Guests for MeCAF

SPECIAL GUEST ANDY RUNTON,
CREATOR OF "OWLY"!

Guests and Exhibitors:
Many more to follow plus bios coming soon

Anne Barrett: Anne has quietly cartooned in the background while supporting herself as an animation in-betweener, a multimedia developer, and a web designer. Her “Another Day Comics” strip was featured in publications in Hawaii and the New York metropolitan area back in the 90’s. After relocating to Vermont in 1995 she withdrew the cartoons from the public arena and focused on making a living at a “real” job. She spent two years in Maine in the late “Oughts” where her work resurfaced at Portland’s First Friday Art Walk. Her latest plan is to make her work available for viewing and purchasing at her web site www.anotherdaycomics.com.

In addition to the comic strip, Anne is also an award-winning animator and a performance artist, routinely participating in “Women in Limbo Presents” at the Knitting Factory in New York.

Art School Fraud is an art's and entertainment website and podcast revolving with a focus on the North American comics scene. It is owned and operated by Matt Young and Christopher "Radical" Warren, two New England independent cartoonists and CCS alumni.
www.artschoolfraud.com


Cara Bean: Cara Bean is a cartoonist, painter, and art teacher. Her favorite color is
green and she is fond of hiking around, eating nachos, drinking tea, and coveting people’s dogs. She lives and makes art at Lincoln Studios in Waltham, MA. Cara will be debuting a comic at MECAF that she began at the Center of Cartoon studies last summer. You can get a peek at her sketchbook here: http://beandoodling.blogspot.com/

Carol Burrell is editorial director for Lerner Publishing Group’s Empire State Building-based graphic novel imprint, Graphic Universe, and on the side creates the webcomic SPQR Blues about life in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. In addition to a scary number of years editing children’s books, she has worked as an art director for a roleplaying-game company; as an online game developer; for a newspaper in London; and for the Children’s Book Council.
http://spqrblues.com/IV/

Center for Cartoon Studies

Jon Chad has been producing handmade mini comics and zines since 2006. He has illustrated children's books published by Mascot Books, including one for the FBI. Jon teaches screen printing and book making, and offers weekly lab intensives at the Center for Cartoon Studies. His book, "Leo Geo and His Miraculous Journey Through the Center of the Earth" has been picked up by Roaring Book Press and is scheduled for release in Fall 2011. http://www.jonchad.com

Robyn Chapman: Since receiving her BFA in Sequential Art, Robyn Chapman has been independently producing, publishing and printing her own comics and zines.
Robyn’s work has been featured in several anthologies and publications,
including Scheherazade, Stuck in the Middle, the NY Metro and Seven Days.
She also edits and publishes a hand-crafted journal dedicated solely to
eyeglasses titled Hey, 4-Eyes! In 2005 Robyn became The Center for Cartoon
Studies' first fellow, in 2008 they awarded her with an MFA. She is
currently a CCS adjunct faculty member, and has taught cartooning in
after-school programs, workshops, and at the New School in New York City.

Brian Codagnone is the creator of the comic strips "Misfits", "S1019" and "In The Zone" and the humor column "Emotional Chaos", all of which can be seen at http://www.corbettfeatures.com/. He is also the author of the books "The Hartford Whalers", "Hey, America! It's Misfits Time!" and co-author of "The Boston Garden" and "The Bruins in Black and White" volumes 1 and 2, all of which should be required reading for every man, woman and child in North America and the more enlightened parts of Europe (sorry, Luxembourg).

Well known to all the hipsters, glitterati and bouncers in town, he's a cartoonist, writer, historian, international playboy by day and crime fighter by night. Living by the credo "What's in it for me?", he'll do almost anything to sell cartoons short of ghosting "The Family Circus". He lives under an assumed identity somewhere in Massachusetts.

Barry Corbett: Corbett Features is a cartoon and illustration syndicate supplying content for print and multi-media. Co-owners Barry Corbett and Brian Codagnone display their work at http://www.corbettfeatures.com/.

Barry is a freelance magazine cartoonist and self-published author of 3 trade paperbacks. His panel cartoons have appeared in national publications including Barron's, American Legion, Lacrosse Magazine, Medical Economics, Christianity Today, and many others.

Barry released his first book in 2006. "Embrace the Pun!" is a collection of pun-based panel cartoons. He followed that up in 2010 with "Revenge of the Pun!" which is also available in e-book format. "Kitty Nirvana: The First Ginger & Shadow Collection" won a Silver Medal at the 2008 IPPY Awards, presented by Independent Publisher Magazine.

A graduate of the Vesper George School of Art in Boston, Barry teaches Cartooning, Photoshop and InDesign at local colleges. Barry's panel cartoons can be licensed for PowerPoint and business presentations through http://www.corbettcartoons.com/.

