The Realist Cartoons

Paul Krassner, born 1932, is an American author, journalist, comedian, editor, and a founding member of the Yippies. Krassner was a contributor to early issues of Mad magazine, and is the only person to win awards for both Playboy and the Feminist Party Media Workshop.

Ethan Persoff is an archivist, cartoonist, and sound artist. His website Comics with Problems has brought historically significant comics to 21st century audiences and has been featured on multiple segments of The Rachel Maddow Show, as well as on CSPAN and Air America. It won a SXSW award in 2002. Fantagraphics has published his original comics work.

Comics herstorian Trina Robbins (1939-2024) was an American cartoonist. She was an early participant and one of the first women in the underground comix movement. She co-produced the 1970 underground comic It Ain't Me, Babe, which was the first comic book entirely created by women. She co-founded the Wimmen's Comix collective, wrote for Wonder Woman, and produced adaptations of Dope and The Silver Metal Lover. She was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2013 and received Eisner Awards in 2017 and 2021. As a scholar and historian, Robbins researched the history of women in cartooning. She wrote several nonfiction books including Pretty In Ink (2013), and Flapper Queens: Women Cartoonists of the Jazz Age (2020).

Nicole Hollander is best known for her syndicated comic strip, Sylvia. Her work has been archived in the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library at Ohio State University, alongside Roz Chast's, Bill Watterson's, and other greats. She has published fifteen books, and blogs at badgirlchats.com. She lives in Chicago.

Art Spiegelman is an American comics writer, artist, and editor best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel memoir, Maus.