Tony Akins
Current DC/Vertigo Comics penciller/ inker and concept artist. His recent work includes the multiple Eisner Nominated Jack of Fables. NewCity (Chicago) named him as Best Local Talent for 2007.He is also a founding member Chewy Software, a gaming development and contracting company.

Jeffrey Brown
Jeffrey Brown is the acclaimed Chicago cartoonist behind nearly a dozen independent graphic novels. His first book Clumsy was featured on NPR's This American Life, is in its 5th printing and has been translated into French, Spanish and Finnish.

www.margomitchell.com

Geof Darrow
Geof's extensive library of work includes a collaboration on the La Cité Feu portfolio with Moebiu, Hard Boiled, Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot with Frank Miller as well as work on Concrete, Transmetropolitan and Cross. He is credited as 'Conceptual Designer' on all three Matrix movies. His most recent work includes the self-penned Shaolin Cowboy and co-creator of Doc Frankenstein.

Gene Ha
Gene is best known for his work on Top 10 and Top 10: The Forty-Niners, the Batman graphic novel Fortunate Son, The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, Global Frequency and his many Wizard Magazine and Marvel covers.

www.geneha.com

Mike Huddleston
Mike is th co-creator and Artist of ONI’s Coffin. Mike Huddleston’s work has been featured in Image’s Deep Sleeper, DC’s Harley Quinn and Vertigo’s Mnemeovore. Mike’s most recent book was DC comics Man-Bat with Bruce Jones.

mikehuddleston.blogspot.com/

Brian Hurtt
Brian has debuted in 2002 in Queen & Country from Oni Press. He also penciled a run on Steve Gerber’s critically acclaimed Hard Time. He’s currently working with writer Cullen Bunn on their creator-owned series, The Damned, from Oni Press.

thehurttlocker.blogspot.com

Rich Koslowski
Rich is a self-published artists and writer. His books include the Eisner Nominated 3 Geeks, the Ignatz Award Winning Three Fingers, and the critically acclaimed graphic novel, The King.

www.richkoslowski.com

Matt Kindt
Matt is an award-winning graphic novelist whose most recent work, Super Spy, was named the 2007 Indie Book of the Year by Wizard magazine and made Booklist’s Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2008 and was nominated for 3 Harvey's and an Eisner Award.

www.supersecretspy.com

Don Kramer
Don Kramer has worked for both Marvel and DC, as well as independent projects. Titles at DC include a Doctor Fate miniseries, JSA, Batman, Detective Comics, Nightwing, 52, Hawkman and many more.

www.donkramerart.com

Andy Kuhn
Andy has been drawing comics for over 15 years. His work has included Marvel Adventures, Digimon, The Flash, Young Justice and Firebreather with Phil Hester. He was also the artist on Young Ancient One from Marvel's Epic imprint, a series written by Rob Worley.

kuhnart.blogspot.com

Jeff Lemire
Jeff is the Toronto based cartoonist behind the Eisner and Harvey nominated Essex County Trilogy published by Top Shelf. He is currently writing and illustrating the graphic novel, The Nobody, for DC Comics/Vertigo.

www.jefflemire.com

Sean McKeever
Since 2001, Sean has written dozens of comics for Marvel and DC Comics, including runs on Sentinel, Inhumans, Mystique, Marvel Adventures Spider-Man, Gravity, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, Birds of Prey and Teen Titans. Sean won the Eisner Award for Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition in 2005.

www.seanmckeever.com

Courtesy of Challengers comics

Christopher Mitten
Christopher is the current artist of the series Wasteland written by Antony Johnston and published by Oni Press. His previous projects include Past Lies, The Tomb, Last Exit Before Toll and Queen & Country: Declassified.

www.christophermitten.com

B. Clay Moore
Clay is a prolific writer whose works include Hawaiian Dick, Superman: Confidential, Battle Hymn, The Expatriate, JSA: Classified, and The Leading Man. Clay is also a founding member of the Kansas City based Atomic Revolver Studio.

