2008 in comics

Events

January

• January 9: Teen Titans: The Lost Annual, delayed since 2003, is published.
• January 22: Webcomic Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery by Rick Smith begins publication.
• January 23: Hellblazer #240, marking the 20th anniversary of the series, is released.

  February

• Ji Kangmin begins the Korean webcomic Welcome to Convenience Store

  March

• March 5: by Bill Willingham softcover edition released under the Vertigo imprint.

  April

• April 1: Acclaimed historian, political scientist and social critic Howard Zinn releases A People's History of American Empire. The book was co-authored by historian Paul Buhle and cartoonist Mike Konopacki.
• April 3: Graphic novel Britten and Brülightly by Hannah Berry is published by Random House under their Jonathan Cape imprint
• April 7: Jessica Hagy's webcomic Indexed is voted best blog of the year by Time.com.
• April 20: At the New York Comic Con, Marvel announces Marvel Apes, which will start in October.
• April 23: Countdown to Final Crisis concludes.
• April 28: Universal Studios announce that they have optioned Oni Press' Resurrection by Marc Guggenheim, to be produced by Scott Stuber.
• April 30: Barry Allen returns to the DC Universe proper 23 years after his death in Crisis on Infinite Earths. The return came in DC Universe #0.

  May

• May 2: The Iron Man film, based on the character of the same name, is released in theaters.
• May 28: Final Crisis #1 is released.

  June

• Me and My Ainia by Lai Ann wins the Outstanding Comics Award from the Institute for Compilation and Translation of Taiwan
• Tiny Titans released By DC Comics

  July

• The Dark Knight takes in a record $155.34 million in its opening weekend, topping the previous best of $151.1 million for Spider-Man 3 in May 2007.
• Wildstorm's World's End event begins in the aftermath of Number of the Beast.
• Comic Book Tattoo, the comic book anthology based on the lyrics of Tori Amos makes its debut at the San Diego Comic Con.

  August

• August 2: To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the British comics magazine The Beano Nick Park is guest editor.

  September

• September 10: In the Netherlands René Schoenmakers and Marc Jansen, co-found Catawiki, a compendium of collector's catalogues.
• September 27: During the Stripdagen in Houten, The Netherlands, Erik Kriek receives the Stripschapprijs. Pim Oosterheert, author of various books about Marten Toonder, receives the P. Hans Frankfurtherprijs. Bob van den Born and Jaap Kramer receive the Bulletje en Boonestaak Schaal.

  October

• Hellboy: In The Chapel Of Moloch, the first Hellboy series written and drawn by Mike Mignola since 2005, is scheduled to ship.
• October 8: Archaia Studios Press confirm they have been bought by Kunoichi, the company established by Joshua Blaylock, former President at Devil's Due Publishing.

  November

• The non-fiction book is published by E. Paul Zehr.

  December

Deaths

January

• January 3: Johan van Dijk, Dutch comics artist and illustrator, died at age 90.
• January 6: Marty Links, American comics artist, dies at age 90.
• January 18: Joaquin Cervante Bassoco, Mexican comics artist, dies at age 89.
• January 19: Rik Clément, Belgian comics artist, dies at age 87.

  February

• February 2: Gus Arriola, Mexican-American comics artist, dies at age 90.
• February 10: Steve Gerber, American comics writer, passes away from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis at age 60.
• February 22: Steve Whitaker, British comics colourist passes away at age 53.

  March

• March 10: Dave Stevens, American comics artist, dies of hairy cell leukemia at age 52.
• March 17: Daniel Traver Griñó, Spanish comics artist, passes away at age 76.
• March 18: Wes Alexander, American comics artist, passes away at age 41.
• March 19: Hugo Claus, Belgian novelist, playwright, poet and film director, who also wrote the script for the comic strip Belgman with Hugo De Kempeneer, dies from euthanasia at age 78.
• March 21: Raymond Leblanc, Belgian comics publisher and animated film producer. Founder of the Belgian comics magazine Tintin, dies at age 92.
• March 21: Maurice Maréchal, Belgian comics artist, passes away at age 85.
• March 30: Jim Mooney, American comics artist, dies at age 88.

