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Vito Delsante, Dan Goldman, Dean Haspiel, Charlie McElvy, Jim Rugg, and Don Simpson are heading to Baltimore Comic Con

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The Baltimore Comic-Con makes its annual return to the Inner Harbor’s Baltimore Convention Center on October 17-19, 2025. The Baltimore Comic-Con announces the appearance of indie comics creators Vito Delsante, Dan Goldman, Dean Haspiel, Charlie McElvy, Jim Rugg, and Don Simpson. Tickets to the show can be purchased online.

Vito Delsante is a comic book writer, letterer, and editor. He is best known for his creator-owned superhero story, Stray, with co-creator, Sean Izaakse (Challengers of the Unknown) and is the editor-in-chief of Blind Squirrel Comics, where he is currently writing and editing the mini-series, GodQuest: Milestone and putting the finishing touches on Raptorix, a “Dark Knight” bootleg that DC Comics would never dare to publish. He currently lives in Pittsburgh, PA with his wife, Michelle, and his kids, Sadie and James.

Dan Goldman is a writer-artist working in prose, comics, and video games. He is the creator of Red Light Properties, a tropical horror comic series about haunted Miami real estate. He is also co-creator of the graphic novels Chasing Echoes (Humanoids), the Priya’s Shakti series, the non-fiction political docu-comic 08: A Graphic Novel of the Campaign Trail (Three Rivers), and the Eisner-nominated Shooting War (Grand Central). Dan has also worked in game narrative, including the Emmy-winning Silent Hill: Ascension (Genvid) and The Division: Resurgence (Ubisoft). He currently lives in South Florida where he’s producing all-new RLP stories.

Emmy and Ringo Award-winning cartoonist Dean Haspiel has created for Marvel, DC/Vertigo, Archie, Image, and Webtoon, including collaborations with Harvey Pekar and Jonathan Ames. In 2023, Dino launched a series of crowdfunded “Deep Cuts” from his pantheon of creator-owned characters, featuring COVID Cop, Billy Dogma + Jane Legit, The Red Hook, and Chest Face. In addition, Haspiel is an accomplished playwright and Yaddo fellow. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Charlie McElvy is the writer-creator-publisher of most things Xion Studios and now Blind Squirrel Comics. His flagship title, Spider-Squirrel & Trash Panda, has been a crowdfunding success story since issue #1 and has spawned multiple spin-offs. Under Xion Studios, you’ll find the mature, the macabre, and the unique — titles such as American Yakuza, and Vagabond: Nowhere Man whereas Blind Squirrel Comics highlights more traditional comics such as GodQuest, Scott Fogg’s Nightcare, and Vito Delsante’s and Sean Izaakse Stray.

Jim Rugg is a writer, artist, designer, illustrator, and YouTuber. His comics include Hulk Grand Design, Street Angel, The PLAIN Janes, Afrodisiac, and Supermag. Honors include Eisner and Ignatz Awards and AIGA’s 50 Books/50 Covers selection. He is the co-host of YouTube’s popular comics channel — Cartoonist Kayfabe.

Megaton Man #1 detonated on the scene in December 1984, and forty years later, Don Simpson is still best known as the creator of that satirical superhero series published by Kitchen Sink Press and Image Comics. Don is also creator of the science fiction saga Border Worlds (collected by Dover in 2017), Bizarre Heroes, a universe of characters surrounding the cast of Megaton Man and self-published under Don’s Fiasco Comics imprint. and Marvel’s one-shot CRAZY! reboot (2019). A veteran of the 80s-90s indy movement, Don worked for every major comic book imprint in the late twentieth century, including Mirage Studios (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Image Comics (Splitting Image, The Savage Dragon vs. Megaton Man, The normalman-Megaton Man Special, 1963), Fantagraphics (King Kong), and DC (Wasteland, Flash Annual, Secret Origins, Action Comics Weekly). More recently, Don has been authoring his weekly prose novel, The Ms. Megaton Man Maxi-Series, and teamed up with William Messner Loebs, Jason Moore, and Tom Orzechowski on Victory Folks—The Golden Age Public Domain Supergroup. 2025 will see the release of The Complete Megaton Man Universe Volume I: The 1980s (Fantagraphics Underground), including all the Kitchen Sink Press Megaton Man comics, and Megaton Man: Multimensions (Cosmic Lion Productions), an anthology of indy creators’ interpretations of and IP crossovers with Don’s creations.

