COMIC-CON

ANNUAL
YEAR OF
THE

SPIDER
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
As the legendary comics hero
celebrates his 50th anniversary,
a brand new film restarts
his big screen adventures.

PLUS
Prince Valiant
Love & Rockets
WonderCon
Comic-Con
APE

I O N !
DIT
Emma Stone and
Andrew Garfield in

I N E E
ONL
The Amazing Spider-Man
 COMICS. CONS.
SWINDLERS
House Of Lies

GRIFTERS
Shameless
AND EVERYTHING
LOVERS ENEMIES MONSTERS DANGER JUNKIES
Californication Homeland Dexter ® Weeds

IN BETWEEN.
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COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012
EDITOR/DESIGNER
IN THIS ISSUE
Gary Sassaman 08 COVER STORY: YEAR OF THE SPIDER
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Spider-Man turns 50 with a brand new movie, The Amazing Spider-Man.
Fae Desmond, Jackie Estrada

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
14 WONDERCON 2012
Blake Bell, Charles Brownstein, The show moves to Anaheim: here’s what to look for, including special guests and more!
Martin Jaquish, Brian M. Kane,
Gary Sassaman, Tom Spurgeon 20 COMIC-CON 2011 PHOTO ALBUM
A look back at the big event of the year.
SPECIAL THANKS
John Cornett, Jason Geffen, Gary Gianni, 32 SPIDER-MAN @ 50
Mick Mayhew, Laureen Minich, Eric Reynolds,
Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and the Romitas: 1962 and the birth of Spider-Man and the Marvel heroes.
Mark Schultz, Douglas Lathrop
38 LOVE & ROCKETS @ 30
FOLLOW US ON Los Bros. Hernandez’s seminal alternative comics title changed the industry when it launched in 1982.
TWITTER
42 PRINCE VALIANT @ 75
www.twitter.com/comic_con Hal Foster’s incredible creation has stood the test of time. Plus Gianni and Schultz’s current version.
www.twitter.com/wondercon
www.twitter.com/apexpo 48 COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL 2012
Early info on this year’s big event, including guests, Eisner Award judges, the Masquerade and more!
LIKE US ON 68 WILL EISNER SPIRIT OF COMICS RETAILER AWARD
FACEBOOK An interview with Tel Aviv’s Comics and Vegetables, the 2011 Award recipient.
www.facebook.com/comiccon 72 APE: THE ALTERNATIVE PRESS EXPO
www.facebook.com/wondercon Coverage of the 2011 show and a sneak peek at 2012’s event.
www.facebook.com/apexpo
COMIC-CON ANNUAL is published by
Comic-Con International: San Diego.
PLUS
All material, unless otherwise noted, is
04 SPLASH PAGE
© 2012 San Diego Comic Convention and
may not be reproduced without permission. 64 COSTUMERS’ CORNER
The views and opinions expressed in the fea-
66 VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT
ture articles and guest biographies appearing
in this publication are those of the authors
and do no not necessarily reflect those of 80 THE MOMENT
San Diego Comic Convention. Biographical
information is supplied by the guests.

Images presented in this publication are

copyright their respective owners and pre-
sented for historical and research purposes.

Comic-Con, the Comic-Con logo, and the

WonderCon logo are registered trademarks
of San Diego Comic Convention.

PRINTED IN CANADA by Lebonfon Printing.

Comic-Con International
P.O. Box 128458
San Diego, CA 92112-8458 SPECIAL ONLINE EDITION!
Click on the links in the purple boxes
www.comic-con.org for updated info on our website!
2 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012
80-PAGE GIANT!
COMIC-CON
INTERNATIONAL: SAN DIEGO

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Back in the 1960s—a whole century ago—DC’s 80-Page Giant line of books prom- President/CFO: John Rogers

ised hours of reading pleasure. We hope we’re able to recapture that for you with VP/Administrator: Events: Robin Donlan
VP/Administrator: Operations: William Pittman
this second Comic-Con Annual, which tops 80 pages for the first time. Our feature
Treasurer/Chief Technology Officer: Mark Yturralde
articles include work by some of the finest writers on comics out there, as they help Secretary/Executive Assistant: Mary Sturhann

us celebrate the anniversaries of Prince Valiant, the Amazing Spider-Man, and Love Directors At-Large:
Frank Alison, Alan Campbell, Ned Cato Jr.,
& Rockets. We also give you a long look back at Comic-Con International 2011 with Craig Fellows, Eugene Henderson, Anastasia Hunter,
Lee Oeth, Chris Sturhann
a special photo album, as well as sneak peeks at the 2012 editions of WonderCon,
Comic-Con, and APE, the Alternative Press Expo. And speaking of WonderCon, Executive Director: Fae Desmond
Director of Marketing & Public Relations: David Glanzer
you won’t want to miss our first show in Anaheim, CA! One of the big panels at that Director of Print and Publications: Gary Sassaman
event will be an exclusive look at the new Amazing Spider-Man film, which is this Director of Programming: Eddie Ibrahim

issue’s cover feature, including interviews with star Emma Stone and director Marc Director of Talent Relations: Maija Gates
HR/Office Manager: Sue Lord
Webb. For updated information on all of our events, visit www.comic-con.org! Guest Relations: Janet Goggins
Exhibits: Director of Operations: Justin Dutta
Exhibits: Sales: Rod Mojica
Exhibits: Registration: Sam Wallace

ON THE COVER Eisner Awards Administrator: Jackie Estrada

Professional Registration:
Heather Lampron, Anna-Marie Villegas
Emma Stone is Gwen Stacy and Andrew Garfield is Peter Parker in this Program Participant Registration: Amy Ramirez
EXCLUSIVE photo fom the new movie The Amazing Spider-Man. Line Management Coordinator: Adam Neese

See the feature article beginning on page 8. Assistants to the Executive Director:
Lisa Moreau, Tony Kim
Assistants to the Director of Marketing and PR:
Cover photo by Frank Ockenfels 3 Damien Cabaza, Karen Mayugba, Mike Stoltz
Assistants to the Director of Programming:
© 2012 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. Tommy Goldbach, Christopher Jansen
Spider-Man character ™ & © Marvel & Subs.
Assistant to the Director of Talent Relations:
Joey Plaskett
Exhibits Assistant: Alex Gentry
Office Staff: Patty Castillo, Cecy Cordero,
Ruben Mendez, Glenda Lynn Vanetti, Julia Wallsall

EVENTS:
Anime: John Davenport, Josh Ritter
At-Show Newsletter: Chris Sturhann
Films: Steve Brown, Josh Glaser
Games: Ken Kendall
Masquerade: Martin Jaquish
Technical Services: Tristan Gates

EXHIBITS:
Artists’ Alley: Clydene Nee
Art Show: LaFrance Bragg
Autograph Area: Katherine Morrison
Exhibit Floor Managers: Taerie Bryant, Michelle Hylton,
Andy Manzi, Brian Turpin

OPERATIONS:
MISSION STATEMENT Archivist: Eugene Henderson
Comic-Con International: San Diego is a nonprofit educational corporation Deaf and Disabled Services: William Curtis
dedicated to creating awareness of, and appreciation for, comics and Hospitality Suite: Mikee Ritter
related popular art forms, primarily through the presentation of conventions Information: Bruce Frankle
and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contribution of comics Logistics: Dan Davis
to art and culture. Materials Chief/Blood Drive: Craig Fellows
Registration: Frank Alison, John Smith
Volunteers: Sue Lord, Jennifer Maturo, Marc Wilson

Photo by Rudy Manahan WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 3

 JUNE FORAY: COMIC-CON ICON COVER STORY HISTORY LESSON 2012 CALENDAR

SplashPage NEWS & NOTES FROM THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL

JUNE FORAY: Comic-Con Icon

The legendary June Foray is the latest recipient of the Comic-Con Icon Award.
The award was given to the first lady of cartoon voices as part of The Scream
Awards, telecast on the SPIKE cable network in October 2011.
Ms. Foray is the voice of such pop culture icons as Rocky the Flying
Squirrel and his nemesis Natasha Fatale on Rocky & Bullwinkle, Nell Fenwick
on Dudley Do-Right, Granny on Tweety & Sylvester, Aunt May on Spider-Man
and his Amazing Friends, and Ursula on George of the Jungle, just to name a
few of her thousands of animated cartoon credits. Her recent autobiography,
Did You Grow Up With Me, Too? tells the story of how she became one of the
legends of voice-acting. In addition, Ms. Foray has been an important part of
Comic-Con International over the past four decades, appearing at the event
numerous times since her first appearance in 1973.
Comic-Con’s Icon Award is presented to individuals or organizations
who have been instrumental in bringing comics and/or the popular arts
to a wider audience. Ms. Foray’s large body of work has placed her
squarely in the realm of pop culture greats. She joins an impressive list of past Icon
Award recipients, who include Frank Miller (2006), Neil Gaiman (2007), George Lucas (2008), Stan Lee (2009),
and Ray Bradbury (2010). (For more on June Foray, visit www.JuneForay.com.)

A Cast of Thousands
BY MARK EVANIER
Someone once referred to June Foray as “The female Mel Blanc.” Which caused animation direc-
tor Chuck Jones to famously remark, “June Foray is not the female Mel Blanc. Mel Blanc is the
male June Foray.” But of course. Both of them spent decades upon decades providing voices not
just for animated cartoons but also for radio shows, commercials, dubbing sessions . . . anywhere
you could be heard and not seen.
Those who think they know most of what June has done are wrong. Even June doesn’t know
most of what June has done. Year after year, her life involved going from one recording studio to
June with her co-authors, Mark Evanier (l) and the late Earl Kress.
another, living from microphone to microphone. In a given day, she might record two commercials
here, a couple of cartoons there, the voice of a talking doll at her next stop, and then finish the day by replacing the dialogue for an on-camera actor who
looked but didn’t sound right.
She started (mumble mumble) years ago and has been doing it long enough to grow gracefully into the role of Granny, the owner of a very famous
Tweety Bird. But she can also still sound like a 10-year-old boy or even a flying squirrel who probably isn’t much older than that.
I was a fan of June’s before I had any idea who she was. As a kid, I loved old Warner Brothers cartoons and new Jay Ward cartoons and any sort of
Stan Freberg record . . . and as I eventually learned, June was in all of them. But then June was in just about everything.
I think I was asked to write this piece because for the last few years, I’ve occasionally had the stunning (to me) experience of “directing” June in voice
sessions, mainly for The Garfield Show. I put that word in quotes because you don’t really direct June Foray. You hire her . . . and once you’ve done that,
you’ve done the hard part. Then you point her to the proper microphone and you give her a script and tell her which parts she’ll play. She can play anyone
or anything with a voice higher than Thurl Ravenscroft’s.
You book her, then you get the heck outta the way. Don’t even think of telling her how to read a line. She’s June Foray, after all. If you want her to do
it again . . . well, that probably won’t be necessary but she’s professional enough that she’ll do it again even though it was perfect the first time. She’ll do
it to humor you so you can pretend you’re really directing her.
But you can’t. Because she’s June Foray.
She is such a treasure that to give her the Comic-Con Icon award is to state the obvious. Even leaving aside all she’s done to promote animation (found-
ing ASIFA), promote short films (serving on the Academy board), and make so many childhoods so much better, she deserves this award like no one has
deserved any award. Because she isn’t just an actress. She’s a cast of thousands, and we love every one of them.

4 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012 Foray Icon Award photo by Mark Davis/PictureGroup; Evanier-Foray-Kress photo by Chuk Gawlik
 Splash
COVER STORY: Frank Quitely and Jim Lee Page
Over the past few years, Comic-Con has been commissioning all new art for the covers to its Souvenir and
Program Books. Below is artist Frank Quitely’s original pencils (left) and inks and colors for the 25th Anniver-
sary WonderCon Program Book, published in April 2011.

For the Comic-Con International 2011 Souvenir Book, DC co-publisher Jim Lee contributed his first-ever cover, featuring a sneak peek
at the New 52 version of the Justice League. The cover—inked by Scott Williams (right) and colored by Alex Sinclair (inset below)
was so popular it was used for the third printing of the first issue of the new Justice League comic book.
See page 74 for Shannon Wheeler’s APE cover story!

Art © 2011 DC Comics WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 5

 Splash
Page

HISTORY LESSON:
THE COMIC-CON 40th ANNIVERSARY BOOK
Comic-Con International: San Diego celebrates its 43rd year in 2012, as the longest continually running comics and popular arts
convention in the country. Over the past four decades, the show has grown to be a pop culture phenomenon. Since 1970, the San
Diego Comic-Con has been a must-attend event for comics fans all over the world.
The incredibly rich history of the convention is celebrated in Comic-Con: 40 Years of Artists, Writers, Fans, and Friends, a
beautiful hardcover coffeetable book. Published by Comic-Con, in conjunction with Chronicle Books—one of the leading publish-
ers of art, photography, and pop culture books in the world—this beautiful 208-page history features an amazing assortment of
exclusive art and photos, many of which have never been seen outside of the Comic-Con archives. Topped off by a wraparound
cover by cartoonist Sergio Aragonés and with an introduction by dean of science fiction writers and long-time Comic-Con guest Ray
Bradbury, this book is a veritable time capsule of Comic-Con—and comics!—history.
You can purchase your own copy by visiting shop.comic-con.org. The price is $40, but when you buy it directly from Comic-
Con, we pay your postage and sales tax. Visit the website for complete details, and order your copy today!

COMIC-CON FAMILY OF CONVENTIONS CALENDAR

2012 MARCH 16–18: WonderCon • Anaheim Convention Center

MARCH 29: Comic-Con International Hotel Reservations Open

JULY 12–15: Comic-Con International: San Diego

San Diego Convention Center (Preview Night: July 11)

OCTOBER 13–14: APE (Alternative Press Expo)

Concourse Exhibition Center, San Francisco, CA

6 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012

 Read the adventuRes of the WoRld’s GReatest supeR heRoes
WheReveR you like. WheneveR you like.

TM

AvAilAble
iPad, iPHonE,
on THE
android dEvicEs,
KindLE FirE
and onLinE

doWnload the
free App
NOW!

read.dccomics.com ®, TM and © 2011 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

 Cover
STORY

YEAR OF
THE

SPIDER
The Amazing Spider-Man celebrates his 50th anniversary in comics this year. That half-century has been highlighted
with a long list of incredible adventures, in comics, animation, television, video games, and especially movies. Most
appropriately, Columbia Pictures chose this year to introduce their entirely new take on the Webslinger. After a trilogy
of immensely popular films by director Sam Raimi, the Spidey saga restarts under director Marc Webb and starring
Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker, Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, and Rhys Ifan as Dr. Curt Connors, aka The Lizard. Comic-
Con Annual talked to Webb and Stone about the new film and what it means to bring a new look and feel to a legend.

8 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012 Photos © 2012 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.; all Marvel Characters including the Spider-Man character ™ & © Marvel & Subs.
Marc
Webb
Director Marc Webb’s first film was the critically ac-
claimed 500 Days of Summer, a quirky indy romance
starring Joseph Gordon Levitt and Zooey Deschan-
nel. A giant action film based on one of the world’s
most popular comic book characters may seem an
odd choice for a second film, but as you’ll see from
this exclusive interview, the aptly named Webb is more
than up for the daunting task of introducing a totally
new version of Spider-Man with a lot of action, a little
romance, and the story of a boy becoming a man.
Your first film was 500 Days of Summer, which is
very different from The Amazing Spider-Man.
What made you tackle a project that’s so different?
Marc Webb: There are parts of it that are obviously
very different . . . the action parts of it and the scope
of it is certainly quite large. But at the end of the day
the character journey isn’t that far off. [They’re both]
about young men learning how to grow up despite
adversity in a sense. But I think what drew me to
this was it was a story about a kid who grows up
without a father. My first impulse when I had been
talking about doing the movie with Marvel and with
Columbia was there was a missing piece. There’s this
opportunity there to explore the emotional residue
of what it means to be an orphan. If your parents are
taken away from you when you are 6, 7 years old,
that’s going to leave a mark on who you are, and that
was very compelling to me. I thought it was really
interesting. It’s not something that you’d really seen
explored very much cinematically with Spider-Man
or with Peter Parker.
His parents are spies and there are different sto-
ries that come up here and there [in the comics]. But
to me it’s not necessarily about rendering the comic,
it’s about being loyal to a character and really think-
ing about how that character would behave in the real
world. You have to take him off the page and insert
him into a universe that feels real and tactile and rec-
ognizable and that’s a real trick. That’s a challenge of
any adaptation and in particular with comics, which
can be very heightened. But what makes Spider-Man
and Peter Parker so specifically interesting is that he’s
an intensely relatable character, more so than I would
say about 99 percent of superheroes. Peter Parker
has the same problems that we do and comes from
a working class family. He’s very relatable and so to
extend that into the cinema just seems sort of natural.
We wanted to keep it more grounded, and part of that
Photo by Jaimie Trueblood
grounding is to really think about how this kid would
grow up given the circumstances that he was assigned
as a very young kid. And that story about his parents
and their absence plays a much bigger role in this film
than we’ve seen.
You came out with a new poster in December that
said “the untold story” on it. Is that the untold story
you’re looking to tell?
That’s part of the untold story certainly. It’s really
important for us to be able to communicate that this
isn’t a remake of Sam Raimi’s movie. There’s new
territory, there’s a new villain, it’s a different Peter
Parker.
When you look at the original comics, do you look at
that as the Holy Grail or as a jumping off point?
Jumping off point. I mean there are certain truths and
there’s certain iconography that you just can’t under-
mine, and I have to be loyal to parts of the cannon.
And there are also wonderful, wonderful stories and
characters that emanate from that. The Gwen Stacy
saga is something that I think is just really incredible
storytelling. That’s something that we were curious
about exploring in a very specific way. But there are
certainly things from the Ultimate Spider-Man series
that were really inspiring too, like Mark Bagley’s art.
I really love the way Spider-Man’s body moves: it’s
more alive, more gymnastic, with a velocity to the
way the character moves in the later comics. And the
world that we live in is different than it was when
Spider-Man was first invented and I wanted to be
loyal to a contemporary feeling. Besides, with Sam I
think they sort of did that before. So I wanted to make
it a little less stylized and a little bit more realistic.
Why did you feel Gwen Stacy was the way to go as
opposed to Mary Jane?
Marc Webb on the set of The Amazing Spider-Man.
We’ve seen Mary Jane. I also think that Gwen Stacy
is a young scientifically minded woman who’s super
smart, maybe even a little bit smarter than Peter at
times. I like that dynamic, that there was a rivalry
between the two of them in some way. And I think
Emma and Andrew’s chemistry really describes that
in a fun, very intimate way.
Was there a moment when you tested them when
you just said, “This is it . . .”?
Yeah we did screen tests and Emma just showed up
and it was all over. Andrew’s a pretty intense guy, but
she had him in stitches between takes. She had him
just cracking up, and I would watch them in between
takes. They didn’t know each other and she’s just so
comfortable and so confident. You needed that energy
because Andrew is a very dominating presence and
she just went toe to toe with him, which is exactly the
dynamic we needed.
Looking at the trailers and the poster, this film
seems to have a bit of a darker tone to it, yet Spidey
has always been a wisecracking, fun kind of super-
hero. Are you able to maintain that humor in your
film?
There’s this trickster quality we were very keen on
exploring, with that humor and that fun and that
wisecracking stuff. We wanted to keep that alive, but
we wanted it to be realistic. We wanted that humor to
come from a real place. My aim was to create a world
where you could feel all those emotions. There are
certainly darker, more intense feelings in this movie.
There is betrayal, there is tragedy, but there’s also
humor and romance. So it’s a very complex bouquet
of emotions, but what you have to tread on is what
feels authentic and what feels real, and you have to
earn those different emotions. There are moments
of furiousness and gravity, absolutely. But are there
WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 9
 Webb on Spidey: “You have to take him off the page and insert him into a universe that feels real . . . and that’s a real trick.”
moments of humor and levity and whimsy? Abso-
lutely. Andrew was really great. He used this term to
describe Peter Parker in Spider-Man and Spider-Man
in particular: he’s a trickster. He was like “How would
Spider-Man web this guy? He’d give him a wedgy
or he’d do some awful graffiti.” There’s a punk rock
quality to Peter Parker that’s really irreverent and fun
and that’s something that Andrew embodies in a way
that we haven’t seen before. Certainly the materials
that have come out have a darker sentiment or there’s a
darker projection, but we’re very keen on staying loyal
to the humor of Spider-Man.
It seems the way Spider-Man is, his powers and the
way he moves, would really lend itself to 3D.
When we first talked about it, it was in the heyday of
3D and there was a lot of craziness about it, but it was
never forced upon us. I thought if there’s ever a movie
that should be in 3D, it’s Spider-Man for crying out
loud. And watching it in 3D, particularly in IMAX,
even the early stuff I’ve seen, it’s fantastic. You get a
visceral feeling that you don’t get any other way when
you have good 3D. We shot this all in stereo so it was
native 3D. Nothing has been converted. And when
you get that scope, the movie gradually expands. It
starts off in a very intimate, small way and gradually
expands to take advantage of that sensation. So do you
have to see it in 3D? No, you’ll still get the thrill of it.
But those point-of-view sequences, those came very
directly from a philosophy about putting the audience
in Spider-Man’s shoes. We wanted them to feel what
he feels, and that’s where those sequences came from.
You’ve been quoted as saying that you wanted to do
less CGI in this film and more real stunts.
We really made an effort to shoot everything practi-
cally. In the second half of the movie we expanded and
started using CG just because there are things that hu-
man beings can’t do, like swinging through the streets
off of a 60-story skyscraper. But I wanted there to be
a grounded quality to the fights and to some of the
swinging, so we built up to that while doing stuff, prac-
ticing. We shot a whole sequence underneath Riverside
Drive in New York where we had a series of traveling
rigs, which are wire rigs that were designed by Andy
Armstrong, our stunt coordinator. Nothing of that scale
had been done before where you could actually get a
stunt man or at times Andrew to swing back and forth
as Spider-Man would swing. It’s an incredible feat of
engineering that’s never been successfully attempted
before and you really feel it.
You mentioned at one point that Andrew could have a
second career as a stunt man.
He’s very, very good physically and was really focused
on how Peter inside the Spider-Man suit moved. He
was always very focused on trying to create a spider-
like Spider-Man. He wanted to invent the character
that possessed the body of Spider-Man. We would do
dozens of takes just to get an elbow move right, just to
get the head turn and the shoulders crooked in just the
10 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012
right way so it felt like a legitimate, strange, spider-like
creature underneath this suit.
When you were shooting on Riverside Drive in New
York, how do you deal with all these people who are
trying their best to capture video and photos and put
it on the Internet? Does that kind of thing drive you
crazy?
It does. It does because they’re shooting it from the
wrong angle and we spend a lot of time lighting things
for our camera, not for the other people’s cameras and
that’s frustrating. But at the same time there’s enthu-
siasm and interest. I would be that guy with a camera
waiting outside. I would do that. If I weren’t making
movies, I’d be a fan and I understand that. I think it’s
the world in which we live now and you can’t control
the conversation, you can just be a part of it. What
bums me out is that I want to maintain some element
of mystery, but you also have to engage people, espe-
cially given the fact that we’re starting a new chapter
of Spider-Man. People need to understand that we’re
defining it in a new and different way and we have to
spend time articulating that. You don’t want people just
inventing or assuming the story is one thing when it’s
really something quite different. And it’s frustrating
when you can’t control the mystery as much as you
would like to.
Let’s talk about your three lead actors and what each
of them brought to their roles, starting with Andrew
Garfield as Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man.
Andrew’s passion for the Spider-Man character is pres-
ent in every frame of the movie. He cares really deeply
and was so committed. And I think if any Spider-Man
fan saw him on a day-to-day basis, they would deeply
respect what he’s brought to this and how much he
cared. It’s just undeniable and I really admire that and
how much he’s given to the character and to the movie.
[His speech in Hall H at Comic-Con] is a perfect
example of why Andrew was the right guy. It’s about
a loyalty to this thing that really moved him when he
was young. He was a skinny kid that felt physically
insecure. He wasn’t a big kid, and everybody else was
bigger than him and stronger than him and faster than
him. That stuck with him and I think that helped define
his work ethic in a way. He read a lot of Spider-Man
when he was a kid and I think that got under his skin
and you could feel that. He wrote that speech, you
know. [See page 12 for Andrew’s Hall H introduction.]
And the e-mails I got from him very early on in the
process were filled with a deep expression of love for
the character. It’s pretty moving. It’s pretty cool and he
really owned it and that I admire. That’s really what he
brought to the table, that intense commitment.
Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy.
Humor and beauty. What I love about Emma is that
every guy falls in love with her, but with every woman
on the set, she’s like their best friend. She is so cool.
But what I like about her too is that she’s new and
she’s not cynical and she really represents women very
well. I think she’s a real strong woman, she’s a strong
character and she puts a lot of herself in that. The other
thing she can do is she represents the funny in the
movie. She brings so much humor and wit. There’s a
quick scene about halfway through the movie with her
and Dennis Leary where she was improvising some
things and every time we screen the movie, even at
this early stage, it brings the house down. She deliv-
ers and she’s unashamed. Dennis is a highly trained,
incredibly successful comedian and she went toe to
toe with him. She was incredible. She can hold her
own with anybody. I met Judd Apatow not long after
we started shooting and we were talking about how
amazing Emma was, and you know we all think that
she’s one of the great comediennes. Lucille Ball is her
hero and you can really see that, but she also delivers a
really authentic, emotional performance. There’s some
scenes in the movie between her and Andrew that are
just beautiful and very moving, that are romantic but
aren’t about humor. They’re about connection and loss.
She can stir you up.
Finally the villain, Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors.
The Welshman. He’s fantastic. He brings a surly
sophistication. Curt Connors is a friend of Peter Parker.
He is an ally who evolves into an adversary, but Peter
always cares deeply for Dr. Connors. Rhys has two
sides to his personality. He has a wonderful kindness
and warmth, and he has this surly rock ’n’ roll part of
his personality and you really sense both of those in
this movie.
All the Spider-Man films have kind of had a bit of an
origin story at Comic-Con. What was it like for you
stepping on the Hall H stage for the first time?
We were all a bit nervous because we feel a real
obligation to the fans and we had a lot to prove. I think
after we showed the footage you could feel the audi-
ence connecting and laughing at the right times and
being interested and surprised at the right times. It felt
really good. There were a lot of blog posts afterwards
that were really like, “Oh . . . now we get it.” It’s a big
intimidating environment, but Comic-Con is the
heart of those hardcore fans, and it was really, really
important for us to have a presence there. We all came
out of it feeling really, really good. I took a train back
home and everybody was glowing. It was a really great
experience and a great environment.
What was the one thing you didn’t see coming in
making this film?
I don’t know if there was one thing. I think what I
started to notice was how many kids you see running
around in Spider-Man outfits—not just on Hallow-
een—and how meaningful it is to people. How people
really actually care and how protective they are of
Spider-Man. I find it moving and inspiring. That was a
surprise: the scope of his impact across the world and
not just in America. It’s like you go all over the place
and Spider-Man is everywhere.
Emma Stone
Emma Stone is coming off—by her own estimation—
her best year yet. The young actress had roles in the
critically acclaimed films The Help and Crazy Stupid
Love and a cameo in Friends with Benefits. She
returned to Saturday Night Live to host for a second
time and managed to pull off one of the best shows
of the season. But a good part of her year was spent
hanging out with Spider-Man, both on the set and at
Comic-Con. We talked to Emma right before Christmas
about her role as Gwen Stacy, her love of Comic-Con,
and the possibility of an action figure looming in her
not-so-distant future.
When everyone heard that you were first going to be a
part of The Amazing Spider-Man, they automatically
assumed you were going to be Mary Jane Watson.
What appealed to you about appearing in a big
superhero franchise movie and taking on an iconic
character such as Gwen Stacy?
Emma Stone: When I auditioned for it, I didn’t get
the full script, I only got scenes between Gwen and
Peter and I screen-tested with Andrew. I heard about
Spider-Man and I didn’t think that was something I
would want to be a part of. I just thought that probably
isn’t right for me. Then I had the scenes and I realized
that this was a really interesting fantastic relation-
ship between two people and that I was being really
close-minded. I liked all the Spider-Man movies and
I’ve liked so many superhero movies that I don’t know
why I had that kind of mentality about it. Then I went
in and auditioned with Andrew and started learning
more about Gwen Stacy and her history and just fell
in love with the character and with the fans, too. I
started reading forums and getting involved more in
the comic book universe and it just became something
I really wanted to be a part of, just because of all those
elements.
You went from playing a literary character in The
Help who was in a much beloved book with its own
kind of following, to a comic book character who’s
iconic and has this rabid following. Was there a big
difference for you between those characters and how
they’re treated by their fans?
Well of course the characters themselves are incredibly
different and there seems to be a different fan base be-
tween Spider-Man fans and fans of The Help. There are
conventions for Spider-Man fans and there aren’t for
The Help fans, although I would love to see a conven-
tion of The Help fans. It could be like the Big Lebowski
Fest. But they’re two totally different worlds to me even
though they both had such a rabid following. There’s a
difference just in terms of bringing the material to life.
There are different incarnations of Gwen Stacy and of
Peter Parker throughout comic book history, all these
different storylines to pull from depending on what
kind of script you’re going to patch together. With The
Help, it was such a distinct story that kind of needed to
be matched line for line in a way. It felt different just in
Photo by Albert L. Ortega
Emma Stone at the Spider-Man panel at Comic-Con in 2011.
terms of becoming part of it and the
way the material was adapted. But
I’m so excited to be part of a movie
with a built-in fan base in that way.
You go to Comic-Con and there’s
so much passion in one room. Ev-
erybody’s so passionate about these
characters and how they’ve affected
their own lives. It’s a really cool thing
as an actor to know that you’re part
of something that’s so much bigger
than you. You’re not creating it from
the ground up, you’re trying to fill the
shoes of someone that’s been around
a lot longer than you. It’s really excit-
ing. I love that aspect of it.
Why do you think the producers and
writers went with Gwen instead of
Mary Jane?
Well, Gwen’s story happened before
Mary Jane’s, and I think that coming
back to their roots, it was interesting
to explore the woman who came
before Mary Jane. I think she’s such
a definitive part of Peter Parker’s re-
lationship with Mary Jane ultimately,
who is literally the polar opposite in
personality of Gwen Stacy. I think
just building that into Peter’s life and seeing that story I think that a big part of the heart of this story is
from the very beginning was really interesting. And romance, but there’s also the story of an orphan boy
of course Gwen’s story is so beautiful and important who’s searching for his father and searching for his
to the story of Spider-Man that I think they wanted to place in the world. I think that’s a big element in this
come from that angle at this time. movie from the very beginning, him feeling instantly
like an outcast because he was left as a child. He still
Director Marc Webb’s first film was 500 Days of was put into a different set of arms [with Uncle Ben
Summer, which is more of a bittersweet romance. and Aunt May] and he’s cognizant of that and you
What do you feel he brought to Spider-Man with can see that in the movie. But it’s not like it happened
that kind of background? when he couldn’t remember it. I think that’s a pretty
I think that a huge part of what he brought to Spider- major element, too . . . coming to terms with who you
Man was the true core of the relationship, and how are and what you’re responsible for, even if people
even though this is a boy that’s been bitten by a spider walked away from you.
and given super powers, he is a very human teenage
boy that just happens to be under these circumstances. What was it like working with Andrew Garfield?
He’s lost his uncle and he’s falling in love for the first I think his deep love and appreciation for Spider-Man
time and he’s going through some incredibly human were pretty apparent throughout the entire process of
experiences while not quite being human himself any- the movie. I think it’s really awesome to have such
more. And I think that Marc’s vision was just that it’s a huge Spider-Man fan play Spider-Man because he
a very huge world that we’re operating in but the story was so protective of all the elements of Peter Parker’s
itself is in a room between people. There are elements nature. It’s a really nice thing to watch someone who’s
of Spider-Man all throughout that; big sequences and read all the comics and dreamt of being this person
scenes with action and violence, but I think Marc since he was four years old bring that dream to frui-
really cared so much about the heart of the story and tion. I think he’s such an excellent actor and such a
the humanity in his relationships. great person that I feel so proud of him and what he
did in the movie.
When the comic was first created back in the 1960s,
one of the things that separated it from other comics What did you think when he stepped up to the mic at
was the kind of soap opera elements of it. Do you Comic-Con and revealed his own Spider-Man story
think the heart of this movie is a romance story? and his history with the character?
WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 11
Stone on Gwen: “It’s a really cool thing as an actor to know that you’re part of something that’s so much bigger than you.“

