2010 in comics

Events

 * The Digital Comic Museum is founded.
 * The Stan Lee Foundation for literacy is created.

February

 * February 18: Jim Lee and Dan DiDio announced as the new co-publishers of DC Comics, replacing Paul Levitz.

July

 * July 18: Publication of the first issue of the Kodansha shōjo manga magazine Aria.

September

 * September 9: The play Cheapjack Shakespeare, based on the comic of the same nam, debuts in Buffalo, New York.

December

 * DC Comics shuts down it sWildStorm imprint.

January

 * January 3: Tibet (aka Gilbert Gascard) dies at age 78
 * January 3: Barry Blair of Aircel Comics passes away at age 55
 * January 21: Jacques Martin dies at age 88
 * January 25: Bill Ritchie passes away at age 78

February

 * February 26: Violet Barclay, pioneering female comics artist, dies at age 87

March

 * March 19: John Hicklenton passes away at age 42 after suffering from multiple sclerosis
 * March 27: Dick Giordano dies at age 77

April

 * April 4: Henry Scarpelli passes away at the age of 79

May

 * May 3: Peter O'Donnell, the creator of Modesty Blaise, dies at the age of 90
 * May 10: Frank Frazetta passes away, aged 82
 * May 16: Philippe Bertrand, aged 61
 * May 22: Howard Post dies, aged 83

June

 * June 2: Tony DiPreta dies aged 88
 * June 2: Antonio Parras, aged 81
 * June 12: Al Williamson, Eisner Award-winning inker, dies at age 79.

July

 * July 12: Harvey Pekar, autobiographical comics pioneer and writer of American Splendor, dies at age 70.

September

 * September 10: Paul Conrad, political cartoonist, dies at age 86.

Exhibitions

 * May 1–June 6: Super! The Fine Art of Comics (Twenty-Two lounge/gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina) — curated by Shelton Drum, with original art by (among others) Steve Ditko, Adam Hughes, Brian Stelfreeze, Michael Golden, Joe Jusko, Cully Hamner, Mark Brooks, and Mark Texeira.