This year’s confirmed guests for the show include: Kaare Andrews (Spider-Man: REIGN 2), Eddy Barrows (Superman), Jeremy Bastian (Cursed Pirate Girl), Marty Baumann ((Pixar artist), John Beatty (Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars), Josh Blaylock (Mercy Sparx, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Russ Braun (The Boys), Mark Buckingham (Fables), Letizia Cadonici (House of Slaughter), Jim Calafiore (NED, Lord of the Pit), Richard Case (Doom Patrol), Keith Champagne (Stranger Things), Howard Chaykin (Time Squared), Jo Chen (Runaways), Jim Cheung (Young Avengers), Frank Cho (Harley Quinn), Amy Chu (Emma Frost: The White Queen), Chris Claremont (X-Men), Matthew Clark (Adventures of Superman, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Becky Cloonan (Somna), Steve Conley (The Middle Age), Michael W. Conrad (Manowar: Invictus), Dani (Sensational Wonder Woman), Alan Davis (Excalibur), Deans Family Productions (Crass Fed), Jeff Dekal (Something is Killing the Children), Kevin Delgado (Tuff Stuff, courtesy of Comics and Collectibles R Us), Vito Delsante (Stray), Todd Dezago (The Perhapanauts), Garth Ennis (The Boys, Saturday and Sunday only), David Finch (Moon Knight), Tony Fleecs (Stray Dogs), Trish Forstner (Feral), Franco (Deadman Tells the Spooky Tales), Barbara Friedlander (Swing with Scooter), Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (DC Nation), Chris Giarrusso (Mini Marvels), Dan Goldman (Unfinished Business), Randy Green (Witchblade). Mike Grell (Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters), Gavin Guidry (Action Comics), Brian Haberlin (Spawn, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Bob Hall (West Coast Avengers), Scott Hanna (Amazing Spider-Man), Dean Haspiel (The Red Hook), Mike Hawthorne (Deadpool), Marc Hempel (Sandman), Jamal Igle (Superman, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Chris Kemple (Artist Alley Comics), Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Incredible Hulk), Derek Kirk Kim (The Last Mermaid), Dan Krall (House of Night), Adam Kubert (Wolverine), Jae Lee (Inhumans), Tula Lotay (Barnstormers), Nate Lovett (Dungeons & Dragons), Kevin Maguire (Justice League), Alex Maleev (Star Wars: Boba Fett – Black White and Red), Laura Martin (Nubia: Queen of the Amazons), Shawn Martinbrough (Red Hood: The Hill), Ron Marz (Green Lantern), Jose Marzan Jr. (Y: The Last Man), Charlie McElvy (Spider-Squirrel), Mike McKone (Red Goblin), Bob McLeod (New Mutants), Adriana Melo (Action Comics), Josh Middleton (Aquaman), Al Milgrom (Spectacular Spider-Man), Mark Morales (Thor), Trevor Mueller (Albert the Alien), Sarah Myers (TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures), Tom Nguyen (The Switch), Mike Norton (Battlepug, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Kevin Nowlan (Batman: Sword of Azrael), Patrick Olliffe (Untold Tales of Spider-Man), Dan Parent (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), John J. Pearson (In Bloom), Andrew Pepoy (Simone & Ajax), Barbara Perez Marquez (The Cardboard Kingdom), David Petersen (Mouse Guard), Khoi Pham (Star Wars: Darth Vader), Paul Pope (THB), Tom Raney (Green Lantern), Amy Reeder (Power Girl), Esad Ribic (Conan the Barbarian), Afua Richardson (Kahhori: Reshaper of Worlds), James Robinson (Starman), Don Rosa (Uncle $crooge), Craig Rousseau (Herculoids), Stephane Roux (Void Rivals), Jim Rugg (Street Angel), Andy Runton (Owly), Stuart Sayger (Conan the Barbarian), Joseph Schmalke (Seven Years in Darkness, courtesy of Groundbreaking Comics), Bart Sears (Deathstroke), Declan Shalvey (Old Dog), Louise Simonson (The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special), Walter Simonson (Thor), Don Simpson (Megaton Man), Jeff Smith (Bone), John K. Snyder III (Suicide Squad), Mark Sparacio (Chelsea Dagger and the Women of Excalibur), Joe Staton (Dick Tracy), Karl Story (The Mandalorian), Zoe Thorogood (It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Universe), Peter Tomasi (The Rocketfellers), Billy Tucci (Shi), Brian K. Vaughan (Spectators, Friday and Saturday only), Gus Vazquez (Sunfire and Big Hero Six), Charles Vess (Stardust), Mark Waid (Justice League Unlimited), Mark Wheatley (Breathtaker), Matt Wieringo (Stargate Atlantis: Gateways), Keith Williams (Web of Spider-Man), Maria Wolf (Phoenix), Rich Woodall (Electric Black), John Workman (Wild Things), Kelly Yates (Doctor Who), and Thom Zahler (Love and Capes).

