San Diego Comic-Con 2026:
Z2 Brings Pearl Jam, Iron Maiden, Marc Maron, David Dastmalchian, and Rock & Roll to Comic-Con
There are comic publishers…
…and then there’s Z2.
Over the past several years, Z2 has quietly built one of the most fascinating publishing catalogs in comics, proving that great graphic novels aren’t just about superheroes. They’re about music. Comedy. Film. Pop culture. The artists who shaped our lives and the stories that inspired them.
That philosophy will be on full display at San Diego Comic-Con 2026, where Z2 returns to Booth #1529 with one of the convention’s most impressive celebrity lineups, featuring Mike McCready (Pearl Jam), Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden), Marc Maron, David Dastmalchian, Charlie Benante, Spencer Charnas, Wild Wing, and many more.
Mike McCready Returns to Comic-Con
If you’ve listened to Saturday Morning Cereal, you already know this one hits close to home.
For us, Pearl Jam wasn’t just another band.
They were the soundtrack of high school.
Like so many kids who came of age in the early ’90s, Mike McCready’s guitar work became part of the emotional landscape of growing up. Albums like Ten, Vs., and Vitalogy weren’t simply records we listened to. They became milestones we lived through.
That’s why we’re especially excited to see McCready bringing Farewell to Seasons to Comic-Con.
Deluxe editions of the graphic novel come packaged with McCready’s FAREWELL TO SEASONS, a rock opera of new and original songs. These songs were written and recorded as an artifact created by the lead character, David Williams. It will be exclusively available on Rain City Yellow vinyl as part of the deluxe edition and Translucent Elliot Bay Green vinyl within the Platinum package, and will not immediately be available on streaming services or digital platforms.Renowned for his fiery, melodic solos and electrifying stage presence, McCready draws inspiration from blues and rock icons such as Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. His signature playing and songwriting is featured on landmark hits including “Yellow Ledbetter,” “River of Deceit,” “State of Love and Trust,” and “Given to Fly”, songs that helped shape a generation of modern rock.
This graphic novel and rock opera will be released as a slip-cased oversized 12” x 12” Deluxe Edition, as well as a regular sized 9” x 9” standard edition. All editions of Mike McCready’s Farewell to Seasons is available exclusively at Z2’s website to pre-order, and a standard-sized edition will be available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, as well as other independent book stores, retailers and fine comic shops worldwide later this year.
Farewell to Seasons: Mike McCready’s Alternative History of Grunge
Thursday, July 23
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
Indigo Ballroom
Joined by co-writer Mark Sable, artist Sebastián Piriz, and the Z2 creative team, McCready will explore the rise of Seattle’s music scene, the friendships that defined it, and the heartbreaking cost of grunge’s meteoric success.
For anyone who lived through that era, this promises to be one of Comic-Con’s most heartfelt conversations.
Marc Maron and the Story of Podcasting
Long before podcasting became mainstream…
Before Hollywood stars launched interview shows.
Before every comedian had a podcast.
There was Marc Maron.
His WTF Podcast helped define what podcasting could be: long-form conversations that weren’t afraid to be funny, vulnerable, uncomfortable, and deeply human.
For us, that’s especially meaningful.
Although Saturday Morning Cereal is proudly based in San Diego, both of our hosts grew up in Albuquerque, just like Marc. We speak the same language. We understand the same sense of humor. We recognize the same neighborhoods and rhythms that shaped his voice.
WTF? More like BTW… Duran’s isn’t the best carne adovada in Albuquerque, Marc. We can debate that over a green chile cheeseburger someday. Although…that just opens up the next argument: where is the best green chile cheeseburger? TBD.
In many ways, WTF was one of the very first podcasts we truly followed.
Seeing that nearly twenty-year journey celebrated as a graphic novel feels perfectly appropriate.
Between the Pages of Marc Maron’s WTF Is a Podcast
Thursday, July 23
1:45 PM – 2:45 PM
Indigo Ballroom
Marc Maron joins longtime producer Brendan McDonald and cartoonist Brian Box Brown to discuss transforming one of podcasting’s defining shows into graphic novel form.
As podcasters ourselves entering our 14th season, this feels like required viewing.
Bruce Dickinson Keeps Building The Mandrake Project
Friday, July 24
4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Room 5AB
Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson returns to Comic-Con to celebrate The Mandrake Project: Year Two, discussing the expanding mythology behind one of comics’ most ambitious music-driven projects while teasing both Year Three and his upcoming solo album.
David Dastmalchian Continues His Comic Journey
Few actors have embraced comics quite like Friend of The Show David Dastmalchian.
Already an accomplished comic writer in his own right, Dastmalchian joins Charlie Benante, Carla Harvey, Cage Claypool, and the Z2 creative team for a discussion celebrating where comics and popular culture continue to intersect.
Z2: Where Comics and Culture Collide
Saturday, July 25
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Room 7AB
Don’t Miss the Signings
Booth #1529
Z2’s Booth #1529 will host autograph sessions throughout Comic-Con, including:
Thursday
- Mike McCready
- Spencer Charnas
- Lee Jennings
Friday
- Marc Maron
- Bruce Dickinson
- Charlie Benante
- Carla Harvey
Saturday
- David Dastmalchian
- David Mack
- Cat Staggs
- …And Out Comes the Wolf creators
Sunday
- Dance Gavin Dance
If you’re hoping to meet one of these creators, plan accordingly. These signings are likely to be among the busiest on the convention floor.
Why This Matters
One of the things we’ve discovered over fourteen seasons of Saturday Morning Cereal is that the best stories rarely stay in one medium.
The songs we grew up listening to become graphic novels.
The podcasts that helped define an entire generation become illustrated memoirs.
Actors become comic writers.
Musicians become storytellers.
That’s exactly why we’ve loved watching Z2 grow over the past several years.
They understand something we’ve believed since our very first episode: the stories that shape us don’t stop evolving. They simply find new ways to be told.
For us, seeing Mike McCready bring the Seattle music scene to comics feels deeply personal. Pearl Jam wasn’t just part of our youth. It was our youth.
Seeing Marc Maron, one of podcasting’s true pioneers, tell the story of WTF through comics feels equally fitting. As podcasters ourselves, it’s impossible not to appreciate someone who helped define the medium long before it became mainstream.
It’s why we love Comic-Con.
Not because movies become comics or comics become movies.
But because every now and then, all of those worlds collide.
And for one incredible weekend in San Diego…
They’re all speaking the same language.
We’ll be covering Z2 throughout San Diego Comic-Con 2026 with panel coverage, interviews, photography, and live updates from Booth #1529. Follow Saturday Morning Cereal and @StayClassySDCC as we bring you the biggest moments from one of Comic-Con’s most creative publishers.
