Special Guest: Art Baltazar

Art Baltazar is the super-cartoonist machine behind the DC Comics all-ages hit Tiny Titans. He's all about the peace, love, and joy. He defines cartoons and comics not only as an art form but as a way of life. Art started his funky secret art studio Electric Milk Creations in 1994 with his self-published comic book The Cray-Baby Adventures. Since then, he has created other comics such as Gyro-Man, Captain Camel & the Space Chicken, Jimmy Dydo, Lunar Lizard, Meteor Mite, and the famous Patrick the Wolf Boy. This guy shows no signs of stopping! Art has also had a few gigs with Warner Bros. and has a monthly comic strip in Disney Adventures Magazine called Gorilla Gorilla. Visit Art online at artbaltazar.com to learn more about the creator and his work.

Special Guest: Joe Rubinstein

Perhaps best known for his work alongside Frank Miller on Wolverine, John Byrne on Captain America, and Dave Cockrum on Uncanny X-Men, Josef Rubinstein started his career at the age of 13 as an assistant to Neal Adams at Continuity Associates in 1972. Rubinstein became a freelance artist four years later and over the span of his career has worked for every major comics company. Rubinstein holds the Guinness record for having inked more pencilers than any other inker, due in large part to his work on The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe on and off for 20 years. His most recent work can be found on Green Arrow/Black Canary from DC, covers for Bane of the Werewolf from Silver Phoenix Entertainment, and The 99 from Teshkeel Comics.

Special Guest: Tony Isabella

Tony Isabella is best known for his work in as a contributing editor and lead reviewer for Comics Buyer's Guide. His humorous and thoughtful Tony's Tips! is a favorite among fans and industry professionals alike. Tony began his career in comics as an assistant to Stan Lee and Roy Thomas at Marvel Comics in 1972. Tony created the character Black Lightning for DC Comics, co-created Tigra for Marvel Comics, and developed Jack Kirby's Satan's Six at Topps Comics. His diverse body of work includes Captain America, Daredevil, Doc Savage, Dracula, Elvira, Ghost Rider, Hawkman, Luke Cage, Mickey Mouse, Spider-Man, Star Trek, Star Wars, and Superman. After thirty-eight years, having worked for every major publisher in the comics business, he's still going strong. Tony’s latest book, One Thousand Comic Books You Must Read, is a must-read for any comic book fan!

Special Guest: Todd Nauck

Todd Nauck is an Eisner Award-nominated artist who is best known for his work on Amazing Spider-Man, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Teen Titans Go, Superman, Young Justice, Teen Titans, 52, Supergirl, Legion of Super Heroes, and many other titles for DC and Marvel as well as his own title, WildGuard, published by Image Comics, which has been featured in TV Guide and Wizard Magazine. As an artist, he is known for his unique ability to portray the teenage superhero and for the detail in his pages and expression of the characters. Todd has been recognized by fans and industry members for his consistently reliable quality work. Todd’s most recent work has appeared in Amazing Spider-Man Digital, Amazing Spider-Man: American Son, Peter Parker, Spider-Man: The Clone Saga, and X-Campus. Visit Todd online at toddnauck.net to learn more about the creator and his work.

Special Guest: Lora Innes

Lora Innes is the Harvey Award-nominated creator of the IDW Publishing title The Dreamer. Lora graduated Suma Cum Laude in 2002 from the Columbus College of Art and Design with a Bachelors in Fine Art. She has worked at the Artifact Group, doing illustration for clients such as Fisher Price, Mattel, McGraw Hill, Nickelodeon, Scholastic and Simon & Schuster. The Dreamer began as a web comic in 2007 and quickly gathered a large, cult-like following online. After collecting multiple web awards, IDW noticed the title and decided to put it into print. Lora's first published The Dreamer series was a six issue mini-series which was published by IDW in 2008-2009. The Dreamer was nominated as Best New Series and Lora herself was nominated as Best New Talent for the 2009 Harvey Awards. Visit Lora online at thedreamercomic.com to read the latest installments of The Dreamer and to learn more about the creator and her work.

Special Guest: Khoi Pham

Khoi Pham is a comic artist best known for his work on Marvel’s Mighty Avengers: Secret Invasion with writer Brian Bendis and Mighty Avengers with writer Dan Slott. Other work by the Marvel Comics Young Gun includes X-Factor, Incredible Hercules, What If? Spider-Man, 1602 Fantastick Four, and Marvel Comics Presents. In October 2010, the former Incredible Hercules team of Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente and Khoi Pham will reunite for the star-spanning extravaganza Chaos War. Announced on G4TV’s Fresh Ink, Chaos War is five-issue limited series from Marvel Comics featuring an all-new God Squad, led by the newly returned Hercules. Visit tentonstudios.com to learn more about the artist and his work.

Guest of Honor: Adam Hughes

Adam Hughes is one of the most influential and successful creators in comics today, with a body of work that has graced the covers and pages of comics, graphic novels, trading cards, and posters and provided the basis for two lines of sculptures. The Eisner Award–winning creator is most commonly known for his stylized renderings of women—super heroines, damsels in distress, and figures in fantasy—as seen in Cover Run: The DC Comics Art of Adam Hughes, which debuted in July 2010 at the number two spot on the New York Times Bestseller List and promptly sold out its first print run.