Updated: Kickstarter Censors Don Simpson’s Megaton Man: Multimensions

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Update: Kickstarter has reversed their decision and Megaton Man: Multimensions is now live. As we expected, Kickstarter is claiming that they were attempting to comply with US trade restrictions against Iran which doesn’t pass the smell test, but it’s approved. You can read Kickstarter’s reversal below and then the original article below that.

Megaton Man: Multimensions

Don Simpson has posted that Kickstarter has “not approved,” aka censored, his next crowdfunding project, Megaton Man: Multimensions. The reason given is that one of the contributors is located in Iran. The reason given was “safety and trust.”

Milo Trent is on the cover of Megaton Man: Multimensions and contributes four pages out of the 214 in the book. Trent is also located in Iran.

Simpson was sent an email from Kickstarter Trust & Safety after their review process where they asked for two more pieces of information. The questions asked were:

  • What is the nature of your engagement with individuals in Iran, if any?
  • What is the nature of your engagemnent with entities in Iran, if any?

After Simpson’s publisher reached out to Kickstarter, the crowdfunding platform declined the project.

In their rejection letter, which you can read below, Kickstarter points to its Terms of Use, in particular section 13 which basically states they can make changes to their Site and Services whenever they want, they can decide who’s eligible to use Kickstarter, they can reject/cancel/interrupt/remove/suspend any project, they can withhold funds, they can also force refunds (interesting, maybe they should do that for the scams/failed projects that regularly run on the site), among other things. They of course aren’t liable for any of the damages concerning that.

Kickstarter not approved letter

Section 13 does link out to Community Guidelines and rules for starting projects. Neither of those mention anything about Iran. In a search of the entire site, we can’t find any mention of Iran being banned from Kickstarter.

There’s a list of prohibited projects.

There’s a list of who can use Kickstarter and the countries they need to be from. In fact, it tells how those not in those countries can open a business in the US using Stripe Atlas.

If Kickstarter is doing so under so guise of “American sanctions,” it’s permissible to send money to individuals in Iran as long as the individuals are sanctioned or the institution is not sanctioned. But, that’s not for Kickstarter to enforce in this case since the individuals are in the US, it’s those individuals managing the project that must comply with any rules and regulations.

Both Don Simpson and his publisher are located in countries approved and listed.

Kickstarter is open to backers worldwide. Nearly anyone from anywhere can support a project as long as they have a major debit or credit card and a Kickstarter account.

Apparently, Kickstarter is happy to take money from anyone worldwide, but if you’re from certain countries, fuck off for unknown reasons.

Cliff Chiang, Mitch Gerads, Andrew Pepoy, Don Simpson, Babs Tarr, and Marv Wolfman are coming to Baltimore Comic Con 2024

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Baltimore Comic-Con’s 25th Anniversary takes place on September 20-22, 2024 at the Inner Harbor’s Baltimore Convention Center. The Baltimore Comic-Con is pleased to announce comics guests Cliff Chiang, Mitch Gerads, Andrew Pepoy, Don Simpson, Babs Tarr, and Marv Wolfman to the 25th Anniversary event! Tickets are now available!

Cliff Chiang’s artwork has been hailed for its “fluid and confident storytelling” and “sweeping linework and nuanced style.” Graduating from Harvard University with a joint degree in English Literature and Visual Arts, he worked in editorial at Disney Adventures Magazine and Vertigo/DC Comics before making the leap into freelance illustration. Best known as the artist of the New York Times best-selling Wonder Woman (with writer Brian Azzarello) and Eisner Award-winning Paper Girls (with writer Brian K. Vaughan), his most recent work is the acclaimed Catwoman: Lonely City which he both wrote and drew.

