2012 in comics

Events

January

• January 2: The first episode of Norm Feuti's Gil is published.
• January 8: The long-running gag comic Ferd'nand publishes its final episode.
• January 17: Siegfried Woldhek wins the Inktspotprijs for Best Political Cartoon.

  February

• The final episode of Liberty Meadows by Frank Cho is published.

  March

• March 10–11: During the Stripdagen in Haarlem Eric Heuvel is awarded the Stripschapprijs, while Ron Poland, known for the distribution company Strips In Voorraad, wins the P. Hans Frankfurtherprijs. Patty Klein wins the Bulletje en Boonestaak Schaal.
• March 26: Nicole Hollander discontinues Sylvia.

  April

• April 11: The final episode of Brian Wood's Northlanders is published.
• April 17: Stan Lee launches his own YouTube channel, Stan Lee's World of Heroes.
• April 22: The first episode of Dana Simpson's Phoebe and Her Unicorn is published.

  May

• May 5: The final episode of Claudio Nizzi's and Giancarlo Alessandrini's Rosco & Sonny is published.
• May 9: The comic strip Crock publishes its final episode, one year after the death of its original creator Bill Rechin.
• Mark Waid, Peter Krause and Diego Barreto's Irredeemable comes to an end. Another series by Waid, Incorruptible, ends the same month.

  June

• June 16: Matt Groening's Life in Hell comes to an end after 35 years of continuous publication.

  August

• August 30: A statue of the comics character Meneer Pheip is inaugurated in Moerbeke-Waas, Belgium.
• The final episode of Kei Sanbe's Mōryō no Yurikago is published.

  September

• September 23: Richard Thompson's Cul de Sac comes to an end, as Thompson's battles with health issues.
• September 27: Yasaunobu Yamauchi's Daily Lives of High School Boys is discontinued.

  October

• October 16: Phil Dunlap's Ink Pen is discontinued.

  November

• November 29: The Bazooka Joe comics, which appeared on Bazooka chewing gum wrappers for more than five decades are discontinued.
• The final issue of Faust: Love of the Damned by David Quinn and Tim Vigil is published.

  December

• December 3: The long-running British comics magazine The Dandy publishes its final issue in print. It continues as an online comic the same day, but within six months it ends there too.

  Specific date unknown

• The long-running newspaper comic Bristow by Frank Dickens comes to an end.
• Julia Gfrörer publishes her graphic novel Black Is The Color.

  Exhibitions

• February 24–March 18: "Cartoonists’ Wheel of Life" — featuring a group project on the Tibetan Wheel of Life, or Bhavacakra, by Molly Crabapple, Michael Kupperman, Josh Neufeld, Katie Skelly, Steven Guarnaccia, Sanya Glisic, Ben Granoff, and Rodney Alan Greenblat
• March–April 18: "Ka-Pow! Comics and Cartoons in Contemporary Culture" — exhibition of the work of modern artists like Roy Lichtenstein alongside their original comic book sources; curated by Rocky Horton
• April 13–August 19: "Crumb: De l'Underground à la Genèse", Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris — R. Crumb career retrospective
• April 14–August 12: "Modern Cartoonist: The Art of Daniel Clowes", Oakland Museum of California — curated by Susan Miller and René de Guzman
• September: The Batman Live stage show began its U.S. tour in Anaheim, California.
• September 14, 2012 – January 13, 2013: "Spain: Rock, Roll, Rumbles, Rebels & Revolution", Burchfield Penney Art Center
• October 13, 2012 – January 31, 2013: "Frank Stack at 75", State Historical Society of Missouri

