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More news from the comic arts festival circuit. CXC (Cartoon Crossroads Columbus), the second year show in Columbus, has just announced their guest list and it’s super stellar from Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau on. The show is held in conjunction with the Billy Ireland Library and  after a successful launch last year is gearing up to […]

The indie comics tour continues this weekend with CAKE in Chicago, a show that’s had a slow rise to become what sounds ike a pretty essential stop on the tour. A little bad news however: Special guest Trina Robins has had to cancel, due to heath concerns. Speedy recovery, Trina. On the good news front, […]

Jamie Coville has, as always, recorded the best of the panels from TCAF, including a shocking number in which I participated. YOU can hear the audio of the panels here and the DWAs here. The DWAs are notable for the extraordinary remembrance that Seth offered or Dawwyn Cooke and also the induction of James Simpkins into the Giants […]

  I’m working on a longer account of TCAF for PW, but here’s some photos to capture the high while it’s fresh. While the weekend was tinged with sadness over the passing of Canadian native son Darwyn Cooke, the general mood was a celebration of the kind of creative spirit that Darwyn embodied. TCAF s always a chance to catch […]

If you were at MoCCA you probably heard the “rumour” that Gabe Fowler wouldn’t be putting on a Comic Arts Brooklyn festival in 2016. Radically thinking outside the box I emailed him to find out what was up and the result was a story in PW: Besides showcasing New York indie comics, last weekend’s Museum […]

Denver is getting its very own acronymed CAF now: DINK (Denver Independent Comic & Art Expo); it’s organized by artist/podcaster/Denver Comic Con co-founder Charlie LaGreca. This year’s show will be held March 25-26 at the Sherman Street Event Center.. There’s some more information about the show if you scroll down, but they’ve also kicked things off with The […]

The 2016 MoCCA Festival is just around the corner at its new (and we hope permanent home) at Metropolitan West, with the dates of April 2-3. The programming has just been announced, as as with last year, it will take place a block or so away at Ink48 at 653 11th Avenue at 48th Street. This year's Fest features Guests of Honor Stephen Universe's Rebecca Sugar, Diary of a Teenage Girl author Phoebe Gloeckner, El Deafo author Cece Bell, legendary illustrator, animator and graphic novelist R. O. Blechman, and artist Sonny Liew, suthor of this year's masterpiece. As in years past, the programming curated and organized by MoCCA Arts Festival Programming Director Bill Kartalopoulos and it covers all facets of the comics ublishing business.

The 2016 MoCCA Arts Festival has just announced this year’s Guests of Honor and they are: Cece Bell, author of the phenomenal middle grade graphic memoir El Deafo (winner of the Newberry Honor and an Eisner Award) R.O. Blechman, Emmy Award-winning illustrator, animator, cartoonist and author. Phoebe Gloeckner, whose subversive classic The Diary of a […]

The second annual Comics Arts LA festival was held yesterday, in its first year as a two-day show. It's the Los Angeles stop on the Premiere Indie Comics Circuit, and had a strong influence from the local animation community, as befits its founders, Jen Wang, Angie Wang. Iris Jong and Jake Mumm, several of whom have ties to that community. While I haven't found any detailed write-ups, it seems like everyone was up on their socials, with happy photos of comics and people all backlit with the warm, golden sun of early winter downtown LA.

I would take a haul photo of my CAB 2015 comics but there is not a floor space big enough at Stately Beat Manor to spread them all out. Yes I got that many comics. And yet the one I most desired to read, I paid for but forgot to pick up a copy in […]

More Amazing books and LESS money in your pocket. MORE TO COME.   Fanfare/Ponent Mon Available via Knockabout Comics Ponent Mon has been quietly rebuilding its backlist whilst preparing new material for 2016. So at the show Kiriko Nananan’s ‘Blue’ and Jiro Taniguchi’s ‘The Quest for the Missing Girl’ will both be available again after […]

It’s a busy week for comics event in NYC, with Comic Arts Brooklyn this weekend. Here’s the official list of CAB events and some other events taking place from tonight onwards: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 11 AM to 7 PM: Book Sales and Signings Mt. Carmel Gymnasium 13 Havemeyer St, Williamsburg, Brooklyn – Free – Saturday’s […]

It’s here! Once again, The Beat has teamed with The Devastator magazine for the annual Indie Exhibitor Convention Mega Survey 2015. This is an in-depth look at who is exhibiting, where they are exhibiting and how they are exhibiting at various pop culture shows across North America; whether con, CAF or autograph show. It’s the […]

This weekend it's Comic Arts Brooklyn in Williamsburg and here's a look at the books that will be debuting. Thanks to all the contributing publishers and cartoonists for supplying the info and lightening our wallets. Because there were so many new and exciting books I'm splitting this into two parts. Look for part two tomorrow!