Mitch Gerads is a multiple Eisner and Ringo award-winning illustrator who has made a career out of bringing humanity and realism to the superhuman and unreal. He is best known for his critically acclaimed work at DC Comics with writer Tom King on Mister Miracle, Strange Adventures, Batman, and The Sheriff of Babylon. He lives and draws in Phoenix, Arizona with his Catwoman, Lauren — and his Robin, West.

Andrew Pepoy has worked for U.S., Canadian, British, and French publishers on hundreds of comics on such characters and titles as The Simpsons, Fables, Batman, The X-Men, Iron Man, Star Wars, Wallace & Gromit, Scooby Doo, Betty & Veronica, Lanfeust, Uncle Scrooge, and many more over the last 30 years. In 2000, Andrew redesigned Little Orphan Annie and drew the newspaper strip for the next year, and in 2005 he brought his knack for retro glamour with a modern twist to writing and drawing a revival of the classic Archie Comics character, Katy Keene. Since 1990, he has written and drawn many stories of his own Harvey Award-nominated creation, The Adventures of Simone & Ajax, which has been collected in book form by IDW and appears as a webstrip at www.simoneandajax.com, with a new series in production. Nominated several times, Andrew won an Eisner Award in 2009 and has also won an Inkwell Award and been nominated for the Harvey and Hugo Awards. He lives in Chicago. His recent work includes drawing a Dinosaucers mini-series for Lion Forge, inking the 50th Anniversary graphic novel adaptation of The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine for Titan, inking various Simpsons comics for Bongo Comics, art for MAD Magazine, a run as guest artist on the Dick Tracy newspaper comic strip, inking Die Kitty Die for Astrocomics, and drawing covers for Doctor Who, Archie vs. Predator II, Red Sonja, Lady Death, and other titles.

Don Simpson is best known as the creator of the satirical superhero series Megaton Man for Kitchen Sink Press and Image Comics, the science fiction saga Border Worlds (collected by Dover in 2017), and Marvel’s one-shot CRAZY! reboot (2019). A veteran of the 80s-90s indy movement, Don worked for every major comic book imprint in the late twentieth century, including Mirage Studios (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Image Comics (Splitting Image, The Savage Dragon vs. Megaton Man, 1963), Fantagraphics (King Kong), and DC (Wasteland, Flash Annual, Secret Origins, Action Comics Weekly). Under his Fiasco Comics imprint, Don self-published 17 issues of Bizarre Heroes, a universe of characters surrounding the cast of Megaton Man. More recently, Don has been authoring his weekly prose novel, The Ms. Megaton Man Maxi-Series, at msmegatonman.blogspot.com, a sober but wry sci-fi take on his imaginative universe. Most recently, Don teamed up with William Messner-Loebs, Jason Moore, and Tom Orzechowski on Victory Folks—The Golden Age Public Domain Supergroup in the newly-released YEET! Presents #50 in 2022.

Babs Tarr is a professional comic artist and illustrator best known for her run on Batgirl of Burnside, creator-owned comic Motor Crush, Overwatch OGN London Calling, and co-host of Critical Roles Pub Draw!

Marv Wolfman got his start on the fandom side of comics, writing for and editing fanzines in the 1960s. His professional career began at DC Comics, where he wrote a story for Blackhawk and would go on to contribute to titles like Teen Titans, Showcase, and Weird Mystery Tales. Moving to Marvel Comics, he eventually ascended to the role of Editor-in-Chief, before stepping aside so he could concentrate on his writing. There, he had an extensive run on Tomb of Dracula, where he created Blade, the character that proved the viability of Marvel properties on the big screen. He was also the mind behind such Marvel characters as Nova, Terrax, Bullseye, and Black Cat. He also wrote the syndicated Howard the Duck comic strip. He later returned to DC to relaunch the acclaimed New Teen Titans. and worked on titles including Action Comics, Dial H for Hero, Green Lantern, and Night Force before the game-changing Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series. In the 1990s, Wolfman was an editor at and wrote for Disney Comics. In the 2000s, Wolfman returned to DC Comics, writing Nightwing, DC Special: Raven, and, more recently, Convergence: Adventures of Superman and Convergence: New Teen Titans.

