The 21st annual Baltimore Comic-Con returns to the Inner Harbor at the Baltimore Convention Center on October 23-25, 2020. The show features many comics luminaries, including industry award winners Cliff Chiang, Jamal Igle, David Petersen, Don Rosa, Joe Staton, and Mark Waid. 

Chiang began his career as an assistant editor at DC’s Vertigo imprint before moving into freelance illustration. His previous work includes runs on Human Target, Green Arrow & Black Canary, Wonder Woman with Brian Azzarello, and the Eisner Award-winning Paper Girls, co-created with Brian K. Vaughan. Cliff is currently writing and drawing a book for DC’s Black Label.

Igle is a comic industry veteran and recipient of the 2011 Inkpot Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comic Art. His credits include Molly Danger, Venture, The Wrong Earth, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, and Race Against Time. He has also served as the series artist on Firestorm the Nuclear Man, Nightwing, Tangent: Superman’s Reign, Noble Causes and New Warriors. Igle has done some acting and voiceover work, served as storyboards artist for Sony Animation and is a popular guest lecturer. Currently, he is working on White, the sequel to Black from Black Superpowers/Black Mask Studios, coming late summer 2020.

Petersen is a cartoonist and children’s book illustrator who launched his career with a self-published issue of his series Mouse Guard in 2005 when it was then picked up by Archaia, who continues to publish the Eisner and Harvey Award-winning series. Petersen has also worked on covers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Dark Crystal. He’s illustrated an edition of Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows for IDW and his artwork also graced the cover for the 2012 Baltimore Comic-Con program, as well as the show exclusive t-shirt.

Eisner Award-winning Rosa can hardly be mentioned without evoking images of Walt Disney’s Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, and the rest of the Duck family. Heir apparent to Carl Barks as the Duck master, he was responsible for approximately 90 stories before his retirement from working with Disney in 2006. His beautiful contributions can be seen in IDW’s Don Rosa’s The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Vol. 1: Artist’s Edition.

Staton got his start at Charlton Comics in 1971, where he co-created E-Man and Michael Mauser. Though the bulk of his work has been for DC Comics, Staton has worked for at least 30 publishers and 100 different editors. Among his many comics credits are Action Comics, Green Lantern, The Legion, Classics Illustrated, and various incarnations of Batman. He penciled over 100 issues of the Cartoon Network’s Scooby Doo comic and earned an Eisner Award for his work on World’s Finest: The Superman-Batman Adventures. Since 2011, working with writer Mike Curtis, he has been the regular artist for the long-running Dick Tracy newspaper strip. More recently, Staton produces medical comics with his writer-wife, Hilarie.

The multiple Harvey and Eisner Award-winning Waid has been the voice behind dozens of series that have resonated throughout comics fandom and the creative community alike. His more acclaimed runs include DC Comics’ The Flash, Kingdom Come, JLA: Year One, JLA, Legion of Super-Heroes, and Superman: Birthright, Marvel Comics’ Captain America, Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, The Indestructible Hulk, and Daredevil, BOOM! Studios’ Incorruptible and Irredeemable, Archie Comics’ Archie, and his creator-owned works Empire and Potter’s Field. He currently serves as publisher (U.S.) at Humanoids. 

“We really do have an amazing guest list,” said Marc Nathan, show promoter for the Baltimore Comic-Con. “These are not the only award-winning guests in the room by a long shot, but this group of creators is a great representation of the recognition our guests garner. Their collective works include self-published titles, titles for the big publishers, small publishers, and defunct publishers, and are very broad in terms of comics genres. Our fans demand great guests, and we’re happy to give them what they want!” 

General admission and VIP package tickets for weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are on sale now. For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit baltimorecomiccon.com.