The Baltimore Comic-Con will return to Inner Harbor’s Baltimore Convention Center on September 8-10, 2023. They have announced the first round of guests which includes Marty Baumann, Jon and Judy Bogdanove, Jim Calafiore, Steve Conley, Tony Harris, Greg Hildebrandt, Jeff Lemire, Laura Martin, Pop Mhan, John K. Snyder III, Mark Waid, and John Workman.

Baumann is an illustrator, graphic artist, and production designer who has worked at Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios on Toy Story 3, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, Cars 2, Planes, and Wreck-It Ralph 2. He helped develop theme park installations, toy packaging, Pixar corporate branding, developed characters for toy manufacturers, illustrated children’s books, and created logos for multiple companies. Recently, Baumann was the concept artist for the new Mystery Science Theater 3000 and the visual development of Sir Paul McCartney’s film, High in the Clouds.

Jon Bogdanove was one of the chief architects behind The Death of Superman, he is known for his long run as penciler and occasional writer on Superman: The Man of Steel, and he co-created Steel. At Marvel, he penciled and wrote Power Pack and drew Fantastic Four vs. The X-Men. His other credits include X-Factor, Batman, The Hulk, and Alpha Flight.

Judy Bogdanove is a writer and editor who has written for Steel Annual #1, New Mutants Annuals #5 and #7, Power Pack #54, she was editor on the Power Pack letters column, and she wrote eight DuckTales stories for Disney’s Weborama Audio.

In 30 years working in comics, Calafiore has spent extended time at Valiant, DC, and Marvel, notably on Peter David’s Aquaman, Judd Winnick’s Exiles, Gotham Underground with Frank Tieri, Red Lanterns with Charles Soule, various Batman books, Deadpool, and Black Panther. After a run on Secret Six with Gail Simone, they reunited with for their creator-owned Kickstarter success Leaving Megalopolis, and volume 2 of the saga, Surviving Megalopolis.

Artist and writer Steve Conley’s Astounding Space Thrills was self-published by Image Comics. He has been featured in titles such as JLA-Z from DC Comics, Star Trek: Year Four from IDW, and Michael Chabon’s Amazing Adventures of the Escapist from Dark Horse Comics. His self-published Bloop is available through his online store in print or soft copy editions, and his Ringo and Eisner Award-nominated webcomic The Middle Age can be found online as well.

Harris is a comic artist, commercial illustrator, sculptor, designer, and prop builder who has worked with DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Disney, Lucasfilm, Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox, New Line Cinema, Hasbro, and many other companies. He has worked on properties such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Avengers, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Aliens, Predator, and more.

As an artist, Hildebrandt and his brother Tim illustrated the first of a series of Lord of the Rings calendars and created a movie poster for Star Wars: A New Hope. He has painted covers for Star Wars comics, Deadpool, Secret Wars, Black Panther, and Thor. More recently he has been painting movie posters for classic films like King Kong.

Lemire is a writer with credits that include Sweet Tooth, Essex County, Underwater Welder, and Mazebook, and he is the co-creator of Black Hammer, Gideon Falls, Descender, Little Monsters, The Bone Orchard, and Phantom Road. He had a popular run writing Moon Knight and collaborated with Eddie Vedder on his Matter of Time animated video.

As a colorist, Martin’s work can be seen at DC, Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, Virgin, and CrossGen. Recently, she has worked on Eniac at Bad Idea, Nubia: Queen of the Amazons, and Hulk.

Mhan joined comics at Wildstorm Productions, and since then, he has worked with Marvel, DC, Top Cow, Dark Horse Comics, and TokyoPop. His recent work has been at DC, penciling licensed properties like Gears of War 3 and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and Marvel on All-New X-Factor, and variant covers for Amazing Spider-Man.

Snyder created the groundbreaking 1980s series Fashion in Action, and he worked on the classic Suicide Squad run in the ‘80s and provided covers for the recent miniseries. He worked with Matt Wagner to co-create the Pieter Cross version of Doctor Mid-Nite for DC and Lady Zorro for Dynamite. He worked on Grendel: God and the Devil, provided covers on Harlan Ellison's Phoenix Without Ashes, and his latest work was on the graphic novel adaptation of Lawrence Block’s Eight Million Ways to Die.

A multi-time Harvey and Eisner Award winner, Waid has had acclaimed runs on DC’s The Flash, Kingdom Come, JLA, Legion of Super-Heroes, and Superman: Birthright; on Marvel’s Captain America, Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, and Daredevil; BOOM! Studios’ Incorruptible and Irredeemable; and Archie’s Archie. He is also known for his creator-owned works, Empire and Potter’s Field, and for serving as publisher of Humanoids.

Workman has been an editor, writer, art director, penciler, inker, colorist, letterer, production director, and book designer for various companies. He co-created Wild Things and both wrote and drew the comics series Sindy, Fallen Angels, and Roma. In 1991, he reflected on model Bettie Page in Betty Being Bad (Eros), and later produced the hardbounds Heavy Metal: 25 Years of Classic Covers and Innocent Images: The Sexy Fantasy Females of Viper and Kiss, as well as The Adventures of Roma.

“We are really excited to kick off our guest announcements for 2023 with these creators,” Baltimore Comic-Con show promoter Marc Nathan said. “We’re featuring old friends and new, all of whom have created some great comics (and continue to do so!), and we know our fans are going to be as excited to see them as we are.”