This year’s confirmed guests for the show include: Rodney Barnes (Killadelphia), Marty Baumann (Pixar artist), John Beatty (Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars), Rose Besch (Miles Morales: Spider-Man), 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), Cliff Chiang (Paper Girls), 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), Sanford Greene (Bitter Root), Gene Ha (Mae), Bob Hall (West Coast Avengers), Mike Hawthorne (Deadpool), Kyle Higgins (Radiant Black), Dan Jurgens (Action Comics), Jamal Igle (Superman), Klaus Janson (courtesy of Hero Initiative, Daredevil), Joëlle Jones (Lady Killer), Tom King (Wonder Woman), Barry Kitson (Amazing Spider-Man), Emma Kubert (Inkblot), 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), Nick Pitarra (Ax-Wielder Jon), 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), Geoff Shaw (God Country), Don Simpson (Megaton Man), Louise Simonson (The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special), Walter Simonson (Thor), Matt Slay (Equilibrium), Matt Slay (Equalibrium), John K. Snyder III (Suicide Squad), Mark Sparacio (Omega Paradox), Joe Staton (Dick Tracy), Brian Stelfreeze (Black Panther), Joshua “Swayart” Swaby (Star Wars), Babs Tarr (Batgirl of Burnside), Jeremy Whitley (Navigating With You, courtesy of Mad Cave Studios), Matt Wieringo (Stargate Atlantis: Gateways), Stephanie Williams (Nubia: Queen of the Amazons), Marv Wolfman (What If…? Dark: Tomb of Dracula), Rich Woodall (Electric Black), and Leinil Francis Yu (Wolverine).

Preview: Pink Lemonade

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Pink Lemonade

(W) Nick Cagnetti (A) Don Simpson (A/CA) Nick Cagnetti
In Shops: Jul 05, 2023
SRP: $24.99

Mysterious past! Colorful costume! Altruistic outlook! Zippy motorcycle! And one very overactive imagination! Meet PINK LEMONADE-the new hero on the scene! She dreams of doing big things, but ultimately, she’ll settle for just helping where she can. But when Pink Lemonade accidentally crashes into the set of the next Rex Radical blockbuster, she’ll take an unexpected leap into the spotlight…and will soon find herself confronted by a series of increasingly threatening doppelgängers, extraterrestrial fanboys, and nefarious corporate machinations.

Collecting PINK LEMONADE #1-6 in one complete volume.

Pink Lemonade

Preview: Pink Lemonade

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Pink Lemonade

(W) Nick Cagnetti (A) Don Simpson (A/CA) Nick Cagnetti
In Shops: Jul 05, 2023
SRP: $24.99

Mysterious past! Colorful costume! Altruistic outlook! Zippy motorcycle! And one very overactive imagination! Meet PINK LEMONADE-the new hero on the scene! She dreams of doing big things, but ultimately, she’ll settle for just helping where she can. But when Pink Lemonade accidentally crashes into the set of the next Rex Radical blockbuster, she’ll take an unexpected leap into the spotlight…and will soon find herself confronted by a series of increasingly threatening doppelgängers, extraterrestrial fanboys, and nefarious corporate machinations.

Collecting PINK LEMONADE #1-6 in one complete volume.

Pink Lemonade

Ithacon announces Return Favorites and New Faces for Ithacon 45

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Ithacon

ITHACON 45 has announced the guest list for the upcoming ITHACON convention. The long-running convention will be live this year April 23 and 24th.

Local hero Will Dennis returns to his alma mater –  he is graduate of the Roy H. Park School of Communication at Ithaca College. He was an editor at Vertigo/DC Entertainment for more than fifteen years, specializing in genre fiction comics and graphic novels. His award-winning titles include 100 Bullets, Y: The Last Man, Scalped, DMZ, Joker and many more. Since then, he has worked as a freelance editor for Image Comics, comiXology, and DC Entertainment. He was the editor for the Eisner nominated Where We Live, A Benefit for the Survivors in Las Vegas. Dennis is currently spearheading Scott Snyder’s ComiXology Originals Clear, Night of the Ghoul and We Have Demons.

AHOY Comics’ publisher, Hart Seely returns to ITHACON this year.  As an author, Seely has written numerous books, including THE JUJU RULES: A MEMOIR OF A FAN OBSESSED (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012) and MRS. GOOSE GOES TO WASHINGTON (Simon & Schuster, 2007) He also edited several books of “found poetry,” including O HOLY COW: The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto (ECCO/Harpers, 1993) and PIECES OF INTELLIGENCE, the Existential Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld (Simon & Schuster, 2003). His works have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Slate, and on National Public Radio. He is now publisher and co-founder of AHOY Comics, which has been creating innovative comics since 2019.

