Comic-Con 2013 Special Guests

Brian Michael Bendis is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics, currently writing Ultimate Spider-Man, All New X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Guardians of the Galaxy, Daredevil: End of Days, Age of Ultron, and the hit creator-owned series Powers, Scarlet, and Brilliant. Brian is head writer of the massive multiplayer online game Marvel Universe and is working on a book called Words for Pictures, based on the graphic novel class he teaches at Portland State University. He is a member of Marvel Studios’ creative committee, which consults on their numerous ongoing film projects, including Iron Man 3, Captain America 2, Thor 2, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Avengers 2.

Vera Brosgol is a Russian-American artist working in comics and animation. By day she is a storyboard artist at Laika Entertainment in Portland, OR, where she has worked on the stop-motion films Coraline and ParaNorman. Her comics work includes several self-published minicomics and webcomics, as well as short stories in the Flight anthologies and Nursery Rhyme Comics. Her first graphic novel, Anya's Ghost, was published by First Second in 2011 and won the Eisner Award for Best Publication for Teens.

Frank Brunner was hatched in Brooklyn, NY in 1949. He turned pro in 1969, writing and drawing for Web of Horror magazine. For over 40 years, Frank’s work has been continuously printed and reprinted worldwide in comics, magazines, and books; on trading cards, T-shirts, games, and album covers; in animation, TV, and movies; and in two art books, Eyes of Light and MYTHOS. He has popularized such characters as Dr. Strange, Man-Thing, Red Sonja, Conan, Elric, and Howard the Duck, and he designed all the character models for the first X-Men animated series. Recently Frank Illustrated new stories for Marvel’s Mystic Hands of Doctor Strange, and a satire of Doc and Howard in Simpson’s Super Spectacular #15 for Bongo Comics.

Denys B. Cowan is a comic book artist and television producer. He first gained prominence as the artist on DC Comics’s The Question. His long list of comics credits include groundbreaking work on Batman, Deathlok, Captain America, Black Panther, and most recently Django Unchained. Denys’s television producer credits include The Boondocks, Black Panther, and Static Shock. He has served as senior vice president of animation for both Black Entertainment Television (BET) and Motown Animation & Filmworks

Denys is one of the founders of Milestone Media, the 20th anniversary of which is being celebrated at this year’s Comic-Con.

Michael Davis is an artist, writer, mentor, and entertainment executive. He’s created original content for comics, education, television, radio, and publishing as an independent producer. He’s also held positions as president/CEO of Motown Animation & Filmworks; president of animation for Magic Johnson Entertainment; and co-founder of Milestone Media. Alumni from his mentor program are some of the most respected talents working in comics today. Michael’s current projects include graphic novels The Underground, Jackie Robinson Day 1, and Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Black People but Were Afraid to Ask. Simon & Schuster will publish Michael’s apocalyptic novel, White Winter, Black Night.