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Olivia Cuartero-Briggs, Gene Ha, Jose Marzan Jr., Mark Morales, Patrick Olliffe, and Tom Raney are coming to Baltimore Comic Con 2026

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Come to the 2026 Baltimore Comic-Con at the Inner Harbor’s Baltimore Convention Center on September 25-27, 2026. Baltimore Comic-Con 2026 welcomes Olivia Cuartero-Briggs, Gene Ha, Jose Marzan Jr., Mark Morales, Patrick Olliffe, and Tom Raney to the 2026 event! Avoid lines — get your tickets online now.

Olivia Cuartero-Briggs is an award-winning dramatic writer born and raised in New York City. She holds an M.F.A. from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and is currently enjoying a career writing for film, TV, and comic books in Brooklyn, NY. Recent credits include E! Entertainment’s The Arrangement, USA’s Queen of the South, and co-producer on Mike Schur’s Field of Dreams. Published comic books include The College Try with Maverick, Jill and the Killers with Oni Press, Kill Train with Mad Cave Studios, and Mary Shelley Monster Hunter and Silver City with Aftershock Comics. OCB also currently has unannounced projects in the works with Humanoids, IDW, Mad Cave Studios, Maverick, and Scholastic. Awards include The Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, The New York Theater Festival’s Best Original Play Award, Hollywood Comedy Shorts Best of Fest Award, and the Flint Film Festival’s Best Screenplay Award. 

Four-time Eisner winner Gene Ha is known for his art on Fables and on Alan Moore’s Top 10. He currently writes and draws Mae from Oni Press. It’s the story of Mae Fortell, a girl who follows her long missing sister Abbie to a world of mad science and mystery. Gene lives outside Chicago in Berwyn, IL with his lovely wife Lisa. Learn more at https://www.geneha.com/.

Jose Marzan Jr. is a 43-year veteran of the comic book industry. He has worked for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse, and Disney Comics. Some titles from his long list of credits include Y: The Last Man, The Flash, Action Comics featuring Superman, The Adventures of Superman, Jack of Fables, The House of Mystery, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, The Justice League of America, Time Masters, Dr. Strange, The Silver Surfer, GI Joe, Marvel Comics Presents, and Roger Rabbit.

Jose Marzan Jr. received two 2008 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards for work on Vertigo Comics’ Y: The Last Man. One award (along with penciller Pia Guerra) for Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team for their work on Y: The Last Man (Vertigo/DC Comics), and an award (alongside his fellow creators Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra) for Y: The Last Man as Best Continuing Series.

Recent work has included contributing to DC Comics‘ Hellblazer and Batgirl titles, Marvel Comics’ Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, and cover and interior illustrations for O’Reilly Media.

His paintings were exhibited in the 1990 and 1991 Society of Illustrators Annual exhibitions in New York.

https://www.josemarzan.com
https://josemarzan.substack.com
https://www.youtube.com/@marzantv
https://www.facebook.com/josemarzan
https://www.instagram.com/josemarzanjr

A longtime comics pro, Mark Morales has worked for many companies, including Image, Dark Horse, Chaos, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics, mostly as an inker. Past projects from Mark include Thor, Daredevil, Batman, X-Men, Avengers vs. X-Men, Spider-Man/Deadpool, and Astonishing X-Men. Currently, he is working on Weapon X-Men from Marvel Comics.

Patrick Olliffe is a veteran comic book illustrator with over 39 years of experience, working for some of the largest publishers in the industry, including Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Dark Horse, and Disney Publishing. His long list of credits include Untold Tales of Spider-Man, Spider-Girl, Thor, Marvel Team-Up, Secret Wars Battleworld, Star Wars, Captain Marvel, Barb Wire, DC’s 52 series, Booster Gold, The Atom, Catwoman, Scooby Apocalypse, and Hawkman, plus Captain America, The Fantastic Four, The Avengers, and the X-Men for Disney’s Marvel Press. He, along with writer Chuck Austen, has created the sci-fi western series Edgeworld and the supernatural series The Tormented for Comixology Originals as well as the sci-fi book Defiant for DSTLRY.

www.patrickolliffeillustration.com

Tom Raney has spent much of his career working for the mid- to large-size publishers in the comics industry. He has contributed to many of Marvel’s titles, from Thor to X-Men, spent some time with Valiant’s relaunched titles, and Dark Horse Comics’ Star Wars among many other titles and publishers. He recently wrapped up a year-long run on DC Comics’ Green Lantern.

