Comic-Con 2014 Special Guests

Mimi Pond is a cartoonist, illustrator, humorist, and writer. Her first long-form graphic memoir, Over Easy, detailing her post-art school years in the Bay Area, will be published by D+Q in Spring 2014. She has created comics for the Los Angeles Times, Seventeen magazine, National Lampoon, and other publications too numerous to mentio, and has written and illustrated five humor books. Her credits for television include the first full-length episode of The Simpsons, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire," in 1989, and episodes for the television shows Designing Women and Pee-wee's Playhouse. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, the painter Wayne White.

Well known in American comics fandom since the 1960s for his vast comic book collection and comics fanzine activities, Don Rosa became internationally famous starting in 1987 when he began writing and drawing new stories based on his favorite classic comics—Carl Barks’ Uncle $crooge and Donald Duck. Soon he was working for various Disney-licensed publishers in Europe, where Barks’ Duck comics continue to be the bestselling comics that they once were in America. American fans can also now see his entire Duck comics career reprinted in the new Don Rosa Library from Fantagraphics.

Jim Rugg makes comics, books, drawings, illustrations, and designs. His books and comics include Supermag, Afrodisiac, Street Angel, The PLAIN Janes, Rambo 3.5, and Notebook Drawings. He has exhibited drawings at iam8bit, Gallery1988, Mondo, and the Society of Illustrators. Honors include an Ignatz Award, The Pittsburgh Foundation's Investing in Professional Artists grant, and AIGA's 50 Books/50 Covers selection for best-designed books. He teaches classes in the MFA Visual Narrative program at the School of Visual Arts and co-hosts BoingBoing.net's Tell Me Something I Don't Know podcast. For more info on Jim, visit jimrugg.com.

François Schuiten was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1956. His father was a prominent architect who had a tremendous impact on Françcois’s architecturally inspired stories. His series The Obscure Cities, in collaboration with writer Benoît Peeters, has remained an international favorite, now boasting nine graphic novels and several additional books and short films after three decades. Late in 2012, the series won the coveted Gaiman Award as the number one translated foreign comic book series in Japan. As a production designer, François has worked on a several movies, including The Perils of Gwendoline, Taxandria, The Golden Compass, and most recently, Mars et Avril. The Leaning Girl, an Obscure Cities graphic novel, will be published in English for the first time in November 2013, from Alaxis Press.

For the past seven years Dan Slott has been writing Amazing Spider-Man as part of a team during the “Brand New Day” era, and then as the solo writer for the “Big Time” run. With issue #700, the 50-year-old series wrapped with the traumatic death of Peter Parker. Dan segued right into writing Superior Spider-Man, where Spidey’s worst enemy, Doctor Octopus, has taken his place. In April, Dan relaunches the Amazing Spider-Man. He’s also scripting a new Silver Surfer series, illustrated by Mike Allred.

Dan’s other work includes She-Hulk, Thing, GLA: Misassembled, Avengers: The Initiative, Mighty Avengers, Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, Batman Adventures, Justice League Adventures, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Looney Tunes, Scooby Doo, and Ren & Stimpy.