Many of us (hopefully) will ever run afoul of the law, but have you ever considered what the “perfect crime” is? Is it an instance of clever counterfeiting? Is it exposing con men for fleecing their unwitting flock? Would it be protesting the world’s injustice? Or would it involve malice, murder, and monsters?
These questions and more are explored in Perfect Crime Party, the newest comic creation from Iron Circus Comics. Crowdfunding via BackerKit, the 300+ page full-color anthology includes contributions from a bevy of brilliant comic creators who spin stories following folks who attempt to allude the law in their own unique ways, all to varying results. The talent on this tome is stacked and, judging, by the story descriptions of the comic’s contributions, readers should be treated to a sometimes-scandalous good time. I had the chance to speak with Amy Chase, Bevan Thomas, David Brothers, Illuminated, John Konrad, Mariah McCourt, Nathaniel Wilson, Nick Mamatas, Reetta Linjama, Rodrigo Vargas, Tayson Martindale recently about their own stories in Perfect Crime Party. We’re in for a ride! Read on!
Perfect Crime Party cover
FreakSugar: What can you tell us about your contribution to Perfect Crime Party?
Amy Chase: I am part of the team behind “Play It Again,” which is a vampire heist story that serves as our love letter to monsters and their humanity. When an immortal punk rocker finds a precious piece of his personal history has landed in the hands of a celebrity collector, he’ll do everything in his supernatural power to get it back. Tango and I co-created the pitch, co-wrote the script, and Tango did the artwork, which then received colors by Xenon Honchar and letters by Noah Stephens.
Bevan Thomas: “The Good Word” was written by me and illustrated by my wife Reetta Linjama. It’s about a snake oil salesman who hangs out in small-town Mississippi, selling a “healing” elixir he claims God gave to the Biblical prophets. It’s a story of how someone can exploit people’s expectations and faith, how easily a crime can unravel, and how the person who can tell the best story is often the person who wins.
David Brothers: I’m David Brothers, and Alissa Sallah and I made “Polyphonic Funk: My Outlaw Melody” together. It’s the story of Melody, a young woman who has a very short period of time to become a successful part of the underworld of Wellston, her hometown. Melody’s mother wants her to go to college, or else, while her father—who is at this point in time a ghost—thinks it might be cool to help his daughter follow in the footsteps of her criminal genius parents. We take a look at a crime that may just make Melody’s day and get her mom off her back.
Illuminated: “Psikotika Will Strike at Midnight” is a pastiche and parody of the Italian Fumetto Nero comics from the sixties. Those were violent crime comics centered around criminals, often masked, often with a K-filled name committing heinous crimes.
John Konrad: My name is John Konrad, and my story is “Darling Doesn’t Know,” a noir screwball comedy set during the Golden Age of Hollywood. It’s about a celebrity couple that resort to murder to inherit each other’s fortunes. What they don’t realize is that both of them are flat broke.
Mariah McCourt: I’ve had the immense pleasure to write a little vengeance tale PRYM & BURN for the wonderful, charismatic, badass, Jules Rivera to draw. Jules really ran with this historical drama and I hope people get the same intense sense of righteous revenge that I got seeing the pages come in.
Nathaniel Wilson: My name is Nathaniel Wilson, and I wrote and drew “Plague of the Living Rest Benches. I was trying to channel the idea, “What if David Cronenberg tried to make something warm and fuzzy?” A scientist tries to combat the mayor’s removal and defilement of rest benches by bioengineering big, gross, caterpillar-looking living benches that spread throughout the city.
Nick Mamatas: “The Twenty-One Foot Rule” was originally a prose short story I wrote; it was published in 2023 in the first issue of a new magazine called Dark Yonder. While chatting with co-workers about the call for submissions, I shared the story with several of them who are artists, and that one clicked. I adapted the story into an eight-page script and Jules Valera did a wonderful job on every aspect of the visual experience, from pencils to letters.
Reetta Linjama: I’m really excited to have drawn my first crime comic from my spouse Bevan Thomas’ script. It’s about an irrepressible conman trying to profit from religion with a plot twist and hopefully lots of laughs.
Rodrigo Vargas: It’s a comic called “Spirit Duplicator,” it’s about a group of kids fighting the kings of trading card games through counterfeit cards. They fight. With cards!
Tayson Martindale: My story is a Clue-style murder mystery whodunnit set in the North Pole! Bluedolph, Santa’s latest hotshot reindeer, has been murdered. And it’s up to Bruce Justice, the world’s leading expert in Mythical Homicide, to find the killer.
FreakSugar: Why did you land on the crime that you chose to focus on in your story?
Amy Chase: From the first moment of pitching, there was never any doubt that Tango and I wanted to do something with a vampire. We’re both huuuuge Buffy fans, and that’s kind of how we initially connected. When thinking about vampire lore and powers, we felt that the traditional weaknesses/repellants made for an engaging “obstacle course” which naturally evolved into a break-in and heist scenario. The idea that his personal property from decades past was the prize solidified that idea for us.
