Jill Pantozzi, aka The Nerdy Bird, is a journalist, editor, and host who writes about all things nerdy and beyond! She's the former Deputy Editor of io9.gizmodo.com (G/O Media) and former Editor in Chief of The Mary Sue (Abrams Media. She’s also written for Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Publisher’s Weekly, MTV News, IGN, HitFix/Uproxx, tor.com, Blastr (Syfy Wire), Comic Book Resources, Newsarama. Jill wrote "IncrediBuilds: Marvel: Infinity Gauntlet," "IncrediBuilds: Ant-Man and the Wasp," and "IncrediBuilds: Black Panther" for publisher Insight Editions. She's also contributed to a book of essays titled “Chicks Read Comics,” (Mad Norwegian Press) and another titled "Hey Kids, Comics!" and wrote a comic book story in the IDW anthology, “Womanthology.” In 2012, she was featured on National Geographic’s “Comic Store Heroes,” a documentary on the lives of comic book fans, and the following year she was one of many Batman fans profiled in the documentary, “Legends of the Knight.” Diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy at two and a half, Jill has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the Muscular Dystrophy Association since she was seven and has appeared for over twenty years on the New York broadcast of the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon.

Fiona Staples is a Canadian comic book artist known for her work on books such as North 40, DV8: Gods and Monsters, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and Saga. She has been cited as one of the best female artists working in the industry, and one of the best artists overall. Source: Wikipedia

KELLY THOMPSON has a degree in Sequential Art from The Savannah College of Art & Design. Her love of comics and superheroes have compelled her since she first discovered them as a teenager. Currently living in Portland, Oregon with her boyfriend and the two brilliant cats that run their lives, you can find Kelly all over the Internet where she is generally well liked, except where she's detested. Kelly has published two novels - THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING (2012) and STORYKILLER (2014) and the graphic novel HEART IN A BOX from Dark Horse Comics (2015). She's currently writing ROGUE & GAMBIT, HAWKEYE, and PHASMA for Marvel Comics and GHOSTBUSTERS for IDW. Other major credits include: A-Force, Captain Marvel & The Carol Corps, Jem and The Holograms, Misfits, Power Rangers Pink, and the creator-owned mini-series Mega Princess. Kelly's ambitions are eclipsed only by her desire to exist entirely in pajamas. Fortunately pajamas and writers go hand in hand (most of the time). Please buy all her stuff so that she can buy (and wear) more pajamas.

Maura McHugh is a writer living in Galway, Ireland. She has a MA in Irish Gothic, and a MA in Screenwriting. Her short fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in publications in America and Europe. She's published two collections - Twisted Fairy Tales and Twisted Myths - in the USA, and her new collection The Boughs Withered When I Told Them My Dreams was published by NewCon Press in 2019. She's written several comic book series for companies like Dark Horse and IDW, and most recently Judge Anderson for 2000 AD, and is also a screenwriter, playwright, a critic, and has served on the juries of international literary, comic book, and film awards. She's written a monograph on David Lynch's iconic film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, published by Electric Dreamhouse Press/PS Publishing, which was nominated for a 2018 British Fantasy Award for Best Non Fiction. Her short story 'Bone Mother' was adapted into a short stop-motion animated film by Sylvie Trouvé and Dale Hayward of the See Creature animation company, produced by the National Film Board of Canada’s Animation Studio, and premiered at Festival Stop Motion in Montreal in September 2018. Maura's sf rom-com radio play The Love of Small Appliances was broadcast on NearFM in Ireland in June 2019.

Kate Leth is a Canadian author and illustrator working in comics, animation, design, and feelings. A grown-up goth and pop culture devotee, Kate specializes in work for kids and teens. Their comics work includes Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat!; Girl Over Paris; Spell on Wheels; and Adventure Time, among others. They live in Halifax, Nova Scotia with an absolutely ridiculous cat and several regrets. They are queer and genderfluid/non-binary, a fact that greatly influences their work. Kate uses they/them pronouns, but probably won’t correct you.

