Top Ten Creators Attending the New York Comic Con

The New York Comic Con is coming up on February 6^th-8^th and after looking at the list I have created a list of the top ten (alright I cheated by combining some and adding honorable mentions) creators/guests at the convention that are all must sees. For a full list go to http://www.nycomiccon.com

Honorable mention: Brian Michael Bendis. Bendis writes of nearly every Marvel book in the last three years, including New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, and the upcoming Dark Avengers. Hot off the big "exciting" Secret Invasion where not much happened except a lot of green guys saying how much He loves you. Oh and I guess Mockingbird is back or some junk. He also wrote the innovative cult hits of Jinx and Powers. The best reason to see Bendis though is to ask him why the hell Secret Invasion had to be eight issues with only the last issue having anything actually HAPPEN in it, also who the Dark Avengers actually are.

Honorable mention: Mark Waid. Fresh off his appearance on the series LA Ink, Waid also edits for Boom! Comics and wrote a few books you may have read, like Kingdom Come, the Flash, and made Captain America cool again before Heroes Reborn. Waid is THE reason the Flash became great and we now accept Wally West as the Flash. If it wasn't for him we would have gotten Barry Allen back long long ago. So if you like Wally you owe him thanks. Finally if you're an aspiring comic creator, you can beg him for a job.

Honorable mention: Alex Robinson. Writer/artist Alex Robinson created one of the best independent comic book series ever, Box Office Poison. Self published and eventually collected into a giant phone book by Top Shelf he has also released a few graphic novels from Top Shelf including Tricked, and Too Cool to be Forgotten which has the most innovative covers of the year. He will likely be around with his wife and the two of them are super nice people.

10. Geoff Johns. Johns is the writer of Green Lantern, JSA, and lots of DC material. Last year he wrote the epic Sinestro War that cross overed in the two Green Lantern titles and a few specials that corresponded with it. That was an event! Huge cosmic war that changed Green Lantern and is still affecting the book now as it's all leading to the big lantern war where red, orange, and purple lanterns will join the fray. Johns really is just a comic book fan and loves writing the heroes he grew up reading, so he's just like you just in the business. See his panels and ask for more information of Blackest Night as well as begging him to keep writing Superman.

9. Colleen Doran. Colleen is mostly known for her long running indie series, A Distant Soil. She has also drawn The Book of Lost Souls (written by J. Michael Straczynski who will also be attending) and dozens of other titles, she's currently working with Warren Ellis on Stealth Tribes. She will be in artist ally, which you should be spending a good amount of time in looking for your next favorite book in anyways. While there if you can afford one of her A Distant Soil graphic novels she may even draw a quick sketch as she signs it for you. She did for mine at Heroes Con two years ago and I've loved her work ever since.

8. Al Plastino, Jerry Robinson, Jim Sterenko, Joe Simon, Joe Sinnot, and Marv Wolfman. I cheated, I know. But they are Living Legends and deserve the respect you should give them. Why? Simple these guys are responsible for so many of the comic books we love.

Al Plastino worked on Captain America and the Sub Mariner way back in the day and also created the spin offs from Superman, Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes.

Jerry Robinson created the Joker. The costume you will see the most at the convention thanks to the Dark Knight. He also helped in the development of Batman, Robin, Alfred, and the Penguin.

Jim Sterenko had an amazingly famous run on Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Captain America. His Nick Fury work heavily influenced many of today's comics including Matt Fraction's Casanova.

Joe Simon created Captain America, was the first editor in chief of Marvel before it was called Marvel, created several other characters like the Fly, the Newsboy Legion, the Sandman, oh and created the genre of romance comics.

Joe Sinnot is part of the legendary team that brought you the Fantastic Four, he inked Jack Kirby, and if you think inking is just tracing, leave now.

Marv Wolfman made the Teen Titans cool, wrote Crisis on Infinite Earths, worked on Tomb of Dracula and really has done more for comics then most. He's still pumping out new work even and is a dedicated comic fan.

7. Ben Templesmith. He has a unique style that is all his own. He also drew a little title called 30 Days of Night in addition to his current work on Fell with Warren Ellis and his own creation Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse. This gorgeous and disturbing artwork has earned him a decent following but it should be increased, by you. If you saw the issue of Wormwood he put himself in you know he can take a joke even at his own expense. I also bet if you offered to buy him a drink he may even talk to you.

6. Svetlana Chmakova. Writer/artist of Dramacon, the OEL or American Manga or whatever they are calling it this week, story about the wacky adventures you can have at a convention. It is adorable, funny, charming, and heart breaking at times, but over all it is well crafted even though it has very pink covers. She has a new comic coming out through Yen Press, called Night School. Expect it to sell huge amounts in book stores and very little in comic book stores, cause that's how the world works now.

5. The Kuburts. Joe, Adam, and Andy have drawn more comics then some of us have even read. Getting to see the two generations of comic artists is just astounding, if you read comics and have never seen a Kuburt comic book, you're blind. I rarely see the three of them on the list for the same convention so here is your chance to get autographs (if you're very lucky sketches) from three of the greatest artists in the industry.

4. Dave Gibbons. He has drawn a few comic books like Superman, Batman, and the Originals which he also wrote. Oh and some little book from the 80s called the Watchmen, you may have heard about it, think a movie is coming out about it. You can bow at Dave's feet as he signs your carefully protected copy of the Watchmen #1 or your worn reading copy of the trade as well as ask him if Alan Moore is as weird as the stories say.

3. Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick. It's not a comic book, but these two have great geek cred since they are the creators, writers, and many of the voices of the Venture Brothers, which is single handidly the best thing Adult Swim has ever produced. If we are lucky we may get some good teases and possibly a trailer for the new season. They have been working hard on season 4 since before season 3 finished up, so the wait between seasons is likely to be much shorter then before.

2. Bryan Lee O'Malley. The creator of Scott Pilgrim, that alone is all that really needs to be said. Scott Pilgrim is the indie book of the decade, and will soon be a movie where everyone will discover the awesomeness that is Scott Pilgrim. This may be one of the last times O'Malley may be seen as a "little" guy. The fifth book comes out right before the convention so talk of the book will be one of the buzzes and how you can pick out if the person you're in line with is cool or not.

1. Grant Morrison. The latest guest of honor has written some of the most radical revamps of comic book heroes in modern comics, changing the JLA, the X-Men, Animal Man, and the Doom Patrol. He is now writing Batman and the big DC event book, Final Crisis. Not to be seen as just a super hero writer Morrison also created the Invisibles, Kill Your Boyfriend, We3 (possibly to be a movie), and so many more. If you can get to understand what he's saying through his thick accent expect to be blown away by whatever he says. His panels will be packed, so plan accordingly, and if he has a signing by God go.