Joel Paauwe is the former “Voice of the Laker Marching Band” at GVSU and has a variety of experience as an emcee in the local entertainment scene. Since 2021, he has been involved with Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo Comic Cons as a Moderator, Cosplay Contest Host, and the voice of several commercials for both conventions. While he can’t deny he has a sweet gig, what amazes him the most is the passion, creativity, and sense of community each show brings. Outside of the panel rooms and Main Stage, he looks forward to walking the convention floor and immersing himself in all the things he loves. Meeting new people always adds to the experience, so if you see him, say hello!

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Allen Stewart is the curator of The Hall of Heroes Super Hero Museum in Elkhart, Indiana. Hall of Heroes is the only Comic Book and Super Hero Museum in the country. Hall of Heroes covers the 75+ year history of Super Heroes in Comics, Toys, Film and Animation. The Museum displays over 60,000 comics from the Golden Age Era to present including every Marvel Comic and a complete collection of all Super Hero Comics from 1956-present. Allen has also appeared on several television shows including “The Toy Hunter” series from The Travel Channel this past spring, “Stan Lee’s Super Fans” series in 2012, and the F/X “Collectible Show” in 1995. In addition, he was also one of the five finalists to play Robin in Batman Forever before losing the role to actor Chris O Donnell. Allen will be handling panels on comic characters and publications.

 

Roger Scholz is a local artist and horror movie aficionado, and collector and curator of all things horror related. Roger is also an accomplished artist who has designed the Grand Rapids Comic-Con badges in the past as well as the logo for our Frankenstein museum back in 2019. Roger will be handling our horror panels.

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Randy Zimmerman has been working in comics, in one way or another, for most of his life. An award winning commercial and graphic artist, Randy began his professional comics career with the publication Tales From The Aniverse for Arrow Comics. After that he spent decades in the alternative and independent comics market, freelancing and self-publishing, creating such properties as War Of The Worlds: Infestation, The Fool, Spank the Monkey and The Unforgiven.

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Abby Benedict A comic book and pop culture nerd since childhood, Abby has been attending and working comic conventions for 18 years!  She is store manager at Tardy's Collector's Corner in Grand Rapids and is excited to be moderating her first panels.  When not convention hopping and comic slinging, Abby enjoys reading, traveling with her family and friends, good coffee and wine tasting.

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Shane Bower is a podcaster/streamer/musician/vlogger out of Muskegon, MI. He and his hosts run a podcast called “The Geekly Gab & Nerdical Nonsense Show.” The podcast has covered Grand Rapids Comic Con since 2016 and is a huge fan of the convention. Shane vlogs and edits video for the YouTube Channel “Half5end” and also makes intro/outro song commissions for streamers occasionally. He is a fanatic of anything MMPR, TMNT, Dragon Ball, and/or Kevin Smith.