Trina Robbins is an American comics artist and writer. She was an early and influential participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the few female artists in underground comix when she started. Her first comics were printed in the East Village Other. She later joined the staff of a feminist underground newspaper It Ain't Me, Babe, with whom she produced the first all-woman comic book titled It Ain't Me Babe. She became increasingly involved in creating outlets for and promoting female comics artists, through projects such as the comics anthology Wimmen's Comix. She was also the penciller on Wonder Woman for a time in the '80s. Trina has worked on an adaptation of Sax Rohmer's Dope for Eclipse Comics and GoGirl with artist Anne Timmons for Image Comics. Trina designed Vampirella's costume for Forrest Ackerman and Jim Warren. In addition to her comics work, Robbins is an author of non-fiction books, including several with an emphasis on the history of women in cartooning. She is the first of the three "Ladies of the Canyon" in Joni Mitchell's classic song from the album of the same name. Trina Robbins won a Special Achievement Award from the San Diego Comic Con in 1989 for her work on Strip AIDS U.S.A., a benefit book that she co-edited with Bill Sienkiewicz and Robert Triptow.

Ann Nocenti is most noted as an editor for Marvel Comics, for whom she edited New Mutants and The Uncanny X-Men. She made her comics writing debut on a brief run of Spider-Woman (#47-50) and subsequently wrote a long run of Daredevil (1st series) #236-291 (minus #237) from 1986 to 1991, directly following on from Frank Miller's definitive Born Again storyline. She also wrote the 1986 Longshot limited series for Marvel, and in the same year produced the Someplace Strange graphic novel in collaboration with artist John Bolton. She wrote "the Inhumans Graphic Novel" in 1988. In 1993, she wrote the 16-issue run of Kid Eternity for the DC Comics imprint Vertigo. In Incredible Hulk #291, published in September 1983 (cover date January 1984), Ann Nocenti made a cameo appearance, talking to Dr. Bruce Banner, in a history written by Bill Mantlo, drawn by Sal Buscema and inked by Carlos Garzón and Joe Sinnot. That time Ann Nocenti was Assistant Editor for Larry Hama on Incredible Hulk and X-Men. She is noted for her left-wing political views which, particularly during her run on Daredevil, caused some controversy among some fans who didn't agree with her politics. She created several popular characters, including Typhoid Mary, Blackheart, Longshot and Mojo, and wrote the 1998 X-Men novel Prisoner X. Although Nocenti left comic books in the '90s after the industry sales collapsed, she later returned to the field, penning stories such as 2004's Batman & Poison Ivy: Cast Shadows. In Ultimate X-Men, a reimagination of the X-Men comic, the character Longshot, who was invented by her, has the civil name Arthur Centino. His last name, Centino, is an anagram of Nocenti and a homage to Nocenti. The name Arthur is for the co-creator of Longshot Arthur Adams who was Ann Nocenti's artist on the Longshot Mini Series. She edited High Times magazine for one year (2004) under the name Annie Nocenti and is the former editor of the screenwriting magazine Scenario.

Barbara Randall Kesel is an American writer and editor of comic books; her bibliography includes work for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, CrossGen, Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics. Kesel is a very outspoken opponent of sexism in the comic book industry. She is known for her strong female characters, influencing her then husband Karl's work on Lois Lane in the Superman titles and creating Grace, the ruler of the Golden City location in Comics' Greatest World. Kesel initially came into the comics world after writing a 10-page letter to editor Dick Giordano regarding the portrayal of female comic book characters. At Dark Horse, Kesel was part of Team CGW, responsible for most of the design and creation of the setting and characters in the Golden City location. She is currently part of book packaging company The Pack, alongside Lee Nordling, Brian Augustyn, Gordon Kent and Dave Olbrich. Kesel has been nominated for the 1991 "Best Editor" Eisner Award for Badlands, Aliens: Genocide and Star Wars. In 1995, she was nominated for "Best Anthology" and "Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Material" Harvey Awards for, respectively, Instant Piano and Hellboy: Seed of Destruction. She won the 1996 "Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work" Harvey Award, for Hellboy: The Wolves of St. August.