I think we all were biting our nails for that moment
because we knew like maybe an hour before that he
was going to do that because they had to bring him out
early through a different way. It was really last minute,
and he was like, “This is what I’m doing, by the way,”
and it was so heartfelt, so honest, and couldn’t be more
indicative of the way he played the character. It was
just all heart and I thought it was fantastic. I loved it.
What did you think of the costume that he wore on
that day?
I think it was from Target. It was pretty great. Yeah,
he could have walked around Comic-Con in it.
A number of actors and directors have come to
Comic-Con in disguise so they can walk the floor.
Do you have any ambitions to do that or have you
done that?
I would love to do that. I was going to be a Storm-
trooper last year, but we had to leave right after the
panel to fly back to L.A. so I didn’t get to do it, but
hopefully next year. Well, now I can’t be a Storm-
trooper, but I’ll pick something else.
What was the one thing that surprised you the most
about making this film?
It was Marc’s approach . . . at the end of the day
you’re sitting on the floor looking into the eyes of
another actor and it’s just like real life. I feel the
heart of it really remained, and it didn’t ever feel
bigger than us in that way. It felt like a human story. I
like that. That surprised me because I thought it was
going to feel so daunting every day, with wires and
harnesses and green screens and it was a pleasant
surprise.
So how do you feel about the possibility of having
your own action figure?
Is that going to happen?! If any kids get an action
figure of me and act like I did with action figures then
it’s going to be a highly inappropriate situation.
That’s the next question: would you keep it in the
package or would you take it out?
I would take it out. Always take it out!
At Comic-Con you wore a button that read “What
would Laura do,” in reference to producer Laura
Ziskin, who passed away last summer. What kind of
influence was she on this film and you in particular?
Oh God, a huge one. I can only speak for myself but
she was a huge influence on me. I named my dog
after her husband [screenwriter Alvin Sargent]. She
sat with me and would talk to me about how she
met Alvin, and the feelings that she had when she
met him and how she felt that they mirrored certain
elements of Gwen and Peter. So I couldn’t play Gwen
without thinking of Laura. And when she was on set,
we were lucky. Every day that I was there she was
there at some point. But that love story she was so
in love with—Gwen and Peter’s love story—and
was so protective of, she had such beautiful ideas for
it. I was very affected just in terms of playing that
character by Laura.
We’ve read a number of times that “Comic-Con is
your favorite place on the planet.” Why is that?
Because it’s concentrated, it’s like 100% passion in
one venue. It’s fantastic. I love that everybody’s there
for different reasons and then they’re in the halls
for the same reason and then they’re kind of milling
about and everybody’s into the same kind of thing.
How rare is it to go to a place where everybody is
into the same thing? There’s just such a positive feel-
ing there and there’s so much excitement and every-
body’s so intelligent about why they’re there. They’re
there because they care about something, and that is
I think the greatest quality in human beings. The fact
that it’s a bunch of people in one place that are that
way is really exciting to me every time.
One last question: if you could host Saturday Night
Live every week would you?
Yes, in a heartbeat. In a heartbeat!
Look for the special Amazing Spider-Man panel at
WonderCon in Anaheim! See page 14 for more de-
tails about the event and bookmark www.comic-con.
org/wc. The Amazing Spider-Man is in theaters
July 3, 2012.

Andrew Garfield’s Amazing Hall H Introduction

The Amazing Spider-Man portion of Sony’s panel was about to start in Hall H on Friday, July 22, but
the gangly guy in the dorky Spider-Man costume at the question microphone wouldn’t shut up. And
then he removed his ill-fitting mask and revealed that he was actor Andrew Garfield.

Hey, everybody. Can I say one thing? I think this might be the most incredible day of my life, and I’ve
always wanted to be at Comic-Con in Hall H at Spider-Man with all of you guys, it’s always been a
dream of mine. So thanks for having me. You have no idea how much this means to me. I’ve always
wanted to come here as a fan, and this is my first time so here I am as a fan. I just want to say a couple
of things. [He removes his mask to reveal . . . ]
I’m Andrew Garfield and I’m here introducing this panel, The Amazing Spider-Man panel. Stan
Lee says that the reason why Spidey is so popular is because all of us can relate to him, and I agree.
I needed Spidey in my life when I was a kid, and he gave me hope. In every comic I read he was liv-
ing out mine and every skinny boy’s fantasy of being stronger, of being free of the body I was born
into and [having] that swinging sensation of flight. And upon receiving his power—unlike most who’ve
become corrupted—he used it for good, and I think we all wish that we had the courage to stick up for
ourselves more, to stick up for a loved one more or even a stranger you see being mistreated. Peter
Parker has inspired me to feel stronger. He made me, Andrew, braver. He reassured me that by doing
the right thing it’s worth it, it’s worth the struggle, it’s worth the pain, it’s worth even the tears, the
bruises and the blood and I wouldn’t be able to stand here in front of you guys right now without feel-
ing that Spider-Man was here with me with his reassuring hand on my shoulder making sure I don’t fall
over and concuss myself. He has inspired countless people: girls, boys, men, women—all of us—and he
has saved lives and he’s saved my life, and I owe Webhead a lot and I owe Stan the Man a lot and
I’m humbled to be here—like you do not know—to share the work that we’ve done with all of you. This
is my first Comic-Con. This is definitely the coolest moment of my life and thank you for being here and
sharing it with me.

12 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012 Photo by Albert L. Ortega

 WonderCon
2012

WonderCon in Anaheim: March 16–18 WonderCon at a Glance:

WonderCon, one of the country’s best comics and pop culture conventions, moves to Anaheim, CA and the When: March 16–18, 2012
beautiful Anaheim Convention Center for 2012. Taking place the weekend of March 16–18 (Friday, Saturday, Friday, March 16: 12:00–7:00 pm
and Sunday), WonderCon is coming off its best year ever, with over 49,000 attendees at its 25th annual event in
Saturday, March 17: 10:00 am–7:00 pm
San Francisco in 2011.
Moscone Center South, the home to WonderCon for the past 9 years, is undergoing renovation work in the Sunday, March 18: 11:00 am–5:00 pm
first six months of 2012, so dates were not available for the regular venue. Rather than miss a year, Comic-Con Nighttime programs continue after 7:00 on Friday
International, which has put on WonderCon since 2002, decided to turn to an alternative location for the show: the and Saturday
Anaheim Convention Center, the largest convention center on the West Coast and one of the largest in the world.
The Exhibit Hall is filling up fast with some of comics’ biggest and best publishers, including DC Comics, Where: Anaheim Convention Center
Marvel, Archaia, Aspen MLT, Bongo Comics Group, BOOM! Studios and KABOOM!, IDW, Prism, SLG
800 West Katella Avenue 
Publishing, and Top Shelf. In addition, video game companies such as Capcom and Electronic Arts (EA) are on
board, along with such other exhibitors as Cartoonists Across America, G4 TV, Quantum Mechanix, the Society Anaheim, CA 92802
of Illustrators Los Angeles, and many more. You can expect a stellar group of small press comic publishers, an
amazing Artists’ Alley section, an Autographs area filled with some of your favorite stars, and a wide assort- SAVE MONEY!
ment of old and new comics, original art, action figures and toys, apparel, books, movie memorabilia, and just PURCHASE YOUR BADGE ONLINE!
about everything else under the pop culture sun.
Visit www.comic-con.org/wc to purchase
In addition to the Exhibit Hall, WonderCon offers attendees, professionals, and exhibitors the complete
convention experience. Fans can expect exclusive programming from the top comics publishers in the country, badges.
movie and television panels, anime, autographs, games, the popular Saturday night Masquerade (now in its
eighth year), and portfolio reviews. The Comics Arts Conference also returns to WonderCon with a full slate of ONLINE:
academic-themed programs based on the history and criticism of comics. (See page 18 for more info.) 3-Day Badge:
WonderCon in Anaheim has an incredible list of special guests from both comics and speculative fiction.
• Adult $40 (SAVE $10!)
See the article beginning on page 16 for a complete list of guests, all of whom will be featured in programs
• Junior/Senior $20 (SAVE $5!)
throughout the weekend, along with an amazing schedule of panels, previews, workshops, and events for
attendees of all ages. With the change of venue, WonderCon is more than ever a “must-attend” event on the 1-Day Badge (Friday OR Saturday):
convention calendar, especially with the addition of the beautiful Anaheim Convention Center and surrounding
• Adult $20 (SAVE $5!)
area as a bonus to both long-time and new attendees. Make it a long late-winter weekend in Anaheim and visit
• Junior/Senior $10 (SAVE $3!)
WonderCon, then take in Disneyland right next door after the convention!
1-Day Badge (Sunday):
• Adult $10 (SAVE $5!)
• Junior/Senior $5 (SAVE $2!)

ONSITE:
3-Day Badge:
• Adult $50
• Junior/Senior $25

1-Day Badge: (Friday OR Saturday):

• Adult $25
• Junior/Senior $13

1-Day Badge: (Sunday):

WonderCon in Anaheim offers attendees warm weather, an abundance of hotel rooms, and great dining op-
• Adult $15
portunities. Anaheim is easy to get to from all over the country, whether by air (LAX, Long Beach, and John
Wayne airports), train, or car (via easy access from Interstate 5). • Junior/Senior $7
The Anaheim Convention Center is located right next to the Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Children 12 and under are free with a paid adult.
theme parks and is within easy walking distance of Disneyland’s free Downtown Disney district, featuring Ages 13–17 pay Junior prices. Seniors are 60+ years
shopping, a multiplex movie theater, and fine dining, including ESPN Zone, House of Blues, Rainforest Café, of age. Active-duty military pay the Junior/Senior
Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen, and Tortilla Joe’s. And right outside the door of the Convention Center are two price. This offer does not extend to dependents.
large hotels—including WonderCon’s official headquarters hotel, the Hilton Anaheim—with numerous dining Even though your badge is needed to get into all
options, whether it be a quick bite, a relaxing dinner, or just a refreshing drink. events, it does not guarantee you access to any event
In addition, the center is right down the street from The Shops at Anaheim GardenWalk, which features if it has reached its capacity. Rooms are not cleared
Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., California Pizza Kitchen, McCormick & Schmick’s, P.F. Chang, Roy’s Hawaiian Fu- between events. Most autograph signings are of
sion Cuisine, and The Cheescake Factory, other restaurants and shops, and its own multiplex theater. Numerous a limited nature. Your badge does not guarantee
other restaurants and shops can be found on Katella Ave. and the streets surrounding the Convention Center. autographs at any event.

14 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012

 MARCH 16–18 • ANAHEIM CONVENTION CENTER • ANAHEIM, CA

8th Annual WonderCon Masquerade

Costumers: The Stage Is Reserved for You on Saturday Night!
No celebration of comic books, movies, and the other popular arts would be complete without recognition of
the art of costuming. Conventions like WonderCon are great places to see attendees show off their creativity
and talent, and sometimes their creations are just as good as—or even better than—the costumes seen on the
big screen or professional stage. In celebration of the many remarkable ways that people’s imaginations can
devise to clothe the human form, WonderCon again presents its Saturday night Masquerade costume competi-
tion.
The Masquerade takes place on WonderCon’s main stage, with a master of ceremonies and a panel of
judges, featuring theater-style lighting, enhanced sound, and large HD video screens displaying great close-up
views for all in the audience. Some costumes will be re-creations from movies, comics, TV, video games,
Japanese animation, and other sources; other entries will be completely original designs from the clever
imaginations of the entrants. Some entries will be solo costumes, while others will be groups with a shared
theme. If you’ve crafted a costume, or plan to, we encourage you to share your work on the stage, not only
because of the thousands of smiles you’ll create but because you might take home a trophy or prize as well.
Last year’s audience, which numbered over 2,900, lined up long before the doors opened, to enjoy the show’s
amazing and entertaining creations.

WonderCon’s Showtime will be Saturday, March 17, at 8:30 pm at the Anaheim Convention Center. Only a WonderCon
single-day Saturday badge or a 3-day badge is needed to participate or attend (while seating is available).

Headquarters Hotel:
Doors will open for audience seating at 8:00, and the event will run approximately two hours. Costumes must
not have been purchased or otherwise commercially obtained; they must be of original construction or show
significant modification of pre-existing materials. All genres are welcome, as are all levels of experience,
The Hilton Anaheim from the novice to the seasoned convention costumer.
Complete information, detailed rules, and an advance entry form are available at www.comic-con.org/wc/
WonderCon is proud to announce that Travel wc_masq.shtml, or you can write the Masquerade Coordinator in care of the address listed on page 2 of this
Planners will be handling all WonderCon hotel publication to get a copy via mail. A limited number of contestant slots are available, so interested costum-
reservations for 2012. ers should obtain the rules and sign up for a reserved spot now. The deadline for advance entry is March 2,
2012. Last-minute entries will also be accepted until 1:00 pm on the Saturday of the convention, unless all the
The beautiful Hilton Anaheim will be the
contestant slots fill up before then.
headquarters hotel for WonderCon. Located
Impressive WonderCon trophies will be awarded by a panel of guest judges in categories to include Best in
adjacent to the Anaheim Convention Center,
Show, Judges’ Choice, Best Re-Creation, Best Original Design, Best Workmanship, and Best Presentation. In
the Hilton is a short walk to Downtown Dis- addition to these trophies, a number of companies and organizations will present their own awards. Visit the
ney and Disneyland and not far from other website page listed above for complete information.
dining and shopping attractions in Anaheim.
The Hilton has restaurants, a food court, and
a Starbucks located on site as well as their Mix
Restaurant and Lounge. The lounge is located
in the center of their spectacular lobby and is
open until 1:30 AM every night. The Hilton is
approximately 14 miles from John Wayne Air-
port and the Long Beach Airport.
The Hilton Anaheim will be the home for
special WonderCon nighttime events, including
games and the Hospitality Suite, where you
can grab snacks and meet and greet some of
your fellow attendees.
The hotel offers an incredible WonderCon
room rate of just $129/night for up to four
people in the room. You can get complete de-
tails—and reserve a room at this special rate—
by visiting www.comic-con.org/wc/wc_hotel.
shtml. Reserve your room today to be a part
of all the action and fun at WonderCon 2012!
Contestants from the WonderCon 2011 Masquerade.

Masquerade photos by Kevin Green WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 15

 WonderCon
2012 Special Guests
ARTHUR ADAMS
(artist, Monkeyman and O’Brian,
Ultimate Comics: X)
Arthur Adams began working in comics
at the age of 19, pencilling the Longshot
limited series published in 1985 by Mar-
vel Comics. He has since worked on many
titles for the major comic companies. His
own series, Monkeyman and O’Brian,
launched in 1993. Arthur is currently work-
ing on a fleet of covers for Marvel. He has
also done illustrations for trading cards,
posters, shirts, magazines, movies, books,
and video games and worked in toy design,
packaging art, and even label art for X-
Men-themed Campbell Soup cans. Arthur
lives in Northern California in the woods
somewhere, like his hero, Bigfoot.  ing Kirby: King of Comics, which won
SERGIO ARAGONÉS
(cartoonist, Groo, MAD, Sergio Aragonés
Funnies)
One of MAD magazine’s longest-running
cartoonists (only Al Jaffee has been around
longer) and the creator of dim-witted bar-
barian Groo the Wanderer, Sergio Ara-
gonés is one of comics’ most popular cre-
ators. Most recently, the man some call the
world’s fastest cartoonist launched his own
monthly comic book series at Bongo Com-
ics, Sergio Aragonés Funnies.
ERNEST CLINE
(author, Fanboys, Ready Player One)
Ernest Cline has worked as a short-order
cook, fish gutter, plasma donor, elitist vid-
eo store clerk, and tech support drone. His
primary occupation, however, has always
been geeking out, and he eventually threw
aside those other promising career paths to
express his love of pop culture full-time as
a spoken word artist and screenwriter. His
2009 film Fanboys, much to his surprise,
became a cult phenomenon.  These days
Ernie lives in Austin, Texas with his wife,
their daughter, and a large collection of
classic video games. Ready Player One is
his first novel. 
RENAE DE LIZ
(artist/editor, Womanthology,
The Last Unicorn)
Renae De Liz has accomplished a lot
in her first five years in comics. She il-
lustrated the New York Times bestselling
graphic novel adaptation of Peter S. Bea-
gle’s The Last Unicorn for IDW, as well
as a few other adaptations such as Anne
Rice’s Servant of the Bones. In 2011 she
created and managed Womanthology, a
350-page anthology entirely by women
with all proceeds going to charity. She
raised $109,000 on Kickstarter, becom-
16 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012
ing the #1 most successful comics proj-
ect and 25th most successful Kickstarter
project of all time. She lives in Maine
with her husband, sons, and cats.
MARK EVANIER
(writer/historian/producer, Garfield,
Kirby: King of Comics)
Mark Evanier has worked with Jack Kirby;
written hundreds of comic books, includ-
ing Blackhawk, New Gods, Bugs Bunny,
The DNAgents, Crossfire, Scooby Doo,
and Tarzan; and written dozens of TV
shows, both live-action and animated, the
latter including most of the animated Gar-
field shows for the last 20 years. He is the
author of several books on comics, includ-
two Harvey Awards and one Eisner. He
has several other Eisners for his work with
Sergio Aragonés on Groo the Wanderer
and other silly comics. And he’s hosted
countless panels at both Comic-Con and
WonderCon.
MICHAEL GOLDEN
(artist, The ‘Nam, Micronauts)
Artist/writer/creator Michael Golden, co-
creator of the X-Men’s Rogue character,
Spartan X, and Bucky O’Hare,  is known
for his groundbreaking work on The ‘Nam,
Micronauts, G.I. Joe, Dr. Strange, and nu-
merous other characters and titles. He is
counted as one of the best cover designers
and storytellers in the business. Currently,
Golden’s work can be seen as the regular
cover artist for Spawn, while future work
includes a few secret projects for IDW and
DC and the Spartan X trade paperback.
JOE HILL
(author, Locke and Key, Heart-Shaped Box)
Joe Hill is the Eisner Award–winning writ-
er of Locke & Key (IDW) and the author of
the New York Times bestsellers Horns and
Heart-Shaped Box (William Morrow). He
lives in New England, where he rules as a
cruel snake god, satiated only by a ritual
sacrifice of meats and cheeses.
REBEKAH ISAACS
(artist, Angel & Faith, Magus)
Rebekah Isaacs is a penciler/inker best
known for DV8: Gods & Monsters with
writer Brian Wood and her current work on
Angel & Faith with writer Christos Gage
and executive producer Joss Whedon. Her
career began soon after graduating from
Savannah College of Art and Design in
2006, penciling several Devil’s Due titles.
She landed her first mainstream job with
Ms. Marvel #38. Since then she has illus-
trated several DC and Marvel titles and
is having a blast playing in the Buffy uni-
verse. She lives in Florida with her fiancée
Jon Price, writer of their creator-owned se-
ries Magus, and their cat, Fantastic Donut.
RICHARD KADREY
(author, Sandman Slim, Kill the Dead)
Richard Kadrey is the author of seven nov-
els, including Aloha From Hell, Sandman
Slim, Kill The Dead, Butcher Bird, and the
graphic novel Accelerate. The fourth book
in the Sandman Slim fantasy noir series,
Devil Said Bang, will be published in Oc-
tober. The Dino De Laurentiis Company
is developing Sandman Slim into a feature
film. He is also a photographer working
under the name Kaos Beauty Klinik.
CAROL LAY
(cartoonist/writer, WayLay, The Simpsons)
Carol Lay’s weekly strip, WayLay, ran
for almost 20 years in papers in the U.S.,
including the LA Weekly, NY Press, Sa-
lon.com, and Buzzle, and abroad in such
places as Tokyo and Hong Kong, Sweden,
Norway, and a tiny daily paper on Gibraltar
of all places. Lay’s strips and illustrations
have appeared in Newsweek, MAD maga-
zine, The Wall Street Journal, and The
New Yorker. Her books include MYTHOS
(Pocketbooks/DC Comics), Goodnight,
Irene (Last Gasp), The Big Skinny (Vil-
lard/Random House), and three strip col-
lections. She currently writes and draws
stories for Simpsons comic books (Bongo).
Lay lives in L.A., mostly for the allitera-
tion. For more info, visit www.carollay.
com.
JIM LEE
(artist, Justlce League, Batman: Hush; DC
Comics co-publisher)
Jim Lee is a renowned comic book artist
and the co-publisher of DC Entertainment.
Prior to his current post, Lee served as
editorial director, where he oversaw Wild-
Storm Studios and was also the artist for
many of DC Comics’ bestselling comic
books and graphic novels, including All
Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder,
Batman: Hush, and Superman: For To-
morrow. He also serves as the executive
creative director for the DC Universe On-
line (DCUO) massively multiplayer action
game from Sony Online Entertainment
(SOE). As part of DC Comics’ The New
52, Lee is drawing Justice League.
MIKE MIGNOLA
(writer/artist/creator, Hellboy, B.P.R.D.)
Mike Mignola is best known as the award-
winning creator/writer/artist of Hellboy.
He was also visual consultant to direc-
tor Guillermo del Toro on both Hellboy
and Hellboy 2:The Golden Army. He co-
authored (with Christopher Golden) the
novel BALTIMORE, or, The Steadfast Tin
Soldier and the Vampire.  Mike lives in
southern California with his wife, daugh-
ter, and cat.
TODD NAUCK
(artist, Amazing Spider-Man, Young Justice)
Todd Nauck is the artist of the best sell-
ing comic book of the last decade, Amaz-
ing Spider-Man #583: the Spider-Man/
Barack Obama Team-Up. Todd is a well
known artist of the comic book industry
and works regularly for Marvel and DC
Comics, with 17 years of credits including
Amazing Spider-Man, Friendly Neighbor-
hood Spider-Man, Teen Titans Go, and
Young Justice (now a cartoon on Cartoon
Network), as well as countless others.
His art was recently prominently featured
on the season 8 finale of ABC’s Extreme
Makeover: Home Edition as well as on epi-
sodes of ESPN’s NFL Sunday Countdown.
STEVE NILES
(writer/creator, 30 Days of Night, Criminal
Macabre, Mystery Society)
Steve Niles is best known for such works
as 30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre,
Simon Dark, Mystery Society, and Bat-
man: Gotham County Line. He is credited,
among other contemporary writers, with
bringing horror comics back to promi-
nence, writing and publishing comics and
anthologies since the mid 1980s. As a
freelance writer, Niles currently works for
four of the top American comic publish-
ers: IDW, DC, Image, and Dark Horse.
30 Days of Night was released in 2007 as
a major motion picture, and more of his
comics are now optioned for film. Niles’s
zombie comic, Remains, is part of Chiller
Network’s Chiller Presents series, which
premiered in December. 
ERIC POWELL
(writer/artist/creator, The Goon)
Eric Powell is a five-time Eisner Award–
winning writer and illustrator. He has
worked for every major comic publisher
but is best known for his dark comedy se-
ries The Goon and for pissing off people
who don’t have a sense of humor. Cur-
rently, Eric is collaborating with acclaimed
director David Fincher, Blur Animation,
and Dark Horse Entertainment to bring
The Goon to life on the big screen as an
animated feature film.
HUMBERTO RAMOS
(artist, Amazing Spider-Man,
Impulse, Crimson)
Humberto Ramos has been drawing com-
ics since 1993, when he began at Mile-
stone Media, followed by Impulse for DC.
In 1998 at WildStorm, he co-founded the
Cliffhanger imprint with Joe Madureira
 CHECK WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG/WC FOR UPDATES ON SPECIAL GUESTS!

