The Lehigh Valley will be well represented this weekend during Garden State Comic Fest in Morristown, New Jersey.
The two-day convention starts Saturday and continues Sunday at the William G Mennen Sports Arena. Influential comic book artists and writers Walt Simonson, Louise Simonson, Bob Camp, Joe Staton, Jim Steranko (a native of Reading) and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" co-creator Kevin Eastman are among those scheduled to appear.
The event will also feature local comic book artists Scott Hanna, Lee Weeks and Rags Morales.
For more than two decades, Hanna, of Riegelsville, has been a prominent inker for Marvel Entertainment and DC Entertainment. His lengthy resume includes the iconic "Knightfall" storyline in which Batman's back is broken by the villain Bane (a storyline that was loosely adapted for the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises).
Hanna's credits "Amazing Spider-Man," Robin," "Batman and Robin," "Detective Comics," "Nova," "Justice League of America," "Birds of Prey," "Outsiders," "Wonder Woman" and "Superman: Lois and Clark."
Weeks has worked on "Gambit," "Daredevil," "Daredevil: Dark Nights," "Superman: Lois and Clark," "The Incredible Hulk" and "Captain Marvel," among others.
Morales, who resides in the Slate Belt area, is best known for penciling the critically-acclaimed 2004 DC Comics miniseries "Identity Crisis." Morales returned to the spotlight in 2011 as the penciler on one of DC's "Action Comics" series, teaming with superstar writer Grant Morrison in giving Superman a contemporary makeover as part of the publisher's line-wide "New 52" relaunch.
Morales' resume includes such titles as "JSA," "Nightwing" and "Superman/Batman."
Saturday passes cost $26.75 (not including online fee); Sunday passes cost $21.40 (not including online fee). Early admission passes for each day and two-day passes are also available.
Convention hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.