Ellen Crenshaw:Ellen T. Crenshaw grew up in south Florida, but moved to the unpredictable Northeast to pursue her illustration career. Her clients include Beer Advocate Magazine and Boston's The Weekly Dig (among others); she freelances at children's media company, FableVision; she is a member of the lady illustrators group, Girls Drawin' Girls; she has been published in comics anthologies Inbound and ZombieBomb!; and she regularly exhibits her work all over the United States. Currently, Ellen lives in East Boston with her animator husband and military kitty-cat. Her work can be found at www.etcillustration.com. For most recent updates, see her blog at etcillustration.blogspot.com.

Travis Dandro is the creator of the comic strip Mr.Gnu which has been featured in dozens of college newspapers since 1997. His most recent project Journal was selected as a notable comic in the 2010 The Best American Comics anthology. Travis lives in Maine with his wife and three sons.
http://www.travisdandro.com
http://mrgnucomic.blogspot.com/

Renae De Liz and Ray Dillon are the artists for The Last Unicorn series from IDW. In addition, they have worked on numerous other comics including Rogue Angel and Sonic the Hedgehog. http://raydillon.blogspot.com/

Randall Drew: Randall Drew is an Upstate NY illustrator and cartoonist who now lives and works in Vermont, where he graduated from the Center for Cartoon Studies' class of 2010. Under his RKDIA COMICS label he continues to work on his fledgling fantasy comic Citadel, as well as do illustration work for albums, books and the web. http://randalldrew.com

Jesse DuRona is a native Vermonter now in Senior year at the Center for Cartoon Studies, as a part of the class of 2011. His All-ages, sci-fi adventure comic Capek follows the adventure of a space cowboy bounty hunter, an alienated robot and a curious toddler across the universe as they try to stop a galactic war from breaking out! http://therealdurona.com/

Ariel Finkelstein BestPestStudio is a pair of cartoonists who have come together to fight evil and draw comics. (Mostly the second one.) http://www.bestpeststudio.com/

Bob Flynn was born in Buxton, Maine and raised on a steady diet of cartoons. He currently lives in Boston where he works as Director of Animation for the children’s media company, FableVision. Driven by an obsession with offbeat cartoons, he keeps busy drawing nonsensical creatures and characters to spin into comics. He is the co-creator of Heeby Jeeby Comix, and his work appeared in Nickelodeon Magazine, including several SpongeBob Squarepants comics.

website: http://www.jinxthemonkey.com
blog: http://bobjinx.blogspot.com

Heeby Jeeby Comix: http://heebyjeebycomix.blogspot.com/

Colleen Frakes graduated from comic book college and works in a library. She was awarded a Xeric Grant to publisher her book "Tragic Relief" in the fall of 2007. In 2009, her second comic "Woman King" won an Ignatz award for Promising New Talent. http://www.tragicrelief.com

Zack Giallongo: Zack Giallongo was born in the snowy month of December in 1979. He was educated at the Francis J. Burke Elementary School in Medway, Massachusetts. He went on to complete other higher levels of education, too. Zack draws pictures and writes words. His greatest ambition is to become a minor-enough celebrity to be on either NPR’s "Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me" show, or one of VH1’s decade-remiscience shows so that he can say "Aw, yeah! I remember He-Man!" http://www.zackgiallongo.com/

Lawrence Gillette

Griffin has been illustrating and web designing professionally since 2006 and is currently in school full time for forensic psychology. His newly blossoming comics career has him working with Homeless Comics on the HEALED series and Fat Cat Funnies. View more of his work at ShadedAreas.com.

Howard Hopkins HOWARD HOPKINS (www.howardhopkins.com) is the author of 33 westerns under the penname Lance Howard, six horror novels, three children’s horror novels (The Nightmare Club series) and numerous short stories under his own name. His most recent western, The Killing Kind, is a Dec. 2010 release and his most recent horror series novel, The Chloe Files #2: Silver of Darkness, is available now. He’s written and edited widescreen and panel comic books, graphic novels and short story anthologies for Moonstone, along with editing and writing for The Avenger Chronicles and Sherlock Holmes: The Crossovers Casebook. He’s also created a new pulp heroine called The Veil and has published stories in The Spider Chronicles, The Green Hornet Chronicles and The Captain Midnight Chronicles.

Cathy Leamy is a Boston-based cartoonist and the creator of the autobio/humor minicomic series Geraniums and Bacon. Her anthology work includes stories in I Saw You? and The Girls' Guide to Guys' Stuff as well as historical research and co-writing for the Marvel Comics anthology Women of Marvel: Celebrating Seven Decades. She is a long-time member of Boston Comics Roundtable and has published stories in their anthology Inbound. Read more at her website: www.metrokitty.com

Sara Lindo is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts. She has created several comic books, including the "Carl Finds Love" series, "Wall Street Cat" and "Lobotomy". http://www.thelindo.com

Andrew McKenzie

Dan Mazur is a Boston-based artist and writer, and long-time member of the Boston Comics Roundtable. He created the comics "Lummox," "Palindramas," and "The Way it Crumbles," and is a contributor and co-editor of the BCR anthology "Inbound." He recently founded the Ninth Art Press, which published "Show and Tell: a Collection of Comics About Teaching and Learning."
www.danmazurcomics.com, www.ninthartpress.com, www.bostoncomicsroundtable.com

Carl Mefferd is a caricaturist from Connecticut who is working on his MFA at the Center for Cartoon Studies as a part of the class of 2011. His Senior Thesis Project is "Waking Dreams" a story that crosses reality with a fantasy dream world!