ADAMS ARAGONÉS CLINE DE LIZ EVANIER GOLDEN

HILL

ISAACS KADREY MIGNOLA NILES

POWELL LAY

STAPLES

NAUCK RAMOS

SCHRECK STARKINGS LEE

SOOK WHEATON

SNYDER STRACZYNSKI WAID WOLFMAN

Lee photo by Victor Ha; Snyder photo by Kevin Green; Waid photo by Lori Matsumoto; Wheaton photo by Atom Moore WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 17
 WonderCon
2012
and J. Scott Campbell, and published the
creator-owned series Crimson and Out
There. In 2005, he released the creator-
owned Revelations through Dark Horse. At
Marvel, Ramos has worked on Peter Park-
er, Spectacular Spider-Man, Wolverine,
New X-Men, X-Men, and Runaways. His
most recent work includes the “Big Time”
and “Spider Island” story arcs in Amazing
Spider-Man and the creator-owned Fairy
Quest Book 1.
BOB SCHRECK
(editor-in-chief, Legendary Comics)
Bob Schreck is the editor-in-chief at Leg-
endary Comics, which recently entered the
marketplace with the successful release of
Frank Miller’s Holy Terror graphic novel.
He is currently developing many other
new projects for Legendary, including The
Tower Chronicles, written by Matt Wagner
and illustrated by Simon Bisley. Schreck is
a 30-year veteran of the comic book and
entertainment industry. He worked for
Marvel Comics and Comico: The Comic
Company in the 1980s, worked for Dark
Horse Comics during the early 1990s, and
then started Oni Press in 1997 with busi-
ness partner Joe Nozemack. In this century,
he spent nearly 10 years at DC Comics,
where he was in charge of the company’s
Batman franchise and worked under DC’s
Vertigo banner.
SCOTT SNYDER
(writer, Batman, American Vampire,
Swamp Thing)
Scott Snyder started his writing career with
a collection of his short stories, Voodoo
Heart, which was hailed as a “Hot De-
but” by Kirkus Reviews in 2006. He soon
turned his attention to comics, with early
work for Marvel (Iron Man: Noir), and his
co-creation of the Vertigo title American
Vampire, with artist Rafael Albuquerque,
which won both the Eisner and Harvey
Awards for Best New Series of 2010. He
also wrote an acclaimed run of Detective
Comics before launching the new Batman
and Swamp Thing titles as part of DC’s
New 52 line.
RYAN SOOK
(artist, The Spectre; cover artist, Justice
League Dark, DCU Presents)
Ryan Sook has been working in comics for
the last 15 years as a penciler, inker, and
cover artist. His work includes The Spec-
tre with J. M. DeMatties, B.P.R.D. Hollow
Earth with Mike Mignola, Arkham Asy-
lum: Living Hell with Dan Slott, X-Factor
with Peter David, Seven Soldiers: Zatanna
and The Return of Bruce Wayne with Grant
Morrison, and Wednesday Comics: Ka-
mandi with Dave Gibbons. Currently Ryan
is the cover artist for two titles in DC’s
New 52 line, Justice League Dark and
DCU Presents.
FIONA STAPLES
(artist, Mystery Society, SAGA)
Fiona Staples is a Canadian artist known for
her covers, which earned her a Joe Shuster
award in 2011, and her interior artwork.
She’s dabbled in everything from horror
to superheroes, illustrating series such as
Mystery Society and the Eisner-nominated
North 40, and doing covers for Superman/
Batman, DV8, and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents.
She’s currently working on the fantasy epic
SAGA with Brian K. Vaughan, due out in
2012 from Image.
RICHARD STARKINGS
(writer/letterer/designer, Elephantmen)
Eisner Award winner Richard Stark-
ings  started out as a cartoonist and self-
publisher in the UK. He contributed gag
strips to Tardis and published four Doctor
Who fanzines of his own. He landed work
as a lettering artist on the latter issues of
Dez Skinn’s Warrior, Detective Comics,
and Batman: The Killing Joke. Starkings
became group editor of the Boys’ Adven-
ture titles at Marvel UK, where he broke
in Bryan Hitch, Doug Braithwaite, Dan
Abnett, Liam Sharp, and Andy Lanning. In
the U.S., Starkings created the Comicraft
studio, whose fonts are now the mainstay
of the lettering industry. But it was always
his intention to create and publish his own
comic. Image Comics’ sleeper hit El-
ephantmen is that comic. 
J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
(writer, Superman: Earth One)
Winner of the Inkpot, Eisner, Hugo, Sat-
urn, and Ray Bradbury Awards, J. Michael
Straczynski wrote 2010’s wildly popular
Superman: Earth One graphic novel, with
volume 2 due out in 2012.  His current
film credits include the story for the first
Thor movie (he also wrote the comic),
the screenplay for Underworld: Awaken-
ing (released in January), and several new
movie projects, including Shattered Union
and Vanishing Point, both for Bruck-
heimer/Disney. 
MARK WAID
(writer/editor, Kingdom Come,
Irredeemable, Daredevil)
Comics professional Mark Waid has, at
one time or another over the past 25 years,
held pretty much every job the industry
has to offer, from publisher to PR flack
to editor to colorist. He is best known,
however, as a writer, creator of the Eisner
Award–winning Kingdom Come graphic
novel with artist Alex Ross, and over 1,200
comics besides, including long runs on The
Flash, Fantastic Four, Captain America,
Irredeemable, Ruse, and Justice League of
America. A well-known comics historian,
Waid looks to the future—and the past—
with his upcoming line of digital comics.
WIL WHEATON
(actor/author, Star Trek: The Next Genera-
tion, The Big Bang Theory)
Wil Wheaton’s successful acting career be-
gan in 1986 with acclaimed roles in Stand
By Me and Toy Soldiers. In his teen years,
he played wunderkind Wesley Crusher on
Star Trek: The Next Generation. Currently,
he plays Evil Wil Wheaton on The Big
Bang Theory, notorious hacker Cha0s on
Leverage, Doctor Isaac Parrish on Eureka,
and Axis of Anarchy leader Fawkes on The
Guild. But Wil is much more than just an
actor; he’s an author, blogger, voice actor,
widely followed original Twitter user, and
a champion of geek culture. Wil currently
splits his time between acting and writing.
MARV WOLFMAN
(writer/editor, New Teen Titans,
Tomb of Dracula)
Marv Wolfman has created more char-
acters that have gone on to television,
animation, movies, and toys than any other
comics creator since Stan Lee. Marv is
the writer/creator of Blade, the Vampire
Hunter and creator of Bullseye, the prime
villain in the 2003 Daredevil movie, and
he was the writer/creator of the New Teen
Titans, a runaway hit show on the Cartoon
Network. Marv also writes video games
for many companies, including Warners,
Sony, Disney, and others. His adaptation
of Superman Returns won the industry’s
“Scribe” award, and his nonfiction book
Homeland, The Illustrated History of The
State of Israel won the National Jewish
Book Award among others. 

Bob Schreck Headlines Comics Arts Conference’s Sixth Year at WonderCon

The Comics Arts Conference celebrates its sixth year at WonderCon with special guest Bob Schreck, the co-founder of Oni Comics and Legendary Com-
ics’ editor-in-chief. Bob will discuss his life in comics publishing and his predictions for the future of the medium with Stanford Carpenter (School of the Art
Institute of Chicago).
In other programs, Professor E. Paul Zehr will compare Batman and Iron Man to answer the question: Can biology beat technology? Which is more
effective: Batman’s development of his physical side or Iron Man’s technological amplification? Dr. Robin Rosenberg will turn from Batman’s body to his
mind, asking, “What’s the Matter with Batman?” Along with Batman writers and artists, Rosenberg will consider whether the Dark Knight can be diagnosed
with a psychiatric disorder, and if so, which one. Dr. Andrea Letamendi and DC writer Gail Simone move the discussion from Batman to Batgirl, exploring
the lessons learned from Batgirl about female superheroes and trauma. Dr. Travis Langley leads a discussion on bringing Batman to the classroom, explor-
ing how an examination of the psychology of Batman can be a jumping-off point for instructors to introduce concepts in literature, composition, linguistics,
and gender and cultural studies. And Daniel H. Wilson brings the conversation back to Iron Man through a discussion of his novel Robopocalypse and the
present and future of technological fusion using concepts from Iron Man comics, neuroscience, biomedical engineering, and robotics. Other panels include
discussions of how comics work formally, comics and feminism, continuity in comics, and the adaptation of comics to other media.
The Comics Arts Conference is an academic conference in the heart of Wonder-Con and is designed to bring together comics scholars, professionals,
critics, and historians to engage in discussion of the comics medium in a forum that includes the public.

18 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012

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PHOTO ALBUM

20 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012

 the doctor will see you now . . . one lucky autograph winner
the masquerade party is one the highlights of comic-con’s got the stars of Doctor who (karen Gillan and Matt Smith)
saturday night. to sign her cast.

CHew creators rob Guillory and John

layman with their eisner awards for the adrian empire duels out back on the
best continuing series. convention center balcony. batman ponders his next purchase.

at the comics fandom 50th party (l to r):

tsuneo goda with his beloved creation, paul levitz, wendy & richard pini, katie sackoff and bryan cranston talk
domo, and his inkpot award. and michael uslan. batman year one.

my neighbor tortoro won two axe cop creators ethan nicolle and his brother malachai at
anime company awards at the their panel ... malachai is the youngest special guest to
masquerade. ever appear at comic-con! that’s one powerful family!

OPPOSITE PAGE: (clockwise, starting in upper left): Raina Telgemeier accepts her Eisner Award for Best Publication for Teens for her graphic novel, Smile; one of MAD’s
maddest writers, Dick DeBartolo with his Inkpot Award; Star Trek’s original Captain Kirk, William Shatner, at the panel for his new documentary The Captains; Jeff
p

Smith celebrating the 20th anniversary of his award winning comic series, Bone; when genre icons meet: Hello Kitty Slave Leia; just a fraction of the giant Exhibit Hall;
fantasy author Sherrilyn Kenyon at her Spotlight panel; actor Henry Cavill backstage after The Immortals panel; Joss Whedon talking about his Dark Horse comics
series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel; and just one of thousands of attendees who paused to take that perfect photo.

WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 21
 the winners of the 2011 Comic-Con international independent
film festival.
rick baker signs for his fans. special guest jo chen.
amazing spider-man’s andrew garfield
and emma stone.
ATTENDEE INTERVIEW: The Hometown Newbies
NAMES: Brandon, Nathan, and Katie
FROM: This place called “San Diego,”
evidently in California
NUMBER OF YEARS AT COMIC-CON: Newbies
all, including a 16- and an 11-year old (not
pictured)
22 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012
the walking dead’s robert kirkman, interviewed by
g4’s blair butler at the image comics booth.
games were everywhere . . . as were comic books!
writer joe hill introduced the legendary artist tony dezuniga with his
locke & key TV pilot. newly minted inkpot award.
What’s up? Katie: The Twilight panel was awesome but my favorite panel was for Batman: Year
One. The panel was hilarious and the interaction between the panelists and everyone that came
to see it was very engaging and it was just really great. This is Nathan’s first day. He didn’t go
on the other days. [Nathan likes the toys, including Beyblades, Harry Potter Legos, and Poké-
mon.] We heard today [Sunday] is a good day to kind of walk the floor and purchase some
things before everyone leaves. I still don’t know what to expect. I’m loving the original art. I
didn’t come with anything in particular that I wanted to purchase, but I’m sure I’ll walk away
with something.
Best thing about Comic-Con? Brandon: I like being able to see all the detailed toys and all the
displays. Being able to see the panels and previews and stuff, that’s a really cool experience, too.
Katie: For me it’s been the community of Comic-Con. I’ve been going on Comic-Con’s Facebook
page a lot. If I have any questions everyone’s been really, really cool about answering them.
I haven’t been able to kind of wrap my head around all of [Comic-Con]. But it’s been a really
positive experience. Everyone’s been very nice and supportive and just works with you, real
helpful, so that part’s been awesome which makes me want to come back.
Happy ending? The Hometown Newbies got tickets for 2012!
A World of 99.4% Pure Imagination
(and 0.6% Evil Genius)
Welcome to Planet Quirk! We’d take you to our leader, but on any given
day you’ll find us debating whether that’s James T. Kirk, Buffy Summers,
dread Cthulhu, or Colonial President Laura Roslin. So—if you like to geek
out over any kind of sci-horror-fantasy-book-game-film-comics fandom at
all, just pull up a captain’s chair and stay as long as you like. (It’s cool; we
know this guy with a machine that can get you home again before you left
in the first place…)

PLANET QUIRK RECOMMENDS

Join us online • planetquirk.com • twitter.com/planetquirk • facebook.com/planetquirk

 the cast of hbo’s game of thrones, with creator george r.r. martin (far right).

charlize theron talked about daniel craig at the world

two films: prometheus and famed comics artist jordi fantasy author premiere of cowboys and
snow white & the huntsman bernet was a special guest. kim harrison. aliens, at the civic theater.

gabriel ba and fabio moon won the eisner chuck’s yvonne strahovski greets the
for best limited series, daytripper. fans in ballroom 20.

Looking north through the giant the groo crew (l to r): mark evanier, sergio aragones, tom luth, and stan sakai
exhibit hall. at the annual “sergio and mark show” panel.

24 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012

 special guest
ernie chan.
twilight stars taylor lautner, kristen
stewart and robert pattinson returned
to comic-con.
ATTENDEE INTERVIEW: The Panel Junkie
NAMES: Brian
FROM: Garden Grove, CA
NUMBER OF YEARS AT COMIC-CON: Second
time, first time as a “full four-day attendee”
fantasy author comics artist jamal igle chester brown read from
patricia briggs. with his inkpot award. his new book at his panel.
the comic-con/robert a. heinlein blood drive
once again set a new record!
the bongo comics booth was a popular spot booster gold and blue beetle look a
for kids of all ages. little different . . .
What’s up? I’m very much a panel junkie. I like to just kind of sit here and soak up the knowledge
and the geeky goodness, as it were, of meeting and asking questions of people whose work I
follow. If you’re trying to be the best panelist ever, study Bruce Campbell and learn from him. I
also attended a DC Batman panel that was great. I’m a big fan of Judd Winick as a writer, he’s a
favorite of mine. For me, it’s all about the panels.
What did you buy? I’ve already got my official Comic-Con T-shirts, but there’s always an opportu-
nity to find something that’s just like “Oh, my gosh . . . I can’t believe they’ve got that, I’ve got to
have it!” You never know what you’re going to run into, that’s the best part.
Favorite comics? I I follow several of Marvel’s Ultimate titles. I’m always on the lookout for a good
Vertigo or Dark Horse title. There’s always a good graphic novel that’s coming out, and that tends
to be what I look for these days.
Best thing about Comic-Con: It’s got to be the collective “geekdom,” for lack of a better term.
There’s no place, no time, no event on the planet where for an entire weekend you’re going to
find this many people [together] with so many common interests. For four days you can just come
here and geek out to your hearts content. It’s really impressive and you can just really let your in-
ner geek out. No matter what your genre is, you can come here and this town is yours for just that
purpose, and that’s just a great, wide-open, let your hair down kind of feeling.
WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 25
 lee meriwether was one of
author christopher moore at
the popular stars in
his spotlight panel.
the autograph area.
dan vado and his slg lucasfilms’s former dir. of fan
publishing celebrated relations, steve sansweet,
their 25th year in comics. accepting his inkpot award.

cutting of the cake at the comics fandom 50th party:

(L to r): bill schelly, maggie thompson, dick and pat lupoff,
superstar directors peter jackson and steven spielberg (with
roy thomas, and richard kyle.
his inkpot award) talked about the adventures of tintin.

jim mccann and janet lee were excited to

win the eisner award for best graphic
novel for return of the dapper men.

stars eve myles and john barrowman stan lee and morgan spurlock signed this giant transformers statue at the
presented the new torchwood: the comic-con documentary movie book at hasbro booth became a favorite spot
miracle day series. the sideshow collectibles booth. in the exhibit hall to take a photo.

26 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012

 co-publisher and justice league artist jim lee the view from above: the always busy artists’ alley
sketching on the big screen in the dc comics booth. dominated the south end of the exhibit hall.

mutts cartoonist patrick mcdonnell won the longtime comic-con volunteer

bob clampett humanitarian award; he’s seen here dawn devine retired and this catwoman has a little bit of
with presenter ruth clampett. received an inkpot award. steampunk in her, we think.

editor-in-chief axel alonso

and writer greg rucka at oni press’s james lucas jones indy and dc comics creator
comics writer jen van meter.
one of marvel’s panels. conducts a portfolio review. jeff lemire.

ATTENDEE INTERVIEW: The Indie Comics Lover

What’s up? John: The thing I’ve enjoyed so far is the benefit of experience that a lot of the
people down in the Exhibit Hall have got and are getting, so it’s not so crazy. If you want to go
do something, there’s a clearly defined line.

Katherine: The crowd control is getting better. Although the crowds—even at their busiest—are a
very chill crowd. These are good people to come and experience this with.

John: And it doesn’t matter who’s standing behind you . . . there’s something you can strike up
a conversation about. I’ve been introduced to so many things just talking to people because we
have one thing in common and then they’ll say, “Oh, well . . . I love this other thing.”

NAMES: John and Katherine
FROM: Oak Park, CA (north of Los Angeles)
NUMBER OF YEARS AT COMIC-CON:
John since 2002 (give or take a year or
two); Katherine is here for the third time
Favorite comics: John: I really love indie comics. It’s fun reading creators who just have their
own stories to tell. They write, they draw, some of them do their own publishing. I love what
indie creators will do because they can do anything, they answer to no one. [Comic-Con] is a
place where they can really thrive and kind of band together. You walk down a whole line of
comic creators and you go there for one, but then you end up getting hooked on the work of
the guy in the booth right next door because those creators have been talking the whole time.
Best thing about Comic-Con: John: The minute we walk into the Exhibit Hall the first thing we say
is we are among our people. Katherine: It’s good to be home.

28 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012

artist matt wagner draws his signature character, grendel, penn & teller on stage in the packed indigo ballroom at
at one of the cbldf’s master class sessions. the san diego hilton bayfront hotel.

syndicated cartoonist designer/cartoonist seymour michael c. hall of dexter on pee wee herman backstage
mell lazarus. chwast with his inkpot. the showtime panel. in hall h.

part of the volunteer crew

giving out bags at registration.

kevin conroy and mark hamill (the voices

this year’s comic-con bags became of batman and the joker) at the eisner award presenters dave gibbons
dresses, coats, vests, and much more. batman: arkham city panel. and jonathan ross.

WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 29
 artist bill maus in the big bang theory cast takes a bow after their panel before a packed house
artists’ alley. in ballroom 20.

sarah michelle gellar returned

to comic-con with her new show, oh, well ... time to go home.
this ingenious centaur costume include working hind legs! see you next year!
ringer.

PHOTO CREDITS:
PAGE 20: (Clockwise from upper left): Tony Amat, Austin Gorum, Austin Gorum, Johnakin Randolph, Chuk Gawlik, Kevin Green, Tom Gurnee,
Oscar Benjamin, Eric Oleas (center): Allan Barsody. PAGE 21: (1st row, L to R): Sergio Palacios, Oscar Benjamin. (2nd row): Tony Amat, Kevin
Green, Kevin Green. (3rd row): Eric Olaes, Chuk Gawlik, Scotty Oson. (4th row): Johnakin Randolph, Rudy Manahan, Kevin Green.
PAGE 22: (1st row, L to R): Barry Brown, Kevin Green. (2nd row): Johnakin Randolph, Tom Gurnee,
Kevin Green, Kevin Green. (3rd row): Albert L. Ortega, Tina Gill, Oscar Benjamin. even batman has
PAGE 24: (1st row, L to R): Austin Gorum. (2nd row): Albert L. Ortega, Oscar Benjamin, Barry Brown, to consult the
Albert L. Ortega. (3rd row): Kevin Green, Tony Amat, Albert L. Ortega. (4th row): Chuck eventS Guide once
in a while.
Gawlik. PAGE 25: (1st row, L to R): Eric Olaes, Rudy Manahan, Oscar Benjamin, Oscar Benjamin.
(2nd row): Albert L. Ortega, Barry Brown, Austin Gorum. (3rd row): Kevin Green.
PAGE 26: (1st row, L to R): Eric Olaes, Fritz Harmon, Barry Brown, Chuck Gawlik. (2nd row): Albert L.
Ortega, Tony Amat. (3rd row): Oscar Benjamin, Kevin Green, Albert L. Ortega. (4th row): Aaron
Turkeltaub. PAGE 28: (1st row, L to R): Kevin Green, Kevin Green. (2nd row): Tony Amat, Barry Brown,
Eric Olaes. (3rd row): Kevin Green, Barry Brown, Patrick Yeung, Chuk Gawlik.
PAGE 29: (1st row, L to R): Brian Wong, Rudy Manahan. (2nd row): Sergio Palacios, Oscar Benjamin,
Oscar Benjamin, Albert L. Ortega. (3rd row): Kevin Green, Kevin Green, Johnakin Randolph. (4th row):
Brian Wong. THIS PAGE: (1st row, L to R): Chuk Gawlik, Albert L. Ortega. (2nd row): Austin Gorum, Allan
Barsody, Patrick Cristobal. (Batman): Sergio Palacios.
INTERVIEWS AND ACCOMPANYING PHOTOS ON PAGES 22, 25 and 28: Douglas Lathrop.

30 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012


Steve Ditko John Romita Sr.
Over the past 50 years, no new American comic book charac-
ter has captured the hearts and minds of fans like the Amazing
Spider-Man. Launched in Marvel Comics’ final issue of Amaz-
ing Fantasy—a series that had already gone through its third
title change in its 15-issue run—Spidey’s first appearance almost
seemed like an afterthought, a shoe-horning of a superhero into
a dying fantasy book. But over the years Peter Parker and his
brightly colored alter ego became Marvel’s most popular char-
acter, spawning a slew of spin-off titles, all kinds of merchandise,
television cartoons, and a series of some of the most popular
superhero movies ever made. A new one—aptly titled The Amaz-
ing Spider-Man in this 50th anniversary year of the character—is
due out on July 3 (see the cover story on page 8).
But the celebration of any comic book character’s anniver-
sary begins with the talented writers and artists who told his
stories. With Spidey that includes writer/co-creator Stan Lee
(along with the many talented scribes who took the reins after
32 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012
50th
ANNIVER
SARY
John Romita Jr.
™ & © Marvel & Subs.
him) and three of the legion of memorable artists who illustrated
his exploits: Steve Ditko, Spider-Man’s co-creator and artist for
his first 38 issues (plus Amazing Fantasy #15 and two Annuals);
John Romita Sr., who had the unenviable task of replacing Ditko
on the book but actually took the character to even greater
success; and Romita Senior’s greatest creation: John Romita Jr.,
who put his own indelible stamp on the character. These three
artists, along with Stan, are key to the success of Spider-Man
over the past half-century. Blake Bell (Strange and Stranger:
The World of Steve Ditko) looks at the Ditko mystique and his
lasting effect on the character; Tom Spurgeon (The Romita Leg-
acy) chronicles the tale of father and son artists whose Spidey
art is among the best ever produced; and we start with a look
at Stan Lee’s career and that memorable year of 1962, when
new superheroes came fast and furious from the writer/editor
and his small staff of co-creators and artists.
 C O M I C - C O N 2 012 A N N I V E R S A R Y C E L E B R A T I O N
1962: Stan Lee & the Birth of
the Marvel Heroes
1962 is the year when Marvel Comics really started.
While the Fantastic Four, the flagship title of the
Marvel Universe, launched in 1961 (cover-dated for
November of that year), the extended Marvel Uni-
verse saw its birth 50 years ago. And it’s impossible
to talk about that year and comics without talking
about Stan Lee.
Born Stanley Martin Lieber in 1922, “Stan the
Man,” as he would eventually become known in
the 1960s, had spent over 20 years in comics by
the time the FF rolled around. He started working
for his cousin (by marriage) Martin Goodman at
Timely Comics in 1939. In 1941, he made his debut
as a comic book writer, with a text piece in Captain
America #3, graduating to actual comic book stories
with issue #5, and created his first superhero, The
Destroyer, in Mystic Comics #6, cover-dated August
1941. It was the first creation of many to come over
the next 70 years.
After a stint in the Army Signal Corps in World
War II as a writer, Stan returned to Timely, where he
continued as editor-in-chief and art director, positions
he held for the next 25 years until he took over as
publisher. In the 1950s, Timely Comics became Atlas
Comics, and the line survived the tumultuous era of
that mid-decade, when the comics industry imploded
under the weight of censorship and Congressional
hearings, with a greatly reduced lineup of books. By
the early 1960s, the company was putting out mildly
toned fantasy/monster titles such as Journey into
Mystery, Strange Tales, Tales of Suspense, and Tales
to Astonish, along with teenage humor books (Millie
the Model, Patsy Walker) and westerns (Kid Colt
Outlaw, Two Gun Kid). Publisher Goodman came to
Stan and told him of the success of National/DC’s
Justice League of America and asked him to come
up with a superhero team book like it. His response
was The Fantastic Four, co-created with Jack Kirby.
The book was the antithesis of DC’s JLA. Its heroes
were a collection of misfits, banded together by
adversity and a strange sense of family, created with
a science fiction origin that paid homage to Marvel’s
monster books while still reintroducing superheroes
(one of which, a new version of the Human Torch,
was one of Timely’s more popular characters in the
1940s). The FF was a stunning success, showcasing
heroes entirely different for comic books in 1961,
and quickly garnered an avid following. Stan boldly
™ & © Marvel & Subs.
BY GARY SASSAMAN
proclaimed it—with just the third issue, no less— early 1950s. He was funny, talkative, and friendly
“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine.” Nobody to readers, making them feel like they were a part of
complained or disagreed. a whole connected community. He made his audi-
After that first major hit, Stan turned his atten- ence want to read all the Marvel books—even Millie
tion to more superheroes, and 1962 was a very good and Kid Colt. He introduced the “Bullpen Bulletins”
year. The Incredible Hulk—again co-created with page, a chatty, homespun peek behind the scenes
Kirby—was first out of the gate, published in March. at Marvel. Stan’s small group of interrelated books
The character again combined the monster theme quickly evolved into a full-fledged universe, but at
with a superhero concept, but it wasn’t a breakout the same time it felt like a small, intimate family.
hit like the FF. The Hulk went from gray to green, If you were a Marvel fan in the 1960s, you felt like
from inarticulate monster to learned scientist in a be- you were part of something beyond comics, and that
hemoth’s body, from tattered purple pants to purple sense of community was due to Stan and how he
briefs, in its short six-issue run. The character re- marketed the titles and how he treated the readers in
turned a few years later as a co-feature with Ant-Man letter columns and elsewhere in the books.
(another confused hero who quickly became Giant The company quickly became popular with
Man) in Tales to Astonish, and went on to become college-age readers (proving that comics weren’t
one of comics’ most beloved anti-heroes, along with
a popular television series in the 1980s.
Stan Lee had another big hit with his next
co-creation, this time with Bullpen stalwart, artist
Steve Ditko. The Amazing Spider-Man launched
in the final issue of Amazing Fantasy (#15) in June
1962 and moved into his own title in December. June
also saw the introduction of The Mighty Thor in
Journey into Mystery #83, co-written by Lee and his
brother, writer/artist Larry Lieber, and drawn by Jack
Kirby. The above-mentioned Ant-Man came next,
also in June, and again by Lee and Kirby. Crusading
scientist Henry Pym first shrunk to ant-sized propor-
tions in Tales to Astonish #27 in 1961 but returned
in costume in issue #35. Rounding out the year, Iron
Man debuted in Tales of Suspense #39, published in
December. His first story—written by Lee and Lieber
and drawn by Don Heck—presented him in gray ar-
mor, which quickly became gold in the second issue
(an all-new costume debuted eight months later).
But it was Spider-Man that was the breakthrough
success, a title that quickly became synonymous with
Marvel Comics, which is what Goodman formally
rechristened his company in early 1963. Spider-Man
was lightning in a bottle for comics: different, edgy,
angst-filled, and quirky. Stan and his collaborators
and co-creators launched a unified universe where
heroes not only lived in the same world, but knew
each other, cross-pollinated in a small number of
books in Goodman’s relatively tiny publishing
empire. Stan also marketed his comics better than
anyone had done since the days of EC Comics in the Stan at Comic-Con in 1975.
WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 33
just for kids anymore), and Stan went on the road
from campus to campus—eventually even appear-
THE AMAZING STEVE DITKO
ing at Carnegie Hall—to preach the comics gospel
according to Marvel. Beyond Stan’s marketing
BY BLAKE BELL
prowess, he and the artists created an incredible
collaborative environment. Working in the “Marvel
Method,” Stan provided his pencilers with a story
synopsis and let them work out the beats and action
through the 20- to 22-page stories, for which he
then provided dialogue. Most of the artists working
at Marvel with Stan at that time were never better.
Their collaborations with Stan brought out some
of their very best art, including Kirby and Ditko,
Heck, Dick Ayers, Gene Colan, Gil Kane, and John
Romita. Their work with Stan on that first decade of
Marvel Comics set a benchmark for superhero com-
ics that—for some readers—has never been topped.
While Stan is still “Chairman Emeritus” at
Marvel Comics, he has gone on to become one of
pop culture’s leading spokespersons. His cameo
appearances in all the Marvel movies have garnered
him a name recognition beyond the pages of the
comic book heroes he co-created, and he has ap-
peared on television in shows such as The Big Bang
Theory and Chuck, and has had two reality series,
Who Wants to Be a Superhero?, and Stan Lee’s
e.
, when he worked on Spider-Man and Dr. Strang
Superheroes. He has been a producer or executive Ditko in his studio in 1965, during his Marvel prime
producer on all the Marvel movies, TV shows, and
animated series. Now approaching 90, Stan remains
as vital and creative a force in and out of comics “Too bad someone like him can’t be an idol for teenagers to imitate.”—Amazing Spider-Man #33
as ever, developing new characters and concepts
with his own company, POW! Entertainment, and Steve Ditko is the co-creator and original artist of Ditko, born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania on
working with publishers such as Image Comics the Amazing Spider-Man. Co-creator Stan Lee is November 2, 1927, came to New York City in 1950
(Blood Red Dragon, with Yoshiki), BOOM! Studios immortalized in pop culture history as the strip’s with one goal in mind: to be a comic book artist.
(Soldier Zero, The Traveler, Starborn), Archie (Stan writer, but in fact, Ditko wrote the last 14 issues That made him unique from day one. First published
Lee’s Mighty 7), VIZ (Ultimo), and others, along of his 38-issue run, and plotted even more. No in 1953, Ditko settled in at Charlton Comics for the
with movie and TV projects. And Stan has his own doubt, Lee’s contributions to the success of the strip majority of the 1950s. Charlton paid a pittance but
star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame! (including, for each and every issue, scripting the offered Ditko something no one else could: the least
banter so fondly remembered as one of the strip’s editorial interference in the industry.
These early heroes Stan co-created with Kirby,
signature elements), and to the success of the Silver After a brief stint at Marvel in 1956, Ditko
Ditko, and Heck have all demonstrated incred-
Age of Marvel Comics, are many. Still, the drivers returned in late 1958. Years of collaborating on Twi-
ible staying power. Fifty years later, Spidey has
that made Spider-Man a truly unique book—in fact, light Zone–inspired stories cemented Ditko’s status
just survived “Spider-Island” in a recent storyline
a revolutionary comic book—can be attributed to as Lee’s favorite collaborator (evidenced by the all-
and his ongoing adventures continue under writer
Steve Ditko. Lee/Ditko anthology title Amazing Adult Fantasy).
Dan Slott and artists Humberto Ramos, Giuseppe Ditko’s idiosyncratic visuals, his empathetic When Jack Kirby, co-creator of The Fantastic Four,
Camuncoli, and Stefano Caselli, along with a new characterizations, and his sense of costume design handed in five pages of pencils for a concept
series, The Avenging Spider-Man by Zeb Wells and all pumped new life into a medium overrun by named “Spiderman” (no hyphen)—a teenager
Joe Madureira and the recently rebooted Ultimate mythical figures that stood like marble statues . . . with a magic ring that transformed him into an
Comics Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis and and had as much personality. Another aspect that adult hero—it didn’t match what Lee had in mind.
Sara Pichelli. The Incredible Hulk just relaunched made Ditko truly unique was his fight to maintain the He wanted something different than Kirby’s grand
with a new first issue by writer Jason Aaron and Spider-Man strip’s integrity, which made him the first flare. He wanted what only Ditko could produce.
artist Marc Silvestri. Both Thor and Iron Man are artist of his generation to control the narrative arc of What would make Spider-Man different from
currently under the watchful eyes of writer Matt a superhero strip. any strip prior was that when the main character
Fraction and artists Pasqual Ferry (Thor) and Sal- Also unique was Ditko’s decision in late 1965 to received his superpowers, his life became worse.
vador Larroca (Invincible Iron Man), besides being walk away from a multimillion-dollar franchise ap- Captain America went from a 98-pound weakling
part of the ongoing adventures of The Avengers. All proaching the peak of its popularity based primarily to an Adonis, beloved by a nation. Peter Parker
four characters are appearing in huge, big-budget on his influence. Often derided for his unwillingness went from bookworm to hated and misunderstood
movies this year: Spidey in Amazing Spider-Man, a to participate in comic book fandom’s cult of celeb- vigilante, dogged in his personal life by the specter
reboot of his big screen adventures; and Hulk, Thor, rity, often chastised for his rigid adherence to an of the costumed hero’s responsibilities.
and Iron Man in The Avengers. The Marvel Age of unpopular philosophical viewpoint, Ditko is the only What Stan Lee perhaps didn’t anticipate was the
artist in the history of comic books to consistently depth of thought that Ditko put into the narrative.
Comics that had its beginnings in 1962 has never
live by his personal and professional principles: “I Lee, in charge of Marvel’s editorial direction since
really ended, and those heroes created 50 years ago
never talk about myself. My work is me. I do my he was a teenager, had overseen the development
will seemingly go on forever.
best, and if I like it, I hope somebody else likes it, of the formula inherent in the superhero genre
too.” since the early 1940s. In Spider-Man, he thought

