We are very pleased to announce that Jeff Lemire will be among our special guests for the Maine Comics Arts Festival. Jeff is the creator of "Sweet Tooth"which is one of our favorite books at Casablanca Comics. His previous work includes the award winning Essex County Trilogy from Top Shelf and The Nobody for DC's Vertigo Comics. http://jefflemire.blogspot.com/
SKOTTIE YOUNG,
MARVELOUS LAND OF OZ!
Skottie Young has been an illustrator and cartoonist for over ten years working for entertainment and publishing companies such Marvel, Warner Bros., Image, Upper Deck, Mattel, and many more.
He is currently illustrating the New York Times Best Selling adaptions of L. Frank Baum's OZ novels with writer Eric Shanower. The series has gained acclaim from both fans and critics.
Guests Updated May 16, 2010
Aisle 9 Comics:
Lee Wilson is the creator of Aisle 9 comics. In late 2008, Tom Gause joined the team, and brought Aisle 9's brand of insanity to the world at large with www.aisle9comics.com. 2010 is the year that Aisle 9 ventures into the world of printed comics, with their first title, Aisle 9 Presents: Dreamweaver. Writers include Tom Gause and Seth Desjardins with art by Lee Wilson and Ryan Wing among others. www.aisle9comics.com
American Stronghold
"American Stronghold- Welcome to the new Red, White and Blue"
Mark Anderson's cartoons appear in Reader's Digest, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal. His website, Andertoons.com is one of the most popular cartoon destinations online. He lives in Chicago with his wife, son, daughter, dog, cats, and various dust bunnies.
Josh Alves is a cartoonist from central Maine. From "The Kool Zone" in Malaysia to the "Bangor Daily News" his work has been published around the world. He is the creator of the all-ages comic book "The Adventures of the Araknid Kid", the webcomic "Heropotamus" and the single-panel comic "Tastes Like Chicken". Find out more at www.joshalves.com
Jack Bachman is from greater southern Maine. He makes comics and usually drinks too much coffee. Jack Bachman probably thinks you're pretty cool. You should check out his blog:
http://jackbachman.blogspot.com/
Daniel Barlow
Daniel Barlow is an award-winning journalist and comic writer living in Montpelier, Vt. The co-founder of both the Trees & Hills comic group and Offshore Comix, Barlow has collaborated on comics with Matthew Reidsma, Cayetano Garza Jr. and Megan Baehr. Projects this year include PLAY, the new Trees & Hills anthology, and NOT SINCE YOU, a rock and roll Web comic launching this fall.
www.danielbarlow.com
Marek Bennett creates comics and leads arts residencies throughout New England and internationally. His Xeric award-winning self-syndicated weekly comic strip "Mimi’s Doughnuts" appears in New England newspapers, and his Comics Workshops teach valuable comics discovery techniques and graphic literacy skills to students of all ages through residencies and workshops at schools, libraries, museums, and more. His graphic novels "Breakfast at Mimi's" and "Nicaragua Comics Travel Journal" were both nominated for a New England Arts Award in 2009.
www.marekbennett.com
Heather Bryant
Heather Bryant is a Canadian ex-pat living in Rhode Island. She writes and illustrates the comic series "American, Eh?"and the webcomic "Cake Brat". Heather is currently finishing her children's book "Juniper Key and the Very Serious Girl", plus working on mini-comics about traveling in Japan with her mother.
Nicole Chaison created the comic book-zine "Hausfrau" for the past seven years, which has spawned a one woman show: "The Passion of the Hausfrau" as well as a graphic novel of the same name, released last summer by Random House/ Villard.
