Dave Ryan is a comic book writer, artist, publisher and longtime champion of independent comics who broke into the industry in the early 1990s. He is the founder of Red Anvil Comics, through which he has helped create and publish titles including Penance, Owlgirls, The Mighty Titan, Shadowflame, Cyberines, Monsterjunkies, Mazscara, Unit 5 and World Wide Warriors.

Ryan is best known as the creator of War of the Independents, an extraordinarily ambitious crossover project conceived to unite characters from throughout the independent comics world. Written and illustrated by Ryan, the series brought together more than 200 independent and creator-owned characters, including The Tick, Madman, Captain Canuck, Gumby and Pokey, E-Man, Scud, Too Much Coffee Man and many more. The first issue was published by Red Anvil Comics in 2011 after years of development.

The scope of the project brought together characters and creators from numerous corners of independent comics, earning War of the Independents recognition among the nominees for the 2011 Eagle Award for Favorite 2010 Cover.

Beyond his creator-owned work, Ryan’s professional credits extend across both independent and established publishers. He contributed inks to Marvel Comics’ Deathlok, worked on RoboCop: Mortal Coils for Dark Horse Comics, and has credits associated with titles including Judge Dredd, Hercules, Xenya and Forty-Five. His more recent work for TidalWave Productions includes cover artwork for biography comics featuring figures such as Dolly Parton, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and others, with some of his artwork appearing in national media including CNN, FOX News and Time.

With more than three decades in comics and one of independent comics’ most audacious crossover projects to his name, Dave Ryan brings a career rooted in both creating his own worlds and celebrating the larger independent comics community.