Mattie Lubchansky is a cartoonist and illustrator. They are the former Associate Editor of the Eisner and Ignatz-winning publication The Nib, and the author of The Antifa Super-Soldier Cookbook and Boys Weekend. They live in beautiful Queens, NY.
Find everything at https://linktr.ee/lubchansky
TheStarfishface, aka Star, is an artist from central Texas who specializes in webcomics, illustration, and yelling passionately about her interests. She is most known for her series Castoff (http://castoff-comic.com/), a fantasy-adventure story about a group of magical misfits on the run from their problems (and the fantasy cops). She is also a YouTuber known for making art-related videos, including tutorials, her “Art + Storytime” series, artist alley and convention vlogs, and weekly drawing livestreams. Additionally, she is also the creator of the book How to Webcomic, an illustrated guide designed to help readers of all skill levels navigate the world of making online comics, as well as ½ of the podcast iDOL DAYS, and cast member/unofficial producer on D&D liveplay series What’s Left of Us.
Check out all her projects at https://thestarfishface.carrd.co/
Chesca Hause – Litterbox Comics: Born near London, England in the early 80’s, Chesca was always “The Cartoonist” at school and went to university for animation. She married Jeremiah (aka GhostHause) in 2009 and they moved to Austin, Texas. After becoming a mum to 2 boys, Chesca wanted to do something that combined cartoons with her newfound parenting knowledge. In 2018 she struck upon the idea of starting Litterbox Comics: A webcomic based on her family, but everyone is animals, because she hates drawing people!
Find Litterbox Comics on Instagram – Facebook – Twitter – Webtoon – New book on Amazon!
Ron Regé, Jr. began self-publishing his own minicomics in the early 1990’s. He has gone on to publish a dozen books, primarily with Drawn & Quarterly, and Fantagraphics Books.
Ron lives in Los Angeles, and his latest book, Shell Collection will be making its debut at STAPLE!
See more at Linktree Instagram Twitter
Dale Wallain is a designer, illustrator, writer, and the Art Director of FÖDA, an award-winning brand consultancy in Austin. He spent a whole entire decade drawing caricatures at an amusement park and a year as an editorial intern at Marvel Comics while attending Sarah Lawrence College. Dale holds an MFA in Design from the University of Texas and has served as an Adjunct Design Faculty member at St. Edward’s University. Though he is currently working in New York City, Los Angeles, Aspen, Houston, San Antonio & Menlo Park, his favorite shop, Austin Books & Comics, has kindly let him hang out on the payroll for nearly twenty years. Dale is a co-creator of the infinitely hiatal Misprint Magazine.
“Don’t Panic” Panelists
Robert Denton Bryant, MFA, is Director of the Video Game Development and Animation degree programs at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas. He has worked in Hollywood in development, marketing, and production, and in video games as both a publisher and a developer. He is the co-author (with Charles P. Schultz) of Game Testing All-In-One and (with Keith Giglio) of Slay the Dragon! Writing Great Video Games.
Evan Narcisse is the Senior Writer at Brass Lion Entertainment. He's worked as a screenwriter, producer,and narrative design consultant in video games, comic books, film, and TV, often focusing on theintersection of blackness and pop culture. As a journalist and critic, he wrote for The Atlantic, Time Magazine, Kotaku, and The New York Times, in addition to teaching game journalism at New York University and appearances as an expert guest on CNN and NPR. He's also the author of the Rise of the Black Panther graphic novel, Marvel's Black Panther: Wakanda Atlas, and The New Day: Power of Positivity. As a narrative design consultant, he's worked on Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Redfall, Marvel's Avengers, Gotham Knights, and the award-winning Dot's Home. He also served as story producer on the HBO Max documentary Milestone Generations, documenting the rise, fall, and rebirth of the groundbreaking black-owned comics company Milestone Media. A native New Yorker, he now lives in Austin, Texas.
Jennifer Bullard is a 25+ year industry professional as a producer in the video game, startup, and serious software industries. Her expertise is in building great teams who can build great games on time and on budget. As a regular interviewer for the hiring process she knows what teams are looking for, and more importantly what they are not looking for.
Paul Benjamin is a New York Times bestselling author who has written and produced comics and video games for diverse properties including Marvel characters such as Hulk, Spider-Man, and Wolverine, many DC characters in DC Universe Online, plus Disney Princesses, Star Wars, Star Trek, Starcraft, World of Warcraft, the Muppets, Monsters, Inc., G.I. Joe, and more. He is a contributing essayist in books about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, G.I. Joe, and others. His first prose short story appeared in The Protectors anthology. His original manga series Pantheon High was a YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens nominee. Paul is currently Narrative Director at Jackalyptic Games, working on an upcoming Warhammer MMO game. 
Kevin Garcia is a certified educator and professional writer whose work has appeared in the Associated Press and Marvel Comics. He gives a variety of workshops, moderates panels, and teaches journalism and graphic design at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy in Austin. His work can be found at www.KevinGarcia.com, www.Monomythic.com & www.kickstarter.com/projects/monomythic/worlds-war-comics/
INDIE TTRPG PANELISTS
Nate Southard is an author and filmmaker. His books include Bad Dogs, Porcelain, and Will the Sun Ever Come Out Again? His stories have appeared in such publications as Cemetery Dance and Nightmare Magazine, while his short films have screened at numerous festivals throughout the world.
Nate lives in Texas with his partner and a particularly fluffy dog. He teaches scriptwriting and film production at Austin Community College and The University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.
Nate loves fried chicken and would positively murder for some right now.