www.passionofthehausfrau.com
Robyn Chapman
Robyn Chapman received her BFA in Sequential Art and has been independently producing, publishing and printing her own comics and zines ever since. In 2000 she received a Xeric Grant for her first comic, Theater of the Meek. Robyn’s work has been featured in several anthologies and publications, including Scheherazade, Stuck in the Middle, and the NY Metro. With cartoonist Kelli Nelson, Chapman co-edited the popular True Porn anthologies. She also publishes a hand-crafted journal devoted to eyeglasses titled Hey, 4-Eyes! In 2005 Robyn became The Center for Cartoon Studies’ first fellow. She is currently a faculty member at CCS.http://cartoonstudies.org/
Michael Connor creates a comics-zine called Coelacanthus, an on- going series of stand-alone stories featuring recurring characters, notably Asmwe. A USM graduate, he once taught Cartooning at Waynflete Summer Arts, and did drawing projects at the Windham
School Age Childcare program. He's been published in the 2004 24 Hour Comic Day Highlights book and mentioned in the Comics Journal. In addition to making Coelacanthus he has exhibited in many Portland galleries, created art for such musical clients as id m theftable, Big Blood, and Dan Knudsen, and co-founded M and M Club Buttons with hid One True Love. Most recently he created the poster image for the Maine Festival of the Book. Connor lives and works in Portland where he helps run a neat little shoppe called Strange Maine.
Barry Corbett- Corbett Features is a cartoon and illustration syndicate supplying content for print and multi-media. Co-owners Barry Corbett and Brian Codagnone update the website daily, offering six different comic strips and a humor column. Barry is a freelance magazine cartoonist and self-published author of two trade paperbacks and 3 webcomics. His panel cartoons have appeared in national publications including Barron's, American Legion Magazine, Lacrosse Magazine, Discoveries, True West Magazine, Kid Zones, Medical Economics, Skipping Stones, The Valley News, The Chicago Loop News, Christianity Today, The Artist's Magazine & Fifty Something Magazine. Barry released his first book in 2006. "Embrace the Pun!" is a collection of pun-based panel cartoons. "Kitty Nirvana: The First Ginger & Shadow Collection" was released in 2008 and won a Silver Medal at the IPPY Awards, presented by Independent Publisher Magazine. A graduate of the Vesper George School of Art in Boston, Barry teaches Cartooning at local colleges and Adobe InDesign at The New England Institute of Art and North Shore Community College.
http://www.corbettfeatures.com/
Alexander Danner is the writer of Gingerbread Houses (illustrated by Edward J. Grug III), as well as numerous short comics stories with various artists. He is co-author of the textbook Character Design for Graphic Novels, and he teaches courses in Graphic Novel Writing at Emerson College. Danner is a member of The Boston Comics Roundtable. His comics can be found at http://www.PictureStoryTheater.com and
http://www.TwentySevenLetters.com.
Joe Haley and T.J. Dort
Joe Haley and T.J. Dort are both artists and writers for "The Underburbs". They are graduates of Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA. "The Underburbs" is there first foray into the comics business and it has met with relative success, recently garnering a favorable review fro...m Dave Sim (cerebustv.com, episode 10).
www.deviantart.underburbs.com
Nate Doyle is a Maine native, who now lives, works and makes noise in Brooklyn, NY. He probably doesn't draw enough. But when he does he's usually working on his continuing minicomic Crooked Teeth; a collection of serialized stories, auto-bio comics and sketchbook illustrations - considered punk by some, dismissed by most. http://ndcrookedteeth.blogspot.com
Greg Farrell
Yo! Burbalino- comic adventures of Chef Don, Earl the Squirrel, Ronnie Randerhoeven and a host of others. Also, raps and recipes.
www.yoburbalino.com
Bob Flynn (representing Heeby Jeeby Comix and ARGH!)
Bob Flynn was born in Buxton, Maine and raised on a steady diet of cartoons. He currently resides in Boston where he works as an animator and game designer for the children's media company, FableVision. Teaming up with cartoonists Chris Houghton, David Degrand, and Dan Moynihan, he recently launched Heeby Jeeby Comix—home to weird, bizarre, and nonsensical comics for all ages. His comics are also featured in ARGH! , an offbeat comic zine from Spain. Bob's illustrations have appeared in Nickelodeon Magazine, in addition to several SpongeBob comics.
