In their first announcement of 2010, C2E2 officials have divulged the names of ten top artists to add to the line up of major guests who have already been announced for the new pop culture event which is set to debut at Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center, April 16 -18, 2010. The creators, who are among the leading and most progressive artists working in the graphic arts field today, will make themselves available to meet and greet the thousands of fans expected to swarm the McCormick Center as Reed Exhibitions launches the Midwest incarnation of New York Comic Con, which itself has quickly grown to be second largest pop culture event in America, and the largest pop culture event on the East Coast.

“We are kicking off 2010 welcoming 10 major artists to C2E2, but this is merely the beginning of a 2 month cavalcade of guest announcements that we promise will wow fans in Chicagoland and all over the Midwest,” states Lance Fensterman, Vice President for the Reed Pop Culture Group and Show Manager for C2E2. “Next week, we will be announcing ‘Women Creators at C2E2? and each week after we’ll have bigger and bigger announcements to share with you. With about two and a half months until C2E2 storms the shores of Lake Michigan we are fully prepared to wow the fans of the Midwest with the caliber of show they deserve and have told us they want. New York Comic Con has grown exponentially over the past four years and we are using all our knowledge and expertise to make C2E2 the largest event in the Midwest, just as NYCC is the largest event on the East Coast. Of course, none of this would be possible without the willing participation of our guests, to whom we are deeply grateful.”Ten Guests

Some of the other guests who have already been announced for C2E2 include Alex Ross, who will be a Keystone Guest of Honor, Jackson Guice, Steve McNiven, Mike Mignola, Jeff Smith, Ben Templesmith and Ethan Van Sciver, among many others.

The ten new artists joining the guest line up at C2E2 include:

Franco Aureliani: Franco was born in 1492 aboard the cruise ship Santa Maria and currently resides in Nueva York in a warm ranch-style house with a white picket fence and a very lovely lady who said “yes” to his marriage proposal and their wonderful son. Franco spends most of his time in his Bat Cave-like studio and emerges occasionally to yell at people and stuff. He is the creator of Weirdsville, co-creator and writer of the acclaimed indie title Patrick the Wolf Boy, and co-creator and writer of DC’s all-ages, New York Times Best-Selling, Eisner Award-winning hit Tiny Titans. He has also been known to write, paint, or draw for companies big and small from DC to Devil’s Due on titles such as Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam, I Dream of Jeannie, Ninjatown and many others. Not wanting any free time in his life, Franco teaches High School Art and gains immense satisfaction in seeing new generations of artist coming into their own. Franco is adamant that he is a genius, but he usually defers to his wife who tells him he isn’t and keeps him grounded in the real world.

Jimmy Cheung: Originally hailing from the UK, Jimmy now resides in Florida, pencilling exclusively for Marvel Comics. He is currently working on a new Young Avengers project with Allan Heinberg as well as providing covers for the Secret Warriors series. His past projects for Marvel have included Iron Man, X-Force, Uncanny X-Men, Illuminati and New Avengers, and he Is responsible for co-creating the Young Avengers and Scion for CrossGen Comics.

Frank Cho: Frank Cho was born in Seoul, South Korea, and at the age of six, he and his family came to the United States. Cho never had any formal training in art and taught himself to draw and write by reading art books and comics. At the University of Maryland, he created the award winning college strip, University 2 (University Squared), which ran in the campus newspaper, The Diamondback. Upon graduating from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor degree in Nursing, he signed with Creators Syndicate Inc. His Liberty Meadows was distributed worldwide and was also published as a comic book from Insight Studios Group. In an unprecedented move in comics history, Cho voluntarily discontinued the newspaper strip in favor of comic book distribution only. In 2002, Cho has moved the hugely successful Liberty Meadows comic from Insight Studios Group to Image Comics. He has number of projects scheduled, including upcoming exclusive Hulk and New Ultimates with Jeph Loeb for Marvel Comics and Dragon Line and Zombie King for Image Comics.

Geof Darrow: Geof Darrow began his professional career in Cedar Rapids, Iowa as a snow shoveler, lawn mower, and occasional altar boy. He moved up from there (or down depending on your taste) to design character models for Hanna Barbera. Due to the French-American trade imbalance during the 80’s, he was sent to Paris, where he nearly ruined Jean “Moebius” Giraud’s career by working with him at the French publishing house Aedena on the project City of Fire. From there, he bedeviled Frank Miller, making his life miserable, in turn, by working with him on the comics Hard Boiled and The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot for Dark Horse. Not content with ruining his reputation in print, Darrow moved into celluloid and was the concept artist on the Matrix Trilogy and Speed Racer films for the Wachowski Brothers. He is currently writing and drawing the Shaolin Cowboy for Burlyman Entertainment as well as writing and co-directing an animated version of the Shaolin Cowboy for Madhouse Animation Studios, produced by the aforementioned Wachowskis. He is still available for lawn mowing and snow shoveling but has laid down his hassock much to the consternation of the church. Mea Culpa.