Conventions

 * January 28–31: Angoulême International Comics Festival (Angoulême, France)
 * January 30–31: Dallas Comic Con 14 (Richardson Civic Center, Richardson, Texas, USA) — guests include Tim Sale, Adam Hughes, Todd Nauck, Brad W. Foster, Ben Dunn, Michael Golden, Harold LeDoux, Cal Slayton, and many more
 * February 5–6: What the Hell?! Con (Greensboro, North Carolina)
 * March 6: STAPLE! (Monarch Event Center, Austin, Texas, USA)
 * March 12–14: MegaCon (Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida, USA) — guests include Marv Wolfman, George Pérez, Lea Thompson, Claudia Wells, Nichelle Nichols, Jeremy Bulloch, and Peter Mayhew
 * March 13–14: Emerald City ComiCon (Washington State Convention & Trade Center, Seattle, Washington, USA) — 20,000 attendees; guests: Joe Quesada, Geoff Johns, Brian Azzarello, Jhonen Vasquez, Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Allred, Whilce Portacio, James Robinson, Doug Mahnke, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau, Matt Kindt, Steve Rolston, G. Willow Wilson, Colleen Coover, Aaron Lopresti, Tim Bradstreet, Joe Casey, Steven T. Seagle, J. H. Williams III, Tim Sale, Alex Maleev, Kurt Busiek, Timothy Green II, Jim Rugg, David Hahn, Chris Roberson, Christina Strain, Paul Tobin, David Mack, Michael Golden, Brandon Jerwa, Jo Chen, Ed Brubaker, Darick Robertson, Rick Remender, Matt Fraction, Steve Lieber, Jeff Parker, Brandon Graham, Jason Pearson, Sterling Gates, Mike Norton, Dave Stewart, Mark Texeria, Kevin Maguire, John Layman, Dave Kellett, Ryan Ottley, C. B. Cebulski, Phil Hester, Michael Avon Oeming, Dustin Nguyen, Terry Moore, Pete Tomasi, Clayton Crain, Ben McCool, Richard Starkings, Philip Tan, Jeff Lemire, Scott Kurtz, Jill Thompson, Andy Runton, Aaron Lopresti, Barry Kitson, Greg Rucka, Josh Ortega, Ben Templesmith, Scott Allie, J.J. Kirby, Steve Sadowski, Kris Straub, Brian Haberlin, Brad Guigar, Eric Basaldua, Len Wein, Michael Broussard, Tim Seeley, and Mark Waid
 * March 26–28: Wizard World Toronto (Direct Energy Centre, Hall A, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) — first iteration of Wizard's acquisition of the Toronto Comicon
 * March 27–28: Hi-Ex (Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, Scotland) — guests include Charlie Adlard, Asia Alfasi, Gary Erskine, Simon Fraser, John Higgins, Cam Kennedy, Gary Northfield, and Kev F. Sutherland
 * April 2–4: WonderCon (San Francisco, USA)
 * April 10–11: MoCCA Festival (69th Regiment Armory, New York City, USA)
 * April 16–18: Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) (Chicago, Illinois, USA) — inaugural event; 20,000–30,000 attendees
 * April 23–25: Pittsburgh Comicon (Monroeville Convention Center, Monroeville, Pennsylvania, USA) — guests include Roy Thomas, Gene Colan, Joe Sinnott, Ernie Chan, Herb Trimpe, Gary Friedrich, Talent Caldwell, Eric Basaldua, Margot Kidder, and Camden Toy
 * April 24–25: Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo (S.P.A.C.E.) (Ramada Plaza Hotel & Conference Center, Columbus, Ohio)
 * April 24–25: Stumptown Comics Fest (Lloyd Center Doubletree, Portland, Oregon)
 * May 8–9: Toronto Comic Arts Festival (Toronto Reference Library, Toronto, Canada)
 * May 14–16: Motor City Comic Con (Rock Financial Showplace, Novi, Michigan, USA) — guests include Linda Blair, Lindsay Wagner, and Adam West
 * May 14–15: East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) — guests include Eric Battle, Reggie Byers, Shawn Martinbrough, and Larry Stroman
 * May 28–30: Adventure Con (Pigeon Forge Convention Center, Grand Hotel, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee) — featured guest of honor: Gary Friedrich
 * May 28–30: Phoenix Comicon (Phoenix, Arizona)
 * May 28–30: Rockin' Pasadena Comic Con (Pasadena, California) — guests include Stan Lee
