Comic-Con International features one of the most diverse guest lists of any convention. Forty guests have been announced for the 2014 event, including creators from mainstream and alternative comics, graphic novels, comic strips, animation, and science fiction and fantasy books. The following individuals appeared at Comic-Con International 2014 as special guests.
Comic-Con 2014 Special Guests
David Lasky
Artist, The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song
Seattle artist David Lasky has been writing and drawing comics for over 20 years. His earliest success was a 9-page mini-adaptation of James Joyce’s Ulysses (self-published). In the ’90s he was known for the solo comic Boom Boom, and then collaborated with Greg Stump on the Harvey-nominated Urban Hipster. His stories have appeared in countless anthologies over the years, including Kramers Ergot and Best American Comics. With writer Frank Young, he co-created two graphic novels: Oregon Trail: Road to Destiny and The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song (for which they won an Eisner Award in 2013). David has also been a graphic novel instructor at Richard Hugo House and various other venues in the Seattle area.
Jae Lee
Artist, Batman/Superman, The Inhumans
Jae Lee is a Korean-American comic book artist, known for his dark and elegant 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. The art from his collaboration with writer Grant Morrison on Fantastic Four: 1234, was featured in an exhibition at the Society of Illustrators in New York City. In 2007, Lee was handpicked by Stephen King for a six-year journey that began with Marvel's The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born and culminated with illustrating the Grant edition of Stephen King's The Wind Through the Keyhole novel. Lee has recently completed Before Watchmen: Ozymandias, the prequel to the bestselling graphic novel of all time. He is currently the ongoing artist for one of DC's bestselling titles, Batman/Superman.
Jim Lee
Co-publisher, DC Entertainment; artist, Justice League, Superman Unchained
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 also the artist for many of DC Comics’ bestselling comics 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). Currently, Lee is handling the art chores on the Superman Unchained comic book series.
Paul Levitz
Editor, former publisher, DC Comics; writer, World's Finest
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 he serves on the board of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. His Eisner Award-winning book, 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking, was published by Taschen. Paul is currently updating and revising this book into new separate editions devoted to the Golden Age, Silver Age, and Bronze Age of DC. His recent comics writing appears in World’s Finest, as well as collected editions.
Sara Mayhew
Writer/artist, Legend of the Ztarr
Sara E. Mayhew is an international award-winning manga artist, author, and TED Fellow. Her latest series, Legend of the Ztarr, is a sword-and-sandals sci-fi epic starring a young heroine. The Ontario Arts Council twice awarded Sara the Northern Arts grant for her work as a Northern Ontario artist. Sara’s series aim to promote science and critical thinking through storytelling by presenting characters who use science-based thinking. Nokia featured her in their Responsiveness campaign video on communicating the values of science literacy through art. Canada’s Applied Arts magazine featured her in their Young Blood article on “new talent commanding our attention.”
Mike Mignola
Creator/writer/artist, Hellboy
Mike Mignola is best known as the award-winning creator/writer/artist of Hellboy, now celebrating it’s 20th anniversary! He was also visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on both Hellboy and Hellboy 2: The Golden Army films. He also co-authored (with Christopher Golden) two novels, BALTIMORE, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire, and Joe Golem and the Drowning City. Mignola lives in southern California with his wife, daughter, and cat.
Graham Nolan
Artist, Detective Comics, The Phantom, Joe Frankenstein
Graham Nolan is best known for his long run on Detective Comics and as the designer and co-creator of the classic Batman villain Bane. Since 1983, Nolan has worn many hats in the comic book industry for all the major publishers, as a penciler, inker, writer, and publisher (Monster Island), as well as illustrator for the syndicated newspaper strips The Phantom and Rex Morgan, M.D. Nolan is currently working on projects for Graphic India and is co-writing and illustrating Joe Frankenstein, a creator-owned project with Chuck Dixon to be published by IDW.
Michelle Nolan
Comics/pop culture historian, Love on the Racks, Ball Tales
Michelle Nolan has been a journalist and comics/pop cultural historian for nearly 50 years. She has written more than 1,000 articles and columns on comics, pulps, movies, series books, and sports and has published more than 10,000 articles in more than 100 publications. She is the author of Love on the Racks, the definitive history of American romance comics, and Ball Tales, a history of team sports fiction in all media from the 1930s to the 1960s, both published by McFarland. Michelle was a featured columnist in Comic Book Marketplace and Comics Buyer’s Guide, and she occasionally contributes to Alter Ego, the Eisner Award-winning publication edited by Roy Thomas.
Bryan Lee O'Malley
Writer/artist, Scott Pilgrim series, Seconds
Bryan Lee O’Malley is the creator of the bestselling Scott Pilgrim series, which was adapted into a major motion picture, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, in 2010. His new graphic novel, Seconds, is set for a July 2014 release. He lives in Los Angeles, where he continues to make comics.
Denny O'Neil
Writer/editor, Batman, Green Lantern/Green Arrow
One of comics' most acclaimed writers, Denny O'Neil worked briefly in journalism, then moved to New York and comics. Denny brought social consciousness to the medium with the groundbreaking Green Lantern/Green Arrow series. His work on Batman—as writer and editor—returned that character to its dark, gothic roots.
Jimmy Palmiotti
Writer, All-Star Western, Painkiller Jane
Jimmy Palmiotti is the co-founder of such companies as Event Comics, Black Bull Media, Marvel Knights, and the current Paperfilms, where he is partners with Amanda Conner and Justin Gray. Together they have created and co-created numerous comics, TV series, and characters, including The New West, Monolith, 21 Down, The Resistance, The Pro, Gatecrasher, Beautiful Killer, Ash, Trigger Girl 6, Thrill Seeker, Trailblazer, Ballerina, and the TV series Painkiller Jane. Jimmy’s recent work includes All Star Western, Batwing, and Harley Quinn for DC; Creator Owned Heroes, Queen Crab, and Retrovirus for Image; the Injustice: Gods Among Us video game for WB; and Legend of the Valkyrie, and Rolling Thunder for Shiftylook.
Benoît Peeters
Writer, The Obscure Cities, The Leaning Girl
Benoît Peeters was born in Paris in 1956. He published his first novel, Omnibus in 1976. Since then, he has published over 60 works on a wide variety of subjects. A long association with the artist François Schuiten has lead to a series of graphic novels, The Obscure Cities. Sixteen volumes have appeared so far; the books have won numerous prizes and have been translated into more than ten languages. The Leaning Girl, a graphic novel, was published in English for the first time in November 2013, from Alaxis Press. An expert on Hergé, Peeters brought out Tintin and the World of Hergé and Hergé‚ Son of Tintin (Johns Hopkins University Press). He has also written essays on Alfred Hitchcock, Paul Valéry, Rodolphe Töpffer, Jirô Taniguchi, and Chris Ware.