Comicsgirl

Much of my brain-space has been taken up by work and Small Press Expo preparations (How about those Ignatz Awards nominees?). I have a stack of comics I’m reading (and they look at me and sigh when another day goes by that I haven’t read them). I am having fun, for the most part, minus natural disasters (I was, luckily, mostly unaffected by both the earthquake and the hurricane, and I hope it was the same for you).

• I did make it — however briefly — to Baltimore Comic Con last weekend. It’s a wonderful con and everyone — from exhibitors to attendees — seem like they had a good time. I had a good time, even though I basically just went because it was there, but I did kind of have a “Why am I here again?” feeling while being there. That says more about my state of mind than it does about the con itself, though. I am quickly approaching comics overload.
• I’ve written two pieces for inReads — Literary Comics: Another Way to Consume the Classics and The Autobiographical Comic: Some Recommendations. I hope to write more in the future because I think the site is great.
• Yeah, and Small Press Expo. You will be there, right? We’re doing some cool new things this year, including the Graphic Novel Gift Program and something awesome that will be announced tomorrow. It’s pretty baffling to me that it’s in less than two weeks. I’ve been working on this thing for months and I can’t believe it’s almost here.

At some point, I’ll get back on a proper schedule of actually writing things, but I don’t see that happening any time soon. I am hanging around on Tumblr and Twitter and sometimes on Facebook, though.

(My SPX guides may be back this year. We’ll see, though. I think most of last year’s stuff still applies.)

At some point late in the third battle last night at The Red Palace, Super Art Fight co-creator and co-host Ross Nover remarked, “My mom wanted to know why she couldn’t come to the show tonight.”

Of course, considering this was taking place in a bar and featured burlesque dancers in between battles, it’s unlikely anyone in the audience had any illusions this was supposed to be a family-friendly event. But Nover was more reacting to the inherent unpredictability of Super Art Fight. Anything goes, after all, and the more ridiculous the drawings, the better.

Super Art Fight, as the name would suggest, pits two artists against each other in a drawing competition. They have 25 minutes to out draw the other and win over the audience, who then picks the winner (the artist that gets the most cheers wins). The battle starts with each competitor declaring a starting topic and every five minutes new ones are introduced by the Wheel of Death. Submitted to the Super Art Fight website, they’re usually preposterous, ranging from “Godzilla’s Sexy Cousin” and “Marty McSuperfly.”

Nover, along with fellow host Marty Day, kept the action moving. They have a teasing and affable rapport with each other and are always willing to just keep making jokes. Their reactions are part of what make the show so great — they have the perfect combination of quick wits and bafflement about what they’re seeing being drawn and really pull the audience into the action. (Nover also treated the audience to a rendition of Vanilla Ice’s “Ninja Rap” from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle II. I would love to tell you it made sense at the time — although, it almost did — but mostly, it was impressive he remembered as much of it as he did.) [It has been pointed out to me that this was actually Partners in Kryme’s "T-U-R-T-L-E POWER" from the first movie. I am behind on my TMNT knowledge, obviously. Or blocked most of the movie out of my memory. One or the other.]

Last night’s first battle featured Dann Malihom (who dressed as a ninja) and Kelsey Wailes (who wore a cardboard robot mask). Their starting topics were, appropriately enough, ninjas and robots. These two were probably the most competitive with each other, crossing over into the other’s side early in the battle. Wailes turned Malihom’s ninja into a robot and he turned her robot into a ninja. The battle initially ended in a tie until a recount (er, rescream?) declared Malihom the winner.

While most competitors do come from a comics background (many participants in Super Art Fight also make web comics), Darl Gnau has a background in tattooing. He was the challenger to Nick Borkowicz in the second battle. Their starting topics were Frankenberry and Yummy Mummy. That clearly almost immediately got weird, especially as soon as the first Wheel of Death topics — “Sadshark” and “Your Mom” were announced. I think all you really need to know about this battle is that a fetus Frankenberry with a machine gun was drawn at one point. Gnau was the winner.

The third round and main event was between Super Art Fight veterans Brandon J. Carr and Jamie Noguchi. While the first two battles were plenty of fun, this one was the most entertaining. Their starting topics were “Mother” and “Father.” After a Danzig joke was made, Noguchi took “Mother” to mean the album cover the song was from instead of anything more appropriate. Carr, for his part, drew Homer Simpson to represent “father.”

Their experience really showed and they were quick to adapt to comments from the hosts as well as Wheel of Death topics. Upon being given “Dracula at the beach,” Noguchi drew a few scattered dots and declared he was done. But the vampire theme continued throughout, as various drawings were given bat wings and fangs. Carr, after misplacing his original markers, somehow managed to have multiple colors instead of just the traditional red and black, and he used them to delightful effect. In the end, Noguchi won, but only by .1 decibels.

