News

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it was a group of CIA students who were turning heads at a comics convention.

Specifically, the students in Adjunct Professor Bradley Ricca’s Graphic Narratives class wowed the crowd at the fifth annual Genghis Con Comics and Arts Festival at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland’s Collinwood neighborhood on Dec. 1. As their final project for the class, students were required to produce their own comics and sell them at the popular show.

“The students did very well, selling out of many of their products, and American Splendor artist Gary Dumm said he was really impressed by their work,” reported Ricca. Students also took advantage of opportunities to network with and seek advice from Dumm and other professional comics artists and graphic novelists.

The show, now in its 5th year, featured local and Midwest comics artists including Derf Backderf (author of the graphic novel My Friend Dahmer), John G. (author of the online comic book The Lake Erie Monster), Marc Sumerak (best known for his work in Marvel Comics), the Oberlin Comics Collective.

Above, left to right: Nicholas Ritzic, Jarrod Davis, Amalia DeGirolamo, Sequoia Bostick, and Adrianna Collier made an impression at the Genghis Con Comics and Arts Festival.