MoCCA Fest 2010 Poster by Dash Shaw

I was very surprised to find that nearly everyone I met at SPX earlier this year remembered my name (some of them even remembered the name of my comic!). I found this somewhat touching but mostly was just completely in awe of it because I am the absolute worst at remembering people’s names. I don’t understand how these people could have shook my hand once months ago and remembered me. So way to go everyone I met at SPX.

Douglas Wolk obviously considered this issue with the astounding number of people you meet at conventions and made business cards that attempt to fix the problem. He absolutely wins hands down for having the best business card at the show. One side is filled (and I mean FILLED) with useful information about him, while the other side has blanks to fill in reminding you where you met him and what you talked about. These would be incredibly effective business cards…if I was at all in danger of forgetting who Douglas Wolk is (which, barring a sudden case of early onset Alzheimer’s, is not going to happen any time soon).

Pranas (of inkdick fame) and Box Brown (Bellen!) totally win for most approachable table. I stopped by their spot a few times and chatted them up. Two top notch dudes if you ask me.  Box Brown had a bunch of new stuff, including both issues of Everything Dies and some originals to look at of an adaptation he’s making of some religious spam he got. I always find it really interesting to look at original pages and see people’s pencil lines and fuck ups, and these pages were really well composed. Pranas had some minis out for sale that were really intricately made, with cut-outs and crazy packaging. It makes me smile when people treat minicomics as a form of book art instead of just slapping together some crap at Kinkos (even though I totally just slap my own crap together at Kinkos).

Celia Bullwinkel had what I thought was one of the most interesting items for sale: pillowcases! I’d never seen pillowcases at something like this before, and I absolutely had to buy them. She said that they were kind of a pain to have made, but they turned out beautifully and they go with my sheets.

Photo of my new pillow cases stolen from celiabullwinkel.com

After the show on Saturday I made some friends in Steve Seck and Sara Lindo who were tabling with Darryl Ayo, a friend from SPX. They were nice enough to invite me along for dinner with Sam Carbaugh and Andrew Hoepfner. We talked about art and comics and drank a lot of beer, and honestly, that’s what I came to New York to do. I came to MoCCA to meet cartoonists and get drunk and talk about what kind of ink cartridges we like and how expensive Bristol board is. Talking to other cartoonists makes me feel like I’m not COMPLETELY INSANE for doing what I do. So, mission accomplished.

After dinner I ended up at Bill Kartalopoulos‘ party in Brooklyn (right by my sister’s place – how convenient!) where I ran into Cody Pickrodt, whom I met at SPX, Gabe Fowler and briefly met Charles Burns. I chatted for a while with Swedish cartoonist Simon Gärdenfors about Stockholm, and drunkenly made a bit of a fool of myself in front of Drawn & Quarterly’s Peggy Burns! (Hey, what’s a convention without making an ass of yourself in front of at least one person you have respect for?)

The second day of the show, I thought, was considerably more low key (although maybe that was just the hangover). I picked up a few of the larger items I’d had my eye on the first day: a book on Swedish Comics History, the brand new print version of Gastrophobia, Lucy Knisely’s French Milk and a rad jellyfish t-shirt from Sticky Comics. Talking to a lot of the exhibitors I head many complaints about the show, mostly from the tables in the back that felt foot traffic was being cut off from them by a huge section of “reading tables.” I also heard a fair amount of grumbling about the high table costs/admission prices. L. Nichols does a fair job of explaining her concerns in this blog post, and I think her issues with the show are valid. As a spectator I didn’t experience any of the problems the exhibitors were having, and it being my first time at MoCCA (and only my second major convention ever) I don’t really have much to compare it to anyway. I thought it went pretty well over all. The turn out seemed pretty good and the panels were interesting and well organized (aside from a few technical difficulties). I had a good time at MoCCA and definitely plan on attending next year, although I doubt I will be able to afford a table. As always it was fantastic seeing my sister and it’s always good to have an excuse to go to New York.

Anders and Maria discuss their relationship in Engstrom's comic.

