Blastoff is the creation of Scott Tipton and Jud Meyers.
Scott Tipton is a New York Times Best-Selling author and comic-book historian with a wide variety of both graphic novel and prose works to his credit. Scott’s most recent work, The Star Trek Vault: 40 Years From the Archives for Abrams Publishing, charts the remarkable history of the world’s most popular science-fiction series, accompanied by hand-picked reproductions of famous bits of Star Trek memorabilia. Scott is also the author of Comic Books 101, a humorous stroll through the history and high points of the American art form known as comic books, published by IMPACT BOOKS. Readers looking for Scott’s latest ruminations on comics past and present need only tune into his Web site Comics 101, where a new column is posted every Wednesday without fail.
Scott has written numerous comics and graphic novels for publishers IDW Publishing and Archie Comics, including such titles as Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time, Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation Squared, The New Crusaders, Klingons: Blood Will Tell, Star Trek: The Next Generation: Intelligence Gathering, Star Trek: Mirror Images, Spock: Reflections, Khan: Ruling in Hell, Star Trek: Infestation, Spike: Lost and Found, Angel: Auld Lang Syne, Astro Boy: Underground, Angel: A Hole in the World, Illyria: Haunted and Sonic the Hedgehog.
Jud Meyers began his career in the comic industry behind the scenes at Titan Publishing in London, England before making the jump into the retail sector. From 1989 through 1994, Meyers spent all of his time abroad managing and assisting in the launching of the most prestigious comic book retail stores in the UK, including Forbidden Planet, Virgin Megastore and Meanwhile Comics. In 1994, Meyers moved back to New York City and took a position at Avalanche Of Wonder, one of the world’s largest international comic book mail-order services. While at Avalanche, Meyers helped develop systems for their move from a warehouse mail-order service to true online overstock placement.
Arriving in Los Angeles in 1997, Meyers launched Krypton Collectibles, his own website shipping service. For the next six years, he bought, sold and shipped bulk collections of vintage books and collectibles through his online portal, growing from a small storage facility to bustling warehouse systems. In 2003, Meyers opened his first brick and mortar location in Sherman Oaks, California. In just under four years, Earth-2 Comics became the youngest store to ever receive the Will Eisner Spirit of Retailing Award, the most prestigious and sought after lifetime achievement award in the comic book industry. In 2009, Meyers formed a partnership with Geoff Johns and purchased the legendary San Fernando Valley Golden Apple Comics store, turning it into another successful Earth-2 Comics location.
Contributing Writer Amy Ratcliffe is a writer, blogger, and Star Wars fanatic based in Los Angeles. She has written about comics, cosplay, conventions, and other topics not starting with the letter c across the internet. She has contributed to sites such as Nerd Approved, IGN, Pink Raygun, Geek Girls Network, Newsarama, and the L.A. Times Hero Complex. She also babbles at her own blog, Geek with Curves. When she’s not writing, she’s finding the right crystals for a lightsaber of her very own or feeding her Twitter addiction.
Artist-in-Residence Elena Casagrande, a graduate of the International School of Comics in Rome, Italy, began her career as artist David Messina’s assistant, kicking off a long relationship with IDW Publishing. That collaboration with IDW continues today, working on such series as Star Trek (Klingons: Blood Will Tell, Orions, Q, Spock: Reflections), The Ghost Whisperer (The Haunted), Angel (Auld Lang Syne, Doyle, Smile Time, A Hole in the World, Illyria: Haunted and the Angel ongoing series), Infestation and most recently True Blood. Elena’s work for Marvel includes Marvel Heartbreakers, Spitfire, Ultimate Spider-Man and Hulk. She currently lives in a quiet town in Italy from where she plots global domination.
