Baltimore Comic Con 2025- Day One
Arthur Adams – Artist / Writer
Joel Adams – Character Designer
Zeea Adams – Artist
John Beatty – Comic Artist
Rose Besch – Cover Artist
Michael Biehn – Actor / Director
Jennifer Blanc-Biehn – Actor
Josh Blaylock – Comic Artist
Russ Braun – Comic Artist
Jim Calafiore – Comic Artist
Chris Campana – Comic Artist
Aaron Campbell – Actor
Keith Champagne – Artist & Writer
Howard Chaykin – Artist
Jo Chen – Artist
Jim Cheung – Comic Artist
Frank Cho – Comic Artist
Michael Cho – Comic Artist
Amy Chu – Comic Artist
Chris Claremont – Writer
Matthew Clark – Comic Artist
Becky Cloonan – Artist
Alyson Court – Actor
Alan Davis – Comic Artist / Writer
Cal Dodd – Actor / Singer
Jason Douglas – Author
Ryan Dunlavey – Artist / Writer
David Errigo Jr. – Actor
Giancarlo Esposito – Actor
David Finch – Comic Artist
Tony Fleecs – Comic Writer / Artist
Barbara Friedlander Writer / Editor
Travis Gibb – Comic Artist
Michael Golden – Comic Artist
Daniel Govar – Comic Artist
Mike Grell – Comic Artist / Writer
Gavin Guidry – Comic Artist
Brian Haberlin – Comic Artist
Bob Hall – Comic Artist
Cully Hamner – Comic Artist
Scott Hanna – Comic Inker
Mike Hawthorne – Comic Artist
Adrian Hough – Actor
Klaus Janson – Comic Artist
Dave Johnson – Illustrator
Phillip Kennedy Johnson – Writer
J.G. Jones – Comic Artist
Derek Kirk Kim – Comic Creator
Tom King – Comic Writer
Mike Krome – Cover Artist
Adam Kubert – Artist
Jeph Loeb – Writer / Producer
Kevin Maguire – Comic Artist
Alex Maleev – Illustrator
Dirk Manning – Comic Writer
Anthony Marques – Comic Artist
Vincent Martella – Actor
Ron Marz – Comic Writer
Mike McKone – Comic Artist
Bob McLeod – Comic Creator
Adriana Melo – Comic Artist
Mark Morales – Comic Artist
Tony Moy – Comic Artist
Trevor A. Mueller – Comic Writer
Sarah Myer – Comic Artist / Writer
Tom Nguyen – Comic Artist
Mike Norton – Comic Artist
Dan Parent – Comic Artist / Writer
Andrew Pepoy – Comic Creator
Brandon Peterson -Writer / Artist
James Phelps – Actor
Oliver Phelps – Actor
Amy Reeder – Artist
Andrew Robinson – Comic Artist
Stéphane Roux – Comic Artist
Andy Runton – Writer / Artist – Owly
Stan Sakai – Artist / Creator
Stuart Sayger – Comic Artist
Bart Sears – Artist / Author
Walt Simonson – Writer / Artist
Don Simpson – Comic Artist / Writer
Mark Sparacio – Illustrator
Brian Stelfreeze – Artist
Arthur Suydam – Comic Artist
Peter Tomasi – Editor / Writer
Billy Tucci – Comic Artist / Writer
Brian K. Vaughan – Writer
Sean Von Gorman – Artist / Writer
Mark Waid – Writer
Keith Williams – Comic Artist
Stephanie Williams – Creator
Ron Wilson – Comic Artist
Renee Witterstaetter – Editor / Colorist
As is becoming tradition, we took Rocktober on the Road again, this time stopping at the Baltimore Comic-Con– a comic book-centric fan convention held in the fall of every year since 2000. The show is a creators’ favorite and features marquee writers and artists both past and present, a handful of media guests, publishers, and hundreds of vendor booths offering genre-related items including new and back-issue comic books, pop culture collectibles, toys, original art, and so much more.
Panel discussions throughout the weekend feature media and comic guest spotlights, comic book industry names, and information on the industry and how to be a part of it.
An annual show Yearbook, featuring renderings by attending artists, has become a part of the show since 2012, with a rotating theme annually. – this year’s with Bone by Jeff Smith (who was also in attendance). Most of the original art is auctioned off during the weekend as well.
The show also features an annual cosplay contest, of course, with kid and adult categories, was expanded to a two-day event in 2002, and became three days starting in 2014, due to expanding demand and attendance. While large, it still seems friendly and inviting enough, and similar to a smaller Planet Con (Kansas City) in that’s it’s an independent show (versus the bigger Reed Pop and Fan Expo-run shows).
The large Baltimore Convention Center is centrally located, in the Inner Harbor area of downtown, near the baseball stadium and easy to access with public transit. It’s an expansive four-floor facility (with the convention booths on the bottom floor and panels/registration on the higher levels), but didn’t offer public wi-fi, though banks of wall pay phones still remain.
The convention also hosts the after-hours Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards (aka The ‘Ringos), which celebrates the works of comic creators (though the dinner and ceremony seem industry-only, with Media not invited).
The show has already announced their dates for their 27th annual installment: September 25–27, 2026.
Day One got off to an easy-going start- picking up credentials, getting a lay of the land down the exhibitor rows, and visiting with some of the talent. Friday was a good day to have conversations, as lines and crowds were shorter.
After 35 years of working in comics and teaching narrative art for 20 years at the Kubert School, Adam Kubert provided insight into how he breaks down a script, thumbnails ideas, and narrative techniques to pull a story together using examples from some of his most popular books.
Veteran writer (and master of comic trivia) Mark Waid hosted questions to put your DC expertise to the test, inspired by the recent series, The New History of DC Comics.
Writer Chip Kidd and artist Michael Cho talked about their new graphic novel, The Avengers in the Veracity Trap! This new Marvel Arts release from Abrams ComicArts reimagines the original Avengers (Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Captain America, Giant-Man, and the Wasp) in a retro-styled adventure that pays tribute to Jack Kirby and the Silver Age of comics.
Stan Sakai is best known as the writer and artist of Usagi Yojimbo, first published in 1984. The rabbit bodyguard has appeared on TV as a guest of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as well as in his own animated series on Netflix, along with toys, clothing, games, and more.
Jeff Smith is the writer and artist of comics and graphic novels like Bone, RASL, Tuki, Thorn, and SHAZAM: The Monster Society of Evil. Both Bone and RASL are NY Times bestsellers, with Bone launching Scholastic Books’ Graphix imprint and winning 48 national and international awards. 
Carl Lumbly made a memorable appearance in Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as Marvel’s forgotten super-solider, Isaiah Bradley, the first Captain America. Earlier this year, Lumbly reprised the role in Captain America: Brave New World, and has also appeared in The Life of Chuck, Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep, Alias, and many others.
Phineas and Ferb are back on Disney+ with all-new adventures—and Vincent Martella (Phineas) and David Errigo Jr. (Ferb), the voice talents behind these animated stars, told stories and answered fan questions during this very popular spotlight panel.
Chris Claremont is probably the creator best associated with the X-Men, having definitively written them for decades. He is also a NY Times best-selling author whose stories set the pace for the X-Men and all associated mutant titles to follow, starting with an unbroken 17-year run on The Uncanny X-Men and including Wolverine, The New Mutants, X-Men, and much more.
National / International concert or pop culture event coming through the Midwest / Kansas City area? Please email details to johnc@weheartmusic.comwith a good lead time to be considered for Show Preview and Show Coverage consideration.
1 thought on “Baltimore Comic Con 2025- Day One”