 * June 4–6: Heroes Convention (Charlotte Convention Center, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA) — guests include Bob Almond, Mark Bagley, Liz Baillie, Kate Beaton, John Beatty, Christian Beranek, Brian Bolland, Mark Brooks, Richard Case, Bernard Chang, Sean Chen, Cliff Chiang, Frank Cho, Colleen Coover, Ken Dahl, Jeremy Dale, Guy Davis, Vito Delsante, Evan Dorkin, Sarah Dyer, Nathan Edmondson, Tommy Lee Edwards, Tom Fowler, Francesco Francavilla,  Gary Friedrich, Christos Gage, John Gallagher, Michael Golden, Meredith Gran, Keron Grant, Cully Hamner, Scott Hampton, Tony Harris, Christopher Hastings, Clayton Henry, Adam Hughes, Jamal Igle, Matt Kindt, Roger Langridge, Jason Latour, John Paul Leon, Rick Leonardi, Alec Longstreth, Laura Martin, Nathan Massengill, Mike McKone, Christopher Moeller, Sean Gordon Murphy, Dustin Nguyen, Ryan North, Mike Norton, Phil Noto, James O'Barr, Dan Parent, Brandon Peterson, Ed Piskor, Dave Roman, Budd Root, Don Rosa, Stéphane Roux, Jim Rugg, Chris Samnee, Jim Scancarelli, Tom Spurgeon, Joe Staton, Brian Stelfreeze, Karl Story, Raina Telgemeier, Ben Templesmith, Mark Texeira, Jill Thompson, Tim Townsend, William Tucci, Ethan Van Sciver, Noah Van Sciver, Dexter Vines, Michael W. Watkins, Bill Willingham, Skottie Young, and Chrissie Zullo
 * June 5–6: Toronto ComiCON Fan Appreciation Event (Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
 * July 17–18: London Film and Comic Con (Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London, England, UK)
 * July 22–25: Comic-Con International (San Diego, USA) — 130,000+ attendees; guests: Neal Adams, Jason Spyda Adams, Joel Adams, Josh Adams, Sergio Aragonés, Peter Bagge, Gabrielle Bell, Brian Michael Bendis, Ray Bradbury, Émile Bravo, Berkeley Breathed, Kurt Busiek, Chris Claremont, Howard Cruse, Vanessa Davis, Felicia Day, Samuel R. Delany, Dave Dorman, Mark Evanier, Jon Favreau, Matt Fraction, Hunter Freberg, Stan Freberg, Nicholas Gurewitch, Moto Hagio, Charlaine Harris, Dusty Higgins, Tanya Huff, Kathryn Immonen, Stuart Immonen, Van Jensen, Phil Jimenez, Jenette Kahn, Keith Knight, Jim Lee, Stan Lee, Paul Levitz, Milo Manara, Larry Marder, Carla Speed McNeil, China Miéville, Dennis O'Neil, Robert M. Overstreet, Tom Palmer, Sean Phillips, Ivan Reis, Douglas E. Richards, Rick Riordan, Jerry Robinson, Steve Rude, Jeannie Schulz, J. Michael Straczynski, Drew Struzan, James Sturm, Jillian Tamaki, Doug TenNapel, C. Tyler, Ann VanderMeer, Jeff VanderMeer, Gerard Way, Al Wiesner, Michael Zulli, and more
 * July 31–August 1: CAPTION: "Mad Science" (East Oxford Community Centre, Oxford, England, UK)
 * August 19–22: Wizard World Chicago (Rosemont, Illinois, USA) — guests: William Shatner, Linda Hamilton, James Marsters, Linda Blair, Nicholas Brendon, Clare Kramer, Claudia Christian, Richard Roundtree, Julia Jones, Joe Madureira, Michael Golden, Arthur Suydam, Brian Pulido, and David Mack
 * August 27–29: Fan Expo Canada (Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) — 64,000 attendees; guests include William Shatner, Adam West, Burt Ward, Julie Newmar, James Marsters, Stan Lee, Felicia Day, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Michael Dorn, Peter Mayhew, Bruce Boxleitner, David Blue, Summer Glau, Michelle Forbes, Tahmoh Penikett, Dean Stockwell, Daniel Cudmore, Ernest Borgnine, Ryan Robbins, David Cronenberg, Lance Henriksen, Ken Russell, Bill Moseley, William Forsythe, Heather Langenkamp, El Hijo Del Santo, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Anna Silk, Charles Band, Gary Frank, Andy Kubert, Adam Kubert, Olivier Coipel, Steve McNiven, Ethan Van Sciver, Doug Mahnke, Dan DiDio, C.B. Cebulski, Brian Azzarello, Darwyn Cooke, Bob Layton, Tim Bradstreet, Alex Maleev, Ian Churchill, Jill Thompson, Jim Valentino, Chris Sprouse, Yanick Paquette, Cameron Stewart, Jeff Lemire, Yoshitaka Amano, Ogata Megumi, Vic Mignogna, Johnny Yong Bosch, Brad Swaile, Jamie Marchi, Jason Deline, Victor Lucas, Scott Jones, Tommy Tallarico, Jarett Cale, Geoff Lapaire, Ed Greenwood, Robin D. Laws, Casts of Todd and the Book of Pure Evil, Riese, Lost Girl, Dark Rising, Medium Raw: Night of the Wolf, I Spit On Your Grave, Durham County, Pure Pwnage, Electric Playground, and Reviews on the Run