George O’Connor: George likes to write. A lot. He’s created over 60 short films and the webseries 664-The Neighbor of the Beast (lazyhorde.com). He’s currently writing the ongoing comic series HEALED for Homeless Comics (homelesscomics.com). He also juggles playing guitar in his metal and punk rock bands. By day, George is a mild-mannered copywriter in the advertising world. He once put a truck on the moon.

Corey Olmstead Maineland Studios/Pillage Comix is the love child of local Portland, Maine graphic artist Corey Olmsted along with creative writer and classic "that guy", Jesse Savage of Boston, Ma. Originally started in the Basement of Mousse Cafe in Monument Square, 2008. We are a small indie publishing company that has self produced over 7 comic titles in the past two years with many more to come. Check our blog @ www.mainelandstudios.wordpress.com

Rick Parker is widely known as the artist of "MTV's Beavis and Butt-Head Comic Book" and also draws the Introductory Pages of "Tales From The Crypt" and the graphic novel "Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid" for Papercutz …

Shelli Paroline

Lincoln Peirce is a cartoonist/writer and the creator of the comic strip Big Nate. It appears in more than two hundred U.S. newspapers and online daily at comics.com.

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.

Morgan Pielli: INDESTRUCTIBLE UNIVERSE QUARTERLY. Morgan Pielli's acclaimed series continues with more tales of science fiction and the surreal! Experience the terror of the "Living Room." Learn the secret of "Picker." Feel the pull of "The Twisting Kiss." And so much more! Find INDESTRUCTIBLE UNIVERSE 7 and author Morgan Pielli at the bright red table and say hi! http://www.morganpielli.com/

Jay Piscopo is the author and illustrator of The Undersea Adventures of Capt’n Eli all-ages graphic novel series. http://www.captneli.com

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.

Joe Quinones has worked for Marvel, DC and Dark Horse Comics and is quickly establishing himself as one of the top comic cover artists working today. He also was the artist of the Green Lantern story in the critically acclaimed "Wednesday Comics" series from DC Comics. His covers have included Amazing Spider-Man and Star Wars, just to name a few. See more of his work here.

Aya Rothwell currently lives in Arlington, MA. Aya was recently attacked by a Canada Goose when she foolishly walked too close to its nest. (She apologized and ran away.) Aya's minicomics include "The Wolf and the Sun" "Mark and the Aliens". She also has stories published in the "Inbound" and "Show and Tell" anthologies. www.AyaRothwell.com

Kenan Rubenstein

Emily Sauter

Steve Seck is a graduate of the Center for Cartoon Studies. He currently resides in Jersey City, NJ, where he makes "Life is Good", a comic about the continuing non-adventures of an unemployed beer bottle & his homeless alligator friend. http://www.secktacular.com

Rick Silva

Christina Siravo

Matt Smith

Kristi-lyn Stevenson: kristilyn is an artist of many mediums and many methods residing in boston with a small flock of felines. she has and always will enjoy making comic zines and drawing lurid and lovely things. website: zombie-romance.com
kristilyn.com

Betsey Swardlick & Team Werewolf

Hugh Tims

Mort Todd was raised in Yarmouth, Maine and immediately moved to New York City after high school graduation and ended up as writer, artist and/or editor at Marvel Comics, DC, Fantagraphics and other publishers. He became Editor-in-Chief of the infamous Cracked magazine at 23, where he also started the popular Monsters Attack title. At Marvel he launched the Marvel Music line where he worked personally with the Rolling Stones, KISS, AC/DC, Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie and others to create comics based on their bands. He has collaborated with a wide variety of comic legends ranging from Steve Ditko, Don Martin and John Severin to Dan Clowes, Neil Gaiman and Peter Bagge. Characters he has worked on include Superman, Conan, Spider-Man and Speed Racer. He is also an animator and filmmaker through his company Comicfix. He produced the film The Diabolikal Super-Kriminal about the Sadistik photo comics he publishes and is developing an animated series based on the character with Iggy Pop as voice actor.

Underburbs

Colleen AF Venable grew up in the trees of Walden, New York….well, not very high up the trees, since she always got scared, but she did carve her name in a lot of low hanging boughs. Colleen had an older sister, a dog, a cat, a million fish, and an imaginary pet hamster named, yup you guessed it, Hamisher. Why have an imaginary friend when you can have an imaginary friend that can fit in your pocket! Colleen went to Wagner College and double majored in English and Studio Art, winning the award of "biggest dork" (aka first in her class) and writing plays which went on to be produced Off-Off-Broadway. Her whole life she always loved reading comics—Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, and she wore out her copy of the Muppets: Short, Green and Handsome—but it wasn't until she started to get into webcomics that she also fell in love with the idea of writing comics. Now Colleen lives in New York City and her day job is designing graphic novels for First Second Books while her night job is writing graphic novels about a not-so-imaginary-anymore hyperactive hamster named Hamisher for Graphic Universe, the graphic novel imprint of Lerner Publishing Group. She thinks the world is a very lovely place.
http://www.colleenaf.com/

Jason Viola writes and draws the depressing webcomic, "Herman the Manatee" (www.hermanthemanatee.com). He lives near Boston with his wife and cat.

