LeVar Burton
“Just take a look..it’s in a book” LEVAR BURTON is an actor, director, educator & cofounder of the award-winning Skybrary App; former host and executive producer of PBS's “Reading Rainbow;” and a lifelong children's literacy advocate. He hosts his own podcast, ‘LeVar Burton Reads’ sharing the best short fiction and handpicked by the best voice in podcasting. LeVar also has a new YouTube Series ‘This Is My Story’ which highlights racism in America. During Covid19 lockdown, TwitterLive hosted livestream short story readings presented by LeVar to millions of his fans and avid readers. LeVar starred as Kunta Kinte in the acclaimed mini-series ROOTS. LeVar also starred as Lt. Commander Geordi LaForge in STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION television series and in feature films. LeVar has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards along with 27 Daytime Emmy nominations, culminating in 21 wins. During its 26-year run 1983 to 2009 READING RAINBOW was not only one of the longest running children’s television shows in history but won more that 25 awards including 10 for outstanding series and the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award. LeVar has also been nominated twice for the Spoken Word Grammy Award and won in 1999, for narrating “The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.” On June 11, 2019, South Sacramento’s Meadowview City leaders honored LeVar with the Official Renaming and Dedication of Richfield Park to LeVar Burton Park. It has been his role as host and executive producer of the beloved PBS children’s series “Reading Rainbow” of which he is most proud. LeVar will be on site both days of Big Lick Comic Con - Roanoke, August 6-7 2022 at the Berglund Center. To purchase an official photo op, click the image of LeVar.
Mark Waid
Mark Waid is a New York Times-bestselling author whose work has appeared in countless languages across the globe. Over the course of his almost four decades in the comic book industry, Mark has developed characters and stories for Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, The Avengers, X-Men, Archie, Star Wars, the Incredibles, and almost every other franchise currently enjoying success across all media platforms. Kingdom Come, which he created with artist Alex Ross for DC Comics, has become one of the highest-selling graphic novels in history. Many of the storylines and characters he wrote and created in his eight-year run on The Flash comic books can be seen every week on the current hit television show. He has written and edited over 2,000 comic titles and has received every major award in the industry. Since March of 2020, he has also been the U.S. Publisher of Humanoids, the European publishing house responsible for the Incal and dozens of other international graphic novels. We are truly honored to welcome Mark to Big Lick Comic Con on August 6-7 2022 in Roanoke, VA presented by Bank of Botetourt!
Billy West
Best known for his work on “Futurama” and “Ren & Stimpy”, Billy West has a career in radio and television that began in the 1980’s when he did comedic impersonations for Charles Laquidara’s “Big Mattress Morning Show” on Boston’s WBNC FM radio network. By the mid-90s, he had moved to doing impersonations of Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott on “The Howard Stern Show”, giving him greater exposure. From there, West became involved with the Nickelodeon shows “Doug” and “Ren & Stimpy”. Portraying the title characters on both shows, Billy West saw his voiceover work reach an even larger, yet younger audience. This led to Warner Bros. hiring him for the film Space Jam in 1996. Featuring Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan and the cast of Looney Tunes, West voiced Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, two characters whom he has sporadically voiced throughout the next decade. He is also known for his portrayal of Philip J. Fry and several other characters on the cartoon “Futurama”, which began in 1999 and has continued on through a number of changes through 2012 and currently airs on Comedy Central. In addition he is also known for a lot of commercial work including the voices of the iconic Red M&M as well as Buzz The Bee in the Honey Nut Cheerios commercials. Billy will be available both days of Big Lick Comic Con! To purchase an official photo op, click the image of Billy.
Ming Chen
Ming Chen is an actor, podcaster, reality television personality, and webmaster. Ming Chen’s road to Kevin's Smith's The Stash all began in 1995 when the college student, video store employee and avid Kevin Smith follower, developed a fan website based on the movie Clerks. Smith, who appreciated Chen’s work, reached out and asked him to create a website for his production company, View Askew Productions. Now not only does Chen continue to work on all of Smith’s online projects, but has also ventured into several other areas within the Kevin Smith empire, most recently hosting a weekly podcast called “I Sell Comics” and Ming & Mike Show podcasts with Mike Zapcic and also starred in the AMC reality series Comic Book Men. Ming will be a guest at Big Lick Comic Con on August 6-7 2022 in Roanoke, VA presented by Bank of Botetourt! To purchase an official photo op, click the image of Ming.
Walter Emanuel Jones
Walter Jones Walter Emanuel Jones is an American actor, martial artist and dancer, known for playing the role of Zack Taylor, the original Black Ranger on the hit television series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. He also appeared in successful television shows including Family Matters, Step by Step, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Moesha, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Early Edition, NYPD Blue, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Off Centre and The Shield. He played in movies including Backyard Dogs (2000), House of the Dead 2 (2005), and Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. He gave his voice talent to animated movies including Open Season 2 (2008) and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013). Walter will be a guest at Big Lick Comic Con on August 6-7 2022 in Roanoke, VA presented by Bank of Botetourt! To purchase an official photo op, click the image of Walter.