Marc Majcher is an award-winning game designer, performer, educator, director, woodworker, writer, and all-around goblin-man from Austin, Texas (relocating soon to Michigan due to *gestures wildly at everything*). In the last couple of decades, they have created RPGs and larps inspired by the works of Philip K Dick, the bird apocalypse, eldritch startup cults, viral videos, and much, much more. Their book of game poems was recently translated into Italian, and they are currently working on releasing a book that’s been languishing in google docs for about a decade. (Thanks, ADHD!) You can find their games at https://majcher.itch.io/ and everything else at https://majcher.com/ .
John Baltisberger is an award-winning author of speculative and genre fiction that often focuses on Jewish Elements. Through his writing, he has explored themes of mysticism, faith, sin, and personal responsibility. Known for his bizarre blend of Jewish mysticism and splatter, his work has spanned extreme horror, urban fantasy, science fiction, cosmic horror, epic verse, and non-fiction. He is the Creative Director at Madness Heart Games and has worked on such games as Odd Gobs, Splatter League, Mork Borg, Liminal_, Vast Grimm, and more. He can be found at http://linktr.ee/kaijupoet.
Jacob Hurst is an independent table top game designer from San Antonio, Texas. He created the ENnie award winning Hot Springs Island, has run a number of successful Kickstarter campaigns and has taken his games from zines to offset print runs. He writes, lays out and publishes table top RPGs.
POWERHOUSE ANIMATION PANELISTS
Currently the Background Art-Director for the Boutique department at Powerhouse Animation Studios, Chris Beaver has been drawing or animating professionally since 2008 across a wide range of projects and techniques. He can be a good guy to talk to when you’re not sure where you want to take an art-piece, but be prepared to listen to him go on about eye-lines. He also does a lot of figure-drawing to stay in practice, which currently includes running a monthly “CosSketchers!” cosplay + figure-drawing event at Dragon’s Lair Austin.
Beyond art & animation Chris loves his amazing wife and enjoys videogames, beer, coffeemaking, and TTRPG’s. He has a steadily-growing shelf of artbooks, and his idea of a great afternoon is sketching with friends on a brewery patio. He periodically remembers that he has socials, please pardon the dust – Instagram Facebook
Veronica Brodsky is a Production Assistant for Powerhouse Animation Studios. As someone who went to school for Math and Computer Engineering, art was something they were told to just have a side hobby. Still, they kept feeling the need to draw and create stories, and after getting fed up with the tech industry, they decided to go back to school for 2D Animation. Now they are working on Castlevania Nocturne and have finally found a job that scratches both the art brain and the tech brain. Tumblr Instagram
Pedro Henrique S. Cardoso is a Concept Artist and Illustrator with experience working in Feature and Series Animation, Video Game, and TableTop game projects. Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Pedro moved to the US to pursue his BFA in 2013. Currently he is working at PowerHouse Animation Studios as a Background Artist on Tomb Raider, and his work as Background Art Supervisor for Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Revolution has recently premiered on Netflix. Pedro’s credit’s include concept art work on Spyro the Reignited Trilogy and The Inventor feature film, and Illustrations for Dungeons and Dragons and Renegade Games. You can find more about his work on his website https://pedrohcardoso.
Mark-Ryan Magallanez is the Outsource Coordinator for Series and Boutique departments at Powerhouse Animation Studios. After completing his Radio-Television-Film degree at the University of Texas at Austin, Mark-Ryan enjoyed hustling around the film scene of Texas.
From script development, to camera-op, to post-production, he gained experience points by wearing many hats along the way. He loves the craft of producing creative content by bringing people together and organizing the sweet chaos of the entertainment industry. Now, Mark-Ryan spends his time scouring the interweb for talented collaborators, facilitating vendor relationships across the world, and managing the awe inspiring art of the powerful Powerhouse peeps.
In his spare time, he studies and writes scripts, reads physical books, watches old movies, and swims in the San Marcos river with his wife. He still loves to hold the camera. Instagram Twitter
Comics at St. Edward’s Panelists
Matt Rebholz is an artist, graphic novelist, and educator from Austin, TX where he teaches classes on comics and zines at St. Edwards University. He is a founding member of Austin’s ICOSA Collective and has exhibited work nationally and internationally, recently showing paintings at Cloud Tree (Austin, TX), Clamp Light (San Antonio, TX), and the Antenna Collective (New Orleans. LA). He wrote, illustrated, and self-published the psychedelic/sci-fi, cosmic/western graphic novel The Astronomer, a story of a lonely astronomer obsessed with uncovering the secrets of an ancient Yeti civilization.
www.mattrebholz.com https://www.instagram.com/rebholzjones/
Timothy Braun teaches Creative Writing at St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX. He has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, Djerassi, Santa Fe Art Institute, Edward F. Albee Foundation, and Ucross, as among others. His plays and operas have been produced at Lincoln Center, HERE Arts Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and The Ontological-Hysteric Theatre, among others. His 64 play cycle was produced by Surf Reality at Bowery Poetry and the Re/Mix festival. The New York Times, American Theatre Magazine, Huffingtonpost, Austin Monthly, The Texas Standard, and Austin Chronicle have published his essays. Braun is a member of Columbia University’s Digital Storytelling Lab, an alum of Forward/Story, and serves on the Board of Directors of Austin Bat Cave. More at timothybraun.com.
Travis H. Williams teaches Graphic Novels on Screen as part of the Freshmen Seminar at St. Edward’s University. He is an award-winning filmmaker with more than 30 credits to his name, a former associate producer of the Red Stick International Animation Festival, a member of the cosplay for charity group the Austin Ghostbusters, and he holds a master’s degree in Library & Information Science.
Daniel Lievens has taught Design since 2005. He came to St. Edward’s from Loyola University New Orleans, where he taught for 10 years, leaving as associate professor of design. In his practice, he designs books and other materials for cultural and artistic clients and projects, often centered around place. He also designs and develops websites for political initiatives and clients.