David Finch: David Finch began his comic book career at the age of 22 at Top Cow. There, he created Ascension and Aphrodite IX, both of which were top sellers in the business. In 2001, he made the move to Marvel. His 15 issue run on Ultimate X-Men saw sales of the comic jump 40%. On Avengers, David’s presence doubled sales with starting with his first issue. Eventually feeling the need for a change, David took on the monumental task of bringing a perennially low-selling, cancelled Moon Knight into the mainstream. His run on Moon Knight skyrocketed this title into the main Marvel universe and saw it sell over five times the all the title’s previous releases. Now, David is working with Jeph Loeb on Ultimatum. In addition to his comic career, David has also worked on video games, music, and film. He has worked with Zack Snyder, Guillermo del Toro, Clive Barker, and Michael J. Straczynski, among others. His artwork can currently be seen in stores nationwide on the CD cover for the band Disturbed.

Ron Garney: Ron Garney has been a professional comics illustrator since 1989. Over the course of his career, he’s built a large fan following, tackling some of the industry’s greatest characters including the Incredible Hulk, Silver Surfer, X-Men, JLA, Captain America, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Moon Knight, and G.I. Joe. He’s been nominated twice for the industry’s coveted Eisner award, for best penciler and best serialized story for Captain America with Mark Waid. Ron has also worked in the film industry, notably on I Am Legend as costume illustrator, and he currently illustrates Wolverine: Weapon X alongside Jason Aaron. Ron lives in Connecticut with his wife and three children.

Adam Hughes: Born Cinco de Mayo during the Summer of Love in Riverside, NJ, Adam escaped to Atlanta in the early 90s, when such things were possible. Starting his comics career in 1987, Adam has drawn for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and many other companies. He has also done work for Lucasfilm, Warner Bros., and Joss Whedon’s Mutant Enemy Productions. He’s drawn everything from Star Wars to Star Trek and Indiana Jones to Tomb Raider. His run of covers on Wonder Woman won multiple Harvey Awards and an Eisner. He’s also won both the Gold and Silver Spectrum Awards for Comics. Adam is currently working on many projects, including a hard-cover collection of his work for DC Comics over that last 20 years. He also enjoys designing statues for Sideshow Collectibles.

Greg Land: Greg has been illustrating comics as a freelance artist since 1994. He broke into the business with Sky Comics, on a title called Storm Quest. This work led to projects with DC Comics that included Nightwing and the Birds of Prey. In 2001, Greg started with CrossGen Comics and helped develop their top selling adventure book, Sojourn. His next step was illustrating several covers for Marvel, Top Cow, and DC. His relationship with Marvel Comics led to an exclusive contract that has featured work on titles such as Phoenix: End Song, Ultimate Fantastic Four, and Ultimate Power. Currently, he’s at work on The Uncanny X-Men. Greg resides in Florida with his wife of almost 25 years, Trish, and their daughter, Shelbi.

Paul Pelletier: Paul has been drawing comics professionally since 1992. Over the last 18 years, he’s penciled books including Ex-Mutants, Flash, Green Lantern, Negation, Fantastic Four, and She-Hulk and worked for companies including Malibu, DC, CrossGen and Marvel. He is now under exclusive contract with Marvel and is drawing the Incredible Hulk. Paul lives in Tampa with his wonderful wife, Danette, and their two cats, Moxie and Marino.

Chris Ware: Chris Ware lives in Oak Park, IL, and is the author of Jimmy Corrigan – the Smartest Kid on Earth. He is currently serializing two new graphic novels in his ongoing periodical The ACME Novelty Library, the 20th issue of which will be released in 2010. He has guest-edited McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern and Houghton-Mifflin’s Best American Comics and was the first cartoonist chosen to regularly serialize an ongoing story in The New York Times Magazine. A contributor to the New Yorker and The Virginia Quarterly Review, his work was included in the 2002 Whitney Biennial, was favored with an exhibit of its own at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in 2006, and will be exhibited at the Gävle Konstcent.

For more information on guests, tickets, or C2E2 in general, visit http://www.C2E2.com or check out the show’s official blog, MediumAtLarge at http://www.mediumatlarge.net, or follow C2E2 on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/c2e2.

ABOUT REED EXHIBITIONS POP CULTURE GROUP:

The Pop Culture Group at Reed Exhibitions owns and operates the New York Comic Con (NYCC), the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2), and the New York Anime Festival (NYAF). New York Comic Con was launched in 2006 and quickly became a dominant presence in the pop culture world of public events. In 2009, 452 companies exhibited at NYCC for a total of 84,000 square feet of paid exhibit space, and it has been ranked by Crain’s New York Business as the second-largest annual event in NYC. C2E2, which will debut April 16 – 18 at Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center, is modeled after NYCC and will provide fans the opportunity to meet and greet their favorite writers, creators, and artists, as well as to see, hear and learn about the latest and greatest in comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, toys, movies, and television. The Pop Culture Group also operates the recently-launched Star Wars Celebration in partnership with the Lucasfilm Ltd. and UFC Fan Expo. Additionally, it holds a strategic partnership with Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in 2008 and will work closely with PAX on the launch of PAX East in Boston in 2010.