Speakers: Brian Fies, Charles Kochman

Brian Fies is a writer and cartoonist. His widely acclaimed first graphic novel, Mom’s Cancer, won the Eisner Award for best digital comic in 2005 – the first webcomic to win this award and the inspiration for the category – the 2007 Lulu Blooker Prize for best comic, the 2007 Harvey Award for best new talent, and the 2007 German Children’s Literature Award, among other awards and recognition. He is also the author of the graphic novel Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? Fies’ The Last Mechanical Monster (Abrams ComicArts) is a story about ambition, creativity, mortality, friendship, and legacy. But it is also about how we want to be remembered and what we leave behind. Decades after being imprisoned for threatening his city with an army of giant robots, an elderly scientist reenters society, only to discover he needs help navigating life in the 21st century. Experiencing genuine kindness and friendship for the first time, he finds his single-minded devotion to vengeance challenged – just as his plans threaten to spiral out of his control. Initially published online as a webcomic, The Last Mechanical Monster was nominated for an Eisner Award for best digital comic in both 2014 and 2015.

Charles Kochman is the editorial director of Abrams ComicArts and editor of the #1 bestselling series Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. He has edited several hundred books for all age groups, including picture books; middle-grade novels; retrospectives on Rube Goldberg, Charles M. Schulz, Maurice Sendak, and William Steig; definitive monographs; collections with George Booth, Robert Crumb, and Art Spiegelman; and graphic novels including the widely acclaimed Mom’s Cancer by writer and cartoonist Brian Fies.