Bevan Thomas: I was rereading the classic Great Brain children’s stories by John D. Fitzgerald, about a preteen con artist in 1890s small-town Utah, when I heard about Perfect Crime Party. To me, “light-hearted crime” means some sort of clever con, like in the Great Brain series, instead of a brutal mugging or murder. It’s a crime that prioritizes cunning over violence.
David Brothers: Having a lead who wasn’t sure what crime would be best for her felt like a cool situation to explore. I wanted us to play to Alissa’s interest in cars, and walk through baby’s first heist, for lack of a better phrase. This is Melody finding her groove.
Illuminated: Rather than the crime, my story focuses on the big personalities committing it and trying to prevent it. Just like the comics I’m referencing and paying homage to, the real focus is on the rivalry between the masked criminal and the lone and often hapless authority figure trying to vanquish them.
John Konrad: Plotting to kill your spouse for money is about as classic as criminal motivations come. I knew I wanted to do something inspired by old Hollywood noir films, and murder plots factor into those films a lot. Choosing a crime and a motivation readers were familiar with allowed me to establish expectations, which I could then subvert for comedic effect.
Mariah McCourt: I have loved Agatha Christie, especially Miss Marple, since I was a kid watching Masterpiece Theater with my grandparents. So a call for the perfect “cozy” crime just kind of screamed historical murder plot to me!
Nathaniel Wilson: One of the suggestions in the call for entries was “acts of protest that are technically illegal.” I live in NYC where hostile architecture seems more present in the landscape every day. It’s pretty gross seeing the city prioritize making unhoused people unwelcome and unsafe over actually solving the problems constructively while also making the city a less pleasant place for everyone here.
Nick Mamatas: I train in a martial art and adjacent to martial arts is always the question of self-defense and law enforcement. I read about the so-called twenty-one foot rule, which is basically a folk belief: police will tell you that within twenty-one feet, a person with a hidden knife can pull it out, rush them, and stab them to death, before they’d have a chance to draw their own sidearm and “stop” the attacker. It’s a reason given when police shoot suspects who are later proven to have been unarmed. Very convenient.
Reetta Linjama: I can’t speak to the script. Obviously scam pollution is something I hate in real life. It makes me wish I didn’t even own a phone. From my perspective, ’The Good Word’ is partly a wish-fulfillment comic, where I got to imagine a scammer who’s in it for the showmanship as much as for the returns. I relate to a performer’s pride.
Rodrigo Vargas: This story is based on an offer a classmate once gave me. He tried to convince me to trade one of my Pokémon Cards for one that he hand drew on a piece of notebook paper. I didn’t take the deal, but he made some valid points.
Tayson Martindale: I’ve always loved those locked room whodunnits where a cast of characters are stuck in a mansion getting knocked off one by one. It’s fun to play along and try to solve the mystery as the story goes on, and making this comic I discovered it’s just as fun to plot one!
FreakSugar: It sounds like contributing to the anthology was a blast. What kinds of creative muscles does a project like this allow you to stretch?
Amy Chase: I am a huge believer in story economy, and anthologies are a great place to flex short ideas that you might otherwise not get to use elsewhere. Giving readers a collection of short, varied tales is always a lot of bang for the buck. And with the theme of lighthearted crime, we were able to keep it fun and stylish without getting too bogged down in the realities of forensics, the legal system, and other elements of reality that would make it hard to suspend disbelief.
Bevan Thomas: I normally write comics with a more fantasy or horror vibe to them, so a crime story forced me to explore a genre very different to what I’m used to. It was an intriguing experience to focus on building a con instead of building a supernatural world.
David Brothers: Personally, I got to spend a lot of time imagining how Alissa might draw something, describing that scene on the page, and then being extremely pleasantly surprised by how she executed it for the story in real life. I don’t draw comics, so a big part of the joy, maybe the biggest part of the joy, for me as a writer is seeing how collaborators do their side of things. Thinking of various crimes isn’t too tough, but tailoring a heist to your friend’s strength—that’s where the real challenge is.
Illuminated: Short stories in general are hard to pull of but rewarding. Brevity is the soul of wit, and having only six pages means you don’t have time to waste and must get to the good parts immediately.
John Konrad: Creators innovate the most when they’re given constraints, so being constrained to the theme of “the perfect crime” pushed me in directions I might not have gone in otherwise. It can also be challenging writing a short, self-contained story knowing it will be read alongside other stories. You’re challenged to be more economical with storytelling and to set yourself apart in some way.
Mariah McCourt: I’ve always wanted to tell a cozy mystery but up until now there hadn’t been an opportunity. I love working in horror and spooky supernatural settings but there was something so freeing and exciting about being able to tell a grounded tale that could have actually happened.