  Conventions

• January 26–29: Angoulême International Comics Festival — 220,000 attendees
• January 28–29: Wizard World New Orleans — guests: Carlos Pacheco, George Pérez, Jesus Merino, Félix Ruiz, Tyler Kirkham, Barry Kitson, Greg Horn, Bernie Wrightson, Norm Breyfogle, and Arthur Suydam
• February 10–12: What the Hell?! Con
• February 17–19: MegaCon — guests include Amanda Conner, Chuck Dixon, Paul Gulacy, Phil Hester, Rob Hunter, Dan Jurgens, Jimmy Palmiotti, George Pérez, Stephane Roux, Frank Tieri, Tim Townsend, William Tucci, Ethan Van Sciver, and Zeb Wells
• February 25–26: London Super Comic Convention
• March 3–4: STAPLE! — special guests: Kevin Eastman, Jason Neulander, Brian Hurtt, Cullen Bunn, Monica Gallagher, Liz Prince, Kagan McLeod, and MariNaomi
• March 10–11: Toronto ComiCON Fan Appreciation Event
• March 16–18: WonderCon — con moves from San Francisco because the Moscone Center under construction. Guests include Arthur Adams, Sergio Aragonés, Ernest Cline, Renae De Liz, Mark Evanier, Michael Golden, Joe Hill, Rebekah Isaaks, Richard Kadrey, Carol Lay, Jim Lee, Mike Mignola, Todd Nauck, Steve Niles, Eric Powell, Humberto Ramos, Bob Schreck, Scott Snyder, Ryan Sook, Fiona Staples, Richard Starkings, J. Michael Straczynski, Mark Waid, Wil Wheaton, and Marv Wolfman
• March 31–April 1: Hi-Ex — guests include Michael Carroll, Al Ewing, John Higgins, Sally Hurst, and Chris Murray
• March 31: New York Comic Book Marketplace — final Big Apple Comic Con, with show having been sold to Wizard Entertainment. Guest of honor: Stan Lee; other guests include George Pérez, Joe Sinnott, Dick Ayers, Carmine Infantino, Jim Steranko, Irwin Hasen, Mike Royer, Arthur Suydam, Bob McLeod, Rich Buckler, and Johnny Brennan
• April 13–15: Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo
• April 13–14: Wildcat Comic Con — guests include Walter Koenig, David Small, Dean Haspiel, and Josh Neufeld
• April 14–15: Wizard World Toronto
• April 21: FLUKE Mini-Comics & Zine Festival
• April 20–22: Pittsburgh Comicon — guests include Bob Almond, Jim Balent, Darryl Banks, Eric Basaldua, Brett Breeding, Robert Brewer, J. Scott Campbell, Tommy Castillo, Daxiong, Ron Frenz, Holly G, Adela Garcia, Mike Grell, Scott Hedlund, Terry Huddleston, Barry Kitson, Robert Kraus, Stan Lee, Adam Mayfield, Peter Mayhew, Scott McDaniel, Paul Monsky, Chris Moreno, Rudy Nebres, Mike Okamoto, Pat Olliffe, George Pérez, Ian Petrella, Budd Root, Alex Saviuk, Stuart Sayger, Larry Thomas, Tim Vigil, Neil Vokes, Lee Weeks, and Ron Wilson
• April 21–22: Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo
• April 27–29: Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo
• April 28–29: MoCCA Festival
• April 28–29: Stumptown Comics Fest
• May 2: Asbury Park Comic Con I — official guests include Evan Dorkin, Sarah Dyer, Stephanie Buscema, Jamal Igle, Steve Mannion, and Mike Zapcic & Ming Chen of Comic Book Men
• May 5–6: Toronto Comic Arts Festival
• May 12–13: Comic Expo — guests include Paul Cornell, Ian Churchill, and Mark Buckingham; guest of honor Dennis O'Neil unable to attend. The show attracts only 300 attendees, with many exhibitors reporting losses; there is speculation the show might not survive.