34 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012

he was getting a simple—repeatable—tale about a
superhero with foibles, but Ditko had other ideas,
and these ideas are at the core of what made the
narrative so unique, and influential, in comic book
history.
It was Ditko’s dogged insistence on grounding
the series in Peter Parker’s teenaged life that was
central to elevating Spider-Man above the designa-
tion of a “really good superhero strip.” Initially,
Lee imbued the strip with many elements of the
“fantastic” that were endemic to the traditional
comic strip. For example, issue one featured a
runaway space shuttle that Spider-Man helps bring
down, and this made Ditko bristle: “I preferred that
we have Peter Parker/Spider-Man ideas grounded
more in a teenager’s credible world,” says Ditko.
“The story idea undercut the teenage context. It’s
like having a high school football player playing in
the Super Bowl.”
By the time Lee presented his origin for the
Green Goblin, Ditko had had enough. “I rejected
Stan’s idea,” remembers Ditko. “A mythological
demon made the whole Peter Parker/Spider-Man
world a place where nothing is metaphysically
impossible.”
Healthy clashes over plotting were a by-product
of the “Marvel Method” of comic book produc-
tion. Lee, with little to no staff at his disposal in the
early 1960s, gave his artists a story synopsis, and
then gave them the creative license to map the plot
in any way they saw fit. Lee did so for expedi-
ence’s sake, and the artists certainly enjoyed not
working from a full script. Ditko took full advantage
of this and, by about issue 10 on Spider-Man (and
similarly with Kirby on Fantastic Four), he was the
one doing the lion’s share of the writing.
This gave Ditko the freedom to explore a gen-
erous narrative arc that had never been attempted
before in a superhero book. Superhero strips were
generally “closed,” meaning that each issue was
self-contained, driven by a two-act plot (superhero
intercedes, defeats the villain). But in Spider-Man,
Ditko was determined to not rewrite the same
story issue after issue and instead added a depth
of continuity and character development that even
Lee couldn’t have foreseen. But by issue 33, even Spider-Man in costume is no
Ditko was deeply influenced in this aspect
by author Ayn Rand’s two seminal novels,
The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. These
works of philosophical fiction greatly influenced
Ditko’s sense of heroism, individualism, and not
compromising one’s beliefs in the face of populist
adversity.
Ditko was determined to show growth in the
character and was reticent about evolving Parker
as the romantic hero popularized by Ayn Rand’s
main protagonists. And Ditko took his time, the pro-
gression gradual. The artist was openly credited
with contributions to the plot of the trilogy in Amaz-
ing Spider-Man 17–19, where the hero literally
retires before his triumphant reemergence. In issue
24 and in the first Annual, Ditko tackled the idea of
superhero psychosis, a result of maintaining a dual
identity (using the term psychosomatic in a comic
book for likely the first time).
The culmination of Ditko lifting Parker from
bookworm to man, from doubting Thomas to full-
™ & © Marvel & Subs.
fledged hero, took place in the strip’s most famous
issues, 31–33. Ditko dedicated page after page in
the opening of issue 33 to the spine-tingling climax
of Spider-Man rising from defeat, discarding a
mountain of machinery off his back (a metaphor
for Parker putting his past behind him). It is one of
the most highly regarded sequences in all of comic
book history.
Ditko concerned himself with the evolution not
only of Peter Parker, but also of the book’s support-
ing characters. Flash Thompson begins the strip
as a bully, but as Parker’s growth into manhood
is developed in part through his confrontation, so
is Flash’s character. Issue 8 features the boxing
match between the two boys, and Ditko returns to
this in issue 26, when a frustrated Parker pounces
on Thompson in full view of the school’s principal.
Thompson’s maturity comes to the fore when he
secretly visits the principal’s office to own up to his
transgressions.
Ditko not only put the focus on the supporting
characters as key to the book’s success, but he
also made the bold move of refreshing the setting
for the series by having Parker graduate from high
school in issue 28. Introduced are pivotal char-
acters still in play 45 years later, such as Harry
Osborn and Gwen Stacy [the latter featured in the
new Amazing Spider-Man movie]. During this time,
Parker becomes more comfortable in his own skin,
even turning down invitations to college parties,
something unimaginable for the bookworm in the
strip’s origin tale.
As important as his contributions are to the
narrative arc of the series, the uniqueness of the
book is firmly rooted in his contributions to the visu-
als. Even in Ditko’s rendering can the evolution of
Peter Parker be seen in a way no other artist had
captured before. On the very first page of Amaz-
ing Fantasy #15, Ditko brilliantly stages the splash
panel to evoke instant empathy for Parker. He is
physically separated from his classmates, wearing
adult clothing, with schoolbooks underarm. Flash
Thompson’s hand is pushing Parker to the outskirts
of the collective. Ditko even forces Parker to carry
around an umbrella to signify his tortured status.
longer the stick insect that Ditko drew in the first
few stories. He is the chiseled hero, a man with an
independent mind.
Also never to be underestimated is how Ditko’s
ability to capture despair drove the empathy that
so resonated with comic book fans. The weight
of the world looked like it took a tremendous toll
on the body of Peter Parker. It could be seen in
Ditko’s slumped figure drawings, or the darkness
that Ditko draped over Parker during his soliloquies
on reconciling his desire to lead a normal life with
Blake Bell lives in Toronto with his son, Luke. His most current book is The
Secret History of Marvel Comics: Jack Kirby & the Moonlighting Artists at
Martin Goodman’s Empire published by Fantagraphics. He is the author
of the Eisner-nominated biography Fire & Water about Bill Everett; Strange
& Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko; and the editor of the Steve Ditko
Archives and Bill Everett Archives series.
the great responsibility imparted upon him. Even
supporting characters like J. Jonah Jameson were
given greater depth by Ditko’s rendering of exposi-
tion, as seen in issue 10 where Jameson reveals
his true personal motives for dogging the hero that
he’d never be.
Ditko’s flare for costume design was also key to
the strip’s success. Covering Spider-Man’s face al-
lowed readers the world over to imagine that they
were the hero. Villains like the Green Goblin, Dr.
Octopus, Sandman, and the Lizard are imprinted
in the minds of children, generation after genera-
tion. All of these characters have been used in the
Spider-Man movie franchise, a true testament to
the contributions of Ditko’s visual flare.
So strong was Lee’s trust in Ditko as a story-
teller that Lee remained silent, letting Ditko direct
the entire strip on his own for over a year until
issue 38, his last. With Ditko gone, Lee swung in
John Romita, and the book was turned completely
upside down in literally one issue. Gone was any
aspect of Ditko’s development of the character—
Peter went from being an individual to a well-liked
member of the collective—and the self-pitying theme
of “Woe is me with these powers” was recycled
repeatedly. The book went from being revolution-
ary to being a really good superhero book.
How do you measure success? For Steve Ditko,
it is likely standing up for one’s beliefs, even when
the cost was loss of the increasing fortune and
fame he would have realized had he remained on
the Spider-Man strip. Fans may not like that Ditko
doesn’t do interviews. They recklessly label him a
“recluse,” even though he’s shared his thoughts on
comics and his process at length in self-published
essays going as far back as the 1970s. And he
consistently answers fan mail to this day. He never
has perverted his self-published work simply to ap-
peal to a wider demographic and is still publishing
comics at the age of 84. It’s these attributes that
helped make Spider-Man a book still worth discuss-
ing 50 years after its inception. Too bad someone
like him can’t be an idol for teenagers to imitate.
ENDNOTES
“I never talk about myself . . .” —Steve Ditko, from
Showcase #73 (Mar.–Apr. 1968), centerfold bio.
“I preferred that we have Peter Parker/Spider-Man
ideas . . .” —Steve Ditko, “A Mini-History: 3. The
Amazing Spider-Man #1” from The Comics v. 12
#11 (Nov. 2001), p. 1.
“I rejected Stan’s idea . . .” —Steve Ditko, “A Mini-
History: 1. The Green Goblin” from The Comics v.
12 #7 (July 2001), p. 1.
WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 35
 THE SPECTACULAR JOHN ROMITA SR. AND
THE SENSATIONAL JOHN ROMITA JR.
BY TOM SPURGEON
It was the biggest gamble in comics history. At
stake was the future of Marvel Comics. At its heart
was John Romita Sr.
The year was 1966. The comic book company
owned by pulp magazine impresario Martin Good-
man and operated by his cousin-by-marriage Stan
Lee was in the midst of a startling creative and sales
renaissance. Having gone by many names and now
known as Marvel Comics, Goodman’s four-color
funnybook line had begun to innovate in a field in
which they had served as slavish imitators of the
latest trends for the previous two decades.
The anchor of Marvel’s new superhero effort
was Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s awesome adventure
comic Fantastic Four. But in many ways the heart
of Marvel Comics in 1966 was the title Amazing
Spider-Man. Telling the story of a young super-
hero who struggled with the burdens and respon-
sibilities of his special abilities, Lee’s scripts were
brought to astonishing life by industry veteran
Steve Ditko, who soon also co-plotted the stories.
Ditko’s artwork was authentic and breathable; his
Peter Parker in equal measure suffered the palpable
miseries of his teenage years and enjoyed the thrills
and physical escape provided by his superhero
identity. In a move so surprising that the shock and
mystery of it hasn’t worn away 45 years later, Ditko
left Marvel and his unique place within its growing
talent roster. Spider-Man needed a new creative
hand, a new artistic voice. That job fell to relative-
ly new Marvel recruit John Romita Sr.
Romita came through in spectacular fashion.
After a few tentative issues on Amazing Spider-
Man where he later admitted he hewed too close-
ly to what Ditko had accomplished, Romita
settled into one of the signature art and story
runs in superhero comics history. There were indi-
cations that Romita might make it work. In 1966,
Romita was already an experienced superhero
comic book artist with a passion for costumed
™ & © Marvel & Subs.
adventure material. He had come back to Marvel, a
company he had departed from in the late 1950s, in
part for a crack at doing material in the superhero
genre. John Romita wasn’t about to let this chance
pass him by, whether it was on a title like Daredevil
or under the much harsher spotlight provided by
May Parker’s devoted nephew, Peter.
Romita’s late 1950s and early 1960s experi-
ence as a stalwart of industry leader DC Comics’
romance line helped immensely in this new gig.
The Romita Spider-Man was surrounded not just by
attractively drawn and well-designed bad guys but
by beautiful young women that became strong love
interests, characters like Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane
36 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012
Watson, the latter a supporting character for the
ages that Romita nailed into the consciousness of
comics fans from her very first appearance. Nearly
as beautiful in his own way as the women of Amaz-
ing Spider-Man was Romita’s Peter Parker. Like
many of the readers of the 1960s Marvel Comics,
the Peter Parker character had settled into his own
younger adulthood at some considerable distance
from his uncertain high school years. Romita’s
Parker dressed more fashionably. He dated, and
danced, and even for a time rode a motorcycle.
Art by John Romita Sr. for the 1975 San Diego
Comic-Con Souvenir Book
Romita had in his time away from superhero
comic books learned to stage comics as well as any
comic book cartoonist had before or after. His pages
were perfectly balanced, and in every scene the
characters were placed in physical proximity to one
another in a way that was clear and attractive. As
was the case with the best directors on Broadway,
Romita’s scene work was impeccable. Whether
Spider-Man faced a physical confrontation or Peter
Parker an emotional one, readers quickly picked up
on the stakes from how the characters physically
related to one another. Every page was potent.
The John Romita Sr. run on Amazing Spider-Man
cinched its main character’s slow climb into the
licensing and publishing major leagues and all but
made certain Marvel’s eventual market dominance
starting in the 1970s and for the majority of the
years since. Romita Sr. proved that Marvel was
more than its initial, stellar lineup of creators and
potent roster of characters. His rise showed that
Marvel Comics embodied an approach to story-
telling that could flourish under multiple devoted
hands. Romita, who had come to Marvel quietly in
1965 and seemed destined for a series of assign-
ments providing pencil art on secondary characters
slightly out of the spotlight, had become Marvel
Comics’s most valuable player in its most vital era.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Romita became even
more crucial to Marvel’s growing success. He began
to share Spider-Man penciling duties and eventually
moved off the title altogether (although not without
story and art contributions to a defining storyline of
that era, featuring the death of the Gwen Stacy char-
acter). Romita settled into a Marvel staff position,
providing guidance in the production of Marvel’s
line and cementing the look and presentation of its
characters for a wider audience. When Spider-Man
appeared as a balloon in the Macy’s parade, it was
from a design by John Romita. When the character
reached out to young readers through a pub-
lishing partnership with the Children’s Televi-
sion Workshop, it was John Romita’s art
that captured those kids’ imaginations. When
the wider audience represented by newspaper
strips experienced Marvel in that time-honored
way, it was through the pen of John Romita Sr.
Posters, costume designs, record albums,
and a continuing array of comic book covers—
all of these things bore Romita’s touch as
Marvel steamrolled into a publishing and
licensing phenomenon, first drawing the attention of
Hollywood through which the company may be best
known today. In the years leading up to his retire-
ment, Romita progressed from the company’s most
valuable player to the avatar of its artistic lifeblood.
His is a remarkable legacy.
The greatest contribution Romita may have
given Marvel Comics was, with wife Virginia, the
talent and devotion of his son and namesake John
Romita, Jr.—a name sometimes shortened in Stan
Lee banter-speak to “JR JR.” The senior Romita’s
move into production and special projects and away
from monthly comic book making didn’t mean the
Marvel line was no longer graced with the Romita
name. It only meant that the mantle had fallen to
the next generation. The family name was in great
hands. John Romita Jr. debuted at Marvel in 1977
and quickly rose on the ladder of assignments to
superhero penciling superstardom with cherished
runs on titles like Iron Man and with what had
become the company’s most popular characters by
the 1980s, the Uncanny X-Men.
The younger Romita had from an early age
seized on the bulk of his father’s artistic skill set,
most notably a gift for attractive figure making and
a proclivity toward modern-looking costume de-
sign. Romita Jr.’s art had a more kinetic quality than
his father’s, appropriate for anyone who came of
age in comic books during the growing influence of
animation and Japanese comics storytelling. Almost
from the start, Romita Jr. had displayed a classic,
American sense of arresting, single-image, comics
beauty that his father never quite achieved, a pal-
pable line on paper that harkened all the way back
to the great newspaper cartoonists of the 1930s and
1940s. A startling run of issues on his father’s first
Marvel-era title, Daredevil, cinched Romita Jr. as
an artist for the ages. Those comics, from scripts by
Ann Nocenti, featured a mix of cityscapes and rare-
for-Marvel pastoral settings, put on display both
mundane threats and highly memorable monsters,
™ & © Marvel & Subs.
and provided psychological drama to match the
physical. Every last bit was executed by Romita Jr.
John Romita Sr. sketches at Comic-Con in 1979, as a friend looks on.
with authority and clarity, and he emerged from that
period as not just a talented artist but a special one. Top right: Romita Jr. at the Marvel booth at Comic-Con in 2008.
And then he got even better. While other car- Lower left: JR JR’s Spidey circa 2000.
toonists of his generation became minor entertain-
ment moguls through self-publishing, Romita Jr.
became the greatest of his era’s drawing board Man, sometimes brooding, occasionally hesitant, but John Romita Jr. It’s almost not fair to the other
workhorses, producing page after page after page but always powerful, is what that character looks comics of its kind.
of powerful imagery centered around his skill for like now, and likely always will. The history of American comic books is filled
arresting single images. Comic book storytelling Unlike most members of his father’s generation, with impressive talent, men and women who in
had since the senior Romita’s era moved more and John Romita Jr. has also carved out significant time many instances have worked to a significant degree
more into a movie-style dependency on individual, to create work that he—at least in part—owns. His in the form’s most unique genre: the superhero. The
memorable moments of the kind that seared into art for the writer Mark Millar on the series Kick-Ass legacy of John Romita Sr. and John Romita Jr. is
the brain of its enthusiastic readership. John Romita was key to that property’s heady success on the one of unflagging excellence at the drawing board,
Jr. became the greatest purveyor of that style of printed page and on movie and television screens. integrity when it comes to each and every aspect
superhero comic book and with almost casual Working with John Romita Jr. provided Millar’s of comic book creation. They are the real deal, five
aplomb provided stop-and-stare moments for the story not just the benefit of the artist’s simple but decades and counting. John Romita Sr. was the man
ages connected by solid, progressive storytelling in hugely effective character designs, not just access Marvel needed in 1966 and became the man Marvel
the moments in between. to Romita’s blend of Western and Eastern traditions couldn’t do without in the decades afterward. As
In the 1990s and into the 2000s, Romita Jr. when it comes to depicting violence. Kick-Ass the most consistently excellent artist of a talented
settled back into the world of the character through succeeds to massive degree because it’s a broad, generation, John Romita Jr. fulfilled the promise of
which his father had built the family reputation: pointed, satirical inquiry into the nature of super- his father where it most counted: on the page. There
Spider-Man. Spider-Man wasn’t Romita Jr.’s only hero comics that just happens to boast that genre’s are no two artists exactly like them, nor will there
memorable assignment during the last two decades: best modern practitioner for its basic look and ever be again.
he’s worked with a variety of characters ranging page-to-page feel. No one else could have done that
from The Eternals to the Incredible Hulk, and with
A-list writers like Frank Miller and Neil Gaiman,
all to powerful effect. But it’s the Spider-Man work
Tom Spurgeon is the editor and publisher of the Eisner Award–winning
that will likely endure. As much as Steve Ditko and
website The Comics Reporter. He is the co-author of Stan Lee and the
Romita Jr.’s father ever did for Peter Parker and his
Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book (2003) and the author of The
alter ego, if one were to collect the most impressive
Romita Legacy (2008). He is a former managing and executive editor of
single moments from Spider-Man’s long career, the
The Comics Journal and wrote Wildwood for King Features Syndicate
instances that burn into the cultural memory and the
from 1999 to 2001.
dreams of fans everywhere, the vast majority would
come from the pen of John Romita Jr. His Spider-

Romita Sr. photo by Jackie Estrada; Romita Jr. photo by Daniel Sakow WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 37
 C O M I C - C O N 2 012 A N N I V E R S A R Y C E L E B R A T I O N
Life
Drawing
HOW LOVE & ROCKETS BROUGHT COMICS DOWN TO EARTH BY Charles Brownstein
In 1982 comics were in the process of becoming
something new. Creators and publishers were taking
chances with more-sophisticated stories that appealed
to the savvier clientele frequenting the growing comics
specialty store market. The result was a year of auspi-
cious work. Frank Miller, well into his groundbreaking
run on Daredevil, shocked fandom by killing off his
signature character Elektra. Archie Goodwin and Al
Milgrom launched the Epic line at Marvel, creating a
home for creator-owned work by domestic and inter-
national creators in the Direct Market. Jack Kirby de-
buted Captain Victory, a creator-owned series through
San Diego independent publisher Pacific Comics.
Over in England, newcomer Alan Moore began his
landmark stories Marvelman and V For Vendetta in
the pages of Warrior magazine. Throughout these and
other events rocking the comics world, the underly-
ing theme was that the medium was growing up.
Yet all of the comics making waves were still firmly
entrenched within traditionally understood escapist
genres. Groth to publish the comic as an ongoing series. Love
It was another 1982 debut that would truly move
comics into the realm of unqualified adult fiction—a
magazine-sized anthology by three brothers from
30th
ANNIVER
SARY
Southern California called Love & Rockets.
Instigated by eldest brother Mario Hernandez
as a showcase for his work and that of his younger
siblings Gilbert and Jaime, Love & Rockets started
life as a self-published fanzine late in 1981. Gilbert
worked up the nerve to send a copy to The Comics
Journal, hoping for a review in the firebrand maga-
zine. Instead he received an offer from its editor Gary
& Rockets #1 hit comic store shelves in the summer
of 1982, marking the dual entry of Los Bros. Her-
nandez and Fantagraphics into the comics publishing
marketplace.
The early issues of Love & Rockets were informed
by a completely unchauvinistic history of comics.
As boys, the brothers had absorbed their mother’s
affection for the medium and were exposed to a wide
range of material, from the cartoony kids humor
of Dennis the Menace, Hot Stuff, and Archie to the
heroes and monsters of Marvel legends Jack Kirby
and Steve Ditko. In the late ’60s and early ’70s
Mario began bringing ZAP and other undergrounds
home, introducing the work of greats like R. Crumb
and Gilbert Shelton to their visual vocabulary. These
influences worked their way into each brother’s art
styles. Mario’s work paid homage to the heavy line
of underground masters Spain and Rand Holmes.
Gilbert mixed the monsters of Gil Kane with the
curvy heroines of Wally Wood and infused his stories
with an unapologetic sexuality. Jaime was the most
polished of the three, and his stories were immedi-
ately appealing for their extraordinarily charming
heroines who looked like they came from a planet
where Dan DeCarlo and Frank Frazetta jammed on
an adventure strip. Alongside each other, their com-
ics affirmed the visual diversity of the medium as a
powerful means of personal expression.
Just as important as the comics history on view in
the drawings is that they weren’t the only influences
Los Bros. brought into their comics. It was clear that
comics were an important aspect of their lives, but
they weren’t life itself. Jaime and Gilbert were both
steeped in the Los Angeles punk scene, and their
Art © Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez
 Opposite page: cover art from Love and Rockets #5, 1983, by Jaime Hernandez. Above: L&R #1, 1982; (l to r) Gilbert, Jaime, and Mario at Comic-Con 2011; L&R New Stories #3, 2010.

characters reflected the aspirations, attitudes, and
fashions of the young people in that milieu. Even
more notable in the context of the time is that their
stories were dominated by credible female protago-
nists who possessed a sexual dimension but were
never mere sex objects.
Love & Rockets debuted to a positive reception,
with Jaime and Gilbert taking it over entirely within
the first few issues. Emboldened by positive critical
success and Groth’s unwavering encouragement
for the artists to simply be themselves, they quickly
dropped the genre pretenses they first used in an
effort to be commercial, and instead developed
complex, character-driven universes rooted firmly
in the real world. Once they took possession of that
freedom, their stories leapt into uncharted terrain.
Jaime’s Locas stories document the emotional re-
alities of becoming an adult, through the eyes of his
signature character, Maggie, and the lives that orbit
her. We meet her as an 18-year-old who gets swept
into the glamour of travel and adventure under the
wings first of heroic boss and infatuation interest
Rand Race, then larger-than-life female wrestling
champ and mentor Rena Titañon. These stories are
told in breathlessly excited letters to her adorable
punkette best friend Hopey and reflect how young
people develop their identities in the buoyant period
where youthful wonder has yet to give way to
adult responsibility. When Maggie returns from her
adventures, she and Hopey veer into their twenties,
and Jaime makes the reader fall in love with them
as spritely but tough free spirits. When he confirms
that they’re lovers, it’s done in a matter-of-fact way
that expresses an attitude toward sexuality that’s
honest rather than confrontational. In carefully
rendered vignettes he peeks in on their lives as
to chart new ground, writing honestly of middle age
and the conflict between ageless self-conception and
the relentless force of time.
Gilbert is best known for the Heartbreak Soup
sequence of stories, a heady ensemble series that
uses magical realism and a large multigenerational
cast to portray the social makeup of Palomar, a
remote Central American town. Strongly influenced
by Latino art and culture, Gilbert’s stories broke
ground for how comics can behave as an expression
of culture. His use of language, heavily peppered
with Spanish names and words, added a musical
quality to his writing that was similarly unique
within the medium. Gilbert’s stories behave as a
tapestry, shifting not just between characters, but
between several stages of their lives, to develop a
richly woven depiction of what’s fluid and what’s
enduring in relationships, families, and communi-
ties over time. He shares his brother’s matter of
fact view of sexuality and often goes farther in
exploring the sexual lives of his characters, delving
into the role of sexuality as a motivational force in
defining identity. Gilbert’s contributions to Love &
Rockets also include a large body of wildly surreal
experimental pieces that meld the humorous and
grotesque. His fascinations with surrealism, sexual-
ity, and family ensemble pieces have merged in his
current work exploring the offspring of Palomar
matriarch Luba as they develop their lives in the
contemporary United States.
Charles Brownstein is the executive director of the Comic Book Legal Defense
Fund (www.cbldf.org), a non-profit organization protecting the medium’s
The Hernandez Brothers sit comfortably within
the modern graphic novel pantheon, but when they
first emerged, there was little precedent for their
work. They are unique not only for the substance of
their comics but for the fact that they weren’t out to
prove a point. While other creators were seeking to
change comics by injecting more adult storytelling,
art, and themes into the traditional comics genres,
the Hernandez Brothers were simply following their
own muses.
The undergrounds embraced explicit sexuality
and coarse language in part to subvert the com-
monly held belief that comics were kid stuff. The
Hernandez Brothers depicted sexuality because
it was part of life. They weren’t drawing their
personal fantasies, they were exploring how people
behaved. Where Harvey Pekar and late-period Will
Eisner adhered to literalism in their portrayals of ev-
eryday life, Los Bros didn’t shy away from injecting
fantasy and surreal elements into their work and still
pulled off the honest depiction of life as it’s lived.
The Hernandez Brothers changed comics by
internalizing the medium’s history and language,
then using it to express their personal visions. In the
honest portrayal of life as they saw it, they created a
vision of comics for adults that was neither tawdry
nor reactionary, and instead affirmed a world of new
possibilities for the medium to explore.

they move from carefree kids with nothing to lose First Amendment rights. His writing about comics includes the award winning
to sudden adults where tragedy, disappointment, books Eisner/Miller and The Oddly Compelling Art of Denis Kitchen.
heartache, and confusion have replaced potential
with grace. In his most recent work Jaime continues

Hernandez Bros. photo by Tina Gill; Brownstein photo by Betsy Gomez WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 39
RETURNS 02.12.12 9/8c

AMC HAS SOMETHING

SPECIAL IN STORE
A NEW ORIGINAL SERIES

Turn On. Tune In. Geek Out.

IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING
THE WALKING DEAD
02.12.12
42 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012 Art © King Features Syndicate, Inc.
 C O M I C - C O N 2 012 A N N I V E R S A R Y C E L E B R A T I O N

The Ballad of 75th

ANNIVER
SARY
®

75 Years of Comics’ Greatest 4Q Hero by Brian M. Kane

I
magine you are a 9-year-old boy and you are lying
on the living room floor reading the Sunday comics,
or a 16-year-old saving each weekly installment of
an artist you have admired since you were 10, or
even a young man of 19 perfecting your skills by
copying those same four-color fantasies. There is
were the pop culture visual medium, and Val was
box office gold. What is so incredible about Prince
Valiant is how today’s readers are embracing the
strip’s resurgence, prompted by the recent reprint
volumes. For the first time ever, Prince Valiant’s
epic adventures are being reprinted from restored
color engraver’s proofs. These oversized New York
Times bestselling hardcovers, published by Fanta-
graphics, have the approval of the Foster family.
You only have to look at the many reviews both
no television. There are no video games. There are professional and personal on Amazon, and you will
movies, but most are in black & white. It is Febru- see the words beautiful, brilliant, ground-breaking,
ary 13, 1937, and Prince Valiant in the Days of fun, vibrant, action-packed, exquisite, and gorgeous
King Arthur by Harold R. Foster has just premiered. used over and over again to describe this tour de
Now imagine your name is Frank Frazetta, or Ray force of art and writing. As you read through the
Bradbury, or Jacob (Jack Kirby) Kurtzberg. One adjective-filled quotes and comments, you will
day you will be an “Icon,” or a “Legend,” or a begin to understand that what made Prince Valiant
“King,” but for now, just for now, on this day 75 so popular when it first appeared is also what makes
years ago, you are simply a fan. it popular today. While these stories have dark ele-
It is hard for us to think of these three artistic ments, they are not dark stories. Val is not some
and literary gods of the 20th century as boys. They brooding, guilt-riddled anti-hero—he’s a Hero
were/are giants among us. They loomed larger than with a capital H. Prince Valiant resonates with
life, and their works not only enlivened our imagi- readers today just as much as it did 75 years
nations but embodied much of what we remember ago because the stories are timeless, the
as popular culture milestones for the past 50 years. artwork is stunning—better than most top tier
Yes, they may have been giants; gods to some, but cinematographers could ever hope to imagine—
it was Hal Foster that all three of them worshiped. and because Val’s creator was a genius.
To this day, Bradbury unabashedly wears his love The genius of Hal Foster was not just in his
(that’s love, people—not appreciation, not highest technical proficiency to illustrate the most beauti-
regard—love!) for Foster on his sleeve. Kirby, ful strip ever created (which it is); no, Foster’s true
Frazetta, and many early comics artists, includ- gift was his ability to let the story drive the art and
ing Alex “Flash Gordon” Raymond, liberally skillfully craft characters that people would care
swiped from Foster, and the first appearance of about very deeply. Val is an enormously complex per-
Batman in costume during his origin story is a son. That’s right, person! He is not a one-dimensional,
swipe of a panel from Foster’s Tarzan. Yes, cookie-cutter, lukewarm, stereotypical, politically
Foster illustrated Tarzan too, and he was the correct, personality-by-committee hero. He is brash,
first artist to draw the Lord of the Jungle for clever, impetuous, light-hearted, cocky, romantic,
comics. In fact, Foster’s reach extended crafty, skilled, humorous, willful, smart, flawed,
beyond just comics artists because it was and above all else brave! He is someone you
Foster’s Tarzan pages that the Disney want on your side, and heaven help you if he is
animators used as a model for the back- against you. He has been known to deliberately
ground scenes in The Jungle Book. drop an enemy to his death, unapologetically hang
But Prince Valiant wasn’t just another, leave a path of bodies in his wake (taste-
popular with artists and writers; he was fully bloodless, of course), and cleave a foe’s
everybody’s hero. “Val” was one of the hand off during a fight—then smiling,
first international superstars to reach that saunter from the battlefield while non-
valuable, highly sought-after 4Q (four quadrant) chalantly wiping the blood off his blade.
market consisting of males and females, above and And we love him for it! It is what Foster re-
below age 25. In the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s, comics ferred to as “an honest brutality.” Val exemplifies

WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 43
 Hal Foster in his studio working on Prince Valiant in 1947.
the one trait missing from most of today’s fictional
characters—passion—and he drips it from every
pore.
Foster’s development of multidimensional char-
acters does not end with just Val. All of Foster’s
people are individuals. Each character is not only
visually different from the next, they also have
different personalities. Their speech is different,
their body language is different, they have wrinkles
and scars, and if they stub their toe or have their
hearts broken, we feel for them. You can almost
imagine that each person on a Prince Valiant page,
even the minor ones, has a history, a rich, full life
that precedes their ever walking into the scene. To
Foster’s credit (and to his wife Helen’s as well) the
women in these stories are often smarter than the
men. And, just to be clear, while “The Winning of
Aleta” storyline that ran from May 1944 to January
1946 (see Volumes 4 and 5 of the Fantagraph-
ics editions) begins with Aleta in shackles being
dragged by Val through the desert, this Queen of the
Misty Isles is no frail flower and could kill Val any
time she wants. Lucky for us Aleta has other, more
“insidious” plans for Val, who often complains that
he will never understand the ways of women.
Finally, one of the more interesting yet over-
looked elements to Foster’s storytelling genius
was how he used Prince Valiant to mirror society,
thereby drawing us into his world. When Hitler
marched through Europe, Val fought the Huns—and
the strip was immediately dropped from German
newspapers. Even though Foster later claimed the
Hun invasion was a coincidence, one gets the feel-
ing it was said with a knowing nudge and a wink.
During World War II, when husbands, brothers,
sons, and friends were falling on fields of battle, a
44 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012
beloved, faithful friend of Val’s died in combat too. age of 87, he had worked on the strip for 43 years.
And let’s not forget that “The Winning of Aleta” Not surprisingly, Foster is in four artistic Halls of
saga, perhaps the most romantic sequence ever Fame—more than any other comics illustrator. He
created in comics, occurred during WWII when is in the Will Eisner Hall of Fame, the Joe Shuster
the greatest percentage of readers in America were Canadian Comic Book Creators Hall of Fame, the
women. Then, after the war, just as the soldiers National Cartoonists Society Hall of Fame, and
were returning home, Val travels to America to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame. In 1980
rescue his pregnant wife, and it was here among the editor and author Cullen Murphy began writing
Native Americans where their son Arn was born, Prince Valiant, and the father-son team continued
thus heralding in the beginning of the Baby Boomer until Jack Murphy’s passing in 2004. Today, writer
generation. For the next decade, as Val and Aleta Mark Schultz and artist Gary Gianni continue Val’s
raised their children, they were in sync with other adventures. It is only fitting that Prince Valiant’s
young couples who were raising their own children wanderings continue, even after 75 years, for the
(back then one of my neighbors even named their witch, Horrit prophesied to Val long ago, “You will
daughter Aleta!). In the 1940s, and ’50s, Prince have high adventure, but nowhere do I see happi-
Valiant was nothing short of art reflecting life— ness and contentment.” Personally, I am wishing
with a dash of swordplay. Val many more un-contented years!
Foster wrote and illustrated Prince Valiant until Before Superman and Batman, before The Lord
1971. That amounts to 34 years, or 1,764 weekly of the Rings trilogy and The Chronicles of Narnia,
pages, without missing a single deadline, and he before Joseph Campbell understood “The Hero’s
continued to write and lay out the strip for 9 more Journey” and David Lean dragged Peter O’Toole
years with illustrator John Cullen Murphy. When through a Technicolor desert, there was Harold R.
Foster retired from Prince Valiant in 1980 at the Foster’s Prince Valiant, comics’ greatest 4Q hero.
Brian M. Kane has taught art for 14 years and has a master’s degree
in history of art from The Ohio State University. He is the author
of the Eisner-nominated, Ippy Award-winning Hal Foster: Prince of
Illustrators (Vanguard), The Definitive Prince Valiant Companion
(Fantagraphics), and James Bama: American Realist (Flesk). Kane’s
essays also appear in Volumes 1 and 4 of Fantagraphics’ new Prince
Valiant reprint series, for which he is also a consultant. He is cur-
rently working on a new book collecting all of Hal Foster’s penciled
layout pages and would appreciate it if anyone owning a page or a
pencil sketch by Foster would contact him.
 FLESK PUBLICATIONS
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Gary Gianni (2012 Comic-Con® guest)
Petar Meseldžija
Mark Schultz (2012 Comic-Con® guest and at APE)
Jim Silke (at WonderCon® and Comic-Con®)
William Stout (at WonderCon®, Comic-Con® and APE)
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Al Williamson
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BOOK DESCRIPTION
An informative look at both Gary Gianni’s
rendition of the Prince Valiant Sunday strip
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A Foreword by Mike Mignola
Introduction by Robert Wagner
112 pages, 9 x 12 in.
$29.95 hardcover with jacket
A B
Features new work by Elliott, Gianni,
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B 64 pages, 8.5 x 11 in.
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By Mark Schultz
C Introduction by Craig Elliott
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Writer Mark Schultz and illustrator Gary Gianni
Gianni & Schultz:
Walking in the Footsteps of the Master
When Hal Foster stopped drawing Prince Valiant in
1971, he passed the reins of the strip to cartoonist
John Cullen Murphy (Big Ben Bolt). Foster kept
his hand in by writing and laying out the strip until
1980, when he officially retired. Cullen Murphy
(John’s son) began writing the strip and they con-
tinued on it until John died in 2004. At that point,
King Features picked Gary Gianni (Monstermen) to
illustrate the strip; Gary turned to his friend Mark
Schultz (Xenozoic Tales) to write it. Both Gianni
and Schultz are special guests at Comic-Con this
year in celebration of Prince Valiant’s 75th an-
niversary.
How did you first discover Prince Valiant?
Gary Gianni: I rarely saw Prince Valiant when I
was a kid. My family was staunch Chicago Tribune
readers and Val appeared in a different paper, the
Chicago American. When I was in high school
I’d buy books detailing the history of comics and,
invariably, Val would be featured among the other
great comic characters, but I never really read or
looked deeply into Foster’s work until John Cul-
len Murphy asked me to help him. Ironically, to
this day, I still don’t get to see the printed strip. It
doesn’t appear in any local newspaper. I do look at
it online however, but it’s not quite the same.
Mark Schultz: I can’t think of a time when I wasn’t
aware of Prince Valiant. I can specifically remember
my parents reading it to me out of the Sunday paper
when I was five or six years old. It wasn’t, however,
until I had become a practicing artist that I began
to properly appreciate just how important his work
was in the development of dramatically themed
adventure comics in general.
What do you think of Foster’s art and storytelling?
Gary: I study Foster’s work just about every day.
46 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012
I find myself marveling at something as specific
as how beautifully he catches a facial expression
or how simply he renders a pine forest with some
well-placed black inks. I can be impressed by his
storytelling abilities or I’m struck with the elegance
of his compositions. The man was a master artist.
Maybe Al Williamson said it best: “Foster’s work
gets better every time you look at it!”
Mark: Foster was the first true adventure cartoon-
ist, inventing the form practically single-handedly
with his work on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan
strip. He refined that visual language and took it to
unmatched heights in Prince Valiant. The man had
an illustrator’s understanding of form, composi-
tion, and rendering, a painter’s grasp of color,
and a cartoonist’s eye for compelling storytelling.
His achievements and inventions are to this day
unmatched—and have become so ingrained in the
fabric of comics storytelling that they are taken for
granted. More readers need to realize how much of
a seminal influence Foster was on practically all the
artists who created the superhero genre, let alone
other strip artists.
Is it intimidating taking over a strip with such a
long history and artistic legacy?
Gary: “Intimidating” might be too strong a word
but I can feel self-conscious if I give it much
thought. This feeling may stem from the respon-
sibility of maintaining a 75-year legacy in an age
where adventure newspaper strips are passé, or from
critics who complain about other artists and writers
continuing long after the original creator’s gone, or
from the readers who feel some sort of proprietary
connection to Foster’s canon. In reality, these are
niche considerations. No matter how much you and
I care about these things, the majority of the Sunday
newspaper readers don’t give a hoot about Foster
or the 75-year legacy or if Homer Simpson took
over the throne. (Well, actually, readers might enjoy
that.) My point is, the strip needs to be vital and
entertaining—today.
In the end, Mark and I are trying to tell a good
story. We hope to engage readers, young and old,
for about 30 seconds on a Sunday morning. That’s
all. It’s the only way Mark and I could possibly pay
homage to the great Mr. Foster.
Mark: Gary and I realize that we can never meet
the expectations of many long-time Valiant fans,
and of course we don’t have the strip’s tradition-
ally generous page space to work with, but we do
our best to keep the strip’s spirit alive. The classic
characters were all so well conceived and are fun to
play with.
You’ve been doing the strip for eight years now.
What do you feel is your best storyline to date?
Mark: I guess I’m slightly partial to the adven-
ture in Ab’Saba and the characters of Skrymir and
Makeda who were key players in that story. That
was a long, complex tale that worked out well, I
think.
Gary: I don’t think of the strip in terms of story-
lines. At the moment there are 3,907 pages of Prince
Valiant’s life. I drew about 450 of them. Other art-
ists will continue the saga and hopefully, someday,
there will be a 100-year anniversary. When I look at
the strip collectively, I feel fortunate to have played
a minor role in the vast scheme of Val’s history.
Despite what I’ve stated regarding today’s audience,
the strip, as far as I’m concerned, will always be
“Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant”!
For more on Gary and Mark, see the Comic-Con
special guest bios, beginning on page 52.
Photo by John Fleskes; art © King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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 Comic-Con
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GET
READY
FOR
2012!
We’re gearing up for the best show ever! Comic-Con
International returns to the San Diego Convention Cen-
ter July 12–15, with Preview Night on Wednesday, July
11. Over the next dozen or so pages, you’ll find your
first sneak peek at this year’s event, including the special
guests, the anniversary celebrations, info on the Mas-
querade (and how to sign up!), and this year’s Eisner
Award judges. And don’t forget to nominate you own
favorite comic book store for the 2012 Will Eisner Spirit
of Comics Retailer Awards (see page 71 for the official
ballot).
The best way to keep informed on everything you
need to know for Comic-Con 2012 is to follow us on Twit-
ter (www.twitter.com/comic_con), like us on Facebook
(www.facebook.com/comiccon), or subscribe to our RSS
feed at www.comic-con.org. These three things will keep
you up to date on information such as when badges go
on sale, when hotel reservations open, and when the
programming schedule goes live on the website.
The most important thing you can do RIGHT NOW is
sign up for a Comic-Con Member ID! You must have a
Member ID to purchase a badge for Comic-Con 2012. See
the article on the next page for information on how to get
your very own Comic-Con Member ID!

COMIC-CON HOTEL RESERVATIONS

OPEN THURSDAY, MARCH 29
AT 9:00 AM PACIFIC TIME!
www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_hotel.php
48 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012 Photo by Rudy Manahan
 JULY 12–15 • PREVIEW NIGHT JULY 11 • SAN DIEGO CONVENTION CENTER • SAN DIEGO, CA

NEW for Comic-Con 2012: Your Unique Member ID!

To help increase the efficiency of online registration and badge sales, all those who want to attend Comic-Con and/or WonderCon
in 2012 are now required to sign up first for a COMIC-CON MEMBER ID.

A Comic-Con Member ID is FREE and available to all adult and junior (ages 13 to 17) attendees with a valid and unique e-mail
address. (Children ages 12 and under may not register for a Comic-Con Member ID.)

Your Member ID will add you to Comic-Con’s verified special member “E-List.” As a member, all year round you will receive im-
portant information regarding registration, online badge sales, housing, and other announcements, including access to early-bird
or special e-list presales.

Signing up for a Comic-Con Member ID is quick and easy, and you only need to sign up once: your Member ID will be valid for all
Comic-Con affiliated events in 2012 and beyond.

By requiring a unique e-mail address for each Member ID, our hope is to increase the speed of the online registration process
and prevent duplicate registrations that allow scalpers to purchase multiple tickets and sell them at inflated prices. The Comic-Con
Member ID system is intended to allow more fans to purchase tickets for this highly popular event.

Everyone who intends to purchase a ticket for Comic-Con 2012 must register for a Comic-Con Member ID; that includes attendees,
professionals, press, and volunteers who apply for a complimentary badge.

For more information and to sign up for a Comic-Con Member ID, please visit www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_reg_memberid.php

Comic-Con International 2012 Anniversary Celebrations

Each year Comic-Con International focuses on watershed moments in comics
and pop culture history. This year’s special anniversary celebrations will be
saluted in both onsite programming and the show’s Souvenir Book, featuring
historical articles and incredible art produced by attendees and by fans from all
over the world. Best of all, you can be a part of the celebrations, even if you
can’t make it to the show! Visit www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_souvenir_book.
php for details on how to contribute art and articles based on the following
special celebrations. The deadline for contributions is April 20, 2012.
50th ANNIVERSARY OF SPIDER-MAN, HULK, THOR, ANT-MAN, AND IRON MAN
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby set the comics world on fire with The Fantastic Four in
1961. In 1962 the duo—along with artists Steve Ditko, Don Heck, Dick Ayers, and
writer/artist Larry Lieber—struck again, creating “The Marvel Age of Comics”
with the creation of the Amazing Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, Ant-Man, Thor,
and Iron Man. These enduring characters have flourished over the past half-
century, in comics and on the big screen (with even an Ant-Man movie in produc-
tion!). For more information, see the feature article beginning on page 32.

100th ANNIVERSARY OF EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS’ TARZAN AND JOHN CARTER OF MARS
In 1912 two amazing creations leaped full-born from the vivid imagination of
Edgar Rice Burroughs. John Carter’s first adventure, A Princess of Mars, was
serialized in All-Story Magazine from February through July of 1912 as Under
the Moons of Mars; the epic adventures of Tarzan of the Apes began in the pages
of that same magazine in October of that year. The two creations of the prolific
Burroughs have gone on to appear in numerous novels, movies, television shows,
comics, and much more, including Disney’s John Carter movie.
75th ANNIVERSARY OF PRINCE VALIANT
Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur, a beautiful full-page Sun-
day comic strip, began in 1937. Foster’s incredible illustrative style and storytell-
ing ability separated this elegant and exciting strip from pretty much everything
else being published at the time (and, one could argue, ever since). The strip
continues today by artist Gary Gianni and writer Mark Schultz, who are Comic-
Con special guests this year to help celebrate the history and ongoing influence of
Foster’s great creation. For more information on Val and the current strip’s team
of Gianni and Schultz, see the feature article beginning on page 42.
30th ANNIVERSARY OF LOVE AND ROCKETS
In 1981, three California brothers took their love of comics, movies, animation, and
all things pop culture and created their own fanzine, titled Love and Rockets. Gilbert,
Jaime, and Mario Hernandez published the first issue, then moved the book to Fan-
tagraphics in 1982, its home ever since. The brothers have had an incredible impact
on the alternative comics scene and are currently producing some of their best work
ever. The Hernandez Brothers are guests at both Comic-Con and APE in 2012. For
more information about Los Bros. Hernandez, see the feature article beginning on
page 38 and the Comic-Con special guest bios, beginning on page 52.
20th ANNIVERSARY OF IMAGE COMICS
In 1992, seven popular artists stopped doing freelance comics work and formed
their own imprints under a new company, Image Comics. Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Rob
Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Mark Silvestri, and Jim Valentino took the
comics world by storm, proving once again that the creators were just as popular as
the characters they drew. Image has gone on to be a major force in the comics indus-
try. A number of Image founders and creators are Comic-Con 2012 special guests;
see the special guest bios beginning on page 52 for more info.

WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 49
 Comic-Con VISIT WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG FOR MORE INFO ON THIS YEAR’S EISNER AWARDS
2012
WILL EISNER
COMIC
INDUSTRY
AWARDS
JUDGES
The panel of judges for the 2012 Will Eisner Com-
ics Industry Awards have been announced. These
judges will choose the nominees in more than two
dozen categories, from Best Writer to Best Graphic
Album. The ballot they compile will then be voted
on by professionals in the comics industry, and the
winners will be announced in a gala ceremony on
the evening of Friday, July 13, at the Hilton San
Diego Bayfront.
BRIGID ALVERSON has been reading comics since
she was 4. After earning an MFA in printmaking,
she headed to New York to become a famous artist
but ended up working with words instead of pic-
tures, first as a book editor and later as a newspaper
reporter. She started MangaBlog to keep track of
her daughters’ reading habits and now covers com-
ics and graphic novels as a freelancer for School
Library Journal, Publishers Weekly Comics Week,
Graphic Novel Reporter, Comic Book Resources,
MTV Geek, and Robot 6. She also edits the Good
Comics for Kids blog at School Library Journal.
CALUM JOHNSTON is the owner of Strange Adven-
tures: Comix & Curiosities, in Halifax, Nova Sco-
tia, which he started in 1992; he has recently added
a third location. Originally from Montreal, Calum
began selling comics at a farmer’s market while
ALVERSON JOHNSTON
50 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012
The “Class of 2011” poses for their photo: last year’s Eisner Award recipients
attending school and working numerous jobs. He
describes owning a comic book store as “the best
job in the world for someone who likes to share
the joy of fine comic books!” Calum is a member
of ComicsPro, and Strange Adventures has won
several retailer awards including the Eisner and the
Shuster. It was named best Canadian comics store
in Previews magazine, Canada’s Readers Digest,
and The Coast newspaper readers poll.  sity of Oregon, was hired by the university to teach
JESSE KARP is a school librarian at LREI, an
independent school in New York City. He teaches
the graduate course Graphic Novel: Narrative and
Sequence at Pratt Institute, and he served three
years on the American Library Association’s Great
Graphic Novels for Teens Committee. He is a
graphic novel reviewer for Booklist magazine and
is the author of Graphic Novels in Your School
Library (ALA, 2011) and the YA novel Those That
Wake (Harcourt Children’s Books, 2011).
LARRY MARDER has had a long career in the
industry, including creating, selling, publishing,
and promoting comics. On the creative side of the
comic book field, his Beanworld series has de-
lighted readers from grade school to grad school for
more than a generation, earning him a spot on the
New York Times Graphic Books Bestsellers List. On
KARP MARDER
the business side, Larry has been executive director
of Image Comics, president of McFarlane Toys,
and marketing director of Moondog’s, a chain of
Chicagoland comic book stores. He currently serves
as president of the board of the Comic Book Legal
Defense Fund.
BEN SAUNDERS, professor of English at the Univer-
the plays of Shakespeare, but since receiving tenure
in 2006 he has also worked steadily to establish that
institution at the forefront of Comics Studies. He is
author of Do The Gods Wear Capes?: Spirituality,
Fantasy, and Superheroes (Continuum Press, 2011),
and a founder of the university’s undergraduate
minor in Comics and Cartoon Studies. (For more
info, see Ben’s special guest bio on page 58.)
MARY STURHANN has been secretary on the Board
of Directors of Comic-Con International since
1994. Mary started attending conventions 31 years
ago. She is an avid reader of books, comics, graphic
novels, and manga. She collects old movies and
enjoys gaming of all kinds, but leans toward board
and card games. She attends and works as staff at
several conventions, including Comic-Con Inter-
national and WonderCon, and is the recipient of an
Inkpot Award.
SAUNDERS STURHANN
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 Comic-Con
2012 Special Guests
BILL AMEND
(cartoonist, FoxTrot)
Bill Amend is the creator of the comic
strip FoxTrot, syndicated by Univer-
sal Press Syndicate.  He earned a BA
in physics from Amherst College in
1984.  FoxTrot began syndication in
1988 and built a client list of more
than 1,000 daily and Sunday newspa-
pers before Amend switched the strip
to a Sunday-only format at the end of
2006. In 2007 Bill received the Reu-
ben Award for Cartoonist of the Year
from the National Cartoonists Society.
There are currently 39 FoxTrot book
collections in print. FoxTrot can be
seen online at www.foxtrot.com.
SERGIO ARAGONÉS
(cartoonist, Groo, MAD, Sergio
Aragonés Funnies)
See Sergio’s WonderCon bio on
page 16 for more info!
KATE BEATON
(cartoonist, Hark! A Vagrant!)
Kate Beaton is a Canadian cartoon-
ist who first appeared on the comics
scene in 2007 with her online series
Hark! A Vagrant!, which has been col-
lected into book form by Drawn and
Quarterly. Since then she has become
a fan favorite, with illustrations ap-
pearing in places like The New Yorker,
Harper’s, and Marvel’s Strange Tales
anthology. Praised for their expres-
sion, intelligence, and comic timing,
her cartoons often display a wonder-
fully light touch on historical and lit-
erary topics. The jokes are a knowing
look at history through a modern per-
spective and a campaign against any-
one who thinks that history is boring.
TIM BRADSTREET
(artist, Punisher, Hellblazer)
Eisner Award–nominated artist Tim
Bradstreet is a self-taught illustrator
whose career spans role-playing/video
games, comic books, book publishing,
and film. Bradstreet is mainly known
for his long tenures as cover artist
for The Punisher and John Constan-
tine: Hellblazer. He continues to be
a “go-to” cover artist and is currently
the series regular on Clive Barker’s
Hellraiser (BOOM!), Jennifer Blood
52 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012
(Dynamite), Star Trek, and True Blood
(IDW). Tim partnered with actor
Thomas Jane in 2004 to form RAW
Studios. Together they create and de-
velop projects for comics and film.
MIKE CAREY
(writer, Lucifer, The Unwritten,
X-Men Legacy)
Best known for his runs on Vertigo’s
Lucifer and Marvel’s X-Men Legacy,
as well as the multiple New York Times
bestseller The Unwritten, Mike Carey
also writes prose fiction; his Felix Cas-
tor novels have run to five titles, and
he is co-writing a novel, The Steel Se-
raglio, with his wife Linda and daugh-
ter Louise.  He is also a screenwriter
and is currently working on a movie
screenplay, Silent War, for Slingshot
and Intrepid Pictures. His games cred-
its include the recent X-Men Destiny
game for Activision.
GAIL CARRIGER
(author, Parasol Protectorate series)
New York Times bestselling author
Gail Carriger writes to cope with be-
ing raised in obscurity by an expatri-
ate Brit and an incurable curmudgeon.
She escaped small-town life and in-
advertently acquired several degrees
in higher learning and a fondness
for teeny tiny hats and tropical fruit.
Her Parasol Protectorate books are
urban fantasies mixed with comedies
of manners and steampunk. Soulless
won the ALA’s Alex Award. The final
book in the series, Timeless, releases
in spring 2012, along with the first in
her Finishing School series for young
adults, Etiquette & Espionage, and
Yen Press’s manga edition of Soulless.
BECKY CLOONAN
(cartoonist/illustrator, Demo,
East Coast Rising, Conan)
Becky Cloonan is an award-winning
cartoonist and illustrator who started
self-publishing minicomics in 1999.
Since then she has gone on to work
with Vertigo, Dark Horse, Harper Col-
lins, and Marvel, with editions of her
work published in several countries
around the world. Standout works
include American Virgin with writer
Steve Seagle, Eisner Award–nomi-
nated Demo with Brian Wood, and
her solo graphic novel East Coast Ris-
ing. She is also drawing a new Conan
series from Dark Horse, with writer
Brian Wood. She lives and works in
Brooklyn and still tries to self-publish
a new minicomic every year.
GEOF DARROW
(artist, Shaolin Cowboy, Big Guy
and Rusty the Boy Robot)
Born in Cedar Rapids, IA, artist Geof
Darrow went through 12 years of
Catholic schooling, which left him
permanently scarred. He attended the
Chicago Academy of Fine Arts for
four years, and from there he worked
in advertising, audio-visual, anima-
tion, and comics and at the Quaker
Oats company in their maintenance
department. Darrow’s comics work
has won him some awards over the
years and lost him some. He likes to
draw and is fortunate enough to get
paid for it . . . most of the time. His
current work includes drawing Shao-
lin Cowboy for Dark Horse Comics.
BEN EDLUND
(writer/artist/producer/director,
The Tick, Angel, Supernatural)
Ben Edlund grew up semi-feral in an
artistic household next to a cranberry
bog. One symptom of his particularly
severe form of virginity was the cre-
ation of The Tick comic book series,
which he began writing and draw-
ing in his late teens. The Tick begat
a cartoon, a small merchandising
empire, and a prime-time live-action
TV series. Edlund wrote and pro-
duced shows such as Firefly, Angel,
and Supernatural. With these and his
phantom contributions to other genre
highlights such as Dr. Horrible’s Sing-
Along Blog and The Venture Bros.,
he’s drizzled his middle-brow ab-
surdism across three decades of high-
end cult obscurity.
STEVE ENGLEHART
(writer, Avengers, Dr. Strange, Batman)
It was once said that Steve Englehart
had “more hits with more characters
at more companies than any other
writer.” Steve is now writing the Max
August series at Tor (Long Man, Plain
Man, and the upcoming Arena Man),
and his comics work is still being
published: the Batman film franchise
is still going strong, Kilowog’s every-
where, Avengers vs. Defenders just
got republished again, battling Dr.
Strange and Batman for the top spot,
and Coyote, Scorpio Rose, and Lore-
lei live on with Max. So only the Ul-
traverse seems gone for good.
MARK EVANIER
(writer, producer, comics historian)
See Mark’s WonderCon bio on
page 16 for more info!
GREG EVANS
(cartoonist, Luann)
Greg Evans is the creator of the na-
tionally syndicated comic strip Luann,
which celebrated its 25th anniversary
in 2010. Greg has been noted for tack-
ling tough teen-related issues and in
2004 was awarded the National Car-
toonists Society’s highest honor, the
Reuben for Cartoonist of the Year.
BRECHT EVENS
(cartoonist/musician, The Wrong Place,
Night Animals, The Making Of)
Brecht Evens is a Belgian cartoonist,
visual artist, and musician. He studied
illustration in Ghent. His first graphic
novel in English, The Wrong Place,
received widespread acclaim and was
published across Europe and North
America. It was awarded the Prix de
l’Audace at the Angoulême Interna-
tional Comics Festival and the Haar-
lem Comic Festival’s Willy Vander-
steen Award for best Dutch-language
graphic novel. He lives in Brussels.
His newest book is The Making Of.  
GARY GIANNI
(artist/illustrator, Prince Valiant,
The Monstermen)
Gary Gianni began his art career as an
newspaper illustrator and courtroom
artist for television, where he covered
the trial of murderer John Wayne
Gacy. He has received the Eisner and
Spectrum awards and has illustrated
books by authors ranging from Mel-
ville and Stevenson to Robert E. How-
ard and Michael Chabon. His comics
include The Shadow, Batman, Indiana
 VISIT WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG FOR UPDATED INFO ON THIS YEAR’S SPECIAL GUESTS

