Posted in: Boom, Comics, Conventions, Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics, Events, Fantagraphics, IDW, Pop Culture, san diego comic con | Tagged: dean mullaney, gary groth, mike richardson, Paul Levitz, ross richie, sdcc, Terry Nantier
Last Man Standing At SDCC: Paul Levitz, Mike Richardson & Gary Groth
Last Man Standing Panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2026 with Gary Groth, Paul Levitz, Mike Richardson, Ross Richie, Dean Mullaney & Terry Nantier
Published Wed, 08 Jul 2026 04:57:16 -0500
by Rich Johnston
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Article Summary
- Paul Levitz joins Gary Groth, Mike Richardson, Ross Richie, Dean Mullaney and Terry Nantier at SDCC 2026.
- Last Man Standing lands Saturday, July 25 at 2 PM PST, promising a rare comics publishing summit at San Diego Comic-Con.
- Paul Levitz’s path from teen fanzine editor to DC President anchors a panel spanning decades of comics history.
- Fantagraphics, Dark Horse, Boom, Eclipse and NBM leaders gather to revisit industry change, battles and legacies.
On Saturday, the 25th of July, at San Diego Comic-Con at 2 pm PST, we will see a rather special panel. Last Man Standing, which will see Gary Groth, co-founder of Fantagraphics, host a panel with former DC Comics publisher/president Paul Levitz, founder and former CEO/owner of Dark Horse Comics, Mike Richardson, co-founder and former publisher of Boom Studios, Ross Richie, founder and owner of NBM Publishing, Terry Nantier, and co-founder and former publisher of Eclipse, Dean Mullaney
With a combined history in comics stretching back around three hundred years, publishing the kind of comic book they wanted, each changed the industry in one form or another. And at San Diego Comic-Con, they will be talking about it, their part in it all, and probably how everyone they knew betrayed them. That’s usually how it goes. I don’t know which room it will be in, but with that many egos, with that many people used to everyone around them doing and saying exactly what they wanted, I’m not entirely sure that Hall H will be large enough. It should be a lot of fun, though. For the unititated…
- Gary Groth (71) co-founded Fantagraphics Books along with Michael Catron and the late Kim Thompson as the editor-in-chief of The Comics Journal, an influential publication that elevated comics criticism. At the age of thirteen, he published the fanzine Fantastic Fanzine and organized comics conventions. In 1976, Groth and partners acquired and transformed The Nostalgia Journal into The Comics Journal, and Fantagraphics Books grew out of that.
- Mike Richardson (76) founded Dark Horse Comics in 1986 out of his comic book store and remained its owner until he sold it to Embracer Group in 2018 and its CEO until the new owners fired him this year. He still owns the building and is turning the ground floor into a pop culture museum.
- Paul Levitz (69) revived the fanzine The Comic Reader when he was in high school, and started working at DC as a teenager in 1972 and became President and Publisher of DC Comics from 2002 to 2009. He retired from the DC staff in late 2020 and joined the board of Boom Studios.
- Ross Richie (56) worked at Malibu Comics in the nineties, relaunched Atomeka Press in the noughties, and in 2005 co-founded Boom Studios with Andrew Cosby. He was its longtime CEO of Boom Studios, a prominent independent comic publisher. In 2021, he sold Boom to Penguin Random House and retired from the company.
- Dean Mullaney (72) co-founded Eclipse Enterprises with his brother Jan Mullaney in 1977, before facing bankruptcy in the late nineties. He then partnered with IDW Publishing to create The Library of American Comics imprint, debuting in 2007 as well as the EuroComics imprint. These lines later moved to Clover Press.
- Terry Nantier (68) is the founder and longtime publisher of NBM Publishing, or Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing, from 1976, initially called Flying Buttress Publications, with Chris Beall and Marc Minoustchine. In 2025, Ablaze Publishing acquired NBM’s catalogue and operations in an asset sale. Nantier transitioned to a consultant/packager role for select titles while stepping back from day-to-day operations.
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