bclaymoore.wordpress.com

Tony Moore
Tony has been in the business since 1999, when he started work on Battle Pope. Since then, he's lent his hand to books such as Masters of the Universe, Brit, the Eisner Award-nominated series The Walking DeadGhost Rider, and his creator-owned books Fear Agent and The Exterminators.

www.tonymooreillustration.com

Chris Moreno
Chris is the artist on the recently announced POP! The Darlings of America from IDW, as well as The Minions of Ka from Arcana, and Paul Jenkins' Sidekick from Image Comics as well as various creator-owned works.

www.chrismoreno.deviantart.com

Mike Norton
Mike is the co-creator of Gravity with Sean McKeever and an exclusive artist with DC Comics working on All New Atom, Green Arrow/Black Canary, Countdown to Final Crisis, Blue Beetle and DC's weekly series, Trinity.

www.ihatemike.com

David Petersen
David is the creator of the Mouse Guard series from A.S.P. He was the 2007 Russ Manning Award recipient for Most Promising Newcomer and in 2008, won the Eisners for Best Publication for Kids. David and his wife Julia reside in Michigan with their dog Autumn.

www.davidpetersen.net

Bill Reinhold
Bill has been drawing and inking comics professionally for 25 years, working for First Comics, Marvel Comics, and DC Comics. He’s drawn characters such as, The Badger, Punisher, Batman, the Silver Surfer and others.

http://billreinhold.deviantart.com

Chris Samnee
Chris' amazing art includes work on the Russ Manning Nominated Capote in Kansas, Queen and Country, The Exterminators, American Splendor, Checkmate, Daredevil and recently finished work on the Marvel MAX series Dead of Night: Devil Slayer with writer Brian Keene.

www.chrissamnee.com

Tim Seeley
Tim has illustrated a variety of comics, including Kore, G.I. Joe, G.I. vs. Transformers, and Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy. He is also the author of the comic HACK/Slash series, soon to be a major motion picture.

www.timseeley.com

Richard Starkings
Richard is the creator of Image Comics' sleeper hit Elephantmen and Hip Flask. Born and raised in England, he worked for 5 years at Marvel UK's London offices as editor, designer and occasional writer. Although he lettered Batman: The Killing Joke with a pen, Richard is perhaps best known for his work with the award-winning Comicraft design and lettering studio, which he founded in 1992 with John 'JG' Roshell.

www.hipflask.com

J. Torres
J. Torres is the writer of Wonder Girl, Teen Titans Go, and Ninja Scroll for DC Comics; Alison Dare, Days Like This, and Love as a Foreign Language for Oni Press; and the Degrassi: The Next Generation graphic novels for Simon & Schuster.

www.jtorresonline.blogspot.com

Skottie Young
Skottie is best known for his work on New Warriors, Human Torch, Spider-Man Legend of the Spider Clan and New X-Men. He's currently working on an adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for Marvel Illustrated, as well as various creator-owned projects.

www.skottieyoung.com

COMIC BOOK CREATORS

Sal Abbinanti
Educated at the University of Southern California, Sal Abbinanti (Sam to his friends) now lives and works on the north side of Chicago.Sal has worked as freelance penciller since 1999.His Creator owned Indy Title Atomika-God is Red has been his main focus since 2006

www.mercurycomics.com

Christian Alamy
Christian is French born and has been a professional comic book artist since 1988. He moved to the US in 1992 where he started a long collaboration with DC Comics, drawing and/or inking titles like Black Adam: The Dark Ages, Final Crisis: Requiem, Superman Beyond, Final Crisis and more recently Green Lantern.

