SESSION 1 (12PM ET):
SPACE COMICS
JIM OTTAVIANI, MARIS WICKS, AND ALISON WILGUS
SESSION 1 (12PM ET):
SPACE COMICS
JIM OTTAVIANI, MARIS WICKS, AND ALISON WILGUS
Join Jim Ottaviani and Maris Wicks, author and illustrator duo of Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier, and editor and author Alison Wilgus (The Mars Challenge) as they discuss researching, writing, and illustrating comics about space. They’ll discuss drawing from photo references, collaborating as a writer and cartoonist on nonfiction works, and beyond!
Jim Ottaviani began writing graphic novels about scientists in 1997. They include The Imitation Game, Primates, Feynman, and Hawking. His books are New York Times bestsellers, have been translated into over a dozen languages, and have received praise from publications ranging from Nature and Physics World to Entertainment Weekly and Variety. gt-labs.com
Maris Wicks lives in sunny Somerville, Massachusetts. She is the author behind Human Body Theater, as well as the illustrator of New York Times-bestselling Primates, with Jim Ottaviani. When she’s not making comics, Wicks works as a program educator at the New England Aquarium.
Alison Wilgus is a Brooklyn-based bestselling writer, editor, and cartoonist. She got her start working for Cartoon Network’s Codename: Kids Next Door as a colorist and staff writer. Her work includes Science Comics: Flying Machines, illustrated by Molly Brooks, and The Mars Challenge, illustrated by Wyeth Yates, and Chronin, a science-fiction duology from Tor books and her solo debut. alisonwilgus.com
In the graphic novel Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier, Jim Ottaviani and illustrator Maris Wicks capture the great humor and incredible drive of Mary Cleave, Valentina Tereshkova, and the first women in space.
The U.S. may have put the first man on the moon, but it was the Soviet space program that made Valentina Tereshkova the first woman in space. It took years to catch up, but soon NASA’s first female astronauts were racing past milestones of their own. The trail-blazing women of Group 9, NASA’s first mixed gender class, had the challenging task of convincing the powers that be that a woman’s place is in space, but they discovered that NASA had plenty to learn about how to make space travel possible for everyone.
Travel to deep space and back again with The Mars Challenge, a nonfiction graphic novel for teens about the science and logistics of a manned mission to Mars.
Nadia is a teen with a dream: to be the first woman on Mars. But to get there, she’s got to learn all she can about the science of spaceflight. It’s a good thing her friend Eleanor is an Attitude Determination and Control Officer—basically, she pilots the International Space Station!
Eleanor takes Nadia on a conceptual journey through an entire crewed mission to Mars, and explains every challenge that must be overcome along the way; from escaping Earth’s gravity well, to keeping the crew healthy as they travel through deep space, to setting up a Mars base, to having enough fuel for the trip home!
In The Mars Challenge, writer Alison Wilgus and artist Wyeth Yates bring the reader on a thrilling interplanetary voyage and clearly illustrate the scientific concepts and complex machinery involved. Humans can reach Mars in our lifetime—this book explains how it can be done.