Nathaniel Wilson: It definitely gives cause to explore ideas outside of what I normally work on. Comics take so long to make that I think it’s easy for a given artist alone in their workspace to chew the same creative cud for very long stretches. And if the tone is a change from your usual, you can let the form follow. This is lighter subject matter than my regular work, and I definitely wanted to use color more with this story than is usual for me.
Nick Mamatas: I’ve done only a few comics scripts, and never had the chance before to adapt one of my own already-extant stories, and into just a few pages. So it was a great exercise for me, and even got me interested in writing one-act plays. The comic page allows for a sort of simultaneity that cannot happen in a short story — you can look at and get a sense of a whole page worth of panels at once, but can only read one paragraph at a time. I liked being able to play with omniscience, a “flash forward” running across every page, and other tricks.
Reetta Linjama: I loved getting to draw a story about an in-person confidence scam because you get to draw characters trying to put on a persona that’s totally different form who they actually are. Character acting is an endlessly fascinating challenge. I always have to be on my toes while drawing backgrounds — I think this project was an exercise in how minimalist I could go with set design without annoying everybody.
Rodrigo Vargas: I worked on this story with Coni Yovaniniz, and we have a very special way of collaborating on comics. We try to hide the seams of where one’s job ends and the other’s start. In the end, we really make an effort to make the comics feel 100% me and 100% them. That makes 200%, and if it defies the laws of math, you know that’s a good comic.
Tayson Martindale: It was! There are two very diverse creative muscles it worked in me. One was the ability to create from a blank slate and just throw everything onto the page; the other was learning how to add constraints to that creativity. Because there’s a limited page count to tell this story and introduce these characters, so you have to be concise in your storytelling. Working with Kel McDonald editing was wonderful and really helped me sharpen my storytelling.
FreakSugar: The stories of the anthology discuss crime through various lenses. What do you attribute to our continued fascination with why people commit crimes? Why do you think some criminals are weirdly admired or mythologized?
Amy Chase: I think there’s an element of wish fulfillment in a very base form, as well as the psychological excitement of experiencing something “you’d never do in real life” reading crime fiction. Crime procedurals are another great example of this, combining a cerebral experience with the voyeurism of watching someone else break the law and how they got away with it. I’m personally not a fan of true crime and serial killers, but I understand why some people would be fascinated with this type of stuff that seems so unreal in a sense, and yet is very real, impactful, and often frightening. A weird side note, the closest I’ve ever come in real life to being crime-adjacent was that my childhood orthodontist was eventually arrested for criminal activity and became locally notorious for robbing a string of banks. He also messed up my braces, but that was before the banks.
Bevan Thomas: As a whole, we greatly admire ingenuity and independence, and often feel frustrated with the restrictions society places upon us. Thus, we are intrigued by someone willing to break society’s restrictions to get what they want, as long as they do it with creativity and style. All of us have a ruthless, criminal side, and crime stories hold a mirror up to that, making us wonder if one day we might be forced to take the same steps that those criminals do. And would we enjoy it?
David Brothers: Everyone wants to tell their parents, their boss, or their government “No, that’s not fair” at some point, right? To receive more than we have been given, to stop accepting being treated this way or that? Crime stories are a good way to explore those feelings, a light trip down various perspectives on human nature or pure adventure. It’s one of the most human genres out there to me, extremely relatable and full of potential even still.
Illuminated: It’s escapism I think, like everything else, as long as it’s fiction, it’s safe and it’s ok. In fantasy, we enjoy tales of Dragons, even though we are aware they don’t exist. For crime comics, we know nobody is actually getting hurt, so we’re admiring the twisting of social norms from afar.
John Konrad: Most people’s lives are boring and exist within the narrow parameters of acceptable behavior. I think that’s why we’re naturally drawn to rebels, outcasts, and criminals. We can live vicariously through them, whether we think they’re in the right or not.
Mariah McCourt: Since I set our story in Edinburgh, Scotland, this is a great question. Edinburgh has a notorious history with criminals that was at least partly an inspiration for our tale. Just the general vibe of “anything could happen here and probably did”. I think that it often depends on the crime, whether a criminal is admired or not. Usually if a criminal is, in some way, standing up for injustice or exploiting an unequal system, that can be cathartic.
To get real world serious for a moment, most crime comes from inequity and people needing to survive. And more often than people would like to admit, people can be in circumstances where they have no other choice. That’s definitely where I was coming from with our story, what circumstances people might be in where you would not only understand what they do, but even root for them.
Nathaniel Wilson: Everyone in large and small ways probably feels circumscribed by laws or the judgements of others, or by their own standards of acceptable behavior even. Vicariously living through characters who throw off their restraints to pursue what they want or just to live life on their own terms is pretty powerful. That could be a classic hero story like Robin Hood, or the gangster movie Goodfellas where almost every character just deeply sucks as a human being, but we’re fascinated.