  April

• April 14: Ollie Johnston, American animator, dies at age 95.
• April 15: Robert Vandersteen, Belgian comics artist and son of Willy Vandersteen, dies at age 68.

  May

• May 3: Ted Key, American comics artist, dies at age 95.
• May 5: Edith Hegenbarth, German comics artist, dies at age 83.
• May 13: Mike Western, British comics artist, dies at age 83 following a heart attack and a stroke.
• May 15: Will Elder, American comics artist, dies at age 86.
• May 19: Rory Root, American comics store owner, dies at age 50.
• May 21: Mel Casson, American comics artist, dies at age 87.
• May 27: Ed Arno, American comics artist, cartoonist, caricaturist and illustrator, dies at age 91.

  June

• June 5: Pete Tumlinson, American comics artist, dies at age 87.
• June 8: Vladimiro Missaglia, aka Miro, Italian comics artist and animator, passes away at age 75.
• June 27: Michael Turner, American comics artist, passes away at age 37 after a long battle with bone cancer.

  July

• July 17: Creig Flessel, American comics artist, dies at age 96.

  August

• August 2: Fujio Akatsuka, Japanese manga artist, passes away at age 72.
• August 5: Jack Kamen, American comics artist, dies at age 88.
• August 6: Arnold H. Clerkx, Dutch comics artist, passes away at age 88.

  September

• September 2: Bill Melendez, American animator, dies at age 91.
• September 15: Gedeone Malagola, Brazilian comics artist, passes away at age 84.
• September 26: Raymond Macherot, Belgian comics artist, dies at age 91.

  October

• October 15: Guus Boissevain, aka Gub, Dutch comics artist, passes away at age 79.
• October 16: Mark Buck, American comics artist, dies at age 41 in a motorcyle accident.
• October 20:
• * Les Barton, British comics artist, dies at the age of 84.
• * Ken Hunter, British comics artist, dies at age 91 or 92.
• October 31: Mongo Sisé, Congolese comics artist, dies from a stroke at age 60.

  November

• November 11: Lasse Sandberg, Swedish comics artist and illustrator, dies at age 84.
• November 17: Guy Peellaert, Belgian painter, album cover designer, illustrator and comics artist, passes away from cancer at age 74.
• November 25: Sergio Rosi, Italian comics artist, dies at an unknown age.
• November 28: Enrico De Seta, Italian comics artist, cartoonist and caricaturist, dies at age 100.
• November 28: Leon Lazarus, American comics writer and editor, dies at age 89.

  December

• December 4: Fritz Behrendt, German-Dutch political cartoonist, dies at age 83.
• December 6: Gérard Lauzier, French comics artist, dies at age 76.
• December 16: Vic Donahue, American comics artist, passes away at age 90.
• December 23: Pietro Gamba, Italian comics artist, dies at age 83.

  Specific date unknown

• Rik Jottier, Belgian comics artist and illustrator, passes away at age 81 or 82.
• Marits Rietdijk, Dutch illustrator and comics artist, passes away at age 87 or 88.
• Lui Yu-tin, Chinese comics artist, dies at age 80 or 81.

