Baltimore Comic-Con Welcomes John Beatty, John Cassaday, Trish Forstner, Al Milgrom, Liam Sharp, and Billy Tucci
Celebrate Baltimore Comic-Con‘s 25th Anniversary on September 20-22, 2024 at the Inner Harbor’s Baltimore Convention Center. Baltimore Comic-Con has announced the addition of comics guests John Beatty, John Cassaday, Trish Forstner, Al Milgrom, Liam Sharp, and Billy Tucci for our 25th Anniversary event! Tickets are now available online.
John Beatty got his first break working for Marvel and DC Comics when he was 19. The year was 1980 and the decade that followed is now referred to as the “Bronze Age” of comic books! Beginning with short filler stories for DC Comics anthology books, Beatty soon found himself as the finisher on the JLA working over George Perez. However, the run was limited to 4 issues due to Marvel Comics offering him the inking duty over his favorite character, Captain America, with his long-time mentor and collaborator, Mike Zeck. Coming off of a 2.5 year run on Cap, Zeck and Beatty were tagged to do the art on the first major clash of heroes and villains, Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars! which saw the change of Spider-Man’s costume to black in issue #8 of the series, something that turned into a bigger deal as Venom. After Secret Wars, the team of Zeck and Beatty produced the hit limited mini-series and a graphic novel starring Marvel’s newest “A-List” character, The Punisher. The last major work the team produced was the Captain America Annual 8. Covers for Captain America, G.I. Joe, and many other titles were a staple of work for the team during the ’80s. Beatty continued projects for Marvel, including Thanos Quest, Squadron Supreme, Venom: The Madness, and others. At DC Comics, John was the inker for Batman: Year 3 and the first 5 issues on the new Batman title, Legends of the Dark Knight. Eight years of work on various Batman titles with writer Doug Moench and penciler Kelley Jones became well-known in the ’90s, including the last 2 installments on the Vampire/Batman GN series, other Batman graphic novels, and a 3-year run on the monthly Batman title, recently reprinted in two beautiful hardcover editions. Eventually turning his sights on DC Licensing, Beatty has produced vector ink and color for style guides, from movies to animated series to products such as toys, cards, packaging, and clothing, among other things. This is uncredited work, but is still being used. Traditional inking is still Beatty’s main love, and he continues to practice it and teach those around him who want to learn.
John Cassaday is the Eisner Award-winning artist best known for co-creating the acclaimed DC/Wildstorm series Planetary, Marvel’s best-selling Astonishing X-Men, and the launch of the Star Wars on-going series from Marvel. Cassaday’s work has been exhibited in Hong Kong, Paris, New York City, and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC.
He went on to work for “The Big Two”, with prolific stints on DC’s Planetary and Marvel’s Astonishing X-Men, X-Men, Captain America, and Uncanny Avengers, and has recently done work on Dynamite Entertainment’s Doc Savage.
Cassaday has both been nominated and won numerous prestigious industry awards including Eisner, Eagle, and, for his work on Astonishing X-Men, a Spike TV Scream Award.
His recent work can be found in the pages and covers of Dynamite Entertainment’s Doc Savage, and on covers for Marvel’s Miracleman, Magneto, Savage Wolverine, and Captain Marvel and Image’s Starlight.
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 loves classic animation and has drawn influence from many sources, particularly classic 80s and 90s toons. Her love of expression and emotion is on full display in any work she creates. You’ve most recently seen her artwork in the Eisner Award-nominated Stray Dogs from Image Comics and IDW’s My Little Pony comic series, as well as a plethora of variant covers for various independent titles.
Allen Milgrom was born March 6, 1950 in Detroit, Michigan. Al graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in art and design in 1972 and moved to New York. After a year interning at DC Comics with legendary artist Murphy Anderson, Al began inking and, soon after, penciling. He’s worked on lots of comics over the years, (penciling, inking and even some writing) primarily for Marvel Comics, but he also co-created Firestorm at DC Comics and did work at Archie Comics as well as Atlas, Dark Horse, and others. He also did stints as an editor at Marvel and DC.
Married to his wife, Judy, since 1979, they have a daughter and two sons and the cutest grandson and granddaughter ever to walk the earth (of course he may be biased).