2011 Guest announcement-Andy Runton, creator of Owly!

We are very pleased and excited to announce our first featured guest for 2011: Andy Runton, creator of Owly!

Visit Andy's website for more Owly goodness at http://www.andyrunton.com/ .

Guest list update

Here is a nearly complete list of the creators who will be exhibiting at MeCAF. We have a few still to add but this will give you a good idea. If you see any errors or omissions please let us know so that we may correct them. Thanks!

The list is alphabetical by last name.

Mark Anderson

Josh Alves

Jack Bachman

Daniel Barlow

Cara Bean

Marek Bennett

Ben Bishop

Eric Boeker

Heather Bryant

ByrenLee Press/SPQR Blues

Nicole Chaison

Robyn Chapman

Brian Codagnone

Michael Connor

Barry Corbett

Alexander Danner

Seth Desjardins

Katie Megaphone Diamond

T. J. Dort

Nate Doyle

Bob Flynn

Colleen Frakes

Penina Gal

Jaime Garmendia

Cayetano Garza

Thomas Gause

Zack Giallongo

Sam Girdich

Mark Gonyea

Joe Haley

David Jacobson

Joseph Peters

Nomi Kane

Dave Kender

Stacey Kettler

Renee Kurilla

Braden Lamb

Joseph Lambert

Cathy Leamy

Ron LeBrasseur

Jeff Lemire

Jeffrey Lok

Mike Lynch

Daniel Mazur

Joe McGlone

Caitlin McGurk

Christopher Mills

Dave Naybor

Kit

Neko

Jennifer Ormand

Shelli Paroline

Nick Patten

Jeff Pert

Jay Piscopo

John Platt

Caitlin Plovnick

Tina Pratt

Joe Quinones

Joel Zane Rivers

Roho

Dave Roman

Josh Rosen

Aya Rothwell

Kenan Rubenstein

Matt Ryan

Che Salazar

Emily Sauter

Charles Schneeflock Snow

Sarah Searle

Jessica Shea

Gynn Stella Silva

Rick Silva

Christina Siravo

Israel Skelton

Kathryn Skelton

Everett Soares

Susan Soares

Kristilyn Stevenson

Betsey Swardlick

Adam Szymczak

Matt Talbot

Team Werewolf

Colin Tedford

Raina Telgemeier

Dirk Tiede Cartoons

Hugh Tims

Carl Tsui

Jennifer G Vaughn

Jason Viola

Jason Weeks

Maris Wicks

Lee Wilson

Brian Wood

Skottie Young

Stephanie Yue

Website updated with new guest list

We have updated the festival website. The guest list is in order (yeah!). Currently we have bios for approximately 1/3 of our guests but will continue to add them to the guest page as we receive them.

Here is the link: http://mainecomicsfestival.com/Guests.html

Please spread the word....tweet, Facebook, blog or whatever. Thanks!

Guest Announcement- BRIAN WOOD!

We are pleased to announce that Brian Wood will be a guest at MeCAF. Brian is the writer of the DC/ Vertigo series DMZ, Northlanders and the new Demo. Demo volume 2 arrived today (with art by last year's guest Becky Cloonan).

http://www.brianwood.com/

Jay Piscopo and the Festival on NBC Channel 6 tonight

Jay is interviewed and promotes the festival. If you do not live locally here is a link to the video.

http://www.wcsh6.com/life/programming/local/207/story.aspx?storyid=104725&catid=50

More guest updates:

Morgan Pielli: "Why hullo there, gents and ladies. Let me here tell you about the miracle of MorganStories.com! Made from the rare brain-juice of the Morgan Pielli, just I say just a spoonful of this magnificent tincture will relieve all bodily ailments! Dun believe me? You sir, yes you, step lively now. You look to be plagued by gout and sorrow, am I correct suh? Indeed, just down a dollop of this wonder drug, and behold! I do believe he's a cured man! Saddle Sores! Black Lung! Shootist's Remorse! All can be elevated by the merest drops of MorganStories.com!"

