Comic-Con International: San Diego 2013 featured an amazing roster of special guests. Here's the list.
Comic-Con 2013 Special Guests
Sergio Aragonés
Cartoonist, Groo, MAD, Sergio Aragonés Funnies
One of MAD magazine's longest-running cartoonists (only Al Jaffee has been around longer) and the creator of dim-witted barbarian Groo the Wanderer, Sergio Aragonés is one of comics’ most popular creators. The man some call the world’s fastest cartoonist has his own bi-monthly comic book series at Bongo Comics, Sergio Aragonés Funnies, and is finishing up a Groo vs. Conan 4-issue mini series with writer Mark Evanier and artist Thomas Yeates.
Tom Batiuk
Cartoonist, Funky Winkerbean, Crankshaft
Tom Batiuk is the creator of the syndicated comic strips Funky Winkerbean (which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2012) and Crankshaft. Tom started Funky in 1972, and since his first groundbreaking story in 1986 about the teenage pregnancy of his character Lisa, he has been hailed as an originator of a new genre in comic strip art. His unique style of “narrative humor” allows him to explore major social issues. Tom employs a gentle humor found in mining the common experiences of everyday life to push the envelope in his exploration of all that the comic art medium can express.
Brian Michael Bendis
Writer, Ultimate Spider-Man, All New X-Men, Uncanny X-Men
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.
Jon Bogdanove
Artist, Superman: Man of Steel
Jon Bogdanove is best known for his dynamic, humorous work on Superman: The Man of Steel (#1–#85), for which he drew and helped write many landmark Superman stories, including the award-winning Death of Superman. He also co-created Steel with Louise Simonson. At Marvel, he penciled (and later, wrote) Simonson’s Power Pack and drew Fantastic Four vs. The X-Men, written by Chris Claremont. Other comics projects include 2011’s Superman: RetroActive 1990s, X-Factor, X-Terminators, Superman vs. Savage Dragon 2, Superman vs. Aliens 2, and issues of Batman, The Hulk, Alpha Flight, and Solomon Kane. In 2012, Bogdanove animated a video game, Mongolian Beef.
Vera Brosgol
Writer/artist, Anya’s Ghost, Flight
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.
Jeffrey Brown
Cartoonist, Darth Vader and Son
Jeffrey Brown is the author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Darth Vader and Son, along with its sequel, Vader’s Little Princess. Brown teaches comics at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he earned his MFA in 2002 with his debut graphic novel memoir Clumsy. In 2012, Save The Date—the film Brown co-wrote and created artwork for—premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was subsequently released by IFC Films. Brown’s newest graphic memoir, A Matter of Life, will debut at San Diego Comic-Con 2013.
Frank Brunner
Artist, Dr. Strange, Howard the Duck
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.
Gerry Conway
Writer, Amazing Spider-Man, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man
Known forever to fandom as "the man who killed Gwen Stacy," Gerry Conway is also the co-creator of The Punisher, Firestorm, Power Girl, Man-Thing, Werewolf-by-Night, The Jackal, Killer Croc, Tombstone, Tarantula, Count Vertigo, Vibe, Vixen, Commander/Citizen Steel, and many other popular (and not so popular) characters for Marvel and DC Comics. Gerry sold his first story to DC editor Murray Boltinoff a few weeks before he turned 16. At 18 he was writing for Marvel full time; by 20, he was scripting Marvel's flagship title, Amazing Spider-Man. Gerry's most recent work in comics is The Last Days of Animal Man. His most recent writing project is the young adult novel Arkham Academy.
Denys B. Cowan
Co-founder, Milestone Media, artist, The Question
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.
Jeromy Cox
Writer/artist/colorist
Jeromy Cox started in animation for television and video games but quickly emigrated to the world of comics. After self-publishing his creator-owned comic Zombie Love, Jeromy moved on to Jim Lee's WildStorm division of Image Comics. His artistic and computer skills helped establish the digital coloring department that company was well known for. Highlights of his coloring career range from Leave It to Chance and Promethea to more irreverent books like Fluorescent Black, Rex Mundi, and DMZ. Jeromy is currently working on Detective Comics for DC while still finding time to revisit Zombie Love and his other comic creation, Vampyrates. www.mostfunnest.com
Michael Davis
Co-founder, Milestone Media
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.
Gene Deitch
Artist/animator/director, Tom Terrific!, Nudnik
Chicago born, Hollywood raised, New York made, Prague matured, once considered revolutionary, but now certainly retro, Gene Deitch has lucked out, being continuously employed in animation, without pause, for 65 years. He’s had plenty of recognition, lots of failures, working always with down-market dollars while stubbornly trying to wrestle the envelope, attested to by at least one Oscar win and a long shelf full of other golden tsotskes. Gene is known for such classic animated series as Tom Terrific! and Nudnik and for his work with the famed animation studio UPA and TV pioneers Terrytoons. For more info, visit genedeitchcredits.com