Nick Mamatas: Crime is just a type of social trespass, and social rules and conformity can be just as dangerous as rule-breaking, so crime fiction is a great way to explore the limits of what is actually acceptable versus what is legally acceptable. Criminals are often especially audacious and the ones that become famous are as charismatic as any other kind of leader, so they’re ripe for mythologizing. If that sounds awful, consider that almost all national leaders are responsible for many more deaths through war than even the most vicious criminals.
Reetta Linjama: The line between different sides of the law is so fickle. I don’t think you can help imagining what would make you go over the edge, or what would happen if something you’re accustomed to doing or being was suddenly considered a crime. Maybe the most enduring crime stories are either ones where the criminal was righteous and eventually vindicated, effecting change for many people, or ones where the criminal’s actions were so clearly against our collective decency that hearing those stories kind of reinforces that at least most people still share moral beliefs, exceptions proving the rule.
Rodrigo Vargas: I don’t know. Crime and criminals are weird. We love criminals so much, some of them become presidents. VABOOM!
Tayson Martindale: I think part of it is we like seeing justice happen — the wrong righted, the loose end tied, the mystery solved. Crime stories can scatch that itch. As for why some criminals seemed to be admired/mythologized, I think it’s because we almost turn them into caricatures and bigger than life characters. We give them catchy nicknames and ogle at their elaborate plans. I think it’s partly similar to why we enjoy professional wrestling and soap operas and musical theater.
FreakSugar: If you could pull off your own perfect crime, what would it be?
Amy Chase: Is it a crime to steal from yourself? I’d need a time machine, because I need to go back and steal my old Bionicles collection from myself before I gave it all to Goodwill. I don’t care if it creates a time paradox, but it’s one of the biggest darn regrets of my adult life.
Bevan Thomas: Something dramatic and ostentatious. Maybe some really dramatic prank that everyone would notice, such as graffiti a hundred feet tall.
David Brothers: Robbing banks has been pushed out of style, unfortunately, so I’ve been wondering that myself lately. Maybe one last bank safe, for old time’s sake? A way of saying farewell to one of the core heists of American crime…
Illuminated: I don’t know, but it would involve stealing enough money to dedicate every waking moment of my life to making comics, without having to think about anything else.
John Konrad: I’ve read a lot of news articles on museum heists, and it seems like museum security isn’t all that great. There are lots of potential angles I (or anyone else) could use to steal artifacts. If I walked in wearing a uniform and acted like I belonged in the restricted areas, or if I caused a distraction, I think I could slip away with some loot.
Mariah McCourt: I am kind of annoyingly law-abiding in real life! I think the worst thing I ever did was accidentally skip out on a check, which I went back and paid the next day. I would be a really terrible criminal.
Nathaniel Wilson: I would cover the Vessel at Hudson Yards in papier-mâché and then cultivate cattle-sized wasps that would live in it as a nest. Because that’s what New York needs. More giant bugs.
Nick Mamatas: Maybe I already have! So clearly I must keep my lips sealed.
Reetta Linjama: To me a perfect crime would be a crime that nobody even knows happened. Leaving a replica, undetectable poison, strangers only, absolutely no returning to the scene… It would almost have to be committed for the sake of the crime rather than for personal reasons, to leave as few connections to me as possible. I would do something spur-of-the-moment.
Rodrigo Vargas: Did you see that previous answer I just did? Perfect crime.
Tayson Martindale: I’m not too sure, but it would somehow culminate with me on my couch surrounded by cats, mugs of tea, and copious amounts of books and graphic novels.
As of press time, the BackerKit for Perfect Crime Party is over a third of its way to its funding goal, with 31 days left in the campaign. Make sure to check it out and delve into the craft of criminality like never before!
From the official press release about the campaign:
Spike Trotman’s Iron Circus Comics — the premiere publisher of award-winning, critically-acclaimed graphic novels in the American Midwest, which has raised nearly 5 million dollars via crowdfunding — is launching a BackerKit campaign to publish PERFECT CRIME PARTY, a full color 300+ page anthology containing 25 light-heart tales of criminal activity from over 40 incredible creators as well as a cover by Jeff Smith (Bone). From club-style murder mysteries to anxious teens hijinx to acts of protest, PERFECT CRIME PARTY asks the immortal questions: What’s the perfect crime? And what do you think you could get away with?
“PERFECT CRIME PARTY is the platonic ideal of the Iron Circus anthology,” said Iron Circus Founder Spike Trotman. “A cool idea, tossed at incredibly creative people, who are left to do with it what they will! The results are always so fun and unexpected.”
PERFECT CRIME PARTY has quite the wanted list in its line up:
Bluedolph the Dead Nose Reindeer by Tayson Martindale – Someone has murdered one of Santa’s Reindeer and there is only one detective who can find out which perp belongs on the naughty list!
By The Horns by Malcolm Derikx & Brenna Baines – Teens in ancient Greece plan to save their favorite bull for a sacrificial alter.
Darling Doesn’t Know by John Konrad – Two celebrities think murder is an easier solution to their problems than divorce.