• May 18–20: Motor City Comic Con — guests include Billy Tucci, Mike Grell, Ethan Van Sciver, Peter Bagge, Joseph Lee, Nichelle Nichols, Colin Ferguson, Dean Cain, Loni Anderson, Howard Hesseman, Billy Dee Williams, Christopher Knight, Butch Patrick, and Erin Gray
• May 18–19: East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention — guests include William H. Foster, III, Alex Simmons, and Eric Battle; presentation of the Glyph Comics Awards
• May 19–20: BigWow Comicfest — guests include Travis Charest, Juanjo Guarnido, Thomas Jane, Jim Lee, Toshio Maeda, Steve Niles, Kevin Nowlan, Bernie Wrightson, and Terrance Zdunich
• May 19–20: Dallas Comic Con — c.20,000 attendees; guests include Stan Lee, Neal Adams, George Pérez, Len Wein, Arthur Suydam, Jimmy Palmiotti, Cully Hamner, Brian Stelfreeze, Norm Breyfogle, Greg Horn, Mitch Breitweiser, Elizabeth Breitweiser, Alex Saviuk, Sam DeLarosa, Guo Jingxiong, Steve Erwin, and Kristian Donaldson
• May 19–20: Kapow! Comic Convention — 2nd iteration of this event
• May 24–27: Phoenix Comicon
• May 30–June 2: Wizard World Philadelphia
• June 2–3: Stripdagen Haarlem
• June 15–17: Denver Comic Con
• June 16–17: Chicago Alternative Comics Expo — first iteration of CAKE; special guests included Jeffrey Brown, Lilli Carré, Anders Nilsen, Closed Caption Comics, Paul Hornschemeier, Lucy Knisley, Anne Elizabeth Moore, Corinne Mucha, Laura Park, Pizza Island, John Porcellino, Nate Powell, and Trubble Club
• June 22–24: Heroes Convention — guests include Neal Adams, Bob Almond, Jim Amash, Robert Atkins, Mark Bagley, Jeremy Bastian, Ivan Brandon, June Brigman, Pat Broderick, Mark Brooks, Jeffrey Brown, Stephanie Buscema, Scott C., Jim Calafiore, Ben Caldwell, Dennis Calero, Nick Cardy, Richard Case, Bernard Chang, Sean Chen, Cliff Chiang, Frank Cho, Mike Choi, Brian Clevinger, Becky Cloonan, Paty Cockrum, Dave Cooper, Colleen Coover, Clayton Crain, Jeremy Dale, Geof Darrow, Shane Davis, Todd Dezago, Michael Dooney, Evan Dorkin, Sarah Dyer, Nathan Edmondson, Tommy Lee Edwards, Steve Epting, Michael Eury, Michel Fiffe, Ian Flynn, Matt Fraction, Francesco Francavilla, Gary Friedrich, Christos Gage, Nick Galifianakis, Ron Garney, Bryan J. L. Glass, Michael Golden, Keron Grant, Cully Hamner, Scott Hampton, Scott Hanna, Dustin Harbin, Tony Harris, Tom Hart, Jeremy Haun, Clayton Henry, Jaime Hernandez, Jonathan Hickman, Adam Hughes, Jamal Igle, Kathryn Immonen, Stuart Immonen, Georges Jeanty, Matt Kindt, Aaron Kuder, Roger Langridge, Jason Latour, Bob Layton, Stan Lee, Jeff Lemire, Paul Levitz, Mike Lilly, Joseph Michael Linsner, Tom Lyle, Heidi MacDonald, David W. Mack, David Marquez, Laura Martin, Ron Marz, Jose Marzan, Jr., Nathan Massengill, Paul Maybury, Ed McGuinness, Bob McLeod, Mike Mignola, B. Clay Moore, Chris Moreno, Mark Nelson, Steve Niles, Cary Nord, Earl Norem, Phil Noto, Jason Pearson, Andrew Pepoy, George Pérez, David Petersen, Brandon Peterson, Ed Piskor, Chris Pitzer, Brian Ralph, Tom Raney, Ivan Reis, Andrew Robinson, Budd Root, Don Rosa, Craig Rousseau, Stéphane Roux, Jim Rugg, Andy Runton, Tim Sale, Alex Saviuk, Bob Schreck, Tom Scioli, Bill Sienkiewicz, Louise Simonson, Walt Simonson, Scott