Comic-Con 2026
Announcing the Eighth Group of Special Guests for Comic-Con 2026
Comic-Con welcomes Eisner Hall of Famers Denys Cowan, Bud Plant, Mike Royer, and Maggie Thompson as Special Guests, joining the previously announced 34 creators.
Denys Cowan
Denys Cowan’s acclaimed work as the artist on The Question, Detective Comics, Black Panther, Deathlok, and Nightwing in the 1980s established him as one of comics’ most distinctive storytellers. In 1993 he helped launch Milestone Media, the revolutionary company that changed the face of comics by centering diverse voices and perspectives. Beyond comics, Cowan served as executive producer of the animated series Static Shock, helping bring Milestone’s vision to television. His leadership has also extended across the entertainment industry through senior executive roles at Motown and BET, where he helped shape creative strategy and storytelling beyond the comics page. His current projects include the graphic novel Beast Mode 510 (developed with Marshawn Lynch) and the series Illuminati (created with Charlamagne tha God), both published by AWA Studios. This year he is being inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame.
Plante à bourgeons
Bud Plant has been collecting, buying, and selling comics since 1968. In 2010’s Founders of Comic Fandom, Bill Schelly wrote, “Few comic art enthusiasts have had a more visionary and entrepreneurial impact on the hobby than Plant.” Even in high school, the pioneering retailer ran a mail-order comics sales business. He co-founded comics shops in 1968 and 1969, began exhibiting at Comic-Con at its start in 1970, and more than half a century ago he established Bud Plant, Inc. He published comics and a retailing trade publication and eventually became an independent comics distributor himself. After selling that portion of his business in 1988, he continued to provide mail-order comics catalogs, now available via Bud Plant Comic Art/Bud’s Art Books in Grass Valley, California. This year he is being inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame.
Mike Royer
Michael (“Mike”) Royer is a comics penciler, inker, and letterer known for being Jack Kirby’s main artistic collaborator at DC Comics in the 1970s. Those works include the Fourth World Saga (Mister Miracle; Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen; Forever People; New Gods), The Demon, and Kamandi, among others. When Kirby returned to Marvel Comics later that decade, Royer was there with him as well, inking and lettering dozens of titles. Royer is also highly regarded for his work with Russ Manning on Magnus, Robot Fighter and as a staff artist and designer at The Walt Disney Company for more than 14 years. Mike was a special guest at the first Comic-Con in 1970 and received the Inkpot Award in 1978. This year he is being inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame.
Maggie Thompson
The first ongoing comics fanzines were published in 1961. That was 65 years ago—when Maggie and Don Thompson published the first issue of Comic Art. Five years later in New York City, they attended the first multi-day comics convention. In 1976—two decades after Comic Art #1—they attended their first San Diego Comic-Con with their kids, Valerie and Stephen, and received Inkpot Awards. In 1983, they became co-editors of Comics Buyer’s Guide and attended Comic-Con, as they wrote both for and about comics. Now, more than 30 years after Don’s death, Maggie Thompson shares Comic-Con fan fun annually. She was inducted into the Eisner Awards Hall of Fame in 2020 and currently serves as a judge on the Hall of Fame committee.