This year’s confirmed guests for the show include: Jason Aaron (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Mark Buckingham (Fables),JimCalafiore (NED, Lord of the Pit),Howard Chaykin (Time Squared), Jo Chen (Runaways), Cliff Chiang (Paper Girls), Frank Cho (Harley Quinn), Steve Conley (The Middle Age), Amanda Conner (Harley Quinn), Olivia Cuartero-Briggs (The College Try),Todd Dezago (The Perhapanauts), Colleen Doran (The Sandman), Trish Forstner (Feral), Gene Ha (Mae), Larry Hama (GI Joe: A Real American Hero), Tony Harris (The Whistling Skull), Mike Hawthorne (Deadpool), Jamal Igle (Superman), Dan Jurgens (Action Comics), Mike Kunkel (Herobear and the Kid), JaeLee(Inhumans), Jose Marzen Jr. (Y: The Last Man), Mike McKone (Teen Titans), Bob McLeod (New Mutants), Carla Speed McNeil (Finder), Adriana Melo (Fantastic Four), Pop Mhan (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe), Al Milgrom (Spectacular Spider-Man), Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise), Mark Morales (Thor), Bill Morrison (The Simpsons), Sarah Myer (TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures), Kevin Nowlan (Batman: Sword of Azrael), Patrick Olliffe (Untold Tales of Spider-Man), Ryan Ottley (Invincible), Jimmy Palmiotti (The Punisher), Andrew Pepoy (Simone & Ajax), David Petersen (Mouse Guard), Tom Raney (Incredible Hulk), Don Rosa (Uncle Scrooge), Craig Rousseau (The Perhapanauts),Louise Simonson (The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special), Walter Simonson (Thor), Matthew Dow Smith (DC’s Misfits of Magic), Scott Snyder (DC K.O.), Mark Waid (Action Comics), Matt Wieringo (Stagrate Atlantis: Gateways), and Thom Zahler (Long Distance),

Preview: The College Try

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The College Try

(W) Olivia Cuartero-Briggs
(A) Roberta Ingranata

What if you could do it all over again?
A desperately single 40-something attends her college reunion to win back the love of her life, with disastrous results. But, through a magical twist of fate, she finds herself in her early college years once more–with a chance to fix it all.

The College Try

Preview: Kill Train

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Kill Train

(W) Olivia Cuartero-Briggs (A) Martina Niosi (C) Simone D’Angelo (L) Becca Carey (CA) Skylar Patridge

Kill Train is an absurd, dystopian, battle for survival, told in real time, that takes us on a journey through one woman’s subconscious, uncovering the wounds of her past and her strength to survive…

To control the population explosion that nearly crippled the city, New York has instituted Kill Train, a randomized, extermination program where designated subway trains are picked at random, and all the passengers are slaughtered by the end of the line. In this not-so-distant future, we meet Vanessa, a struggling single mom in the midst of a nervous breakdown, who discovers that she, herself, is on a Kill Train. Now, for once in her life and with everything to prove, Vanessa decides she’s not going down without a fight.

Kill Train

Preview: Kill Train #5

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Kill Train #5

(W) Olivia Cuartero-Briggs (A) Martina Niosi (C) Simone D’Angelo (L) Becca Carey (CA) Skylar Patridge

Trapped between a surviving assassin and the butchers awaiting them at the train yard, Vanessa and an unexpected companion must find a way to get off the final train car before it reaches the end of the line. Don’t miss the gutwrenching last issue of this terrifying thrill ride.

Kill Train #5

Preview: Kill Train #4

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Kill Train #4

(W) Olivia Cuartero-Briggs (A) Martina Niosi (C) Simone D’Angelo (L) Becca Carey (CA) Skylar Patridge

Vanessa and the remaining survivors make their way to the second-to-last car, where Vanessa will have to face her most dire existential threat yet: the ideal version of herself. But, live or die, Vanessa’s best friend Corwin has been keeping a secret from her that carries tragic consequences.

Kill Train #4

Preview: Kill Train #3

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Kill Train #3

(W) Olivia Cuartero-Briggs (A) Martina Niosi (C) Simone D’Angelo (L) Becca Carey (CA) Skylar Patridge

Vanessa’s hallucinations get worse as she, Corwin, and the remaining survivors continue to battle their way through the Kill Train. But, forced to confront a lifetime of buried trauma, will Vanessa have the strength to continue, or will she get herself and every last passenger slaughtered in the process?

Kill Train #3

Preview: Kill Train #2

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Kill Train #2

(W) Olivia Cuartero-Briggs (A) Martina Niosi
(C) Simone D’Angelo (L) Becca Carey

Finding herself on one of New York City’s infamous Kill Trains while in the midst of a mental breakdown, Vanessa must choose whether to give up and die or attempt the impossible: fight her way through and survive. But can she turn the ragtag group of survivors into a psycho-slaughtering army, or will each of them get picked off one by one?