Anders Loves Maria is a story about love and growing up, but to some extent it is also a story about sex. Because of that, I caution all of you to just assume that most of these links are not safe for work:

The story begins with Anders and Maria, a late-20s couple living in Stockholm, discussing the possibility of having a child. The rest of the story follows the couple over the nine month period of Maria’s pregnancy and all the drama and turmoil that ensues (and let me tell you, there is a LOT of drama and turmoil). Anders is the son of a wealthy shut-in artist, and a relatively successful art photographer himself. He’s come from a very privileged background and as a result, may not have grown up all the way quite yet. Conversely, Maria comes from a much less privileged household in Northern Sweden. Her parents were drunks and her older brother, Johan, is somewhat overprotective. This is probably for the best for Maria, because as the story goes on we come to find Anders is a bit of a fuckup. Sure, he loves Maria as the title would suggest, but that doesn’t appear to stop him from fucking just about anyone who will give him any attention. That’s not to say Maria is entirely innocent, as soon as she finds Anders cheating with her childhood nemesis, Tina, she ends up back in the arms of her much older ex-boyfriend, Björn – but come on, Anders totally started it.

The artwork in Anders Loves Maria is beautiful, and constantly changing. Engstrom uses her story to experiment with visual styles, altering the tone of her strip each time. The first few strips use an incredibly cartoony style with a color palette of brights and pastels. As the story moves on, however, lines become more fluid and less geometric and the color palette slowly shifts from bright colors to something a bit more somber. Occasionally strips are beautifully rendered in watercolors, usually during a flashback but not always. Along the way, Engström plays with a few other styles as well, really giving us a well-rounded view of her versatility as an artist.

As strong as her artwork is, however, this story really speaks to Engström’s strength as a writer. It has pretty much everything you can ask for, it is full of action and romance and humor. The histories of each character are intricately woven together, slowly, so that the audience is always surprised to see how they fit together. There are literally plot twists down to the last page, and the kind of subtle foreshadowing that makes you think back 150 strips ago and go, “Oh. Wow.” While reading  Anders Loves Maria, it is evident that the story is the product of years worth of thoughtful planning and while today’s ending broke my heart a little, it did make the whole thing come together.

The mircacle of childbirth in Anders Loves Maria.

This really is an excellent read, so for those of you who haven’t read it yet, start here and enjoy. If you have finished the story, why not donate any amount on Engström’s website to receive Sex and the Suburbs, a six page mini-story taking place while Anders and Maria first started dating in college? Today has been a little bittersweet, as this has been one of my favorite comics on the internet recently and I am sad to see it come to an end. The final piece of Anders Loves Maria really has seemed to rock the internet this morning. It’s even trending on Twitter! So congratulations, Rene! We all very much look forward to your next project!

While the story told in Most Outrageous does focus around Tinsley’s trial, it also describes the events leading up to it. In the first half of the book Levin carefully tells us the details of Tinsley’s shabby childhood, the rise to popularity of Hustler magazine, and the increasing public concern over child abuse at the time of the accusation. He gives us the background Tinsley’s three marriages, of his daughter’s upbringing, and the history of his relationship with his daughter both before and after her accusations. In a story where the reader is all but commanded to take a side, Levin manages to keep all of his characters human. All possibilities are considered, and from many perspectives. I won’t go as far to say that Levin is entirely unbiased – he says himself he really wants to prove Tinsley’s innocence – but he maintains a sense of realistic skepticism I have to credit him for.

Levin does remain sympathetic for Tinsley, if only for the injustice of being misunderstood. To most, Tinsley’s work would be regarded as inappropriate, or even pornographic, but to others, like Levin, they are pieces of art. In an interview with Tom Spurgeon, Levin said, “Tinsley viewed himself as a serious artist making serious statements. Let’s honor that intent.” Levin quotes text from Iain Topliss’ book, The Comic Worlds of Peter Arno, William Steig, Charles Addams and Saul Steinberg to point to a similarity between Tinsley’s humor and that of Charles Addams. Both artists put our darkest and grimmest impulses on to the page; for Addams these forbidden urges were of a homicidal nature, for Tinsley, sexual. Levin does point out, however, that no “Christmas caroler ever accused Addams of actually dumping his boiled oil upon her.”

