Graphic Novel Creators Kenny Porter & Zach Wilcox

Kenny Porter is a professional writer living in West Michigan. He's most known for content development, writing comics, copy, blogs, and fiction. He graduated from Grand Valley State University with a BA in Writing. The writing program at GVSU allowed him to create his own curriculum, which he used to focus on fiction, writing for the web, genre studies, and manuscript development. He started his career in writing during high school and has since gone on to publish short stories, write articles for online magazines, and has won the first Top Cow Talent Hunt for Writing.

Video Game Artists/Graphic Novelists Arey & Fy

Alejandra Green and Fanny Rodriguez are casually known as "Arey and Fy." They are the authors of the popular webtoon-turned-forthcoming graphic novel Fantastic Tales of Nothing, in which a vast continent with ages of lore, traditions and conflict plays host to the adventures of an unlucky boy as he travels from the Mourning Prayers to the Courts of Power and probably gets in more trouble that he can handle. Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins will be publishing. Alejandra "Arey" Green is a concept artist and animator from northwest Mexico. Arye likes to think of herself as patience in the flesh, a lover of the sea and surfer of whales (although she'll deny that). Fanny "Fy" Rodriguez is a user interface designer and illustrator from northeast Mexico. She never sleeps, is a mountain enthusiast, and has weird taste in music (she won’t deny that).

Author & Illustrator of Mental Health Comics Holly Chisholm

Holly Chisholm is the artist of Just Peachy comics, which Booklist has called "thoughtful and poignant." Her popular Instagram account for Just Peachy comics was her compromise between drawing and journaling; it helped her record how she was feeling at the time of being diagnosed with depression and work through some of the darkness. At first it was scary to put her deepest thoughts and fears out in the open, but the responses and messages of support from droves of fans made Chisholm realize how much it was needed to talk about mental health. After about six months of making these comics, she decided to quit her job and freelance part time so that she could dedicate more time to making and promoting Just Peachy. In the future, Chisholm is hoping to make another book, and would love to be able to do this full-time, while raising awareness about mental health and her personal struggle with depression.

Eisner Award & YALSA-nominated Graphic Novelist Jason Walz

Jason Walz is an Eisner Award-nominated comic and graphic novel creator living in Minneapolis. He is the author of several comics and graphic novels, including the Last Pick trilogy and Homesick. Last Pick was a Kirkus Reviews Best YA Science Fiction of 2018 Selection and a YALSA 2019 Great Graphic Novels for Teens Nominee.

Science Fiction & Fantasy Editor and Author Steve Saffel

Steve Saffel is a Senior Acquisitions Editor at Titan Books, the world’s premiere popular culture publisher, acquiring original science fiction, fantasy, horror, crime fiction, art books, and media tie-ins such as Alien, Planet of the Apes, Batman, Mass Effect, and more. Some of his recent projects include Robin Hood: Mark of the Black Arrow, a Cthulhu vs. Sherlock Holmes trilogy, Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and fiction for Dishonored. Before joining Titan, Saffel was the Editorial Director of Media Projects for Del Rey. In addition to his work there on Star Wars, Saffel also contributed to the Harry Turtledove alternate histories, David Gemmell fantasies, H.P. Lovecraft horror tales, Robotech, Tarzan, and Mars Attacks! He entered publishing via Marvel Comics and then moved to Del Rey Books where he edited science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, horror, and nonfiction. Saffel is also an author, having written the definitive book Spider-Man The Icon: The Life and Times of a Pop Culture Phenomenon.