Joe Quinones is a freelance comic artist living in Somerville, Massachusetts (with Maris Wicks!!!). He has been breaking into the mainstream scene doing covers for Devil's Due and Boom! studios, as well as recent work for DC comics' now defunct Teen Titans Go title. Also, he is collaborating with writer Kurt Busiek on a Green Lantern story for the forthcoming Wednesday Comics series, due out this summer. He very much enjoys peanut butter-banana-chocolate smoothies. They're DELICIOUS. Check out more of Joe's work at joequinones.blogspot.com

Maris Wicks lives in Somerville, Massachusetts (with Joe Quinones!!!) where she splits her time between drawing comics and teaching kids about marine invertebrates. She has had comics in the 2005 SPX Anthology, Project: Romantic and Superior Showcase #2 (both from Adhouse Books), and the upcoming Ghost Comics Anthology. Maris is currently working on a graphic novel (written by Jim Ottaviani) for First Second Books, as well as a collection of her autobiographical comics strips. See more of Maris' work at dotsforeyes.blogspot.com

Guest updates from the Center for Cartoon Studies

Since receiving her BFA in Sequential Art, Robyn Chapman has been independently producing, publishing and printing her own comics and zines. 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. In 2004 Robyn was a featured cartoonist in the Comics Journal's young cartoonist issue. In 2005 Robyn became CCS’s first fellow, in 2008 they awarded her with an MFA. In addition to CCS, Robyn has taught cartooning in after-school programs, workshops, and at the New School in New York City.


Jon Chad graduated from the Sequential Art program at the Savannah College of Art and Design in May 2008. He has been producing handmade minicomics and zines since 2006. He has illustrated children's books published by Mascot Books. His comics Leo Geo Acquires Ancient Knowledge and Shortstack were both nominated for the Kukoc Award for Comics Inspiration in 2008. He now lives in White River Junction where he works at The Center for Cartoon Studies.

More guest updates...

Alex Irvine is the writer of the Marvel Comics series Hellstorm: Son of Satan and Daredevil Noir. He is also the writer of award-winning original novels (Buyout, The Narrows, The Life of Riley, One King, One Soldier, A Scattering of Jades), short stories (collected in Unintended Consequences and Pictures from an Expedition), and several tie-in and media-related books (The Vertigo Encyclopedia, Batman:Inferno, The Ultimates: Against All Enemies, The Supernatural Book of Monsters, Demons, Spirits, and Ghouls, Supernatural: John Winchester's Journal). He has also worked as a reporter for the Portland Phoenix, and was part of the writing team on the groundbreaking ARGs known as The Beast and I Love Bees. He lives in Maine, where he teaches at the University of Maine in Orono.

Lincoln Peirce writes and draws the comic strip "Big Nate". Peirce's comic strip, Big Nate, is featured as an island on the famous children's website, Poptropica. Big Nate appears as the first cartoon on The Maine Sunday Telegram in the comics section.

Jellaby 2 in stores NOW!!!

The new Jellaby has arrived, and just in time for the festival!!! Kean Soo is one of our featured guests and we are thrilled to have his new book in the store NOW! We will also have copies available at the festival.

More guest bios

Corey “Fake Rockstar” Pandolph has been trying to be funny for 25 years. After several failed attempts at many different comedic genres, he found comfort and success in the tedious and deadline riddled world of comics and comic strips.

In 2001, Corey’s comic “Barkeater Lake” was picked up for syndication development by United Media. After 4 years of unsuccessfully trying to break the feature into the world of newspapers, he decided to leave UM and launch “Barkeater Lake” on the web, where it resides to this very day, sporadically updated to wide acclaimed.

In 2007, Corey got his syndication wish via Universal Press Syndicate, where he took over artistic duties for the comic “The Elderberries” by an ailing Phil Frank. Sadly, in September of that same year, Mr. Frank passed on and Corey took over both the writing and drawing of the strip permanently. The Elderberries is syndicated in over 100 papers worldwide.

Finally, in an effort to completely eliminate any extra time in his day, Corey created the strip “TOBY, Robot Satan” for the Boston and NYC metro. TOBY’s mechanical malevolence runs five days a week and is now featured in The Bollard and on the humor site, Drink at Work.com, as well.

In addition, Mr. Pandolph contributes to the pages of Mad Magazine, writes regularly for the afore-mentioned Drink at Work.com (for which he and his fellow bloggers were nominated for a ECNY award in 2009), As well as contributing to the pages of The Bollard and The Bollard.com of Portland, Maine.

The many websites of the Fake Rockstar universe:

http://www.fakerockstar.com
http://www.tobyrobotsatan.com
http://www.barkeaterlake.com

Corey, his wife Kristen and their three dogs split their time between Gritty McDuff’s in Portland, the mountains of the Adirondacks and the streets of NYC.

Norm Feuti is a syndicated cartoonist and author living in Plainville, Massachusetts. He is also the lucky husband of a beautiful wife, and a proud stay-at-home dad for his two wonderful children.

His syndicated comic strip, Retail , presents a humorous look at the retail industry by chronicling the daily events at the fictitious Grumbel’s department store. The humor of Retail plays out through the day-to-day trials and triumphs of four main Grumbel’s department store employees (Marla, Cooper, Val, and Stuart) and the customers they encounter. Retail is distributed worldwide by King Features and appears in about 70 newspapers throughout the US and Canada.

His first book, Pretending You Care: The Retail Employee Handbook , is a parody guidebook for retail employees that includes over 200 Retail comic strips. Pretending You Care is published by Hyperion. It can be purchased on Amazon.com and at fine booksellers everywhere.