Robert Atkins
Robert Atkins has worked as a penciler, inker and colorist within the comic industry. His most recent work includes the penciling chores on IDW's relaunch fo GI JOE! and the Ultimate Fantastic Four Requiem for Marvel.

www.robertatkinsart.com

Hilary Barta
Hilary is a veteran writer, penciler and inker. He has worked for Marvel, Dc, Eclipse, Dark Horse, Bongo Comics and others. He also likes to write limericks.

http://limoday.blogspot.com/

Jeremy Bastian
Scoundrel, bandit, defiler of the Omerta seas? Jeremy Bastian has been known as all three. With his creation of Cursed Pirate Girl, Bastian's 19th century style found a voice in the 21st century. Those tiny, tiny lines hold secrets, matey. Deep, dark waters.

www.jeremybastian.com

Sarah Becan
Sarah is the founder of Shortpants Press, a boutique independent small press dedicated to making unique, interesting, and really cool minicomics, zines, prints and art books, and fostering talent from new artists.

www.shortpantspress.com

Kyle Bice
Kyle is a Chicago based freelance artist who recently completed a set of Marvel Masterpieces III sketch cards for Upper Deck entertainment. Kyle is also working on various creator owned projects that will be released soon.

www.kylebice.com

Tony Breed
Tony Breed is the Chicago-based cartoonist, DJ, and designer responsible for the webcomic Finn and Charlie are Hitched.  If you asked him he'd tell you the internet is a great vehicle for independent voices of all kinds.

hitched.tonybreed.com

Neil Brideau
Neil enjoys sharing his enthusiasm for DIY comics. His self-published titles include The Trugglemat, Spitting Pennies, Alpha City Comics and What Is This?.

www.fromthewell.info

Steve Bryant
Steve is the creator of the indy sensation, Athena Voltaire. He has also worked on licensed properties for Lucasfilm's Star Wars and Indiana Jones, as well as Paramount's Star Trek and Sony's Men In Black.

www.athenavoltaire.com

Chris Burnham
Don't let the smile and the beard fool you, Chris was not a member of the folk rock group, America. He has however worked on Nixon's Pals, X-Men Divided We Stand 2, Fear Agent and Elephantmen.

www.chrisburnham.com

Katie Cook
After graduated from the College for Creative Studies in 2004 with a BFA in illustration, Katie's love of cartooning and comics has led to produce licensed work for DC, Marvel, Star Wars, HEROES, Lord of the Rings, and more.

www.katiecandraw.com

Josh Elder
Josh is the creator of the currently released manga Mail Order Ninja, which won the Rising Stars of Manga. Joshua is currently the artists on the DC Comics series, Batman Strikes.

www.joshelder.com

Franchesco!
Chicago comic book illustrator and creator of Xstacy. Contains artwork and pin-ups for Marvel, DC and independent comic book publishers

www.franchesco.com

Jenny Frison
Jenny illustrates the webcomics Chicago:1968. She is also a cover artist and has worked for titles such as Hack/Slash, Voltron: A Legend Forged, Kade, and The Dreamer.

www.jennyfrison.com

Alex Grecian
Alex has been published in several indy comics anthologies, including Negative Burn (Image) and one of the 24-Hour Comics books. He wrote the critically acclaimed original graphic novel, Seven Sons (AiT/Planet Lar) and he currently writes and letters the comic book series Proof (Image Comics).

www.alexandergrecian.com

Jason Howard
After years of drawing pictures for a variety of independent comic publishers, Jason Howard met up with writer Robert Kirkman in 2005. Together they created The Astounding Wolf-Man. Launched on Free Comic Book Day 2007.

www.jasonhoward.blogspot.com

Andy Jewett
A cartoonist living amongst the corn with his lovely wife and three children. Andy has been published by Top Shelf Productions, Arcana Studios, Dial R Studios, Silent Devil as well as others. HipHopScotch, is Andy's creator-owned one-man antholgy coming out in 2010.

www.andyjewett.com

Tom Kelly
Tom has worked produced art for Spin Master toys, Rittenhouse archives, Topps, Hasbro, EA sports, Wizards of the Coast, and Mattel. Tom’s illustrations have appeared in Black Petals magazine, Star wars Insider, Imagine Fx, Design Graphics, Tales of the Talisman, Thrasher, Wired and Time Out Chicago magazine.

