This panel features Eric Reynolds, VP/Associate Publisher of premier comics and graphic novel publisher Fantagraphics Books, Megan Kelso, author and comics conference organizer, and comics legend Diana Schutz. They will discuss the past, present, and future of comics in the US, in a conversation moderated by UNLV Creative Writing Program alum, Charlie Joy.
Eric Reynolds is the Vice-President and Associate Publisher of Seattle’s Fantagraphics Books. He has edited books by a Who’s Who of contemporary graphic novelists, including Daniel Clowes, Charles Burns, Joe Sacco, Ellen Forney, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, and Megan Kelso, as well as luminaries including Jack Black, Maria Bamford, and Robert Pollard. His writing has appeared in The Comics Journal, Juxtapoz, The Stranger, and elsewhere, and he is co-author of the book Michael Dormer and the Legend of Hot Curl. He is an Eisner and Inkpot Award winner for his contributions to the medium of comics.
Megan Kelso has been drawing comics for over 30 years. In 2007, she was invited by The New York Times to serialize her “Watergate Sue” comic as part of the weekly “Funny Pages” feature. In 2019, she was selected for a public art commission for Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Her books include The Squirrel Mother (2006), Artichoke Tales (2010), Queen of the Black Black (2011), and Who Will Make the Pancakes: Five Stories (2022). She lives in Seattle, WA with her husband and daughter.
Diana Schutz is an award-winning editor who began working in comics in 1978, becoming an editor in 1981. After editorial stints at both Marvel Comics and Comico, she became senior executive editor at Dark Horse Comics, where she was on staff from 1990 to 2015. She was Frank Miller’s editor on Sin City and 300, Matt Wagner’s editor on Grendel, Stan Sakai’s editor on Usagi Yojimbo, Harvey Pekar’s editor on American Splendor, and Larry Marder’s editor on Beanworld. The first woman to be inducted into the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame, Schutz was also honored with the Eisner Comics Industry Hall of Fame Award in 2023.