Karyn Parsons
Karyn Parsons starred as Hilary Banks on the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which aired on NBC from 1990 to 1996. She co-created, co-produced, co-wrote, and co-starred on the Fox sitcom Lush Life in 1996. In 2001, she starred in the critically acclaimed but short-lived television series The Job with Denis Leary. Besides television, Parsons has starred in several films including Class Act (1992), Major Payne (1995), Mixing Nia (1998), The Ladies Man (2000), and 13 Moons (2002). Parsons is the founder of Sweet Blackberry, a non-profit organization that creates animated films about unsung black heroes. The first in the series is about Henry "Box" Brown, a slave who mailed himself to freedom." Karyn will be attending Big Lick Comic Con - Roanoke August 6-7th at the Berglund Center presented by Bank of Botetourt! To purchase an official photo op, click the image of Karyn.
Nolan North
Nolan North has been described as “the nearest thing the games industry has to a bona fide leading man.” He is most well known for his voice work as Desmond Miles from the Assassin’s Creed video game series, and Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series! North eventually relocated to Hollywood and was cast in the General Hospital spin-off series, Port Charles, playing Dr. Chris Ramsey during the show’s run from 1997 to 2003. He married fellow Port Charles actress Jill Murray in 1999 and has two children. During Port Charles’ run, he worked on a few video games as a voice actor and began to focus on voice acting following Port Charles’ cancelation. One of his most notable roles came in 2007 when he voiced and motion capped the character Nathan Drake for the video game Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Since then, he has continued to portray the character Drake in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (released in 2009) and Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (released in 2011). In an interview with The Guardian, North reflects on his time as Drake as requiring “a lot of imagination. Motion capture is basically theatre in Spandex; there’s minimal props, and you need a willingness to make an ass of yourself.” North as Drake has been twice nominated at the Spike Video Game Awards in the “Best Performance by a Human Male” category. In May 2012 it was revealed that North would have a role in Star Trek into Darkness, sequel to 2009’s acclaimed live-action movie Star Trek. Director J.J. Abrams cited North’s performance as Drake for the casting, he and his son being fans of the Uncharted series. Other notable video game voice work includes roles as the Prince in Prince of Persia, The Penguin in Batman: Arkham City, Shun in Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica, Vossler in Final Fantasy XII, Desmond Miles in the Assassin’s Creed series, Eradan in Lord of the Rings: War in the North, Doctor Edward Richtofen in Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops, Brawl in Transformers: War for Cybertron, Ghost Rider in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Shadow Demon, Lycanthrope, Lone Druid, Brewmaster, Gyrocopter, Ogre Magi, Meepo and the Keeper of the Light in Dota 2, and Deadpool in Hulk Vs. and Marvel vs Capcom 3 and recently as Captain Martin Walker in Spec Ops: The Line. He also voiced the personality spheres and defective turrets in Portal 2 and voiced Merasmus and the Bombinomicon in Team Fortress 2. North is well known in his animation roles such as Cyclops in Wolverine and the X-Men, Snow Job in G.I. Joe: Renegades, Raphael in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and both Superman and Superboy in Young Justice. We are so excited to welcome Nolan to Roanoke, VA August 6-7th for Big Lick Comic Con presented by Bank of Botetourt!
Ron Marz
Ron Marz has been writing comics for three decades, starting his career with a lengthy run on Silver Surfer for Marvel. Since then, he has worked for virtually every major publisher and compiled a long list of credits, including stints on Thor for Marvel, Green Lantern and Superboy for DC, Star Wars for Dark Horse, and the historic Marvel vs. DC crossover. Among Marz’s numerous credits is his acclaimed run on Witchblade for Top Cow/Image, the Skylanders series for IDW, Turok and John Carter: Warlord of Mars for Dynamite, and Fathom for Aspen. He is the Editor-in-Chief and Lead Writer for the revived Ominous Press, penning Dread Gods, Demi-God, Beasts of the Black Hand, and Harken’s Raiders. Recent projects include the Justice League: Endless Winter crossover of DC, and Swamp God and World Traveler, two new series for Metal Metal magazine. Marz’s creator-owned series include the all-ages tale Dragon Prince at Top Cow; the historical adventure Samurai: Heaven and Earth at Dark Horse; and the vampire tale Shinku at Image. Marz has also written for video games, including multiple Skylanders titles, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, Spider-Man 2, and more.
Official Photo Ops & Autographs
We do not charge a fee to "meet" any of guests. Guests are available throughout the event at their respective booths aside from Q&A panel sessions, photo ops, breaks as needed and all guests unless otherwise noted will be on site Saturday AND Sunday for our celebration.
Please note Official Photo Ops do NOT include entry to Big Lick Comic Con. Entry must be purchased separately.
Photo Ops do NOT include autographs. Autographs are not sold in advance. They will be available for purchase from any of our guests are their respective tables during the event. Prices for autographs vary based on guest. Most guests accept cash or credit. We have an ATM on site. We recommend purchasing official photo ops in advance as they can sell out and are a wonderful keepsake for your experience at Big Lick Comic Con!