Baltimore Comic-Con occurs on September 25-27, 2026 at the Inner Harbor’s Baltimore Convention Center. Baltimore Comic-Con has announced Rafael Albuquerque, Brett Breeding, Eric Canete, Klaus Janson, Rick Leonardi, and Matt Slay as comics guests of the 2026 event. You can purchase tickets online now!
Rafael Albuquerque was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil. He has been working in the American comic book industry since 2005. Best known from his work on All Star Batman, Animal Man, and Batgirl, he has also published the creator-owned books Mondo Urbano (2010), Eight (2015), and Huck (2015).
Rafael is an Eisner, Harvey, and Inkpot Award winner for the NY Times Bestseller American Vampire (DC Comics/Vertigo, 2010), written by Scott Snyder and Stephen King, and known by Neil Gaiman’s tale A Study in Emerald, Mark Millar’s Hit-Girl, and Detective Comics, to mention a few.
Brett Breeding has enjoyed nearly forty-seven years as a comic book artist, illustrating and creating characters for Marvel and DC Comics as well as numerous independent publishers. Primarily known for his finished inks over pencilers George Perez, Ron Frenz, Dan Jurgens, Bob Hall, and Kerry Gammill, Brett has also done penciling and traditional and computer coloring, as well as story development and plotting. He is a co-creator of DC Comics characters Doomsday, Blaze, Lord Satanus, and Shadowdragon, as well as Marvel Comics’ Dargo Thor.
Brett has worked on many titles for Marvel and DC Comics, but is most recognized for his work on the Superman titles, notably the “Death of Superman” storyline, as well as the Spider-Man titles, The Mighty Thor, The Avengers and West Coast Avengers, the Hawkeye Limited Series, and the first comic series featuring the Thundercats. While working on Thor #390 with Ron Frenz, Brett originated the idea that Steve Rogers would be worthy to wield Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, and Ron and writer Tom DeFalco made it a key part of the story. Over 30 years later, Brett’s idea would be immortalized on the big screen as a key moment in Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame.
Brett regularly produces licensing art for DC Comics and Warner Brothers Consumer Products, and in 2012, he created numerous children’s books and digital interactive iPad apps featuring Superman and Batman for WB Global Publishing which are available digitally on Amazon.
Recently, Brett returned to Marvel, inking occasional covers and interior story pages, as well as special projects for the MCU. In 2022, for the first time in over 25 years, Brett again teamed up with Dan Jurgens on Superman to create artwork for the main story for the 30th Anniversary of The Death of Superman Special Edition comic, followed in 2023 with the 30th Anniversary of the Reign of the Supermen Special Edition. They continue to team up on covers for Marvel and DC special projects. Brett’s most recent project teamed him again with long-time collaborator Ron Frenz for a 10-page story in Venom #252, an homage to their first team-up together on Amazing Spider-Man #252 published back in 1984.
Eric Canete is a concept artist, comic book illustrator, and storyboard artist whose signature style — kinetic, expressive, and built on a foundation of serious design craft — has made him one of the most distinctive voices working across comics and animation.
His credits span some of the most recognizable properties in both mediums: Iron Man: Enter The Mandarin (Marvel Comics), Run Love Kill (Image Comics), Aeon Flux (MTV), Ben 10: Alien Force (Cartoon Network), Justice League Unlimited, Teen Titans, The Batman (Warner Bros. Animation), TRON: Uprising (Disney TVA), and Killer Instinct (Microsoft).
Most recently, Canete served as guest artist on Absolute Batman #17–18, illustrating the acclaimed “Absolute Poison Ivy” arc.
