Special Guests

Trina Robbins has been drawing and writing comics since 1966, when she drew comics for the East Village Other, New York’s iconic underground newspaper, while at the same time designing and selling clothes from her Lower East Side boutique, Broccoli. In 1970, she produced the very first all-woman comic book, It Ain't Me, Babe. In 1972 she was one of the founding mothers of Wimmin's Comix, the longest-lasting women's anthology comic book (1972–1992).

In the mid-1980s, tired of hearing publishers and editors say that girls don't read comics and that women had never drawn comics, she co-wrote (with catherine yronwood) Women and the Comics, the first of what would become a series of histories of women cartoonists.  She has been responsible for rediscovering previously forgotten early women cartoonists such as Nell Brinkley, Tarpe Mills, Barbara Hall, and Lily Renee.

In 1986 she became the first woman to draw a Wonder Woman comic book.

In 2013 Trina was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.  In 2017 she was inducted into the Wizard World Hall of Legends, and at the San Diego Comic-Con she received the Eisner Award for editing the two-volume reprint collection of The Complete Wimmin’s Comix.

For 47 years, Scott Shaw! has written and drawn underground comix (Fear and Laughter, Gory Stories Quarterly), kids’ comic books (Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew!, Sonic the Hedgehog, Simpsons Comics), comic strips (Bugs Bunny, Woodsy Owl), graphic novels (Annoying Orange), TV cartoons (Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies, The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley, Camp Candy), toys (McFarlane Toys’ line of Hanna-Barbera and Simpsons action figures), and advertising (Pebbles Cereal commercials starring the Flintstones). His work has garnered him four Emmy Awards, an Eisner Award, and a Humanities Award. Scott is also known for presentations of “the craziest comic books ever published,” Oddball Comics Live! (with a long-awaited book coming in Summer 2019 from TwoMorrows), and his regular participation in Quick Draw! with Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragonés. He was also one of the kids who created what is currently known as Comic-Con International: San Diego. His most recent projects have been illustrating Dark Horse’s How to Win at Life by Cheating at Everything!; designing, drawing, and art directing Play Tone LLC’s Marooned Lagoon, a children’s picture book; designing and illustrating the wraparound cover for Bear Manor’s Long Title: Looking for the Good Times—Examining the Monkees’ Songs, One by One; writing the introduction to photographer Greg Preston’s new collection of portraits of cartoonists in their studios, The Artist Within: Book 2—Behind the Lines; and art directing Topps’ Garbage Pail Kids mobile app game.

William Stout illustrated Coven 13 while attending CalArts, then assisted Russ Manning on the Tarzan of the Apes newspaper strips and Eisner Award-winning graphic novels. Stout worked for Cycle-Toons and Car-Toons, joined Kurtzman and Elder on Playboy’s  "Little Annie Fanny," and collaborated with Will Eisner and Moebius.

An early American contributor to Heavy Metal, Bill created the advertising for Wizards and 120 other films, then worked as a designer on over 40 films including Buck Rogers, the Conan films, Predator, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Disney’s Dinosaur, Men In Black, Masters of the Universe, and Pan’s Labyrinth. Return of the Living Dead made him the youngest production designer in film history.

Ray Bradbury's Dinosaur Tales and The Little Blue Brontosaurus (1984 Children's Choice Award and the basis for The Land Before Time) followed Stout's groundbreaking The Dinosaurs—A Fantastic New View of a Lost Era. Michael Crichton acknowledged Stout's work as an inspiration for Jurassic Park. Stout has twelve prehistoric murals in the San Diego Natural History Museum and two more at the San Diego Zoo.

Stout co-founded the Comic Art Professional Society, designed their logo and was their tenth president. Over 24 million William Stout trading cards have been sold. Bill recently wrote and illustrated a story for Spook House and is the author-illustrator of Legends of the Blues. Stout has attended every single San Diego Comic-Con.

Matt Taylor is a British born illustrator and comic book artist. He has worked as a freelancer illustrator for the last fifteen years and his work can be seen on book covers—most notably his ongoing work with John le Carre—albums—including Scream from Michael Jackson—and his extensive movie poster work with Mondo. He has also worked with the likes of the New York Times, Lucasfilm, and Burton Snowboards amongst others.

His work in comics includes Wolf with Ales Kot from Image Comics, and covers for Vertigo, Dark Horse, BOOM!, and Archie Comics. He lives on the edge of the Sussex countryside on the south coast of the United Kingdom with his wife, daughter and cat.

Peter J. Tomasi is a New York Times bestselling author known for his work on Superman, Batman and Robin, Green Lantern Corps, Detective Comics, Brightest Day, Superman/Wonder Woman, Batman Arkham Knight, Emerald Warriors, Nightwing, and many others. Over the course of his career with DC Comics, Peter also served as a group editor ushering in new eras for Batman, Green Lantern, and JSA, along with special projects like Kingdom Come. Peter is the author of the creator-owned books The Bridge (Abrams), House of Penance (Dark Horse), Light Brigade (Dark Horse), and The Mighty (Dark Horse).