The following special guests have been confirmed for Comic-Con International 2018.
Special Guests
Carol Tyler
Writer, artist, Fab4Mania, Soldier’s Heart
Carol Tyler is one of the most important autobiographical artist/writers in comics. Her latest, Fab4Mania (2018) is about her Beatlemania.
Tyler started with Weirdo in the ‘80s. Since then, Fantagraphics has published The Job Thing (1993), Late Bloomer (2005), the You’ll Never Know trilogy (2009–2012) which became Soldier’s Heart: The Campaign to Understand my WWII Veteran Father, A Daughter’s Memoir (2015). Soldier’s Heart received a Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators, and the Cartoonist Studio Prize from slate.com. It earned 11 Eisner Award nominations, two LA Book Prize nominations, and an Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council. Tyler’s brilliant “The Hannah Story” is on The Comics Journal’s Top 100 Comics of the 20th Century.
Noah Van Sciver
Cartoonist, Fante Bukowski: Struggling Writer series, One Dirty Tree
Noah Van Sciver is an Ignatz Award-winning cartoonist who first came to comic readers’ attention with his critically acclaimed comic book series Blammo. His work has appeared in Spongebob Comics, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Best American Comics, as well as countless graphic anthologies. Van Sciver is a regular contributor to MAD magazine and has created five graphic novels including Johnny Appleseed, Saint Cole, and the Eisner Award-nominated Fante Bukowski: Struggling Writer series for Fantagraphics books. He is currently working on an autobiographical graphic novel titled One Dirty Tree, which will be released by Uncivilized Books.
Tillie Walden
Cartoonist, illustrator, Spinning, The End of Summer
Tillie Walden is a cartoonist and illustrator from Austin, TX. She is a graduate of the Center for Cartoon Studies, a comics MFA program in Vermont. Her first three books, The End of Summer, I Love This Part and A City Inside were published by the UK based Avery Hill Publishing, two of which have won her Ignatz awards. She is also the creator of the graphic memoir Spinning, which was published by First Second Books. Her Eisner Award-nominated webcomic On a Sunbeam, is also coming out in print form from First Second in Fall 2018.
Jen Wang
Photo: Ye Rin Mok
Cartoonist, The Prince and the Dressmaker
Jen Wang is a cartoonist and illustrator currently living in Los Angeles. Her works have appeared in the Adventure Time comics and Los Angeles magazine. She recently illustrated Tom Angleberger's Fake Mustache. Her graphic novels Koko Be Good, In Real Life (with author Cory Doctorow), and the most recent, The Prince and the Dressmaker, were published by First Second. For more info, visit jenwang.net.
Shannon Wheeler
Cartoonist, Too Much Coffee Man, God is Disappointed in You
Shannon Wheeler is the creator of Too Much Coffee Man. He recently illustrated Trump’s tweets in Sh*t My President Says (Top Shelf), and created cartoons for a retelling of the bible, God is Disappointed in You (with Mark Russell, Top Shelf). His recent book, Memoirs of a Very Stable Genius (Image) collects various gags and autobiographical comics. His cartoons have been found in The New Yorker, the Onion, American Bystander, and various alternative weekly newspapers. Wheeler lives on a defunct volcano where he tends cats, chickens, bees, and children.
Robert Williams
Artist, Zap; creator Juxtapoz art magazine
Born March 2, 1943 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Robert Williams moved to Los Angeles in 1963 for a formal art education. As a student at Los Angeles City College, he became the editorial cartoonist for the college paper and received a national award. After briefly attending Chouinard Art Institute, Williams was employed in a number of art endeavors: magazine art director, container designer, etc. 1965 ushered in success as art director for the creative think tank of famous custom car builder, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth (1965–1970).
In 1968, Williams’ involvement in underground cartooning led to his participation in the Zap Comix collective. During this entire time, Williams concurrently produced cartoon oriented oil paintings as he was determined to stem the tide against academic resistance to realistic painting. Standing almost alone, Williams eventually united with artists in the Punk Rock movement who shared his cartoon/fine art sympathies. As a result, Williams was deemed the father of low brow art. Recognizing a need led Williams to create Juxtapoz art magazine in 1994. This important innovative magazine, along with a 27-year stint at the prestigious Tony Shafrazi Gallery, gained Williams serious national recognition. Currently he is enjoying a traveling museum tour of his work both here and abroad.