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The cover has been unveiled for Box Brown’s forthcoming graphic novel, Tetris: The Games People Play. We’ve embedded the full image for the jacket design above—what do you think?

According to Kotaku, this project will focus on Alexey Pajitnov’s beloved video game. First Second Books has scheduled the publication date for October 2016. (via Box Brown’s Blog)

Box Brown (Retrofit Comics, Andre" is serializing a new unnamed comic that deals with fantasy/superhero/video game elements as an unnamed hero deals with the tedium of grinding, and argues with another explorer over the life of crystal thieving. It's a few pages in, but another solid entry in the "magical kingdom" genre of indie comics. Jump on board!

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!

Cartoonist Box Brown has landed a deal with First Second Books, a Macmillan imprint.

Brown plans to create a new graphic novel about video games. According to Nerdist.com, he intends to explore where games come from through “the lens of Tetris.”

At this point in time, no title or release date have been announced. Click here to view one page from Brown’s book. To help with the wait, follow this link to play a few rounds of this addictive puzzle game.

If there’s such a thing as “a big micro press” Retrofit Comics might just apply. With a monthly schedule of small, attractive books by the premiere cartoonists working, they’ve put out some of the most notable comics of the past few years, including Wicked Chicken Queen by Sam Alden, Tom Hart’s Daddy Lightning, and Flocks by L. Nichols.

And now you can subscribe to the whole 2015 lineup, which is a stunner, including:

Olivier Schrauwen – Mowgli’s Mirror

While we were enjoying Comic Arts Brooklyn this year, my partner Marguerite Van Cook and I took a break from the excitement of promoting our new Fantagraphics Book The Late Child and Other Animals to go across the street to a little coffee bar and have a snack. The young counterperson noted the influx of odd personages hauling portfolios and piles of comics and asked, “is that a convention?”
I replied, “Well, a convention is more like one of those huge things with wrestlers, porn stars and superhero comics, all mixed together with a lot of cosplayers. This is more of a gathering of especially individualistic birds in the alt/lit comics scene. I guess you could call it a ‘murder’ of cartoonists.”
She laughed and asked about the origin of that phrase, which usually describes a flock of crows. But not to further elaborate that conversation, what follows is a review sampling of comics, many of them with poetical aspects, that I got at CAB and other recent releases. Note that I don’t actually try to kill my subjects, but rather to remark on their positive aspects, wherever possible.

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Jungle Book by Harvey Kurtzman (Kitchen Sink/Dark Horse, $24.99)

A rare solo effort by the auteuristic creator of E.C.’s two excellent war comics titles Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat, working in the satiric mode he initiated for Mad. Now, I do very much like Kurtzman’s solo work; see Fantagraphics’ recent collection of most of his solo E.C. stories, Corpse on the Imjin (which also contains a smattering of his odd, briefer collaborations, like those with Alex Toth and Joe Kubert). His own drawings have a powerful thrust and direct emotionality that can be lost or greatly altered when filtered through the sensibilities of the artists charged to re-illustrate his layouts. In Jungle Book, which was originally released by Ballantine Books in 1959 as a dingy, downscale paperback, Kurtzman’s targets include a jazz/noir mashup, a TV western and most impressively, in “The Organization Man in the Grey Flannel Executive Suite”, a cutting sendup of the fierce sexism that polluted the offices of his former employer, ex-Marvel Comics owner Martin Goodman. This brilliant strip is nonetheless disparaged as “weak” by famed misogynist and Kurtzman discovery R. Crumb, in the afterthought conversation between the underground artist and Peter Poplaski that cabooses this otherwise beautifully-produced hardcover reprint volume.

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Andre the Giant: Life and Legend by Box Brown (First Second, $7.99)

Brown’s biography of wrestling star Andre Roussimoff joins a small group of comics masterpieces that deal with this most theatrical of sports, from Jaime Hernandez’s Whoa Nellie from 2000 to a series of tongue-in-cheek horror collaborations by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben in more recent years, including their 2011 graphic novella House of the Living Dead. Brown’s is a remarkably consistent effort with effective graphic sequences such as the one pictured above and I also admire his restrained handling of the heavily staged fight scenes, as well as his unusual architectural establishing shots. Brown’s stark, spare and precise cartooning create a unique mood, as they contextualize Andre’s success with a tragic acknowledgement of the unrelenting sense of otherness and diminished opportunities for social interaction that he experiences due to his exceedingly unusual scale; as well as his size’s harsh repercussions on his health.

