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Howard Chaykin, Steve Conley, Amanda Conner, Pop Mhan, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Brian Stelfreeze are coming to Baltimore Comic Con 2026

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Join the 2026 Baltimore Comic-Con at the Inner Harbor’s Baltimore Convention Center on September 25-27, 2026. Baltimore Comic-Con has announced Howard Chaykin, Steve Conley, Amanda Conner, Pop Mhan, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Brian Stelfreeze as guests of the 2026 event! Your tickets are waiting for you online now!

Howard Victor Chaykin is a longtime veteran of the comic book business. As a cartoonist — both writing and drawing — he has been a major influence on the direction of comics, referred to frequently as one of the principal architects of the modern comic book. His signature creation, American Flagg!, introduced a new level of narrative complexity, depth of character, and point of view in its text, not to mention a previously unseen level of design and craft to the visual nature of an all-too-frequently staid and timid medium. And, yes, sex that wasn’t confined to pinup posing for most proclivities to enjoy. Chaykin continues to produce work that pushes the envelope of concept, context, and content in comics…his The Divided States of Hysteria, for example, a comic book which, thanks to social media, enraged an entire new generation of the willfully ignorant who might have had a better case if they’d actually read the damned book. Chaykin’s Hey Kids! Comics! is a fictionalized history of the comic book business, a love letter written with just a frisson of acid in the ink, to the field he’s loved and called home for over five decades. His magnum opus bebop comic book, The Time² Omnibus, might still be out there…and The Black Kiss Omnibus, four hundred pages of unredeemed filth, is in stores now.

Steve Conley is the writer and artist of The Middle Age, a “beautifully drawn and hilarious” fantasy webcomic that has earned ‘best webcomic’ nominations in the Ringo Awards, Eisner Awards, and National Cartoonists Society Awards. He has provided art and covers for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (BOOM! Studios), Adventure Time (BOOM Studios!), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW Publishing), Star Trek: Year Four (IDW Publishing), and Michael Chabon’s Escapist (Dark Horse Comics). Steve is a co-host of the weekly Pencil to Pencil comics livestream with Jamar Nicholas and Mike Manley.

When not making comics, Steve’s gaming work includes writing and illustrating Dungeons & Dragons-compatible supplements including Nibblemancy, Death Dealing, and Intoximancy. Steve’s comics and TTRPG work can be found online at SteveConley.com.

Amanda Conner has worked on many of the top titles in comics, such as Lois Lane, Codename: Knockout, and Birds of Prey for DC Comics, X-Men Unlimited for Marvel, Gatecrasher for Blackbull Comics (which she also co-created), and The Pro, an Eisner-nominated creator-owned book for Image Comics with Jimmy Palmiotti and Garth Ennis. Recently, she worked on the highly successful Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre series with Eisner-winning creator Darwyn Cooke.

Amanda’s work can also be seen outside the comic-book community, in such places as ABC’s Nightline, New York Times, MAD Magazine, Arm & Hammer, PlaySchool, and Nickelodeon. She has also done monthly spot illustrations for Revolver magazine and has enjoyed a huge success with the DC Comics title Harley Quinn with Jimmy Palmiotti. Her collaboration with pop sensation Ingrid Michaelson was industry celebrated. Additionally, her work has been featured and spotlighted on the award-winning CBS comedy series The Big Bang Theory, where her artwork was used for multiple episodes.

She continuously produces cover work for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and an assortment of independent titles. Her involvement with DC and Warner Brothers for the Harley Quinn animated series along with several characters and themes leveraged for the cartoon and motion pictures are evident.

Pop Mhan was lucky enough to get his jump into the comics industry under the tutelage of Jim Lee at Wildstorm Productions. Since those early days, his art has graced the pages of comics from Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Top Cow, Dark Horse Comics, and Tokyopop. His recent work can be seen at DC Comics, where he has been penciling licensed properties like Gears of War 3 and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and Marvel Comics on All-New X-Factor and variant covers for Amazing Spider-Man.

Jimmy Palmiotti is a writer, editor, and a multi-award winning character creator with a wide range of experience in advertising, production, consulting, editorial, film writing, development and production, media presentation, and video game development. Just a few of his clients include Nike, Nickelodeon, Universal Pictures, Disney, Warner Brothers, DreamWorks, Lion’s Gate, Vidmark, Starz, Fox Atomic, Alliance Films, New Line, Spike TV, MTV, 2K Games, Midway, Radical Games, Activision, and THQ Games.

He is co-founder of such companies as Event Comics, Black Bull Media, Marvel Knights, a division of Marvel Comics, and the current Paperfilms, where he is partners with Amanda Conner. Together, they have created and co-created numerous universes, comics, TV series, and characters including: The New West, Monolith, 21 Down, The Resistance, The Pro, Gatecrasher, Beautiful Killer, Ash, Cloudburst, Trigger Girl 6, Thrill Seeker, Trailblazer, Ballerina, The Twilight Experiment, Killing Time in America, Rage, Queen Crab, Retrovirus, Pop Kill, and the TV series, Painkiller Jane. Other titles with which he is involved are hit series Harley Quinn, DC Comics’ relaunch into the Wal-Mart nationwide stores, Jonah Hex, and several other series. Several of his contributions for both DC and Marvel can be found in major motion pictures and TV series, including Black Panther, Daredevil, Suicide Squad, Harley Quinn animated, and more.

Brian Stelfreeze is an American comic book artist. Stelfreeze is a painter, penciller, inker, and colorist, and has worked for nearly every major American comic book publisher. He is one of the original members of Atlanta’s Gaijin Studios. Stelfreeze began his career as the artist of the sci-fi miniseries CyCops in the mid-1980s. While Stelfreeze has been known throughout his career primarily as a cover artist, painting more than fifty cover illustrations for DC Comics’ Shadow of the Bat, he’s also produced a significant amount of sequential work, most notably of late with the miniseries Domino for Marvel Comics and Matador for DC Comics’ Wildstorm imprint. Currently, Stelfreeze acts as art director for 12-Gauge Comics and occasionally has provided artwork for their series The Ride and its prequel, Gun Candy. Recent work can be seen on the Walt Simonson-written Demon/Catwoman feature in DC Comics’ Wednesday Comics. Stelfreeze is the artist on the 2016 revival of Marvel’s Black Panther with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates. In 2020, Stelfreeze launched Thomas River, a spy series with a 40-page first issue. He created the art for the series, and co-wrote the series with Doug Wagner. The first issue, crowdfunded through Kickstarter, surpassed its funding stretch goal of $30,000, and was published by 12-Gauge Comics.

This year’s confirmed guests for the show include: Jason Aaron (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Marty Baumann (Pixar artist), Mark Buckingham (Fables), Jim Calafiore (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), Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Infernal Hulk), Dan Jurgens (Action Comics), Mike Kunkel (Herobear and the Kid), Jae Lee (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), Afua Richardson (Kahhori: Reshaper of Worlds), Don Rosa (Uncle Scrooge), Craig Rousseau (The Perhapanauts), Mark Schultz (Xenozoic Tales, courtesy of Flesk Publishing), 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.), Brian Stelfreeze (Black Panther), Gus Vazquez (Sunfire and the Big Hero Six), Mark Waid (Action Comics), Matt Wieringo (Stargate Atlantis: Gateways), Rich Woodall (Sgt. Werewolf), and Thom Zahler (Long Distance).

