Coming off an amazing 2018 with five Eisner nominations, a Man Booker nomination, and critically acclaimed hits, Drawn & Quarterly publisher Peggy Burns, senior editor Tracy Hurren, and marketing director Julia Pohl-Miranda will preview exciting fall 2019 releases by Lynda Barry, Kevin Huizenga, and others. D+Q will also announce upcoming 2020 books by cartoonists from around the world.
Thursday July 18, 2019 12:00pm - 1:00pm PDT
Room 32AB
It's most of the crew who bring you the bumbling adventures of Groo the Wanderer, talking about what they do and why they do it. See the award-winning team of Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier along with Stan Sakai (the creator of Usagi Yojimbo). They'll be discussing the latest Groo miniseries, many upcoming projects, and why Mark doesn't get paid for the work he does on their comic. Then again, he's not getting paid for writing this panel description either.
In this era of misinformation and fake news, truth emerges from unlikely sources. The comic strip, long a medium of quick one-liners and sight-gags, is becoming more credible than the news medium that originally birthed it. Webcomics creators JR Gervais (YoungCannibals.net) and Eddie deAngelini (CollectorsComic.com) explain how lies can't hide in four panels. The simplicity of this medium allows these two cartoonists to tell their truths in a powerful, yet relatable way. Moderator Jeremy Wein (founder, NYC Podfest) will lead JR and Eddie in a rousing Q&A. Ask a good enough question, and there may be a prize in store!
Maya Kern (Monster Pop!) dives into the nitty gritty process of making webcomics. She frequently talks about making comics focus purely on content—your drawing ability, your big cool idea, or how awesome your cast is—and completely ignore what it's like to live as a human being with a life and a schedule and bills while trying to make your own independent comic. This panel offers a presentation that examines comic making thru the lens of sustainability, with a Q&A session at the end.
How do you distill a story down to its main components? Comics often call for brevity, but how does that work with a complex story or idea? Comic-Con special guests discuss how they delve into their complex worlds of comics and come out the other side with stories we readily consume. Panelists include Kurt Busiek (Avengers), Jon B. Cooke (Comic Book Artist), and Randall Munroe (xkcd), along with Dani Colman, Tea Fougner (editorial director for comics, King Features Syndicate), and moderator Barbara Dillon.
Thursday July 18, 2019 6:30pm - 7:30pm PDT
Room 26AB
Webcomics Advocates co-founder Brendan Creecy (Brax the Alien Rocker) and webcomic creators Patrick Scullin (Super Siblings), Eddie DeAngelini (Collectors),Ambrose Quintanilla (Gopher-It Comics), Daniel Sansonetti (Daniel's Way), and moderator Kristen Parraz (Comadres y Comics podcast) celebrate and discuss the exciting world of webcomics. They will also give any webcomic creators in the audience 30 seconds to promote their comic to the crowd. All creators and fans are welcome!
Eisner Award-winning children's cartoonist Katie O'Neill (The Tea Dragon Society, Aquicorn Cove) will be in conversation with her editor Ari Yarwood as they discuss Katie's evolving career, webcomics, craft, representation in children's literature, and their favorite Tea Dragons.
Friday July 19, 2019 1:00pm - 2:00pm PDT
Room 28DE
Internationally acclaimed Austrian cartoonist Ulli Lust (Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life, Voices in the Dark) discusses her work, which ranges from deeply personal memoir to historical fiction to prose adaptation. Lust will read from her latest graphic memoir, How I Tried to Be a Good Person. Moderated by Abraham Reisman.
Get the first glimpse at a bold new direction for the universe of Tarzan of the Apes, John Carter of Mars, Carson of Venus, and more with Jim Sullos (president, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.), Cathy Wilbanks (vice president of operations, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.), Christopher Paul Carey (director of publishing, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.), and Win Scott Eckert (Crossovers, Vols. 1 and 2). Moderated by Scott Tracy Griffin (director of special projects, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.).
In one corner, the New Yorker magazine, top of the cartoon heap, king of the single-panel, and undisputed peak of the artform. In the other corner, MAD magazine, the magazine most humorists cite as their biggest influence. Which magazine is the better patron saint of cartoonists? Who has funnier cartoons? And, most important, who would win in a fight between Eustace Tilley, the fop from the NY'er, and Alfred E. Neuman, the MAD magazine mascot? Distinguished panelists from both magazines duke it out in a free-for-all discussion. May the funniest one win.