Grand Theft Octo by Kate Ashwin & Claude TC – This set of thieves is gonna rob the most expensive casino in the galaxy!
Joke Theft by Henry Barajas & Kit Mills – A joke thief makes the perfect set.
Play It Again by Tango, Amy Chase, Xenon Honchar, & Noah Stephens – A vampire wants to recover memorabilia of his old band for a music collection.
Polyphonic Funk: My Outlaw Melody by David Brothers & Alissa Sallah – A delinquent plans a car heist with the help of her dead father’s ghost.
Prym and Burn by Mariah McCourt & Jules Rivera – Without easy access to divorce, women in Victorian London need to find other ways to free themselves from abusive husbands.
Psikotika Will Strike At Midnight by Illuminated – A detective tries their best to stop a grand theft they were warned was coming.
Racked by Chuck Harp, Luis Santamarina, & Rob Jones – When your crimes need art supplies, the answer is more crime.
Reap What You Sow by Ale Green & Fanny Rodriguez – Gorilla gardening is the best solution to beautify the neighborhood and help native plants.
Sideswiped by Chris Sebela & Kendall Goode – A sap finds out his first date was a set up.
Sincerely A Lady by Molly Muldoon & Caitlin Like – A new wardrobe reveals a history of sneaking, spying, and gossip.
Smugglers Abroad by Michelle Gruppetta & Fleur Sciortino – A family tries to get the best chocolate over the border.
Spirit Duplicator by Rodrigo Vargas & Coni Yovaniniz – Fraud and theft are the only ways to stop this card-playing bully.
The Cloud Thief by Erin Roseberry – A witch needs to steal some clouds to make it rain.
The Crime Beat by Van Jensen & Neal Obermeyer – An underpaid journalist takes revenge on their boss.
The Good Word by Bevan Thomas & Reetta Linjama – A snake oil salesman meets his match in a small town.
The Heist by Amy Chu & Anderson Cabral – In a world where paper is rarer than gold, a thief must break into the most heavily guarded building in town: the library.
The Ninth Life of Tabitha Tuxedo by James F Wright & Jackie Crofts – Tabitha Tuxedo conducts an elaborate jailbreak for their partner in crime.
The Plague of the Living Rest Benches by Nathaniel Wilson – Scientist and unethical experiments have led to the sidewalks of the world being deadly.
The Swinevald Pearl by Ben Coleman & Cat Farris – All the security in the world won’t stop this otter from getting his pearl.
The Twenty-One Foot Rule by Nick Mamatas & Jules Valera – A fake and deadly duel turns out to be not so fake after all.
Trevor n Derrick Le Debacle de Fromage by Matylda McCormack-Sharp – A mouse is determined to get its favorite cheese all to itself.
Written Off by Ryan Estrada & Axur Eneas – A movie crew aims to steal the rights back from the corporation that is ruining their movie.
The campaign will feature multiple tiers for backers, including a digital version of the book, a print version of the book featuring additional art, and a bundle featuring all of Iron Circus’s previous general anthologies, including Sleep of Reason, New World, Timrous Beastie, FTY Ya’ll, Failure to Launch, and the Eisner-award-winning You Died!
To support the campaign on BackerKit, visit this link: https://www.backerkit.
com/c/projects/iron-circus- comics/perfect-crime-party? ref=PR For updates, follow Iron Circus Comics on X, Facebook, and Instagram.
About the publisher
C. Spike Trotman (she/her) – C. Spike Trotman was born in DC, raised in MD, and lives in IL. An artist and writer, she founded Iron Circus Comics in 2007, which has since grown to become the region’s largest comics publisher. Her notable work includes the webcomic “Templar, Arizona,” the Smut Peddler series of erotic comic anthologies, and Poorcraft, a graphic novel guide to frugal living. A Kickstarter early adopter, she pioneered the widely-adopted bonus model that’s since completely reshaped the pay system of the small press, jump-starting the current renaissance of alt-comics anthologies. Iron Circus is also the first comics publisher of note to fully incorporate crowdfunding into its business model, inventing one of the single most effective uses of new media in comics publishing today.
About the creators
Alejandra Green and Fanny Rodriguez are a pair of artists from Mexico who love to create and illustrate stories. Ale is a freelance illustrator and comic artist. Fanny is a freelance writer and illustrator. Both have worked as artists for videogames and now create their own comics, hoping to inspire others through their work like Fantastic Tales of Nothing.
Alissa Sallah is a cartoonist from small town Ohio and creator of the graphic novel WEEABOO (Oni Press, 2021). Most recently, she is the writer of RICK & MORTY: The Manga (Oni Press) and created the comedy sci-fi short B&B for the XINO anthology (Oni Press). In addition to her own works, she edited and contributed to the Bonfire anthologies (STRATOS, TOPIA, SILK & METAL), has been featured in the YAKUZA 6 SONG OF LIFE artbook and was the colorist/editor on the Image comic series SLEEPLESS.
