Russ Braun
Russ Braun has been drawing comics for over 30 years, with time away for a 7 year stint with Walt Disney Feature Animation. Known for his expressive characters and storytelling on everything from Batman, Swamp Thing, Fables and Jack of Fables, Russ is perhaps best known for his frequent collaborations with Garth Ennis (The Night Witches, Where Monsters Dwell, Sixpack&Dogwelder and The Boys) and their current creator owned series Jimmy's Bastards.
James O'Barr
A legend in the comic book industry, O’Barr is the creator of one of the greatest independent comics books of all time: The Crow first published in 1989. A few years later it was adapted into the cult classic film of the same name. He has continued to create, write, and contribute to the comic book industry with Original Sins, Tasty Bits, Deadworld, and Slash.
Rochelle
Davis
Rochelle is an American actress who has starred in Hell House, Revenge of the Devil Bat, and Grotesque. Her most notable role however is that of Sarah in the 1994 film adaptation of James O’Barr comic book masterpiece The Crow.
Larry Hama
Larry Hama is a writer, editor, cartoonist, illustrator, actor, musician who has worked in comics, TV and film. In comics, he has written, edited or drawn for Avengers, Blaze, Nth Man, The Nam, Conan, Batman, Wonder Woman, Bizarre Adventures, X-Men, Spider-Man, Daredevil, and dozens more. He is best known as the writer of Marvel’s “GI Joe” comics in the ‘eighties, and as the writer of Marvel’s “Wolverine” in the ‘nineties. Recent script credits include “Batman Shadow of the Bat,” and “Wonder Woman” for DC Convergence, “GI Origins” and “GI Joe A Real American Hero” for IDW, “Call of Duty Black Ops” for Dark Horse. Recent art credits: breakdowns for DC Comics’ “Deathstroke,” “Damage.” and “Michael Cray.” His illustrations and cartoons have appeared in National Lampoon, Esquire, New York and Rolling Stone. His comics have been translated in ten languages around the world. He has appeared on Broadway in Stephen Sondheim’s “Pacific Overtures” and on TV in MASH, SNL and “Another World.” He lives in New York City.
Cliff Chiang
Comic book artist and former editor at DC comics, Cliff Chiang is know for his work on Green Arrow/Black Canary and Wonder Woman. He went on to create the Eisner Award winning science fiction comic book Paper Girls for Image comics in 2015, completing a 30 issues run four years later. He has worked on several other titles over his career including one offs on Batman: Black and White, Nightwing, Martian Manhunter as well as cover art for Dark Nights: Metal, Teen Titans, Red Sonja, Uncanny X-Men, and Ms. Marvel.
John K.
Snyder III
"Illustrator and writer of comic books and graphic novels. Creator of the independent comic series Fashion In Action. I've worked for DC Comics(Suicide Squad, Doctor Mid-Nite), and created poster and illustration work for Marvel Comics. Writer/adapter and artist of the graphic novel adaptation of Grand Master Mystery writer Lawrence Block's classic novel Eight Million Ways To Die, featuring detective Matthew Scudder(IDW). My work has also been published in the pages of the underground press, most notably The Duckberg Times, and by independent comic book publishers, including Matt Wagner's Grendel for Dark Horse Comics. Recent work includes illustrations for Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op, published by Clover Press. Forthcoming work includes collaborations with writers Nancy Holder and Alan Philipson on noir-themed comics, including the 1940's ghost detective series Johnny Fade for Moonstone Books, and the 1970's vampire crime series They Call Me Midnight for IPI Comics." - John K. Snyder III
Zeea Adams
Zeea Adams, daughter of colorist extraordinaire Cory Adams and legendary artist Neal Adams, has learned at the feet of both of them. Both parents worked in many mediums, so Zeea has learned to work in pencil, ink, watercolors, acrylics, digital animation, even motion capture. Her commercial work was even part of a major Nasonex campaign featuring Antonio Banderas. These days, Zeea is best known for coloring the art of Neal Adams on DC, Image, and Dynamite covers such as Deadman, Batman, Killadelphia, and Mighty Mouse. Her most popular convention request is her color on commission art. Deemed the Queen of Ka-boom by her sister, her marker color renditions of explosions are near photographic. Bring your uncolored commissions to her booth and she can make a great pencil and ink commission into a colorful work of art for a reasonable price. Ask her for prices!
Bob Harrison
Bob Harrison is a lifelong comic book fan. He hosts the Pop Culture SquadCast where he interviews comic professionals and discusses their craft and love for comics. His comics opinion, review, and interview articles can be found on Popculturesquad.com.
