2019

Bob Schreck is an award-winning editor who has worked in comics since 1975. His publishing career began at Comico in 1985. By 1991 he joined Dark Horse and was the editor of creator-owned titles and the Legend line where he shepherded Frank Miller’s Sin City and Dark Horse Presents. In 1997, along with Joe Nozemack, he launched Oni Press best known for Kevin Smith’s Clerks comics. In 1999 Schreck joined DC Comics becoming group editor of the Batman franchise.

Mike Royer began his career in 1966 assisting Russ Manning on Magnus, Tarzan and later the Star Wars comic strip. After 14 years working on various titles for Gold Key, James Warren, and laying out one-third of the first Spider-Man animation series, Mike was asked by Jack Kirby to work with him on his Fourth World books New Gods, Forever People, etc., plus Demon and Kamandi for DC, and then Eternals, Devil Dinosaur and Captain America, etc. at Marvel.

Larry Niven is a prolific author whose interests include sci-fi conventions, RPGs, AAAS meetings, comics, the defense of Earth against incoming giant meteoroid impacts, and moving mankind into space.

Craig Miller’s career has been all over the pop culture map, working on publicity, licensing, and as a special projects producer for Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, The Dark Crystal, The Last Starfighter, Return to Oz, The Thing, and more, including bringing preview presentations of those films to Comic-Con. He’s written and produced animation ranging from The Smurfs and Curious George to The Real Ghostbusters to G.I.

Denis Kitchen, cartoonist, publisher, author, curator, and agent, began his career as one of the pioneer “underground” cartoonists in the late 1960s. His Kitchen Sink Press, founded in 1969, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Kitchen published legendary creators Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Robert Crumb, Milton Caniff, Charles Burns, Howard Cruse, Trina Robbins, Mark Schultz, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, and many others. In 1988 he founded the non-profit Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and chaired it for its first eighteen years.

David Brin is an astrophysicist whose international bestselling novels include The Postman (filmed in 1997), Earth, and recently Existence. Dr. Brin serves on advisory boards (e.g., NASA's Innovative and Advanced Concepts program or NIAC) and speaks or consults on a wide range of topics including AI, SETI, privacy, and national security. His nonfiction book about the information age, The Transparent Society, won the Freedom of Speech Award of the American Library Association.

Ursula Vernon is the author of the Hugo Award winning comic Digger and the Dragonbreath and Hamster Princess series for kids. She writes for adults under the name T. Kingfisher. When not writing, she spends a lot of time wandering around the garden growing heirloom beans and trying to make eye contact with butterflies.

Steranko is one of the most controversial figures in contemporary culture, with careers as a musician, author, carnival fire-eater, publisher, male model, historian, magician, and designer. As an escape artist, his death-defying performances inspired the character Mister Miracle. Stan Lee hailed him as one of the prime architects of the Marvel Age.

Kevin Smith has been saying silly cinematic sh•t since his first film Clerks, released way back in 1994. He had a heart attack and almost died last year but survived solely so he could direct his magnum opus, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. A polygamist, he’s married to both his wife Jen and podcasting.

Bree Paulsen is a SoCal native that received BFA in Animation at the Laguna College of Art and Design. She worked on the 2015 stop-motion video game Armikrog as set and prop fabricator. In late August 2013, she started her webcomic Patrik the Vampire right before her senior year of college. The webcomic is an ongoing slice-of-life story about a vampire living among humans that explores themes of guilt, grief, and trust between comedic scenarios.