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Fear My Dear: A Billy Dogma Experience by Dean Haspiel (Z2 Comics, $19.95)

The pair of poetic graphic stories in Fear, My Dear reflect Dino’s unfettered physicality and passionate persona. Since winning an Emmy award for his TV collaboration with Jonathan Ames, Bored to Death and The Alcoholic, their graphic novel from Vertigo, Haspiel has if anything become bolder and more exuberant. For this nicely produced hardcover from Josh Frankel’s new Z squared imprint, the artist uses a four-panels-per-page grid format and a monochromatic color scheme (red in the first piece, yellow and orange in the second, both with an elegant use of white for emphasis) to further define the relationship between his creator-owned characters Billy Dogma and Jane Legit. Their romance haunts post-apocalyptic urban rubble and breaks through to a star-crossed dreamscape, only to end up where they knew they must: together.

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How to Pool and Other Comics by Andrea Tsurumi (self-published, not priced)

Marguerite and I used to bask our way through the East Village dog days at the Pit Street Pool, and more recently as guests of the Miami Book Fair, we whiled away every spare moment by the steamy roof pool at our hotel. So, I can totally relate to the lead piece in Tsurumi’s new minicomic, wherein the artist collects a variety of witty graphic vignettes about group soakings in fluoridated waters, among other delicately drawn ironies and anthropomorphisms.

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Inkbrick #1 by Rothman, Sullivan, Kearney, Tunis, et al (Inkbrick, not priced)

This pocket-sized anthology of comics that incorporate, or are adapted from, poetry is made up of remarkable short stories done in a variety of mediums that range from full color to black & white. Immediate standouts for me are Paul K. Tunis’s watery montages for “Avenge Me, Eavesdropper,” Gary Sullivan’s oblique ink rendering of horrific Asian mythologies, “Black Magic”; Simone Kearney’s whimsically etched “Mobilization”; and editor Alexander Rothman’s “Keeping Time” (pictured above), a piece apparently finished in colored pencils that inventively expresses non-visual sensory impressions such as sound, smell and touch.

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The Graveyard Book, Volumes 1 and 2 by Neil Gaiman, P. Craig Russell et al (Harper Collins, $19.99 each)

Although The Graveyard Book continues Neil Gaiman’s anti-collaborative self-hype at the expense of his artist partners, I do appreciate P. Craig Russell’s adaptations of Gaiman’s stories into comics form. Russell’s elegant cartooning and storytelling are paced far better than if Gaiman had scripted; it worked beautifully for Murder Mysteries, Coraline and The Dream Hunters. Now, for Gaiman’s morbidly charming tale of a live boy shielded from a cabal of serial killers by the shades of the deceased occupants of a cemetery and raised by them to young adulthood, Russell acts artistically in a way similar to Kurtzman’s E.C. methodology: he adapts the text and does layouts; the finishing artists serve as illustrators. This makes for a surprisingly smooth and consistent read. I particularly admire the polished renderings of Kevin Nowlan (seen above), Scott Hampton, Jill Thompson and the Russell-miming Galen Showman; and although a somewhat discordant note is sounded by the grotesqueries of Tony Harris, the whole is unified by colorist Lovern Kindzierski and illuminator Rick Parker, who hand-lettered the text, for me a visual treat in these days of page-deadening digital fonts.

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Lazarus #1-9 by Greg Rucka, Michael Lark and Santi Arcas (Image Comics, $2.99 each)

I drew one of Greg Rucka’s first comics stories (“Guts” in DC/Vertigo’s Flinch #8, 2000), but it seems to me that the writer doesn’t take as much advantage as he might of the properties that are unique to comics—almost everything he does might work just as well if not better as TV shows. In his 2012 collaboration with Matthew Southworth, Stumptown, it is Southworth’s expressive drawing that provides most of the interest and its most effective use of the medium is that the artist rendered Vol 2, #4 with a Toth-esque sideways, widescreen layout. For Lazarus, a story of a female assassin in a dystopian, nearly medieval America run by a select group of powerful families that is absorbing enough and has had some striking moments, but still often has a feeling of deja vu about it, a lot of the heavy lifting is provided by artist Michael Lark’s cinematic near-photorealism, accomplished in collaboration with Santi Arcas’ hi-tech color graphics.

