Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Baltimore Comic-Con Ringo awards have a local judge (or 2)

  Introducing the 2026 Ringo Awards Jury

It's a good list of people, and I'm sure it always is, but this year I'm paying attention because my LCS is represented:



Sarahti Gassmalla

Sarahti Gassmalla has about a decade of working in comics retail. Starting as an intern, she is now a part owner and co-manager at Fantom Comics. She is involved in inventory ordering, event coordination, and representing the store at events such as Baltimore Comic-Con, ComicsPro, New York Comic-Con, and Small Press Expo. She runs the Fantom Comics' recurring Queer Book Club, occasionally interviews creators for author events, and manages the weekly Final Order Cutoff. 


Her relationship with sequential art began at a young age as a regular reader of Pearls Before Swine, Mutts, and other Washington Post Sunday comic strips. These days, reading the "Sunday comics" means reading the newest chapter updates of her favorite Shonen Jump titles -- Akane Banashi, Blue Box, Ichi The Witch, and One Piece to name just a few. Her western comics journey started with reading the original Runaways at the library and borrowing a friend's copy of Young Avengers. Visiting Fantom Comics the first time before she worked there is what introduced her to single issue comics, collecting titles like 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank, Joyride, and Monstress. If she is not reading, she's doodling, finding new ways to get at least ten friends in a room together, or binging crime thriller TV. Sarahti was born and raised in Washington, DC where she still resides.

Colleen Doran is somewhere in northern Virginia, because she's in the DC chapter of the National Cartoonist Society with me. But she's a real cartoonist - I just pay to hang around with them.
Colleen Doran

Colleen Doran is a New York Times bestselling cartoonist. From her first work with on The Sandman, she also adapted the short stories Troll Bridge, Snow Glass Apples, and Chivalry, winning two Eisners, The Bram Stoker, Locus, and Ringo Awards, and nominations for Best Penciler/Inker Eisners, Reubens, the Excelsior, Rondo, and Tripwire Awards.


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