The second half of Levin’s book chronicles the ongoings of the People v. Tinsley trial. Levin really is perfectly qualified to tell Tinsley’s story because, not only does he have insight into the nuances of cartooning as a frequent contributor to The Comics Journal, but he is also a lawyer. Levin explains in detail the anatomy of a criminal trial, everything from the complicated process by which jurors are selected to things as simple as explaining the purpose of an opening statement. He catalogues his scrupulous research on the trail while still managing to produce invariably thought-provoking prose. The text quotes jazz musicians, makes analogies to tennis more than once, and references Levin’s wife’s opinion several times. From Most Outrageous I learned the tragic details of the Dwaine Tinsley case, about the history of cartoons, child abuse and women’s rights, but I also learned a great deal about Bob Levin, and he seems like a pretty solid guy.

I only rarely write about non-comics publications in this blog and although this book was only tangentially about comics, I felt that  it deserved its place here. This book was an incredibly compelling read, and told with both suspense and compassion. The story is both tragic and complex, and as we struggle to understand what may or may not have happened, so does Levin. His intimate narration of such an unfortunate tale is, I think, the most moving part of the story. If you are not too put off by the uncomfortable subject matter to read it, I don’t think you’ll disagree.

The cast of Scott Pilgrim, by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Scott Pilgrim is 23 and unemployed. He mooches off his roommate in a shitty hovel of an apartment in Toronto and splits his time between band practice and dating high school girls. Then he meets Ramona and shit gets complicated. Ramona’s a badass ninja delivery girl who can travel through subspace highways. She beautiful, fashionable and mysterious, and she seems to like Scott well enough. Unfortunately, in order to date Ramona, Scott must first fight her seven evil ex-boyfriends! As if that weren’t difficult enough, he’s still got to deal with all that other annoying relationship stuff on top of that: when to say “I love you,” moving in together, letting down your ex who still wants to get back together… life is hard, isn’t it, Scott Pilgrim?

A lot of the kids I know who sing praise for these books are really enamored with its gamer humor. The books are peppered with references to the kinds of games kids my age grew up on, where you go around battling bosses (or in this case, ex-boyfriends), finding shortcuts and collecting coins. But as someone who has probably played about four videogames in her entire life (and sucked at ALL of them) a lot of that humor was lost on me. What impressed me most about O’Malley’s series was how incredibly authentic the whole story felt. There is a precise attention to detail that is expressed in these books. The dialouge of the characters feels so fluid and natural that it could practically be a transcript of a couple friends of mine hanging out. O’Malley draws fashion expertly; his characters change outfits from day to day but always stay in accordance with their own style. Ramona’s wardrobe is edgy – often over-layered with lots of belts, buckles, zippers and straps. She likes to be the center of attention, she dresses over-the-top and dyes her hair constantly. Scott’s friend Kim’s attire is more conservative, and very retro-influenced. She wears polka-dots and button-ups with baby-doll collars. More than once, reading Scott Pilgrim made me want to go shopping (although honestly, it doesn’t take much for me to want to go shopping).

I’ve talked to a number of fans of these comic books, many of whom remain skeptical, but I am SUPER excited about upcoming Scott Pilgrim movie! In my opinion, Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) is exactly the kind of director this story needs. Don’t get me wrong, Scott Pilgrim will be a difficult story to tell as a live-action film, so I can understand the skepticism. It’s packed full of fight scenes, musical numbers and great humor, which are all hard enough to pull off separately, not to mention together. Nonetheless, I have high hopes for this movie. I did some snooping around on IMDB and found that the cast of Scott Pilgrim is pretty evenly balanced between actors with experience in action films and those with experience in comedies. So we’re off to a good start.

Kim asks Scott & Ramona about their relationship in Scott Pilgrim

As someone who has spent an appalling amount of time considering the problematic adaptation from comics to film, I was thrilled to find that on the movie’s website there are several video blog posts about the making of the film. It’s pretty cool to see them filming on locations that O’Malley used as photo-references, and all the work that goes into making a detailed comic book come off the page and onto the screen. I was very interested to hear Edgar Wright discuss the balance between staying true to his source material and knowing when things just don’t translate into live action in this short three-minute video. The video blogs make this movie look all the more promising, and I absolutely can’t wait to go see it. The film is set to be released some time in 2010, as is the sixth and final book in O’Malley’s series.