But really, even with winners being declared, the competition aspect feels pretty secondary to how much fun this whole thing is to watch. If you don’t think spending two hours in a bar watching people draw silly things on wall-sized pieces of paper, Super Art Fight will prove you wrong.

I posted a bunch of photos to Facebook. If you’re in them, feel free to tag yourself.

Currently, Super Art Fight is primarily based in Baltimore, but does perform at various cons along the East Coast. There will be a show on Aug. 20, so if you’re in Baltimore for Baltimore Comic-Con, it’s worth checking out (I realize it will probably conflict with the Harvey Awards, but still …).

Despite a rise in prominence, it’s safe to say a good portion of readers don’t quite understand what comics and other graphic literature is about. Even if they want to know more, it’s such a diverse medium, it can be hard to know where to start

Hosted by Washington, D.C., chapter of the Women’s National Book Association, In Between the Panels: DC’s Emergence on the Graphic Novel Scene featured local creators Carolyn Belefski, Molly Lawless and Matt Dembicki and was moderated by Mike Rhode of ComicsDC. While there were many comic fans and creators in the audience, this event was obviously for the WNBA members. That was actually a cool thing — we knew about comics and liked them and they wanted to learn.

After introductions, Rhode started with the questions that were submitted by WNBA members. The first presented to the panel asked what age range comics and graphic novels are for, noting that children and teens seem to like them.

Belefski said that while some of her work, like Curls is for all ages primarily, there are comics like The Walking Dead that are obviously aimed at adult readers. Lawless said that comics are for everyone, but she understands that they’re more accessible to children overall. Dembicki said he tends to create comics about things that interest him. While the anthology Trickster that he edited was aimed more toward younger readers (and it, by the way, just made Kirkus Reviews’ 2010 list of Best Graphic Novels for Teens), his upcoming Brewmaster’s Castle (with Andrew Cohen) is not.

Dembicki also pointed out that up until the late ’80s and early ’90s, comics were, overall, geared more toward children or all-ages audiences. He said he’s noticing a shift back to kids’ comics in a way.

The next question was about the process — basically, “How are comics made?”

All three creators seemed to share a similar process — an idea or script, then thumbnail sketches and then the creation of the final pages. Everyone had a little bit different take on collaborating, although each said they were flexible. Dembicki said he general starts out with a straight script when collaborating. Belefski’s process was more involved — she often collaborates with Joe Carabeo on several projects and they’re happy to listen to each other’s ideas when it comes to story or art.

None of these creators said they primarily use the computer to create comics. Belefski uses a tablet to draw a nightly sketch, but that’s it. They said they may use the computer to clean up art a bit, but all of them prefer drawing on paper.

Question three asked “Are some graphic novels more literary than others?” And while the answer is obviously “yes,” it did provoke a good discussion. Dembicki said there’s an entire range of comics — there have been some adaptations of Shakespeare, there are journalistic comics like Joe Sacco’s work, and then everyone talked about Chris Ware for a while. (Ware is undoubtedly important, but I’m not a fan, so admittedly, I kind of stopped paying attention for a bit.)

The next two questions were related — how each got into comics and the challenges of pursuing it as a vocation. Lawless said she always wanted to be an illustrator, but she found illustration work wasn’t fun. Comics gave her something to draw. Belefski said she liked cartoons and animation, citing Bugs Bunny specifically, and creating characters and world-building was exciting for her. Dembicki’s story was a little different — his immigrant parents bought him comics to help him learn to read and he was hooked through childhood. As an adult, he got back into comics after picking up The Sandman from his wife but didn’t feel interested in the superhero stuff any longer.

Belefski said that of course she’d love to do comics full-time — who wouldn’t? — but it’s nearly impossible. Lawless said “it’s very exposing” and it’s a challenge to make comics even when you love it. Dembicki joked that comics were a way of “avoiding contact with my family” but said he never wanted to do it full-time and is happy to do it part-time.

Belefski discussed how hard it can be to promote your work — it’s not enough to just make a comic, you have to go sell it to people. If you’re lucky, she said you may have a “staff of five volunteers” who help out, but no one is really getting paid.

After a discussion of inspiration (it mostly came down to that everyone wrote about what interested them and were making comics mostly to entertain themselves), there was a question about technology’s role in comics. Belefski said that while she still likes to make printed books, webcomics are easy — you just upload an image — and getting feedback is quick. Lawless said the Internet gives people a way to find you quickly and print-on-demand means you don’t have to pay to get your books printed upfront.

Dembicki said he uses his blog and Facebook to promote his work or to provide previews but he doesn’t really do webcomics and thinks it’s something that’s still emerging. However, he also brought up his District Comics project,which will be exclusive to the web at first.