His web comic, Gill , is a fresh and edgy new strip that takes a humorous look at the life of an 8-year-old boy who lives under less than ideal circumstances. His parents are divorced. His mother struggles to maintain their meager existence. His estranged father floats in and out of his life to offer crude and confusing advice. Gill is an exploration of childhood and an imperfect American family in all its dysfunctional glory. You can read Gill 5 days a week at www.gillcomic.com .

Guest list additions

More guests are being added to the festival. Here are some of the latest:

Anne Sibley O'Brien is the creator of the award-winning graphic novel, The Legend of Hong Kil Dong: The Robin Hood of Korea. Raised in Korea, Anne always wanted to bring the classic Korean hero legend to US audiences. Awarded "Booklist’s Top 10 Graphic Novels for Youth" the book has an extensive website http://www.KoreanRobinHood.com, that pulls readers deeper into the world of 17th Century Korea.

JOHN KLOSSNER
John Klossner is a Maine-based cartoonist and illustrator whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, TIME magazine, Down East, Computerworld, and a variety of other print and electronic publications. Hs comic strip "Mason Darrow, non-profit lawyer" ran in the Boston Metro for several years at the turn of the century. John's website is http://www.jklossner.com/

John can often be found in his barn, separating the #1 plastic recyclables from the #2's.

JUANA MEDINA
Juana was born and raised in Bogota, Colombia. She is a student at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). In 2008 she received the first Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship, awarded by the National Cartoonists Society and was the recipient of a NEA Challenge Grant awarded through RISD.

She is currently finishing a BFA in Graphic Design. Collaborating in some projects with different artists in the US and contributing work to publications in Latin America.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juana_medina/

More creator updates

There are more bios still to post. Here are some of the most recent:

Melissa Mendes is a student at the Center for Cartoon Studies. Someday she wants to start an artist-mentoring program for high school kids, while still making her own comics, and maybe children's books. You can see more of her work at www.tropist.com/mezilla.

Joseph Lambert graduated from The Center For Cartoon Studies in May 2008. He is the creator of several mini-comics, one of them, “Turtle, Keep It Steady,” was published in Houghton Mifflin’s The Best American Comics 2008, for which he also designed the endpapers. Look for more of Joseph’s work at www.submarinesubmarine.com.

The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) offers a two-year course of study that centers on the creation and dissemination of comics, graphic novels and other manifestations of the visual narrative. Experienced and internationally recognized cartoonists, writers, and designers teach classes. The school is located in historic downtown village of White River Junction, Vermont, in the old Colodny Surprise Department Store.

More guest updates: Part 2

Nate Doyle: The cartoonist behind the much praised mini comics Crooked Teeth and the Archer. He lives in a punk rock house in Brooklyn like it's 1977. his blog is here http://ndcrookedteeth.blogspot.com/

Austin English is the cartoonist behind the books Christina and Charles, and the creator of Windy Corner Magazine, both published by Sparkplug Books. He lives in a crazy apartment in Brooklyn with about 10 other people and once claimed he wanted to have a baby and raise it in the sink.
http://windycornermag-austin.blogspot.com/

Colleen Frakes: Colleen Frakes is a Xeric Award winning cartoonist and graduate of the Center for Cartoon Studies. Her Tragic Relief comics appear monthly in Bash! Magazine (www.bashmagazine.com) and she is a member of the "I KNOW JOE KIMPEL" collective (www.iknowjoekimpel.com).
http://www.tragicrelief.blogspot.com .

Free Lunch Comics: Under the direction of Matt Ryan as President, Steve Kanaras as Publisher and Steve Kuster as Creative Director, Free Lunch Comics (www.freelunchcomics.com) has been publishing quality books for over 10 years. Their flagship title is Bigger, the story of Willie Rison. They have recently expanded their line of creator-owned titles, including a comedy entitled Pork N' Beans, the horror anthology Only in Whispers, gothic horror masterpiece Am I Immortal, the high-flying adventure Sky Pirates of Valendor and most recently the collection of comic strip art in The Original Nutty Funsters: A List of Grievances. The most recent property to be released is The Blood Rider, a western horror comic adaptation of the novel by the same name. Free Lunch Comics has expanded in order to diversify their offerings and provide entertaining books for readers of all interests.
Zack Giallongo:

THE BIO MADE TO SOUND LIKE IT WAS WRITTEN BY SOMEONE OTHER THAN ME
by Zack Giallongo

Zack Giallongo was born in the snowy month of December in 1979. He was educated at the Francis J. Burke Elementary School in Medway, Massachusetts, as well as other higher levels of education. Zack currently lives in Rhode Island - the home of coffee milk and quahogs - where he draws pictures and writes words.

Known for "The Tenth Life of Pishio te Cat" (his brief foray into webcomics) and co-founding "Life Meter" (a videogame art tribute site), he is currently working on his graphic novel, "Broxo" (about a boy barbarian) for First Second.

