Profiles of RINGO AWARD Jurists For BALTIMORE COMIC CON

Ringo Awards Nominees, Jurors Guesting at Baltimore Comic-Con

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - September 27, 2022 - This year's Baltimore Comic-Con returns to the Inner Harbor's Baltimore Convention Center on October 28-30, 2022. The Baltimore Comic-Con is the host of the Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards (the Ringo Awards), and is excited to announce nominees and jurors who will be exhibiting as Guests at this year's event. Tickets for the show and limited tickets for the Ringo Awards banquet and ceremony are now available online.

Voting for the 2022 Ringo Awards Final Ballot wraps up Wednesday, September 28th. If you are a comics creative professional that has not yet voted, please go to our website at ringoawards.com to submit your ballot.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates about the event:

Andrew Aydin is creator and co-author of the graphic memoir series, March, which chronicles the life of Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis. Co-authored with Rep. Lewis and illustrated by Nate Powell, March is the first comics work to ever win the National Book Award. In 2019, Andrew joined with Kelly Sue Deconnick, Matt Fraction, Valentine DeLandro, and Vaughn Shinall to found Good Trouble Productions (GTP) to produce innovative nonfiction graphic novel and multimedia projects, including Run, a sequel series to the March trilogy, and Registered, a comic book for the New York City Department of Education about youth voting and distributed as part of the NYCDOE’s "Civics for All" curriculum, as well as "The Long March," a large-scale custom art installation and online experience for Ben & Jerry’s in Vermont.

In 30-plus years working in comics, Jim Calafiore has worked on Peter David's Aquaman, Judd Winnick's Exiles, Gotham Undergroundwith Frank Tieri, Red Lanterns with Charles Soule, various Batmanbooks, Deadpool, and Black Panther.  After a run on the critically-acclaimed Secret Six with Gail Simone, they reunited for their creator-owned success Leaving Megalopolis. He's currently working on his creator-owned supernatural-comedy saga, NED, Lord of the Pit. Jim served as a 2022 Ringo Awards juror.

Long-time friend of the show, Ringo, Harvey, and Eisner Award nominee, and guest since our inception in 2000 (!), artist and writer Steve Conley has contributed to numerous comic titles, both printed and on-line. His Astounding Space Thrills was self-published, published by Image Comics, and collected as a trade paperback by IDW. He has been featured in titles such as JLA-Z from DC Comics, Star Trek: Year Four from IDW, and Michael Chabon's Amazing Adventures of the Escapist from Dark Horse Comics. His self-published Bloop is available through his online store in print or soft copy editions, and you can find his Ringo and Eisner Award-nominated webcomic The Middle Age on his website, tapas.io, Line Webtoon, and GoComics, and hard copies and digital collections can be purchased from his online store.

Shawn Daley is a Toronto-based cartoonist and two-time Ringo Award nominee. Books include Better Place, TerraQuill, Samurai Grandpa, The Bridgebuilder's Creed, Lost Souls, and others.

Ryan Dunlavey is a cartoonist best known for drawing multiple non-fiction graphic novels, including the ALA and Xeric award-winning Action Philosophers, the best-selling The Comic Book History of Comics, and the four volume, multi-award-winning Action Presidentsseries - all co-authored with his frequent collaborator Fred Van Lente. The duo's most recent projects include Action Activists in partnership with the New York City Department of Education and The Comic Book History of Animation, which was successfully funded by a Kickstarter campaign before being acquired for mass-market publication by IDW. As a solo comics creator, Ryan has written and drawn The Secret Loves of Geeks for Dark Horse, G.I. Joe for IDW, Tommy Atomic for Royal Flush, Polidiocy for Webtoons, and M.O.D.O.K. Reign Delay for Marvel which was recently adapted as Marvel’s MODOK on Hulu. Ryan also co-authored the graphic novel cookbook Dirt Candy with chef Amanda Cohen (of Iron Chef Canada), now in its 8th printing. Outside of comics, Ryan is a graphics professional with 30 years of experience - he’s illustrated dozens of Tom & Jerry and Looney Tunes books, animated cartoons for the WWE, was a long-time graphic designer and illustrator for Wizard and ToyFare magazines, and created t-shirt graphics for The Children’s Place, Spencer's, and dozens of recording artists including Green Day, Bon Jovi, Guns & Roses, and The Allman Brothers. Ryan has also produced endless drawings of monsters and cute animals for his children (usually on-demand). He probably needs a nap.