Mike Kennedy
Mike is a seasoned (but not quite salty) video game producer who has also penned a decade's worth of comics, including several Star Wars mini-series, a growing number of Alien vs Predator books, Aeon Flux, Lone Wolf 2100, and Superman: Infinite City.

www.neurobellum.com

Scott Johnson
Scott's work has been commissioned by numerous publishers, including Marvel Comics, Wizards of the Coast, Games Workshop, Dragon Magazine, Palladium Books, White Wolf Publishing, TSR, FASA, and others.

www.scottjohnsonart.com

Doug Klauba
Doug has created cover art for Zorro, Doc Savage, The Spider, Kolchak: The Night Stalker and The Phantom for Moonstone. He is currently working on a variety of things for the Project: Superpowers series.

www.douglasklauba.com

Len Kody
Len's work includes the Cisco Kid: Gunfire & Brimstone miniseries and the forthcoming Cisco Kid vs. Wyatt Earp crossover, with Chuck Dixon and EricJ, from Moonstone Books. Currently, his weekly webcomic Chicago:1968 is a featured strip at the Image/Shadowline site.

www.lenkody.com

Andrew Mitchell Kudelka
Video Game Artist, Illustrator and Writer, Andrew has worked in Comics, Collectable Card Games and RPG publications as well as XBOX and PS3 consoles. He's worked with EA Games, Midway, Studio Gigante, Marvel, DC, Comico/Northstar and White Wolf.

http://amkudelka.com/

Zach Kruse
Zack is a young writer who is making his first strides into comics. He is the creator of The Contingent, the upcoming webcomic Mystery Solved!, and the upcoming graphic novel Two Evils.

www.hardcastleindustries.com

Adam Withers & Comfort Love
Adam Withers and Comfort Love are a husband and wife creative team who both write, draw, and color the new comic The Uniques.

www.uniquescomic.com

Tony Maldonado
A Freelance Cartoonist that has done work as a comic, and storyboard artist, character designer, and game animator. He Currently Illustrates the WebComic "Lab Bratz" with Ed Dunphy.

www.thelonelyricechronicles.blogspot.com

Bernie McGovern
Bernie McGovern paints and lives in Chicago where he is surrounded by people he loves. His comic work includes Frederick Cooper, Light of the World (Top Shelf 2.0 2008) An Army of Lovers will be Beaten (Short Pants Press 2007 & in progress)

www.rockwellfarmer.com

Kevin Mellon
Kevin is a graduate of the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Arts. He debuted in 2007 with Gearhead. Since then he has gone on to do various other projects including Thirteen Steps and The Athiest Vol. 2 with writer Phil Hester. In 2008, Gearhead was optioned by Gale Anne Hurd and Vallhalla productions for adaptation into film.

Jose Mesarina
Jose is the creator, writer, and artist of the " Unbelievable Laundry Detergent Man " comics. Also a freelance artist whose work has appeared in The Nitty Gritty Newspaper, and the Chicago Journal.

www.myspace.com/uldmcomics

Jason Millet
Jason is a colorist and illustrator who has worked for DC, Dark Horse, Devil's Due, and more. His most recent work can be seen in Munden's Bar and Rex Mundi as well as on the upcoming Pilgrim series with Mike Grell.

www.jasonmillet.com

Moritat
MORITAT, a.k.a. “Justin Norman,” has suffered from kidney stones, carpal tunnel syndrome and had his gall bladder removed during the course of the Elephantmen series. He is also still recovering from being the artist of Stray Moonbeams, Attractive Forces, The 3rd Degree and Solstice.