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Thought Bubble #4 by Kot & Sampson, Lim & Rios, Starkings & Sale et al (Image Comics, $3.99)

This color tabloid is a showcase for the participants in the UK’s Leeds Comic Art Festival. My favorite piece is a sort of gentle advisory poem that in its course expresses a goal that many sensitive artists hold dear: that of “making things that help other people feel less alone.” It is the work of the writer of Image’s fascinating rotating-artist series Zero, Ales Kot, expressively drawn with upended, widescreen and oblique imagery by Alison Sampson, who just won a British Comic Award for emerging talent; and nicely colored by Jason Wordie. Also notable: a beautiful page by Hwei Lin and Emma Rios; and an Elephantmen strip written by Richard Starkings and elegantly rendered in ink washes by Tim Sale.

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Nightworld #s 1-4 by Adam McGovern, Paolo Leandri & Dominic Regan (Image Comics $3.99 each)

A tale of questing, embattled superhero-ish spirits, Nightworld manages to not only convey an approximation of the look of a Jack Kirby comic book, but it also comes closer than anything else I have seen to capturing something of the spirit of that master’s fierce and restless creativity. Artist Leandri hits a spot somewhere between majoring in Kirby, minoring in Steranko and echoing the early work of Barry Smith, back in the day when he was emulating Jack. Leandri’s spreads can look remarkably as if they were actually drawn by Kirby and his character designs and action passages likewise (see example above), without ever feeling as appropriated, or as forced, as those by some other artists who attempt to adhere as closely to the same model. These comics are colored by Regan with an oddly chosen palette that, again, is reminiscent of Kirby’s psychedelic experiments with Dr. Martin’s dyes. Moreover and significantly, writer McGovern’s poetic voice uniquely grasps a sort of post-traumatized and humane melancholy of narrative, the most tragic scenes of which are appropriately followed and leavened in a Shakespearean mode by bursts of frenetic humor, that can be seen in Kirby’s best writing.

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I’ve been remiss in announcing localish events but there’s a good one tonight at Bergen Street Comics where Box Brown will read from Andre The Giant: Life and Legend. Deets:

Friday, May 16th 8:00PM
Comics Reading, Signing and Book Release with Box Brown!

This Friday will see Box Brown–one of our favorite alternative cartoonists–rocking his major label debut,Andre The Giant: Life and Legend. A surprisingly moving biography about one of the world’s most beloved wrestling icons? We couldn’t be more excited to host this event! Box will be in the house to talk about the book, and you’re welcome to bring wrestling questions–he’s the guy who will have the answers. The presentation part of the event will begin roughly around 8:30, and afterwards Box will sign copies of the book while regaling you with what it’s like to make books for First Second. The first people to grab a copy are welcome to the extra posters–just make sure you ask nicely! (And yes: there will be drinks!)

Standing at seven and a half feet tall, pro-wrestler Andre The Giant more than earned his title over a three-decade career which saw him wrestle in America and Japan and memorably then turn his attention to the silver screen. And this month sees the first substantive biography of André René Roussimoff published by First Second. Written and pencilled by Box Brown, ‘Andre the Giant: Life and Legend’ is a sweeping look at the life of a man who towered over wrestling for years.

The book explores the aspects of his life which fans were never able to see – when he wrestled, it was during a time where all wrestlers were bound to keep the secret of wrestling from their fanbase. Wrestling was meant to be real, not a staged entertainment, and all the wrestlers had to keep up appearances at all times. As a result, Brown’s book is an absolutely fascinating look at a secretive period for ‘sports entertainment’.

First Second offered me the chance to speak to Brown about what inspired him to start the project, as well as how he views Andre himself, the difficulties of researching a story which was deliberately hidden from the public, and how he approached the daunting task of chronicling a prolific and fascinating career.

Steve: What made you want to try your hand at a biographical comic? You’ve made autobiographical work before – but what interested you in tackling Andre the Giant’s story?