There were another couple of questions that were basically already covered previously before Rhode turned it over to the audience. The first question asked if any of the creators had any formal art training. Both Lawless and Dembicki said they’d taken art classes growing up and in high school, but not in college. Belefski went to college for art but did communication/graphic design (which she said is the best way for artists to make money). She did also take a sequential art class and an animation class.

The most interesting audience question to me asked if there was any benefit to making comics in the DC area. Dembicki said it doesn’t matter with technology now — we can all be connected — and also pointed out that it’s a very transient area. However, he said there are a lot of different creators with a lot of different styles and it’s still an interesting place to be.

Belefski said it’s taking steps toward becoming a comics town. In the area, we have Small Press Expo and Baltimore Comic-Con a little farther to the north. Groups like DC Conspiracy provide resources and networking opportunities.

That’s something I’ve thought a lot about and I tend to agree with Belefski’s stance that it is growing but may not quite be there yet. The DC area isn’t necessarily cheaper than New York, but at the same time, there are cheaper areas around here (depending on how far away from DC proper you want to be) and people around here are actually hiring. I doubt we’re going to supplant any of the major comic-creating hubs any time soon, but I think we’re worth watching.

I enjoyed it, even though I already know quite a bit about comics (I do love any discussion of the creative process, though) and I hope those who didn’t know about comics learned something.

After a false start yesterday (I didn’t wake up in time, OK? And I was meeting a friend at 5 so it would’ve been too tight), I did make it to Baltimore today for Baltimore Comic-Con. (I didn’t get lost or anything! I drove around the block a few times trying to pick a parking garage, but that was it! I am always much too impressed with myself when I don’t get lost.)

My press badge was easily and quickly acquired (I do have to compliment the staff and volunteers — all very nice and helpful) and I went to say hi to my friend Timothy Lantz (who said the show had been good to him) and I picked up his beautiful postcard set (you should too!) and saw a sneak preview of his secret project.

No sooner had I turned from Tim’s table, I immediately ran into my friends Joe and Rusty of Full Sanction so I spent the rest of the time hanging out with them.

We talked to a few people, dug through some $1 comic boxes and $5 graphic novel boxes. From the former, I picked up the second Mary Jane volume (I don’t have the first one, but it was a $1! A dollar! Here is where I point out that after parking, buying Tim’s postcard set, I had exactly $9 left to spend) and from the latter, I bought The Essential Dazzler. As Joe said, “That’s a lot of Dazzler.” But I like Dazzler — she’s utterly ridiculous and was a character made a couple years too late by committee, but I think that’s what makes her fun. And hey, $5.

That pretty much took the majority of my money, so we wandered and looked at overpriced action figures and lamented the lack of light-up swords. All three of us purchased a copy of Adam Dembicki’s (as in, son of Matt) Ant Army! I am already very much for adorable children making comics, but Adam told us he was going to use his money to buy more Legos. That’s a completely worthy cause.

The overall vibe of the show was fun and relaxed. All the exhibitors seemed very happy to be there and happy to welcome fans, old and new. The artist alley/small press section drew a lot of interest and I did see plenty of original stuff and much less of the “I will draw Joker for you” sort. Even the sellers of the comics/action figures/etc. seemed to be enjoying themselves and doing well. I’ve always been much less interested in that side of cons before, but this time, it just felt right to me.

People have been making comparisons between the Baltimore and San Diego cons (notably in this Washington Post article). I had fun at San Diego and I look forward to the New York con in October, and while it’s neither good nor bad, I just know they’re different sorts of cons — comics is just the jumping off point and not the focus.

Baltimore is a true comic con. It’s about comics. There’s no big media companies vying for your attention, no loud obnoxious movie clips playing, nothing that falls too far outside “comics” (T-shirts and action figures, sure, but not much beyond that). And that’s great. It makes it a show to go to and hang out and have fun. It doesn’t feel like I am being sold to as much. It’s a place to go and hang out with like-minded people. People go to Baltimore because they like comics. It feels like it’s put on by people who like comics. And that’s a really cool thing.

If I had more money, I would’ve stayed longer (and I was somewhat saving some purchases for Small Press Expo in a couple of weeks) but I had plenty of fun while I was there.

If you haven’t been to Baltimore Comic-Con, you need to go.

I was all set to go to Baltimore Comic-Con this weekend when my life decided it had other ideas. I am disappointed I wasn’t able to attend since I think Baltimore is a great con — a good size and a good balance of artists/guests to retailers selling back issues. It’s also one of the few genuine comic cons — not a lot of other media there.

The coverage on various blogs and Web sites makes me think I missed a good show. Reports on Twitter made it sound like everyone was having fun.

Well, maybe next year.