La Strong (Paperback)

The comic book industry pulls together to support fellow creators who lost homes to the tragic 2025 Los Angeles fires with this benefit anthology special.

Winner of the 2025 Clampett Humanitarian Award!

In January 2025, powerful wildfires devastated Los Angeles county, leaving loss and heartbreak in their path. In the aftermath, the team at Mad Cave Studios, like so many around the world, wanted to help the people of Southern California L.A. Strong was born of this desire, bringing together dozens of creators from around the world with the goal of making as much money as possible doing what we do best -- Making comic books! Filled with reflective stories from some of the best and brightest in the comics industry, L.A. Strong is a love letter to the City of Angels, a meditation on home, an invitation to empathy, and so much more. Together, as a community, we stand L.A. Strong!

Like any great Hollywood production, L.A. Strong features cameos from an all-star lineup, including Barbara Kessel, Brian Azzarello, Brian Michael Bendis, Christos Gage, Dan DiDio, Daniel Kibblesmith, Frank Tieri, Greg Pak, Jimmy Palmiotti, Jody Houser, Marv Wolfman, Paul Cornell, Rob DenBleyker, Sina Grace, Stephanie Phillips, Steve Orlando, Alex Cormack, Alison Sampson, Amanda Conner, Christian Ward, Geraldo Borges, Ian Churchill, Michael Avon Oeming, Nico Leon, Rian Gonzales, Salvador Larroca, Sami Kivelä, and many, many more. Don't miss special appearances from comic stars like The Pedestrian, Cyanide and Happiness, and Tectiv, as well as local SoCal comic shops like Golden Apple Comics, Collectors Paradise, and Revenge Of!

100% of the profits will be donated to relief efforts.

Tilly & Susan Bridges are a writing team, currently writing the “Star Trek Voyager: Homecoming” comic for IDW. They wrote for season two of the “Monster High” animated series (for which their "Monster Fest" special won an inaugural Velma Award for LGBTQIA+ representation in children’s media), consulted on season two of “Star Trek Prodigy,” and are writing other as yet unannounced graphic novels. They also wrote and directed a trans sci-fi short film, “Long Away,” which is now playing in film festivals around the world. Tilly’s book “Begin Transmission: The Trans Allegories of The Matrix” is available now, and you can find Tilly’s weekly essays on trans life at TillysTransTuesdays.com.

Amy Chase (she/her) is a writer from Southern California who specializes in horror, fantasy, and lots of puns. Her body of work includes official stories for beloved properties like Dungeons & Dragons, My Little Pony, Archie Horror, and Ghostbusters, in formats ranging from comics and prose to tarot decks. Outside of writing, Amy is an avid tabletop gamer, a frog mom, and a roller derby player by the name of Tuffy the Vampire Skater.

Dan DiDio (born October 13, 1959) is an American writer, editor, and publisher who has worked in the television and comic book industries. From February 2010 until February 2020, he was the co-publisher of DC Comics, along with Jim Lee. Wizard magazine recognized him as its first ever "Man of the Year" in 2003 for his work in the DC Universe line of comics.

Rich Douek is an acclaimed comic book writer known for his compelling storytelling and dynamic narratives. Known for harrowing horror tales like Sea of Sorrows, and the Bram Stoker Award finalist, Road of Bones. Beyond his independent work, Rich has contributed to the Eisner-nominated Superman: Red and Blue, Marvel's Wastelanders, and the GLAAD Media Award winning Young Men in Love, among several other acclaimed anthologies. Rich was born and bred in NYC, and lives just outside of it now with his family and two cats. His work has been featured on The Hollywood Reporter, SyfyWire, Nerdist, Rue Morgue Magazine, and elsewhere. Rich is also an award-winning Copywriter and Creative Director, having developed advertising campaigns for clients such as Snickers, FedEx, and Foot Locker.

RICHARD ASHLEY HAMILTON is an award-winning Cuban-American (no, really) writer and creative consultant best known for his storytelling across many DreamWorks Animation franchises including How To Train Your Dragon and Guillermo Del Toro’s Trollhunters. He wrote on the Daytime Emmy-winning first season of Dragons: Race to the Edge and scripted the Lumiere award-winning How To Train Your Dragon: Hidden World Tour VR experience. But in his heart, Richard remains a lifelong comic book fan and has created titles at Dark Horse, Aftershock, Insight, Sandstorm, and more. For Mad Cave Studios’ Maverick imprint, he currently writes two YA graphic novel series, SCOOP and TECTIV—recipient of a Kirkus Starred Review and featured in their list of the Top 100 Indie Books of 2025—with the all-ages adventure, LEO DA VINCI: RENAISSANCE KID, released by Papercutz on April 15, 2026 (Leonardo da Vinci’s actual birthday). Richard’s middle-grade horror story, FEARBOOK CLUB, was also named a Junior Library Guild Official Selection. Richard lives in Glendale, CA, with his wife, their two sons, and a Husky named Lulu.