Website: http://www.jinxthemonkey.comHeeby Jeeby Comix: http://heebyjeebycomix.blogspot.com
Colleen Frakes is a graduate of inaugural class of the The Center for Cartoon Studies. She has created comics for Mirage Studios (creators of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Myspace Dark Horse Presents, and Indie Spinner Rack's Awesome 2: Awesomer anthology. In 2007 she was awarded a Xeric Grant for her graphic novel, Tragic Relief. Her second book, Woman King, won an Ignatz award for Promising New Talent in 2009, and her next book, Basket Ogress, should be out in April 2010. http://www.tragicrelief.blogspot.com
I’m a graphic designer, cartoonist, musician, and painter originally from Harlingen, Texas with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Studio Art from The University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, Texas. I now live in White River Junction, Vermont down the street from The Center for Cartoon Studies where I help cartooning students get their work on the web and have been a thesis adviser.
My most recent ongoing comic, Year of the Rat, won an Ignatz Award for Outstanding Online Comic at the 2009 Small Press Expo.
Zack Giallongo is a cartoonist living in the smallest state in the U.S. He is one of the creators of the *Novasett Island* series of mini comics, as well as the creator of *Grune* a story of lost travelers and a strange monster. He is also a co-founder of Life Meter - a video game tribute site. Along with comics and cartoons, Zack loves food, animals and banjo. He is currently drawing a book titled *Broxo* about a boy barbarian for FirstSecond books.
www.zackgiallongo.com
Sam Girdich- Sam Girdich and Mark Gonyea created Strongarm Labs in the summer of 2003. Together, Sam as writer and Mark as illustrator, they have created 7 books. The idea behind Strongarm Labs is always to tell good stories from a unique perspective. See more info on our books at strongarmlabs.com.
Mark Gonyea- I’ve always been a fan of silent storytelling. My intent is always to make a comic story that also works as a piece of art. I love trying to combine the flow of a story with the aesthetics of color, balance, shape and form. Some end up more art than story and others more story than art but that’s what makes each piece a unique experience. See more of my art at MrOblivious.com.
David Jacobson
David Jacobson is a cartoonist living in midcoast Maine. Locally, his cartoons have regularly appeared in DownEast magazine and on the business page of the Bangor Daily News. Before that, he had a daily cartoon for the Gannett Newspapers in Westchester, New York, and was syndicated with United Features. He was also published in The New Yorker. In addition, Jacobson is a glassblower, and is now making hand blown, glass, comic strip word balloons that hang on the wall. He'll be showcasing these at MECAF.
Nomi Kane is a cartoonist from Berkeley, CA by way of Chicago. She's currently working on her MFA at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White RIver Junction, VT. You can see and read her work at www.brewforbreakfast.com
Stacey Kardash
Stacey is a local resident publishing her own graphic novel. She is the author and illustrator of "Harbinger"- a post-apocalyptic gunslinger story. This is her first venture into writing, drawing and publishing comics.
www.harbingercomic.com
Renee Kurilla is a children's book illustrator and animator in Boston, MA. While she is very much a "newbie" at *creating* comics, she grew up loving them, admiring them, and carting them around under her arm. Her first published work as an illustrator is the graphic novel, *Zebrafish* (May 4,2010 - Simon & Schuster), in which she worked closely with the creative talents at FableVision (writer/creative, Sharon Emerson & author/illustrator, Peter H. Reynolds). She was born in Scranton, PA and migrated to Boston where she earned her BFA in illustration from The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University. She found a niche as an artist and game designer at FableVision... and also finds time to run a small freelance operation under the code name "Kurillastration." By power of the internet, she was commissioned by Tim Jones to design the look of a new pre-school book series called *I See I Learn*, written by Stuart J. Murphy. (Fall 2010 - Charlesbridge)She is currently tackling a graphic novel of her own...and is accepting all forms of encouragement upon this scary, scary task.