Amy Chu, Steve Conley, Bob Mcleod, Andrew Pepoy, Tom Raney, and Keith Williams are coming to Baltimore Comic Con

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Comics lovers won’t want to miss the 2025 Baltimore Comic-Con on October 17-19, 2025 at the Inner Harbor’s Baltimore Convention Center. The Baltimore Comic-Con welcomes comics guests Amy Chu, Steve Conley, Bob Mcleod, Andrew Pepoy, Tom Raney, and Keith Williams to this year’s event. Fans can purchase tickets now!

Amy Chu is a comics and animation writer, currently working on the sequel to Carmilla: The First Vampire (Dark Horse Berger Books) and the upcoming Borderlands mini-series. She has also written for the Netflix anime series DOTA: Dragon’s Blood, the Rick & Morty comics, and Archie. For DC and Marvel, she has written popular characters such as Wonder Woman, Poison Ivy, Deadpool, Ant-Man, and Iron Man. She is also known for her run on Red Sonja, and is the first woman to write the KISS and Green Hornet series. For children, she has written the graphic novels Fighting to Belong!, Sea Sirens and Sky Island (Penguin Random House), and Ana & the Cosmic Race (Papercutz). Amy is a member of the faculty at the Kubert School and the School of Visual Arts and a board member of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a double bachelor’s degree in Architectural Design from MIT and East Asian Studies from Wellesley College. You can follow her on Instagram @amy_chu, Tiktok @theamychu, and at Facebook/iwritecomics.

Steve Conley is the writer and artist of The Middle Age, a “beautifully drawn and hilarious” fantasy webcomic that has earned ‘best webcomic’ nominations in the Ringo Awards, Eisner Awards, and National Cartoonists Society Awards. He has provided art and covers for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (BOOM! Studios), Adventure Time (BOOM Studios!), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW Publishing), Star Trek: Year Four (IDW Publishing), and Michael Chabon’s Escapist (Dark Horse Comics). Steve is a co-host of the weekly Pencil to Pencil comics livestream with Jamar Nicholas and Mike Manley.

When not making comics, Steve’s gaming work includes writing and illustrating Dungeons & Dragons-compatible supplements including Nibblemancy, Death Dealing, and Intoximancy. Steve’s comics and TTRPG work can be found online at SteveConley.com.

Bob McLeod is best known for co-creating and illustrating The New Mutants for Marvel Comics. He began his career with Marvel’s Crazy magazine, penciling, and inking movie and TV satires and the Teen Hulk strip. He has pencilled or inked all the major characters for Marvel and DC, including Spider-Man (most notably Kraven’s Last Hunt), The X-Men, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, GI Joe, Star Wars, The Hulk, Conan, and many more. Bob also wrote and illustrated a children’s alphabet book, Superhero ABC, published by HarperCollins, which received starred reviews. He edited and wrote articles for Twomorrows’ Rough Stuff magazine and taught art at the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design for many years. He’s currently doing occasional variant covers for Marvel and commissions for his fans, along with occasional freelance jobs and personal projects. His website is www.bobmcleod.com.

With over 35 years drawing and writing comics, 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, Sonic the Hedgehog, Godzilla, Doctor Who, Red Sonja, Transformers, Wallace & Gromit, Futurama, Scooby Doo, Archie, Betty & Veronica, Lanfeust, Uncle Scrooge, The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, MAD Magazine, Dick Tracy, and many more. In 2000, Andrew was asked to redesign Little Orphan Annie and drew the newspaper strip for the next year. In 2005, he brought his knack for retro glamour with a modern twist to writing and drawing a revival of Katy Keene, the classic Archie Comics character. 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 is now published by Spicy Tomato Studios. Recently he completed drawing a graphic novel adaptation of George MacDonald’s Phantastes, as well as drawing covers for Betty & Veronica, Vampirella, and Cherry Poptart. Having been nominated several times, Andrew won an Eisner Award in 2009. He has also won an Inkwell Award and was nominated for the Harvey and Hugo Awards. He lives in Chicago.

Learn more and join Andrew’s mailing list at: www.pepoy.com
And follow him on social media at:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AndrewPepoy/
Instagram: @AndrewPepoy
BlueSky: @pepoy

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.

Keith Williams, comic book inker, enrolled in the School of Visual Arts in New York City from 1976 to 1980. Keith received his Bachelor of Fine Art in Media Arts and studied under Will Eisner, the creator of The Spirit comic strip. With the help of Marvel comic book artist and mentor Don Perlin, Keith started working for Marvel Comics in 1982 as a background inker. He worked for inkers including Joe Sinnott and Mike Esposito. At Marvel, he became the first John Romita Raider, an art correction group. Keith later became an assistant editor under Jim Owlsley (Christopher Priest) on the Spider-Man group of books. The two became the first all-black editorial team in Marvel’s history. He later became John Byrne’s background artist on Alpha Flight, The Hulk, Superman, and Action Comics. Keith began inking regularly on Web of Spider-Man, which lasted for four years. In between that time and after, he worked on many other books at Marvel, including Silver Surfer, She-Hulk with John Byrne, Warlock, Quasar with Greg Capullo, Star Trek, and the X-Men. At Dark Horse Comics, he worked on The Mask and Walter with artist Doug Manke, and Star Wars Droids. At DC Comics, he was on Superman, and the Lobo/Mask graphic novel with Doug Manke. For Valiant, he worked on Quantum and Woody and the covers of X-O Manowar. At Moonstone Comics, he was on The Kolchak Night Stalker Chronicles, Buckaroo Banzai, and Domino Lady. For ten years, he had worked on The Phantom for King Features Syndicate. And at Avatar Press, he inked Lady Death and Crossed covers, a Crossed webisode comic, “Wish You Were Here”, and the cover and interiors of the comic book Uber. He has also inked Avatar Press’ published graphic novel Max Brooks’ Harlem Hellfighters. And recently, he has inked over Ron Frenz pencils for Marvel’s Thor the Worthy one-shot book.