Through her diary comic, Moen has shared some of the most intimate details of her life and given her readers a little window into her world. At it’s completion DAR! proves to be a beautiful story about a confused college kid that grows into a full fledged woman, married and happily supporting herself as an artist in Portland. As a young artist myself, I find the story Moen has told over the past six years in DAR! to be incredibly inspirational. Her achievements and journey to becoming an artist make me feel hopeful about finding the path to my own career. It’s sort of a triumphant story. The first few years of the comic left me sympathizing with a young girl having relationships troubles. I felt like I wanted to hold her hand, but I also felt oddly comforted – like I wasn’t alone in the scary world of relationships and identity issues. The last couple years of DAR! have shown us a very different Moen, more lively, financially stable and doing what she loves, with a man she loves.

While I’m sure her life will take her on more twists and turns, this particular moment I feel was a perfect end-note to DAR!. Now working as a full time artist out of Periscope Studio, the conclusion to DAR! will give Moen extra time to work on new projects. I’m excited for her to be taking this next step in her life, and super excited to see what this talented artist puts out next. Now, I’m not gonna lie, I teared up a little bit when I read that last strip today. The absence of DAR! is going to leave a huge hole in my Google Reader feed. I think Gary Tyrell put it best saying, “I’m going to miss that feeling I get where it’s like the two of us are hanging out and we’re probably a little drunk as she’s telling me about her day and then the tender moment ends with farts.”

Despite how much DAR! will be missed, I’m very much looking forward to her next project, whatever that may be. Moen has several mincomics and prints up in her store, as well as the first collection of DAR!. Expect to see to see volume two up early this year. If you want to know more about Erika Moen, follow her Livejournal or check out her impressive portfolio. Keep your eyes peeled for new stuff from her, because I have a feeling that it’s going to be great.

I was struck by this poster design for two reasons. Almost never in my life have I seen an ad campaign for an adapted work that points so loudly and so obviously back to its source material. It was like this poster was screaming, “THIS SHOW WAS INSPIRED BY A CARTOON! YOU KNOW, BY THAT CHARLES ADDAMS GUY?? YOU MAY HAVE SEEN IT IN THE NEW YORKER!” Needless to say, living in Chicago, I’ve seen a lot of advertisements for big musicals and many of those have been adapted from stories in other media. Everyone is familiar with shows adapted from popular movies (such as Broadway’s long-running The Lion King) or literature (such as the staggeringly popular Wicked). I would even venture to guess that most people are familiar with the imagery associated with the advertisements for both of those shows. Lion King‘s promotional imagery recalled that of the original animation but also developed its own distinct aesthetic of black silhouettes against vibrant backgrounds. Wicked‘s signature reproduction of a very green Elphaba with her floppy black hat and devilish smirk can be recognized nearly anywhere, making the text advertising the show almost unnecessary. Both of these poster designs have become iconic, needing no further explanation than that of the image. Does our Addams Family poster have the same potential? Absolutely not. Strip this ad of its copy and context and all you have is a Charles Addams cartoon.

Poster advertising The Addams Family musical opening in Chicago this November

The other puzzling thing about this poster design is the complete omission of any other Addams Family related imagery. As a child the bottom shelf of the bookcase next to my bedroom door held an array of comics including Calvin & Hobbes, Gary Larson’s The Far Side, some work by Edward Gorey and an anthology of Charles Addams. One of the other things at my childhood eye-level were the stacks of back issues of The New Yorker that lived under the end table in my family’s living room. I used to go through every issue, page by page, looking for the cartoons. As a result I was very aware of Charles Addams’ charmingly macabre family as a series of odd single-panel cartoons, but at least for my generation, I might be somewhat of an anomaly. You’d have to have been living under a rock to only associate the Addams Family with Addams’ New Yorker comics. Since the 1960s sitcom starring John Astin and featuring that incredibly catchy theme song, the Addams Family has been a strong part of the cultural awareness. Over the years, the comic has inspired two live-action televisions shows, two animated shows, four films and six video games. So why this promotional poster for the musical that points so specifically to the original cartoons? It may relate to the fact that the rights to the characters were granted to the theatrical production by the Tee and Charles Addams Foundation. According to this New York Post article, the Addams estate was adamant that the musical be based solely on Addams’ original cartoons. “They have complete control over just about everything on this show, and they rule with an iron fist,” the article states.