Carl Paolino
Carl Paolino is a veteran of the entertainment industry. As a producer, director, screenwriter, and production designer, his credits include feature films, television series, music videos, Broadway shows, and hundreds of television commercials. Some of the shows he has created products for include Disney’s Hercules on Ice, Goosebumps the Musical, MTV’s 2000 Music Video Awards, Saturday Night Live and Coca Cola’s Monster of the Gridiron. His animated productions include: MTV’s Cartoon Sushi, MTV’s Celebrity Deathmatch, and Celebrity Face-Off (also a stop-motion animated TV series). He wrote and directed the animation for The Halloween Pranksta with co-producer Mark Hamill, of Star Wars fame, and directed Mark during the voiceover recordings. He is the author of the pulp horror novel trilogy Virgin Falls. Spontania is his first graphic novel series published by his own company, Comic Book Kid Publishing.
Tyler
Chin-Tanner
From his early careers in teaching and humanitarian aid work, Tyler Chin-Tanner took the leap into his lifelong passion for comics attending The Kubert School from 2003 to 2006 and cofounding A Wave Blue World with his wife Wendy in 2005. Publishing through AWBW, Tyler is the author of a number of graphic novels including the New York Times-featured American Terrorist, Mezo, and The Orphan King, as well as the editor of several anthologies such as All We Ever Wanted, Dead Beats, and Embodied.
Martha Thomases
Martha Thomases is a writer and publicist (and a mother, a knitter, and an anti-war activist). She created Dakota North for Marvel, and has written for Spy, National Lampoon, the Village Voice, the New York Daily News, and others. During the 1990s, she was the publicity department at DC Comics, overseeing the death and marriage of Superman, the launch of Vertigo and Milestone, and placing stories about comics in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Details, Publishers Weekly and more. She has been a columnist for ComicMix, and is currently working on a graphic novel with Richard Case.
Mars Howard
Mars is a talented newcomer on the comic and illustration scene. After starting out at Legendary Neal Adams’ Continuity Studios she is branching out her many faceted illustration skills to comics,fantasy, sci-fi , and horror genres. Currently her artwork is featured in Night Studios’ Vampire the Masquerade, and Printed in Blood’s John Carpenter’s Halloween Art Book.
James Aquilone
James Aquilone is a Bram Stoker nominated editor, author, and publisher. His anthologies include Classic Monsters Unleashed, Shakespeare Unleashed, and the Kolchak: The Night Stalker – 50th Anniversary graphic novel. He writes the Dead Jack, Zombie Detective series. His short fiction has appeared in Weird Tales magazine, Nature: Futures, and The Best of Galaxy’s Edge. He’s also the managing editor of Weird Tales and the owner of Monstrous Books.
Dan Hort
Daniel Hort is the Executive Director of Onomatopoeia Art, a production and publication house specializing in comic, pop, fantasy and sci-fi art. He is the Executive Producer of COSMODA: The Cosplay Runway & CaFA- The Caribbean Art Fair which presents annually in Bridgetown Barbados and Miami Beach during the prestigious week of Art Basel. Mr. Hort is also President of DHP a marketing and advertising company specializing in communication mailings, art books, catalogs, comic books and general print related collateral to the non-profit and private sectors.
Joe Corallo
Joe Corallo is a comics professional who has worked as both an editor and a writer. His first major published work as an editor, the Mine! anthology to benefit Planned Parenthood, was put out through ComicMix in 2017 receiving an Eisner nomination (Best Short Story "Ethel Byrne) and winning the Ringo Award for Best Anthology. His other editing work includes the GLAAD nominated Oh S#!t It's Kim & Kim at Black Mask Studios, the Ringo nominated Dead Beats: A Musical Horror Anthology, and more. In addition to having published writing work in multiple anthologies, Joe co-created and wrote She Said Destroy at Vault Comics as well as writing Becstar at Mad Cave Studios with more comics on the way!
Patrick Kennedy
Patrick Kennedy is a chef/bartender by trade, and a classically trained Shakespearean actor by training, which is probably why he’s been flipping burgers and slinging gin his entire adult life. A lifelong aficionado of SF, Fantasy and Horror, PK began collecting comic books before he could actually read. Most recently he was creative consultant for the Eisner Award nominated BIG BLACK: STAND AT ATTICA, the graphic memoir of Frank “Big Black” Smith, and is currently representing its illustrator, the Amazing Ameziane, in the American markets. Patrick also hosts the left leaning pop culture podcast, THE LITERATE NERDS, which will be returning with new episodes in July.