2025 GUESTS

This year’s confirmed guests for the show include: Kaare Andrews (Spider-Man: REIGN 2), John Beatty (Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars), Russ Braun (The Boys), Jim Calafiore (NED, Lord of the Pit), Keith Champagne (Stranger Things), Howard Chaykin (Time Squared), Jim Cheung (Young Avengers), Frank Cho (Harley Quinn), Amy Chu (Emma Frost: The White Queen), Chris Claremont (X-Men), Becky Cloonan (Somna), Steve Conley (The Middle Age), Michael W. Conrad (Manowar: Invictus), Jeff Dekal (Something is Killing the Children), David Finch (Moon Knight), Trish Forstner (Feral), Franco (Deadman Tells the Spooky Tales), Barbara Friedlander (Swing with Scooter), Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (DC Nation), Mike Grell (Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters), Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Incredible Hulk), Tula Lotay (Barnstormers), Kevin Maguire (Justice League), Laura Martin (Nubia: Queen of the Amazons), Shawn Martinbrough (Red Hood: The Hill), Ron Marz (Green Lantern), 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), Kevin Nowlan (Batman: Sword of Azrael), Dan Parent (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Andrew Pepoy (Simone & Ajax), Barbara Perez Marquez (The Cardboard Kingdom), Tom Raney (Green Lantern), Amy Reeder (Power Girl), Esad Ribic (Conan the Barbarian), Afua Richardson (Kahhori: Reshaper of Worlds), Craig Rousseau (Herculoids), Jim Rugg (Street Angel), Louise Simonson (The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special), Walter Simonson (Thor), Jeff Smith (Bone), Joe Staton (Dick Tracy), Mark Waid (Justice League Unlimited), Keith Williams (Web of Spider-Man), Maria Wolf (Phoenix), Rich Woodall (Electric Black), John Workman (Wild Things), and Thom Zahler (Love and Capes).

Steve Conley, Bo Hampton, Sandy Jarrell, Jae Lee, Ethan Sacks, and Zoe Thorogood are coming to Baltimore Comic Con

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This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the Baltimore Comic-Con. Celebrate at the Inner Harbor’s Baltimore Convention Center on September 20-22, 2024! The Baltimore Comic-Con has announced comics guests Steve Conley, Bo Hampton, Sandy Jarrell, Jae Lee, Ethan Sacks, and Zoe Thorogood to our 25th Anniversary event! Find details at their website as well as ticketing information and more!

Long-time friend of the show, Ringo, Harvey, and Eisner Award nominee, and guest since our inception in 2000 (!), artist and writer Steve Conley has contributed to numerous comic titles, both printed and on-line. His Astounding Space Thrills was self-published, published by Image Comics, and collected as a trade paperback by IDW. He has been featured in titles such as JLA-Z from DC Comics, Star Trek: Year Four from IDW, and Michael Chabon’s Amazing Adventures of the Escapist from Dark Horse Comics. His self-published Bloop is available through his online store in print or soft copy editions, and you can find his Ringo and Eisner Award-nominated webcomic The Middle Age on his website, tapas.io, Line Webtoon, and GoComics, and hard copies and digital collections can be purchased from his online store.

A 30-year comics vet, Bo Hampton is known for Batman: Castle of the Bat, Moon Knight, Swamp Thing, Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Riven, Batman: The Animated Adventures, 3 Devils, Demons of Sherwood, Verdilak, and much, much more. He was a former assistant to Will Eisner and Al Williamson, as well.

Sandy Jarrell got his start working with Jeff Parker on the creator-owned Meteor Men (Oni Press), and has continued drawing for DC Comics (Batman ‘66, Bombshells, Teen Titans Go!, Black Canary), Dark Horse (Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology), Image (Scrapper), Archie (Archie and Sabrina, Reggie and Me), and more. His work can also be found in author Alex Segura’s novels Secret Identity and Alter Ego (Flatiron Books) and their comics spin-off The Legendary Lynx. 

He lives in North Carolina with his wife, two kids, and two dogs.

Jae Lee is a Korean-American comic book artist, known for his dark style. In 1990, he became one of the youngest artists ever to work for a major publisher. He is an Eisner Award winner for his work on Marvel’s The Inhumans. His art can also be seen in Stephen King’s Dark Tower, Before Watchmen: Ozymandias, and Batman/Superman. Most recently, he returned to Image Comics and released a creator-owned book titled Seven Sons.

Official Website: jaeleeart.com

Instagram: @jaeleeart

Pre-show commission orders may be placed through: JAELEE@aol.com

Ethan Sacks is best known in comics as the writer of Marvel’s Old Man Hawkeye, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and Star Wars: Bounty Hunters. Most recently, he teamed up with his daughter, Naomi, and artist Marco Lorenzana for the acclaimed Image Comics/Syzygy Publishing series, A Haunted Girl. He also wrote the award-winning nonfiction comics COVID Chronicles and Climate Crisis Chronicles for AWA Studios, as well as several stories for DC Comics. Before comics, he was a 20-year veteran at the New York Daily News, covering film and geek culture. He also contributes occasionally to NBC News.

Zoe Thorogood is a comic creator and concept artist from the UK. She debuted in 2020 with The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott, which was both written and drawn by Zoe and published by Avery Hill. Billie Scott received an unprecedentedly positive reception for a first-time cartoonist and quickly established Zoe as an industry mainstay. In the subsequent years, she illustrated Haha and Joe Hill’s Rain at Image Comics. This led into another auteur production with the publisher, It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth, a groundbreaking autobiography released in late 2023. Lonely again garnered major critical and commercial success for Thorogood, earning her six Eisner Award nominations and winning her the Russ Manning Newcomer Award at San Diego Comic Con. She also took home the Best Original Graphic Novel Ringo Award later in the year. Most recently, Thorogood continued to collaborate with Image on Creepshow and Hack/Slash: Back to School. She has also written the Life is Strange: Forget-Me-Not miniseries at Titan Comics. In her (very limited) free time, Zoe enjoys playing video games and being incredibly powerful.

This year’s confirmed guests for the show include: Rodney Barnes (Killadelphia), Jeremy Bastian (Cursed Pirate Girl), Marty Baumann (Pixar artist), John Beatty (Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars), Rose Besch (Miles Morales: Spider-Man), Russ Braun (The Boys), Brett Breeding (Superman), Tom Brevoort (coursey of Hero Initiative, FCBD 2023: Avengers/X-Men), Mark Buckingham (Fables), Jim Calafiore (NED, Lord of the Pit), Richard Case (Doom Patrol), John Cassaday (X-Force), Castillo Studios, 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), Matthew Clark (Adventures of Superman, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Steve Conley (The Middle Age), Katie Cook (Nothing Special), Todd Dezago (The Perhapanauts), Scott Dunbier (Jim Lee’s X-Men Artist’s Edition, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Ben Edlund (The Tick), 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), Mitch Gerads (Mister Miracle), Sanford Greene (Bitter Root), Gene Ha (Mae), Bob Hall (West Coast Avengers), Bo Hampton (Batman: Castle of the Bat), Scott Hanna (Amazing Spider-Man), Tony Harris (The Whistling Skull), Dean Haspiel (The Red Hook), Glenn Hauman (They Keep Killing Glenn), Mike Hawthorne (Deadpool), Marc Hempel (Sandman), Kyle Higgins (Radiant Black), Dan Jurgens (Action Comics), Jamal Igle (Superman), Klaus Janson (courtesy of Hero Initiative, Daredevil), Sandy Jarrell (Batman ’66), Joëlle Jones (Lady Killer), Chris Kemple (Artist Alley Comics), Karl Kesel (Impossible Jones), Tom King (Wonder Woman), Barry Kitson (Amazing Spider-Man), Dan Krall (House of Night), Emma Kubert (Inkblot), Jim Lee (Superman, Friday only), 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), Mark Morales (Thor), Fabian Nicieza (courtesy of Hero Initiative, Deadpool), Tom Nguyen (The Switch), Jerome Opena (Uncanny X-Force), Dan Parent (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Andrew Pepoy (Simone & Ajax), David Petersen (Mouse Guard), Khoi Pham (Star Wars: Darth Vader), Nick Pitarra (Ax-Wielder Jon), Andy Price (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic), Tim Probert (Lightfall), Tom Raney (Green Lantern), Mark Redfield (Vampire Hunters Incorporated), Amy Reeder (Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur), Afua Richardson (Omni), Don Rosa (Uncle $crooge), Jennifer Rouse (Frankenstein Mobster), Craig Rousseau (The Perhapanauts), Ethan Sacks (A Haunted Girl), Alex Saviuk (Web of Spider-Man), Alex Segura (Secret Identity, courtesy of Hero Initiative), 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), Martha Thomases (Second-Hand Rose), Zoe Thorogood (Hack/Slash: Back to School), Gus Vazquez (Sunfire and Big Hero Six), Mark Wheatley (Skultar), 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), David Yardin (Daredevil: Woman Without Fear), Leinil Francis Yu (Wolverine), Thom Zahler (Love and Capes).