Klaus Janson was born in 1952 in Coburg, Germany, and came to America in 1957. As a child growing up in Connecticut, he learned how to read and write the English language almost exclusively from Lois Lane and Superman comics. Even at that early age, delusions of competence overtook him and he would cut apart the comics and paste them onto paper to construct new stories. This eventually led to the notion that drawing the stories outright and preserving the comics might be a more efficient way of approaching this medium. A valuable and life saving apprenticeship with his mentor Dick Giordano encouraged him to continue. After many summers of portfolio reviews and rejections, Marvel Comics offered a part time office job applying grey tones to the black and white horror comic reprints that were glutting the market. Two things happened that would change that: Daredevil and teaching at The School of Visual Arts. Daredevil with Frank Miller in the mid-1980s was a rare opportunity for two artists to work unconstrained by the typical expectations or oversight of corporate thinking. An anomaly for mainstream publishing, Daredevil was a struggle between artistic instinct and intellect that, at its best, resulted in that perfect balance. The other step forward was teaching at The School of Visual Arts. Klaus believes that communication is the most powerful tool human beings possess. That ability to communicate can come in many forms but at its root is called storytelling. Klaus lives in New York, where he writes, draws, inks, and colors, and teaches comics.
Rick Leonardi has drawn comics for more than forty years. His best-known works include various issues of The Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants, as well as runs on Cloak & Dagger, Spider-Man 2099, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Green Lantern vs. Aliens. He is credited, along with fellow illustrator Mike Zeck, with designing the black-and-white costume to which Spider-Man switched during the miniseries Secret Wars, and with creating the costume for Spider-Man 2099. He was penciler/inker for the original four issues of Watson and Holmes, which received an Eisner nomination for Best New Series in 2014.
Recently, Rick finished up an original graphic novel, Blue Angel, for the US Naval Institute Press, contributed pages to Nightwing #100, and enjoyed Spider-Man 2099’s appearance in Across the Spider-Verse.
Matt Slay has worked in comics for 15 years, but quickly made a name for himself painting variant covers for IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. His dark and earthy watercolors bring a grown-up sense of danger to any character. Born in St. Michaels and raised in Easton, the Maryland native now paints for the sci-fi anthology series Time Traveled Tales with authors such as Timothy Zahn. Matt has generated production art for Marvel Premiere as well as Iron Man 3, and has since provided covers for Six Gun Gorilla and American Mythology’s Equilibrium while writing his own book and cartoon series, 3 Story Dungeon. Matt is represented by Comic Art House.
This year’s confirmed guests for the show include: Jason Aaron (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Arthur Adams (Longshot), Joel Adams (Ms. Mystic), Zeea Adams (Deadman), Rafael Albuquerque (Absolute Green Arrow), Marty Baumann (Pixar artist), Brett Bean (D’Orc), Josh Blaylock (Mercy Sparx, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Carolyn Belefski (Curls), Russ Braun (The Boys), Jeffrey Brown (Hulk Teach, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Mark Buckingham (Fables), Jeffrey Burandt (Gonad the Ballbarian), Jim Calafiore (NED, Lord of the Pit), Eric Canete (Absolute Superman), Joe Carabeo (The Legettes), Richard Case (Doom Patrol), Keith Champagne (Stranger Things), Howard Chaykin (Time Squared), Jo Chen (Runaways), Cliff Chiang (Paper Girls), Frank Cho (Harley Quinn), Chris Claremont (Uncanny X-Men), Taurin Clarke (Star Wars: Jedi Knights), Becky Cloonan (War), Michael W. Conrad (In Bloom), Steve Conley (The Middle Age), Amanda Conner (Harley Quinn), Denys Cowan (The Question), Olivia Cuartero-Briggs (The College Try), Paris Cullins (Blue Devil), Mike Decarlo (The Simpsons), Vito Delsante (Stray), Todd Dezago (The Perhapanauts), Colleen Doran (The Sandman), Scott Dunbier (DC Silver Age Covers and Stories Artist’s Edition), Steve Englehart (Captain America), Garth Ennis (The Boys), Victor Farro (Invincible Universe: Battle Beast), Trish Forstner (Feral), Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (DC Nation), David Gerrold (Star Trek), Chris Giarrusso (Mini Marvels), Randy Green (Witchblade), Che Grayson (Absolute Catwoman), Gene Ha (Mae), Bob Hall (West Coast Avengers), Cully Hamner (Blue Beetle), Scott Hanna (Amazing Spider-Man), Tony Harris (The Whistling Skull), Dean Haspiel (Chest Face), Glenn Hauman (They Keep Killing Glenn), Mike Hawthorne (Deadpool), Marc Hempel (Sandman), Jamal Igle (Superman), Dave Johnson (100 Bullets), Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Infernal Hulk), Klaus Janson (Daredevil), JG Jones (Wanted), Joëlle Jones (Lady Killer), Dan Jurgens (Action Comics), Chris Kemple (Red Vengeance), Tom King (Wonder Woman), Peter Krause (The Power of Shazam, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Mike Kunkel (Herobear and the Kid), Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon), Creees Lee (Sorcerer Supreme), Jae Lee (Inhumans), Jim Lee (Batman: H2SH), Rick Leonardi (Spider-Man 2099), Jesse Lonergan (DROME), Tula Lotay (Bloodland), Nate Lovett (Commander Tomorrow), Andy MacDonald (Rogue Planet), Kevin Maguire (Justice League), Anthony Marques (Superman Unlimited), Laura Martin (Nubia: Queen of the Amazons, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Shawn Martinbrough (Red Hood: The Hill), Ron Marz (Green Lantern), Jose Marzen Jr. (Y: The Last Man), Mike McKone (Teen Titans), Bob McLeod (New Mutants), Carla Speed McNeil (Finder), Adriana Melo (Fantastic Four), Pop Mhan (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe), Joshua Middleton (Aquaman), Al Milgrom (Spectacular Spider-Man), Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise), Mark Morales (Thor), Bill Morrison (The Simpsons), Drew Moss (Thundercats), Trevor Mueller (Bat Pat), Sarah Myer (TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures), Phil Noto (Fantastic Four: First Foes), Kevin Nowlan (Batman: Sword of Azrael), Patrick Olliffe (Untold Tales of Spider-Man), Jerome Opena (Uncanny X-Force), Ryan Ottley (Invincible), Jimmy Palmiotti (The Punisher), Dan Parent (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Margeaux Pepoy (Simone & Ajax), David Petersen (Mouse Guard), Pornsak Pichetshote (Absolute Green Arrow), Stephen Platt (Moon Knight), Andy Price (My Little Pony), Joe Pruett (Savage Sword of Conan), Tom Raney (Incredible Hulk), Afua Richardson (Kahhori: Reshaper of Worlds), James Robinson (Starman), Tone Rodriguez (Feral, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Don Rosa (Uncle Scrooge), Craig Rousseau (The Perhapanauts), Stephane Roux (Void Rivals), Andy Runton (Owly), Ethan Sacks (Old Man Hawkeye), Stuart Sayger (Red Sonja), Joe Schmalke (We Don’t Kill Spiders), Erica Schultz (Rogue), Louise Simonson (The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special), Walter Simonson (Thor), Don Simpson (Megaton Man), Matthew Dow Smith (DC’s Misfits of Magic), Scott Snyder (Friday and Sunday only, DC K.O.), John K. Snyder III (Suicide Squad), Mark Sparacio (Liberty Girl Deluxe), Cat Staggs (David Dastmachian’s Through), Jim Starlin (Dreadstar), Joe Staton (Dick Tracy), Brian Stelfreeze (Black Panther), Karl Story (Batman & Robin), Martha Thomases (Dakota North), Frank Tieri (Absolute Batman: Ark-M), Peter J. Tomasi (The Rocketfellers), Billy Tucci (Shi), Jonathan Uribe (Spawn, courtesy of Comics and Collectibles R Us), Gus Vazquez (Sunfire and the Big Hero Six), Wade Von Grawbadger (Justice League), Dave Wachter (Godzilla), Steve Walker (Pay the Devil), Lee Weeks (Batman/Catwoman Special), Mark Wheatley (Breathtaker), Bob Wiacek (All-New Wolverine, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Matt Wieringo (Stargate Atlantis: Gateways), Keith Williams (Web of Spider-Man), Ron Wilson (Marvel Two-In-One), Chuck Wojtkiewicz (Justice League, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Rich Woodall (Sgt. Werewolf), Kelly Yates (Doctor Who), and Thom Zahler (Long Distance).
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