As you probably know by now, we at ComicsXF are pretty excited about this weekend’s Super Jersey Comic Expo. A group of us will be tabling, bringing with us stickers, shirts, prints, old comics we need to unload and, best of all, a limited number of physical copies of The ComicsXF Zine. (Can’t make it to the show? Fear not, you can still snag the digital edition a la carte from our Patreon.)
Like any other show, we’re excited to see which comic creators and media guests will be roaming the floor, signing things, taking pictures and telling stories. You can check out the full list here, but below is a sampling of some of the guests we’re looking forward to hobnobbing with at the show.
Larry Lieber (Sunday only): As the co-creator of Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Marvel version of Thor, Lieber is one of the last surviving architects of the Marvel Universe as we know it. He’s also the brother of Stan Lee. A spotlight panel on Lieber is planned for Sunday.
Jim Shooter: Former boy genius, former editor-in-chief of Marvel, co-founder of Valiant Comics, founder of Defiant and Broadway Comics. You know this man has STORIES.
Salvador Larroca: Marvel fans will know Larroca from his work with Chris Claremont on Fantastic Four and X-Treme X-Men, as well as runs on Uncanny X-Men, Excalibur, Invincible Iron Man, Star Wars, Darth Vader, Alien and more.
Ron Marz: Let’s say you love cosmic Marvel AND cosmic DC. If only there was one writer who could give you both. Say, someone who wrote a ton of Silver Surfer in the 1990s and a ton of Green Lantern, including co-creating Kyle Rayner, and even wrote some of the DC/Marvel crossovers. What, someone like that does exist, and they’ll be at the show? Well, alright then!
Jamal Igle: Some multiverses may have overstayed their welcome, but not The Wrong Earth, Igle’s AHOY Comics series with writer Tom Peyer, which started with a White Knight-style hero switching realities with his grimdark mirror version but since has expanded to homage and pastiche a whole range of superhero archetypes. Igle also has worked with writer Scott Snyder on the ComiXology Originals series Dudley Datson and The Forever Machine, as well as Supergirl, Molly Danger and more.
Chris Ryall: Ryall is the former president and publisher of IDW and co-founder of Image Comics’ Syzygy imprint, through which he publishes many of his collaborations with artist Ashley Wood, as well as work by other creators. He also once ran Kevin Smith’s Movie Poop Shoot website (remember that, from Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back?) Most importantly, though, he is one of ROM the Spaceknight’s biggest fans, so if you see him, be sure to talk to him about that.
Larry Houston: You may know Larry as one of the guiding hands behind the original X-Men: The Animated Series, in which case if you’re a middle-aged man you probably owe much of your X-fandom to him. But did you know he also was a co-director and storyboard artist on the “Pryde of the X-Men” pilot? Or that he directed G.I. Joe: The Movie? Or that as a writer on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends he co-created Swarm, THE NAZI SCIENTIST MADE OF BEES?! Legend.
Cal Dodd: Just like Kevin Conroy was Batman for an entire generation, there’s only one voice of Wolverine, Bub. And unlike Hugh Jackman, he’s actually Canadian!
Catherine Disher: More animated X-Men royalty. Disher voiced Jean Grey in the original animated series but returned for X-Men ‘97 to voice Dr. Valerie Cooper, everyone’s favorite be-pantsuited mutant-government liaison and heir to the “female government official on an exercise device” trope that somehow became an X-cartoon staple. She also starred on the 1990s USA vampire-detective series Forever Knight, and more recently on the Hallmark Channel original series Good Witch.
Michael Jai White: Spawn. Black Dynamite. Bronze Tiger. That one gang boss in The Dark Knight. Mike Tyson. He played those guys!
For more on Super Jersey Comic Expo, listen to our chat with co-founder Paul Brown on The ComicsXF Interview Podcast.
Dan Grote is the editor and publisher of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Paul Winston Wisdom. Follow him @danielpgrote.bsky.social.
