How to use this Page

The Beat took pictures at CAB 2014! Some of them are Hipstamatic. Live with it. This was a good show, as usual. I came back with a bag full of books and immediately started reading them, one of the virtues of the home show. Although jam packed the show was surmountable, and I thought I would go once around the room and take photos of every one so I would have good file photos for when someone wins the Nobel Prize or marries Taylor Swift. This plan did not go as well as anticipated as you will see.

The cotillion for young cartoonists was arranged by experience. It takes a few years to get to tyro.

This book, The Jacket, by Kristen Hall and Dasha Tolstikova is lovely. Published by Enchanted Lion.

Enchanted Lion publisher Claudia Z. Bedrick on the right, I forgot the young fellow’s name alas.

That’s Laura Lannes on the left, cartoonist of the mini comic The Basil Plant which got a rave review on the Comics Journal the other day which had about 200 times more words than the comics. but sometimes that’s how it works. She’s good! On the right is…another cartoonist from the Paper Rocket studio whose hand cleverly covered his name badge. I’m really awful with names, people.

Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth spring into action as Paul Karasik looks on and Olivier Schwauren sketches away. This show was action packed!

Secret Acres creators. One of them is Theo Elsworth. Help me out here, people!

Sophie Yanow and Sam Alden are shocked to see all the action at the show. These guys have moved beyond Tyro class even!

People looked at comics sometimes buying them.

I was trying out this new Hipstamatic filter I just bought. A little too blue?

The animated Leslie Stein.

John Pham was at the show! I didn’t even know he was going to be there!

The mad talented Lala Albert. Her new comic from Breakdown Press was a sellout.

Patrick Kyle, returned from his tour more or less intact.

Dean Haspiel and Z2 Publisher Josh Frankel.

Nick Bertozzi is chatting to SVA’s Keith Mayerson, I believe, That’s David Mazzucchelli in the hat but don’t worry you’ll get a better look at that later. Bertozzi has developed quite a varied shelf of books. I adore his latest one, Shackleton

Gregory Benton of Hang Dai and Target.

Jillian Tamaki, Keren Katz and Mazzucchelli. David and I embarrassed Jillian by telling her how amazing her work in This One Summer is, and then David explained how tiny gestures can changes every drawing. A collection of Jillian’s funny and painful SuperMutant Magic Academy is coming in the Spring from D&Q.

I know this isn’t a very good photo, but CAB is full of magical moments like Keren Katz yakking with Ben Katchor while James Romberger and Marguerite van Cook stand nearby.

I grabbed a bite with tireless Torsten Adair at this little sandwich shop called re.Union which was around the corner from the church. Their sandwiches were JAMMIN’ but everyone turned backlit. Scott Eder of the Scott Eder Gallery was at the next table and we passed a pleasant half hour or so talking about shows and art.

Here’s the Breakdown Press gang, which is, I believe Simon Hacking and Tom Oldham. Breakdown is a small English publisher and they’ve put out works by Cossé, Conor Willumsen, Connor Stechschulte, Lala Albert, Joe Kessler and Seiichi Hayashi. They are kind of killing it. Seriously, loved every book I got from them. They also filled me in on some of the background of the UK’s fast growing indie scene. (Thought Bubble is already on!) I pointed out that once the English think something is cool, American hipsters have to go along, so all our hopes rest on these guys. They also told me a possibly apocryphal story about a cartoonist who had spent the night on a park bench and still managed to make a mini comic in the process.

Karl Stevens! He’s backed by Sam Henderson.

Action Austin English! Those Domino Books people totally use a hurry up offense.

Of course an actual wedding was going on at the church. What would a comics show be without a wedding nearby?

Adrian Tomine. A new issue of OPtic Nerve is on tap for 2015 he told me.

Annie Koyama and Gary Groth exemplify the love that is CAB.

Flash Forward to Day 2! There was some confusion over people thinking that there would be books for sale on Sunday, but there weren’t Only panels. Here’s Paul Karasik talking to Art Spiegelman and Roz Chast. This was a blockbuster panel by any definition, and I love Paul Karasik, but I kind of wish more had been devoted to the two talking about their parents. I don’t mean to gripe. Karasik put together a marvelous slideshow of both their work and of course both Chast and Spiegelman were witty and wonderful.

Then Josh Bayer interviewed Raymond Pettibon, the famed punk artist. This was a priceless, you-had-to-be-there moment as Bayer would ask a question and Pettibon would go off on an amazing rant about something, every line quotable. (I put a few really goods ones on Twitter.) It was a pretty unstructured talk but Bayer knows Pettibon well and quickly rushed through a slideshow that included work by Harold Gray and Jack Kirby, both obvious influences. Petibon clearly has comics hopes and dreams (Caniff and Frank Robbins were also cited as influences.) but luckily came up at a time when someone of his talents could make a ton of money doing commercial art and selling paintings.

If I may shift into diary mode here for a moment (I wasn’t already?) I experienced one of those weird time circles. Back when I lived in LA I went to a blockbuster show at MOCA that included Robert Williams, Pettibon, and Manuel Ocampo among others. It was called Helter Skelter: LA Art in the 90s, and it was a pretty incredible show, I have to say. The work of Pettibon and Ocampo and Williams very clearly referenced comics imagery in a respectful way. This was long before comics were as accepted as they are now, but I saw clear flashes of it back then. A few months later I was at that cafe in Silverlake we all used to hang out at (Jeebus what was it called?) with Phil Yeh and Alfredo Alcala and Ocampo and his fellow Filipino art crowd, because it turned out Ocampo idolized Alcala and the other cartoonists. Anyway flash forward 24 years, and Bayer asked Pettibon if he liked the Filipino comics school, and he said “Yeah, Alcala and…” So, see, everyone knows every one!