Jim Nelson
Jim is a Chicago-based illustrator whose work has appeared on games like Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, VS., the World of Warcraft trading card game, as well as comics and children's books.

www.theispot.com/artist/jnelson

Rafael Nieves
Rafael is a 20 year vet in the comics field. His credits include Hellstorm: Prince of Lies for Marvel, The Phantom, Vampire: The Masquerade, and Mr. Moto for Mooonstone, and adaptations of Nosferatu and Edgar Allan Poe's The Bells for Caliber.

www.rafwrites.blogspot.com

Tom Ngyuen
Tom has done inkwork on many major titles for DC including Batman, JLA, Superman: The Man of Steel, and Final Crisis among others. He has also penciled Green Lantern Corps, Ghostbusters (IDW), and Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters.

www.tomnguyenart.com

Mike Oliveri
Mike works in front of a computer all day, then goes home and writes on a computer all night
(and his optometrist loves him for it). He lives in rural Illinois with his wife, 2.5 kids, and dog.
You can learn more about Mike and his various projects at www.mikeoliveri.com.

Andrew Pepoy
Andrew Pepoy is celebrating his 20th anniversary in the business as an artist and writer with nominations in this year’s Eisner, Hugo, and Inkwell Awards. He is the inker on Jack of Fables and (sometimes) Fables for Vertigo/DC and on various Simpsons and Futurama comics for Bongo Comics.

www.pepoy.com

Will Pfeifer
Recently, Will finished up writing his extended run on Catwoman for DC Comics. He has worked on many titles including Finals, Blue Beetle and Wonder Woman. e recently published Late Nights at Kinkos, a 200-plus page collection of a decade's worth of self-published comics.

www.xrayspex.blogspot.com

Grant Reynolds
Grant Reynolds thinks drawing is pretty fun. He lives in Chicago and he will have turned 30 only one week before the comicon.

www.myspace.com/grantreynolds

Robbi Rodriguez
Robbi is the co-creator of Hero Camp with Greg Thompson and Russ Lowery and Oni Press's Maintenance with Jim Massey. Also Robbi was the artist on Images Comics' Night Club, Hazed and Tek Jansen from Oni Press.

http://robbirodriguez.blogspot.com/

Erik Rose
Erik is a Chicago illustrator who has done work for White Wolf, Troma Films and is the artist of the geriatric serial killer book The Roberts published by Image/Shadowline . He has just completed a series of illustrations for The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers due out in October

www.erikrose.com

Brent Schoonover
Brent is the artist and co-creator of the hit series Horrorwood, published by Ape Entertainment ion 2006. His other works include Dead@17: Rough Cuts Vol. 2, and various sketch card series for Marvel, Star Wars and others.

www.brentschoonover.com

Ryan Stegman
Ryan started his career drawing covers for "Midnight Kiss" and Markosia. He then moved on to Marvel as the artist for "Magician Apprentice" and later "Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man". He is currently working on wrapping up the "Magician: Apprentice" series.

mac.com/ryanstegman.net

Tom Stillwell
Tom is the creator and writer of the all-ages superhero title Honor Brigade. His future projects include Jackpot, Everyday Heroes, Underneath, Monkey Underground, and the Unscrewed! charity anthology.

www.spinnerrackcomics.com

Gregory Titus
Greg is a Chicago Native illustrator who has worked for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image, Hasbro, Mattel, Burton Snowboards, Sobe Juice, Walden Media, Lucasfilm and more. He is currently working on a graphic novel and children's book.

www.gregorytitus.com

Dave Wachter
Dave is the artist and co-creator of the series Scar Tissue. His work has appeared in Fiendish Fables, PKD Media Presents and he is the artist on Tell Them Johnny Wadd is Here for Terminal Press. The Guns of Shadow Valley, his new epic adventure webcomic, debuts this summer.

www.davedrawscomics.com

Alex Wald
As art director for First Comics, Alex worked with numerous comics megastars on books like Shatter and Lone Wolf and Cub. He recieved a 2008 Eisner Award nomination for Best Colorist (Shaolin Cowboy).

www.alexwald.com

Shane White
Shane is a Northwest based cartoonist whose 2005 graphic novel, North Country put him on the map. Since then his work has appeared in Fear Agent, Hawaiian Dick, Comic Book Tattoo and 5 issue saga, The Overman. Things Undone is his latest OGN.

www.shanewhite.com