June Brigman, Steve Conley, Terry Moore, Rudy Nebres, Roy Richardson, and Mark Waid are coming to Baltimore Comic Con

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Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Baltimore Comic-Con at the Inner Harbor’s Baltimore Convention Center on September 20-22, 2024. The Baltimore Comic-Con has announced new and returning guests including June Brigman, Steve Conley, Terry Moore, Rudy Nebres, Roy Richardson, and Mark Waid as guests for our 25th Anniversary event! You can purchase tickets for the show now.

June Brigman has enjoyed a long and varied career as a cartoonist, drawing such comic book titles as Alpha Flight, Supergirl, and Star Wars. She is the co-creator (with Louise Simonson) of the Power Pack series from Marvel Comics, which recently celebrated its 40th anniversary. To commemorate the event, Marvel is publishing a five-issue Power Pack mini-series by the original team, beginning in January 2024. Assisted by her husband, inker/colorist Roy Richardson, June illustrated the Brenda Starr comic strip for 15 years, and in 2015, the pair took over the artistic reins of the long-running Mary Worth comic strip. The two have also launched a new comic book series featuring intelligent cats in space, Captain Ginger, from AHOY Comics. She has drawn many educational comics, as well as doing freelance illustrations for Horse & Rider magazine. In her spare time, June enjoys painting pet portraits in oils.

Her online portfolio can be seen at www.ArtWanted.com/juneart.

Long-time friend of the show, Ringo, Harvey, and Eisner Award nominee, and guest since Baltimore Comic Con’s inception in 2000 (!), artist and writer Steve Conley has contributed to numerous comic titles, both printed and on-line. His Astounding Space Thrills was self-published, published by Image Comics, and collected as a trade paperback by IDW. He has been featured in titles such as JLA-Z from DC Comics, Star Trek: Year Four from IDW, and Michael Chabon’s Amazing Adventures of the Escapist from Dark Horse Comics. His self-published Bloop is available through his online store in print or soft copy editions, and you can find his Ringo and Eisner Award-nominated webcomic The Middle Age on his website, tapas.io, Line Webtoon, and GoComics, and hard copies and digital collections can be purchased from his online store.

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, the series that 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. His latest series, Parker Girls, brings some of the most intriguing SIP characters back together to fight crime in their unique style. On tap for 2024 is an updated release of Terry’s early comic strips and concept art, The Really Complete Paradise Too. Terry is also working on a new graphic novel to be offered in the fall of 2024.

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 thirty year career.

Rudy Nebres is known as a penciler, inker, and cover artist since 1970. Rudy is a Filipino comics artist who has worked mostly as an inker in the American comic book industry. His lush, detailed ink lines have made him a fan favorite, and he’s best known for his work on titles such as Vampirella, Iron Fist, Conan, Dr. Strange, and the Hulk. Nebres’ work has been praised by critics and fans alike, including John Buscema, who called him “one of the greatest inkers one would ever want to see.” Nebres also worked with John Byrne on his first work for Marvel, and Byrne has said that Nebres’ inks “took my pencils to a whole new level.”

Rudy will be appearing at the Baltimore Comic-Con on Saturday only.

Roy Richardson was inspired to pursue a comics career by the work of Jack Kirby, the groundbreaking Fourth World series in particular. He has worked for all the major publishers, on such books as Captain America, Iron Man, The Flash, Star Wars, and his own co-creation, the Tomorrow Knights, which has been adapted into a roleplaying game from ZMan Games. He also worked for 15 years in collaboration with his wife, June Brigman, inking, lettering, and coloring the Brenda Starr comic strip. The pair took over the artistic reins of the long-running Mary Worth comic strip in 2015, and their new comic book series Captain Ginger has recently launched from AHOY Comics. The couple also have a Power Pack mini-series debuting from Marvel in January of 2024. Roy has had several short stories published in anthologies, and is hard at work on his first collection of shorts, entitled Hillbillies Prefer Blondes, tales of growing up in the South in the 1960s and 70s.

His online portfolio can be seen at www.ArtWanted.com/royart.

Mark Waid

The multiple Harvey and Eisner Award-winning Mark Waid has been the voice behind dozens of series that have resonated throughout comics fandom and the creative community alike. His more acclaimed runs include DC Comics’ The Flash, Kingdom Come, JLA: Year One, JLA, Legion of Super-Heroes, and Superman: Birthright, Marvel Comics’ Captain America, Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, The Indestructible Hulk, and Daredevil, BOOM! Studios’ Incorruptible and Irredeemable, Archie Comics’ Archie, and his creator-owned works Empire and Potter’s Field. He previously served as Publisher (U.S.) at Humanoids.

This year’s confirmed guests for the show include: Marty Baumann (Pixar artist), John Beatty (Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars), Brett Breeding (Superman), 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), Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (DC Nation), Ron Garney (BZRKR), Bob Hall (West Coast Avengers), Greg Hildebrandt (Star Wars), Jamal Igle (Superman), Barry Kitson (Amazing Spider-Man), Jim Lee (Superman), Sam Maggs (Marvel Action: Captain Marvel), Shawn Martinbrough (Red Hood: The Hill), Bob McLeod (New Mutants), Al Milgrom (Spectacular Spider-Man), Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise), Dan Parent (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Andrew Pepoy (Simone & Ajax), Andy Price (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic), Tom Raney (Green Lantern), Afua Richardson (Omni), 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), 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), and Marv Wolfman (What If…? Dark: Tomb of Dracula).

Jon and Judy Bogdanove, Steve Conley, Greg Hildebrandt, Pop Mhan, John K. Snyder III, and John Workman are coming to Baltimore Comic Con

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Baltimore Comic-Con will return to the Inner Harbor’s Baltimore Convention Center on September 8-10, 2023. The convention has started to reveal its 2023 guests, starting with comic creators Jon and Judy Bogdanove, Steve Conley, Greg Hildebrandt, Pop Mhan, John K. Snyder III, and John Workman. Tickets for the show are now on sale.