Adam began working in comics in 1985 at the age of 19 and in 1989 started on his first mainstream comic title, DC’s Justice League. He stayed with the book for almost two years, doing both covers and interiors until 1990, then switching to just covers. In 1998 he began a highly successful five-year run as cover artist on DC’s Wonder Woman, bringing him critical acclaim and commercial success while solidifying his status as an all-star creator with legions of fans.

Adam has brought his unique style to a broad array of titles for indie and mainstream publishers alike, including Star Wars for Dark Horse, Catwoman, Justice League, Legion of Superheroes, Power Girl, and Wonder Woman for DC, Gen13, Savage Dragon and Tomb Raider for Image, and Sensational She-Hulk and X-Men for Marvel, among many other titles. With the highly successful release of Cover Run: The DC Comics Art of Adam Hughes, Adam’s work is in high demand, and we look forward to seeing new projects from him in the future.

Special Guest: Billy Tucci

Billy Tucci took the comics world by storm when he launched his self-published series Shi in 1994 while working from his one-bedroom apartment. Still a fan-favorite to this day, the phenomenally successful character sold more than 4 million comics worldwide in her own title and in cross-over projects with some of the most well-known characters in the industry, including Daredevil, Witchblade, and Wolverine. In addition to his creator-owned titles, Tucci has worked for for all of the major comic publishers during the course of his career. In 2006, Tucci drew Marvel's new Heroes for Hire title that spun out of the Civil War saga. In November 2008, Tucci took a new creative direction with his DC miniseries Sgt. Rock: The Lost Battalion, which was set in October 1944 after D-Day. The six-issue story about the rescue of a lost battalion featured many of Sgt. Rock's long-standing cast of characters and was acclaimed by critics and fans alike.

Special Guest: Herb Trimpe

Best known for his work on Transformers, G.I. Joe, Shogun Warriors, and The Incredible Hulk, Herb Trimpe was a staff artist for Marvel comics for nearly 40 years from the 1960s to the 1990s, working alongside greats such as Stan Lee, John Romita, Sr., and many others. Trimpe is famously credited for the co-creation of the character Wolverine along with writer Len Wein in Incredible Hulk nos. 180 and 181 during his 8-year run on the title, which established the foundation for one of the most beloved and commercially successful characters in the history of comics. With such an influential body of work in comics and blockbuster movies, including X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and G.I. Joe, that all owe a debt of gratitude to his definitive work, we expect Trimpe to be once again be among the most popular guests at Mid-Ohio-Con.

Special Guest: Mark Texeira

Best known for his work on Marvel titles such as Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Moon Knight, Black Panther, and many more fan-favorite characters, Mark Texeira has a knack of bringing a striking reality, powerful mood, and visceral feeling to any story he tackles. His fine-art style has also graced numerous album covers, magazine covers, paperback books, movie tie-ins, and gaming merchandise. His clients include Def Jam Records, Marvel Entertainment, Dynamite, Harris, DC Comics, and pretty much every publisher we could name. His brush has brought to life characters such as Vampirella, Conan, and Batman, as well as Tex's creator-owned character Pscythe.

Special Guest: David Mack

David Mack is best known as the author and artist of the New York Times best-selling graphic novel Kabuki, published originally by Image Comics and now by the Marvel Comics Icon imprint. He also gained widespread acclaim as the writer and artist of Marvel's Daredevil series and as the cover artist for Alias. Mack's work has garnered nominations for two International Eagle Awards in the categories of Favorite Comic Artist (Painted) and Best Cover Art of the Year (Painted), the Eisner Award in the category of Best Painter, and both the Harvey and Kirby Awards in the category of Best New Talent. Mack has also designed toys and packaging, created ad campaigns for Sakura art materials, and illustrated rock and jazz album covers for Japanese and American labels and musicians such as Tori Amos and Paul McCartney. Most recently, David has been thrilling readers with his writing and cover artwork on Marvel's adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s Electric Ant. Stay tuned for news on other new projects. Visit davidmackguide.com online for more information on David and his work.

Special Guest: Michael Golden

Michael Golden’s groundbreaking work on titles such as The 'Nam, Micronauts, G.I. Joe Yearbook, The Avengers, Batman, and Dr. Strange has dazzled generations of fans and established him as one of the most influential creators in comics, with a body of work that inspired countless artists over the years. During his career, Golden has been an editor at DC Comics as well as senior art director at Marvel Comics, and has worked on numerous movie production projects, including some currently in development. His art has been the focus of gallery shows in places as diverse as New York, Gijon and Barcelona, Antwerp and Brussels, and his class on storytelling has been conducted in Spain, Brussels, Canada, and the United States. Golden’s recent work can be seen on the covers of Heroes for Hire, Exiles, Nightwing, Uncanny X-Men, Hulk Team-Up, and Wonder Woman among many other titles. Michael's new sketchbook MORE Heroes and Villains is due out in the fall and a massive all-encompassing coffee table book is also in the works!