Box: I’m a life long wrestling fan and I think of Andre as the perfect window into this world.  But, like most of my projects it started with a mini-comic.  I had been reading about Andre and saw that he’d gotten a ride to school from Samuel Beckett.  I thought: “Hey that would make a cool mini-comic.” And things progressed from there.

Steve: I believe that the project springs from a series of short stories you told in The Atomic Elbow fanzine. When did you think that you’d like to take these short stories and put them into a longer-form work?

Box: Actually, the mini-comics existed before the Atomic Elbow piece.  I just really wanted to contribute to the Atomic Elbow.  I had made about 40 pages worth of mini-comics and just had endless material to work with.  It just kept growing and growing, like the man himself.

Steve: When writing this book, were you looking to tell as completely a true account as possible? Do you view this as a work of comics journalism, first and foremost?

Box: The truth in comics like this is extremely important to me.  It was extremely difficult in this particular case to find what the actual truth was because of the nature of Professional Wrestling and the circumstances of Andre’s life.  All of Andre’s stories sound far fetched.  Further most pro-wrestling stories, even those told as “truth” are suspect.   In this case, I used my best judgment in depicting the stories as truthfully as possible.  I definitely see the work as a piece of comics journalism.  It’s also informed a lot by my love of documentary film.

Steve: What kind of approach will you be taking with the narrative of the book? Are you looking to tell the chronological story of his career, or will this be more snapshots of various key or interesting moments from his life?

Box: Well, it’s a little of both.  I was working mostly with stories that were already out there and already existed in some form.   So, at times it might feel like a snapshot of Andre’s life.  But, it’s also chronological and contains a lot of stories that happened in his personal life.

Steve: Were there any stories you were unable to include in this book, in that case? Were there any moments which you considered including, but then cut?

Box: There were a handful of moments that were cut.  There was a story regarding how Andre used the bathroom in Japan, or I guess I should say, didn’t use the bathroom.  It was kind of too gross, even for me.  If you can imagine that a person couldn’t fit in a small bathroom; he’d have to, well, figure something out.

Steve: Andre was visually a dominating presence, and you highlight this in your work – he stands out of each panel, especially when he shares the page with other characters. How did you design him for this story? Did his personal physical appearance change the way you approached sequencing each page?

Box: I was mostly concerned with portraying Andre as almost indescribably large.  It wasn’t super concerned with keeping realistic scale as much as I was making sure Andre was always enormous.  Andre was almost unimaginably huge.  Christopher Guest talks about shaking his hand every day just to feel how small he felt in Andre’s huge mitt.  So portraying Andre as huge and almost uncomfortably large was important to me.  Later on in his life he was in a lot of pain and hunchd over and still growing.  So, portraying him that way was important to me as well.

Steve: What kind of a man do you think he was? Do you think the book highlights any particular aspects of his personality?

Box: When people describe Andre they describe his a kind man with a warm heart, which ultimately I  think is the case.  That being said there are definitely parts of this story that don’t portray him that way.  We’re all rounded individuals though.  As much as we try, we are not always kind or friendly.  We’re angry, we’re self-centered, we’re inconsiderate.  I wanted to portray Andre as an human being with all of our distinct intricacies.

Steve: How extensively did you research the project? Did you get in contact with people who knew him, hear first-hand accounts on him?

Box: I spoke to a few guys and reached out to everyone I could think of.  I heard a few first hand accounts.  Most notable conversation I had was with Blackjack Mulligan.  He told me a little more about his drunken fight with Andre via facebook, which was a fun conversation.  I spoke also with Bill Eadie (Ax of Demolition), who is now a special education teacher and a really sweet guy.  He gave me a lot of background on Andre’s character.

Steve: This hits on an interesting period of time for wrestling, in that the performers were still paid to keep ‘the secret’. Was it difficult to research his life, especially in terms of the backstage aspects of the wrestling business?

Box: Oh yeah, this was an extremely difficult issue to deal with.  The era of “kayfabe” really was most of pro-wrestling’s history.  It was only very very recently that they’ve been out of the closet.  Really a book like this couldn’t have existed 20 years ago.  Thankfully, in the last 15 years things have changed a lot (thank you internet).  Ex-wrestlers now are pretty open about their experiences and there are a wealth of what are known as “shoot interviews” (real truth not kayfabe).

