Comic-Con A to Z FILMS Helping you stay up all night, Comic-Con’s film screenings will take place at both the Convention Center and the official headquarters hotel, the San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina. Pre-registered 4-day attendees will have a jump on everyone else by getting a sneak peek at the complete films schedule online, closer to the event. Staying up late to watch movies with some of your newest friends is a Comic-Con tradition!
FREEBIE TABLES One of the best parts of any convention: free stuff! Comic-Con has it by the bag-load, starting at the giant Freebie Tables located in the Sails Pavilion upstairs, beginning on Thursday, July 23. And of course many companies give out items at their booths in the Exhibit Hall, too. (At left, just some of the totally free swag from Comic-Con 2008!)
GAMES You can always count on hours upon hours of games at Comic-Con! The Convention Center’s Mezzanine level is devoted to games all four days of the event, and the gaming room at the headquarters hotel, the San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina, offers action into the wee hours of the night. The preliminary tournament schedule for Comic-Con 2009 includes Pokemon CCG, Magic CCG, Konami Yu-Gi-Oh! and Bluedragon, Bandai Dragonball and Battlespirits tournaments, and the San Diego Tekken group annual video game tournaments. Look for a complete schedule closer to the event at www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_gaming.shtml
GUESTS The 40th annual Comic-Con brings together another incredibly diverse list of special guests literally from around the world. In addition to individuals from comics, science fiction and fantasy, and animation, this year Comic-Con helps celebrate its 40th show by inviting back some of the people instrumental in the success of the event over the years. (See page 42 for a complete list.) NEW!=Added since last issue.
SERGIO ARAGONES Cartoonist Groo, MAD
MAD magazine’s longest-running cartoonist and the creator of that popular dim-witted barbarian Groo, Sergio Aragonés is one of Comic-Con’s most popular guests. Sergio recently helped revive the DC Western hero Bat Lash in a new miniseries, and he wrote a run of Will Eisner’s The Spirit with frequent collaborator and fellow Comic-Con guest Mark Evanier. Sergio and Mark’s Groo: Hell on Earth has been nominated for a 2009 Eisner Award for Best Limited Series.
NICOLA CUTI Writer/editor/ co-creator, E-Man
Nicola Cuti worked as a comic writer, artist, and editor for DC, Marvel, Charlton, and Warren in the 1970s and 1980s. His best-known comics creation is E-Man, co-created with artist Joe Staton. Nick later worked in animation as a background designer, including work on Conan, Gargoyles, and Starship Troopers. For the past decade, Nick has been developing a live-action series, Captain Cosmos, the Last STARveyer, a science fiction/science fact adventure program for children.
steve epting Artist, Captain America, Avengers
With a career stretching back to First Comics, Steve Epting made his name with Marvel fans everywhere with a 50-issue run on Avengers in the early ’90s. With stints at both Marvel (X-Men titles), DC (Aquaman), and CrossGen (the Eisner-nominated El Cazador), Steve returned to Marvel to embark on his first collaboration with writer Ed Brubaker on Captain America, in what is shaping up to be one of the all-time great runs in the character’s history.
38 Comic-Con Magazine • Spring 2009
Kevin J. Anderson is the international bestselling author of nearly 100 books, with 20 million copies in print. He and Brian Herbert have co-authored 12 Dune novels. Anderson has also written the SF epic “Saga of Seven Suns” and two novels set in the DC Universe: Last Days Of Krypton and Enemies & KEVIN J. ANDERSON Allies. He has written comics for DC, Marvel, Dark Author, Dune novels, Horse, IDW, and WildStorm. Saga of Seven Suns
GENE COLAN Artist, Daredevil, Tomb of Dracula
KeVin eastman Co-creator, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
mark Evanier Writer, Kirby: King of Comics
One of the greatest artists of the Silver Age of Comics, Gene Colan is best known for his work for Marvel on titles such as Daredevil, Iron Man, Captain America, and Tomb of Dracula. His work includes Batman and Wonder Woman for DC, and he was recently the subject of a career-spanning art show at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco.
Born in Portland, ME in 1962—and already a Jack Kirby fan—Kevin Eastman’s first drawing was on the house walls. First published cartoon was in Clay Geerdes Comics Wave; first published comic: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (with co-creator Peter Laird); first magazine purchased: Heavy Metal (and still acting publisher). Currently lives in Los Angeles with Pamela, two kids named Shane and Peter (also Kirby fans), as well as eight dogs. Coming off a big year with his Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of Comics, being a smash hit (and nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Book), Mark Evanier has also co-written The Spirit with Sergio Aragonés for DC Comics and blogs on a daily basis at his famous online outpost newsfromme.com. Mark will be drawing on his vast knowledge of comics history for the many panels he’s sure to be moderating. Swag photo by Mary Sturhann; games photo by Tom Gurnee.