Tony Fleecs is a prolific and critically acclaimed comic book creator. His work has sold hundreds of thousands of copies in the United States and has been translated and reprinted all over the world. Tony's creator-owned books include the Eisner Award-nominated Stray Dogs (2021), Jeff Steinberg: Champion of Earth (2016), In My Lifetime (2006), and Time Shopper (2022). You've seen Tony's art on some of your favorite titles like Star Wars, Avengers, Batman, TMNT, Rick & Morty, Transformers, and just a literal TON of My Little Pony.

Carla Speed McNeil is the author and artist of Finder. She started working in comics in 1997 and hasn't stopped since. She has also worked on a variety of projects like providing art for Queen & Country: Operation: Stormfront from Oni Press, adapted and drew Pendragon: The Merchant of Death (based on the prose book by D. J. MacHale) for Simon & Schuster, and drawn fan-favorite Frank Ironwine for Apparat/Avatar, as well as two pages of Transmetropolitan for DC/Vertigo, both by Warren Ellis. Bad Houses was released in 2013 by Dark Horse Comics, after which she began a long series of collaborations with writer Alex De Campi, including Ashes, My Little Pony (IDW), and No Mercy (Image) beginning April 2015. Other smaller projects have included drawing Legends of Red Sonja (Dynamite), the short story "Here. In My Head" (with writer Elizabeth Genco) for Comic Book Tattoo from Image, and shorts in notable anthologies such as The Sleep of Reason and Cautionary Fairy Tales of Africa. She has won an Eisner Award, Ignatz Awards, the Kim Yale New Talent Award from Friends Of Lulu, the L.A. Times Book Prize for graphic novel in 2012, and three Stumptown Comic Arts Awards. Carla served as a 2022 Ringo Awards juror.

Jarrett Melendez grew up on the mean, deer-infested streets of Bucksport, Maine. A longtime fan of food and cooking, Jarrett has spent a lot of his time in kitchens, oftentimes as a paid professional! Jarrett is a regular contributor to Bon Appetit and Food52, and is the author of The Comic Kitchen, a fully illustrated, comic-style cookbook. When not cooking and writing about food, Jarrett usually writes comic books and graphic novels, including Chef’s Kiss from Oni Press, and has contributed to the Ringo-nominated All We Ever Wanted, Full Bleed, and Murder Hobo: Chaotic Neutral. He is currently writing a graphic memoir for Oni Press. Jarrett lives in Somerville, MA, with his collection of Monokuro Boo plush pigs. Jarrett served as a 2022 Ringo Awards juror.

Chris Miskiewicz is an actor and graphic novelist. He's the writer of the Ringo Award-nominated graphic novel Grateful Dead Origins, which is the first approved biographical adaptation of the legendary rock band, the multi-award winning comic book series Thomas Alsop, voted best mini-series of the year for its English and Danish translated editions, the science fiction adventure This Is Where We Fall, and the upcoming biography, Elvis: The Graphic Novel. As an actor, Chris has appeared on CBS's Bull, HBO's Bored to Death, and USA Networks’ White Collar.