His greatest ambition is to become a minor-enough celebrity to be on either NPR's "Wait, Wait… Don't Tell Me" show, or one of VH1's decade-reminiscience shows so that he can say "Aw, yeah! I remember He-Man!"

http://www.zackgiallongo.com
Sarah Glidden is the cartoonist behind the multiple award winning comic How To Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less which is being published by Vertigo in 2010. She lives in a pretty normal Brooklyn apartment which is really kind of weird.
http://www.smallnoises.com/

David Jacobson, originally from New York, has been a cartoonist and illustrator for over 25 years, and his humorous work has appeared in magazines and newspapers around the country, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today magazine and The New Yorker. For 18 years, he drew a daily Lifestyles cartoon for the Gannett Newspapers in Westchester, New York, and had a nationally syndicated sports cartoon, “Offsides,” with United Media. He's illustrated children's books for Harper/Collins and Viking/Penguin. Here in Maine, David’s work can be seen regularly in DownEast magazine and every Monday in the Business section of the Bangor Daily News.

Mike Lynch: 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 is the National Cartoonist Society's National Representative. He lives in New Hampshire with his wife and three cats. In addition to his Web Site, www.heykidscomics.com, Mike writes the popular Mike Lynch Cartoons blog on the business of cartooning.

Jeff Pert: The work of Maine cartoonist Jeff Pert appears on merchandise in the
United States, Canada and the Caribbean. Over the past 27 years he has
drawn and sold single panel gag cartoons, comic strips, editorial
cartoons, greeting cards, comic books and humorous illustrations. His
lobster and moose cartoon calendars are perennial best sellers
throughout New England. Occasionally he actually gets a chance to draw
just for the fun of it.

Mark Ricketts: Mark is a comics writer/ cartoonist located in Bangor, Maine. He has created comics for Marvel, Dark Horse, Image, Moonstone and McGraw Hill. He was the winner of the 2000 Klasky Csupo (Rugrats, Duckman) Screenwriting Award. He has created illustrations for Playboy and Nickelodeon. He has a regular feature in Bangor Metro Magazine, and has a webcomic- moosemountaincomics.com .

Trees and Hills Comics Group: Trees and Hills is a comics organization for creators in Vermont, New Hampshire and western Massachusetts. They produce and sell regional comics.
http://www.treesandhills.org

Julia Wertz is the cartoonist behind The Fart Party volumes 1 and 2 published by Atomic Books and the editor of I Saw You...an anthology of comics inspired by missed connection ads published by Three Rivers Press. She lives in a dumpster in Brooklyn.
http://www.fartparty.org/

More guest updates: Part 1

Michael Connor: Michael is the Portland based creator of many whimsical comics including Coelacanthus.

Marek Bennett: Marek is the Xeric Award winning creator of Mimi's Donuts.
http://www.marekbennett.com

Boston Comics Roundtable:

The Boston Comics Roundtable was founded in October 2006 by David Kender, to foster community for comics creators in the Boston Area. Since then the group has grown from three members to nearly fifty, meeting weekly in Harvard Square and sending contingents to conventions around the country. In 2007, the BCR begain publishing “Inbound,” an anthology of local comics, currently on its third issue.

For more info: www.bostoncomicsroundtable.com


Dan Mazur lives in Cambridge, MA and is part of the Boston Comics Roundtable crew. He has created the print and web comics, “Palindrams” and “Lummox,” among others. His comics have appeared in the anthologies “Inbound” and “I Saw You: Missed Connections,” and his strip “Canyon Comix,” ran for five years in the Topanga Messenger of Topanga Canyon California. He;s also taught comics at the Art Institute of Boston, Brookline Arts Center, and the Calmont School.

Some of his stuff’s at www.webcomicsnation.com/danmazur.


Aya Rothwell grew up reading books and catching insects. She went to film school, worked in NYC for a bit on movie sets, then came back to Boston to draw comics. She makes stories about birds, cats, ghosts, time travel, aliens, potatoes and other things that snare her interest. Her films have been screened at film festivals, her animation won an award on Newgrounds.com, and she is creating work for upcoming Boston Comic anthologies.

You can find Aya's work at www.AyaRothwell.com and her blog at ayarothwell.blogspot.com


Franklin Einspruch draws, paints, writes, and cajoles computers into
doing things for him as his wife and a houseful of various
domesticated animals look on in alternating awe and bewilderment. His
comics appear at The Moon Fell On Me and have also been featured at
Top Shelf 2.0. Franklin has exhibited his paintings at galleries in
Miami, San Diego, and Scottsdale, AZ, and he has served as artist in
residence at programs in Greece in Taiwan. His art criticism has
appeared in the Boston Globe, the Miami New Times, the Sun Post, NYFAA
Interactive, and on Artblog.net, which he has produced since 2003. He
lives in Boston. Link: http://themoonfellonme.com


Alexander Danner's current projects include the online series
"Gingerbread Houses," illustrated by Edward J. Grug III and
"Uncertainty," illustrated by Tym Godek. His comics have appeared on
ModernTales.com and in the Boston comics anthology "Inbound," and two
of his stories, "The Discovery of Spoons" and "Five Ways to Love a
Cockroach," have received Webcartoonist Choice Awards. He is
co-author of the book "Character Design for Graphic Novels," and
teaches Writing the Graphic Novel at Emerson College.