Kill Train #2

Kill Train #2 delivers over the top violence and laughs

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Kill Train #2

Finding herself on one of New York City’s infamous Kill Trains while in the midst of a mental breakdown, Vanessa must choose whether to give up and die or attempt the impossible: fight her way through and survive. But can she turn the ragtag group of survivors into a psycho-slaughtering army, or will each of them get picked off one by one? Kill Train #2 continues the bloody wild ride.

There’s something about some concepts where they’re so silly or over the top, they’re just engaging and suck you in. That’s Kill Train as a whole. The basic premise is that New York City is overpopulated and to deal with it, they every so often just kill everyone on a train. Vanessa has found herself on one after having a really shitty start to her day.

Olivia Cuartero-Briggs is having fun with her story playing up tropes and delivering laughs with a helping dose of violence. Vanessa and the survivors need to figure out what they’re going to do to survive and Cuartero-Briggs lays it all out to eliminate choices and give readers a clear reason for the plan.

And it’s all delivered with a dose of humor and comedy. The killers on the train are so silly, they’re almost like the gangs of The Warriors in their style. And that’s what the comic feels like in some ways, it’s The Warriors meets Snowpiercer, a battle through a train to get to the end.

Part of the humor comes from the art of Martina Niosi. With color by Simone D’Angelo and lettering by Becca Carey, each murder and murderer is a surprise. Blood is all over, heads are chopped off, limbs are used as weapons. Somehow, the comic delivers all of that without it being gross and distracting. There’s so much humorous glee in the destruction and death. It’s so over the top it’s funny.

Kill Train #2 is B-movie excellence. I want to see this on the big screen. It’s silly fun in the best way with a concept that’s so simple yet so fantastic. We know not everyone will survive and that’s part of the entertainment. Who will die? How will they die? What witty comments will be made? We’re here for it.

Story: Olivia Cuartero-Briggs Art: Martina Niosi
Color: Simone D’Angelo Letterer: Becca Carey
Story: 8.25 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8.25 Recommendation: Buy

Mad Cave Studios provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle

Preview: Kill Train #2

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Kill Train #2

(W) Olivia Cuartero-Briggs (A) Martina Niosi
(C) Simone D’Angelo (L) Becca Carey

Finding herself on one of New York City’s infamous Kill Trains while in the midst of a mental breakdown, Vanessa must choose whether to give up and die or attempt the impossible: fight her way through and survive. But can she turn the ragtag group of survivors into a psycho-slaughtering army, or will each of them get picked off one by one?

Kill Train #2

Kill Train #1 is B-Movie Slasher Insanity

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Kill Train #1

To control the population explosion that nearly crippled the city, New York has instituted Kill Train, a randomized, extermination program where designated subway trains are picked at random, and all the passengers are slaughtered by the end of the line. In this not-so-distant future, we meet Vanessa, a struggling single mom in the midst of a nervous breakdown, who discovers that she, herself, is on a Kill Train. Now, for once in her life and with everything to prove, Vanessa decides she’s not going down without a fight. Kill Train #1 kicks off an insane concept that feels like it’s the start of a cult classic.

Written by Olivia Cuartero-Briggs, Kill Train #1 is a solid start to what is an out there idea. We’re introduced to everything and by the end, in the thick of the blood splattering craziness. The concept is rather simple, New York City is overpopulated so to handle that, they just murder everyone on random trains. Sure, we could do about a million other things but mass random murder is probably a much quicker and final solution to the problem. We’re introduced to Vanessa who is struggling in life. She comes off as the character where there’s a coin flip as to whether she’d just give up if caught in that situation or a switch would go off and she’d raise hell and fight.

And that’s partly what’s interesting about Kill Train #1. The concept is silly and fun in that B-movie horror movie sort of way but it peppers its story with a lot of intriguing details. We learn that Vanessa is recently divorced but has moved in with a new individual. The fact she hasn’t unpacked as well as other details hint that there’s more going on. There’s interactions that tease there’s a lot going on with Vanessa, all creating a character that has a bit more depth than you’d expect. It helps create a character we can relate to a bit more.

The art by Martina Niosi is good. With color by Simone D’Angelo and lettering by Becca Carey, the comic’s visuals bounce between a style that’s rather mundane slice of life to almost comedic slasher. The details extend a lot to the visuals of the story. There’s things in Vanessa’s apartment, the body language of quite a few people, but really the dichotomy of the “suburban” life mixed with the violence of its underlying concept is what really shines… and is the point of the whole comic.

Kill Train #1 is a solid start and much like Maniac of New York, a slasher also set in NYC, the comic has a biting satire and underlying message to deliver. It feels like B-movie horror schtick but teases it may be so much more by the end.

Story: Olivia Cuartero-Briggs Art: Martina Niosi
Color: Simone D’Angelo Letterer: Becca Carey
Story: 8.15 Art: 8.0 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy

Mad Cave Studios provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle

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