In less than four weeks pop culture convention Planet Comicon Kansas City returns, this time to celebrate its 20th year. Even more than before the event is hosting a pantheon of nationally recognized comic book writers and artists for its seventh year in the downtown Kansas City, Missouri, venue at the giant Bartle Hall facility at the Kansas City Convention Center. The show runs Friday, March 29 through Sunday, March 31. Bring your stacks of comics for autographs from your favorite creators–we’ve included here only a few important and familiar books by creators scheduled to be at the event. Attendees will see some of the biggest names and most popular character creators spanning fives decades of comics, including:
Chris Claremont, writer and creator of dozens of characters including Rogue, Mystique, Phoenix, Emma Frost, Legion, Gambit, and Captain Britain. His classic books include a long run on Uncanny X-Men, including the popular story arcs The Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past, adapted into X-Men: Days of Future Past, multiple X-Men movies, and this summer’s coming film Dark Phoenix.
Jim Starlin, writer/artist and creator of Thanos, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, the Master of Kung Fu, and the first graphic novel published by Marvel Comics, The Death of Captain Marvel. His classic books include Batman: The Cult, Batman: A Death in the Family, and Cosmic Odyssey.
Jim Steranko, writer/artist known for his unique 1960s style, his work on Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., plus memorable runs on Captain America and X-Men. He was also a creator of concept art designs for Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Fabian Nicieza, writer known for creating Deadpool in the pages of The New Mutants, and working on dozens of key superhero titles. His classic books include New Warriors and Psi-Force.
Keith Giffen, artist and creator of Rocket the Raccoon and Lobo. His classic books include several issues of Legion of Super-Heroes.
Kevin Eastman, writer and creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Steve McNiven, artist and creator of Marvel Comics’ Civil War. McNiven is known for his cover art on dozens of Marvel titles.
Bob McLeod, artist and creator of The New Mutants. (A concept that is the subject of 20th Century Fox’s last slated Marvel project, the coming late summer big-screen release The New Mutants).
And that’s not all…
if you haven’t read it yet).
series by DC Comics (which is brilliant in a different way). Unlike the Jonah Hex story, this is a shoot ’em up only secondarily. Like Jai Nitz’s work on Dynamite’s 
series, Ande Parks delves deeper into the characters we only know on the surface. I have been getting the vibe reading Dynamite Comics titles in the past year that this rich writing of background and relationships is becoming a hallmark of the publisher’s writer choices. This trade paperback edition features another stellar retro homage to Zorro and The Lone Ranger by cover artist Alex Ross.
as a good entry point for new readers (Parks served as inker on El Diablo) as Dynamite currently has several titles featuring The Lone Ranger available.
, 
, and 
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is now available at Amazon 
(one of the best titles ever), an eight-issue series from Image Comics, by Gabriel Benson and Mike Hawthorne, that hinted at the potential it was ultimately unable to fulfill—a “Gothic Western” that immersed the reader in the Old West. All Star Western is far better, but it does show there are limitless Gothic Western stories that can be told, not just with Jonah Hex and not just in Gotham City.
, by Brian Augustyn, with a powerhouse art match-up of Mike Mignola and P. Craig Russell.
, by Jai Nitz, Ande Parks, and Phil Hester, that was just awesome (to be reviewed here later on). Intrigued by the idea of a current western comic in the midst of the Justice League superheroes, I read it first from the stack.
feel here for sure. A good thing, as I wished that book had turned into its own series.
. A further creepy scene may also make you think he’s a bit of Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.
. There’s also a bit of the outcast element of Danny Glover’s Mal in 
. There’s a medical aspect of the 19th century as well, the sleuthing of an early Detective Comics of sorts, but again, familiar because of the similar treatment in 
, but there is also a little of Elliott’s Ghost Rider’s Caretaker mixed with 
Lee Scoresby. To get me to conjure any incarnation of Sam Elliott in your character is a win in my book. But then again there’s a spin on Eastwood’s Stranger from 
, as you can see the whole town of Gotham closing in on Dr. Arkham and Hex after only the 24th page. Who would have thought Jonah Hex could be so cool?
