2015 Guests
Joe Kelly wrote the Eisner-nominated I Kill Giants that received numerous awards and accolades domestically and internationally – it won the "International Manga Award" in 2012 and was named one of the "Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens" by the Young Adult Library Services Association. Kelly's legendary Superman story, Action Comics #775: "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?" was turned into a hit DC Universe 2012 animated film, Superman vs. The Elite, scripted by Kelly. He's long been credited with revising and revitalizing Deadpool. He is also one of the four creators of Man of Action, the team that brought us Ben 10 and Big Hero 6.
Adam Kubert is an Eisner award-winning artist for Marvel and DC and is currently the VP and a teacher at the Kubert School in Dover, NJ. His body of work for Marvel includes a 17-issue run onWolverine, where he dealt with the after effects of Magneto removing the adamantium from Wolverine's body. He also had extended runs The Incredible Hulk, and Uncanny X-Men in the '90s before helping launch Ultimate X-Men in 2001 andUltimate Fantastic Four in 2004. Mr. Kubert's recent work includes the covers for Marvel'sInfinity event, as well as pencilling issues of theAvengers vs. X-Men and Avengers & X-Men: Axis events.
Scott Hanna is an award-winning illustrator and inker for Marvel and DC, having worked on the most popular characters for each publisher, including Spider-man, Iron Man, Superman, and Batman. Hanna won the 1992 Eisner award for "Best Serialized Story" for his work on Amazing Spider-man 30-35. His accolades also include being the most award-winning inker in the history of the Inkwell Awards. He is also a Co-founder and teacher at The Arts and Fashion Institute in Riegelsville, PA.
Rags Morales started his DC career working on comics based on TSR's role-playing games such as Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. His first super-hero series was the Black Condor. Since then, he has worked on most of DC's major heroes including a long run on JSA and Hawkman, which served as warmups to Identity Crisis. More recent titles include Nightwing, Superman/Batman, and First Wave. Morales also did the art on DC's relaunch of Action Comics, written by Grant Morrison.
Darren Auck is a veteran penciler who has worked for Marvel and DC. During his 10 years at Marvel as an artist, writer, and art director, Auck worked on some of the industry’s most well-known characters, including the Avengers, Spider-man, and She Hulk. In the 90s, Auck penciled Marvel’s mini-series Rocko’s Modern Life, based off of the animated television series on Nickelodeon. Currently, Auck works as an instructor at the Kubert School.
Pamela Ptak is best known for her work as aProject Runway designer and an award-winning cosplay designer. She is also a co-founder and teacher at The Arts and Fashion Institute in Riegelsville, PA. Her fashion illustrations have appeared in exhibitions and exhibit catalogs at Le Musee des Arts Asiatique in Nice, France, at the Puck Gallery in NYC, and on the ABC-TV programExtreme Makeover: Home Edition. Ptak has also been featured in print in the Feb/March 2010 issue of Soco Magazine and included in the Fall Couture Fashion issue of Bucks magazine
Dr. Sheena C. Howard is an award-winning author, including a 2014 Eisner Award winner for her first book, Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation (2013). She is Vice Chair of the Black Caucus (NCA), Assistant Professor of Communication at Rider University and Founder of NerdWorks. Howard has appeared on NPR (National Public Radio), 900 am WURD, and CCP-TV as well as other networks and documentaries as an expert on popular culture, race, politics and sexual identity negotiation. She has also written opinion pieces for the Trentonian and The Huffington Post.
Richard Egielski understands the narrative relationship bewteen images and words, as shown through the eight children's books that he wrote and illustrated. But, Egielski is best known for his art, having illustrated over fifty children's books. He has received many accolades, including the 1987 Caldecott Medal for his book Hey Al. The New York Times has even recognized his talent - in 1995, The New Times named Egielski's BUZ as a top ten best illustrated children's book, and in 1998, the New York Times named Jazper as the best illustrated book of the year.