Denver Comic Con, which last year drew more than 48,000 attendees, is emphasizing its commitment to diversity with the announcement of four guests for the June 13-15 event.

“We know that our fans — and fans of pop culture — come from all races and beliefs, and any sexual orientation," Bruce MacIntosh, director of programming, said in a statement. "Denver Comic Con guests and programming are deliberately geared towards informing and entertaining the fanboy and fangirl in all of us! Being inclusive of the entire community — both the communities of Denver and the pop-culture community as a whole — has been a focus of DCC since its inception.”

Denver Comic Con and Literary Conference, a program of Comic Book Classroom, goes so far as to spell out its diversity mission: "Denver Comic Con’s diversity mission is about educating children and the general public through pop culture, comics and cartooning, and bringing together the diverse people and interests of the community regardless of age, race, gender or background. By focusing on education and providing guests, programming and events that encourage diversity, CBC/DCC strives to promote tolerance and empower the members of our community."

The guests are: Shane Bitney Crone, the filmmaker and LGBT rights advocate whose 2013 documentary Bridegroom chronicles his struggles following the death of his partner; Joan Hilty, veteran comics editor and cartoonist; Kathryn Immonen, writer of Patsy Walker: Hellcat and Journey Into Mystery; and Dan Parent, Archie Comics veteran and creator of Kevin Keller.

They join the likes of George Perez, Katie Cook, Colleen Doran, Mark Brooks, Georges Jeanty, Ted Naifeh, Eric Shanower, Yanick Paquette, Stuart Immonen, Humberto Ramos and Ben Templesmith.