Some of us already know the legacy of the Big Apple Comic Con. Some of us. The Big Apple Comic Con is the longest running (that I know of) annual comic book convention in the NYC area. It’s a daunting, but exciting convention to attend and this year’s show seems to be prepped to be bigger and more extravagant than conventions past. The guest list is outstanding and should be found satiating to comic book fans at large, and the venue is much improved from the early days when shows were held in the basement of the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in Manhattan.
I have fond memories of attending the early conventions in that very same church basement. This convention was when I first identified the sensation/smell/odor that we often refer to as “nerd sweat”. Even with tight spacing, the convention has a long standing tradition of attracting some of the biggest names in comics at any given time including past guests Scott Lobdell (Writer, X-Men), Jae Lee (Artist, The Sentry; Hellshock), Al Williamson (Inker, Spectacular Spider-man), Joe Quesada, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Connor, and more.
Some may know that Wizard began overseeing the show in 2009 and helped to encourage the expansion and increase the exposure of the show to more mainstream circuits. With a “who’s who” list of guests that are scheduled to be attending, we decided to help identify some of the guests that we’re looking forward to seeing and why you should also care that they’re attending:
Name: Mark Miller
Profession: Writer (The Ultimates, Wanted, Kick-Ass, Civil War, Superman, and more)
Why we care: He may need an introduction. Mark Miller’s name has been attached to several high profile releases in recent memory including overseeing the Civil War limited series, not to mention creating hot properties that have seen successful transition into big screen films such as Wanted (starred Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, and James McAvoy), and Kick-Ass. He’s a legend in the making!
Name: Joe Madureira
Profession: Artist (Uncanny X-men, Battle Chasers, Creative Director).
Why we care: Let’s get this out the way. If you don’t already know we have strong love/hate feelings toward Joe Mad. We love his art. *LOVE*. The problem is we so seldom get to actually see any! The guy is a recluse in the comics world. Once holding the hearts of comic book fans around the world in the palm of sweaty hand he then un-apologetically crushed said hearts when leaving us satiating for just a follow-up issue of his creator-owned Battle Chasers comic. Seriously, this one still hurts us all. Heck, some of us on the site actually attended the same school as the guy and volunteered to be taught by the same teacher (thanks Mr. Borkon!) in hopes of following in his footsteps. We’ll keep our tempers in check and hopefully not find any fruit stands on the way to the show in which to hurl at the guy and then run to clean him off in case he has a pencil in hand to draw Red Monica. We love/hate this guy.
Name: Rob Liefeld
Profession: Artist (X-Force, Youngblood, Captain America; creator of Deadpool)
Why we care: He needs no introduction. He’s the guy that fans love to hate. Made infamous by his Calvin Klein commercial, Rob Liefeld is in an interesting category in that he has the ability to attract people to critique his work. I personally think Rob is awesome and look forward to meeting another co-founder of Image Comics and one of the pioneers of the Comic Book boom of the 90’s.
Name: Ethan Van Sciver
Profession: Artist (Green Lantern, Superman/Batman).
Why we care: He brought back Hal Jordan as Green Lantern. Seriously, this alone should make him a guest of honor!
Name: Adam West
Profession: Actor (Batman, Family Guy).
Why we care: He needs no introduction, He’s Batman. Just be sure to kiss his feet and pose for the Bat-Tusi as you see this guy at the show.
Name: Burt Ward
Profession: Actor (Batman, Robin)
Why we care: He needs no introduction, He’s Batman’s senior citizen teenage sidekick Robin the Boy Wonder. The simple fact that the 2 will be in the room makes us wonder if attendance will be in some impenetrable bunker.
Name: Jake Lloyd
Profession: Actor (Star Wars Episode 1, ER, The Pretender, Jingle all the way)
Why we care: It’s better to get on his good side now before he grows up and enslaves us all under order of the Sith. Kidding aside, the kid has been a pleasure to grow up on large and small screen and he’s only getting better with age (like a good dark lord).
Name: Julia Jones (the Twilight Saga: Eclipse, ER, Jonah Hex)
Profession: Actress (Star Wars Episode 1, ER, The Pretender, Jingle all the way)
Why we care: A rising star in her own right, (attractive one to boot!), she will surely encourage a barrage of twilight fans hoping to take a picture and Jonah Hex fans looking for an explanation. We like introducing ourselves to such obvious future large stars while they’re young. You will remember me, right Julia? You know, the guy with the ugly face?
Name: Kevin Nash
Profession: Actor, Wrestler
Why we care: Cus we’re n.W.o. 4 Life!
now this is in no way a complete list of stars, as can be seen on the conventions’ website and are just a narrow few that piqued the excitement of this journalist. If any fans are going to be in attendance, be sure to drop us a comment or send an e-mail, we’d love to meet up! Are there any stars anyone out there is looking forward to seeing that we haven’t mentioned? How about letting us know in the comments!