  Exhibitions

• September 9 – December 5 — Kim Deitch retrospective

  Conventions

• January 12–13: Dallas Comic Con X, Richardson Civic Center, Richardson, Texas, USA — guests include Tony DeZuniga, Harold LeDoux, Scott Kurtz, Kristian Donaldson, Nick Derington, Kristofer Straub, Cal Slayton, Brad W. Foster, James O'Barr, Bob Layton, Terry Moore, Steve Niles, Cully Hamner, Tim Bradstreet, Matt Sturges, Brian Denham, Sarah Wilkinson, David Hopkins, Jaime Mendoza, Cat Staggs, and Scott Harben
• January 24–27: Angoulême International Comics Festival, Angoulême, France
• January 26–27: Phoenix Comicon — 5,200 attendees; official guests: Maral Agnerian, Greg Ayres, David Beaty, Jeremy Bulloch, Svetlana Chmakova, Luci Christian, Shannon Denton, Walter Koenig, Jeph Loeb, Peter Mayhew, Ed McGuinness, Dawn "Kaijugal" McKechnie, Angel Medina, Michelle Ruff, Armand Villavert Jr., Mark Waid, Wil Wheaton, and Andrew Wheelan
• February 2–3: Hi-Ex, , Inverness, Scotland
• February 22–24: WonderCon, San Francisco, USA
• March 1–2: Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo — special guest: Dave Sim
• March 1: STAPLE!, Austin, USA
• March 7–9: MegaCon — guests include Jennie Breeden, Brian Clevinger, Amanda Conner, Caitlin Glass, Mark Goddard, Erin Gray, Neil Kaplan, June Lockhart, George Lowe, Cynthia Martinez, Peter Mayhew, Vic Mignogna, Paul Pelletier, Joe Quesada, Stan Sakai, William Tucci, and Mark Waid
• March 16: New York City Comic Book Spectacular — guest of honor Michael Avon Oeming
• March 16–18: Wizard World Los Angeles
• March 22: UK Web & Mini Comix Thing, , London, UK
• April 5–6: Dallas Comic Con & Sci-Fi Expo, Richardson Civic Center, Richardson, Texas, USA
• April 12–13: Toronto ComiCON Fan Appreciation Event
• April 18–20: New York Comic Con, New York, USA
• April 25–27: Pittsburgh Comicon — guests include Timothy Truman, Mike Grell, Robert Tinnell, Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz, Billy Tucci, David W. Mack, Tommy Castillo, David Prowse, Aaron Douglas, Brian Harnois, and Kane Hodder
• April 26–27: Stumptown Comics Fest
• May 9–11: Bristol Comic Expo — guests include Jim Shooter, Walt Simonson, Jim Starlin, and Dave Gibbons. Presentation of the Eagle Awards, hosted by comedian Fraser Ayres.
• May 10–11: Emerald City ComiCon — 10,000 attendees; guests: Ethan Van Sciver, Arthur Suydam, Jeffrey Brown, Whilce Portacio, Mike Choi, J. Michael Straczynski, Phil Jimenez, Derek Kirk Kim, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Andy Runton, Tim Sale, Tony Bedard, Jim Cheung, Bill Willingham, Gail Simone, Kaare Andrews, Skottie Young, Dan DiDio, David Finch, Aaron Williams, Phil Noto, Michael Avon Oeming, Eric Powell, Richard Starkings, Darick Robertson, Nat Jones, Stephane Roux, Alfonso Azpiri, Sanjulián, Esteban Maroto, Juan Gimenez, Steve Sadowski, Moose Baumann, Philip Tan, Dustin Weaver, Eric Basaldua, Jeph Jacques, Jason Howard, Craig Rousseau, Chris Moreno, Todd Dezago, Tone Rodriguez, Stephen "JB" Jones, Matt Kindt, Robert Kirkman, Ryan Ottley, Clayburn Moore, Tom Raney, Eric Canete, Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker, Aaron Lopresti, Dustin Nguyen, Dan Wickline, Clayton Crain, Scott Kurtz, Brad Guigar, Dave Kellett, Rick Remender, Karl Kesel, and Brian Haberlin