Steve Orlando writes and edits, including Virgil, Undertow, and stories in the Eisner Award-nominated Outlaw Territory and Eisner-winning Love is Love at Image Comics. As well, he launched 2015’s Midnighter and 2016’s Midnighter and Apollo, both nominated for GLAAD awards, and took part in Justice League of America, Batman and Robin Eternal, Doom Patrol: Milk Wars, Supergirl, Batman/The Shadow, and Wonder Woman for DC Entertainment, as well as The Shadow/Batman for Dynamite Entertainment, Namesake for BOOM! Studios, Crude for Skybound Entertainment, Dead Kings, Kill a Man, Rainbow Bridge, Party and Prey, and Project Patron for Aftershock Entertainment. His 2018 sold-out launch Martian Manhunter was one of Tor's Best Single Issues of 2018. In 2020, he returned to Image Comics with Commanders in Crisis, as well as The Pull, a headline release from TKO Studios. He launched the serial Starward with Heavy Metal in the same year, and in 2021, took over the magazine with the Boulet Brothers in the Boulet Brothers Heavy Metal Halloween Takeover. Outside of comics, he has been featured in Hello Mr. and National Geographic. In animation, he's worked with Man of Action Studios on season four of Ben 10, and in translation, has produced localizations for Arancia Studio’s Best-Selling Unnatural, Mercy, Sweet Paprika, and Deep Beyond at Image Comics, and Un/Sacred with Ablaze Publishing. In 2021, he debuted at Marvel Comics with Curse of the Man-Thing, as well as Magneto and the Mutant Force, Extreme Carnage, Star Wars: Life Day, and the relaunched Marauders. Steve is appearing at the Baltimore Comic-Con on Saturday and Sunday only.

Eric Powell is a five-time Eisner Award winning writer/artist best known for his creator owned series, The Goon, and most recently, his critically-acclaimed graphic novel, Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?, co-written by renowned true crime author Harold Schechter. Eric has worked for every major publisher in the comics industry as well as launching his own publishing company, Albatross FunnyBooks. Eric is currently developing a Goon animated feature film with producer, Tim Miller.

Fred Van Lente burst onto the scene with his first collaboration with cartoonist Ryan Dunlavey, Action Philosophers, which became a YALSA Best Book for Teens and the NYT called "intensely goofy but intellectually rigorous”. From there he went on to a long career at Marvel, where he worked on titles like The Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America, and Marvel Zombies. He’s also written for DC, Archie Comics, Dark Horse, BOOM! Studios, Dynamite Entertainment, and Valiant, where his run on Archer & Armstrong was nominated for a Harvey Award for Best Continuing Series. Van Lente has continued writing non-fiction graphic novels, often with his artistic collaborator Ryan Dunlavey, including the bestselling Comic Book History of Comics and the middle grade series Action Presidents. Two entries in the series were nominated for the Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards. In 2021, the third volume won the Theodore Roosevelt Association's Theodore Roosevelt Children’s Book Prize. After years of short story writing (including "Neversleeps,” which shortlisted for Best American Science Fiction), Van Lente graduated to prose novels with the acclaimed mysteries Ten Dead Comedians and The Con Artist. His Platinum Studios graphic novel Cowboys & Aliens was adapted into a film in 2011 starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, directed by Jon Favreau. The following year, Helen Cho, a character created with co-writer Greg Pak in their acclaimed Incredible Hercules series, made her MCU debut in the blockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron. His MODOK’s 11 and Scorpion became Hulu’s Marvel’s MODOK, which named the elementary school in the show after him. King Kirby, his play with Crystal Skillman about the life of the legendary comics artist Jack Kirby, was a New York Times Critics’ Pick on its NYC debut in 2014. It debuted as a much-acclaimed free audio drama podcast in 2020 featuring the original cast on the Broadway Podcasting Network. Starting as a 2020 pandemic lockdown hobby, Van Lente has a regular comics history column on the website 13th Dimension, where he tackles such burning topics of the day as Stan Lee’s legacy and which is better, Justice League or Fantastic Four? Of course, none of this should be confused with Fred Van Lente Day, the annual celebration of his work on the Comic Book Resources web site that has been happening since 2005...the year Action Philosophers first came out. Fred lives in Brooklyn with his wife, the playwright and his frequent co-collaborator Crystal Skillman, and some mostly ungrateful cats.

"That's a whole lot of talent in our room," said Marc Nathan, show promoter for the Baltimore Comic-Con. "The jurors alone raise the bar for the show, but adding in all of this year's nominees that are joining us as guests, you have an amazing array of talent to choose from as you work your way across the show floor. Engaging writers, fantastic artists, and thrilling storytellers all, this group of creators is sure to give the fans something new to love."

Tickets that are now on sale include: Weekend Friday only Saturday only Sunday only VIP As always, children 10 and under are free with a paid adult admission!

Click Here to Buy Tickets