Freelance writer, educator, and Knower of Self.

Jim McCann

Omar is a storyteller and writer originally from Oakland, Calif. who has a deep love of comic books – the medium that helped him learn English as a young, first-generation American born of Mexican immigrants. His original stories include The Lunar Ladies (Scout Comics), California Love for the LA Strong anthology (Mad Cave Studios), and Major Thomás (Amazon / Comixology Originals). Follow Omar on any social platform: @omorales81.

Steve Orlando is an American comic book writer, known for his work for DC Comics writing characters such as Batman, Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman, and two series starring Midnighter, which were nominated for a GLAAD Media Award.

Jimmy Palmiotti is a powerhouse American comic book writer, screenwriter, and award‑winning character creator whose fearless storytelling has helped redefine modern Marvel and DC. A driving force behind Event Comics, Black Bull Entertainment, Marvel Knights, and his current company Paperfilms—co‑founded with his partner Amanda Conner—Palmiotti has left an unmistakable mark on titles like Painkiller Jane, Daredevil, Harley Quinn, and Jonah Hex. He currently can be seen on Deadly Tales of the Gunslinger, Punisher, and Pop Kill for Mad Cave Studios. His creations continue to leap into feature films, television, animation, and video games, cementing him as a major industry architect.

Stephanie Phillips is an American writer known for comics and graphic novels such as HARLEY QUINN, WONDER WOMAN: EVOLUTION, BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT, SENSATIONAL WONDER WOMAN, WE ONLY KILL EACH OTHER, BIRDS OF A FEATHER, and THE BUTCHER OF PARIS. Her stories and comics have appeared with DC Comics, AfterShock Comics, Dark Horse, Mad Cave Studios, Oni Press, Image Comics, Heavy Metal, Black Mask Studios, A Wave Blue World, and more. Stephanie is currently the writer for the ongoing Harley Quinn series at DC Comics with artist Riley Rossmo.

Stephanie also holds a PhD in rhetoric and composition and an MA in English from the University of South Florida. She has taught writing and communication courses at the University at Buffalo, the University of South Florida, and the University of Tampa.


The dynamic writing duo of Benjamin Raab and Deric A. Hughes have spent the past 20+ years turning their passion for pop culture into a career into television, film, and comics. Their notable credits include NBC’s Quantum Leap; Arrow, The Flash, Legacies, and Beauty & the Beast for The CW; VH1’s Scream: Resurrection and Syfy’s Warehouse 13 as well as the feature film adaptation of graphic novel Black Cotton Star, currently in development, The Last Starfighter comic book sequel for Mad Cave Studios, and their creator-owned graphic novel, Before the World Crumbles, from Gungnir Books.

Mark Sable is a writer for comics, film and television, best known for such creator-owned comics as Image Comics "Graveyard of Empires" and Boom! Studios "Unthinkable.",Artist on Miskatonik (Aftershock), Dylan Dog (Bonelli), and Last of the Gladiators (Dynamite).

Eisner losing writer of TV, video games, comics, and bad checks. Voted “The Most Beloved Man in Comics” 12 years in a row. Leave the gun, take the cannoli. Has written Wolverine, Godzilla, Harley Quinn, Marvel Vs Capcom, etc.

Amit Tishler is an award-winning writer, director, animator and producer. Throughout his work in entertainment, he brought his diverse talents to TV shows for brands like Cartoon Network, HBO, and Nickelodeon, to games, apps and immersive experiences for Roblox, WB Games, and Skydance, and to a line of original graphic novels, comic series, and audio content for Mad Cave Studios, Humanoids Publishing, Encyclopocalypse, Papercutz, and more.

Jennie Wood is a non-binary author, musician, and animal rescue volunteer. They created the acclaimed graphic novel series Flutter with artist Jeff McComsey, hailed by The Advocate as one of the best LGBTQ graphic novels of its time. Their 2023 graphic novel Paper Planes earned a Next Generation Indie Book Award and an IPPY Bronze Medal. Earlier, their YA novel A Boy Like Me was named one of Foreword Reviews’ 10 Best Indie YA novels (2014) and was an INDIEFAB and Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist. Wood has also contributed to high-profile anthologies, including the best-selling FUBAR series and the Eisner-winning anthology Love Is Love. They live in Boston with their partner Natalie and their rescue dog Moxie. For more, visit jenniewood.com.

