ComicLab LIVE at the National Cartoonists Society conference and Reuben Awards, Part One

Dave Kellett and Brad Guigar take their podcast on the road, recording this episode live at the Comic-Con Museum in San Diego as part of the National Cartoonists Society conference and Reuben Awards celebration! They were joined on stage by Maria Scrivan, Hector Cantu, and Dana Simpson to discuss the pressing issues facing cartoonists in the years to come. 

On today's show:

• How are you addressing artificial intelligence?
• What's working on social media?
• What are your plans for the next five years?
• What does retirement look like?

Maria Scrivan

Maria Scrivan is a New York Times bestselling author and award-winning syndicated cartoonist.The first book in her graphic novel series, Nat Enough (Scholastic/Graphix), launched on April 7th, 2020, became an instant New York Times bestseller. It was followed by Forget Me Nat, Absolutely Nat, Definitely Nat, Nat for Nothing, and All is Nat Lost. Nat a Chance will be available in Spring 2025. She is also a contributor to Marvel’s Super Stories, which was released in October 2023. Her books have been translated into Italian, French, German, Spanish, Catalan, Hebrew, Korean, Russian, Turkish, and Greek. Maria's comic, Half Full, is syndicated by Andrews McMeel and available on GoComics.com/half-full. For the past ten years, it has appeared daily in newspapers nationwide, including the LA Times.

Hector Cantu

Hector had numerous submissions to Mad magazine successfully rejected before the age of 12. In 2000, he launched “Baldo” with Carlos Castellanos. The strip appears in more than 200 newspapers through Andrews McMeel Syndication. Hector currently lives with his wife in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and is founder of Texas Cartoonists, the Texas Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society.

Dana Simpson

Dana Claire Simpson, a native of Gig Harbor, Washington, first caught the eyes of devoted comics readers with the internet strip Ozy and Millie. After winning the 2009 Comic Strip Superstar contest, she developed the strip Phoebe and Her Unicorn (originally known as Heavenly Nostrils), now syndicated in newspapers worldwide.

There are nineteen Phoebe and Her Unicorn books, including the newest, Unicorn Crush. Ozy and Millie have two books also. All told, Simpson has sold over four million books.

Her books have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list and won the Washington State Book Award and the Pacific Northwest Book Award. She lives with her spouse and her cat in Santa Barbara, California