New York Comic Con (NYCC) has announced another Guest of Honor for the show which will be taking place at the Jacob K. Javits Center, April 18 – 20, 2008. British comic book artist Bryan Hitch, the co-creator and artist of WildStorm’s The Authority, and famous for his work on Marvel’s The Ultimates, will be joining previously announced guests Mike Mignola and Alex Ross for a Guest of Honor appearance at the show. Convention organizers have also announced several additions to the show’s roster of Featured Guests.
“The list of guests who will appear at New York Comic Con is growing day by day,” notes Lance Fensterman, the Event Director for New York Comic Con. “I’m ecstatic that Bryan Hitch has agreed to come to our show, and I couldn’t be happier with all the other talent that has come on board already. Stay tuned! We will be making lots more announcements about other guest appearances over the next couple months.”
In addition to his work on The Authority and The Ultimates, Bryan Hitch’s artistic talents are evident in JLA, The Sensational She-Hulk, X-Men, Superman and Stormwatch. For Marvel UK, he contributed to Action Force, Doctor Who, Mys-Tech Wars and Death’s Head. Hitch was also a character design artist for Ultimate Avengers and Ultimate Avengers 2 animated films, as well as character design artist for the video game Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. In 2008, Hitch will reunite with Mark Millar, with whom he worked closely on The Ultimates, to take over the new run of Fantastic Four for Marvel.
As for the Featured Guests who have been added to the schedule, Fensterman adds “New York Comic Con’s 2008 guests will span the history of comics, featuring some of the best in the business from the Silver and Golden legends to independent up and comers.” To help develop the artist program, NYCC is working closely with Spencer Beck of The Artist’s Choice, who has joined the show as Artist Coordinator to insure a quality program. Some of the notable recent Featured Guest announcements include:
Chris Batista: Chris is a comic book artist and penciller whose work includes Steel, Spider-Man 2099, Spaceknights, Thunderbolts Vol. 1, The Legion, JLA as well as several issues of DC Comics’ weekly comic book epic 52.
Olivier Coipel: Olivier Coipel came to prominence as the artist of Legion of Super-Heroes and he continued to draw the series when it was re-launched under the new title The Legion. He is currently working as the artist on the new Thor series with writer J. Michael Straczynski.
Steve Epting: With a career stretching back to First Comics, Steve Epting made his name with Marvel fans everywhere with an eminent fifty-issue run drawing Avengers in the mid ’90s. Steve is currently back with Marvel where he has embarked on his first collaboration with writer Ed Brubaker, in what is shaping up to be one of the all-time great Captain America runs in the character’s history.
David Finch: David is a Canadian-born comic book artist who got his start working for Top Cow Productions and has enjoyed a successful career collaborating with some of the industry’s top talent including Matt “Batt” Banning, David Wohl, and Brian Michael Bendis. He is currently working with writer Joseph Loeb on Ultimatum for the Ultimate Marvel Line.
Rob Liefeld: Self-taught artist Liefeld became prominent due to his work on Marvel Comics’ The New Mutants and later X-Force. In 1992, he and several other popular Marvel illustrators left the company to found Image Comics, which rode the wave of comic books owned by their creators rather than by publishers.
Ivan Reis: Ivan Reis is a Brazilian comic book artist who began his international career for Dark Horse working on titles such as Ghost. Through the years he has worked on many notable projects, both for DC and for Marvel. He is now working exclusively for DC where he is currently penciling Green Lantern, Vol. 4 and Sinestro Corps War together with Geoff Johns.
Walt Simonson: Best known for his work on Marvel Comics titles in the 1980s and 1990s such as The Mighty Thor and X-Factor, Walt Simonson has maintained a high profile in the industry, spanning many years, and including major works right up to the present. He is the recipient of numerous Shazam Awards.
Jim Steranko: Jim Steranko is an illustrator, musician, art director, magician, photographer, fire-eater, designer, escape artist, filmmaker, pop-culture lecturer, and publisher, who has cut a ferocious path through the entertainment arts. Steranko has worked with film directors Lucas, Spielberg and Coppola and was cited by Michael Chabon as an inspiration for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. He has also been cited by Wizard as one of the Top Five Most Influential Comicbook Artists of All Time.
Ethan Van Sciver: Ethan is an American comic book artist and penciller, currently doing interior art for the DC Comics title Green Lantern. Other comic book titles he has contributed to include Cyberfrog, Bog Swamp Demon, New X-Men, The Flash: Iron Heights, Impulse, and Batman.
Other notable Featured Guest appearances at NYCC which have already been announced include: Neal Adams, Kyle Baker, Mark Buckingham, Amanda Conner, Dale Eaglesham, Ron Garney, Dean Haspiel, Robert Napton, Steve McNiven, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Paola Rivera.