Snyder, Charles Soule, Matthew Southworth, Joe Staton, Ryan Stegman, Brian Stelfreeze, Karl Story, Romeo Tanghal, Ben Templesmith, Mark Texeira, Roy Thomas, Jill Thompson, Rich Tommaso, Tim Townsend, Herb Trimpe, Dean Trippe, William Tucci, Koi Turnbull, Rob Ullman, Ethan Van Sciver, Robert Venditti, Tim Vigil, Dexter Vines, Chris Walker, Loston Wallace, Michael W. Watkins, Lee Weeks, Brett Weldele, Shane White, Jarrett Williams, Bill Willingham, Renée Witterstaetter, Marv Wolfman, J. K. Woodward, Bernie Wrightson, Skottie Young, Mike Zeck, and Chrissie Zullo
• June 29–July 2: Florida SuperCon
• July 6–8: London Film and Comic Con
• July 12–15: San Diego Comic-Con
• August 9–12: Wizard World Chicago — official guests: William Shatner, Jeri Ryan, Stan Lee, Jon Bernthal, CM Punk, Carlos Pacheco, George Pérez, Greg Capullo, Nina Dobrev, Kate Mulgrew, Bruce Campbell, Tom Felton, and Amy Acker
• August 18–19: CAPTION 2012 Summer Special
• August 23–26: Fan Expo Canada — over 80,000 attendees expected
• August 31–September 3: Dragon Con
• September 14–16: Montreal Comiccon — guests include William Shatner, Wil Wheaton, Brent Spiner, John de Lancie, Malcolm McDowell, James Marsters, Nicholas Brendon, Laura Vandervoort, Mike Mignola, Gunnar Hansen, Lloyd Kaufman, Kevin Sorbo, Ben Templesmith, and Frank Cho
• September 15–16: Small Press Expo — special guests: Dan Clowes, Chris Ware, Gilbert & Jaime Hernandez
• September 15–16: Stan Lee's Comikaze — guests of honor: Stan Lee, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, Jhonen Vasquez
• September 28–30: Wizard World Ohio Comic Con — guests include Dean Cain, Lou Ferrigno, Jorge Molina, Greg Horn, Arthur Suydam, Mike McKone, Tom Batiuk, Chad Cicconi, Stuart Sayger, and Dirk Strangely
• September 29: Asbury Park Comic Con — official guests include Evan Dorkin, Sarah Dyer, Dean Haspiel, Reilly Brown, Curls Studio, and Mike Zapcic & Ming Chen of Comic Book Men
• October 1–4: Lucca Comics and Games
• October 11–14: Komikazen — guests include Shout and Carlos Latuff
• October 11–14: New York Comic Con —116,000 attendees; notable guests include Clark Gregg, Adam West
• October 13–14: Alternative Press Expo
• October 19–21: Dallas Comic Con — official guests include Stan Lee, Bruce Campbell, Robert Englund, Tom Felton, and Sean Astin
• October 26–28: Detroit Fanfare
• November 2–30: Comica — London International Comics Festival — guests include Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Robert Crumb, Bryan Talbot, Glyn Dillon, Jaromir 99, Alison Bechdel, Kevin O'Neill, Posy Simmonds, Oliver Frey, Joann Sfar, Karrie Fransman, Simone Lia, Sarah McIntyre, Dave McKean, Rachel Cooke, Othon Mataragas, Doo-Ho Lee, Hyung Min-woo, Jeong-Taek Chae, Jung-hyun Suk, ILYA, David Hine, Anke Feuchtenberger, Line Hoven, Christina Plaka, Andreas Knigge, Andrzej Klimowski, Emma Vieceli
• November 2–4: Central Canada Comic Con
• November 3–4: Rhode Island Comic Con — inaugural edition of this show
• November 10: Comica Comiket — Drawing Parade participants include Bryan Talbot, Glyn Dillon, Line Hoven, Jaromir 99, Alison Bechdel
• November 24: Genghis Con — guests include Derf Backderf, Ed Piskor, Frank Santoro, and Gary Dumm