The idea that one could have an Addams Family musical based solely on the cartoons seems almost unreasonable to me. Even the names of the characters, while invented by Charles Addams, were created specifically for the 1960s television show. In the original cartoons the family members were not named, and the single-panel format left very little room for any kind of extended narrative. At this point in history, I have trouble believing that the idea of the Addams Family can properly be separated from that of television sitcoms, or the Saturday morning cartoons, or feature films starring Tim Curry. How can the writers, the actors or the designers of this show separate their preconceived notions of the Addams Family from this show? It hardly seems possible. All of that aside, I can’t imagine who thought it was a good idea to have an Addams Family musical that did not include the famous theme song. This was one of a few critiques after the mostly well received invitation-only reading that happened in January of this year. According to another New York Post article, those reactions caused the production to contact Vic Mizzy for the rights to his catchy theme song, so perhaps it will be included after all.

The idea that this musical is to be based only on the cartoons and asks the audience to forget all that they already know about the famous Addams family seems silly, and not a good enough reason to sacrifice what could have been a really awesome poster design. The show is set to move on to Broadway in April and I’ll be very interested to see if they will use to same promotional material in New York. Despite my misgivings on the show’s advertising campaign, the show looks like it’s gonna be a good one – just look at this fantastic cast photo in Vanity Fair! I’m excited to see some spectacular Victorian and Gothic-revival inspired set designs and some wild costumes and make up. Early reviews of the show say that, although it lacks any especially catchy tunes, it’s peppered with a lot of great humor and with Nathan Lane as the family patriarch, Gomez, I’ve got particularly high hopes for this show.

Speaking of which, anybody want to go see a musical with me??

I meant to write about this book ages ago. I received a stack of books off my wishlist at Christmas last year and this one was the absolutely first one I read. The story is about step-siblings Ruth and Perry, both of whom hear voices and see things that may not be there. The two form a strong bond early on in the story. Probably one of my favorite images of the whole book is of the two, having stayed out all night, sneaking back into their respective bedrooms through the windows and exchanging quick “I love yous” as they do. But as the story continues the two begin to drift apart. Perry puts away his artwork, gets a girlfriend and begins acting more “normal” than Ruth, whose schizophrenia becomes more apparent and harder to control.

Swallow Me Whole, by Nate Powell

Powell’s artwork is beautiful. The majority of  his images are extremely high contrast with bright white figures shining through inky blacks. The heavy shading and deep blacks set the tone for a book of somewhat somber subject matter. Though to a large extent Swallow Me Whole is a coming of age story, it also is a story about aging, death and mental illness. In a Robot6 interview with Tim O’Shea, Powell stresses the fact that his book is not “about” mental disorders and mentions challenge of telling this kind of story ”without exploiting the nature of mental disorders for the sake of narrative.” I think he is quite successful at using his own techniques without exploiting element of the story. He manages to shift from traditional square-panel sequences into unconventional layouts and full-bleeds seamlessly to create the book’s own visual language.

One of my favorite parts of this book is most certainly the lettering. Powell’s handwriting flows in and out of all caps to all lowercase to cursive as the characters interact, enhancing the mood of each page. I can almost hear their tone of voice in the words, which is an accomplishment. I know I’ve said this here before but I will say it again and continue to do so until my breath runs out: people need to be hand lettering. The words are as much a part of the page as the images, and every time I see someone using a stock font pasted into their beautiful artwork, a part of me dies. A jarring contrast between an art style and a font style is enough to pull a reader right out of the story. Comics are supposed to be a language, and in this piece, Powell fucking nails it. Swallow Me Whole‘s fluid artwork and morphing lettering style make the words inseparable from the pictures. That’s what making comics is supposed to be about, right? Creating a language with words and pictures? At least, that’s what I thought the point was.