CLOONAN

AMEND BRADSTREET CAREY CARRIGER

ENGLEHART

DARROW EDLUND HAMA

GIANNI BEATON GUILLORY EVANS

GILBERT HERNANDEZ MARIO HERNANDEZ HAMILTON JANSON

MATTHEW and
JAIME HERNANDEZ EVENS JENNIFER HOLM

KERSCHL JEMISIN LAYMAN LEMIRE JOHNSTON JUSKO

Hama photo by Seth Kushner; Hamilton photo by Rebecca Lewis WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 53

 Comic-Con
2012
Jones, and Tom Strong. For 8 years he
has drawn the newspaper Sunday strip
Prince Valiant. Recently, Dark Horse
published Gianni’s occult detective
adventures, The Monstermen and
Other Scary Stories, and Ras Press re-
leased The Nefertiti–Tut Express writ-
ten by Ray Bradbury and illustrated by
Gianni.
ROB GUILLORY
(artist/co-creator, Chew)
Rob Guillory is a multiple Eisner and
Harvey Award–winning comic book
artist. Born, raised, and currently
based in Lafayette, Louisiana, Guil-
lory is most known for his art on the
New York Times bestselling series
Chew, published by Image Com-
ics. The book has won two Harvey
Awards (including Best New Talent),
was nominated for two Eagle Awards,
and won Eisner Awards for Best New
Series in 2010 and Best Continuing
Series in 2011.
LARRY HAMA
(writer/cartoonist, G.I. Joe, Wolverine)
Larry Hama is a writer/cartoonist/illus-
trator/actor/musician who has worked
in comics, television, and film. He is
best known as the writer of Marvel’s
G.I. Joe comics in the ’80s and Wolver-
ine in the ’90s. More recently, he has
scripted G.I. Joe Origins and G.I. Joe:
A Real American Hero for IDW as well
as various animation and video game
projects. His illustrations have appeared
in National Lampoon, Esquire, New
York, and Rolling Stone. As an actor, he
has appeared on Broadway in Stephen
Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures and on
TV in M*A*S*H*, SNL, and Another
World.
PETER F. HAMILTON
(author, Night’s Dawn trilogy,
Great North Road)
Peter F. Hamilton is a Sunday Times
bestselling science fiction author of
15 books, including the acclaimed
Night’s Dawn trilogy. Born in Rut-
land, England, he still lives there
with his wife and two young children.
His last series of five books set in his
Commonwealth universe featured the
54 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012
genetically designed detective Paula
Myo. After that came the standalone
novel Great North Road, published
by Del Rey, which he describes as his
“monster in the dark” story. Peter is
taking a break from adult novels to
write the Books of the Realms, a tril-
ogy aimed at 8- to 12-year-olds.
GILBERT HERNANDEZ
(writer/artist, Love and Rockets) His latest project was Citizen Rex for
Gilbert Hernandez, the co-creator
of Love and Rockets with his two
brothers, was born in Oxnard, CA,
seemingly with a comic book in his
hand. His mother allowed him and
his siblings to read comics because
she loved comics as a child herself.
He learned to draw his own minimal-
ist comics at age 5, which eventually
evolved into the comics he does now.
He’s produced comics for almost ev-
ery major comics company but prefers
to do more personal work, as he be-
lieves that comics are a great place for
self-expression. His career spans 30
years, and he plans to go as far as he
can with our beloved medium.
JAIME HERNANDEZ
(writer/artist, Love and Rockets) also the creators of the IndieBound-
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 included Whoa, Nellie!, Maggie
and Hopey Color Fun, and Penny Cen-
tury. Love and Rockets was revived in
2000 and still continues today. Outside
of L&R, Jaime has also done other
comic work, magazine illustration, and
album covers. He lives in Altadena, CA
with his wife and daughter.
MARIO HERNANDEZ
(writer/artist, Love and Rockets) Amazing Spider-Man over Giuseppe
Comics histories, newspaper strips,
cartoon collections, paperbacks, trad-
ing cards, monster magazines and
movies, rock and roll, cheesy TV
shows and cartoons, and a whole
bunch of funny books—all contributed
to the launch of Mario Hernandez and
his brothers Gilbert and Jaime’s self-
published fanzine Love and Rockets.
In addition to contributing some sto-
ries to L&R, Mario has produced a
plethora of freelance work for various
underground and alternative antholo-
gies—Rip-off Comics, Buzzard, Real
Girl, and Measles—culminating in
a one-shot collection, Brain Capers.
Dark Horse with brother Gilbert. It
was included in The Best Comics of
2010 anthology.
JENNIFER & MATTHEW HOLM
(writers/artists, Babymouse, Squish)
Jennifer and Matthew Holm are the
sibling team behind the Babymouse
graphic novels for young readers,
which have sold more than 1.4 million
copies and won numerous awards,
including the 2006 Gryphon award,
2006 New York Book Show awards,
and seven IRA/CBC Children’s
Choice awards. Babymouse: Queen of
the World was the first graphic novel
ever to be named an ALA/ALSC
Notable Children’s Book. The latest
volume in the series is #15, A Very
Babymouse Christmas. The Holms are
bestselling graphic novel series
Squish. The latest book is Squish #3:
The Power of the Parasite.
KLAUS JANSON
(artist/inker, Daredevil,
The Dark Knight Returns) Joe Jusko’s career has spanned 35
After apprenticing with Dick Gior-
dano, Klaus Janson entered comics in
the early ’70s, inking an issue of Mar-
vel’s Black Panther. He has inked just
about every penciler working within
the last 40 years. In the 1980s, he
inked Frank Miller on Daredevil and
The Dark Knight Returns. His pencil-
ing work includes Gambit, Gothic,
Spawn/Batman, and Death and the
Maidens. Currently, he is inking
Camoncoli and penciling Daredevil:
The End of Days, written by Brian
Michael Bendis and David Mack and
inked by Bill Sienkiewicz. He is most
proud of the students he has taught at
the School of Visual Arts.
N.K. JEMISIN
(author, The Inheritance Trilogy)
N. K. Jemisin is the Hugo, Nebula,
and World Fantasy Award–nominat-
ed author of The Hundred Thousand
Kingdoms, The Broken Kingdoms,
and The Kingdom Of Gods (The In-
heritance Trilogy), out now from
Orbit Books. She’s also a counseling
psychologist, a biker, and a feminist/
anti-racist blogger. She lives in Brook-
lyn, New York and is currently hard at
work on two more books that will be
forthcoming from Orbit in 2012. For
more info, visit nkjemisin.com.
LYNN JOHNSTON
(cartoonist, For Better or For Worse)
Canadian cartoonist Lynn Johnston
is best known for her comic strip For
Better or For Worse. Her cartooning
career started with a series of humor-
ous books on parenting. In 1978, she
sent off 20 examples of a daily comic
strip, The Johnstons—based on her
own family—to Universal Press
Syndicate. She received and signed
a 20-year contract, and For Better or
For Worse began. The strip ended in
2010 but still appears (in reprint form)
in over 2,000 papers in Canada, the
United States, and 20 other countries,
translated into eight languages. It’s
been collected into close to 40 books.
JOE JUSKO
(artist/illustrator, Marvel Master-
pieces, Warlord of Mars)
years, starting with the sale of his very
first cover to Heavy Metal in 1977
at the age of 17. Joe has worked for
almost every major comic book pub-
lisher, producing covers and interiors
for iconic characters such as Conan
the Barbarian, Vampirella, and Tarzan
of the Apes. His work has appeared
on paperback book covers, calendars,
posters, T-shirts, packaging, and most
memorably the multi-award-winning
1992 Marvel Masterpieces Trad-
ing Cards. His current work includes
monthly covers for Warlord of Mars
from Dynamite Entertainment and
Outcast from BOOM!, as well as
many other projects. 
 Comic-Con
2012
KARL KERSCHL
(writer/artist, The Abominable
Charles Christopher)
Karl Kerschl has been drawing comics
professionally for over 15 years. He
has worked on Superman, The Flash,
and Teen Titans, among other heroic
things, and recently self-published a
collection of his weekly webcomic,
The Abominable Charles Christopher.
He currently resides in Montréal, Can-
ada, where he continues to write and
draw his own stories. The Abominable
Charles Christopher has been  nomi-
nated for several awards and has won
the Shuster Award for Best Canadian
Webcomic in 2010 and the Eisner
Award for Best Digital Comic in 2011.
The strip updates weekly at www.
abominable.cc.
JOHN LAYMAN
(writer/letterer/co-creator, Chew) ComicsPro Industry Appreciation
John Layman is the co-creator, writ-
er, and letterer of Chew, the New York
Times bestselling, Harvey Award, and
multi-Eisner Award–winning cannibal
cop comedy series from Image Comics.
Layman was an editor for WildStorm
Productions and has written or lettered
for nearly every major publisher in
comics for the last decade and a half.
Other comics he’s written include
Puffed,  Gambit, Godzilla, Army of
Darkness vs. Marvel Zombies, Scar-
face, Thundercats, and Stephen Col-
bert’s Tek Jansen. Chew is currently
in development to be a TV series on
Showtime.
JIM LEE
(artist, Justlce League, Batman: Hush;
DC Comics co-publisher)
See Jim’s WonderCon bio on page 16
for more info!
JEFF LEMIRE
(writer, Animal Man, Frankenstein;
writer/artist, Sweet Tooth) for domestic violence programs at the
Jeff Lemire is the award-winning
Canadian cartoonist of the acclaimed
graphic novel Essex County (Top
Shelf) and the comic book series
Sweet Tooth from DC/Vertigo. He
is also the current writer of Animal
Man and Frankenstein for DC Com-
ics and has written the monthly ad-
56 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012
ventures of Superboy as well. In 2010
Essex County was named one of the
five “Essential Canadian Novels” of
the decade in the prestigious Canada
Reads program, becoming the first
graphic novel to ever be included in
the national competition. Lemire’s
next original graphic novel, The Un-
derwater Welder, from Top Shelf Pro-
ductions, will debut at Comic-Con
2012.
PAUL LEVITZ
(writer, Legion of Super-Heroes)
Paul Levitz has been a comics fan
(The Comic Reader, winner of two
Best Fanzine Comic Art Fan Awards),
editor (Batman), writer (Legion of
Super-Heroes), and executive (38
years at DC, ending as president and
publisher). He has received the Ink-
pot, Clampett Humanitarian, and
awards, and he serves on the board of
the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
His Eisner Award–winning book,
75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of
Modern Mythmaking, was published
by TASCHEN, and his recent com-
ics writing includes Legion of Super-
Heroes and The Huntress.
ANDY MANGELS
(author, Star Trek, Star Wars novels)
Andy Mangels is a USA Today best-
selling author and co-author of over
20 books, including Star Trek and
Star Wars tomes; his newest is Lou
Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Gen-
eration. Since 1985, his tales have been
published by DC, Marvel, Dark Horse,
Image, Microsoft, and others. He regu-
larly contributes to international enter-
tainment magazines and has scripted,
directed, and produced over 40 DVD
documentaries and special features proj-
ects. A national award-winning social
activist, he has raised over $135,000
yearly “Women of Wonder Day” event.
He has moderated the Gays in Comics
panel at Comic-Con for 25 years! (See
page 60 for more info)
RUDY NEBRES
(artist, Conan, John Carter of Mars)
Philippine-born comics artist Rudy
Nebres began work with DC Com-
ics when fellow comic artist Tony
DeZuniga introduced him to pub-
lisher Carmine Infantino and editor
Joe Orlando. He was given assign-
ments drawing short stories for the
DC mystery titles, including House of
Secrets, Ghosts, and The Unexpected.
Rudy moved to the U.S. in 1975 and
was hired by Marvel Comics to work
on titles such as Avengers, King Kull,
Conan, Red Sonja, Hulk, John Carter
of Mars, and Deadly Hands of Kung
Fu. Nebres has also produced work
for Warren, CrossGen, and Harris and
worked with Neal Adams at Continu-
ity Studios.
KATSUHIRO OTOMO
(creator, Akira, Domu, Steam Boy)
Japanese cartoonist and animator Kat-
suhiro Otomo, who made his profes-
sional debut in 1973, is best known in
the U.S. for his manga series Akira,
which he made into an animated film
in 1988. His other manga include the
award-winning Domu, along with such
other series as Sayonara Nippon, Visi-
tors, and SOS! Tokyo Metro Explorers.
He has directed two other animated
films, Steam Boy and Memories, along
with the live-action Jiyu Wo Warerani
and Mushishi. Mr. Otomo has pub-
lished several books in relation to his
films and is currently preparing a new
illustration book, Kaba 2.
NATE POWELL
(writer/artist, Swallow Me Whole,
Any Empire)
Nate Powell was born in Little Rock,
Arkansas in 1978 and began self-pub-
lishing at age 14. His work includes
The Year of the Beasts (2012, Roaring
Brook), The Silence of Our Friends
(2012, First Second), Any Empire
(2011, Top Shelf), Swallow Me Whole
(2008, Top Shelf; Eisner Award win-
ner for Best Graphic Novel, LA Times
Book Prize Finalist, and Ignatz Award
winner), Please Release (2006, Top
Shelf), and Sounds of Your Name
(2006, Microcosm). From 1999 to
2009, Nate worked full-time support-
ing adults with developmental dis-
abilities, and he has performed in DIY
punk bands Universe and Soophie
Nun Squad.
JAMES ROBINSON
(writer, Starman, Justice Society
of America, The Shade)
James Robinson is a British-born
comic book scribe and sometimes
screenwriter with a career spanning
more than two decades. He is current-
ly writing The Shade and Justice So-
ciety of America for DC Comics. His
prior works include Starman, Leave It
to Chance, The Golden Age, Super-
man, and JLA.
JOHN ROMITA JR.
(artist, Amazing Spider-Man,
Kick-Ass, Avengers)
John Romita Jr. remembers watching
his father draw Daredevil at home. It
obviously had a great effect on him,
as JR JR went on to become one of
the leading comics artists of his gen-
eration. His first work was for Marvel
UK, followed by a story in Amazing
Spider-Man Annual #11. He illustrat-
ed just about every Marvel character,
including Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Dare-
devil, Punisher, the Avengers, and X-
Men. His own creations include Kick-
Ass (co-created with Mark Millar) and
The Gray Area.
BRANDON SANDERSON
(author, The Alloy of Law, Wheel
of Time and Mistborn series)
Brandon Sanderson has published six
solo novels with Tor Books—Elantris,
the Mistborn trilogy, Warbreaker, and
The Way of Kings—as well as four
books in the middle-grade Alcatraz
Versus the Evil Librarians series from
Scholastic. He was chosen to com-
plete Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time
series: 2009’s The Gathering Storm
and 2010’s Towers of Midnight will be
followed by the final book, A Memory
of Light, in 2012. His newest Mistborn
novel, The Alloy of Law, was released
in November. Currently living in Utah
with his wife and children, Brandon
teaches creative writing at Brigham
Young University.
BEN SAUNDERS
(comics scholar, professor of English at
the University of Oregon)
Ben Saunders believes that comics
make people smarter. Besides serv-
 VISIT WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG FOR UPDATED INFO ON THIS YEAR’S SPECIAL GUESTS

LEVITZ MANGELS NEBRES POWELL ROBINSON ROMITA JR.

SANDERSON SAVAGE SCALZI SCHULTZ

SHAW!

OTOMO SHIGA

USLAN SAUNDERS

TRIMPE

TURNER

TORRES

SILKE VON EEDEN YEATES

Savage photo by Tamea Burd; Silke photo by Greg Preston WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 57

