The following special guests have been confirmed to appear at WonderCon 2016, March 25–27, at the Los Angeles Convention Center!
Special Guests
Gilbert Hernandez
Writer/artist, Love and Rockets
Gilbert Hernandez was born in Oxnard, CA with a comic book in his hand. His mother was a comics fan when she was a girl in the 1940s, so she felt it was okay for her kids to read comics 20 years later. Gilbert's older brother Mario brought home almost every type of comics that you could buy back in the 1960s, such as superheroes, horror, kids’ comics, war, western, sci-fi, classic novel adaptations, hot rods, etc. The only comics they didn't read were romance comics, because it was a house full of five boys until little sis came along.
Gilbert copied what he saw in comics and eventually came to make them as an adult and hasn't stopped yet. He's best known for his Palomar series in Love and Rockets. L&R has been going strong for over 34 years.
Jaime Hernandez
Writer/artist, Love and Rockets
As a young aimless Latino punk rocker, Jaime Hernandez, along with his brothers Gilbert and Mario, self-published the first issue of Love and Rockets in 1981. It was picked up by Fantagraphics Books in 1982 and ran 50 issues before the brothers took a break to pursue solo projects. Jaime’s titles have included Whoa, Nellie!, Maggie and Hopey Color Fun, and Penny Century. Love and Rockets was revived in 2000 and continues today. He has won numerous awards and has also done other comic work, magazine illustration and album covers.
Jim Lee
Photo by Mike Jara
Co-publisher, DC Comics; artist, Batman: Hush, Justice League
Jim Lee is a renowned comic book artist and the co-publisher of DC Entertainment. In addition to his duties as co-publisher, he is the artist for many of DC Comics’ bestselling comic books and graphic novels, including Justice League: Origins, Batman: Hush, and Superman Unchained. He also served as the executive creative director for the DC Universe Online (DCUO) massively multiplayer action game from Daybreak Games, currently available free to play on PS4, PS3, and on Windows PC. For his next project, Lee is handling the art chores on the The Dark Knight III: The Master Race #4 mini-comic.
Jeremy Love
Writer/artist, Bayou, The Black Lotus
Jeremy Love is an award-winning writer, illustrator, and animator. His critically acclaimed, Eisner Award-nominated, serialized graphic novel Bayou has been used as curriculum at various high schools and colleges including the University of South Carolina and Dartmouth college. It was also selected by the American Library Association as a great graphic novel for teens. Other projects include Blackest Nightmare for DC Comics, Fierce, and Shadow Rock for Dark Horse Comics as a writer, and GI Joe, Fraggle Rock for Archaia, and Midnight Mover for Oni as an artist. Love is currently hard at work completing Bayou as well as a new mini-series from Dark Horse Comics, The Black Lotus.
Terry Moore
Writer/artist, Rachel Rising, ECHO, Strangers in Paradise
Terry Moore began his career in comics in 1993 with the acclaimed epic series Strangers in Paradise, which garnered numerous industry awards including the Eisner Award and the National Cartoonists Society Comic Book Division Reuben Award. Moore has continued to create hit series, including ECHO, Terry Moore’s How To Draw, and SIP Kids since ending Strangers in Paradise in 2007. His current series, Rachel Rising, wows readers and critics with its in-depth characterizations and captivating art.
Moore publishes his work through his company, Abstract Studio, while contributing work to mainstream publishers such as Marvel Comics, DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics. Fans follow Terry on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr @terrymooreart.
Joe Quinones
Artist, Howard the Duck, Batman ‘66
Joe Quinones is the artist behind 2015’s Howard the Duck series from Marvel Comics, written by Chip Zdarsky. Known for his expressive faces and fluid linework, Joe has been making comics since 2007, working for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, BOOM!, and more. Notable recent works include Savage Wolverine, Batman ’66, and the original graphic novel Black Canary & Zatanna: Bloodspell, written by Paul Dini.
