Hero Initiative, the charity that helps comic book creators in medical or financial need, will host six amazing creators at its booth at the 2025 Baltimore Comic-Con, October 17-19, 2025 at the Baltimore Convention Center. Tickets can be purchased online now.
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Founder of the legacy indy comic book publisher and studio Devil’s Due, Josh Blaylock is not only a prolific comic book writer and artist, but an expert in licensing and pop culture trends. He began publishing comics while still a teenager, rising to fame six years later with the license acquisition and resurrection of G.I. Joe, Voltron, and other classic properties in the comic space, to huge success. The first of their kind, his comics launched a nostalgia wave that is still felt to this day, and pioneered a trend of independent publishers seizing the spotlight by revitalizing major licensed brands. He is most known for his supernatural action comic Mercy Sparx, and the world of characters surrounding it (currently in development as a major motion picture), with several other creations translated into toys, film, and television. Having published and written over 1,000 comic books with over $70 million in sales, Josh also regularly collaborates on projects in entertainment, fashion, and tech, including for North Coast Music Fest, Adidas, Pixel Vault, Hannibal Buress, Diplo, 0n1 Force, A System of a Down, Louis the Child, and more. His non-fiction book, How to Self-Publish Comics: Not Just Create Them, was made required reading at Savannah College of Art & Design.
Aaron Campbell is known for his critically acclaimed work on titles including Hellblazer: Dead in America, Suicide Squad: Blaze, and the award-winning John Constantine: Hellblazer. He is the co-creator of Infidel (Image Comics), named one of the best horror stories of all time and one of the best books of 2018 by NPR. Aaron is also the co-writer of West of Sundown (Vault Comics) as well as being a prolific cover artist.
Matthew Clark started his career in earnest in 1997 working at the art studio, Studiosaurus. In 1999, Matthew became the regular artist on DC’s Wonder Woman, following that with Felon from Top Cow (written by frequent collaborator Greg Rucka). Since then, Clark has worked for DC Comics (including Teen Titans, The Outsiders, Adventures of Superman, Doom Patrol), Marvel (notably, Ghost Rider, The Punisher, The Amazing Spider-Man), and Valiant (Bloodshot, Harbinger), as well as contributing artwork for Kurt Busiek’s acclaimed series, Astro City. Matthew is currently recovering from a triple bypass operation and has started his rehabilitation as of this writing.
Social media:
Matthew can be found on Instagram at @emceeartist
Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/mclarkartist
On Threads @emceeartist
On BlueSky @emceeartist@bsky.social
Art inquiry can be made at EmCeeRobot@gmail.com
Brian Haberlin is an award winning American comic book artist, writer, editor, and producer. He is best known as the co-creator of the Witchblade franchise and for his innovative augmented reality and pioneering digital art style.
Haberlin started his career working at Lorimar/Warner Brothers Television, but eventually he gave up his job at Warner Brothers in order to pursue a career in comics, his life-long passion.
Haberlin began his career in comics working at Top Cow Productions, where he developed most of the modern methods of comic book production used today. He rose to VP of Creative Affairs while there and ran the creative side of the company. While there he co-created Witchblade, prompted by the lack of realistic female superheroes in comics. The Witchblade franchise has since expanded to include multiple spin-offs, a live action television series, and an anime series.
Haberlin formed his own studio soon after, producing work for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and Image Comics. He then started Avalon Publishing. Through Avalon, he published/created many successful fantasy and sci-fi titles, including Stone (highest selling independent comic the year released), a fantasy series which incorporated elements of Filipino mythology, Aria (#2 selling comic in the U.S. in its release), an urban fantasy, Area 52, a science fiction title, Nine Rings of the Wu-Tang, and M-Rex, which has been adapted into the successful Cartoon Network series Generator Rex. And many others.
Haberlin became Editor in Chief for Todd McFarlane Productions in 2006, and penciled and inked its flagship title, Spawn, for two years during David Hine’s run as writer.
In 2012, Haberlin formed Anomaly Productions with Skip Brittenham to produce truly innovative cross-platform content, and comics that routinely sell out and are top sellers in their releases, with Anomaly, Anomaly: The Rubicon, Shifter, Faster Than Light, Between Worlds, Sonata, Creative Creature Catcher, The Marked, Hellcop, and Lighthouse at the End of the Universe currently in release as graphic novels, comics, children’s books, and augmented reality apps, with the upcoming, Fury Formula and Love Inc. to debut in the coming months.
