Comic-Con International: San Diego 2013 featured an amazing roster of special guests. Here's the list.
Comic-Con 2013 Special Guests
Adam Hughes
Artist, Wonder Woman, Before Watchmen: Dr. Manhattan
Celebrating over 25 years in comics, Adam Hughes has won the Eisner, Harvey, and Inkpot awards for his illustrative work. Best known for his run of breathtaking covers on Wonder Woman, Catwoman, and Fairest for DC Comics, Adam has worked for many comics publishers as well as Lucasfilm, Warner Bros. Pictures, Playboy, Sony, Sega, and Sideshow Collectibles. In 2012 he returned to interior storytelling with Before Watchmen: Dr. Manhattan.
Tony Isabella
Photo by Robert Walker
Creator/writer, Black Lightning; writer, Champions, Daredevil, Hawkman
Just like Superman, Tony Isabella was born in Cleveland, Ohio. A 40-year veteran of the comics industry, he was an editor and writer at Marvel and a writer for many other publishers. He co-wrote the prose novels Captain America: Liberty's Torch and Star Trek: The Case of the Colonist's Corpse and is the author of 1000 Comic Books You Must Read, one of the most successful books of comics history and nostalgia. The lead reviewer and contributing editor of Comics Buyer's Guide, he also writes the nigh-daily Tony Isabella's Bloggy Thing, at tonyisabella.blogspot.com
Georges Jeanty
Artist, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Talented and swinging artist extraordinaire, Georges Jeanty is concluding his run on the Eisner Award–winning, critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer. With Season 9 wrapping up this year, Georges isn't about to rest on his laurels, having numerous other projects coming out. He has also had successful runs at Marvel on titles such as Deadpool, Weapon X, and Gambit, and at DC on Green Lantern, Superboy, Superman, Batman, and Teen Titans. Other noteworthy titles include Majestic and the critically successful, co-creator-owned The American Way, both for Wildstorm.
Dan Jurgens
Writer/artist, Firestorm
Dan Jurgens was first drawn to comics as a result of seeing the 1960s Batman TV show. Finding those four-color pamphlets to be magic, he decided to pursue comics as a career. Dan’s first professional work was drawing DC Comics’ Warlord. Not long after, the keyboard called and Dan began writing. Since then, Dan has written and/or drawn Superman, Justice League of America, Justice League International, Teen Titans, Booster Gold, Zero Hour, Green Arrow, Sensational Spider-Man, Captain America, The Mighty Thor, and numerous other titles. Dan was awarded the National Cartoonist Society’s Best in Comic Book division in 1994. His work can currently be found in DC’s Firestorm, which he both writes and draws.
Richard Kadrey
Writer, Sandman Slim series
Richard Kadrey is the author of eight novels, including Sandman Slim, Kill the Dead, Aloha From Hell, Devil Said Bang, Butcher Bird, and the graphic novel Accelerate. He’s also written one young adult novel, White Vinyl. The fifth book in the Sandman Slim series, Kill City Blues, will be published in August 2013. The Dino De Laurentiis Company is developing Sandman Slim into a feature film. He is also a photographer working under the name Kaos Beauty Klinik.
Sam Kieth
Artist/creator, The MAXX, Zero Girl; artist, Sandman
Sam Kieth’s quirky art and vivid storytelling have made him a fan-favorite creator over his almost 30-year career in comics. Kieth’s early work included inking Matt Wagner’s Mage series, but he came to fame with his art on the first five issues of Sandman, written by Neil Gaiman. In 1993 Kieth joined the then-new Image Comics with his own creation The Maxx, which was also adapted as an animated series on MTV. Other notable work includes Zero Girl, My Inner Bimbo, and work on Batman at DC. IDW has a new art book, The Worlds of Sam Kieth, debuting this summer.
Co-sponsored by
IDW Publishing
Jim Lee
Photo by Mike Jara
Artist, Justice League, Batman: Hush; DC Entertainment co-publisher
Jim Lee is a renowned comic book artist and the co-publisher of DC Entertainment. Prior to his current post, Lee served as editorial director, where he oversaw WildStorm Studios and was the artist for many of DC Comics’ bestselling comic books and graphic novels, including All Star Batman And Robin, The Boy Wonder; Batman: Hush; Justice League; and Superman: For Tomorrow. He also serves as the executive creative director for the DC Universe Online (DCUO) massively multiplayer action game from Sony Online Entertainment (SOE). For his next project, Lee will be working with writer Scott Snyder on a new Superman book in 2013.
Paul Levitz
Writer/editor/publisher, Legion of Super-Heroes, 75 Years of DC Comics
Paul Levitz has been a comics fan (The Comic Reader, winner of two Best Fanzine Comic Art Fan Awards), editor (Batman), writer (Legion of Super-Heroes), and executive (38 years at DC, ending as president & publisher). He has received the Inkpot, Clampett Humanitarian, and ComicsPro Industry Appreciation Awards and serves on the board of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. He is currently working on a series of books for Taschen, enlarging and elaborating on his Eisner Award–winning book 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking, in addition to scripting the comics series Legion of Super-Heroes and Worlds’ Finest.
Congressman John Lewis
Photo by Eric Etheridge
Congressman (D, Georgia), co-writer, MARCH
Congressman John Lewis (GA-5) is an American icon, one of the key figures of the civil rights movement. His commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper’s farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to the 1963 March on Washington, and from receiving beatings from state troopers to receiving the Medal of Freedom from the first African American president. Now, with co-writer Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell (Swallow Me Whole, The Silence of Our Friends, The Heroes of Olympus), he brings his incredible story to comics in the graphic novel trilogy MARCH.
Courtesy
Top Shelf Productions
Todd Lockwood
Illustrator
Todd Lockwood's illustration work has appeared on New York Times bestselling novels as well as in magazines, video games, collectible card games, and fantasy role-playing games. It has been honored with multiple appearances in Spectrum and the Communication Arts Illustration Annual and with numerous industry awards. Always known for the narrative power of his paintings, Todd now turns his hand to writing and is working on a novel to be published by DAW Books at a date still to be determined. You can see his art at www.toddlockwood.com
Elliot S! Maggin
Writer, Superman
Elliot S! Maggin has written or edited at least 500 comic book stories as well as journalism, novels, scripts and stories of various kinds since he was old enough to read street signs. He has written for most comic book companies in the latter decades of the last century, including a fifteen-year run as principal writer of Superman. He has published several novels including one he recently completed. Among his other comic book credits are Green Arrow, Batman, Justice League, Elseworlds, Hulk, Peter Parker, Wonder Woman, Shazam!, Harlan Ellison’s Dark Corridors, Star Raiders, Joker, Marvel Classics, and a bunch of others.
Leonard Maltin
Author, TV host, Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide
Leonard Maltin launched a fanzine at the age of 13 and published his first book at 18. He is best known for his annual paperback reference Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide. His many books include The Disney Films, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons, and The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang (written with Richard W. Bann). He explored pop culture on Entertainment Tonight for 30 years, and co-produced and hosted the Walt Disney Treasures DVDs. He currently hosts Maltin on Movies for Reelz Channel and teaches at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.