• May 16–18: Motor City Comic Con
• May 16–17: East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention — celebrating black women in comics; guests include Jerry Craft
• May 17–18: Montevideo Comics, Montevideo, Uruguay
• May 30 – June 1: Wizard World Philadelphia
• June 7–8: Big Apple Comic Book, Art, Toy & Sci-Fi Expo I — guests include Bernie Wrightson, Gene Ha, Rich Buckler, Irwin Hasen, Joe Giella, Ivan Brandon, Alex Maleev, Billy Tucci, Tommy Castillo, Mark Texeira, Danny Fingeroth, and Michael Avon Oeming
• June 7–8: MoCCA Festival
• June 13–15: Adventure Con — guest of honor: Michael Golden; other guests include Arthur Suydam
• June 20–22: Heroes Convention, Charlotte, USA — guests include Jason Aaron, Jim Amash, Marc Arsenault, Liz Baillie, Michael Bair, Christian Beranek, Dan Berger, Ivan Brandon, June Brigman, Mark Brooks, Jeffrey Brown, J. Scott Campbell, Nick Cardy, Johanna Draper Carlson, K. C. Carlson, Richard Case, Tommy Castillo, Kody Chamberlain, Bernard Chang, Matt Chapman, Mike Chapman, Sean Chen, Cliff Chiang, Frank Cho, Darwyn Cooke, Amanda Conner, Jeremy Dale, Guy Davis, Mike Dawson, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Vito Delsante, Todd Dezago, Dan Didio, Michael Dooney, Colleen Doran, Evan Dorkin, Dave Dorman, Chris Duffy, Sarah Dyer, Nathan Edmondson, Tommy Lee Edwards, Josh Elder, Steve Epting, Michael Eury, Tom Feister, Al Feldstein, David Finch, Ian Flynn, Matt Fraction, Francesco Francavilla, Gary Friedrich, Rob G., John Gallagher, Chris Giarrusso, Dick Giordano, Bryan J. L. Glass, Michael Golden, Jimmy Gownley, Keron Grant, Nicholas Gurewitch, Cully Hamner, Scott Hampton, Sammy Harkham, Tony Harris, Irwin Hasen, Jeremy Haun, Jaime Hernandez, Jonathan Hickman, Greg Horn, Adam Hughes, Kevin Huizenga, Kathryn Immonen, Stuart Immonen, Georges Jeanty, Nat Jones, Rafael Kayanan, Karl Kesel, Matt Kindt, Robert Kirkman, Barry Kitson, Peter Laird, Roger Langridge, Erik Larsen, Hope Larson, Jason Latour, Steve Lavigne, Jim Lawson, John Paul Leon, Alec Longstreth, Heidi MacDonald, David W. Mack, Jim Mahfood, David Malki, Laura Martin, Nathan Massengill, Paul Maybury, Bob McLeod, Chris Moreno, Dan Nadel, Steve Niles, Phil Noto, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Michael Avon Oeming, Jim Ottaviani, Ryan Ottley, Jimmy Palmiotti, Jeff Parker, Brandon Peterson, Ed Piskor, Chris Pitzer, Liz Prince, Brian Pulido, Brian Ralph, Rick Remender, Ross Richie, Paolo Rivera, Alex Robinson, Andrew Robinson, Budd Root, Craig Rousseau, Stéphane Roux, Jim Rugg, Andy Runton, Chris Samnee, Jim Scancarelli, Tom Scioli, Rick Spears, Tom Spurgeon, Chris Staros, Joe Staton, Brian Stelfreeze, Karl Story, Kazimir Strzepek, Matthew Sturges, Eric Talbot, Mark Texeira, Roy Thomas, Andie Tong, Tim Townsend, Herb Trimpe, Dean Trippe, Rob Ullman, Ethan Van Sciver, Dexter Vines, Neil Vokes, Matt Wagner, Mark Waid, Loston Wallace, Daniel Way, Julia Wertz, Ron WIlson, Renée Witterstaetter, and John Workman
• June 26–29: Wizard World Chicago — c. 68,000 attendees; guest of honor: Warren Ellis; special guests: Todd McFarlane, Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Ross, Steve Sansweet
• July 12–13: Paradise Comicon Toronto, Holiday Inn on King, Toronto, Ontario, Canada — guests of honor: Herb Trimpe, Joseph Michael Linsner, and Greg Land
