Meet 5 Baltimore Comic-Con artists [Pictures]

Greg LaRocque has been drawing comic books for more than 30 years, part of a love affair with the medium that dates to 1961, when Marvel's Fantastic Four first appeared on newsstands. Michael Bracco, on the other hand, didn't start appreciating comics until he was a student at the Maryland Institute College of Art about a dozen years ago. This weekend, the two Baltimore-area artists will be among nearly 500 comic-book creators gathering for the annual Baltimore Comic-Con. Saturday and Sunday, they'll meet and greet, discuss their art, and maybe even sketch a character or two for fans to frame and hang on the wall. To help set the mood for this year's annual Baltimore convention, we asked five Maryland artists coming to the event about the comics universe and their places therein. (Handout)