Liam Sharp is an award-winning Anglo-American writer and artist. He has worked for all the major comic companies, but is primarily known for his more recent stint at DC, where he drew the best-selling Wonder Woman: Rebirth series, The Lies and The Truth written by Greg Rucka, and the acclaimed The Brave and the Bold: Batman and Wonder Woman series, which he also wrote. He had an epic 24-issue run drawing The Green Lantern, scripted by the legendary Grant Morrison, and produced full-color art on Batman: Reptilian for DC’s Black Label imprint, scripted by the great Garth ‘The Boys‘ Ennis. He wrote, illustrated, and lettered his own creator-owned series for Image Comics, Starhenge – an epic sci-fantasy saga based on the legend of Merlin. He is currently writing and producing art for Spawn: The Dark Aages for Todd McFarlane and Image.
Liam was awarded an honorary doctorate by Derby University in 2022.
Inkpot Award recipient Billy Tucci is a cartoonist best known for his modern-day samurai saga Shi, which began with The Way of the Warrior in 1994. Through his company, Crusade Fine Arts, Shi has been printed in five languages and sold more than 3 million comic books. In addition to his own creations, the graduate of New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology has earned the prestigious Diamond Comics Gem Award and has been nominated for four Eisner Awards. Billy’s DC Comics graphic novel, Sgt. Rock: The Lost Battalion, was awarded the Military Writers Society of America Gold Medal for its depiction of the highly decorated, real-life 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which was comprised of Japanese-American soldiers. His earnest retelling of the Christmas story in A Child Is Born has quietly turned into an international blockbuster, winning the Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award. His critically acclaimed Miss Fury: Joy Division saw the return of the Golden Age Icon for Dynamite Comics. Billy has recently released Shi: Return of the Warrior, Shi: Haikyo, Shi: Omnibus Edition, and Zombie-Sama via Kickstarter and Indiegogo, uniting backers from over fifty countries and bringing Crusade Comics’ previous exclusive crowdfunding campaign totals to over $1,000,000.00.
This year’s confirmed guests for the show include: Rodney Barnes (Killadelphia), Marty Baumann (Pixar artist), John Beatty (Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars), Brett Breeding (Superman), Tom Brevoort (coursey of Hero Initiative, FCBD 2023: Avengers/X-Men), Mark Buckingham (Fables), Jim Calafiore (NED, Lord of the Pit), John Cassaday (X-Force), Keith Champagne (Stranger Things), Howard Chaykin (Time Squared), Frank Cho (Harley Quinn), Michael Cho (Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories–Qui-Gon Jinn), Amy Chu (KISS: The End), Steve Conley (The Middle Age), Katie Cook (Nothing Special), Todd Dezago (The Perhapanauts), Chris Eliopoulos (Ordinary People Change the World), Steve Epting (New Avengers), Trish Forstner (Feral), Franco (Teen Titans Go to the Library), Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (DC Nation), Ron Garney (BZRKR), Bob Hall (West Coast Avengers), Mike Hawthorne (Deadpool), Greg Hildebrandt (Star Wars), Dan Jurgens (Action Comics), Jamal Igle (Superman), Klaus Janson (courtesy of Hero Initiative, Daredevil), Barry Kitson (Amazing Spider-Man), Jim Lee (Superman), Sam Maggs (Marvel Action: Captain Marvel), Shawn Martinbrough (Red Hood: The Hill), Mike McKone (Red Goblin), Bob McLeod (New Mutants), Carla Speed McNeil (Finder), Adriana Melo (Action Comics), Al Milgrom (Spectacular Spider-Man), Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise), Fabian Nicieza (courtesy of Hero Initiative, Deadpool), Jerome Opena (Uncanny X-Force), Dan Parent (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Andrew Pepoy (Simone & Ajax), Khoi Pham (Star Wars: Darth Vader), Andy Price (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic), Tom Raney (Green Lantern), Afua Richardson (Omni), Don Rosa (Uncle $crooge), Craig Rousseau (The Perhapanauts), Alex Saviuk (Web of Spider-Man), Liam Sharp (X-O Manowar Unconquered), Don Simpson (Megaton Man), Louise Simonson (The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special), Walter Simonson (Thor), Matt Slay (Equilibrium), John K. Snyder III (Suicide Squad), Mark Sparacio (Omega Paradox), Joe Staton (Dick Tracy), Brian Stelfreeze (Black Panther), Babs Tarr (Batgirl of Burnside), Matt Wieringo (Stargate Atlantis: Gateways), Marv Wolfman (What If…? Dark: Tomb of Dracula), Rich Woodall (Electric Black), and Leinil Francis Yu (Wolverine).