The Lakes comics best was just held in the beautiful Lakes District of England; it’s a collegial show that aims to fit into the Angouleme mold with a community wide takeover, and there are two must read reports on the event. First might be one of my all time favorite con reports as Zainab Akhtar […]

Even as the dead leaves rattle through the dooryard, turkeys gargle their last calls and pumpkin spice invades our dreams, there are still a few more comic events to come, including, just this weekend, the Locust Moon Festival in Philadelphia (disclosure: an advertiser on this site.) A lively event for a burgeoning local comics scene, the Locust Moon Fest, run by the comic shop of the same name, will have a stellar guest line up this year, including Chris Claremont, Bill Sienkiewicz, Alexa Kitchen, Ronald Wimberly, Craig Thompson and Dean Haspiel, among many others...and now...Mark Beyer!

Today Cartoon Crossroad Columbus kicks off its soft launch in Columbus, Oh, the new comics mecca. The show is being held in conjunction with SOL-CON: The Black & Brown Comix Expo 2015, also kicking off tonight. The entire schedule can be seen here.

This year’s Locust Moon Festival—Philadelphia’s indie focused one day comes shows—will be held on Halloween and just got a stunning poster by Bill Sienkiewicz. It doesn’t get much better than that. Guests at the show include Sienkiewicz, Alex Kitchen, Chris Claremont, David Mack, Dean Haspiel and Noah van Sciver. Locust Moon, the Phillie comics shop, […]

Posted by Small Press Expo on Saturday, September 19, 2015 I’ll have a longer write up and thoughts on SPX a bit later, but for now I’ll just share SPX’s photo gallery, because I was too darned busy having a good time and talking about great comics to take blurry Hipstamatic photos. I love the above […]

This year’s Comic Arts Brooklyn Festival will be held November 7-8, in the same configuration as last year — exhibits on the Saturday and panels on the Sunday. AND NO EXHIBITS ON SUNDAY — there was some confusion about that last year but I’m sure everyone will get the drill this time. The poster, by […]

The SPX programming went live today, with a plethora of great programs and a bit of news: Bill Kartalopoulos, programming director for the last nine years, is stepping into an advisory capacity, mostly with international guests. This year's programming was handled by a committee led by Esther Kim of Fantom Comics that includes Michael Cavna and Jen Vaughn, with Kartalopoulos continuing in a consulting capacity with a focus on international guests. 

SPACE (Small Press & Alternative Comics Expo) , Columbus’s longest running die comics show, has announced its 20156 dates: April 9 and 10, 2016, as well as a new free admission policy. The venue will be the Northland Performing Arts Center. This year’s SPACE had a problematic date the weekend after the San Diego Comic-Con, […]

  If I were in London I would DEFINITELY be going to the  Safari Festival, the one day CAF run by Breakdown Press and devoted to “the new wave of alternative and art comics from the UK and beyond. Taking place over one Saturday at the end of August, the festival is an opportunity for […]

Update: the correct dates for the show are April 2-3, not 3-4 as I originally wrote. MoCCA Festival, New York’s largest indie comics focused event, has announced a new venue for 2016: Metropolitan West, an event space located at West 46th Street between 10th and 11th Avenue. Programming will be held nearby at Ink48, a […]

While the chance for SPX exhibitors to pitch cartoon ideas to Nickelodeon as announced yesterday sounds like a good opportunity, there was quite a bit of controversy about it on social, as seen in these tweets. Click on the Gillman and Gran links to go to much longer discussions, but the basic objection is that SPX is a small press show that celebrates the joy of small press comics, and formalizing the participation of a major cartoon network/corporate brand at the show goes against that philosophy.