I saw Robert Boyd at the show and he was taking notes at this presentation. I look forward to his notes on the event because he knows a lot more about art than I do.

For a finale, Pettibon did a live drawing based on a Jack Kirby drawing of Spider-Man. It was awesome. CAB was awesome.

You can see the finished drawing here. WARNING: NOT SAFE FOR WORK! REPEAT NOT SAFE FOR WORK!

Festival poster by Tim Lane

As we noted a few days ago, Comic Arts Brooklyn, the final comics related event on the NYC calendar, will expand to two days this year, with exhibits on Saturday, November 8, and programming on Sunday November 9th, at a new venue, the Wythe Hotel. Programming director Paul Karasik has just released the lineup, and the news that, just like at NYCC, the panel room will be cleared between panels! Line up now for your Raymond Pettibon wristband!

The line-up is pretty damned solid, with em emphasis on acknowledged art stars. I imagine the marquis event will be the Chast/Spiegelman conversation, but while camping out is not allowed it would be appropriate because it’s all belly meat here.

All programming will occur on November 9, 2014 at the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg.

PLEASE NOTE: Each presentation is free to the public on a first come, first served basis.  In order to accommodate interest in each panel, the audience must clear the room at the conclusion of each talk.  Please plan accordingly.

Al Jaffee Unfolded 11:00

Al Jaffee has drawn hundreds of features for the MAD Magazine but he is undoubtedly best known as the creator of the Mad Fold-In that he has drawn monthly since 1964. His originals will be on display concurrently at the Scott Eder Gallery in Brooklyn.

 Charles Burns: Down the Black Hole 12:00

A retrospective of Burns’ work as an illustrator (Sub Pop, The Believer, The New Yorker) and as a cartoonist (Black Hole, Big Baby, RAW), with a focus on the recently released third book of his graphic novel trilogy, X’ed Out. (Burns will be interviewed by Paul Karasik.)

 Tim Lane, Ben Marra, & Jim Rugg: Neo Noir 1:00

These three cartoonists love tough yeggs, mean streets, and femme fetales. All three have recent work evoking smoky, double-crossing noir. Each creator will present and discuss his own Gods of Noir. (Lane, Marra, and Rugg will be interviewed by Karen Green.)

 Roz Chast and Art Spielgeman Talk About Something More Pleasant 2:00

Roz Chast’s cartoons are synonymous with the New Yorker. Her recent work, “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant”, surprised her readers as a frank memoir about her parents’ final years. Art Spiegelman is best known for his masterwork, “MAUS”, but has recently surprised his readers with a musical, “Wordless”. Together they will surprise the audience by asking each other questions.

 Aisha Franz, Lisa Hanawalt, and Jillian Tamaki: Cutting Edges 3:00

These three young artists represent three different approaches to comics-making and all are focused on making comics unlike anything you have seen before. Their deeply individualized approaches toward work and working will be discussed. (Franz, Hanawalt, & Tamaki will be interviewed by Alexandra Zsigmond.)

 Richard McGuire is Here 4:00

Fans of cartoonist / children’s book author / illustrator / musician, Richard McGuire, have been waiting years for the publication of the book-length “Here”, which originally ran in RAW. The wait is over. (McGuire will be interviewed by Paul Karasik.)

 Raymond Pettibon and the Comics 5:00

Pettibon came to prominence in the early 1980s in the southern California punk rock scene, creating posters and album art for Black Flag and other groups on SST Records. He has since gone on to international acclaim, earning several awards and exhibiting in major galleries and museums. (Pettibon will be interviewed by Josh Bayer.)

Gabe Fowler, the main man behind Comic Arts Brooklyn, the late fall comics arts fest that traditionally caps off New Yorks comics year, will expand to days in 2014. Taking place November 8-9, the show will see exhibits at the usual place at the Mt Carmel Church on Saturday and on Sunday a complete track of programming at the Wythe Hotel, which is also located in Williamsburg.

Announced guests this year include Roz Chast, Richard McGuire, Raymond Pettibon and Art Spiegelman, but as you can see from the above poster,more guests have been added including Michael DeForge, Lisa Hanawalt, Julie Doucet (!!!!), Josh Bayer, Charles Burns, Aisha Franz, Al Jaffee, Tim Lane, Benjamin Marra, Jim Rugg and Olivier Schwauwen.

“We want to give more artists and exhibitors the opportunity to come to the presentations,” said Fowler in a statement, “Often the very people who want most to see creators speak are unable to attend. CAB wants to change that equation.”

Paul Karasik is curating the panels again this year. “We have some cool surprises about the specific panels to be announced in the coming weeks,” Karasik said in his own statement. “But, let’s just say for now, that if you are a Charles Burns fan, you might want to circle Sunday, November 9.”

I think the addition of a day of panels is a fine idea, somewhere between the Brooklyn Book Festival and olden days of SPX when Sunday was just panels and softball. The community of small press comics, so evident at SPX and TCAF, likes to hang out and enjoy one another’s company and a day of programming will act as a fine nexus for this.

Also, programming at CAB and it’s predecessor, BCGF, has always been a problem, as the programs are consistently  packed. I missed last year’s CAB, but I understand people had to line up far in advance for the talk on City of Glass held at The Knitting Factory. A few years before the panels were held in the back room at a bar and NO ONE could get in. I realize this is yet another whole weekend given over to comics, but given the calibre of the comics and programming offered at CAB, it seems like a worthy sacrifice.