Comic-Con 2024 Announces 7th Wave of Special Guests
In addition to its previously announced 36 guests, Comic-Con welcomes Mark Evanier, Honkun, Jim Lee, Meggie Ramm, and J. Michael Straczynski.
Mark Evanier
Mark Evanier attended his first San Diego Comic-Con in 1970 and has been to every one of these annual events ever since. He was then an assistant to the great Jack Kirby, whom he wrote about in his book Kirby, King of Comics. Mark has also written for live-action TV shows, animated TV shows (including various Garfield cartoons) and tons of comic books. The comics include working with Sergio Aragonés for over 40 years on Groo the Wanderer, and many more. He is also a historian of comic books and animation.
Honkun
Yuta Honda is a Japanese artist known as Honkun. Having a father who is a sumi-e painter, he learned everything about current expression in life. Sumi-e captures and expresses the world with lines. From 2014 to 2023 Honkun had a shop in Tokyo to spread sumi-e. In 2019, he had a revelation to arrange the character of a cat he drew as a child with the concept of “sumi-e lines” and matching calligraphy and painting. Since Japanese characters are also made up of drawings, he thought it would be highly compatible with sumi-e. The relaxed and laid-back cat with a message became very popular at his shop. He is at Comic-Con to introduce “Honkun’s Cat” to an American audience.
Jim Lee
Jim Lee, the world-renowned comic book artist, writer, editor, and publisher, is currently president, publisher, and chief creative officer of DC. He leads creative efforts to integrate DC’s publishing portfolio of characters and stories across all media, supporting Warner Bros. Discovery’s family of brands and studios. Jim joined DC in 1998 and has overseen many of the company’s highly successful publishing programs, including the record-breaking Rebirth line of comics and The New 52 initiative that relaunched the entire line of monthly superhero comic books. Jim was born in Seoul, South Korea, but moved with his family to St. Louis when he was young. He holds a B.A. in psychology from Princeton University and started his professional career at Marvel Comics, where his work on the X-Men continues to hold the all-time sales record for single-issue sales.
Meggie Ramm
Meggie Ramm (they/them) is a nonbinary cartoonist and comics designer. They graduated from California College of the Arts with an MFA in comics and have had work published by The New Yorker and Silver Sprocket. They are best known for their kids’ series Batcat, which was recently awarded Best in Children’s Fiction in the Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards. Batcat has been published in Danish, Spanish, and Catalan. Ramm is currently working on Batcat sequels as well as a comic about the Olympics.
J. Michael Straczynski
J. Michael Straczynski currently writes Captain America for Marvel Comics and is creating original comics for Dark Horse, original audio dramas for Penguin-Random House, and original sin whenever the opportunity arises. JMS is the creator of Babylon 5, co-creator for SENSE8, and writer of Changeling, Thor, and WWZ. He has received Hugo, Saturn, Ray Bradbury, Eisner, Icon, and Inkpot Awards. As director of the Harlan and Susan Ellison Foundation, he has overseen the publication of Harlan Ellison’s Greatest Hits, the relaunch of the first two Dangerous Visions anthologies, and, coming in October, the debut of The Last Dangerous Visions.