Humberto Ramos
Artist, Amazing Spider-Man, Extraordinary X-Men, Crimson
Humberto Ramos has been drawing comics professionally since 1993 when he began at Milestone Media, the year he also drew Impulse for DC Comics. In 1998 he co-founded the Cliffhanger imprint with Joe Madureira and J. Scott Campbell at WildStorm Productions, where he released Crimson and Out There. In 2003, Ramos worked on Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man for Marvel. In 2005, he released his creator-owned Revelations series through Dark Horse. In 2006, he worked on Wolverine, New X-Men, X-Men, and Runaways. In 2011, he released Fairy Quest Book 1, and recently drew Spider-Man in both Superior Spider-Man and the Amazing Spider-Man. His current work includes Extraordinary X-Men for Marvel with writer Jeff Lemire.
Paolo Rivera
Artist, Daredevil, The Valiant
Paolo Rivera was born and raised in Daytona Beach, Florida and graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2003. He began his career at Marvel, working for them almost exclusively for a decade. He has since worked for a number of publishers, creating covers, posters, and comics. Since his run on Mark Waid’s Daredevil, he has worked with his father, Joe Rivera, an award-winning inker. He recently finished The Valiant and is currently working on a Hellboy miniseries. He now lives in San Francisco with his wife and daughter. You can see his work at paolorivera.com.
John Romita Jr.
Artist, Superman, Dark Knight III, Amazing Spider-Man
John Romita Jr. is the son of John Romita, Sr., the co-creator of several notable Spider-Man stories in the 1960s and 1970s. JR Jr. began his career at Marvel UK, doing sketches for covers of reprints; his debut was with a six-page story in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #4. At Marvel over almost 40 years, John produced memorable runs on Iron Man (with David Micheline and Bob Layton), Amazing Spider-Man (with writers Roger Stern and J. Michael Straczynski), X-Men (with Chris Claremont), Daredevil (with Ann Nocenti and Frank Miller), and Wolverine (with Mark Millar), among many others.
In 2014, Romita moved over to DC Comics and began his first serious tenure with the publisher with a bestselling run on Superman with Geoff Johns. His latest endeavors include teaming up with Frank Miller and Brian Azzarello on the acclaimed Dark Knight III. April will unleash the "John Romita Jr. Variant Cover Month," for which the legendary artist has contributed 26 different covers featuring all of DC's best known characters.
Victoria "V. E." Schwab
Author, The Archived, Vicious, Darker Shade of Magic series
Victoria “V. E.” Schwab is the critically acclaimed author of more than a dozen books, including The Archived (about a library of the dead), Vicious (a supervillain origin story), and the Darker Shade of Magic series (a multi-London adventure). Schwab’s handling of the lines between good and evil, life and death, have earned her starred reviews, commercial success, and status as a rising star. Her books have been translated into 10 languages and optioned for TV and film. When she’s not wandering Scottish hills or Paris streets, she’s usually holed up in a coffee shop, dreaming up monsters.
Bill Sienkiewicz
Writer/artist, Stray Toasters, Elektra: Assassin
Bill Sienkiewicz is an Emmy-nominated, Eisner Award-winning artist/author. A descendant of Nobel Prize-winning novelist Henryk Sienkiewicz, he is perhaps best known for redefining the visual language and the public's perception of comics as an artform, by his use of innovative multimedia techniques and approaches, both analog and digital. He continues to influence new generations of creators. He also produces work in film, television, gaming, animation, and music, and has exhibited worldwide.
Scott Sigler
Photo by Joan Allen Photo
Author, Infected, Contagious, Pandemic, Generations trilogy
New York Times bestselling author Scott Sigler is the creator of 15 novels, 6 novellas, and dozens of short stories. His works are available from Crown Publishing and Del Rey Books. He is also a co-founder of Empty Set Entertainment, which publishes his young-adult Galactic Football League series.
In 2005, Scott built a large online following by releasing his audiobooks as serialized podcasts. A decade later, he still gives his stories away—for free—every Sunday at scottsigler.com. His loyal fans, who named themselves “Junkies,” have downloaded over 35 million individual episodes.
Scott lives in San Diego.