Amy Chase is a comics and prose writer from Southern California who specializes in tales of the fantastic, horrifying, and supernatural. She has officially written for properties like Dungeons & Dragons, My Little Pony, Archie Horror, and Ghostbusters, and has worked with independent publishers like Avery Hill and Cloudscape Comics. Outside of writing, Amy is an avid tabletop gamer, a frog mom, and a roller derby player who skates under the name Tuffy the Vampire Skater.
Amy Chu is an award winning multi-genre writer for comics and animation. She worked on the Netflix anime series DOTA: Dragon’s Blood and several books for Marvel, DC and Disney. Her most recent graphic novel is Carmilla: The Last Vampire Hunter (Dark Horse / Berger Books). Her graphic novels for children include Fighting to Belong!, Turning Red, Sea Sirens and Sky Island and Ana and the Cosmic Race. Amy has created educational comics for many nonprofits including the New York Historical Society, Baltimore Museum of Art, the Museum of Chinese in America and The Asian American Foundation. In addition to judging for the Ringo and Harvey awards, she serves on the faculty of the Kubert School and the School of Visual Arts and is a board member of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Anderson Cabral is a Brazilian artist with several works published in Brazil and the USA. He has been working as an illustrator, colorist and character designer for companies like General Electric, HBS Magazine, Image, IDW, Titan Comics and Heavy Metal.
Axur Eneas is an artist for animation and comic books born and raised in Mexico City. He’s the author of two graphic novels, Este cómic no es Arte and Dibuja una Casa, this last one won the 2017 National Graphic Novel Award from the Mexican Secretary of Culture. He was the creator and showrunner of Toontorial, a show of Cartoon Network that runned for two seasons and was transmitted in Latin America, UK, Poland and France. As an artist he has collaborated with international publishers like Océano Travesia, Storm King, Scout Comics and Iron Circus Comics, currently he is the artist of the middle grade series Student Ambassador.
Bevan Thomas is an award-winning author with an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. He is best known as a writer and editor on numerous anthologies for the Vancouver-based publisher Cloudscape Comics. Most prominently, Bevan created Through the Labyrinths of the Mind, a diverse collection of comics about mental health issues, and Epic Canadiana, a series that pays tribute to classic Canadian superhero comics, and which won Cloudscape the Gene Day at the 2016 Joe Shuster Awards. Bevan lives in Vancouver, BC with his partner and frequent collaborator, the cartoonist Reetta Linjama. www.bevanthomas.ca
Brenna Baines is a comic creator and TV animator who loves drawing ancient history, robots, and occasionally those subjects combined. You can see her art in three Toronto Comics Anthologies, and she lives in Toronto, Canada with her pet rats.
Caitlin Like is a cartoonist from Portland, Oregon. They live with their one-eyed cat Pandora and have drawn a lot of comics to trashy crime dramas. They have worked in the comics industry in nearly every form or fashion since 2014 and their writer/artist debut graphic novel The Hundredth Voice was published October 2023.
Cat Farris is a native Portlander, an artist, and pretty sure she’s just making this up as she goes along. She is supported in this venture by the world’s most beautiful husband, the laziest greyhound, and an all-star cast of Helioscope studiomates. She has done art for various comics publishers, including Oni Press, Dark Horse Comics, IDW, and HarperAlley. Her most recent books are THE GHOUL NEXT DOOR and UP TO NO GHOUL, written by Cullen Bunn and published by HarperAlley.
Claude TC doesn’t leave the house because he spends all his time drawing comics for various age groups. Like “children” and “adults”. They generally have a bunch of slimy things in them and many jokes. He’s developed and drawn Rex Power for Monster Fun in the UK, and his creator owned stuff (sci fi adventures, nightmare sitcoms, Leda and the swan adaptation) can be found at gronkcomics.com
Coni Yovaniniz is a comic artist and Astronomy MSc based in Santiago, Chile. Previous works include the webcomic Postcards in Braille and the middle-grade graphic novel The Do Over (with Rodrigo Vargas). They’re currently working on the sequel to The Do-Over, so look forward to that! You can find more of Coni’s work at kurisquare.com
Chuck Harp is a writer of various forms and winner of the Mad Cave Studios Talent Hunt. He’s published comics independently and with the likes of Mad Cave Studios and Markosia. When not scripting stories or crafting poetry, he’s scribbling about skateboarding or editing manga volumes.
David Brothers was born in Georgia, found a new home in Oakland, edits Japanese manga for a living and American comics for a change of pace, and writes fiction for fun when he’s not sitting by the dock of the bay.
Erin Roseberry is an indie cartoonist and Risograph printmaker living in New York, New York. Her comics have also appeared in ShortBox Comics Fair, Dirty Diamonds, and Iron Circus Comics’s own Failure to Launch. You can find more of her work at roseberrycomix.com.
Fleur Sciortino is a freelance illustrator and designer who currently works in the Tabletop RPG sector and has previously worked in fields ranging from book and board game publishing, video game development, storyboarding for film, animation, and design agency work. Her work has been published in international publications and has worked with clients like Penguin Random House and Scholastic.
