Lee’s Backchannel, courtesy of Rocketship Entertainment), Chris Bachalo (Non-Stop Spider-Man), Art Baltazar (Big Alien Moon Crush), Marty Baumann (Disney/Pixar), John Beatty (Secret Wars), Carolyn Belefski (Curls), Brian Michael Bendis (Action Comics), Ziggy Blumenthal (Operation Pajama Pants), Russ Braun (The Boys), Brett Breeding (Superman), Reilly Brown (Deadpool), Greg Burnham (Tuskegee Heirs), Jim Calafiore (Welcome to Megalopolis), Chris Campana (The Adventures of Parker Reef), Castillo Studios, Cliff Chiang (Paper Girls), Frank Cho (Harley Quinn), Becky Cloonan (Dark Agnes), Steve Conley (The Middle Age), Steve Conte (Action Figure Kingdom), Katie Cook (Nothing Special), Jamie Cosley (Light Side), Kristina Deak-Linsner (Vampirella: Roses for the Dead), J. Robert Deans (Crass Fed), John Dell (Lobo, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Vito Delsante (Stray), Todd Dezago (Perhapanauts), Jason Douglas (Parallel, courtesy of Source Point Press), Charles C. Dowd (Lilith Dark), Ryan Dunlavey (M.O.D.O.K. Reign Delay), Garth Ennis (The Boys, Friday and Saturday only), Trish Forstner (My Little Pony), Franco (The Ghost, The Owl), Bob Frantz (Metalshark Bro), John Gallagher (Max Meow: Cat Crusader), Kami Garcia (Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity), Mitch Gerads (Mr. Miracle), Joe Giella (Green Lantern), Mike Gold (Green Arrow), Michael Golden (Micronauts), Jimmy Gownley (Amelia Rules!), Dawn Griffin (Zorphbert & Fred), Laura Lee Gulledge (Page by Paige), Gene Ha (Mae), Scott Hanna (Icon and Rocket), Dean Haspiel (The Red Hook), Glenn Hauman (They Keep Killing Glenn), Mike Hawthorne (Happiness Will Follow), Marc Hempel (The Sandman), Jamal Igle (Wrong Earth), Klaus Janson (Daredevil, Saturday only), Dave Johnson (The Good wiAsian), Chris Kemple (Artist Alley Comics), Tom King (Batman), Scott Koblish (Deadpool, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Leeanne M. Krecic (Let’s Play, courtesy of Rocketship Entertainment), Robert Lemieux (Life in the Comics), Joseph Michael Linsner (Red Sonja), Howard Mackie (Ghost Rider: Return of Vengeance), Chris Mariano (Claire Lost Her Bear At The World’s Fair), Mark Mariano (Far Out Firehouse), Whitney Matheson (Pandemix: Quarantine Comics in the Age of ‘Rona), Ian McGinty (Adventure Time), Bob McLeod (New Mutants), Carla Speed McNeil (Finder), Frank Miller (Dark Knight III: The Master Race, Saturday only), Karl Moline (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Mark Morales (The Next Batman: Second Son), Trevor Mueller (Albert the Alien), Josh Neufeld (A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge), Jamar Nicholas (Leon: Protector of the Playground), Jerry Ordway (The Power of Shazam), James Pascoe (Azrael), Andrew Pepoy (Simone & Ajax), David Petersen (Mouse Guard), Brandon Peterson (Sinestro: Year of the Villain), Khoi Pham (Star Wars: Crimson Reign), Andy Price (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic), Christopher Priest (Black Panther, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Joe Quesada (Daredevil), Tom Raney (Guardians of the Galaxy), Amy Reeder (Wonder Woman: Black and Gold), Afua Richardson (Omni), Andrew Robinson (Halo), Don Rosa (Uncle Scrooge), Jennifer Rouse (Frankenstein Mobster), Craig Rousseau (The Perhapanauts), Alex Saviuk (Web of Spider-Man), Stuart Sayger (Army of Darkness: 1979), Gregg Schigiel (SpongeBob Comics), Chris Schweizer (The Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton), Doc Shaner (Strange Adventures), Jim Shooter (Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars), Matt Slay (Equilibrium), John K. Snyder III (Killers), Mika Song (Donut Feed the Squirrels), Joe Staton (Dick Tracy), Brian Stelfreeze (Black Panther), Paul D. Storrie (Storm Kids: Stanley’s Ghost), Arthur Suydam (Merc with a Mouth), Martha Thomases (Dakota North), Peter Tomasi (Batman and Robin), Ben Towle (Four-Fisted Tales: Animals in Combat), Tim Townsend (Non-Stop Spider-Man), Timothy Truman (Grimjack), Billy Tucci (Shi), Fred Van Lente (Action Philosophers), Brian K. Vaughan (Saga, Friday and Saturday only), Emilio Velez Jr. (The Dodgeball Teens), Robert Venditti (Hawkman), Mark Waid (Dr. Strange), Lee Weeks (Batman/Catwoman Special), Mark Wheatley (Songs of Giants), Emily S. Whitten (The Underfoot), Matt Wieringo (Stargate Atlantis: Gateways), Keith Williams (Thor the Worthy), Marcus Williams (Tuskegee Heirs), Renee Witterstaetter (Guardians of the Galaxy), Javier Cruz Winnik (Puerto Rico Strong), Rich Woodall (Electric Black), Gene Luen Yang (Superman Smashes the Klan), Kelly Yates (Doctor Who), and Thom Zahler (Love and Capes).