Frank Cammuso is the author/illustrator for THE MISADVENTURES OF SALEM HYDE series (Amulet Books, 2013). Cammuso also created the graphic novel series called KNIGHTS OF THE LUNCH TABLE (Graphix/Scholastic, 2009). Frank also wrote and illustrated the Eisner nominated MAX HAMM FAIRYTALE DETECTIVE. Frank Cammuso is a former award-winning political cartoonist for The Post-Standard newspaper in Syracuse, N.Y. He has collaborated with Hart Seely in a number of projects. Together, their work appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, Slate, and on National Public Radio.  Cammuso currently splits his time between creating graphic novels, AHOY Comics and teaching at Syracuse University.

Nick Parisi is the author of the definitive, Rod Serling: His Life, Work, and Imagination, Parisi serves as president of the Rod Serling Memorial Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to preserving and promoting the creative genius’ legacy.  

Ithacon is proud to welcome Don Simpson, the creator of the satirical superhero series Megaton Man for Kitchen Sink Press and Image Comics, the science fiction saga Border Worlds (collected by Dover in 2017), and DC’s Wasteland. A veteran of the 80s-90s indie movement, Don worked for every major comic book imprint in the late twentieth century including Mirage Studios (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Image Comics (Splitting Image, The Savage Dragon vs. Megaton Man, 1963), Fantagraphics (King Kong), and DC (Wasteland, Secret Origins, Action Comics Weekly). Under his Fiasco Comics imprint, Don self-published 17 issues of Bizarre Heroes, a universe of characters surrounding the cast of Megaton Man. More recently, Don has been authoring his weekly prose novel, The Ms. Megaton Man Maxi-Series, at msmegatonman.blogspot.com, a sober but wry sci-fi take on his imaginative universe. Most recently, Don teamed up with William Messner Loebs, Jason Moore, and Tom Orzechowski on Victory Folks—The Golden Age Public Domain Supergroup in the newly-released YEET! Presents #50 in 2022.

Indie Stars Cook, Kemple, Moore, Piskor, Rugg, and Simpson Come to Baltimore

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Baltimore Comic Con 2022

The Baltimore Comic-Con lights up the Inner Harbor this October 28-30, 2022 at the Baltimore Convention Center. The Baltimore Comic-Con prides itself on the breadth and depth of our comics guests, and are happy to feature creators with great indie comics cred in 2022: Katie Cook, Chris Kemple, Terry Moore, Ed Piskor, Jim Rugg, and Don Simpson. Tickets are on sale now!

Katie Cook is the creator of the comic Nothing Special on LineWebtoon, an all-ages adventure about a girl, a boy with fairy wings and a dead Radish. It’s her favorite thing and you should read it. Katie also wrote and drew the webcomic Gronk: A Monster’s Story, which lost several awards but is still delightful. Katie spent several years as one of the primary writers on IDW’s My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and has also done projects with Marvel, BOOM! Studios, and more (sorry for referring to some of you publishers as “and more”). She’s also illustrated several Star Wars children’s books for Disney LucasFilm Press and created artwork for the Disney Wonderground Gallery. Artist and writer! Double threat!

Chris Kemple is one of the contributors to the digital comics effort, Artist Alley Comics. After graduating with a BFA in Painting and Drawing from East Carolina University, Kemple worked as an assistant at Artamus Studios with Richard Case, Mike Wieringo, Jeff Parker, Casey Jones, and Scott Hampton, among others. Currently a teacher and freelance artist, Chris was a founding member of and texture artist and 3D object modeler at video game development studio, Red Storm Entertainment.

Indy powerhouse, Terry Moore, began his career in comics with the critically acclaimed epic series, Strangers in Paradise, the compelling love story between three unlikely friends who find themselves bound together by their pasts. The long-running series garnered many awards, including the coveted Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story and the National Cartoonists Society Comic Book Division Reuben Award. Strangers in Paradise has been translated into twenty-one languages and is as popular today as when it was first published in 1993. Terry marked twenty-five years of Strangers in Paradise with new stories in a ten issue limited series, Strangers in Paradise XXV.