Fleur is also an avid gamer, high fantasy fan, and obsessed with tabletop RPGs.
Henry Barajas is a Latinx author from Tucson, AZ. He is best known for his graphic memoir La Voz De M.A.Y.O. Tata Rambo, TMNT: Splintered Fate, Helm Greycastle, Batman: Urban Legends, Project Cryptid, and Historias de Resistencia: Dolores Huerta and the Plight of the Farm Workers for the New York City Department of Education. Barajas writes Gil Thorp for the funny papers in Los Angeles, CA.
Livio Baggio is an Italian cartoonist working under the name Illuminated. He makes comics for a living, in the sense that he wouldn’t be living if he didn’t make comics.
Jackie Crofts is a cartoonist based in Indianapolis. She‘s the co-creator on the culinary coming-of-age crime comic, Nutmeg, with James F. Wright. She also teamed up with him again on “Okaeri,” as part of Iron Circus’s Eisner Award-winning anthology, You Died. She also works on various self published comics and art. She loves playing story based games, watching 80’s and 90’s action movies, and her cat Momo.
James F. Wright is a writer based in Los Angeles. He co-created the culinary coming-of-age crime comic, Nutmeg, with Jackie Crofts, and later teamed with her again for the Japanese ghost story, “Okaeri,” as part of Iron Circus’s Eisner Award-winning anthology, You Died. He recently completed work on a Godzilla: Rivals one-shot at IDW with Phillip Johnson, and the girl-raised-by-a-wolf saga, Lupina, with Li Buszka at Legendary. He likes knitting, movie matinees, and ramen on rainy days.
John Konrad (he/him) is a cartoonist based in Tucson, Arizona. He was the founding Comics Editor at the Daily Wildcat and has self-published comics and zines and things. Most people think he’s a pretty alright guy.
Jules Rivera is a cartoonist and graphic novelist based in San Diego. She’s most well-known for her work on the long-running comic strip, Mark Trail, as well as several graphic novels. She’s also done work on the Eisner award-winning Puerto Rico Strong anthology and the Ringo Award-winning Where We Live. When she’s not doing comics for industry, she’s working on her own cartoons and animation with her webcomic, Love, Joolz.
Jules Valera is a Glaswegian comic artist, prepress tech, zine enthusiast, and lifelong lurker. They get on with their sister just fine.
Kate Ashwin has drawn and written comics for the internet since 2002, her most current project being the award-winning Victorian-era adventure story Widdershins, which can be found at widdershinscomic.com! Kate has also contributed to and co-edited the Cautionary Fables and Fairytales books, and has artwork appearing in UK kids comics The Phoenix, and The Dandy Annual. She loves cats, plants, and never having to draw a horse and carriage ever again.
Kendall Goode is a comic creator and illustrator with work published by First Second Books, DC Comics, BOOM! Studios, and Oni Press. He’s the artist of Dirtbag Rapture (written by Christopher Sebela) and the penciller of Books of Clash Vol 3, 5, and 6 (Written by Gene Luen Yang). He lives in Richmond, Virginia with his partner Paulina, their dog and two cats.
Kit Mills is an illustrator, designer, and comic artist. Their clients include The LA Times, Eater, Vice, The Village Voice, Instax, The Harvard Business Review, and Substack, and their comic work includes Dame from the Dark (TKO Presents, 2021) and Surrender (Image, 2025). Kit lives in New York City with a small cat named Esmé.
Luis E. Santamarina is a family man and a comic book author. He’s been published in several independent Argentinian publishing houses starting in 2012. Since 2019, he has been working as a penciller and colorist for foreign markets as well, such as Canada, the US and England. With comic book author and writer Davy Lee, he published “Benigno!” under Scout Comics. He’s also published “Spectro S.A.” under Panico Press and will be publishing “Mold” under Paranoid American.
Malcolm Derikx is a writer/editor based in Ontario, Canada, and general practitioner of word-smithery in multiple mediums. They have written and created comic anthologies, tabletop games, and short films. Some of their most notable projects include the Toronto Comics Anthologies, collections of short comics written/drawn by creators from around Southern Ontario.
Mariah McCourt is a New York Times bestselling writer, artist, editor and hedgehog enthusiast with a long list of titles and projects. She spends her days making weird crafts, momming and amazing daughter, and trying to find ways to put cephalopods in everything.
Matylda McCormack-Sharp is a UK based artist who studied illustration at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. She enjoys working digitally and traditionally, in ink and watercolour. She finds illustration to be one of the most valuable forms of communication, and aims to create art that is playful and engaging across generations. Her previous works include illustrations for “What’s Happening to Me Now?”, an illustrated book about peri-menopause written by Heather Wright, “Yawa the Adventurer”, a mid-grade comic series written by Bernard Mensah, and “A Garden of Flowers”, a children’s book written by Michael Rosenblum.
