Comicsgirl

I don’t have too many this time, but mostly I’m just trying to stay caught up since it’s quickly becoming convention season (I’m not sure if I’m going to make it to Philadelphia Alternative Comic Con, but we’ll see).

The Never-Ending War and Jailbreak!: Adam Dembicki
I will never say anything bad about comics made by a child.

While Adam obviously has a good guide in his dad, he has a clear sense of storytelling. The subject matter falls in typical boy interests — wars with aliens and cops & robbers — but Adam seems to have a mature sense of justice. He’s also becoming a wonderful artist. The aliens in The Never-Ending War are creative and scary. These are great.

(Plus, at this weekend’s DC Zine Fest, Adam handled the whole thing with the disinterest of a veteran. I think this kid has a future in comics just because of that.)

The Worst Kind of People Giant-Size #2: James Cuartero
If the title doesn’t tip you off, this collection of one-page comics is fairly vulgar and cruel. There is a purposefully distasteful vibe about it that turned me off at first, but the more I read it, the more I understood what it was going for. I think the comics got stronger as they went along — “My Baby Predator Daddy” and “#Winning” were two of my favorites. Cuartero’s dynamic faces convey the every-day moments of cruelty and disappointment well. I don’t know how much of this I need to read but I was ultimately impressed.

Spaz! #4 and From the Wikipedia List of Unusual Deaths: The Collyer Brothers: Emi Gennis
Gennis continues to develop as a cartoonist and while her often vulgar tales aren’t going to be for everyone, they do reflect a confident and playful perspective. Her “Emi’s Guide to Being a Teenager! Tip #37: How to Sneak Out of the House” is wonderful. The scenario she presents is overly complicated but almost seems plausible and the way she draws the big innocent eyes on herself is incredibly funny.

Gennis often inserts “unusual deaths” stories into her minicomics, but The Collyer Brothers is a standalone one. About two brothers who lived in Harlem at the first part of the 20th century, it’s both cruel and depressing. The comic is a wonderful showcase for Gennis’ artistic range, though, as she draws period costumes and building and a wide range of faces. Her Spaz! comics are fun but I like seeing what else she’s able to do.

Dodo Comis #1: Grant Thomas
Thomas’ narratives are more abstract than most comics (in fact, he was featured in Abstract Comics) but there is a definite lyrical beauty to his work. “Where Do Ideas Come From?” is a wonderful marriage of words and art — each makes the other stronger — and “The Duel” and “The Chase” take images from manga and strip the characters out, leaving only motion lines behind. These may be a little obtuse for some, but I admire his ability to expand on the art from of comics and what it can do.

Grow Up!: A Homage to Psuedo-Adulthood: Sara Baier
Feeling adrift in your 20s is nothing new — and a countless number of comics have been made about this subject. I often think there’s nothing else left to be said on this subject.

Baier proved me wrong. Through a series of vignettes, she meditates on what it means to be an adult. It’s often funny — the images of what she wanted to be when she grew up includes everything from “Gwen Stefani” to “A Mutant” — but it’s also sweetly poignant, as when her dad tells her there’s nothing wrong with the fact her heart tells he to do crazy things.

Her simple faces carry panels that are often dialogue- or text-heavy and I love her presentation of various icons of growing up — a diploma, or packing up to move away because you don’t know what else to do.

This is apparently Baier’s first completed comic. That seems crazy to me because it’s beautifully accomplished. I will love to see what she does next.

Review copies provided by Gennis and Thomas.

I don’t think this event had an official title, and I don’t blame the participants for this, but I do think it could have been organized a bit better. It was also sadly under-attended.

And while those sound like complaints, I think the informality of it actually worked to this event’s advantage. It felt more like a group of friends hanging out and talking about comics.

Brooklyn-based Christopher Cardinale gave his presentation first. He started by giving his background — he collaborates in communities around Brooklyn to create murals — and has been featured in World War 3 Illustrated magazine as well as defunct Punk Planet. If these things aren’t an indication, he’s someone who uses his art as activism.

His recent full-length comics work, Mr. Mendoza’s Paintbrush (Cinco Puntos Press, 2010) is based on a short story by Luis Alberto Urrea. Most of his presentation was about the visual research his did for the book.

Cardinale said he started out just drawing sketches based on Urrea’s words and his own memories of when he lived in Mexico, but at a certain point, he decided he needed to go to the town, Rosario, in which the story is set. Urrea’s uncle still lived there, but he could only provide Cardinale with his nickname. The town was small enough that Cardinale was eventually able to find this uncle who helped show him around the town.

Mostly, Cardinale spent time taking photos (many of which he showed) and sketching areas of the town. Since the main characters in the book were teenagers, he convinced a few teens in the square to let him draw their portraits (although the kids wanted to keep them when he was done). He also sought out photos from the time period the story is set — the 1960s — from Urrea’s family.