Braden D. Lamb quit a cushy job in IT to pursue a career in art. He created and illustrated the webcomic Kitty Hawk for over a year, and has contributed to the first four anthologies of the Boston Comics Roundtable, Inbound, including the Boston History issue. He has also appeared in fan comic anthologies Life Meter and Harvest is When I Need You the Most. He grew up in Seattle, graduated from Bard College in upstate New York, and now resides in Boston, where he studies illustration at the Art Institute of Boston. Also available in suede.
Joseph Lambert graduated from The Center for Cartoon Studies in 2008. His comics were included in The Best American Comics 2008, for which he also illustrated the endpapers. Joseph is an editor and designer of the self-published Sundays Anthology. A collection of his comics, titled "I Will Bite You! and Other Stories," will be published by Secret Acres in the fall of 2010 and a graphic novel about Helen Keller, which he has written and illustrated, will come out the following year.
www.submarinesubmarine.com
Cathy Leamy is a Boston-based cartoonist and the creator of the autobio/humor minicomic *Geraniums and Bacon*. Her anthology work includes pieces in *I Saw You?* and *The Girls' Guide to Guys' Stuff*. She is a member of Boston Comics Roundtable and has published stories in their anthology *Inbound*. Read more at her website: www.metrokitty.com
Mike Lynch is a magazine cartoonist. His clients include Reader's Digest, Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, McGraw Hill books, and many others. He's the National Cartoonists Society National Representative. He lives in New Hampshire with his wife and three cats. In addition to his Web site, www.mikelynchcartoons.com, Mike writes the popular Mike Lynch Cartoons blog on the business of cartooning.
Dan Mazur is a comics writer and artist from Cambridge, Mass. An original member of the Boston Comics Roundtable, he is a contributor to the BCR anthologies, "Inbound" and "Outbound," as well as creator of his own webcomics and mini-comics, including "Lummox," "Palindramas," and "The Last."
Joe McGlone
Mild mannered telecommunications working worker by day, comic artist by night.
Joe is a Massachusetts native transplanted into Rhode Island. He has been working around webcomics for 8 years doing such titles as Sushi Karate Kat, Section 8, and Heroic Space Adventures. His new webcomic horror series called Beyond the Dark is scheduled to begin around July and Heroic Space Adventures is about to make a major push toward its climatic finale. Joe has recently released his latest foray into comics, print this time, the series Leaves of Yggdrasil.
For Materials he uses traditional comic art board along with a 2h mechanical pencil and a mixture of technical and brush pens. Lately he has been trying to master the use of the Wacom Cintiq drawing tablet.
Caitlin McGurk
Good Morning You- Indomitable zinestress and comic book maker from Brooklyn, NY specializing in highly personal rants and educational field guides.
http://www.goodmorningtoyou.net
Dave Naybor was raised in the woods by wolves, but they were nice wolves, so he's polite. Many people mistake him for a Canadian. Dave has been publishing Walking Christendom since 2005. He has been a member of the band Go Button since 1993, and has been the guy behind the desk at one comic book store or another for over twenty-five years. (Yes, he still remembers running from the dinosaurs with his wolf pack.)
Neko-Jin Designs
Neko-Jin Designs, a successful New England design studio, has been the go-to source for the happy, alternative individual over the past three years. Embarking on their latest journey, they proudly present "Walk This World", a series of illustrated chapbooks that follows their team of pers...onable demi-furs on adventures through the mystic and mundane. To find love, make music, and meet the cast visit nekojindesigns.com.
Born and raised in southern Maine, attended Scarborough High Class of 1992, BA Graphic Design from Notre Dame College. Has been writing Maineland Comics since 1997 off and on. Started Maineland Studios in Portland in 2008, produced and self-published 3 volumes of work, Maineland, a short story comic and in the works...a graphic novel!
http://www.comicspace.com/cbolmsted/
Dennis Pacheco studied Cartooning at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Since then, he has done comics and illustrations for the Huffington Post, Chelsea Green Publishing, and DC Comics. He lives and works in White River Junction, VT, with his partner and their two cats, Professor Snugglepuss and Lord Fatty McFatty-Fatt (not their real names).http://www.pigeonholepress.net/
Shelli Paroline was born at a very young age with all of her fingers and toes. From this ordinary beginning, she has made it her mission to make art seem like practical heroics. Balancing creativity and efficiency among multiple artistic disciplines, Shelli focuses on design and narrative illustration, publishing her work both on the web and in print. She has been an integral member of the Boston Comics Roundtable, helping to design and edit their Inbound anthologies. Recently, she provided the art for the first issue of Boom! Kids' ongoing Muppet Show #0.