As one of the chief architects of the record-breaking epic The Death of Superman, Jon Bogdanove is best known for his long run as penciler and occasional writer on DC’s Superman: The Man of Steel (most issues between #1-#85) where his dynamic work brought to life many landmark Superman stories, including some of the best-selling comics of all time. He also co-created Steel with Louise Simonson.

At Marvel, Bogdanove penciled — and later wrote — Simonson’s Power Pack and drew Fantastic Four vs. The X-Men by Chris Claremont. In a career spanning nearly 40 years, a few of Jon’s other comics projects include X-Factor, X-Terminators, Superman vs. Savage Dragon 2, Superman vs. Aliens 2, and issues of Batman, The Hulk, Alpha Flight, Solomon Kane, and an upcoming science fiction series from Storm King, Terraformed.

In 2021, Jon drew animation keys and cycles for a special sequence in the episode of Cartoon Network’s Teen Titans Go, “Creative Geniuses”. In 2022, he reunited with Louise Simonson to draw a brand new Steel origin prequel story for DC’s The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special.

Judy Bogdanove aka Judith Kurzer, has worn many hats (she’s a Sagittarius) – singer, actor, composer, lyricist, teacher, editor, writer…wife to Jon and mom to Kal-El. In the world of comic books, she wrote for DC (Steel Annual #1) and for Marvel, stories in The New Mutants Annuals #5 and #7, and Power Pack #54, and was also editor of the Letters Column of Power Pack, during which time she had the pleasant task of awarding the coveted “No Prize.” She also wrote content for 8 DuckTales stories in Disney’s Weborama Audio.

As Judith Kurzer, she performed with the New School Opera Workshop, the St. Bartholomew’s Cathedral Choir, and with companies that presented opera excerpts for children in the New York City School System. She sang the roles of Katisha in The Mikado and Meg in Damn Yankees for Maine Community Theatre productions.

Her music includes composing the score for Petunia’s Perils, an off-off Broadway show, new lyrics for the World Premiere of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha: the Concert Version, and scores and lyrics for three shows with the Moving Target Theatre Company: I Suppose You’re All Wondering, Till Death Does Her Part, and So: A Guy Walks Into a Bar.

Long-time friend of the show, Ringo, Harvey, and Eisner Award nominee, and guest since our inception in 2000 (!), artist and writer Steve Conley has contributed to numerous comic titles, both printed and on-line. His Astounding Space Thrills was self-published, published by Image Comics, and collected as a trade paperback by IDW. He has been featured in titles such as JLA-Z from DC Comics, Star Trek: Year Four from IDW, and Michael Chabon’s Amazing Adventures of the Escapist from Dark Horse Comics. His self-published Bloop is available through his online store in print or soft copy editions, and you can find his Ringo and Eisner Award-nominated webcomic The Middle Age on his website, tapas.io, Line Webtoon, and GoComics, and hard copies and digital collections can be purchased from his online store.

The sons of a Chevrolet division chief, Greg Hildebrandt and his identical twin brother, Tim, were born in Detroit, Michigan in 1939. Both boys were avid artists and creative thinkers from a young age and carried their artistic passion with them throughout their childhoods.

After attending the Meinzinger Art School at age 18, Greg and Tim worked for the Jam Handy Organization and Industrial Film Production Corporation. They worked on animated training films for the auto industry, the military and major US corporations. In 1963, they moved from Detroit to New York City to work for Arch Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. He hired them to create art for his weekly TV show, Life is Worth Living, and to produce films on world hunger.

Eventually their focus moved on to commercial illustration, and in 1975, Greg and Tim illustrated the first of a series of Lord of the Rings calendars for Ballantine Books. This series of paintings launched the two men into international fame, with over a million calendars sold, and the name The Brothers Hildebrandt(R) was born! In 1977, Lucas Films hired the Brothers Hildebrandt to create the movie poster for the first Star Wars film, Star Wars: A New Hope. They only had 36 hours to create and paint the art. The movie was about to break in the theaters. They completed it on time. Lucas was very happy and another worldwide fandom was created.

In 2015, Greg had the opportunity to return to Star Wars after 20 years for Marvel Comics. He painted three new pieces for them for Star Wars compendium covers. He also painted Deadpool, Old Man Logan, Secret Wars, Captain America vs. Hitler, Black Panther, Thor, Thanos, The Inhumans, Conan and Old Man Logan comic covers for them.

In 2015, Greg started a new series titled “The Dark Side”. In this series, he painted his favorite villains in extremely large paintings, focusing mostly on giant head shots. The first three in the series are The Joker, Harley Quinn, and Batman.

In 2018, Greg began a new series titled “What If”. What if he wasn’t a kid in the 40’s and 50’s? What if he was an artist hired to paint the movie posters for the films he has loved since his first movie at age 5? So, he started with Creature from the Black Lagoon. The second painting he completed in this series is a painting for King Kong, 86 inches tall! This one is a killer piece of art. Then, Greg decided to repaint the 1977 Star Wars poster. In 1977, he painted it in 36 hours with his brother Tim. This time, he painted it in 36 hours alone.

Recently, Greg was honored by the Air Force at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. They requested a license to put one of Greg’s pinup paintings titled, “Keep em Flying”, on the nose of a transport plane. Greg, of course, said yes. This is a dream come true for him.

Pop Mhan was lucky enough to get his jump into the comics industry under the tutelage of Jim Lee at Wildstorm Productions. Since those early days, his art has graced the pages of comics from Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Top Cow, Dark Horse Comics, and Tokyopop. His recent work can be seen at DC Comics, where he has been penciling licensed properties like Gears of War 3 and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and Marvel Comics on All-New X-Factor and variant covers for Amazing Spider-Man.

John K. Snyder III is an Eisner-nominated illustrator and writer of comic books and graphic novels. Creator of the independent comic series Fashion In Action, and adapter/illustrator of the graphic novel adaptation of Grand Master mystery writer Lawrence Block’s classic novel Eight Million Ways to Die published by IDW, he has worked for nearly every major publisher including DC, Dark Horse, Marvel, IDW, and many others. Snyder worked on Suicide Squad during its classic 1980’s run with writers John Ostrander and Kim Yale, and provided covers for the 2007 Suicide Squad mini-series. Along with Matt Wagner, Snyder co-created the Pieter Cross version of Doctor Mid-Nite for DC and Lady Zorro for Dynamite. Snyder also worked with Wagner on the epic Grendel: God and the Devil storyline. John’s recent work includes work for The Doors’ graphic novel anthology, Morrison Hotel written by Leah Moore and published by Z2 Comics, and a return to Suicide Squad with new covers for DC Comics to coincide with the release of the Warner Brothers movie. John’s future work includes all-new Fashion In Action adventures to be published by Clover Press. John encourages all artists and writers, young and old, to actively pursue their own creator-owned aspirations.