• July 13: X-Trava-Con Comic Book, Toy and Non-Sports Card Show
• July 19–20: London Film & Comic Con, , London, UK
• July 24–27: Comic-Con International, San Diego, USA — 125,000 attendees; guests include Sergio Aragonés, Alison Bechdel, Allen Bellman, Ray Bradbury, Dan Brereton, Daryl Cagle, Cecil Castellucci, Darwyn Cooke, Guy Delisle, Paul Dini, Roman Dirge, Cory Doctorow, Ann Eisner, Warren Ellis, Mark Evanier, Renee French, Gary Friedrich, Christos N. Gage, Neil Gaiman, Rick Geary, George Gladir, Laurell K. Hamilton, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Adam Hughes, Joe Jusko, Miriam Katin, Mel Keefer, Scott Kurtz, Joseph Michael Linsner, Joe Matt, David Morrell, Karen Palinko, Lily Renee Phillips, Mike Ploog, Paul Pope, George A. Romero, Rowena, Dave Stevens, J. Michael Straczynski, Ben Templesmith, Roy Thomas, Morrie Turner, Mark Verheiden, Matt Wagner, J. H. Williams III, Kent Williams, F. Paul Wilson, Brian Wood, and more
• August 9–10: "Timewarp CAPTION"
• August 22–24: Fan Expo Canada — 44,500 attendees; guests include Buzz Aldrin, Kate Mulgrew, Edward James Olmos, Brent Spiner, Michael Rosenbaum, Sean Astin, Laura Vandervoort, Renee O'Connor, Kristy Swanson, Jeremy Bulloch, Henry Winkler, Michael Easton, Aaron Douglas, Tobe Hooper, John Saxon, Wes Craven, Sid Haig, Brad Dourif, Ruggero Deodato, Tura Satana, Shawnee Smith, Bruce McDonald, Hugh Dillon, Alex Ross. Brian Bolland. Tim Sale, Mark Bagley, Peter David, Matt Fraction, Gabriele Dell'Otto, Marko Djurdjevic, Cliff Chiang, Georges Jeanty, Alex Maleev, Keith Giffen, J. Scott Campbell, Adam Hughes, Steve McNiven, Ethan Van Sciver, Kevin Eastman, Bob Layton, Angel Medina, Dexter Vines, Vic Mignogna, Derek Stephen Prince, Johnny Yong Bosch, Michelle Ruff, Richard Ian Cox, Victor Lucas, Jon Jacobs, and Donna Mei-Ling Park
• August 29 – September 1: Dragon Con — 30,000 attendees; guests include Laurell K. Hamilton, Sean Astin, Micky Dolenz, Robert Llewellyn, James Randi, and Hayden Panettiere
• September 13–14: Montreal Comiccon — 1,100 attendees
• September 27–28: Baltimore Comic-Con, Baltimore, USA
• October–November: FIBDA — dedicated to fantasy and science fiction
• October 4–5: Mid-Ohio Con — show acquired by GCX Holdings, merges with Ohio Comic Con
• October 4–5: Small Press Expo, Bethesda, USA
• October 11–12: Manitoba Comic Con — 16,000+ attendees; guests include Lou Ferrigno, Jeremy Bulloch, LeVar Burton, Erica Durance, Justin Hartley, Charlie Adler, Gerrit Graham, and John de Lancie
• October 11–12: Komikazen — guests include Zeina Abirached
• November 1–2: Alternative Press Expo, San Francisco, USA
• November 1–2: Lille Comics Festival, Lille, France
• November 7–9: Wizard World Texas
• November 14–16: National Comic Book, Art, Toy & Sci-Fi Expo — guests include Jim Steranko, John Romita, Jr., Michael Golden, Neal Adams, Bernie Wrightson, Gene Ha, Rich Buckler, Irwin Hasen, Joe Giella, Ivan Brandon, Alex Maleev, William Tucci, Tommy Castillo, Mark Texeira, Danny Fingeroth, Carmine Infantino, Mark Evanier, Bryan Talbot, Brian Michael Bendis, Evan Dorkin, Walt Simonson, Michael Avon Oeming, Peter Mayhew, Robin Riggs, Basil Gogos, Kate Mulgrew, and George Lazenby

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