I had the pleasure of meeting Nate Powell at SPX this year and I must say he was just one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. Just look at the guy’s picture at the top of this Newsarama interview. Doesn’t he just look like a swell guy? Well, he is. As soon as I got home from SPX I reread his book and it was even better the second time. Powell’s got a couple short stories up on Top Shelf 2.0 where you can see his dark expressionistic style for free so check that out. He’s also very involved in the music scene and runs a record label, Harlan Records. How he finds time to make music AND all this awesome art is totally beyond me. See how awesome he is? You should probably buy his book.

I got there on Friday night to find myself with a six pack of beer and no bottle opener. So I head next door to ask raucous bunch whom I can hear through the wall if they have one. That’s how I end up at a hotel party graciously hosted by two very talented dudes, Dustin Harbin and Scott Campbell. I also met a lot of dudes who do stuff other than make comics but are also very talented, including Leigh Walton, Jeff Newlett and Brain Heater. Everyone was really friendly to me and I am doing an absolutely terrible job of describing this party to you so y’all better just head on over to Dustin Harbin’s blog where he does a much better job of it. After drinking a bit and meeting some people, I met up with Dan Hill and stayed up way too late so that the next morning I had not slept enough at all and was pretty much nonfunctional. AND SO THE SHOW BEGINS! I learned a whole hell of a lot about conventions within the first twenty minutes of being there:

*Bring food. Because there won’t be much around and what is there is probably boring and/or gross. Plus everyone likes picnics.

*Make a sign for your table the night before because making one in the morning while everyone is setting up is a huge pain in the ass.

*Don’t put the most text-heavy piece you have in the very front of your minicomic. People pick them up and look at the first page and a block of text is just going to make them put it right back down.

*Have something to say about your work, a summary or a mission statement or something. Dan had a little speech about his comics all planned out and it gave people an idea of what they were looking at. I just kind of stumbled over words like, “Oh it’s…um, like kind of autobiography but not…exactly…,” which makes my work sound…well, bad.

*Bring money. Like, way more money than you think you should. I had this whole plan about the convention, I had a list in my head of all the books I wanted to pick up, mostly print versions of my favorite webcomics and books that had gotten good reviews that I hadn’t gotten the chance to pick up. As soon as I walked out onto the floor that plan went RIGHT out the window. Those books I want to get? I’ll get them. The webcomics I read? I can and will buy their stuff online. But at SPX I met a billion talented artist I’d never heard of, selling minicomics that serve as a sampler or introduction to their work. So instead of buying maybe three or four big things that I’m going to get anyway, I spent all my money on tons and tons of little things. And nearly everyone wanted to TRADE, too, which means I got even more….I came home with some many minicomics I need a damn file cabinet for all of them or something (seriously, where do people put all these?).

*If you have not slept all night, don’t try talking to people. Especially people you look up to. You will end up saying something totally stupid/nonsensical.

By the end of the first day I had bought next to nothing because I was so zoned out from sleep deprivation. I had sold ten minicomics for $1, bringing me ever so close to the $12 goal I had set at the beginning of the weekend. I’d also spent some time chatting with the other kids at my table: Kenan Rubenstin, whose black and white panels detailed with careful hatching are really quite breathtaking, and Caitlin McGurk, whose librarian’s desire for research has led her to making illustrated field guides (I picked up A Field-guide To Edible Roadside Plants, I can’t wait for the one on black metal!).