 * August 28–29: Baltimore Comic-Con (Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, Maryland, USA)
 * August 28–29: Dallas Comic Con 15 (Richardson Civic Center, Richardson, Texas, USA) — guests include Keith Pollard,  Adam Warren, Angel Medina, Pat Broderick, June Brigman, Roy Richardson, Kerry Gammill, Kez Wilson, Ben Dunn, Josh Howard, Joe Eisma, Steve Erwin, John Lucas, Brian Denham, Andre Mangum, David Hopkins, Cal Slayton, Richard Dominguez, Lawrence Reynolds, Anthony Tollin, and others
 * September 3–6: Dragon Con (Hyatt Regency Atlanta/Marriott Marquis/Atlanta Hilton/Sheraton, Atlanta, Georgia, USA) — 30,000+ attendees; featured guests: Stan Lee and Neal Adams, other guests include Sherilyn Kenyon, Scott Bakula, Barbara Eden, Larry Hagman, Luke Perry, Tom Savini, John Zaffis, and Donato Giancolo
 * September 10–11: Small Press Expo (SPX) (Bethesda, Maryland, USA)
 * September 11–12: Montreal Comiccon (Place Bonaventure, Montreal, Quebec) — 8,300 attendees; guests include: Brent Spiner, Billy Dee Williams, Peter Mayhew, Ethan Van Sciver, Darick Robertson, Leonard Kirk, Herb Trimpe, Dale Eaglesham, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Larry Hama, Tim Sale, and Kirby Morrow
 * September 14–18: Jornadas de Cómic (Avilés, Spain)
 * October 1–3: Wizard World Big Apple Comic Con (Penn Plaza Pavilion, New York City, USA)
 * October 8–10: New York Comic Con (Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York City, USA)
 * October 16–17: Alternative Press Expo (APE) (San Francisco, California, USA)
 * October 30–31: Detroit FanFare (Hyatt Regency, Dearborn, Michigan, USA) — guest of honor: Stan Lee; other guests include Jim Starlin, Carl Lundgren, Guy Davis, Mark Crilley, and Vince Locke
 * October 29–31: Manitoba Comic Con (Winnipeg Convention Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) — guests include Garrett Wang, Orli Shoshan
 * November 6–7: Mid-Ohio Con (Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio) — 30th anniversary show
 * November 19–20: Brighton Comic Expo (Brighton, UK)
 * November 20-22: Convencion de Juegos de Mesa y Comics (Monterrey, Mexico) - guests include Edgar Delgado and musical group Aural Vampire

First issues by title

 * Brightest Day
 * Release: May by DC Comics. Writer: Geoff Johns


 * Echoes
 * Release: December by Top Cow Productions. Writer: Joshua Hale Fialkov Artist: Rahsan Ekedal


 * The Flash
 * Release: April by DC Comics. Writer: Geoff Johns Artist: Francis Manapul


 * Girl Comics
 * Release: March by Marvel Comics. Writer: various Artists: various


 * God of War
 * Release: March by Wildstorm. Writer: Marv Wolfman Artist: Andrea Sorentino


 * Green Arrow
 * Release: June by DC Comics. Writer: J. T. Krul


 * Hawkeye & Mockingbird
 * Release: June by Marvel Comics. Writer: Jim McCann Artists: David Lopez


 * Revolver
 * Release: July by Vertigo. Writer & Artist: Matt Kindt


 * WWE Heroes
 * Release: April by Titan Publishing. Writer: Keith Champagne Artist: Andy Smith

Renamed titles

 * The Dandy
 * Release: The Dandy Xtreme changes its name back to The Dandy with the last Dandy Xtreme, issue 3507, being dated 6 October 2010 and the retitled Dandy, issue 3508, being dated 30 October 2010. The comic now had British comedian Harry Hill on the front cover.