Jeff Pert
Jeff Pert is an award-winning cartoonist whose work can be seen on tacky merchandise throughout New England and other parts of the US, maritime Canada, and the Caribbean. Enamored of cartoons and comics since he was a boy and his Dad gave him the very first two "Peanuts" collections (the selling of which would now allow Jeff to retire, if only he hadn't nearly destroyed the books), his work has appeared in newspapers, magazines and on the sides of vans. One of his bumper stickers was spotted in Hawaii, which is not nearly as satisfying as being spotted in Hawaii himself. Jeff lives in mid-coast Maine with a jumpy cat and too many books. You can see his work at www.jeff-pert.com and www.entertainyamania.com.
Joey Peters
Writer, cartoonist and beauty contest champion, Joey peters publishes comics from his dungeon lair in Boston, Massachusetts. His work has appeared in "Inbound: Comics from Boston" and across the internet.
tacolicious.net
Jay Piscopo is the author and illustrator of The Undersea Adventures of Capt’n Eli all-ages graphic novel series. He has been making state-of-the-art children's entertainment for nearly 20 years. His passion for using the computer as his canvas led him to develop his unique signature style of combining 2D characters with 3D backgrounds. He served as an art director at Tom Snyder Productions, where he led the creative team in the production of educational CD-ROMs, including the award-winning Fizz and Martina Math Adventures and was as an animator on the ABC Saturday morning show Squigglevision. He was also the co-creator of the internationally distributed comic book series featuring the world’s first disabled superheroes, The Scrap City Pack Rats, which he created in partnership with Goodwill Industries. They published a six issue series which received national media attention for its groundbreaking approach and subject matter. Jay is an engaging presenter who has conducted hundreds of comics workshops and classroom events teaching drawing and storytelling techniques. He resides in his home town of Portland, Maine.
http://www.captneli.com/
Joe Quinones
Joe Quinones draws people in tights, mostly for DC Comics and Marvel Comics. He loves peanut butter.
http://joequinones.blogspot.com/
The Rarebits webcomic collective consists of Jason Weeks and his comic "Billy the Dunce", Sam Carbaugh and his comic "Here Comes Everyone", and Jen Vaughn and her comic "Mermaid Hostel".
www.rarebitscomics.com
Joel Zane Rivers
Dave Roman draws the webcomic Astronaut Elementary (soon to be published by First Second books) and has written several graphic novels including Agnes Quill: An Anthology of Mystery and Jax Epoch. He recently collaborated with his wife, Raina Telgemeier, on X-Men: Misfits, and co-wrote The Last Airbender manga prequel. Dave is a co-founder of Life Meter Comics and was an editor for Nickelodeon Magazine for 11 years. His website is www.yaytime.com
Aya Rothwell:
Aya makes comics, wanders around and sometimes gets lost. Her comics include "Mark and the Aliens," "Cowpaths of Waltham", "Children of Lethe" and other stories that involves animals, fantasy, people arguing about food, or all three topics mentioned. She currently lives in Boston.
www.AyaRothwell.com
http://ayarothwell.blogspot.com/
Sarah Winifred Searle
Sarah Winifred Searle is the creator of "Under the Apple Tree", a historical look at life in Maine during WWII with some paranormal parallels to the same area during the Civil War.
http://www.swinsea.com/comic
Jessica Shea lives in Massachusetts where she owns and operates "Jay Shay Art Studio & Gallery", which features her work and the work of other local artists. A graduate of Maine College of Art, she specializes in comics & illustration. Shea runs two webcomics, "2:15" and "Apt. C3", as well as multiple other comic projects, including "Ravenstar", her fantasy epic in progress. Other than comics, Shea also enjoys being able to pay her rent, collecting belt buckles, & slow motion. She draws goggles on everything.