Geraldo Borges is a comic artist from Fortaleza, Brazil, who draws for US publishers. He began his career drawing for Brazilian fanzines like Capitão Rapadura, Manicomics, and HQ Mix. He has worked for companies like DC Comics (Wonder Woman), Top Cow (Darkness VG), AK Comics (Zein) and Dabel/Marvel (Ptolus).

Stefano Cardoselli is a Bram Stoker Awards Winner, artist, illustrator and scriptwriter. His works have been Published with Heavy Metal Magazine, 2000 AD, Simon and Schuster, Source Point Press, Antarctic Press, and Scout Comics. He works for cinema as a character designer and storyboard artist. He lives in Orbetello-Tuscany, Italy.

Pierre-Alexandre Comtois is a creator, author, and artist with over 20 years in animation storytelling. He has previously self-published Shard and worked on various projects like Addams Family, Sonic Prime, and Peanuts Specials. Sunder is a personal passion project, combining his love for storytelling with his admiration for European comics and long-form manga.

Alex Cormack is a Bram Stoker Award nominated Illustrator whose work includes BREATH OF SHADOWS, SEA OF SORROWS, ROAD OF BONES, THE CRIMSON CAGE, SINK, GHOSTS ON THE WATER, KILLING HOPE, WEED MAGIC, and a bunch more. He lives in Vermont with his wife, son, and his two cats.

Juan Doe is a writer and artist with over 15 years experience in the comic book industry. He has produced hundreds of covers and over a dozen graphic novels for Marvel, DC, Image, Darkhorse, Image and Aftershock comics. Some of his sequential highlights include Strayed for Darkhorse, his first creator owned books, Bad Reception and Spectro, Brian Azzarello’s American Monster, World Reader with Jeff Loveness, Marguerite Bennett’s Animosity: The Rise, and Dark Ark by Cullen Bunn all for Aftershock comics. His current projects include the Two-Suns graphic novel with Carlos Giffoni for Rocketship Entertainment and art for Vanishing Point #1 and Terrorbytes #6 with Mark Russell and Mark London for Mad Cave Studios.

Nicola Izzo is a Turin-based comic book artist whose vivid, bold style infuses genre storytelling with cinematic energy and emotional depth. A graduate of the International School of Comics (2020), Izzo has quickly become a sought-after talent, delivering bold cover art and engaging visual narratives for Italian and Canadian publishers alike. His credits include Bad Omens: Concrete Jungle (Sumerian Comics), multiple covers and series work for Massive Publishing (Liquid Kill, Astrobots, The North Valley Grimoire), and Boom Studios’ neo-noir thriller Blow Away. Izzo brings both technical precision and raw creative flair to every project. Nothing keeps Nicola from drawing, not even a broken wrist in a skateboarding accident. True story.

PJ Holden is a Northern Ireland based comic artist who has been working professionally for over two decades. After a career in IT, PJ switched over to his first love, drawing comics, and hasn't looked back since.

Marco Matrone is an Italian comic artist who studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and the School of Comics in Italy. Over the years, he has worked in comics and animation, collaborating with publishers and studios both in Italy and internationally. (*Senzombra, Fearbook Club, Tectiv*)

Andrea Mutti began his career illustrating the superheroes comic 'DNAction' for Xenia Edizioni. He then illustrated horror comics for Fenix. He moved over to Star Comics, where he drew stories with 'Lazarus Ledd' and some episodes of 'Hammer'. Since then he's worked with DC/Vertigo, Marvel, Mad Cave Studios, and IDW.

Eisner and Harvey nominee creator and co-creator of graphic novels like Filthy Rich, Rashomon, Bad Girls, Against Hope or Violent Love. His work has been published in countries like the USA, Spain, France, Italy and recently China and Japan. He has collaborated with companies like Netflix, Fnac, Porsche, the Corvus Belli game company and artists like Deadmau5. His Polar quadrilogy, published by Dark Horse, has been adapted as an original Netflix movie production with Mads Mikkelsen and Vanessa Hudgens with a sequel in the works, while a number of his other works have been optioned and are in different stages of development. He is also currently working on new different IPs created by him for mediums like comics, TV and cinema.

Dave Sharpe is an artist and currently a letterer for various featured comic publishing companies within the industry. He graduated from the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, Inc. in 1990, and immediately went to work at Marvel. As of 2009, Dave has been lettering for DC Comics on a number of titles currently: Green Lantern, Green Lantern War Journal, and ACTION COMICS! Dave also letters LOTS of other books and titles for various publishers. Dave plays bass guitar and is way more approachable than he looks.