Friday July 19, 2019 7:30pm - 8:30pm PDT
Room 24ABC
Randall Munroe, creator of xkcd, discusses his new book How To, a guide to using science to turn everyday problems into much bigger, more exciting problems. Learn how to cross a river by boiling it, get tips on how to make skiing much more dangerous using liquid oxygen, and hear about his experience asking famous experts the most ridiculous questions he could think of.
Saturday July 20, 2019 10:00am - 11:00am PDT
Room 4
Two industry legends for one low price! Walter Simonson and Stan Sakai need no introduction, but Scott Dunbier will give them one anyway! Come for the latest news on their creator-owned masterworks Ragnarök and Usagi Yojimbo, stay for fascinating tales of comics industry lore, Norse legends, and feudal Japan! Added bonus: The equally legendary Louise “Weezie” Simonson will be joining the fun!
Saturday July 20, 2019 10:00am - 11:00am PDT
Room 23ABC
Stan Sakai and moderator Jessica Tseang talk about his 35 years of writing and drawing his creator-owned series Usagi Yojimbo. See what's in store for this samurai rabbit as he is relaunched this summer with a new publisher: IDW.
Saturday July 20, 2019 3:00pm - 4:00pm PDT
Room 28DE
Spanish cartoonist Paco Roca got his start drawing the unpretentious action series Road Cartoons for legendary comics magazine El Víbora . His graphic novel Wrinkles won every Spanish comics award and has since been adapted into an animated feature film. Joining him in conversation is Gilbert Hernandez (Love and Rockets), UCLA comics scholar Esther Claudio, and his English-language publisher, Gary Groth (founder, Fantagraphics).
Graphite is the first and only comics platform to service comics in all its forms: webcomics, webtoons, manga, with top tier publishers including BOOM!, IDW, Dynamite, Top Cow, TOKYOPOP, Aspen, and Legendary-all for free to readers, as well as their groundbreaking UGC platform for creators of all formats with next-generation technology, discovery, and monetization. Nick Seluk (creator of Heart and Brain), Ryan Benjamin (2018 Eisner nominee for Brothers Bond), and Leeanne Krecic, a.k.a. Mongie (creator of Let's Play), publishers Filip Sablik (president, BOOM! Studios) and Robert Napton (SVP of publishing, Legendary), Kickstarter Thought Leader Shing Yin Khor, and Graphite CCO Tom Akel talk about how Graphite is revolutionizing the digital comics landscape for readers, publishers, and creators alike!
Artists Lucas Turnbloom (Dream Jumper series), Lora Innes (Wynonna Earp), Francesco Marciuliano (Sally Forth), Jeff Ranjo (Netflix and Disney Animation), and others join Tom Racine (Tall Tale Radio) as he leads kids through a crash course on superpowers and how to draw their own heroes. Randomly selected kids will get to come up and work with the artists one-on-one doing 5-minute character concepts and costume designs-and get to keep the art that gets created! Handouts will give them ideas and inspirations.
Saturday July 20, 2019 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
Room 11
If you want to learn how to draw, you are living in the best time ever to master the craft. Stan Prokopenko and Marshall Vandruff will talk about all the resources you can use to better your skills, including art schools, ateliers, mentorships, books, artificial intelligence, and more. Stan attended the Watts Atelier for many years and later became an instructor there; he has taught drawing and painting classes on numerous topics such as portrait, figure, quick sketch, and plein air. Marshall has worked as an artist and educator in Southern California for 35 years. His clients include MAD magazine, Hanna Barbera, Dark Horse Comics, Blizzard Entertainment, Rockstar Games, Disney Studios, Insomniac Games, Warner Brothers Entertainment, ImagineFX Magazine, AutoDesk, The Gnomon Workshop, and over 40 advertising agencies.
