Comic-Con 2026
Announcing the First Group of Special Guests for Comic-Con 2026!
Special Guests for 2026 will include Peter Bagge, Stephan Pastis, Pornsak Pichetshote, Mimi Pond, and Victoria “V. E.” Schwab.
Peter Bagge
Peter Bagge is an American cartoonist specializing in alternative comics, best known for his satirical series Neat Stuff (1985–1991) and Hate (1990–1998), which featured exaggerated depictions of dysfunctional suburban families and grunge-era youth through characters like Buddy Bradley and his slacker associates. Bagge has also produced graphic biographies of historical figures, including Margaret Sanger in Woman Rebel (2013), Zora Neale Hurston in Fire!! (2017), and Rose Wilder Lane in Credo (2019), emphasizing their independent lives and ideological contributions. A self-identified libertarian, Bagge contributes political cartoons to Reason magazine. Peter received Comic-Con’s Inkpot Award in 2010, has received numerous Eisner Award nominations, and has taught at institutions like Seattle University.
Stephan Pastis
Stephan Pastis is the creator of the syndicated comic strip Pearls Before Swine, which appears in over 900 newspapers. There have been more than 40 Pearls book collections published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. In 2003, 2006, and 2014, the National Cartoonists Society named Pearls the Best Newspaper Comic Strip, and in 2019, Stephan won the Society’s highest honor, the Reuben, for Cartoonist of the Year. He is also the creator of the Timmy Failure book series, the Trubble Town graphic novel series, and the middle-grade book Looking Up, as well as being co-writer of the Disney movie Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made. He lives in Northern California and is really good at playing Boggle With Friends on his phone.
Pornsak Pichetshote
Pornsak Pichetshote is an award-winning Thai American writer of comics and television. Beginning as an editor for DC’s Vertigo imprint, he then oversaw DC Entertainment’s TV’s department, spearheading The CW’s Arrowverse. As a comics writer, he is known for Infidel, which was selected for NPR’s 100 Favorite Horror Stories of All Time, and the Eisner and Harvey Award–winning The Good Asian. As a TV writer, he’s best known for Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger and Two Sentence Horror Stories. He currently writes Absolute Green Arrow for DC Comics and the upcoming Exquisite Corpses: Lone Gunman for Image Comics.
Mimi Pond
Mimi Pond is an American cartoonist, humorist, and writer. In 1982, her book The Valley Girls Guide to Life (Dell) became a bestseller and launched her career. Her works include humor books such as Secrets of the Powder Room (1983) and Splitting Hairs (1998) as well as acclaimed graphic novels Over Easy, The Customer Is Always Wrong, and Do Admit: The Mitford Sisters and Me. Pond also wrote scripts for several TV series, including Designing Women, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, and the 1989 pilot episode of The Simpsons: “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.” She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, the artist Wayne White.
Victoria “V. E.” Schwab
Victoria “V. E.” Schwab is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 20 books. Schwab’s series and standalone titles for readers of all ages have made her a major literary figure, whose notable works include the Villains series, the Shades of Magic universe, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil. When not haunting Paris streets or writing in the corner of her favorite coffee shop, she lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.