PANELIST

I believe success is having the time and resources to pursue that which brings you the most joy. I live in Brooklyn and do exactly that, splitting my time between art-making and teaching. I have been an artist and educator in New York City for the past 20 years. I am 44 years old at the time of writing this. Over the past few years, I wrote a 542-page memoir and in 2022 made 11 monthly comics. I have self-published over 30 titles, including 21 comic books and 10 zines. I co-host a youtube channel called 'Comics People' and I have recently created a tabletop card game called 'Brightcast.'

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Emmy and Ringo Award-winning cartoonist Dean Haspiel is best known for creating Billy Dogma, and The Red Hook. Collaborating with Harvey Pekar and Jonathan Ames, and illustrating for HBO's "Bored to Death." His published work includes writing and drawing for Marvel, DC/Vertigo, Archie, Image, and Webtoon. In addition, Haspiel is an accomplished playwright and Yaddo fellow. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

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Russ Kazmierczak, Jr. is a Phoenix-based cartoonist, and his minicomic series, Amazing Arizona Comics, satirizes news and culture with superhero adventure. Russ was the Phoenix New Times' Best Storyteller in 2018, and The Coppier Courier listed him among the "9 People Making A Difference in Arizona" due to his frequent youth-oriented comics workshops in 2023. His 54th issue is out now. Follow Russ on Instagram, and feel free to ask him any trivia question about The Monkees. He'll know the answer.

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Mahdi Khene is a New York City-based cartoonist and publisher. in 2021, he co-founded an indie publishing company called Zuperhero Comics. Along with having been a score composer for short films, he dove into the world of underground comics and released acclaimed titles such as "Steel Streets" and "Bootleg Spider-Man". You can find his work, art, and future projects on the Zuperhero Comics website.

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Whitney Matheson is a New York-based writer whose work includes comics, journalism, children's books, plays, films, and more. She is the author of the short-story collection Trudy Sellout (2024) as well as four volumes of Diary Comix. From 1999-2014, she wrote Pop Candy, the award-winning pop culture blog.