He has been featured in many books and magazines around the world such as: Wired, Rolling Stone, Imagine FX, 3D World, Creating Comics from Start to Finish, Secrets of Painter Experts, and Secrets of ZBrush Artists to name just a few.
He routinely speaks around the country and world from The Wall Street Journal’s All Things D, to the South Korean KOCCA academic conference and currently has 3-4 hours of his own panels each year at San Diego Comic Con.
Haberlin also runs Digitalarttutorials.com and Traditionalarttutorials.com that produce art education tutorials from his methods. He teaches comic art at Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and his work is in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian Museum.
Haberlin has also entered the fine art community, being featured recently in two prestigious magazines: American Art Collector (cover) and Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, and having his work featured in five gallery shows this year.
Haberlin.com | IG: BrianHaberlinOfficial
Jamal Igle is the recipient of the 2011 Inkpot Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comic Art. He is writer/artist/creator of Molly Danger for Action Lab Entertainment, the co-creator of Venture with Dynamo 5 creator/writer Jay Faerber, and the penciller/co-creator of The Wrong Earth with writer and Editor in Chief, Tom Peyer for AHOY Comics. Jamal is a comic industry veteran whose detailed pencils have graced books as varied as The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the all-ages action miniseries Race Against Time, as well as mainstream hits such as G.I. Joe, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Green Lantern. Jamal has served as the series artist for popular runs on Firestorm the Nuclear Man, Nightwing, Tangent: Superman’s Reign, Superman, Supergirl, and Zatanna for DC Comics, Noble Causes for Image Comics, and a four-issue run on New Warriors for Marvel Comics.
Jamal recently completed the sequel to the hit series Black called White from Black Superpowers/Black Mask Studios, and The Wrong Earth: Night and Day, The Mysterious Micro-Face for NPR Planet Money, and Milestones in History for DC Comics. Jamal also worked with legendary Batman writer Scott Snyder on his new creator-owned series, Dudley Datson and the Forever Machine for Comixology.
Currently, Jamal is hard at work on the newest volume of The Wrong Earth as well as helping shape the next generation of comics creators at The School of Visual Arts in New York City.
Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/jamal.igle
https://bsky.app/profile/jamaligle.bsky.social
https://www.instagram.com/jamal_igle_artist
Mike Norton is the creator of the Eisner and Harvey award-winning webcomic, Battlepug and the co-creator and artist of Grumble as well as the critically-acclaimed Revival. He has worked for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and just about everybody else. He likes to pet dogs, drink beer, and watch movies you wouldn’t see on a dare.
“Hero Initiative is an incredibly important charity supporting people working and who have worked in the comic book industry,” said Marc Nathan, show promoter for the Baltimore Comic-Con. “We love to help them every year raise money in support of the charity, as we know first-hand how those funds have helped friends and acquaintances who have fallen on difficult times. They are bringing a murderer’s row of talent again this year, and we cannot encourage fans strongly enough to stop by and get an autograph, a sketch, or a book they’re selling (or heck, just drop in a buck or two in their collection jars!).”
Brian K. Vaughan Fan Package Tickets
Brian K. Vaughan Friday and Saturday Fan Packages are now on sale with limited availability (50 daily). Packages include:
- Exclusive meet and greet
- 10 Autographs
- 1 Signed Print
- Selfie
Does not include convention admission.
Buy Brian K. Vaughn Fan Package
Tickets that are now on sale include:
- Weekend
- Friday only
- Saturday only
- Sunday only
- VIP
- Fan Packages
As always, children 10 and under are free with a paid adult admission!