John Workman managed to turn a love for the comics form into a career. During the past five decades, he has held the position of editor, writer, art director, penciler, inker, colorist, letterer, production director, and book designer for various companies. He created (with some help from Bhob Stewart and Bob Smith) the offbeat stories in Wild Things (with much of that material having first appeared in Star*Reach and Heavy Metal) and both wrote and drew the comics series Sindy, Fallen Angels, and Roma. In 1991, he reflected on model Bettie Page in Betty Being Bad (Eros), and later produced the hardbounds Heavy Metal: 25 Years of Classic Covers and Innocent Images: The Sexy Fantasy Females of Viper and Kiss, as well as The Adventures of Roma, a reformatted graphic novel version of his earlier series. He continues to write and draw and to do a whole lot of lettering for a number of comics companies on an international level.

This year’s confirmed guests for the show include: Sarah Andersen (Sarah’s Scribbles), Brian Michael Bendis (Action Comics), Jon Bogdanove (The Death of Superman), Judy Bogdanove (Steel Annual), Mark Buckingham (Fables), Jim Calafiore (NED, Lord of the Pit), Richard Case (Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror), Howard Chaykin (Time Squared), Amy Chu (KISS: The End), Steve Conley (The Middle Age), Abby Denson (Uniquely Japan), Todd Dezago (The Perhapanauts), Garth Ennis (The Boys), Barbara Friedlander (Swing with Scooter), Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (DC Nation), Gene Ha (Mae), Tony Harris (The Whistling Skull), Mike Hawthorne (Deadpool), Greg Hildebrandt (Star Wars), Jeff Lemire (Black Hammer), Matthew Loux (Prunella and the Cursed Skull Ring), Kevin Maguire (Justice League), Laura Martin (Nubia: Queen of the Amazons), Adriana Melo (Action Comics), Pop Mhan (Gears of War 3), Ed Piskor (Red Room: Trigger Warnings), Joe Prado (Superman), Craig Rousseau (The Perhapanauts), Jim Rugg (Hulk Grand Design), Andy Runton (Owly), Louise Simonson (The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special), Walter Simonson (Thor), John K. Snyder III (Suicide Squad), Joe Staton (Dick Tracy), and John Workman (Wild Things).

Baumann, Conley, Jordan, Roberts, and Tucci Return to Baltimore Comic-Con in 2019

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2019 marks the return of the Baltimore Comic-Con to the Inner Harbor’s Baltimore Convention Center on October 18th, 19th, and 20th. The Baltimore Comic-Con welcomes back comic superstars Marty Baumann, Steve Conley, Justin Jordan, Rafer Roberts, and Billy Tucci. Tickets are available now for purchase 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.

Long-time friend of the show, Harvey and Eisner Award nominee, and guest since our inception in 2000 (!), artist and writer Steve Conley has contributed to numerous comic titles, both printed and on-line. His Astounding Space Thrills was self-published, published by Image Comics, and collected as a trade paperback by IDW. He has been featured in titles such as JLA-Z from DC Comics, Star Trek: Year Four from IDW, and Michael Chabon’s Amazing Adventures of the Escapist from Dark Horse Comics. His self-published Bloop is available through his online store in print or soft copy editions, and you can find his Ringo and Eisner Award-nominated webcomic The Middle Age on his website, tapas.io, Line Webtoon, and GoComics, and hard copies and digital collections can be purchased from his online store.

Justin Jordan broke into comics with the Image series The Strange Talent of Luther Strode. Since no one threw him back out after said break in, he has gone on to work on for nearly every major comics publisher. He’s writer on The Family Trade, Death of Love, and Spread at Image Comics, and is currently writing Reaver for Skybound and Urban Animal at Webtoons, along with numerous other things he can’t actually talk about yet. But they’re awesome. He is owned by a cat named Miss Thomas Waits.

Rafer Roberts first made a name for himself with his self-published, underground title Plastic Farm, published since 2001. More recently, he has found increasing mainstream exposure, with stories in the Dark Horse anthology, the Harvey-nominated Once Upon a Time Machine, the New York Times best-selling FUBAR anthology from FUBAR Press, and back-up stories in Valiant’s X-O Manowar, Harbinger, Archer & Armstrong, and Unity. His work has see print in IDW’s Imaginary Drugs and Locust Moon’s Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream anthologies. He is currently writing Grumble for Albatross Funny Books, and penned the same publisher’s Free Comic Book Day issue, Grumble vs. The Goon.

Founder of Crusade Fine Arts, Billy Tucci is most widely known for his creator-owned, Eisner Award-nominated work on his modern-day samurai fable, Shi. Both a writer and an artist, he has worked for nearly every major publisher including Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and IDW. More recently, Tucci has provided the cover and interior art for DC’s Birds of Prey, Harley’s Little Black Book, Sgt. Rock: The Lost Battalion, written Appalachian Apocalypse! for Cave Pictures Publishing, and did covers for Dynamite Entertainment’sVampirella: Roses for the Dead, DC Comics’ Archie Meets Batman ’66, and Zenescope Entertainment’s Grimm Fairy Tales Presents… titles. 2019 celebrates Shi‘s 25th Anniversary with the release of the Shi – Return of the Warrior” and Shi – Hotaru graphic novels accompanied by new Shi action figures, statues, and reprints. Billy’s also bringing about the return of Golden Age Icon Miss Fury for Dynamite Entertainment and the new creator-owned Zombie-Sama!, as well as Wonder Woman for DC Comics.

In addition to on-site CGC grading, this year’s confirmed guests for the show include: Neal Adams (Detective Comics), Arantza (fantasy artist), Brian Azzarello (Batman: Damned), Marty Baumann (Disney/Pixar), Mark Buckingham (Justice League Dark), Richard Case (Doom Patrol), Castillo Studios, Howard Chaykin (Hey Kids! Comics!), Frank Cho (Harley Quinn), Amy Chu (KISS: The End), Matthew Clark (Injustice: Ground Zero), Steve Conley (The Middle Age), Katie Cook (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic), Kristina Deak-Linsner (Vampirella: Roses for the Dead), Garth Ennis (The Boys, Friday and Saturday only), Ramona Fradon (The Mike Wieringo Tellos Tribute), Julie Fujii Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo: The Hidden), Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (DC Nation), Juanjo Guarnido (Blacksad),  Bob Hall (West Coast Avengers), Cully Hamner (Batman Beyond), Greg Hildebrandt (Old Man Logan), Adam Hughes (Superman), Jamal Igle (Wrong Earth), Klaus Janson (New Challengers), Justin Jordan (Reaver), Matt Kindt (X-O Manowar), Sharlene Kindt (Dept. H), Tom King (Batman), Greg Land (Hulkverines, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Jeff Lemire (Black Hammer), Joe Linsner (Red Sonja), Ron Marz (Turok), John McCrea (Hitman, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Bob McLeod (New Mutants), Carla Speed McNeil (Twisted Romance), Pop Mhan (Raven, Daughter of Darkness), Mark Morales (Justice League), Sean Murphy (Batman: White Knight), Kevin Nowlan (Black Widow, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Greg Pak (Star Wars), Mike Perkins (Swamp Thing), David Petersen (Mouse Guard), Afua Richardson (Run), Rafer Roberts (Grumble), Andy Runton (Owly), Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo), Bob Schreck (Batman: Hush), Erica Schultz (Xena: Warrior Princess), Bart Sears (Turok), Louise Simonson (Death of Superman), Walter Simonson (Ragnarok), Andy Smith (Demi-God), Allison Sohn (The Art of Red Sonja, Volume 2), Brian Stelfreeze (Rise of the Black Panther), William Stout (Fantastic Worlds – The Art of William Stout), Ty Templeton (Marvel Super-Hero Adventures, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Billy Tucci (Shi), Robert Venditti (Hawkman), Mark Waid (Avengers: No Road Home), Adam Warren (Empowered And Sistah Spooky’s High School Hell), Lee Weeks (Batman), Marv Wolfman (Raven: Daughter of Darkness, courtesy of Hero Initiative), John Workman (Riverdale), and Kelly Yates (Torchwood).

