Attention all graphic novel and comic book fans! You are cordially invited to join us for our inaugural event celebrating comics, graphic novels, and sequential art on Wednesday, Sept. 27, from 6-7 p.m. at Villanova University’s Falvey Library. The event will feature professional cartoonist Brad Guigar and will be held in Speakers’ Corner on the Library’s first floor.

In 2000, webcomics grew out of dissatisfaction with gatekeepers (publishers and syndicates) and led to a new generation of creator-entrepreneurs who taught themselves about art AND business — and are currently finding a financially stable career in a climate in which “published” artists are struggling. What used to be known as “vanity press” is now offering a superior outcome for many creative professionals. Furthermore, it opened the door for marginalized voices that had previously been ignored by corporate gatekeepers.

Brad Guigar is considered by many to be an independent comics pioneer, having published his daily comic strips and other comics on the Web for over 20 years. His most well-known comic, “Evil Inc.,” is about supervillains who realized that most of their evil schemes could be enacted legally if they formed a corporation.

He has published over two dozen collections of his comics, and he is the author of three books on the subject of cartooning. The Everything Cartooning Book is an all-ages cartooning tutorial. Both How To Make Webcomics and The Webcomics Handbook break down the business of self-publishing comics using social media and crowdfunding strategies.

Guigar has been nominated for the Eisner Award in comics, as well as the ’Ringo Award and the NCS Silver Rueben. He co-hosts a weekly podcast, ComicLab, which has been described as “Car Talk for cartoons,” which will be entering its seventh year in January. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and two sons.

This event, co-sponsored by Falvey Library, the Idea Lab, Department of English, Creative Writing Program, Department of Communication, and the Writing Center, is free and open to all! Light refreshments will be served. Join us!