After a much needed nap I headed to the Ignatz awards which felt a lot less like an award show and more like a group of old friends getting together. I started to pick up on why everyone I’d met had been referring to SPX as “nerd sleepaway camp.” There really were very few people from the public attending the show, and the whole thing seemed like an excuse for comic artists and fans to get together and hang out and show each other what they’ve been working on. After the awards I wound up taking part in my first ever comics jam in a large group including but not limited to B. T. Livermore, Darryl Ayo Brathwaite and the 2009 Ignatz Award winner for Outstanding Artist, Nate Powell. Darryl had even heard of Owlex before so that really made my day. Then it was off to hotel party #2 at the Dharbin/Scott C. residence, which Dustin talks about right here and if you follow that link and scroll to to the bottom you can see a pretty fantastic picture of myself and Scott Campbell posing with a beautiful, talented and sleeping Kate Beaton.

The second day of the show involved a lot more buying minicomics. I picked one of I Know Joe Kimpel‘s 4Square books, the second issue of Dustin Harbin’s Dharbin!, a few by this kid Bill Volk that I went to college with, and two collections of a comic called One Year In Indiana about a metal band by a guy named Kurt Dinse that I am particularly excited about. I also made some awesome trades with S. Dave Shabet for part one of Dead Winter and with Ethan Rilly for The Nervous Party. I was very pleased to discover that Ethan Rilly is the nicest dude ever! Really the best part of this show was how friendly and outgoing everyone was, which isn’t exactly stereotypical for cartoonists.

After the show ended on Sunday I made my way back to DC to meet a friend for dinner, really wiped out and already excited for next year. At the next SPX I hope to be better prepared, with more stuff to sell and more to say about it. Also, hopefully I’ll be more well rested so as to not come off like an idiot/zombie to all the professionals I meet.

The Center for Cartoon Studies, as shown in their "How To" Guidebook

The CCS was founded in 2005 by James Sturm and Michelle Ollie in an old department store on WRJ’s Main Street. It offers one- and two-year certificate programs and a two-year MFA program in Cartooning. On my tour I saw their small gallery space, classroom, studios (free screenprinting – wtf?!), and their impressive Charles M. Schultz Library of comics, art and comics-related literature located in an old Firehouse. The facilities here were impressive, as was the work the students were producing. You can find work by CCS students and alumni at I Know Joe Kimpel if you don’t believe me.

During my visit I stayed in the Hotel Coolidge, an adorable (though occasionally Shining-esque) hotel with a hostel section that serves as a dormitory for the school. Located a few doors down from the hotel is the region’s only professional theater, and nearby there is the Tip Top Media building that houses artists studios (currently housing a painter, sculptor and mask maker from what I could tell). So it would seem this small town is really full of art and creativity. The advantage of the location, I suppose, is the low level of distraction from your work. While the town is located just a few hours from Boston or Montreal, I get the feeling that the long Vermont winters diminish the ease of such excursions, leaving people very little to do outside of make cartoons and tie a couple on at the local bar: CJ’s at Than Wheeler’s.

The C is Christine. The J is Joe. They’re engaged and have a ten-week-old black lab puppy named Liberty. These are all things I learned within the first twenty minutes of sitting at the bar. The people in White River Junction were friendly as hell. I was extended warm greetings and friendly conversation by Mary while I had coffee at the Polka Dot Diner the next morning, and later by Jane, over my bacon-wrapped beef tenderloin at her restaurant, Elixir. I don’t think I met a single person who wasn’t nice to me. Maybe I am just not used to a small town environment, but I was a little astounded by it.

On my last night in town I finally met some of the “toonies,” as the locals call them. They were equally friendly and happy to share their experiences and opinions of their school that I’ve been considering attending. I had a few drinks with them and maybe overdid it a little so hopefully I didn’t embarrass myself. Among these people was Cat Garza, who this weekend won an Ignatz award for Outstanding Online Comic for his Year of the Rat, so congratulations to him!

All around it seemed like an excellent place turning out excellent artists. The town, while small, still has a few things to offer including the Tip Top Cafe, an upscale restaurant I rather enjoyed, and the Tuckerbox, a coffeehouse with free internet and excellent sandwiches that always seems full of cartoonists and students and artsy folk. It’s the kind of place I could see myself spending a few years working with their outstanding faculty (including Jason Lutes, Stephen Bissette, and James Kochalka to name a few). After seeing two schools I am beginning to hope that I only get into one of them, thus avoiding the problem of choosing between the two. They’re so different but both have so much to offer.