This year’s confirmed guests for the show include: Kaare Andrews (Spider-Man: REIGN 2), Eddy Barrows (Superman), Jeremy Bastian (Cursed Pirate Girl), Marty Baumann ((Pixar artist), John Beatty (Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars), Josh Blaylock (Mercy Sparx, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Russ Braun (The Boys), Mark Buckingham (Fables), Letizia Cadonici (House of Slaughter), Jim Calafiore (NED, Lord of the Pit), Richard Case (Doom Patrol), Keith Champagne (Stranger Things), Howard Chaykin (Time Squared), Jo Chen (Runaways), Jim Cheung (Young Avengers), Frank Cho (Harley Quinn), Amy Chu (Emma Frost: The White Queen), Chris Claremont (X-Men), Matthew Clark (Adventures of Superman, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Becky Cloonan (Somna), Steve Conley (The Middle Age), Michael W. Conrad (Manowar: Invictus), Dani (Sensational Wonder Woman), Alan Davis (Excalibur), Deans Family Productions (Crass Fed), Jeff Dekal (Something is Killing the Children), Kevin Delgado (Tuff Stuff, courtesy of Comics and Collectibles R Us), Vito Delsante (Stray), Todd Dezago (The Perhapanauts), Garth Ennis (The Boys, Saturday and Sunday only), David Finch (Moon Knight), Trish Forstner (Feral), Franco (Deadman Tells the Spooky Tales), Barbara Friedlander (Swing with Scooter), Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (DC Nation), Chris Giarrusso (Mini Marvels), Dan Goldman (Unfinished Business), Randy Green (Witchblade). Mike Grell (Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters), Brian Haberlin (Spawn, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Dean Haspiel (The Red Hook), Mike Hawthorne (Deadpool), Marc Hampel (Sandman), Scott Hanna (Amazing Spider-Man), Jamal Igle (Superman, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Chris Kemple (Artist Alley Comics), Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Incredible Hulk), Derek Kirk Kim (The Last Mermaid), Dan Krall (House of Night), Adam Kubert (Wolverine), Jae Lee (Inhumans), Tula Lotay (Barnstormers), Nate Lovett (Dungeons & Dragons), Kevin Maguire (Justice League), Alex Maleev (Star Wars: Boba Fett – Black White and Red), Laura Martin (Nubia: Queen of the Amazons), Shawn Martinbrough (Red Hood: The Hill), Ron Marz (Green Lantern), Charlie McElvy (Spider-Squirrel), Mike McKone (Red Goblin), Bob McLeod (New Mutants), Adriana Melo (Action Comics), Josh Middleton (Aquaman), Al Milgrom (Spectacular Spider-Man), Mark Morales (Thor), Trevor Mueller (Albert the Alien), Sarah Myers (TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures), Tom Nguyen (The Switch), Mike Norton (Battlepug, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Kevin Nowlan (Batman: Sword of Azrael), Dan Parent (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), John J. Pearson (In Bloom), Andrew Pepoy (Simone & Ajax), Barbara Perez Marquez (The Cardboard Kingdom), David Petersen (Mouse Guard), Khoi Pham (Star Wars: Darth Vader), Tom Raney (Green Lantern), Amy Reeder (Power Girl), Esad Ribic (Conan the Barbarian), Afua Richardson (Kahhori: Reshaper of Worlds), Don Rosa (Uncle $crooge), Craig Rousseau (Herculoids), Jim Rugg (Street Angel), Andy Runton (Owly), Stuart Sayger (Conan the Barbarian), Joseph Schmalke (Seven Years in Darkness, courtesy of Groundbreaking Comics), Bart Sears (Deathstroke), Declan Shalvey (Old Dog), Louise Simonson (The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special), Walter Simonson (Thor), Don Simpson (Megaton Man), Jeff Smith (Bone), John K. Snyder III (Suicide Squad), Mark Sparacio (Chelsea Dagger and the Women of Excalibur), Joe Staton (Dick Tracy), Karl Story (The Mandalorian), Zoe Thorogood (It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Universe), Billy Tucci (Shi), Brian K. Vaughan (Spectators, Friday and Saturday only), Gus Vazquez (Sunfire and Big Hero Six), Charles Vess (Stardust), Mark Waid (Justice League Unlimited), Mark Wheatley (Breathtaker), Matt Wieringo (Stargate Atlantis: Gateways), Keith Williams (Web of Spider-Man), Maria Wolf (Phoenix), Rich Woodall (Electric Black), John Workman (Wild Things), Kelly Yates (Doctor Who), and Thom Zahler (Love and Capes).
In the coming weeks, look for more announcements from the Baltimore Comic-Con. We are looking forward to highlighting our guests, the Ringo Awards, programming, and more. The latest developments can always be found on our website, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages, and follow us on YouTube, TikTok, Bluesky, and Snapchat.