Thrilling Nostalgia Comics Debuts at Baltimore Comic-Con

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Baltimore Comic-Con has announced a show exclusive: Thrilling Nostalgia Comics is debuting the #0 issue of their new comic series, The Liberty Brigade.The Liberty Brigade features brand new World War II adventures of many of the heroes of the 1940s. As part of the launch, you’ll find a gorgeous Sean Chen illustration of The Liberty Brigade on the cover of the Program Guide and as the official Baltimore Comic-Con t-shirt. Tickets for the Baltimore Comic-Con and Ringo Awards are now available.

The Liberty Brigade is launching as a 100+ page graphic novel on Kickstarter with a 500 print-run original prequel story available at the Baltimore Comic-Con. The Liberty Brigade consists of:

  • The Blue Flame
  • Cat-Man
  • Kitten
  • The Mad Hatter
  • Johnny Patriot (formerly Johnny Rebel)
  • The Green Turtle (the first Chinese Super-Hero in American comics)
  • Mr. Freedom
  • The Bill of Rights
  • The National Anthem

You’ll also find guest appearances by 1940 stalwarts TNT Todd (called TNT) and The Spark Man, as well as some major Golden Age villains including Professor Fenton, Mastermind, and the Rat.

The 24-page #0 issue sports a cover by Barry Kitson, interior art by Garry Gastonny and Joe Rubinstein and preview art from the graphic novel by Ron Frenz and Mark Buckingham. It also includes encyclopedia entries on several team members from Temporal Comics.

On Friday at 3:45pm in Room 339-342, Michael Finn, Mark Waid, Mark Buckingham, Barry Kitson, and several other members of The Liberty Brigade creative team will be holding a panel to discuss the debut of the new comic.

This Golden Age revival story is a true passion project, as is evident in each and every panel and page. Aside from the 80+ page story, the graphic novel features one page origins of many of the heroes and villains by an amazing array of guest artists including: George Perez, Alan Davis, Mark Buckingham, Doug Braithwaite, John Totleben, Paul Renaud, Garry Leach, Ron Wilson, Mark Morales, Steve Conley, Mike Lilly, Jim Steranko, Sal Buscema, and many more!

To support this amazing project please back the Kickstarter or head on over to the official site where you can find a link and join from there. Many of the artists working on the project have individual tier levels to earn commissions, signed issues, and many more amazing rewards are available.

Valiant Sails into Baltimore Comic-Con 2018 with Exclusives, Panels, and More!

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There are only a few short weeks before Baltimore Comic-Con, and Valiant is poised to take Maryland’s biggest pop culture convention by storm with a sensational slate of panels, signings, and more – starting with the publisher’s limited-edition exclusives!

From Friday, September 28th through Sunday, September 30th, stop by Booth #2006 inside the Baltimore Convention Center to discover why Valiant is one of the most critically acclaimed publishers in the comic book industry with a robust selection of trade paperbacks and deluxe hardcovers!

While you’re there, be sure to check out Valiant’s highly limited Baltimore-exclusive offerings!

First up, don’t miss the Faith: Dreamside #1 Baltimore Comic-Con Exclusive Variant by Eisner-nominated artist Steve Conley! From celebrated writer Jody Houser and rising star artist MJ Kim comes the first issue of a spooky new limited series that marks Faith’s triumphant return to comic book store shelves – and her very first team-up with the Death-Defying Doctor Mirage!

Next, a new journey into the unknown begins with the X-O Manowar #19 Baltimore Comic-Con Exclusive Variant, featuring dazzling artist Jason Metcalf! Eisner-nominated writer Matt Kindt joins forces with incendiary artist Juan José Ryp for an all-new arc and new jumping-on point for Valiant’s flagship ongoing series, as the armored Visigoth Aric of Dacia faces off against a new otherworldly threat to Earth!

Plus, Valiant’s got a double dose of incredible panel presentations lined up for the weekend! On Saturday, September 29th from 2:45 to 3:45 pm ET in Room 333-344, join some of the talented people behind Valiant’s slate of critically acclaimed comic series for a candid, behind-the-scenes panel discussion in Valiant: The Craft of Comics! Find out just what it takes to put together a compelling story from start to finish, how to make your series stand apart, and how the editorial process functions at the highest levels – from the award-winning industry veterans behind the Valiant Universe’s greatest hits!

Then, on Sunday, September 30th from 1:45 to 2:45pm ET in Room 339-342, get all your Valiant questions answered at the Valiant: 101 and Beyond panel! New to the Valiant Universe? With Valiant’s all-new and exciting “BEYOND” initiative approaching at the end of 2018, there’s never been a better time to become a fan! Jump on board right here with a concise and fun-filled introduction to the origins and adventures of Valiant’s greatest and most iconic heroes!

And don’t forget: The #ValiantVisits Initiative is currently in full swing! From now until the end of the 2018 convention season and beyond, the hardest-working sales team in comics will be dropping in with local retailers all across the country to talk shop, share updates, and give away some awesome swag! Keep your eye on the #ValiantVisits hashtag on both Facebook and Twitter to see where Valiant will be stopping next!

Baltimore Comic-Con Spring Fling April 29th

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This Sunday, April 29th, the Baltimore Comic-Con Spring Fling returns for its 2nd annual event! Baltimore Comic-Con Spring Fling is a good old-fashioned comic book show with rows and rows of comic book dealers from around the country selling comics and collectibles from the ancient to the very modern, and some amazing comic guests as well — and admission is free!

The Spring Fling has announced the addition of Pixar and Disney artist, Marty Baumann to our line-up of guests for Spring Fling 2018!

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.

Ringo Award winner and Harvey and Eisner award nominee Frank Cho launched his career as a comic strip artist at the University of Maryland-College Park student newspaper, penning University2, which was the predecessor of his creator-owned syndicated strip and comic series, Liberty Meadows. His body of work also includes Marvel Comics’ New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Shanna the She-Devil, New Ultimates, and X-Men: Schism, as well as Jungle Girl for Dynamite Entertainment. His recent work can be seen in BOOM! Studios’ Skybourne, and on covers from DC Comics’ Harley Quinn and Wonder Woman.