Pat Shand
PAT SHAND is a writer. He has created/co-created the comic books Destiny NY, Snap Flash Hustle, Breathless, Little Girl, Family Pets, Prison Witch, Afterglow, and more as well as writing extensively for established properties, such as Charmed, Adventure Time, Disney Villains, Casper, Zorro, Van Helsing, Mercy Sparx, and Angel. In addition to his work as a comic book creator, he has written and produced off-off Broadway theatre and worked as a novelist on original stories for Marvel, including Guardians of the Galaxy: Space Riot, Iron Man: Mutually Assured Destruction, Avengers: The Serpent Society, Spider-Man: Spideyography, and Thor: Crusade of the Forgotten. He runs the independent publisher Space Between Entertainment in New York, where he lives with his wife Amy and their army of cats.
Paul Destefano
Paul has worked in the boardgaming and roleplaying industry for decades, including officially licensed projects for Star Trek and Lord of the Rings. He did not win the Origins Award for Best Miniatures Rules in 2004 and has totally forgotten that bitter defeat. When not actually playing and working on games, he is sometimes found touring internationally, giving lectures on worldbuilding. writing, and character design. He’s been lucky enough to hold the Top Humor Writer badge at Medium multiple times, and has had his work narrated by James Cosmo (Lord Mormont from Game of Thrones) on multimillion dollar Kickstarter projects. His newest project is a series of novels launching with Riftsiders: Unlawful Possession.
Mark Poulton
Mark Poulton is a 17 year veteran of the comic book industry having written SAVAGE HAWKMAN for DC Comics and AVENGELYNE for Image Comics. His children’s book series A CAT NAMED HAIKU was nominated for Best Single Issue Story in the 2010 Stan Lee Eagle Awards. In 2017, Mark co-wrote the graphic novel, PIZZA TREE, with his then 7 year old son, Chase, which went on to be nominated for Best Kids Graphic Novel in the 2018 Ringo Awards and win the Bronze Medal in the 2018 Moonbeam Awards. Since then he and his son have been self-publishing their work through their company Haunted Pizza LLC. Over that time, their properties (GRAVEYARD SHIFT, USASSASSIN and more) have crowdfunded over $1 million on Indiegogo. Mark is currently working on an USAssassin action figure line with Fox Forge Toys.
Dexter Weeks
Dexter Weeks is an illustrator who has worked for Disney, Image comics, Action Lab Comics, RavenDesk Games, Arcana Studio and Haunted Pizza LLC. He co-created KONI WAVES and A CAT NAMED HAIKU with Mark Poulton and has served as the colorist on such titles as AVENGELYNE, KONI WAVES and VIKING WOLF.
Shifu Gregg Zilb
For almost forty years, Shifu Gregg Zilb has trained and taught Lohan Chuan Kung Fu. In those years he has promoted intense training in the 18 classical Chinese weapons as well as fighting full contact and full applications with weaponry. Shifu Gregg has fought all around the world putting his style to the test, in such places as Thailand, Philippines, China, Puerto Rico, Canada and all over the United States. He was also in several small movie rolls such as West side willy in "Blood of A Champion", "The Empty Hand" and the off Broadway play that spanned 32 venues ' Once upon a time in Chinese America 1999'. His philosophy on teaching students is keeping to the old traditional ways of teaching Kung Fu.
Grindhouse Radio
The Grindhouse Radio, also known as GHR is an internationally syndicated, award winning, pop culture talk radio series that is featured on iHeartRadio and 19 other syndicated networks with between 3.5 - 4 million listeners weekly worldwide. The Grindhouse has been ranked as high as #15 on the Overall worldwide charts for iTunes, with a weekly spot in the Top 20 Best Comedic Podcasts worldwide ranking higest at #6. Since 2015, GHR has become a trusted, daily destination for the fans. GHR is hosted by Kim Adragna, Steve Zambito, and William "Brimstone" Kucmierowksi.
Brimstone
William Kucmierowski, better known as Brimstone, is a professional wrestler, radio show personality, and comic book writer from Mineola. He is the co founder of the Critical Mass Pro Wrestling Corp, New York Wrestling Connection, and the founder of the Carnival of Destruction. Co-founding, and heading the company as the CEO of Hound Comics, Brimstone stars in and writes the company’s front running comic book series, Brimstone and the Borderhounds. Brimstone also co-hosts Grindhouse Radio with Steve Zambito and Kim Adragna. Here they discuss pop culture, food, comics, and more.