He showed some comparisons of his early sketches — the way he imagined things — versus the reality. The most striking was a bridge that runs through the town. Cardinale initially pictured it as a small, mostly wooden bridge. The actual bridge was large and concrete.

He finished his presentation with a recording of Urrea reading from the story, accompanied by art from the comic.

Matt Demicki talked about Trickster (Fulcrum Publishing, 2010) next. The project came about after he’d read a Native American trickster story in an anthology and decided to illustrate it. He thought there might be something to the concept, so he began reaching out to Native American storytellers. He looked for balance — he wanted a broad range of tribes as well as trickster characters.

After each storyteller submitted his or her story, he began pairing the stories up with artists, although he was careful to make sure that each storyteller was happy with the artist.

It wasn’t necessarily an easy project. One storyteller did decide to not participate, even after artist Gokhan Okur had already created pages for it (you can see them here). Others didn’t want to write their stories down due to Native American storytelling being such an oral tradition (in those cases, Dembicki would transcribe the stories).

Dembicki mentioned there wasn’t too much resistance overall to the comic format. Some tribes actually thought it was a great way to preserve the stories since the oral tradition was dying out, and it made storytellers like Hawaii’s Thomas Cummings Jr. more interested in the comics format.

Dembicki then tried to play Joseph Stands With Many reading his story, which was featured on NPR, but Busboys & Poets’ wifi was having none of it (this is a common occurrence, really). You can watch it at NPR.com, however.

After that, Jacob Warrenfeltz and Michael Auger talked about their role in the book.

Warrenfeltz said in his comics he’s drawn a lot of people and cities (and I think he probably mentioned motorcycles in there too) but not too many animals. He liked the chance to be able to do so. He said that many writers give him fairly formal scripts, breaking down each panel, and that he sometimes feels like a “monkey with a pencil.” This project wasn’t like that, however — he was given a two-page short story to work from and so he found the process liberating. He also praised Dembicki as an “idea guy” and that he’s always happy to participate in whatever project he has going on.

Auger was brought into the project late after some things fell through. His background is more in illustration and children’s books and no so much comics. He did say, unlike Warrenfeltz, he traditionally draws animals, so he did think this would be an easy fit. However, his story actually ended up not having too many of them. Still, there wasn’t much dialogue so his approach wasn’t too different from how he tackles children’s books.

Due to the bad wifi connection, Dembicki didn’t get a chance to talk about the process for the cover, but Fulcrum Publishing has a whole entry about it. While I agree that Peter Kuper‘s initial design is striking, I think the eventual cover (which features Warrenfeltz’s art) is much more evocative.

After that, the artists signed books and the Busboys and Poets staff began to put the pressure on everyone to get out (they had another event to set up for).

The event was sponsored by the books’ publishers and Teaching for Change.

Full disclosure: I know both Matt Dembicki and Jacob Warrenfeltz.

I’m not feeling too creative about post titles today, but it has a nice symmetry with the one from Friday, at least.

SPACE was pretty great overall. I liked the broad range of exhibitors, from young and old, from established creators to newcomers. It also felt very welcoming and I felt a good sense of community. The exhibitors all seemed excited to see each other and to get to spend time together.

Now while I’m not an exhibitor at these sorts of shows, I know plenty of creators so I do benefit and enjoy the hanging out aspect. But I think if you’re just a general attendee, SPACE probably isn’t big enough to fill up your entire weekend. Although I’ve heard mixed things about sales, I do know exhibitors who did well this year and usually do fairly well at this show. I have nothing to compare this year to since I’ve never gone before, but while it never packed, there seemed to be consistent attendee traffic most of the time I was there. (People wondered if the conflict with C2E2 mattered but I don’t know if anyone came up with a conclusion. I bet there will be more discussion of that in the next few days.)

The hotel itself is fine — pretty clean and spacious and maybe it’s a Midwest thing, but the drinks at the hotel bar were cheap (but I’m used to DC-area drink prices so maybe I don’t have a good comparison). Yes, there was some amusement over the other groups in the hotel (hunters and beef farmers, apparently) but everyone behaved themselves. As far as I know.

I do have to complain about the area, though. I know many factors go into why events like this are held where they are and I completely understand why SPACE would have to be there, but it is fairly isolated. I didn’t have my own transportation and the nearest major grocery store was about a mile and a half away. I don’t think the neighborhood is particularly dangerous, but there’s just not much around there.

If I go back next year, I’ll just be better prepared.

I took some photos of the, er, fun on Saturday night, which I may put up on Facebook and/or Flickr, but I completely forgot to take any photos of the show itself. Rafer Roberts has a few on Flickr (including one of me intently studying my bottle of Mexican Coke) and Matt Dembicki has others on his site, including a few from the pre-party at Packrat Comics.

Overall, I’m very happy I went. I’m very excited to dig through the comics I bought and I came away with a couple of new friends. I’d say it was pretty much a success.

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.