Third Wave of Comic-Con 2023 Guests Announced!
In addition to the previously announced names (Jerry Beck, Holly Black, Jo Duffy, Bill Griffith, Junji Ito, Jeff Smith, Rachel Smythe, Steenz, Garth Stein, and Mariko Tamaki), Special Guests for 2023 will include Jim Benton, Becky Cloonan, Simon Hanselmann, P. Craig Russell, John Semper, and Martha Wells.
Jim Benton
Jim is the New York Times bestselling author behind Catwad, Franny K Stein, It’s Happy Bunny, Attack of the Stuff, Comet the Unstoppable Reindeer, The Handbook, Dog Butts and Love, and Man I Hate Cursive, among others. His series Dear Dumb Diary has over 10 million books in print and was made into a musical made-for-TV movie, which Jim co-wrote and produced. Jim’s awards include four divisional Reuben awards from the National Cartoonists Society, three Addy awards, and two Eisner Award nominations. Look for his upcoming Batman Squad from DC!
Becky Cloonan
Becky Cloonan is an artist and writer best known for her comic work with DC, Dark Horse, Image, and Marvel, while her illustrations have found their way on to album covers, gig posters, and buildings. Newly relocated to the Pacific Northwest, she is taking advantage of the many rainy days to draw as much as she can. Currently she is focusing on a new creator-owned book with DSTLRY.
Simon Hanselmann
Simon Hanselmann’s Megg & Mogg series of comics has been translated into 14 languages and won Eisner and Angouleme awards. An animated Megg and Mogg short ran on Hulu and Disney+ in 2022. His eighth book with Fantagraphics, The Werewolf Jones & Sons Deluxe Summer Fun Annual, is out July 18.
Photo by Wayne Alan Harold
P. Craig Russell
After establishing a name for himself at Marvel on Killraven and Dr. Strange, P. Craig Russell went on to open new vistas for the field of comics with his adaptations of operas by Mozart, Strauss, and Wagner. Russell is also known for his graphic novel adaptations of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, American Gods, and Norse Mythology. In 2022 he was inducted in the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Hall of Fame.
John Semper
John Semper was the producer and head writer of Spider-Man: The Animated Series, which appeared on Fox Kids TV during the 1990s. On that series he worked directly with Stan Lee in bringing the web-slinger to the TV screen. John has also written for classic animated shows such as Scooby-Doo, Smurfs, The Jetsons, My Little Pony, Duck Tales, Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Static Shock, and many others. He recently co-wrote the animated feature film Green Lantern: Beware My Power. He is currently the co-executive producer of Weather Hunters, a new animated series for PBS created by Al Roker, now in production.
Martha Wells
Martha Wells has written many fantasy novels, including The Wizard Hunters, Wheel of the Infinite, the Books of the Raksura series (beginning with The Cloud Roads and ending with The Harbors of the Sun), and the Nebula-nominated The Death of the Necromancer, as well as YA fantasy novels, short stories, and nonfiction. Her New York Times and USA Today-bestselling Murderbot Diaries series has won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Alex Awards.