 Comic-Con
2012
ing as curator for the Jordan Schnitzer
Museum of Art’s comprehensive ex-
hibition of original comic art from
the superhero genre (“Faster Than a
Speeding Bullet,” 2009), Ben is au-
thor of Do The Gods Wear Capes?:
Spirituality, Fantasy, and Superheroes
(Continuum Press, 2011) and a founder
of the undergraduate minor in Comics
and Cartoon Studies at the University
of Oregon, where he teaches a variety
of classes drawing on the Anglo-Amer-
ican canon of newspaper strips, comic
books, and graphic novels.
DOUG SAVAGE
(cartoonist, Savage Chickens)
When Doug Savage was a kid, he al-
ways wanted to be a cartoonist. But
when he grew up, he found himself
working in a corporation, starving for
creativity and plagued by migraines.
Luckily, this predicament drove him
to pick up a pad of yellow sticky notes
and start drawing chicken cartoons.
Published online every weekday since
2005, Savage Chickens is read by mil-
lions and has been published in books
and magazines worldwide. His book,
Savage Chickens: A Survival Kit for
Life in the Coop, was published in
2011 by Perigee Books (an imprint of
Penguin USA). Learn more at www.
savagechickens.com.
JOHN SCALZI
(author, Old Man’s War, Fuzzy Nation) annual Quick Draw! event.
John Scalzi is the author of several
science fiction novels, including the
bestselling Old Man’s War sequence,
comprising Old Man’s War, The Ghost
Brigades, and the New York Times best-
selling The Last Colony. He is a winner
of science fiction’s John W. Campbell
Award for Best New Writer, and he
won the Hugo Award for Your Hate
Mail Will Be Graded, a collection of
essays from his popular blog “Whatev-
er.” His latest novel, Fuzzy Nation, hit
the New York Times bestseller list in its
first week on sale. His next book will
be published in June 2012.
MARK SCHULTZ
(writer/artist, Xenozoic Tales,
Prince Valiant) Paradise, Bettie Page, Queen of the
Mark Schultz loves a good story, al-
58 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012
ways has. His lifelong interest in ad-
venture fiction and science led him to
create the award-winning comics series
Xenozoic Tales and co-create the un-
dersea adventure SubHuman, as well
as to write such nonfiction projects as
The Stuff of Life, a Graphic Guide to
Genetics and DNA. He has illustrated
a collection of Robert E. Howard’s
Conan of Cimmeria and the autobiog-
raphy of Charles R. Knight. Currently,
he is completing the visuals for his
Storms at Sea novella while continuing
to script Prince Valiant, which appears
in the funny pages of better newspapers
everywhere.
SCOTT SHAW!
(cartoonist/writer, Captain Carrot,
Oddball Comics)
Scott Shaw! is an experienced profes-
sional cartoonist/writer in the fields of
comic books, animation, advertising,
and toy design. His first published com-
ics story appeared in the underground
comic book Gory Stories Quarterly. He
co-created—with Roy Thomas—the
funny animal superhero series Captain
Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!
(DC). Scott was one of a handful of
local comic fans who helped organize
the first San Diego Comic-Con. He
regularly performs his popular Oddball
Comics slide show at Comic-Con, and
he wows the audience along with Ser-
gio Aragonés and Mark Evanier at the
JASON SHIGA
(writer/artist, Bookhunter, Empire State)
Jason Shiga graduated from the Uni-
versity of California at Berkeley with
a degree in pure mathematics. He is the
author of over 20 comic books, includ-
ing Fleep, Bookhunter, Meanwhile,
and Empire State. He is the inventor
of three board games, two card tricks,
and the world’s second largest interac-
tive comic, spanning 25 square feet.
His puzzles and mazes have appeared
in McSweeny’s and Nickelodeon maga-
zine. He lives in Oakland, CA.
JIM SILKE
(artist/illustrator/designer, Rascals in
Nile) Trimpe’s final effort at Marvel. Trimpe
After a career as the executive art di-
rector at Capitol Records and as the
creator, editor, and designer of the
magazines Cinema and Movies Inter-
national, as well as being a glamour
photographer, historian (Here’s Look-
ing At You, Kid), novelist (the Death
Dealer series), and screenwriter (Sa-
hara, King Solomon’s Mines, Revenge
of the Ninja), Jim Silke turned, in 1991
at age 60, to his first love—comics. He
has since completed the graphic novels
Rascals in Paradise and Bettie Page,
Queen of the Nile, plus a number of
illustrated art books, including Bettie
Page: Queen of Hearts, Pin-Up: The
Illegitimate Art, and Jungle Girls.
J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
(writer, Superman: Earth One)
See JMS’s WonderCon bio on page 18
for more info!
ANGELO TORRES
(artist, MAD, Creepy, Eerie)
Born in Santurce, Puerto Rico in 1932,
Angelo Torres began drawing at a
young age. In 1946 he moved to New
York City, where he studied art in high
school and in 1951 went into the Army
and served in Korea. He attended the
Cartoonists and Illustrators School
(SVA) from 1953 to 1955, when he left
to work in the comic business, includ-
ing collaborations with his friends Al
Williamson and Frank Frazetta. The
years ahead were busy with a wide
variety of projects, including Jim War-
ren’s Creepy and Eerie. In 1969, Torres
joined the gang at MAD magazine.
HERB TRIMPE
(artist, Incredible Hulk, GI Joe)
Herb Trimpe is best known for his
8-year run on the Incredible Hulk for
Marvel, featuring the introduction of
Wolverine in Hulk 180 and 181. Trimpe
is also known for his contributions to
several licensed characters, including
Transformers, Godzilla, and G.I. Joe,
all of which were featured in major
motion pictures. Other titles drawn by
Trimpe include The Defenders, War Is
Hell, Guardians of the Galaxy, Indi-
ana Jones, and Fantastic Four Unlim-
ited, a quarterly publication that became
is currently drawing G.I. Joe covers for
IDW publishing, as well as extensive
commission work.
MORRIE TURNER
(cartoonist, Wee Pals)
Cartoonist Morrie Turner, a native of
Oakland, CA, turned to cartooning full-
time in 1964. In 1965 he created the
Wee Pals comic strip. It was Turner’s
intention to portray a world without
prejudice, a world in which differenc-
es—race, religion, gender, and physi-
cal and mental ability—are cherished,
not scorned. One life-changing honor
was during the Vietnam War when he
was one of six cartoonists asked by the
National Cartoonist Society to go to
Vietnam, where he spent 27 days on
the front lines and in hospitals drawing
more than 3,000 caricatures of service
people. Morrie also has the distinction
of having been at the very first San Di-
ego Comic-Con in 1970.
MICHAEL USLAN
(writer/historian/producer, The Dark
Knight, The Boy Who Loved Batman)
Michael Uslan grew up loving Bat-
man. As a young adult, he was one of
the first people in the country to teach
a college-accredited course on comic
book folklore. Along with business
partner Benjamin Melniker, Uslan has
produced all the Batman films to date,
starting with the first Tim Burton film
in 1989. He has also written for com-
ics, including the Archie Gets Married
storyline, was instrumental in bring-
ing the 1960s comics fan favorite title
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents back to print,
and recently published his autobiogra-
phy, The Boy Who Loved Batman, with
Chronicle Books.
TREVOR VON EEDEN
(artist, Black Lightning, Green Arrow,
Thriller)
Trevor Von Eeden, born in Guyana,
South America in 1959, came to the
U.S. in 1970. Along with co-creating
Black Lightning for DC, Von Eeden
has drawn Batman Annual #8, a Green
Arrow miniseries, Thriller, Catwom-
an, Worlds’ Finest, Legends of the DC
Universe, and Black Canary, among
many others. He has also produced his
first self-written and drawn graphic
novel, The Original Johnson, the
story of Jack Johnson, “the first black
heavyweight champion of the whole
white world” (as the blurb goes), pub-
lished by IDW.
MARK WAID
(writer/editor, Kingdom Come,
Irredeemable, Daredevil)
See Mark’s WonderCon bio on page
18 for more info!
TOM YEATES
(artist, Tarzan, Zorro, Swamp Thing)
Tom Yeates attended the Joe Kubert
School after three years of college. He
has been working as an illustrator for
30 years, working for Dark Horse, DC,
and Marvel, illustrating Swamp Thing,
Timespirits, Tarzan, and Zorro.  His
book illustration work includes  Ed-
gar Rice Burroughs’  John Carter of
Mars  for Barnes & Noble, and a se-
ries of books on myths by Anthony
Horowitz. 2011 saw the release of
The Outlaw Prince from Dark Horse,
a graphic novel based on ERB’s The
Outlaw of Torn. He is currently work-
ing on a western graphic novel based
on a Louis L’Amour story, a new Tar-
zan comic, and Groo vs. Conan.
FOR UPDATED
INFORMATION ON
SPECIAL GUESTS AT
COMIC-CON
INTERNATIONAL:
SAN DIEGO 2012,
PLEASE CLICK HERE.
Larsen photo by Luigi Novi; Liefeld photo by Albert L. Ortega
Image Comics’ 20th Anniversary
Image Comics celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2012 and these founding artists will be present at
Comic-Con to help mark the occasion! (Image co-founder Jim Lee’s bio is on page 16.)
ERIK LARSEN (writer/artist/creator, Savage Dragon)
Erik Larsen was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He didn’t live there long.
He currently lives in San Francisco, California. He’s written and drawn a
mess of comics over the years, among them Spider-Man, Thor, Defenders,
Punisher, Nova, Aquaman, Doom Patrol, and Wolverine. In 1992 he and
a group of upstarts left Marvel in the lurch and formed the greatest comic
book company in the history of the universe—Image Comics, where he’s
written and drawn the adventures of Savage Dragon for the last 20 years.
It kicks serious ass.
ROB LIEFELD (writer/artist/creator, Youngblood)
Rob Liefeld’s comics career began in the late 1980s at DC and was jump-
started by his work at Marvel on New Mutants and X-Force in the early
1990s; while at Marvel he co-created the characters Cable with writer
Louise Simonson and Deadpool with Fabian Nicieza. In 1992 he and six
other popular young comics artists left Marvel and co-founded Image
Comics. His work at Image has included Youngblood and the recent series
The Infinite, written by Robert Kirkman. He is currently drawing Hawk and
Dove for DC Comics, a title he also worked on very early in his career.
WHILCE PORTACIO (artist, Uncanny X-Men, Wetworks)
Whilce Portacio started in comics as an inker before launching his career
as a penciler. Marvel editor Carl Potts offered him an inking job on Alien
Legion after seeing his portfolio at Comic-Con in 1984. Whilce was soon
recognized for his work on Marvel’s Punisher, X-Factor, and Uncanny
X-Men (for which he created Bishop), DC’s Batman Confidential and
Stormwatch, and his original creation Wetworks. He is one of the founding
fathers of Image. Currently working on Hulk, Whilce will launch Non-
Humans—his collaboration with film writer/creator Glen Brunswick from
Image— at Comic-Con. Whilce will also resume his art school. More info:
www.whilceportacio.net.
MARC SILVESTRI (writer/artist, Witchblade, The Darkness, Incredible Hulk)
Marc Silvestri founded Top Cow in 1992 after leaving a lucrative career
at Marvel. His mandate for Top Cow was specific: create the next genera-
tion of heroes and do it better than everyone else. Marc built Top Cow into
an artist boutique that created iconic characters and properties such as
Witchblade, Wanted, and The Darkness. Marc helped position Top Cow
as a vital production company in film and television as well as acting as
producer on the Witchblade TV and anime series, the Wanted and A-Team
feature films, and both of The Darkness video games. Marc continues to be
active as a comic artist as well, most recently in Artifacts, Image United,
and The Incredible Hulk.
JIM VALENTINO (writer/artist, normalman, ShadowHawk)
Jim Valentino is the creator of such diverse series as normalman, A Touch
of Silver, Vignettes, and ShadowHawk, as well as being the creative force
behind the Guardians of the Galaxy for Marvel. A co-founder of Image
Comics, he served as the company’s publisher from 1999 to 2004, chang-
ing the face of the company to one of the most stylistically diverse in the
industry. Currently he heads his own division of Image, Shadowline, which
publishes Morning Glories, Green Wake, Ted McKeever, and more. He
serves on the board of directors of the Hero Initiative and is an alumnus of
the San Diego Comic-Con committee.
WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 59
 Comic-Con
2012
Gays in Comics
Panel
Celebrates
25th Year
Twenty-five years ago, Comic-Con International
unveiled a panel that would go on to have lasting
appeal to the convention. The first Gays in Comics
panel occurred at Comic-Con in 1988. Over that
past quarter century (!), one constant has been
present at all the annual panels: moderator Andy
Mangels, who started it that very first year and has
been at it ever since.
What’s the “secret origin” of the Gays in Comics
panel at Comic-Con?
Andy Mangels: Back in 1988, while writing for
Amazing Heroes magazine, I produced a 36-page
in-depth article that ran in two issues, titled “Out of
the Closet and into the Comics—Gays in Comics:
The Creations and the Creators.” At that point in time,
nobody had ever written about the subject in an article,
and nobody in the mainstream comic book industry
was out of the closet (though there were a handful who
were “out” in the underground/nascent independent
comic world, most notably Howard Cruse and Roberta
Gregory). I interviewed a lot of gay, lesbian, and
bisexual creators who were quoted anonymously, as
well as a lot of heterosexual creators, about the way
the industry treated gay characters, gay creators, and
gay fans.
The articles were released in mid-June and early
July, a month prior to San Diego Comic-Con 1988.
Even in those pre-Internet days, the reaction was im-
mense. There were a lot of letters written and phone
calls made. It became one of the biggest news stories
of the summer! Although I had not chaired a panel
before, I approached Comic-Con about doing a Gays
in Comics panel. They were unsure what the response
would be, but scheduled a panel in the 3,000-seat
Civic Theatre. I put a panel together of some straight
creators, as well as some “out” underground/indepen-
dent creators.
I believe there were about 700 to 800 people in the
audience that year, and everyone was shocked at how
high attendance was. I was only 20 years old then,
and coming out to the industry as the first openly gay
mainstream professional, while leading a combative
panel in front of an audience like that, was a trial by
fire. But it was clear to everyone that year, and in the
years that followed at Comic-Con, that gay, lesbian,
60 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012
(L to r) The panelists from the 2011 Gays In Comics panel: Jon Macy, Andy Mangels, Robert Kirkman, Paul Cornell, Greg
Pak, Chip Kidd,and Dan Parent.
bisexual, and transgendered fans and professionals
mattered in the industry.
You’ve done 24 panels over the years . . . which
one was the most memorable for you, and why?
Each year, I have a lot of people who say, “This
year’s was the best one yet!” and it’s hard to dis-
agree. After over two decades, things have changed,
and the dialogues on-panel are much different than
they used to be. Whereas the larger publishers
used to shun the panel, many of them now suggest
participants. It’s always a difficult balance finding
a diverse lineup, trying to include men and women,
gays and straights, people of different ethnicities
and ages and fame-levels.
I think Year 20 was a pretty memorable year
because Paul Levitz—then the head of DC Com-
ics—appeared on it. That sent a message to the
industry—at least to those who were listening, since
the comic press mostly doesn’t send reporters to
this panel—that a major force in the industry felt it
important to dialogue with the GLBT audience.
Do you feel that the panels have fulfilled the
original intent and mission you had in mind when
they started?
The dialogue fostered by the panels has helped
change the industry itself: there are more good
GLBT characters than ever; some companies have
GLBT employee groups; and the word “diversity”
isn’t looked at by most as an obligation but as a cre-
ative opportunity. When I began the panel in 1988,
Marvel reportedly had an intercompany mandate
that there were “No gays in the Marvel Universe.”
Now, not only does Marvel have gay characters, but
Archie and DC have gay characters headlining their
own books!
The dialogue begun at the Gays in Comics panels
has helped fans as well. From early fan gatherings
after the panel sprang gay comic clubs, and then In-
ternet forums and online clubs. A zine I put together
in 1999 for dispersal after the panel which listed all
the “out” creators at the time eventually led to the
formation of PRISM Comics, the nonprofit group
that supports GLBT creators and fans and which
proudly exhibits each year at Comic-Con. There
have been gay comic fan receptions and parties
after the panel since 1999, and additional panels
at Comic-Con since 2002. And attendance at all of
the panels has remained stellar; we’ve inhabited a
1,000-seat room since 2006! With the aid of Comic-
Con, the GLBT comic fans have been able to find
a sense of community within the larger comic fan
community.
Besides the 25th anniversary Gays in Comics
panel for Comic-Con 2012, what are you working
on now?
I will have one new book (my 20th!) out this year,
titled Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Gen-
eration, from TwoMorrows. I’m continuing to write
for magazines such as Back Issue and Star Trek
magazine, as well as online sites, have been acting
in minor roles on Grimm and Leverage, and produce
the yearly charity event “Women of Wonder Day”
every October.
Photo by Ted Abenheim, PRISM Comics
 Comic-Con VISIT WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG FOR MORE INFO ON THIS YEAR’S MASQUERADE
2012
Winner of the Best DC Comics Costumes Award: “Brak-est Night,” worn, designed, and made by Daniel Proctor,
David Proctor, Nikki Costa, Masoud Karkehabadi, and Carla Stockel at the Comic-Con 2011 Masquerade.

THE 38th ANNUAL

COMIC-CON MASQUERADE
Anyone who’s ever attended Comic-Con can attest to
the wide variety of great costumes that can be seen,
whether on attendees in the corridors and Exhibit
Hall, on display in glass cases, in miniature form
on collectible figures, and in countless images on
posters and books. Costuming is a vital ingredient of
nearly all the popular arts and has been an integral
part of fan conventions for many decades. Comic-
Con’s Saturday night big event is a unique evening
of fun and amazing costume creations: the stage
lights brighten, the music swells, the spotlights focus
center-stage, and the audience of 4,000 who have
lined up for many hours in advance takes their seats
for the annual Masquerade costume show.
Why is it called a Masquerade and not simply a
costume contest? Because it’s more than just posing
on stage: it’s about portraying characters too, a show
full of spectacle, beauty, awe, comedy, light-saber
battles, and song and dance, an event where you
never know what’s going to happen next. The Mas-
querade proves that among Comic-Con’s attendees
are plenty of amazing talents with creativity worth
showcasing. More than a few times, contestants go
on to professional costuming careers.
The Comic-Con Masquerade is an event in
the style of a talent competition, with a master of
ceremonies, a panel of guest judges, and impressive
awards in various categories. The large, elevated
stage has theater-style lighting and four giant high-
definition video screens providing great close-up
views gathered by multiple cameras. The audience
fills Ballroom 20 to capacity, and over 2,000 more
people watch the show on large video screens in the
nearby Sails Pavilion and other ballrooms.
Some entries are solo costumes, while others are
groups with a shared theme. Many are re-creations
from movies, TV, anime, computer games, history,
and of course comic books, but some completely
original designs are presented as well. All costume
genres are welcome, but no purchased or profes-
sionally sourced ones allowed. It’s a celebration of
imagination and craftsmanship, and fun is the main
objective!
The master and mistress of ceremonies will again
be the very entertaining five-time Hugo Award–win-
ning artists and writers Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio,
who for many years have created, published, and
contributed to a variety of comics, art, and games in
the science fiction and fantasy genres through their
company Studio Foglio.
Impressive Comic-Con awards, featuring beauti-
ful Olympics-style Comic-Con Masquerade medal-
lions will be presented in categories of Best in Show,
Judges’ Choice, Best Re-Creation, Best Original
The Comic-Con Masquerade medallions.
Design, Best Workmanship, Best Presentation, Most
Beautiful, and Best Young Fan. In addition, numer-
ous companies and organizations will be generously
donating their own awards to outstanding costumes.
For a complete list of awards, please visit www.
comic-con.org/cci/cci_masq.php.
Because the number of entries is limited, you
should apply for a contestant slot as soon as possible.
All slots are usually filled far in advance of the con-
vention, so don’t wait. To receive complete informa-
tion, detailed rules, and an advance entry form, visit
the above-listed website address and download the
form, or request having it sent to you via regular mail
by writing to the Masquerade Coordinator in care of
CCI’s mailing address, or e-mail cci-info@comic-
con.org. Please type “Masquerade” in the subject
line of your e-mail. Photographers who wish a spot
at the Masquerade Photo Op stage, where the con-
testants pose after their stage presentations, should
also write the coordinator ahead of time to request a
reserved spot, as they fill up early as well.
For the rest of the year you are yourself. For
Comic-Con, come dressed as someone else! Now get
to work on that costume!

!
NEW Any costumed entry winning one of Comic-Con’s own award categories will receive a FREE 4-day membership to Comic-Con 2013!
FOR If you have a winning costume, you’ll get your badge for 2013—Comic-Con’s extra thank you for all your hard work and talent!
2012 BADGES ARE NONTRANSFERABLE; IF A GROUP WINS, UP TO FOUR MEMBERSHIPS WILL BE GIVEN.

62 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012 Photo by Kevin Green

 Costumers
Corner
Backstage at the
Comic-Con Masquerade:
What the Audience
Doesn’t See!
by Martin Jaquish
Masquerade Coordinator,
Comic-Con International
and WonderCon
Best Workmanship winner:
“Hyunkel the Knight,” worn,
designed, and made by
Edgar Mayoral
64 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012
The show has started, the costume groups are tak-
ing their turns presenting on the stage, the master
of ceremonies is announcing each entry, dramatic
music flows from the overhead speakers, and every
few minutes applause fills the air. If you’ve been
to Comic-Con’s Masquerade, you know what the
show is like from the audience’s perspective. Care
to step behind the curtains for a quick tour while the
show is running?
Here, behind the tall black drapery of the
4,000+-seat ballroom, lighting is kept minimal so to
not bleed onto the stage when it goes dark between
each act. Only a few scattered work lights provide
illumination. Contestants, show staff, and Conven-
tion Center A/V technicians speak in hushed tones,
avoiding being overheard by the microphones on
the stage lectern. Behind the color-changing stage
backdrop, a dozen costume entrants stand lined up
along the back wall, waiting their turn as they hear
the music and applause of the presentation finishing
up on stage. They anxiously check their props and
costumes, hoping and praying their months of plan-
ning and crafting will lead to a smooth presentation
with no problems. Most are nervous to step out
before thousands of people who will be watching
their every move in the glare of spotlights, with the
high-definition video cameras sure to pick up any
stumble or costume malfunction, but the backstage
staff assures them all will go fine. “You’re up next;
do you need help up the stairs? Looks like the rest
of your group is ready on the other side. There’s
your cue from the MC! Go, and have fun!”
Now let’s move from the ballroom into the lit
service corridor beyond. Here, among stored kitch-
en racks and rows of stacked chairs, the next batch
of contestants are lining up, some accompanied
by large carts carrying giant robot parts, dragon
wings, or homemade set pieces. A princess gives
her hair a final brushing, a mom helps her son put
on his mask, a group make a last-minute change to
their combat choreography, and contestant helpers
(Masquerade staff members) move swiftly among
them. “Does anyone need water?” Every few years
stress or dehydration gets to someone, but help is
never far away.
Further down, past security guards, is the
freight elevator used to bring up the oversized
costumes and props that can’t be carried through
the Convention Center. Wonder how some of the
contestants got their large items here? Some rent
moving vans and others actually build their stuff on
site. Peeking out the wide doors toward the photo
stage area where the costumers are escorted after
being on stage, we can count about 80 photogra-
phers taking pictures and video, looking a little like
the photo areas at award shows as dozens of flashes
go off repeatedly, each costumer encouraged into
several poses.
Photo by Johnakin Randolph
 [ Step behind the curtains for a quick tour while the Comic-Con Masquerade is running! [
The Comic-Con 2011 Masquerade Best in Show winner: “Saligia: The Court of Sin,” worn, designed, and made by Katrina Andrews, Dustin Javier, Marty Le Grow, Krys Lewis, Moira
Malstrom, Carrie Martin, Jennifer Newman, and David Patricola
Next, we pass the closed room where the judges
and company representatives are briefed before-
hand and where they deliberate at intermission,
aided by reference photos of each of the costumes.
Only the workmanship judge sees the costumes
ahead of time, in order to evaluate the finer details;
the rest of the judges see the costumes for the first
time when the audience does. Inside this room, too,
Comic-Con’s Onsite Newsletter reporter anxiously
awaits award results so they can be included in the
Sunday newsletter before it goes off to the printer
at midnight.
Now another batch of costumers walk past,
returning from the photo stage to the contestant
ready room, which, borrowing a term from theatre
and TV, is called the Green Room. Keeping track
of 100+ contestants as they move between rooms
can be a challenge, so they are gathered here where
they can watch the show on their own projection
screen. The practice stage is here as well, built with
the same dimensions as the ballroom stage so that
contestants can rehearse a bit. The room is crowded
and noisy, as socializing goes on in unique—some-
times bizarre—combinations of characters. Over
here an Avatar-like woman covered in blue body
paint tries not to rub against an elegant Victorian
Photo by Kevin Green
dress. A few steps away Abraham Lincoln texts on
his cell phone, while in the corner Batman chats
with Beatles look-alikes from Yellow Submarine.
Nearby, Iron Man shares construction tips with an
alien creature that walks on stilts.
While some costumers relax in chairs to await
the end of the show, a few have no choice but to
stay standing if their costumes won’t let them sit.
The show isn’t over until the awards are given, and
some of the contestants have been preparing all day.
Meanwhile, the backstage helpers keep scurrying
in and out, clipboards and walkie-talkies in hand.
“Is all of your group here? Are they back from the
bathroom? Someone left a prop behind! Ah, there it
is, quick, get it to the stage!”
Next door, another ordinary meeting room has
been transformed even more dramatically. Thanks
to a lot of pipe, metal stands, and thick drapery,
temporary private dressing rooms now surround
the perimeter. Mirrors stand propped against walls,
and the middle of the room sports what resembles
a workroom of a costume shop: chrome clothing
racks and long tables covered with wigs, masks,
bits of fabric, props, curling irons, spray adhesive,
rolls of duct tape, and sometimes a sewing machine
or two. Off in one corner, two professional makeup
artists from Hollywood are set up, donating their
time and materials to help contestants look like
pros. Near them are the costume repair supplies
Comic-Con provides, where last-minute breakages,
torn seams, and failed glue can usually be fixed in
the nick of time.
Now we step aside as a helper runs past, a wor-
ried look on his or her face as some detail is seen
to; no one wants to be the one to let something go
wrong! For the rest of the year these helpers are
schoolteachers, programmers, clerks, and engineers,
but for this one night they are theater staff, donating
their time and sore feet to help the contestants to
look—and feel—like stars for a night. “You did a
great job, and the crowd loved you—didn’t we tell
you they would?”
Backstage after the show, the rooms are a mess
of discarded paper, used makeup brushes, costume
parts, unwanted wigs, empty soft drink cans, and,
oddly, always a pair of shoes. But clean-up follows,
then crews arrive in the wee hours to tear down the
dressing rooms, stage, and screen, returning the
rooms to event space for the next day. All traces of
the show are erased, other than the magic smiles
that many of the contestants, and most of the audi-
ence, carry though to the next day.
WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 65
Volunteer
SPOTLIGHT

JOSH, MIKEE,
AND ROBYN:
A FAMILY WITHIN THE
COMIC-CON FAMILY
Comic-Con International would not be possible
without the army of volunteers who help run the
event onsite. Many of those volunteers have come
back year after year, forming the extended “family”
of Comic-Con. Within that group of volunteers
are actual families—moms and dads and sons and
daughters—who have been active with the organi-
zation for years. One such family is composed of
Comic-Con’s Anime co-coordinator Josh Ritter, his
wife Mikee Ritter (who is Comic-Con’s Hospitality
Suite coordinator), and Mikee’s daughter, Robyn
Reynante, who helps her mom and has held various
other jobs at the event, basically growing up at
Comic-Con. Comic-Con Annual asked this family of
volunteers how they first came to the show and what
Left to right: Robyn Reynante, and Mikee and Josh Ritter
keeps them coming back.
What do you do in “real life”? Hall. It’s just a bit bigger than when I started com-
What first brought you to Comic-Con?   ing to the show.
  Josh: I am a community services officer for the San
Josh: I started collecting comics in 1974 and heard Diego Sheriff’s Department, conducting weapons Mikee: If there were a Harry Potter cast panel or a
about Comic-Con from Richard Alf’s Comic King- screening at the Vista Courthouse. spotlight on J. K. Rowlings, I would be right there
dom, the store where I bought books. [Alf was one along with a bazillion other attendees. I would also
of the founders of Comic-Con in 1970.]  I had to Mikee: I work for the County of San Diego Health have to see a WETA costume designer/fabrication
drive to San Diego for a comics shop, as there were and Human Services Agency. I determine appli- panel, especially with a focus on period/fantasy
none in North County at that time. I began attending cants’ eligibility to welfare programs. pieces.
Comic-Con in 1975 at the El Cortez. I spent most of
my time in the dealer’s room, all 2,000 square feet Robyn: I’m a pool guard for the City of San Diego. Robyn: The Masquerade party on Saturday night.
of it. Over the years I have made friends and met  
many comics professionals. What do you like best about Comic-Con? What currently satisfies your inner geek?
 
Mikee: Jayne and Theodore Sturgeon invited me to Josh: Seeing the friends I have made over the years Josh: The movies I have most enjoyed recently
the show in 1976. I ended up volunteering the first that I only get to see during Comic-Con, including have been How to Train Your Dragon, Megamind,
day and have not missed a convention since then, any comics professionals and others in the industry, Harry Potter 7.2, and Captain America. Arakawa
working them all. such as sci-fi authors that I read. Under the Bridge is a fun anime series that I am
looking forward to seeing more of. The books I
Robyn: My mom first brought me to Comic-Con! Mikee: The people. There are so many truly have read most recently have been the Three Mus-
  wonderful people I have met over the years: profes- keteers series by Alexander Dumas.
What do you do now at Comic-Con? sionals, fans, and fellow volunteers. I met Josh at
Comic-Con! Mikee: The Sleeping Beauty (and all of the 500
Josh: Since 1993 I have been assistant or co-coordi- Kingdom stories) by Mercedes Lackey; she is my
nator for the Japanese Anime department. Robyn: Seeing everyone I have grown up with favorite author. I like the new TV series Grimm,
while working Comic-Con. and Bones is always a favorite in our house.
Mikee: I am the Con Suite/Hospitality coordinator.
I supervise the Con Hospitality Suite, the Industry If you were coming to Comic-Con as an attendee, Robyn: My current favorite author is Lee Child. I
Lounge, and staff lunch distribution. what is your one must-attend panel or event? watch Castle, Sons of Anarchy, and football.
 
Robyn: I work in the Hospitality Suite with my Josh: Anime of course, but panels of sci-fi/fantasy
mom. authors would be a priority for me, and the Exhibit

66 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012

 Spirit of
Comics
RETAILER AWARD

Comics and Vegetables of Tel Aviv, Israel

Wins 2011 Will Eisner Spirit of Comics
Retailer Award
Each year Comic-Con International honors retailers
from around the globe with the Will Eisner Spirit of
Comics Retailer Award, named after the vision-
ary creator of The Spirit. When Eisner approached
Comic-Con about initiating the award in the early
1990s, he wanted it as a way to acknowledge the
important role that comic retailers play in the
industry, nurturing the relationship between creators
and their readers. The comic book retailer provides
that vital link in getting the work from the creators
and publishers to the public. Eisner recognized the
importance of that link, and Comic-Con continues
to recognize it 20 years after his original idea.
The award is given out yearly to retailers who
have done an outstanding job of supporting the
comics medium in both the industry at large and
their local community. (See the “Call for Nomina-
tions” ballot on page 71 for a complete list of cri-
teria for the award and the opportunity to nominate
your choice for 2012. You can also nominate your
favorite store online at www.comic-con.org/cci/
cci_eisners_spirit.php.)
The nominees for the award are selected by a
committee of industry professionals and the judg-
ing is facilitated by retailer Joe Ferrara (Atlantis
Fantasyworld, Santa Cruz, CA), a past recipient.
The 2011 committee included the 2010 award re-
cipients, Curtis Sullivan and Steve Fodale of Vault
of Midnight (Ann Arbor, MI). Other judges were
writer/editor Anina Bennett (Heartbreakers, Boil-
erplate), Mike Holman (purchasing brand manager
for Diamond UK), Chip Mosher (marketing director
for BOOM! Studios at the time of the judging, now
the marketing director for comiXology), and famed
cartoonist Jeff Smith (Bone, RASL). Comic-Con’s
Lisa Moreau coordinates all the information and
videos sent in by the retailers during the nomina-
tion process and helps the judges during the judging
process.
The 2011 award recipient is Comics and Veg-
etables of Tel Aviv, Israel, owned by Yuval Sharon
and Danny Amitai. Comic-Con Annual talked with
Yuval and Danny and with Elite Avni-Sharon,
Yuval’s wife, about the fascinating world of com-
ics—and vegetables?!—in Israel.
.
Comics and Vegetables is a very unusual name for
a store. Do you really sell vegetables, too?
In the Hebrew holy book Hagadah, which we read
during Passover, the phrase “and vegetables” means
“and everything.” This was one of the reasons for
the name of the store. Also, while looking for a lo-
cation back in 2000, we stumbled upon a cute little
store right next to a vegetables store and thought
how funny it would be if we called the store “Com-
ics and Vegetables” (CNV). Of course, not a day
has gone by without questions from people—even
the IRS!—about the location of the vegetables in
the store.
How did you get started in comics?
When Yuval was 10 years old, he started to read his
father’s MAD magazines. He found a small store
that carried some translated Tarzan and Spider-Man
comics, and after that he spent most of his time
searching for more comic books to read. He worked
all summer saving money for monthly mail orders.
His favorites were Uncanny X-Men, Punisher,
Captain America, and all the Batman comics he
could get his hands on. Currently Yuval is a huge
Hellboy fan.
Danny discovered comics on a trip to London
where he bought his first comic books, among them
Amazing Spider-Man #300.
Are there comics publishers in Israel?
There are many Israeli comics being published
lately. The new medium got lots of publicity
through the cinema, the new Israeli Museum of
Caricature and Comics (in Holon, south of Tel
Aviv), and local comics festivals. Our own Rutu
One of Israel’s most popular comic book characters, Falafel Man, and some of his fans at
Comics and Vegetables in Tel Aviv.
Modan won an Eisner Award three years ago for
her graphic novel Exit Wounds [and was a guest at
Comic-Con in 2008].
Some of the more popular Israeli comic series are:
Falafel Man by Dorit Maya Gur (a graduate of
the Joe Kubert School), is about an Israeli super-
hero who fights evil and anti-Semitism, shooting
Falafel balls from his hands.
Uzi by Nimrod Reshef is about a rogue soldier
fighting for good.
Zbang by Uri Fink has been published for 20
years and has a huge following. It tells the story of
teenagers in school.
Ein Seora by Avi Blyer—a talented animator and
illustrator—is about two friends on a bibbutz storm-
ing to the big city (Tel Aviv).
Other popular titles include Farm 54 by Gilaad
Selikter, which was translated to French and
English, and Adirey Hatchelet (Fabulous Knights of
Blue) by Offer Zanzuri.
When did you first open a store, and why did you
start selling comics? 
Comics are a fairly new creation in Israel. There
aren’t newspaper “funnies” here, distributed to your
home every morning. There aren’t comics stores
in every mall and on every street. In fact, there
are only three stores in Israel, and two of them are
owned by Comics and Vegetables.  
Ten years ago, the comics situation was
bleak. People who were familiar with comics from
abroad found it difficult to receive magazines via

68 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012

 CLICK HERE TO NOMINATE YOUR FAVORITE STORE FOR THE 2012 SPIRIT OF COMICS RETAILER AWARD!
unreliable deliveries and slow Internet orders.
The only comics available were old translations
of Asterix and Tarzan and one weekly comic for
children called Zbang. We recognized the problem
and decided to take action. In 2001, the website
“Comics and Vegetables ” was launched, offering
worldwide shipment of comics, news, and updates
from the comics world. It also offered reviews,
questionnaires, and feedback for artists from around
the world. We sold comics books at malls and festi-
vals, widening the awareness of comics.
After repeated pleas from comic fans, we were
determined to open a real store. In 2004, we found
a nice little corner store in the heart of Tel Aviv and
gave the small number of fans at the time a place
to meet and discuss comics, and find products and
magazines from around the world that were not
otherwise available anywhere else in the Middle
East at the time.   neighborhoods, and meetings of gay youth. The
In the store, artists were able to find design
and art books, comics-related support, and advice
regarding independent comics books publishing. In
2006, the CNV store moved to a larger location, a
few dozen meters from the old shop. Here we were
able to display a wide range of products, from a
variety of comics and manga to issues and mer-
chandise from around the world—from small press
to the big publishers.
How is your store involved in your local community?
CNV helps spread the word of comics across the
country, by conducting lectures and workshops on
comics. We assist in the annual national comics fes-
tival in Tel-Aviv, and we helped in establishing the
Israeli Caricature and Comics Museum in Holon, a
one-of-a-kind museum in this part of the world.
Comics and Vegetables has always made sure
to promote the local industry. We give courses,
workshops, and lectures dealing with comics
reading, creating, and publishing. We offer artistic
and financial support to young local comics artists,
assist with writing, drawing, printing, distribution,
and advertising, and hold signings at the store.
Comics and Vegetables’ storefront and one of the many “Comics for All” events.
Alongside CNV’s relationship with comic cre- latest Craig Thompson graphic novel, Habibi, sold
ators and fans, the store has established “Comics a lot of copies, and Dark Horse’s Blacksad is one of
for All.” This is a group of comic artists who vol- our strongest sellers.
unteer their time for children in hospitals, shelters
for youths at risk, boarding schools for children What does winning the Spirit Award mean to you
removed from their parents, those in disadvantaged as a retailer?
At first the phone rang off the hook. We were
group offers workshops in experiential comics interviewed in every newspaper and on every news
learning, which includes lessons, lectures, sketches, channel, and the Israeli awareness of us—and the
and portraits. We also donate merchandise and comics medium in general—grew.
original comics.  But the reactions and feedback we were most
The store offers a special discount card for the proud and happy to receive were from comics
children of “Comics for All,” organizes illus- retailers around the world. It meant a lot to us to be
trated donation campaigns, and attempts to fulfill nominated and considered equal and worthy, but the
every wish. For children with cancer who dream winning itself was almost surreal. We still do not
to publish comics, CNV provides all possible believe it, being a small store in a small country.
assistance, from meeting with famous artists who
feature the children’s creations in their magazines, Someone walks into your store who has never read
to organizing exhibitions of the children’s work at comics and is interested in getting started. What
the Comics Museum. The store also issued a free is- comics do you recommend?
sue of Israeli comics for distribution to the children We would ask the customer what brought him or
of “Comics for All.”  her to the store. If they came because of a Batman
movie, we would offer Batman: Hush, which is a
What American comics are your bestsellers?  great way to start. Marvel’s Ultimate line is always
Spider-Man is an all-time favorite, and the DC New a good recommendation, and so is DC’s New 52 as
52 books are selling through the roof, especially a way to start reading comics. Most newcomers ask
Batman. The Walking Dead and Chew are best- for standalone stories, so the best things for them
sellers in trade paperback.  are graphic novels, but it all depends on the age of
We do our best to carry all publishers. Naturally, the customer and their reasons to visit the store.
DC and Marvel are the main sellers, but the Israeli
crowd is also into a lot of small press comics. The
WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 69
 Spirit of
Comics
RETAILER AWARD

The Judges Weigh In . . .