Cathy Leamy is a Boston-based cartoonist. She's the creator of the autobio/humor
minicomic *Geraniums and Bacon* and the artist for the webcomic *Planet Wifey*.
She is also a member of the comics collective Boston Comics Roundtable and has
published work in the group's anthology, *Inbound*.

Special Guest update: Becky Cloonan!

We are pleased to announce that Becky Cloonan will be a guest at the festival. Becky's work includes "Demo" (with Brian Wood), "American Virgin" from Vertigo, "East Coast Rising" from Tokyopop and more. Full details soon, and watch for even more guest updates.

Guest list update

Here is the beginning of our guest list. Check back for more updates.

Atomic Pulp: Christopher Mills is the writer of Femme Noir from Ape Entertainment and Kolchak from Moonstone Books.

Joe Staton is a veteran comics artist whose credits include virtually every major character from DC and Marvel Comics.
http://www.atomicpulp.com

Marek Bennett: Marek is the Xeric Award winning creator of Mimi's Donuts.
http://www.marekbennett.com

Ben Bishop: Ben is the creator of the graphic novel Nathan the Caveman.
http://bishart.net/

Boston Comics Roundtable: A collective of comics creators from the Boston area. Their members published Inbound, an anthology of original comics. Their Spring '09 Love and Romance issue will be out in time for the festival.
http://www.bostoncomicsroundtable.com

Corbett Features: Barry Corbett and Brian Codagnone are equal partners at Corbett Featurs. Barry is a panel cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip Ginger & Shadow. Brian Produces two comic strips, Misfits and S1019 and writes a humor cloumn. They have published 3 trade paperbacks; Hey America! It's Misfits Time by Brian, Embrace the Pun!, a collection of pun-based panel cartoons by Barry, and Kitty Nirvana, a collection of Barry's comic strips. Nirvana won a Silver Medal at the 2008 Ippy Awards.
http://www.corbettfeatures.com

Sam Costello: Sam Costello is a writer based in Providence, Rhode Island. He writes the webcomic Split Lip, which the Horror Blog called "the predominant original horror comic work on the internet". His comics have also appeared in Cthulhu Tales and Negative Burn.
http://www.splitlipcomic.com

Dandelion Studios:Gynn Stella Silva

Originally from New Hampshire, Gynn received her degree from Massachusetts College of Art with a major in filmmaking. She currently lives and works on Cape Cod with her husband, Rick Silva. Together they make up Dandelion Studios, a small press comic book company. Gynn does all of the artwork for their comic Zephyr & Reginald: Minions for Hire as well as for her minicomics and her upcoming graphic novel, Knifeclaw Company. Her artwork has appeared in Space & Time magazine, and she was selected to be published in the 2005 24-Hour Comics Day anthology. In addition to doing her artwork, Gynn is involved in animal rescue. She is a volunteer at the Cape Wildlife Center, and has adopted two special-needs cats.

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, a small press comic book company. Rick co-writes the Dandelion Studios comics Zephyr & Reginald: Minions for Hire 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. 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 two cats.
http://www.dandelionstudios.com

Zack Giallongo:
http://www.zackgiallongo.com

Mark Gonyea:
http://www.mroblivious.com

Lucy Knisley: Lucy Knisley is the author of the drawn travel journal "French Milk" from Simon and Schuster. She went to the Center for Cartoon Studies, and lives in Chicago. She is 24.
http://www.lucyknisley.com

Dave Naybor: Dave is the creator of Walking Christendom.

Jennifer Omand: Jennifer is the creator of Squarecat Comics, an online diary comic that has run daily since 2003. It has been collected into two (so far) volumes.
http://squarecatcomics.com

Jay Piscopo: Jay is the creator of The Undersea Adventures of Capt'n Eli from Nemo Publishing.
http://www.captneli.com

Joel Rivers: Joel is the creator of the Xeric Award winning comic series Along the Canadian.
http://www.obioncomics.com

Sarah Searle: Sarah has been making comics for five years in the Portland area and has recently begun self-publishing again. Check out her newest work at:
http://www.swinsea.com

Christina Siravo:
http://www.zazzle.com/csiravo

Matt Talbot: Matt is the co-creator of the indy comic Johnny Raygun.
http://mattrobot.com

The Underburbs: Joe Haley and T.J. Dort are both graduates of Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA where they majored in illustration. The Underburbs, a tale of Halloween, montser worlds, and world domination, is their first comic series.
http://underburbs.deviantart.com

Jen Vaughn: Jen Vaughn is proud to attend the first Maine Comics Arts festival. As a transplanted Texan, she is enjoying her time at the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont. Stop by for a sketch or a copy of Supergrrrl Adventure Comix or her newest tiltle, 321.
http://www.the vaughncurse.com

More guests coming soon....