Fans of comics can collectively breathe a sigh of relief as C2E2 just announced a new wave of comic-creating guests, showing signs that their guest list in Artist Alley may be starting to fill out with nearly a month until the convention opens its doors.
A new wave of guests has been announced for the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo which descends upon the Windy City in a little more than four weeks. Online concerns from fans have been wary that perhaps some of their favorite creators may be taking a break from conventions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it seems that with today's announcements, we may be seeing some of them return this year to the McCormick Place-located fan event.
#1: Charles Soule
Carles Soule is a New York-based comic book writer, novelist, musician, and attorney. He is best known for writing Daredevil, She-Hulk, Death of Wolverine. He has also contributed to various Star Wars books and comic series from Del Rey Books and Marvel Comics. His work includes the creator-owned series Letter 44, Curse Words, and Undiscovered Country, which he co-wrote with Scott Snyder. IN addition, he serves as the co-creator of the Marvel Comics and Star Wars characters Ren, Blindspot, Inferno, and Lash. His debut novel, The Oracle Year was released by Harper Perennial on April 3, 2018. His follow-up novel, Anyone, was released on December 3, 2019, under the Harper Perennial brand. His third novel, Star Wars: Light of the Jedi, was released by Del Rey Books on January 6, 2021, debuting at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.
#2: Rob Liefeld
A prominent writer and artist in the 1990s, Rob Liefeld is known for co-creating the X-Men character Cable with writer Louise Simonson. Additionally, he created the popular X-Men character Deadpool in collaboration with writer Fabian Nicieza. Liefeld can be found at his table in Artist's Alley all three days when not running interactive creator panels.
#3: Stephanie Phillips
Stephanie Phillips is a comic book writer known for comics and graphic novels such as HARLEY QUINN, BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT, SENSATIONAL WONDER WOMAN, SUPERMAN, TAARNA, and THE BUTCHER OF PARIS. Her stories have appeared with DC Comics, AfterShock Comics, Dark Horse, Oni Press, Top Cow/Image Comics, Heavy Metal, Black Mask Studios, A Wave Blue World, and more. Phillips is currently the writer for the ongoing Harley Quinn series at DC Comics with artist Riley Rossmo. She can be found in Artist's Alley and at creator panels all three days.
#4: Brian Azzarello
An American comic book writer and screenwriter who first came to prominence with the hardboiled crime series 100 Bullets, published by DC Comics' mature-audience imprint Vertigo, Brian Azzarello is best known for his numerous collaborations with artists Eduardo Risso (100 Bullets, Batman: Broken City, Spaceman, Moonshine) and Lee Bermejo (Batman/Deathblow, Luthor, Joker, Batman: Damned). His contributions to the Watchmen prequel project Before Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns sequel series DK III: The Master Race, as well as for his stints on the long-running Vertigo series Hellblazer and The New 52 relaunch of the Wonder Woman title. He can be found in Artist's Alley and at creator panels all three days.
#5: Agnes Garbowska
Agnes Garbowska is the official illustrator for DC Super Hero Girls, Teen Titans Go!, Care Bears, My Little Pony, and many more comic books and graphic novels. She can be found in Artist's Alley and at creator panels all three days.
#6: Chris Claremont
British-born Chris Claremont is an American comic book writer and novelist, known for his 1975–1991 stint on Uncanny X-Men, far longer than that of any other writer. During his run, he is credited with developing strong female characters as well as introducing complex literary themes into superhero narratives. Claremont succeeded in turning the once-underachieving comic into one of Marvel's most popular series. He can be found in Artist's Alley and at creator panels all three days.
#7: Kami Garcia
Kami Garcia is a #1 New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author -comic book writer. As an award-winning, Bram Stoker Award-nominated young adult author of 12 novels and graphic novels, she has been published in 51 countries in 38 languages. Her books have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. Kami’s best-known works include the Beautiful Creatures series, Teen Titans: Raven, The X-Files: Agent of Chaos, The Lovely Reckless, Broken Beautiful Hearts, and the DC Black Label comic Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity. She is also a co-founder of the Kid Lit book festival YALLFest and co-organizer of #Creators4Comics. She can be found in Artist's Alley and at creator panels all three days.
#8: Phil Hester
Phil Hester's penciling credits include Swamp Thing, Brave New World, Flinch, Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Clerks: The Lost Scene, The Crow: Waking Nightmares, The Wretch (nominated for the 1997 Eisner Award for Best New Series), Aliens: Purge, and Green Arrow. He can be found in Artist's Alley at Booth #529.
C2E2 comes to town December 10-12, 2021. Tickets to the event are still available for purchase through the official website. For a full list of guests (updated daily), go to https://www.c2e2.com/en-us/guests.html.