This year’s Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Awards judges were tasked with sifting through an incredible amount of information about each store
to narrow the field of 25 nominations down to a small group of finalists and one recipient. We asked some of the judges what stood out about this
year’s nominated stores and what made Comics and Vegetables the award recipient.

Anina Bennett
(writer/editor, Heartbreakers,
Boilerplate)
Clearly, the bar has been
raised. Fifteen years ago,
every one of the nominees
would’ve been an exceptional retailer and a
top contender. Now, there are so many good
comics shops that it was tough to choose a
winner! Many of the things we used to wish
for have come true in the direct sales market.
The stores are clean and well organized—
though I wish more of them would rack books
by genre—with diverse products and friendly,
knowledgeable staff. All the nominees were
winners in that sense.
Two things about Comics and Vegetables
stood out from the crowd. First, the storeown-
ers’ written presentation was superb. They
submitted a book of photos with captions,
a words-and-pictures narrative that was cre-
ative, engaging, concise, and relevant to all
the judging criteria.
But the main reason Comics and Veg-
etables won is that its owners have almost
single-handedly created an infrastructure for
comics fandom in Israel. They launched comic
shops where there were none. They helped
found a museum, run classes, and organize a
comics and animation festival. They founded
“Comics for Everyone,” an “association of
Israeli comics creators volunteering to inspire
creativity in disadvantaged children.” I don’t
know how those guys even have time to
breathe, but I salute them. As artist Michael
Netzer wrote, they’re “striving to make com-
ics as popular and loved as anything else in
[Israeli] culture.” They embody the Spirit of
Comics.
Joe Ferrara
(owner, Atlantis Fantasy-
world, Santa Cruz, CA;
former award recipient)
The quality of each store
was highly professional and
they were all deserving of recognition. Will’s
intention in creating this award was to inspire
comics store owners to present their stores in
a more professional manner so as to appeal
to a wider audience. I think he would be very
proud of all of these nominees.
Every comic store owner has a passion
for what they do, but the staff at Comics and
Vegetables were able to convey the unique
way they reach out to the community beyond
the limitations of their store. Their love for
comics is exceeded only by their commitment
to spread the word to Tel Aviv and beyond.
They are the best ambassadors for comics
you could ask for.
Chip Mosher
(VP, marketing, public relations, and business
development, comiXology)
I know when Will Eisner came up with the
idea for this award he really wanted to have
something in our industry to recognize great
stores, but also to incentivize stores to be
the best that they can be. There are so many
great stores out there with so much to offer.
We had 25 nominations this year, and there
was not a bad store in the bunch. Unfortu-
nately, there can be only one winner . . . but
it is great to know that Will’s original vision
has really come true.
Comics and Vegetables had the edge in
that they brought the comic book medium to
an entire country . . . you just can’t beat that!
Israel just didn’t have any cultural history
with comic books, so Comics and Vegetables
had to start at square one. I really admired
what they did. And I kept thinking to myself,
“This is the store that Will would have
picked!”
Jeff Smith
(writer/artist, Bone, Rasl)
The presentations were all
very energetic. As a comics
publisher, I was happy to
see so many contemporary
stores with clear ideas about how to rack
and display books. A lot of the nominees had
dedicated children’s areas, complete with
tables and chairs.
Comics and Vegetables had many strong
points, but it was their community outreach
that really put them over the top. They almost
single-handedly created a comics scene in Tel
Aviv! And of course, the name is awesome!
Curtis Sulliivan and Steve Fodale
(Vault of Midnight, Ann Arbor, MI, last year’s
award recipient)
The top dozen or so stores looked amazing,
top shelf for any business. Full range of comic
books, great product mixes, and dynamite
layouts. It was very hard to whittle it down to
five and than one ultimate champion. 
[Comics and Vegetables] had a great look-
ing store, and they had the full breadth and
width of comic books, but their unabashed
zeal for the medium was what put them over
the top. True ambassadors of the art.

Nominate Your Own Favorite Comic Shop for the 2012 Award!
Fill out the form on the next page and mail or fax it in or visit
www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_spirit.php to nominate a store online!
70 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012
 2012 CALL FOR
NOMINATIONS
The Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award,
presented under the auspices of Comic-Con Interna-
tional: San Diego, is given to an individual retailer
who has done an outstanding job of supporting the
comics art medium both in the community and with-
in the industry at large.

GUIDELINES
for nomination include:
• Any retailer established in business for at least two
years is eligible to be nominated.
• Anyone—retailers, professionals, fans—may place a
name in nomination.
• A panel of industry judges select a group of finalists
to be subjected to an in-depth examination based on
the award criteria.
• Recipient will be announced as part of the Will Eisner
Comic Industry Awards at Comic-Con International
on Friday, July 13, 2012.
• Previous winners are not eligible for nomination.
CRITERIA
for judging include:
• Support of a wide variety of innovative material.
Providing opportunities for creators’ material to reach
buyers; stocking a diverse inventory.
• Knowledge. Working to stay informed on retailing as
well as on the comics field.
• Community activity. Promoting comics to the
community; maintaining relationships with schools and
libraries; keeping active in social, business, and arts
community organizations.
• Quality of store image. Innovative display approaches;
using store design creatively.
• Adherence to standard ethical business practices.

2012 SPIRIT OF COMICS AWARD NOMINATING BALLOT

I place the following name in nomination for the 2012 Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award. I understand that only retailers whose business has been estab-
lished for at least two years are eligible for nomination and that any nominees found not to adhere to standard ethical business practices will be disqualified.

PLEASE PRINT OR TYPE

Retailer’s Name_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Store Name____________________________________________________________________Store Phone #_________________________________________
Complete Store Address_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PROVIDE BRIEF STATEMENTS HOW YOUR NOMINEE EXCELS IN EACH OF THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES. USE ADDITIONAL SHEETS IF NECESSARY.

Support of a wide variety of innovative material __________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Knowledge__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Community activity___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Quality of store image________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Additional comments__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BALLOTS MUST BE RECEIVED BY MARCH 30, 2012

Mail to: Spirit of Comics Retailer Award, c/o Comic-Con International, P. O. Box 128458, San Diego, CA 92112 or fax to: 619-414-1022

WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 71
 APE2011 A LOOK BACK AT THE ALTERNATIVE PRESS EXPO, HELD OCTOBER
1 & 2 AT THE CONCOURSE EXHIBITION CENTER IN SAN FRANCISCO

APE (the Alternative Press Expo) once again took over San 2
Francisco’s Concourse Exhibition Center to the delight of
comics fans from all over the Bay Area, on Oct. 1 and
2, 2011. Over 5,600 people attended the annual celebra-
tion of comics, which included special guests Kate Beaton,
Daniel Clowes, Craig Thompson, Matthew Thurber, Adrian
Tomine, and Shannon Wheeler.

Photos: 1: A look at the APE Exhibit Hall from the mezza-

nine level. The hall was larger than ever before, with over
400 exhibitors. 2: Special guests Kate Beaton and Craig
Thompson on the “Drawing Inspiration” panel. For a par-
tial transcript, see page 76. 3: The packed house for the
Daniel Clowes–Adrian Tomine panel, moderated by Dan
Nadel, just one of many panels filled to capacity.

72 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012

 APE
2011

4 8

5 6

10

4: Cartoonist Keith Knight talks to creators Dan Cooney and Andy Ristaino on the
“Indy Cartoonist Survival Guide” panel, in its third year as a popular program at APE.
5: Special guest Kate Beaton signing at the Drawn & Quarterly tables. 6: Paige Brad-
dock celebrated the 10th anniversary of her comic Jane’s World with a panel at APE.
7: The mezzanine level of the Concourse was the spot for hands-on workshops all week-
end long, such as this one featuring cartoonist/journalist Shaenon Garrity. 8: The Comic
Creator Connection, teaming aspiring writers with potential artist collaborators, was
packed in both its sessions. 9: Comics legends Daniel Clowes and Adrian Tomine teamed
up to talk comics. 10: Cartoonists Jason Shiga and Mari Naomi were two of the artists
who took part in the “Comics Coast to Coast” panel on Sunday.

Photos by Barry Brown and Victoria Minnich WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 73

 APE COVER STORY: Shannon Wheeler
2011
Just how crazy is Shannon Wheeler? We got to find out firsthand when we asked the Eisner Award–
winning writer/artist (Best Humor Publication for I Thought You Would Be Funnier) to illustrate the APE
2011 Program Book cover and official promotional poster.

1 2 3 4

Shannon sent in numerous roughs, four of which are shown above. Some of them included his trademark coffee motif, from his famous
creation Too Much Coffee Man (really . . . how many comic characters have an opera?). We decided to go with number three, but it
wasn’t an easy decision. They were all great.

Art © Shannon Wheeler; photo by Barry Brown

The next step was a more-detailed rough, followed by pencils,

inks, and finally colors. The colored version was used for the Pro-
gram Book cover (at right), the promotional poster, bookmarks (at
left), postcards, and local newspaper ads.

74 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012

Literary & Artist Maker Guest of Honor:
Guest of Honor: Dan Jones (Tinkerbots)
Kaja Foglio
 APE Drawing Inspiration: Creativity in Comics
2011
Left to right: moderator Charles Brownstein talks to Kate Beaton, Craig Thompson, Tom Neely, Shannon Wheeler, and Matthew Thurber about inspiration, work, and comics.
One of APE 2011’s panels, “Drawing Inspiration: The
Secrets of Comics Creativity,” centered on how artists
get their inspiration. Moderated by Charles Brown-
stein (executive director, CBLDF) and featuring
APE special guests Kate Beaton (Hark! A Vagrant!),
Craig Thompson (Habibi), Matthew Thurber (1-800
MICE), and Shannon Wheeler (Oil and Water),
plus Tom Neely (The Wolf), this in-depth discussion
revealed the secrets of what inspires them, along with
a whole lot of tangents on other creative issues.
Charles Brownstein: One of the things that’s really
incredible about a show like APE is that, unlike
anything anybody would have imagined 50 years ago
when comics were being censored by things like the
Comics Code Authority, and 25 years later an organi-
zation like the CBLDF had to come about to protect
all kinds of free expression in comics, you just would
have never imagined a room full of the diversity of
artistic expression like we’re seeing here today. These
panelists really represent a broad swath of what’s
possible in comics, when 25 years ago you were either
working on superheroes or elves. What was it about
comics that drew you to have the freedom to express
yourself in this fashion?
Kate Beaton: Why comics? It just seemed very
natural. I started with comics because I worked for a
school newspaper at a university and I did a humor
column and for fun I would do comics as well. I found
that I had drawn all the time anyway growing up, and
I wanted to do humorous stuff, so putting the two
together just seemed natural. I didn’t really think com-
ics was the real ticket for me, it’s just what you end up
doing because it happens.
Craig Thompson: I grew up in a working-class
household, and comics just happened to be the most
accessible medium, like the Sunday funnies. My
household was also very religious, and they censored
all the media in the house, but comics—because they
76 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012
were a kids’ medium—were below the censorship
radar. I think that’s why my brother and I were able to
access the edgiest sort of entertainment in comics and
that’s what imprinted on us as an artform. My brother
and I started working on a farm for a dollar an hour
and that was equivalent to one comic book an hour at
the time, and that’s how we thought of labor. For me,
labor and comics have always been very intercon-
nected.
Tom Neely: I guess I grew up always wanting to
do comics. I was given a subscription to the Floyd
Gottfredson Mickey Mouse comics that Gladstone
was publishing at the time. But other then Mickey
Mouse, Archie, Marvel, and DC, I didn’t really have
any exposure to anything else. By the time I got to
high school I kind of drifted more towards fine art
and got into painting, but was always doing comics in
my sketchbook. Because I grew up in a small town in
Texas, I didn’t have any independent or underground
comics to see, and then I moved here to San Francisco
and went to the Art Institute. I discovered underground
comix and alternative comics, and actually you [Craig
Thompson] were one of the first people I found, and
Chester Brown and Renée French, and that made me
realize that you can do weird stuff in comics, not just
superheroes. And I started doing comics again and
never looked back.
Shannon Wheeler: I grew up reading the newspaper
and wanting to draw comics from that. I liked things
like Garfield. And then finding a stash of Fabulous
Furry Freak Brothers that were left around the house
and reading Fat Freddie’s Cat, I thought this is how to
do comics. It turned out there were a lot of under-
ground comix around the house, and I was weaned on
those—ZAP and these really offensive other titles. For
me there’s nothing shocking and there aren’t really
limits. I don’t have a lot of filters, but I’m not really
rebelling against anything either. I’m just doing the
stuff that I genuinely love.
Matthew Thurber: I guess I feel like comics are the
most effective and resourceful medium for channeling
your dreams or your mental movies. Your fantasies
can quickly become actualized with no budget or no
resources or not even any drawing skill. So when I got
out of art school, comics just seemed like an economi-
cal way of producing ambitious long pieces, when I
couldn’t get it together to write a film script and get a
movie made. It was very do-it-yourself. I could control
every aspect of it.
Charles: How is it that you find yourselves going
about the discipline of creating the work and distilling
the inspirations out there?
Craig: I like what Matt said about dreams. I think
the kernel of creativity is the daydream part, that’s
maybe the only real fun part. There’s a fun stage at the
beginning where you’re kind of daydreaming, you’re
collecting research and at a certain point that research
is a form of procrastination. For me it’s kind of a ro-
mantic relationship, and if you leave at the first sign of
struggle you don’t learn anything about yourself. The
point of relationships and the point of art is to conjure
all the dark neuroses inside you, take the chaos out
and put it in a container.
Kate: I think that there is a certain amount of despera-
tion in it. If I only made comics when I wanted to for
fun, you wouldn’t see that many [from me]. I like
making comics, but it’s also your job and it’s almost
like when you did university papers . . . I would
always work best under pressure, and that certainly
helps. I have a comic where I have a self-imposed
deadline of so many times a month or once a week or
whatever, and I kind of need that to get it out some-
times. Otherwise I would drift off and just doodle and
not finish things, because the fun part is definitely to
think of an idea or to think of a joke. That’s such a big
question—how does the inspiration end up becoming
a comic?—because that’s your whole life if this is
Photo by Victoria Minnich
 [KATE BEATON: I want a comics panel that’s just people’s parents. My dad thinks Herman is funny. He doesn’t get my jokes.[
your job and it’s different every time. Sometimes it’s
easy and sometimes it’s hard and the hard times are
worth it, because you do it and that’s the main thing, to
just keep doing it. There’s no single instance of here’s
my process. It’s different every day and every time
you start a new page.
Matthew: I think that it’s okay to not have a regular
working method. I have tried so many different styles
of creating regular work, and all of them—it’s like
quitting smoking 10,000 times. If you don’t have a
regular deadline, maybe you could ask a friend to be
your editor or something or just require something
from you every week. I feel like somebody needs
to take your food away or something if you don’t
[produce work]. You need to be punished or else it’s
not serious.
Shannon: Fear and anger work well for me. I get
pissed off at some publisher that turned me down. I
thought, “I’ll self-publish and I’ll do it better than they
could.” Getting turned down by Fantagraphics when
I was starting, man that pissed me off something bad
and I just drew comics hard after that.
Charles: So now that they’ve published Oil and
Water are you done?
Shannon: I am, that’s it. I’m going to sleep.
Tom: My process feels very slow and labored to me,
but I feel like I’m always constantly just accumulating
stuff and spilling it out whenever it comes out. It’s not
a job to me. I have a day job that pays the bills, and
so my comics can be much more personal that way. I
don’t have to worry about any audience expectations,
so I just kind of go in my cave and see what comes out
and then later worry about whether anybody’s going
to like it or not.
Charles: With your work it seems to me, Tom, that
there’s a discovery and a gestation period that goes
into it.
Tom: Gestation period is a way to look at it, because
I often don’t really know what I’m doing until it’s
finished, and then I can look at the whole thing and
kind of figure out what it was I was trying to say. It
sounds cliché, but for me it requires kind of a muse,
an inspiration to pull ideas out of me for a finished
product, but I don’t always know what it is. It’s just
all these visions in my head and later I figure out what
they’re about.
Charles: Craig, how does that compare with a process
like Habibi, where it was seven years of labor? Was
that a process of seven years of discovery?
Craig: Seven years from conception to publication.
With Habibi I spent two years on a rough drawn ver-
sion of the book before I started on the final art. But
similar to Tom, I’m discovering things as I go along.
I never know the endings for certain with my projects
as I’m drawing them. I don’t do it in script form. I do
a drawn form of the entire book, but it’s very loosely
drawn and it’s not precious. I discard hundreds of
pages and redraw them to get caught up in this editing
process.
Charles: Shannon you’ve built a recent industry in
harvesting your rejections from The New Yorker, so it
seems to me that you really have very little ego about
that part of the process. How did confronting that
process of external rejection make you a better artist?
Shannon: Quantity helps a lot. You get familiar with
just putting pen to paper. But every day that I sit down
to draw or write or create, I feel like I’m going through
the six stages of death, with anger, denial, bargaining,
etc. I feel at this point it should just be like Charles
Schulz. You sit down and it’s just done because you
looked at the paper. I try to be there but I’m not . . .
it’s a hard process, but anger, denial, bargaining, and
alcohol—drink some booze. It’s stupid, but do other
people have those same feelings?
Craig: I don’t think I use anger as a motivation. I do
have anger in my life, but I don’t know if I use that in
my art to be honest, because I think art comes from
a more pure place. Shannon, it’s the dark side of the
force you’re using.
Matthew: Do you meditate?
Craig: No, I don’t, but I do think of art as a medita-
tion. It takes so much time that you get into a little
zone and you lose a sense of yourself, which is impor-
tant. I think that’s important for everyone to go into a
space where their own sense of boundaries of self or
ego kind of evaporate. Art has that effect. I want to
destroy, so I guess there’s some anger. I am angry.
Matthew: Here it comes.
Shannon: He’s moved past denial, now anger. Bar-
gaining, get to bargaining. This is good.
Craig: I can’t really look at my work with any kind
of appreciation until it’s in print. So maybe that’s a
motivator because when it’s on the drawing board I
only see the mistakes, but once it’s in print it’s fully
birthed and outside of myself, and it has it’s own life
so I can finally let it go.
Tom: I remember when I was working on my first
graphic novel The Blot and [the publisher] wanted
me to make all these changes that I didn’t want to do,
so that’s when I decided to self-publish it. But during
that process of trying to make that decision, I talked to
Dylan Williams, and he said don’t let anybody tell you
what to do with your art, and I’ve stuck with that.
Shannon: I don’t know . . . you look at some of
the best writers that have come down the pike, and
they’ve gotten good because they’ve dealt with edi-
tors.
Tom: For me I don’t think it works that way. I can’t
create with somebody looking over my shoulder.
Matthew: Once I sent a letter and a tape of some
music I made to this band that I liked a lot. I was des-
perate to know what they would think of it, and they
sent me this letter back that said you’re the only judge
of what’s good and bad, and I thought that was really
important, interesting, good advice.
Charles: Shannon, is anger still your motivation
when you’re depicting the behaviors of other people?
I Thought You Would Be Funnier is all about human
foibles and Oil and Water is a tragedy of human
incompetence. What goes into how you’re putting
the people you observe onto the page, and what’s the
attitude that you’re trying to get out there?
Shannon: It’s sort of run on this thesis that people
are trying to do the best they can and how that is
expressed in different ways. When I went to the Gulf
and met all these people, I felt like they were cleaning
up the beach. But talking to the BP official there on
the beach, he’s doing the best he can, and he thought
he was doing a good thing. He killed every single bit
of life that was on the beach. There were no insects
and no birds and no crabs. It’s just like a Philip K.
Dick kind of scene, no sound except for water, which
you don’t think is weird until you’re going, “What is
missing? Oh yeah, life.” But he’s there thinking he’s
doing great, and I kind of run with that premise.
Charles: Tom, in The Wolf you spoke to some of the
universal psychology of moving from being a single
person to being a couple, and you address a really
scary, self-confrontation that everybody has to go
through in becoming that, in that mature state. What
elements of your own life and what elements of just
human nature in general informed that narrative for
you?
Tom: I guess the root of most of my work is kind of
autobiographical, but it’s buried beneath a lot of scary
surrealist stuff. I don’t know . . . it’s hard to figure out.
It’s also partially why most of my books are wordless
because I don’t really speak too well about what
they’re about.
Charles: Does it irritate you when other people speak
about it?
Tom: No, I always like hearing other interpretations,
so that’s always interesting. My mother’s interpreta-
tions are usually the most humorous. She said The
Blot is about global warming. She hasn’t told me what
The Wolf is about. She just thinks that I should have
painted nicer pictures, pretty things.
Kate: I want a comics panel that’s just people’s
parents. My dad thinks Herman is funny. He doesn’t
get my jokes.
WWW.COMIC-CON.ORG 77
 APE CLICK HERE FOR UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION ON APE 2012!
2012

The busy APE

Exhibit Hall at
p

the 2011 event.

APE (the Alternative Press Expo) Returns to San Francisco Oct. 13 & 14!
The Alternative Press Expo (APE) returns to the Concourse Exhibition Center in San Francisco on October 13 and 14, 2012. Coming off its most successful year
ever—with over 5,600 attendees—APE once again offers a giant exhibit hall, provocative programming (including panels, workshops, and the ever-popular Comic
Creator Connection) and much, much more. Be a part of San Francisco’s only major comics convention in 2012! APE 2012’s special guests include:

Sergio Aragonés (cartoonist, Groo, MAD, Sergio Aragonés Funnies)

When you think of it, Sergio Aragonés is the perfect guest for APE: his indy cred started with that most iconoclastic of alternative comics, MAD magazine, way back
in 1962. This is Sergio’s first appearance at APE, and he’s the first creator ever to pull the hat trick for guesting at all three Comic-Con sponsored shows in one year!
(For more info on Sergio, see his WonderCon bio on page 16)

The Hernandez Brothers: Gilbert, Jaime, and Mario (Love and Rockets)
The Love and Rockets 30th anniversary celebration continues with the first-ever appearance of all three Hernandez Bros. at APE! (For more on Gilbert, Jaime, and
Mario, see their Comic-Con bios on page 54 and the feature article on page 38).

Erik Drooker
Eric Drooker is a painter and graphic novelist, born and raised on Manhattan Island. He’s the award-winning author of Flood! A Novel in
Pictures, and Blood Song: A Silent Ballad. He designed the animation for the recent film Howl, a movie based on the epic poem by Allen
Ginsberg, who collaborated with Drooker on the book Illuminated Poems, and the new Howl: A Graphic Novel. His paintings appear often
on covers of The New Yorker, and hang in numerous collections. For more info, visit www.Drooker.com.

Ben Katchor (writer/artist, Julius Knipl, The Cardboard Valise)

Ben Katchor’s picture-stories and drawings have appeared in Metropolis Magazine, The New Yorker, and other newspapers and magazines.
His books include Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer, The Beauty Supply District, The Jew of New York, and The Cardboard Valise (all
Pantheon Books). He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. He has
collaborated with musician Mark Mulcahy on four music-theater productions, most recently Up from the Stacks. He is an associate professor
at Parsons, The New School in New York City. For more information visit www.katchor.com.

Jim Woodring (writer/artist, Jim, Weathercraft)

Jim Woodring was born in Los Angeles in 1952 and enjoyed a childhood full of poetry and perturbation among the snakes and tarantulas
of the San Gabriel mountains. A self-taught artist, his works include autobiographical comics, wordless cartoon stories, anecdotal charcoal
drawings, and the sculptures, vinyl figures, fabrics, and gallery installations that have been made from his designs. His multimedia collabo-
rations with the musician Bill Frisell won them a United States Artists Fellowship in 2006. His 2010 book Weathercraft won The Stranger’s
2010 Genius Award for literature was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His most recent graphic novel is Congress of the
Animals. He lives in Seattle with his family and residual phenomena and on jimwoodring.com.

Complete APE info: www.comic-con.org/APE as we get closer to the event!

78 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012 APE Exhibit Hall photo by Gary Sassaman
 Moment
THE [ SATURDAY, JULY 23, 1:12 PM @ COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL [

STEAMPUNK
NATION

Comic-Con International 2011 was the scene as

Steampunk enthusiasts gathered on the Conven-
tion Center’s back stairs facing the Embarca-
dero for the Third Annual Starburner Galactic
Courier Service Awards Ceremony. While not
an official Comic-Con event, the gathering also
presented the Annual Starburner Awards, given
to honor individuals who have made outstand-
ing contributions to the Steampunk community.

80 COMIC-CON ANNUAL 2012 Photos by Sergio Palacios

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