Rick Silva
Rick Silva has been involved in small press publishing since his college days. He published and edited Kinships magazine. Along with his wife Gynn, Rick is a partner in Dandelion Studios (www.dandelionstudios.com), a small press comic book company. Rick co-writes the Dandelion Studios comics Zephyr & Reginald: Minions for Hire, Stone, Kaeli & Rebecca, Stone, and Perils of Picorna. He publishes his own zine, Caravan, and he is one of the featured contributors for the fiction webzine The Edge of Propinquity (www.edgeofpropinquity.net). Rick Silva grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, attended Cornell University, and currently teaches chemistry at a high school on Cape Cod, where he resides with his wife and son, and three cats.
http://www.dandelionstudios.com/
Christina Siravo
Christina Siravo is a published illustrator specializing in works for giftware, greeting card design,children's books and comics- with a touch of whimsical and old fashioned flair. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration from the Maine College of Art, 2005. Fluent in all traditional mediums, especially watercolor, gouache, pen & ink, and oils.
Christina's First Published Illustration- Children's Book: www.orphanspromise.com
See pages of her work in "Spera" by Josh Tierney, a comic book collaboration online: http://www.spera-comic.com
"Little Red Riding Hood"- a 32 pg. whimsical and silly comic book adaptation suitable for all ages. Can be purchased through my Etsy shop: http://bluebirdiesinger.etsy.com
Charles Schneeflock Snow is the creator of the webcomic *Sordid City Blues* (www.sordidcityblues.com). He is a member of Boston Comics Roundtable and has published stories in the anthologies *Inbound* and *Secrets and Lies*. He lives in Somerville, MA.
Kristilyn Stevenson
Kristilyn is a supremely skilled southpaw who has penned several self-published comic zines over the past ten years including "Love Letters to Tokyo from Boston" and "The Vampire Bunny Brigade". She also enjoys crafting and making films.
www.zombie-romance.com
Team Werewolf
Team Werewolf is Nick Patten, Penina Gal, Josh Rosen and Betsey Swardlick.
Colin Tedford
Colin Tedford is a co-founder of both the Trees & Hills comic group and Offshore Comix. He self-publishes his comics (silly, surreal, nonfiction, and other) in a zine called Square Dance, and his strip Spinning World appears in Windham County, VT's monthly free newspaper The Commons. www.colintedford.com
Raina Telgemeier’s graphic memoir, SMILE (Scholastic/Graphix), tells the tale of how she lost her two front permanent teeth in a trip-and-fall accident in middle school, and the subsequent years she spent getting her smile back. She is the adaptor and illustrator of the Baby-sitters Club graphic novel series (Scholastic/Graphix), which were selected by YALSA for their Great Graphic Novels for Teens list in 2007, as well as ALA’s Top 10 Graphic Novels for Youth list. She is the co-author of X-Men: Misfits (Del Rey Manga), which debuted at #6 on the New York Times’ Graphic Books Bestseller list. Raina’s comics have been nominated for the Ignatz, Cybil, and Eisner Awards, and have appeared in publications by Random House, DC Comics, OWL Magazine, and Nickelodeon Magazine. A graduate of Manhattan’s School of Visual Arts, Raina currently resides in Astoria, NY.
Visit her online at www.goRaina.com.
Trees & Hills comic group Web site:www.treesandhills.org
Trees & Hills is a social cartooning group for creators in Vermont, New Hampshire and western Massachusetts. In addition to distributing regional comics, Trees & Hills also showcases local talents in comic anthologies, including their latest, PLAY.
Call (207) 780-1676 for details.
Presented by:
Casablanca Comics
151 Middle Street
Portland, ME 04101