News and Industry Happenings

Mental Health Issues To Be Discussed At Baltimore Comic-Con

The 2018 Baltimore Comic-Con starts this Friday at the Baltimore Convention Center! Tickets are on sale through Thursday afternoon!

This Saturday at Baltimore Comic-Con, comics creators will team up to discuss mental health in the comics industry and beyond.

The last few years has seen the loss of entertainment icons such as Robin Williams, Anthony Bourdain, Kate Spade, and others due to suicides connected, in part, to anxiety, depression, and addiction. While some have spoken out to raise awareness (including BCC guest Wil Wheaton, of Star Trek fame), too often, mental illness is an assumed and accepted condition of creative individuals.

John Gallagher (Buzzboy, Kids Love Comics) will moderate “Creativity & Mental Health – A Roundtable Discussion,” 4:00-5:00 PM Saturday, and will be discussing being creative, and how it can sometimes go hand-in-hand with depression, anxiety, learning differences, and more. Joining Gallagher will be Laura Lee Gulledge (Page by Page, Sketchbook Dares), Jimmy Gownley (Amelia Rules, Disney’s Tangled)), and Jamar Nicholas (Leon: Protector of the Playground). Each creator will discuss their personal experiences, as well as topics like coping mechanisms, support networks, and reaching out for professional help. “Like diabetes, cancer, or any other disease, depression is not something to hide, or be ashamed of,” says Gallagher, who has been treated the last twenty years for chronic depression, “and we wanted to get the conversation out in the open, hopefully to help guide creators, fans, and friends out of their dark places.”

Gallagher does point out that he and the speakers are not therapists, but rather, creators who have worked in the trenches of the comics world, while dealing with issues of mental health. And while the panel will only be one hour, Gallagher hopes the discussion will continue and grow. As Gallagher stated, “Being diagnosed and treated for depression lifted me up beyond my illness, and allowed me to create comics that make me and others happy.” Gallagher added, “Hopefully, this talk will help folks not feel so alone, and reach out for help, personally and professionally.”

The discussion, entitled Creativity & Mental Health – A Roundtable Discussion, will take place from 4 to 5PM on Saturday.

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John Breeden II

As a journalist John has covered everything from rural town meetings to the U.S. Congress and even done time as a crime reporter and photographer.|His first venture into writing about the game industry came in the form of a computer column called "On the Chip Side," which grew to have over 1 million circulation and was published in newspapers in several states. From there he did several "ask the computer guy" columns in magazines such as Up Front! in New Mexico and Who Cares? in Washington D.C. When the Internet started to become popular, he began writing guided Web tours for the newly launched Washington Post online section as well as reviews for the weekend section of the paper, something he still does from time to time. His experience in trade publications came as a writer and reviewer for Government Computer News. As the editor of GiN, he demands strict editorial standards from all the writers and reviewers. Breeden feels the industry needs a weekly, reliable trade publication covering the games industry and works tirelessly to accomplish that goal.