Long-time friend of the show, Ringo, Harvey, and Eisner Award nominee, and guest since our inception in 2000 (!), artist and writer Steve Conley has contributed to numerous comic titles, both printed and on-line. His Astounding Space Thrills was self-published, published by Image Comics, and collected as a trade paperback by IDW. He has been featured in titles such as JLA-Z from DC Comics, Star Trek: Year Four from IDW, and Michael Chabon’s Amazing Adventures of the Escapist from Dark Horse Comics. His creator-owned Bloop, is available through his online store in print or soft copy editions, and you can read his webcomic, The Middle Age, on his website.

John Gallagher is the award-winning artist and writer of graphic novels Buzzboy and Roboy Red (with Rich Faber). John teamed with sons Jack and Will to create a kids book, E.P.I.C. Bros., about two kids whose superhero dad is always out saving the world, and they pass the time using his gizmos for lovable mayhem. Jack and Will follow in the footsteps of big sister Katie, who teamed with her dad to create Zoey and Ketchup. John’s Buzzboy is back from American Mythology Productions in Buzzboy Go Digital Monster Mayhem, where he has also contributed to the recently relaunched Casper the Friendly Ghost and The Inspector. When not creating comics, John is executive director of Kids Love Comics and works as art director for Ranger Rick magazine.

Mark Morales has established himself as one of the industry’s go-to inkers for major titles and events for the big publishers. He has inked a vast number of titles at Marvel Comics including, among many others, A+X, Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers vs. X-Men, New Avengers, Secret Invasion, Sentry, Siege, Thor, Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine, X-Force, and X-Men. He has also done work for DC Comics on titles like Action Comics, Batman/Superman, JLA, New Suicide Squad, Prez, and Superman: The Man of Steel. He was also awarded the Harvey Award for Best Inker in 2009 and 2011.

And, as a special Hero Initiative guest, Tom King. The Ringo and Eisner Award winner is currently the writer of Batman at DC Comics, where he has also written Mister Miracle, Grayson, The Omega Men, DC Nation, Swamp Thing Winter Special, and has a story in Action Comics #1000, not to mention his award-winning work at Marvel on The Vision. King’s first book, A Once Crowded Sky, a postmodern super hero novel, was recognized by USA Today as one of the best Graphic Novels of the year. He was named by the Hollywood Reporter as one of the five comic creators to watch in 2015.

Tom will be signing from 1pm-3pm at the Hero Initiative booth, accepting donations for signatures. Tom requests that no graded books be brought for autographs and appreciates his fans’ understanding.

So here are the details:
When: Sunday April 29. 10-5
Where: BWI Airport Marriott, 1743 West Nursery Road, Linthicum, MD 20190
How much: FREE!

Conley, Rosa, Sakai, and Zahler Come to Baltimore Comic-Con in 2015

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bloopCome to Baltimore’s beautiful Inner Harbor on September 25-27, 2015 for the 16th annual Baltimore Comic-Con! Being held at the Baltimore Convention Center from Friday through Sunday, the convention has announced the return of Steve Conley, Don Rosa, Stan Sakai, and Thom Zahler.

Long-time friend of the show, Harvey and Eisner Award nominee, and guest since the convention started in 2000, artist and writer Steve Conley has contributed to numerous comic titles, both printed and on-line. His Astounding Space Thrills was self-published, published by Image Comics, and collected as a trade paperback by IDW. He has been featured in titles such as JLA-Z from DC Comics, Star Trek: Year Four from IDW, and Michael Chabon’s Amazing Adventures of the Escapist from Dark Horse Comics. His latest endeavor, Bloop, is available for purchase from his web store and free to read online.

life and times of scrooge mcduckEisner Award-winning Don Rosa can hardly be mentioned without evoking images of Walt Disney’s Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, and the rest of the Duck family. Heir apparent to Carl Barks as the Duck master, he was responsible for approximately 90 stories before his retirement from working with Disney in 2006. You can see his beautiful contributions in IDW’s Don Rosa’s The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Vol.1: Artist’s Edition.

Best known as writer and artist for his Usagi Yojimbo  title, Stan Sakai first created and published it in 1984, launching in Albedo, a self-published anthology, followed by an appearance in Critters from Fantagraphics in 1985, and finally as its own series from the same publisher in 1987, all in black & white. In 1993, Usagi made the jump to color at Mirage Publishing, and moved to Dark Horse in 1996, where it remains to this day. Nearly 30 years of Usagi Yojimbo have seen print in book, TV, and digital formats.

usagi yojimboThom Zahler is a graduate of the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art. His early professional credits included lettering gigs for Marvel’s Crimson Dynamo, Claypool’s Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, and DC Comics’ Looney Tunes. His self-published comic, Love and Capes, has recently been released through IDW, You can find his latest work writing and penciling IDW’s My Little Pony and My Little Pony: Friends Forever series, and new series, Long Distance, will be available from IDW this summer.

This year’s confirmed guests for the show include: Neal Adams (All-New Captain America); Jeremy Bastian (Cursed Pirate Girl); Christy Blanch (The Damnation of Charlie Wormwood); Mark Buckingham (Fables); Sean Chen (Secret Origins); Cliff Chiang (Wonder Woman); Frank Cho (Jungle Girl); Steve Conley (Bloop); Amanda Conner (Harley Quinn); Katie Cook (Gronk); Darwyn Cooke (Richard Stark’s Parker); John Gallagher (Buzzboy); Cully Hamner (Convergence: The Question); Dean Haspiel (The Fox); Jaime Hernandez (Love and Rockets); Klaus Janson (Superman); Dave Johnson (Inhumans: Attilan Rising); JG Jones (Strange Fruit); Denis Kitchen (The Best of Comix Book: When Marvel Went Underground); Barry Kitson (Empire: Uprising); Seth Kushner (Schmuck); Mark Mariano (The Other Side of Hugless Hill); Ron Marz (Convergence: Batman and Robin); Terry Moore (Rachel Rising); Tom Palmer (The Avengers); Jimmy Palmiotti (The Con Job); Dan Parent (Archie); David Peterson (Mouse Guard); Ron Randall (Convergence: Catwoman); Budd Root (Cavewoman); Don Rosa (Donald Duck); Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo); Matteo Scalera (Black Science); Bart Sears (Bloodshot); Louise Simonson (Convergence: Superman – The Man of Steel); Walter Simonson (Convergence: Superman – The Man of Steel); Andy Smith (Earth 2); Charles Soule (Uncanny Inhumans); Ben Templesmith (Gotham by Midnight); Frank Tieri (Suicide Squad); Peter Tomasi (Green Lantern Corps); John Totleben (Swamp Thing); Rick Veitch (Saga of the Swamp Thing); Mark Waid (Daredevil); John Watson (Red Sonja); Kelly Yates (Doctor Who); and Thom Zahler (My Little Pony: Friends Forever).

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