Moore has created many award winning series, including Motor Girl, the story of a wounded warrior and her imaginary best friend, Rachel Rising, a horror comic with a ten-year old serial killer named Zoe, Echo, a science fiction thriller, and Five Years, which brings together characters from all of his series in one heart-stopping story. Terry has also published a How To Draw book as well as a yearly Sketchbook. He has just finished his latest series, Serial, where he brings Zoe back to hunt down the killer of her longtime friend.

The recipient of numerous industry awards worldwide, Moore continues to create strong female characters in extraordinary stories that touch the hearts of readers around the world.

In addition to publishing work under his own label, Abstract Studio, Moore has worked for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, BOOM! Studios, and other major publishers throughout his twenty-nine year career.

Ed Piskor has been cartooning professionally in print form since 2005, starting off drawing American Splendor comics written by Harvey Pekar. The duo continued working together on two graphic novels, Macedonia and The Beats. Ed began self-publishing Wizzywig after developing a huge interest in the history of hacking and phone phreaking. His New York Times Best-Selling series Hip Hop Family Tree, which was originally serialized on Boing Boing, has gone back to print numerous times, and won the 2015 Eisner Award for “Best Reality-Based Work.” X-Men Grand Design, for Marvel, was released in 2017-2019 to wide acclaim and his current series, Red Room is his publisher, Fantagraphics’ best-selling comic in their history.

Jim Rugg is a writer, artist, designer, illustrator, and YouTuber. His comics include Hulk Grand Design, Street Angel, The PLAIN Janes, Afrodisiac, and Supermag. Honors include Eisner and Ignatz Awards and AIGA’s 50 Books/50 Covers selection. He is the co-host of YouTube’s popular comics channel — Cartoonist Kayfabe.

Don Simpson is best known as the creator of the satirical superhero series Megaton Man for Kitchen Sink Press and Image Comics, the science fiction saga Border Worlds (collected by Dover in 2017), and Marvel’s one-shot CRAZY! reboot (2019). A veteran of the 80s-90s indy movement, Don worked for every major comic book imprint in the late twentieth century, including Mirage Studios (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Image Comics (Splitting Image, The Savage Dragon vs. Megaton Man, 1963), Fantagraphics (King Kong), and DC (Wasteland, Flash Annual, Secret Origins, Action Comics Weekly). Under his Fiasco Comics imprint, Don self-published 17 issues of Bizarre Heroes, a universe of characters surrounding the cast of Megaton Man. More recently, Don has been authoring his weekly prose novel, The Ms. Megaton Man Maxi-Series, at msmegatonman.blogspot.com, a sober but wry sci-fi take on his imaginative universe. Most recently, Don teamed up with William Messner-Loebs, Jason Moore, and Tom Orzechowski on Victory Folks—The Golden Age Public Domain Supergroup in the newly-released YEET! Presents #50 in 2022. Don is excited to be a guest at Baltimore Comic-Con for the very first time this year!

2022 GUESTS

Confirmed guests for this year’s show include: John Beatty (Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars), Brian Michael Bendis (Action Comics), Brett Breeding (Superman), Mark Buckingham (Fables), Jim Calafiore (NED, Lord of the Pit), Richard Case (Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror), Howard Chaykin (Time Squared), Steve Conley (The Middle Age), Katie Cook (Nothing Special), Kevin Cuffe (Metalshark Bro), Kristina Deak-Linsner (Roses for the Dead), Bob Frantz (Metalshark Bro), Gene Ha (Mae, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Bob Hall (West Coast Avengers), Mike Hawthorne (Happiness Will Follow), Greg Hildebrandt (Star Wars), Klaus Janson (Daredevil, Friday and Saturday only), Chris Kemple (Artist Alley Comics), Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Alien), Barry Kitson (Amazing Spider-Man), Joseph Michael Linsner (Red Sonja), Howard Mackie (Ghost Rider), Bob McLeod (New Mutants), Shawn McManus (Sandman, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Carla Speed McNeil (Finder), Frank Miller (Sin City, Friday and Saturday only), Bill Morrison (The Simpsons), Trevor Mueller (Albert the Alien), Richard Pace (Second Coming, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Andrew Pepoy (Simone & Ajax), Khoi Pham (Teen Titans), Ed Piskor (Red Room: Trigger Warnings), Afua Richardson (Omni), Jon Romita, Jr. (Amazing Spider-Man), Don Rosa (Uncle Scrooge), Jim Rugg (Hulk Grand Design), Louise Simonson (X-Men Legends), Walter Simonson (Ragnarok), Don Simpson (Megaton Man), Mark Waid (Superman: Red and Blue), Emily S. Whitten (The Underfoot), Keith Williams (Thor the Worthy), and Thom Zahler (Love and Capes).