Michelle Gruppetta is a Maltese story artist based in Copenhagen. She graduated from The Animation workshop in January 2021 with a BA in Character Animation. She is a previz artist by day, and a printmaker and comic artist by night! Her skills include hand cramps, fudging DnD rolls and drawing gay comics.
Molly Muldoon is a former scholar and bookseller, current librarian and writer, and always demisexual fanfiction enthusiast. Her works include A Quick and Easy Guide to Asexuality, The Cardboard Kingdom, and Dead Weight: Murder at Camp Bloom. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon with her ridiculous cats, Jamie and Rosie McKitten.
Nathaniel Wilson is a comic artist and illustrator in NYC. He is currently working on the first batch of pages for an online horror comic which should be available to read by the time Perfect Crime Party comes out. His work can be found at www.sourflesh.com. If the comic isn’t available there, it’s only because he probably lost his drawing fingers feeding those rat-size beetles under the sink. Too bad. He certainly knew better.
Nick Mamatas is the author of several novels, including The Second Shooter, I Am Providence, and the forthcoming Kalivas! Or: The Washed-Away. His short fiction has appeared in McSweeney’s, Best American Mystery Stories, Tor.com, Weird Tales, Asimov’s Science Fiction and many other venues. Nick is also an anthologist; his most recent title is Wonder and Glory Forever: Awe-Inspiring Lovecraftian Fiction. Forthcoming is 120 Murders: Dark Fiction Inspired by the Alternative Era. Nick’s fiction and editorial work have been variously nominated for the Hugo, Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, Locus, and World Fantasy awards.
Dredged from the murky depths of Louisiana, Noah Stephens is here to share tales of intrigue as comics letterer. However, he’s been known to draw or write from time to time as well. Above all else, Noah enjoys being able to create art with others.
Reetta Linjama is a Finnish artist dedicated to character performance in animation, comics and illustration. She has contributed to comics anthologies of wide-ranging genres, such as the Sequential Magazine Award -winning all ages anthology ‘Fantastic Frights.’
Currently Reetta works as an animator in Vancouver, BC, where she lives with her partner, writer Bevan Thomas. behance.net/kelipipo
Rob Jones (He/Him) is primarily a letterer and sometimes writer of comics. He has lettered for Image, Harper Collins, Scholastic, Penguin, Humanoids, Heavy Metal, Titan and many more. He works out of his small office in Doncaster, Yorkshire, UK and shouts nonsense into the void on social media @RobJonesWrites or shouts obscenities at the local ducks out of his window.
Rodrigo Vargas is a comic artist and writer based in Santiago, Chile. His work explores counterculture, adventures, and humor. For the past years he’s been working with Coni Yovaniniz on the middle grade graphic novel The Do-Over and its sequel. He would be too scared to commit any crimes, but you can follow him on Instagram at @letsgorodrigo where his daily comics might steal a laugh or two, or his website at rodrigomakescomics.com
Ryan Estrada once hacked the firewall at the world’s largest financial institution after discovering a weakness that could be used to pull off the biggest heist in human history. But he only used it to secretly read comics at work. His books have been banned in several states, so reading his work (like Banned Book Club, Occulted, Student Ambassador, or No Rules Tonight) is the perfect crime. You can find him at ryanestrada.com but don’t tell the cops.
Tango is a writer/artist and New Yorker on the move. Previously published with Dark Horse/Secret Stash Press, Archie, IDW, & even more rad indies.
Tayson Martindale is a cartoonist and graphic novelist from Edmonton, Alberta. He loves storytelling and his favourite way to tell a story is through the medium of comics. On most nights he can be found in his studio making comics, accompanied by his many cats (they make drawing difficult sometimes, but they have lots of good ideas!). His first graphic novel ‘BOX BOY’ was released in 2018 and his latest ‘THE KEEPSAKERS’ released in 2023. When not making comics Tayson loves to share his excitement for comics storytelling by leading workshops for kids and young creators. You can reach him by email: tayson.martindale@
gmail.com or on Instagram: @tayson_martindale Van Jensen is an acclaimed novelist and comic book writer. His debut novel, Godfall, is in development as a TV series with Academy Award-winner Ron Howard attached to direct. Jensen began his writing career as a newspaper crime reporter, then broke into comics as the writer of the award-winning Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer trilogy of graphic novels. He also has created titles including ARCA (IDW), Two Dead (Gallery 13) and Cryptocracy (Dark Horse). Jensen has written characters including Superman, The Flash, Green Lantern and James Bond. In 2016, he was named a U.S. State Department Comic Book Ambassador. He is known for character-centric stories with fresh and surprising takes on genre fiction.
Xenon Honchar is a comic colorist / illustrator originating in the dark depths of somewhere in New Jersey. Xenon has worked notably for IDW and Titan as well has some incredible indie projects over the very exciting first year of their comics career! Outside of comics Xenon can be found playing cozy games, doing improv and making zines!