Cartoonist Scott Shaw! (Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!, Sonic the Hedgehog, Simpsons Comics) once again presents his uniquely hilarious slideshow of "the craziest comic books ever published!" Once you've seen this mind-roasting presentation-which has played to standing-room-only crowds in San Diego for the better part of four decades-you'll never forget such covers as those of the "crotch-centric" issues of Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane, those with someone getting slapped with a "fish-in-the-face," and those Silver Age issues of Batman and Detective Comics with "Robin-in-the-corner!" Scott promises, "My hilarious presentation is for everyone who's enjoyed reading a comic book, whether as an avid collector or as a young patient in a dentist's office-in fact, even for people who have never read a single comic book in their life. Even if you've seen my acclaimed slideshow presentation many times before, when you see their covers blown up to the size of the side of a barn, you'll be amazed and delighted at the unbelievable imagery that is revealed." Scott Shaw!s Oddball Comics! will be a thick, full-color book published in 2020 by TwoMorrows.
Saturday July 20, 2019 4:00pm - 5:30pm PDT
Room 7AB
Do you enjoy slice-of-life stories about vampires and other creatures of the night? Bree Paulsen, author and artist of Patrik the Vampire, will host a fun conversation about webcomics, big stories with small stakes, and the joys of writing about monsters in mundane situations. Moderated by Claire Hummel (In the Valley of Gods).
Saturday July 20, 2019 5:00pm - 6:00pm PDT
Room 29AB
Science fiction allows us to imagine a world radically reshaped by social, scientific, and technological changes. These creators share a tendency to push those scenarios to their limits, envisioning future or alternate realities that tend to extremes, whether they be good, bad, or downright absurd. Charles Glaubitz (Starseeds), Ezra Claytan Daniels (Upgrade Soul, BTTM FDRS), and Aminder Dhaliwal (Woman World) participate in a discussion of the ways that science fiction comics can transport us to utopia, dystopia, or that big gray area in between. Moderated by Evan Narcisse (Rise of the Black Panther).
Ever wonder how pros go about creating new comic stories? Twenty-six-year veteran Disney comic creators Patrick and Shelly Block will create an actual short Donald Duck story with audience participation in this creative workshop. Learn firsthand how the Blocks come up with story ideas, plot out their tales, create a good story climax, and lay out a story idea so that it comes to life. This popular workshop is guaranteed to bring a chuckle or two, as terrible things are bound to happen when Donald Duck and his nephews are involved! All ages are invited.
We know you love comics, but are you fan enough to #MakeComics? ComiXologist Kiersten Wing hosts a lineup of talented comics artists-including Jock (Batman Who Laughs, The Losers), Shawn Martinbrough (Thief of Thieves, Batman: Detective Comics), Ariela Kristantina (Wolverines, InSeXts), Max Dunbar (Stone Star, Champions), and Clive Hawken (Delver)-in a discussion about the triumphs, sorrows, tricks, and craft of illustrating comics. What's the hardest thing to draw? What inspires their work? Who are the artists they admire most? Get the inside scoop from the pros about how to #MakeComics.
Sunday July 21, 2019 1:00pm - 2:00pm PDT
Room 29AB
Aminder Dhaliwal (Woman World), Ebony Flowers (Hot Comb), Kevin Huizenga (The River at Night), Randall Munroe (What If), and Sophie Yanow (The Contradictions) are masters of the short form comic, whether serialized online, in pamphlets, or collected in graphic novel form. Sarah Mirk, senior editor at The Nib, leads a conversation on pacing, flow from story to story (or strip to strip), and much more.
Sunday July 21, 2019 1:00pm - 2:00pm PDT
Room 28DE
In the 1950s, cartoon booklets about nuns and other Roman Catholic figures became a fad, with creators from Platinum and Golden Age comic book artists to an actual monk and a future nun. Comic book historian Jessica Tseang interviews About Comics publisher Nat Gertler about these forgotten books and efforts to reprint them.
Sunday July 21, 2019 2:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Room 24ABC
Dr. Zhivago's kids' panel spotlights the journey of kids in cartooning with local students from Chula Vista. Kylie Fitzgerald and Ryker Lacy discuss what sparked their interest to create cartoons in school. College graduate, Emily Echevarria describes the process of declaring a degree and graduating in the Arts for a possible cartoonist career. Professional cartoonist Dr. Zhivago and Ricardo Arnaiz (producer and director of ANIMEX) highlight their experience, guidance, and support in education and entertainment of the cartooning field. Moderated by Devin and Marissa Zhivago. A short cartoon workshop with Dr. Zhivago and Emily Echevarria follows the presentation.