I have the interest in watching these interviews anyway so I watched hours and hours of them to find if anyone had even mentioned Andre.  I watched a 13 hour Ric Flair interview and gained no information from it, but it was fun anyway.   So those were extremely helpful.  But even in the case of a shoot interview, wrestlers at times will still work the audience.  Some of the guys are still booking indie dates and still have something to gain from developing their character.

I think the fact that things are more open now have made wrestlers more wily in how the work people.  So the idea of truth in pro-wrestling is wishy-washy AT BEST.  I had to use my best judgment as to what was truthful.

Steve: Would you say that perhaps this earlier, more secreted period of time for wrestling is one of the things which drew you to telling this story, in particular?

Box: Oh yes definitely.  I think the true stories of the people involved in this subculture are infinitely more interesting than what’s going on, on television.  But, that part is obviously necessary.

Steve: Were you a fan of wrestling – are you currently a fan – before you started on this project?

Box: I would say I am a lifelong fan.  I had a long gap in the 2000s were I wasn’t paying attention at all to the current product, but working on this book has certainly drawn me back into the current storylines.

Steve: Did working on the story end up changing the way you feel about wrestling as an entertainment?

Box: I’m not sure it changed how I feel about it, but I definitely have a deeper understanding of what’s going on during a wrestling performance than I did before I started.  I thought I knew a lot about pro-wrestling before doing all this research and I realized I knew very little.  As studied as I am now, there’s still an infinite wealth of stuff to learn about the business.  I may never know it as well as a practitioner.  I think it gave me an even deeper appreciation for the people involved.

Steve: Now you’ve finished on this project, what do you have coming up in future? Would you consider future biographical works?

Box: I definitely have a lot of interest in non-fiction works and will continue to pursue making comics that allow me to learn things.  I’m also doing a new series of shorter fiction comics called Number with Retrofit Comics.  Issue 1 is currently available and issue 2 will be along later this year.  Obviously, I’m busy editing and publishing Retrofit Comics as well.

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Many thanks to Box Brown for his time! You can find more from him at his website www.boxbrown.com, as well as on Twitter. Thanks also to Gina Gagliano, for arranging the interview.

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If you’ve been following the history of the Asbury Park Comicon, which opened only a year ago in March of 2012, you know it’s been a strange, yet rather astonishing ride, but imagine how much stranger it must be for founder and indie comics creator Cliff Galbraith. What started in a bowling alley turned music venue and local hangout, Asbury Lanes, has become a major testament to demand for Comic Cons in New Jersey, and also a statement about the desires and tastes of con-goers who have relished the indie vibe of Galbraith’s brainchild. After a highly successful second Con in September of 2012, Galbraith announced that the Con would move to the much larger and even more historic venue of Asbury Park Convention Hall for its third event on March 30^th 2013.

Then Superstorm Sandy struck, devastating the seaside town of Asbury Park, leaving the future of the Con in question. Against some difficult odds, the Con forged ahead, and Galbraith faced another kind of storm- media frenzy- over the upcoming Con. It’s fair to say that his phone has been ringing off the hook as local press as well as The New York Times have been trying to get the scoop on what looks to be a growing New Jersey institution as Asbury Park Comicon nears its biggest event yet. Dozens of prominent guests will be flanking this full-blown gala of a Con, and the Con will also be featuring panels and contests. Galbraith hasn’t had a moment’s rest since all this started more than a year ago, and he finished up several other interviews just in time to answer some questions about all this Con madness, and how it fits into his own life, for The Beat.

Hannah Means-Shannon: Can you remember the moment when the idea for starting a Comic Con in New Jersey first occurred to you? How wild did the idea seem at the time?

Cliff Galbraith: Maybe I’ve always wanted to run my own con. I’ve been to enough of them over the last few decades. A lot of them were pretty shabby. Customer service was pretty awful. I’ve been to cons where the promoter never came around and so much as said hello or how’s it going. Some were downright rude or deceitful.

