More Special Guests Announced for Comic-Con 2024!
Joining the previously announced 41 Special Guests are Klaus Janson, Rick Marschall, Eric Powell, William Stout, and Kiersten White.
Klaus Janson
Klaus Janson broke into the comic industry in 1974 with the publication of his first professional work, inking Rich Buckler on Marvel’s Black Panther. A great variety of inking projects followed, including Defenders, Deathlok, Avengers, Howard the Duck, Kull, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Daredevil, Conan, Batman, and Dark Knight Returns. In the 1980s, Klaus began transitioning to penciling and worked on Gothic with Grant Morrison, The Punisher with Mike Baron, Daredevil: End of Days with Brian Bendis and David Mack, Death and the Maidens with Greg Rucka, Sacred Creatures with Pablo Raimondi, and The Last Halloween with Jeph Loeb. In the early 2000s, Klaus wrote two how-to books for DC Comics: The DC Comics Guide to Penciling Comics and The DC Guide to Inking Comics. Klaus taught at New York’s School of Visual Arts for 30 years and has presented his workshops on storytelling to artists, writers, and editors at every major comics publisher.
Rick Marschall
Rick Marschall is a former political cartoonist, comics editor at three newspaper syndicates, editor at Marvel Comics (where he founded Epic magazine), and writer for Disney comics. He was VP of Dargaud USA, when that European comics publisher introduced graphic novels to the USA. He founded the comics history magazines NEMO and Hogan’s Alley and has written 75 books, mostly on comics history but also on country, jazz, and Baroque music, politics, and Christian apologetics. Upcoming are the revival of NEMO magazine and an anthology of his writing, both from Fantagraphics.
Eric Powell
Eric Powell is an Eisner, Ringo, International Horror Guild, and National Cartoonists Society Award–winning cartoonist. While providing work for every prominent comics publisher in the business, the majority of his career has been focused on creator-owned comics and promoting their validity and importance in the comics industry, most notably with his series The Goon and the work through his own publishing imprint, Albatross Funny Books. With the Goon celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, Albatross and Dark Horse Comics are currently releasing a new series by Powell: The Goon: Them That Don’t Stay Dead. Powell is also working on Dr. Werthless, a graphic novel that covers the crime cases and life of the notorious psychologist Dr. Fredric Wertham. It is a follow-up to his acclaimed true crime graphic novel Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done? with co-author and prominent true-crime author Harold Schechter.
William Stout
Artist William Stout has worked with Russ Manning, Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, Jean “Moebius” Giraud, Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, and Al Williamson. His studiomates included Dave Stevens and Paul Chadwick. Bill co-founded the Comic Art Professional Society and was their tenth president. In film, Stout created the iconic Wizards poster, then worked on over 70 movies, including Return of the Living Dead and Masters of the Universe. He helped Pan’s Labyrinth win two Oscars. Michael Crichton claimed Stout’s dinosaur reconstructions inspired Jurassic Park. Bill’s 50-year career overview, Fantastic Worlds: The Art of William Stout (2018), precedes a Flesk Publications box set collecting Stout’s comics work.
Kiersten White
Kiersten White is the New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award–winning, and critically acclaimed author of many books for readers of all ages, including the And I Darken trilogy, the Sinister Summer series, the Camelot Rising trilogy, Star Wars: Padawan, the Buffyverse Slayer series, Hide, Mister Magic, and Lucy Undying: A Dracula Novel. Her books have been published in over 20 territories and sold more than a million copies worldwide. Hide is currently in development with Universal Television and was recently adapted as a graphic novel with Scott Peterson, Veronica Fish, and Andy Fish.