Preview: Crazy #1

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Crazy #1

(W) Gerry Duggan, Frank Tieri, More (A) Don Simpson, Scott Koblish, More
Rated T
In Shops: Oct 16, 2019
SRP: $4.99

MARVEL’S GREATEST…ER…MOST DEMENTED COMIC MAGAZINE
OBNOXIO THE CLOWN is back and so is one of MARVEL’S most hilarious titles thanks to a momentary lapse in sanity on the part of a few over-worked editors and a gang of writers and artists ready to take advantage of it. No super hero is safe! No comic book event is sacred! Will the Marvel Universe ever be the same? Will we want it to?

Crazy #1

Image Comics to Reprint Splitting Image

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Image Comics is pleased to present the never-before-reprinted (until now) parody of the company’s formation—Splitting Image.

This 80-page title by Don Simpson with colors by Hilary Jenkins, skewers the Image Comics company formation and pokes fun at the artists who founded it.

Splitting Image will also feature tons of special bonus content that fans won’t want to miss out on, including: the normalman-Megaton Man Special by Simpson, co-founder and Image Comics partner and Vice-President Jim Valentino, Larry Marder, and Bob Burden.

Splitting Image (Diamond Code FEB170579) will hit stores on Wednesday, April 26th. The final order cutoff deadline for comics retailers is Monday, March 27th.

splitting-image

In Pictopia on display at Pittsburgh’s ToonSeum

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Official Press Release

The ToonSeum has unearthed the rarely seen but highly regarded “graphic novella” “In Pictopia.” It is illustrated by Don Simpson and written by Alan Moore, acclaimed author of such comics-turned-movies as The Watchmen, V for Vendetta and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The exhibit will feature all 13 original art pages from the story of the same name, plus a retrospective from Simpson’s cartooning career, all on view between Sept. 25 and Oct. 31 in Pittsburgh’s downtown cultural district.

“In Pictopia” is an allegory of the comic book and comic strip world, and the sometimes ruthless business behind it. “ ‘In Pictopia’ is a kind of ghetto of old comic strip characters — funny animals, zany housewives, corny magicians,” Simpson explains. “Their modest existence is threatened by an urban renewal project that favors slick, commercial superheroes. It’s Alan Moore’s darkly humorous take on an art form dominated by big companies, and an industry that all too often crowds out independent artistic vision.” The exhibit also will explain how a young American cartoonist came to collaborate with the legend of British comics. “I was a rookie in the comic book business,” Simpson says. “I was too young and too cocky to realize I was working with a genius, or I would have choked!”

The tale is perhaps one of the lesser-known of Moore’s works, but Toonseum director Joe Wos is among a coterie of cognoscenti who have kept rumors of this “lost” Alan Moore work alive. “It keeps popping up on lists by comic historians as one of their favorite graphic novels of all time,” Wos says. “When I realized the original art was right here in Pittsburgh, it was a natural for the Toonseum.” For several years, the Toonseum has promoted cartooning as an artform with exhibits of established masters such as Charles Schulz (Peanuts) and animation cels from films such as Akira, along with extensive community outreach and education programs geared to all ages. This exhibit is decidedly more adult in content.

Simpson, who is best known for his work on the iconic “Megaton Man” received his BA in history of art and architecture in 2007 and MA in 2009. He is working on his doctorate in American art and architecture. “Specifically, my dissertation topic is the origin of urban cultural centers in American cities in the 19th and 20th centuries, like Oakland,” Simpson says. “Even when I was drawing comics professionally, I was drawn to such places. Inevitably, I found my curiosities leading me back to school. Now some of my old stuff is being exhibited in a cultural center!” Asked if the revival of “In Pictopia” signals a comeback, Simpson demurs, “I have very little time for the old drawing board. I’ve got a dissertation to write!”

“In Pictopia” will be on display at the Toonseum, 945 Liberty Ave., Pittsburgh, PA, 15222, from Sept. 25 to Oct. 31. An opening reception is planned for 7 p.m., Sept. 25. A special limited reprint of “In Pictopia” will debut in mid-October, with an autograph event to be announced. Closing night will feature Halloween festivities. For details, all 412 232-0199 or visit www.toonseum.org.