On a Sunday in the summer of 2011, I stopped into the bowling alley/rock club Asbury Lanes — they were having a little record fair in there. I knew a few of my friends would be there selling and buying records or drinking beers so I figured I’d get away from my drawing table for the afternoon and see what was happening. My friend and neighbor Robert Bruce was selling an assortment of rare rock and jazz records and some underground comix. I remember looking at someone rooting through a white box of records, and I turned to Rob and I said “Where else have I seen somebody doing that? Reminds me of people at a comic convention digging through long boxes.” We laughed, but I walked around a bit and I kept thinking about it. If they could sell records in this place, why not comics? My friend Jenn Hampton was the manager, so I asked her if we could have a comic con at the Lanes. Nine months later we had the first Asbury Park Comicon.

HM-S: What’s the strangest task you’ve ever had to do in order to get a Con running or keeping it on track?

CG: Partner with Rob Bruce! We’re friends, but business-wise we’re been very independent, lone wolves. But it’s been a great experience and there’s absolutely no way I could’ve done all of this or come up with all the solutions on my own. It’s been Cliff and Rob’s Excellent Adventure.

[Rob Bruce and Cliff Galbraith]

HM-S: Why Asbury as a location for the Con? 

CG: People launch cons in New Jersey all the time. Some have been going on for years, but they don’t grow. I think the secret ingredient in throwing a Con is location — pick a fun destination. That’s really what set San Diego up for success early on. Who didn’t want to go somewhere with beautiful weather with plenty of bars, restaurants, hotels, a beach? That’s enticing.

So there needs to be something other than the Con once you walk outside. That’s my standard. I don’t want to go to some Con near an airport or far away from everything. I don’t want to go to some little hotel hermetically sealed in away from the world. Lots of Cons are downright depressing. They have no personality. Just putting a bunch of artists and dealers in a room and charging admission doesn’t make it fun.

[The Asbury Park Boardwalk at dusk]

HM-S: What were reactions like to the first Con at Asbury Lanes?
CG: Everyone had a great time. Most people sold lots of books. I was stunned. I just wanted to put on a little event and not screw up, just have a fun day. But the venue was a real hit. The exhibitors who’d never been to Asbury Park, who’d never been to Asbury Lanes fell in love with it. I’m spoiled, the Lanes are part of my world, but it’s really a cool old place. And there’s a bar. We played old punk tunes and Serge Gainsbourg, Nelson Riddle, soul, and stoner rock. It was more like a party — with comics.

HM-S: What obstacles did you face launching that first Con at the Lanes?
CG: It’s always tough at first to get someone with a name to attract fans. I think the first guy I called was Evan Dorkin. I always dug his work, and I’d known him for years — but more importantly he was someone who would get what I was trying to do. Evan and Sarah Dyer jumped right in. Then they told Steph Buscema. Jamal Igle was another old friend, so I contacted him early on. Those guys trusted me — that was important. But getting talent can be tough early on. Then there’s talent that doesn’t show up, there are flakes in this business and it just goes with the territory.

The biggest shock was that two months before our first Con, Asbury Lanes was sold. I know it sounds crazy, but I never got a written contract. I made a deal with my friend who was the manager. At one point, she didn’t know if she was going to still have a job or whether the new owners would honor our deal or want more money. It was scary, because this was our first time and if we screwed this up nobody would ever trust us again. It all worked out and it was a great day.

[APCC at the Asbury Lanes]

HM-S: What’s your personal philosophy behind Comic Cons?
CG: Don’t be boring. Don’t be predictable. Don’t call yourself a Comic Con and fill the bill with wrestlers, actors, and other people who have nothing to do with comics. Respect and honors those who make comics, especially those who came before us. I see a lot of bullshit at cons and I just don’t get it. If somebody wants an autograph of somebody from Twilight or some guy who played a storm trooper 30 years ago — that’s their business, but it really has nothing to do with comics. It detracts and devalues comics as something that is supposed to be celebrated. My feeling is if you’re not here for the comics then shove off. Go to a horror con, go to a sci-fi con.

 HM-S: Why do you think we need Comic Cons, as a society?

CG: When my parents were kids the big thing was the circus coming to town. That’s disappeared, and now we have the Comic Con coming to town. Look at every city — there’s a con everywhere. People love it — its like Woodstock, Lollapalooza, county fair, chili cook-offs, boat shows, car shows, record fairs, film festivals, people want to get together with those who share their passion. They want to spend a day with their kids, meet new friends, make a discovery. It’s an amazing social phenomenon, and it’s in its infancy.

