Beyond Fests! Tips for Comics Community Building
Sunday, 5/3/26
2:30 - 3:30
Panel • McGinty Room
Join Abby Kacen (AKA Mild Pain), Teddie Bernard, Jamila Rowser, and Isabella Rotman for a panel moderated by Nick Jackson. Panelists will discuss DIY organizing for retreats, anthologies, live readings, and other communal comic events. Join us for a lively discussion offering insights and advice to help you organize in your community and sustain connections beyond festivals!
Abby Kacen (she/her) is a migratory cartoonist and DIY organizer. She's the creator of the self-published fictional series, Sid & the Sickos, and autobio series Mild Pain. Follow Abby: @mild_pain on Instagram, @mild-pain on Bluesky, mildpain.art
Teddie Bernard (they/he) is a cartoonist and zinester, who co-organizes Off the Page, a queer comix reading series, with their pal Jaime Dear. He spends the rest of his time researching obscure lesbians and refurbishing out-of-date printers. Follow Teddie: @tea.ddie on Instagram, @tea-ddie on Bluesky and Tumblr,
Follow Off the Page: @otp.chicago on Instagram and Bluesky, linktr.ee/otp.chicago
Jamila Rowser (she/her) is an award-winning writer, editor, and publisher. She's known for the LA Times Book Prize-winning comic Wash Day Diaries, created with Robyn Smith and founding Black Josei Press. Follow Jamila: @JamilaRowser on Instagram and https://www.jamilarowser.com/
Isabella Rotman (she/her) is an Eisner and Ignatz Award nominated cartoonist and illustrator living and drawing in Maine. Her art is usually about the ocean, women, crushing loneliness, people in the woods, or sex. She is a founding organizer of Comic Arts Maine Portland. Follow Isabella: @this_might_hurt on Instagram and https://www.isabellarotman.com/
Nick Merlock Jackson (he/him), born in 1989, makes comics that put journalistic storytelling and raw, expressive markmaking in the same cage to see what happens. Published by Newcity, Southside Weekly, Lumpen Magazine, he works as a mentor and facilitator at neurodiverse art studio Project Onward. Follow Nick: @nickmerlockjackson on Instagram