HM-S: What did you grow up reading? Any favorite comics or characters?
CG: My mom grew up in a candy store in Newark, N.J., and she spent her time drawing pictures of movie stars from magazines that were on the newsstand. She also loved comics. She introduced me to Superman when I was about four years old. She also taught me to draw. She got me a subscription to SUPERBOY and I looked forward to those comics every month. Then one day when I was getting a haircut, I picked up a copy of FANTASTIC FOUR that was in the barber shop — this was around 1965. The Kirby art kind of creeped me out at first, but I was fascinated. Joe Kubert’s HAWKMAN was a favorite. Of course BATMAN. CREEPY, EERIE, FAMOUS MONSTERS and hot rod magazines with stuff by Ed Roth and George Barris. I also read a lot of science fiction — it was a pretty classic age with Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and I read Pierre Boulle’s Planet of the Apes after seeing the movie. I graduated from super heroes to MAD. Then National Lampoon. At some point I found some underground comix in a head shop in Menlo Park, N.J. — they blew my teenage mind. Then Heavy Metal Magazine and Punk Magazine completed the process of completely warping my mind.

HM-S: What are your biggest influences as a comics creator?
CG: More of MAD than I used to acknowledge. I think it was an early influence in the way I saw a lot of stupid things in society. It was much tougher on politicians and corporations back in the 60′s and 70′s. I would try to draw like Mort Drucker when I was a kid. Kirby is an influence when I’m feeling lazy, when I think I’ve done enough — I think about the amount of work he put out in a day and I’m embarrassed. He keeps me going back to do a bit more before turning out the lights. I love Moebius. Bernie Wrightson, Richard Corben, Crumb, Rick Griffin, Jack Davis. I go back to Will Eisner when I get stuck on a drawing that’s not working — I’m still learning from looking at his drawings, I get answers from his panels. But when I created Partyasaurus, Beachasaurus, and all the Saurus characters back in the 80′s, I did some sort of R.O. Bleckman thing with the wiggly, broken lines. It was very successful, but I never revisited that style again.

HM-S:  It’s been a winding road for you career-wise. How does Con creating fit into your life, looking back?

CG:  I came back to comics after ten years — at one point I was in really bad shape with Lyme disease, but that’s a whole other story. I started making RAT BASTARD comics again, just selling them at cons. I didn’t even go through Diamond — I just wanted to put something out and do some cons. Then I started working with my wife on UNBEARABLE, a totally different style but a lot of fun to draw. I was finally getting back into it, making comics. I had a few issues written I was drawing consistently and then this damn Asbury Park Comicon came along. The first one wasn’t too bad, but now with a much bigger venue, more guests, more exhibitors, ads, making a TV commercial, doing interviews with newspapers, and building a website, designing posters, it became a full time job. I didn’t realize it at first, but I sacrificed my art to build the Con. Which is okay, since April 1st I’m back at the drawing board and making comics again.

HM-S: Asbury Park was pretty hard hit by Superstorm Sandy. What was your own experience of the storm like?

CG: The other day I found pictures of my wife Judie and I at Convention Hall on the balcony making silly faces trying to stand up against the wind the day before the storm. I felt embarrassed that we were joking about it and twenty-four hours later there would be so much devastation. We could’ve have known, but I couldn’t look at those pictures. The fact that Convention Hall is still standing is amazing, but it did sustain a lot of damage.

My own experience with the storm was terror. There’s three giant pine trees in my yard that I was certain would crush us in the night. I felt like the roof on our house would be torn off any minute the whole time. We had no power for two weeks. We tried to stay in our home and tough it out with no power. I could draw during daylight. We had little parties with the neighbors and pooled our resources.  After 7 or 8 days, it got too tough. It was cold. There wasn’t much to do once the sun went down.  We had to go stay with my parents. But after a few days, I felt like I should be putting Led Zeppelin posters up in the basement — in other words, I felt like I was a teenager again. My parents were great about it, but you really can’t go back and live with your parents.

We were fortunate — we got to go back to our house and it was like nothing had happened other than we had to restock our refrigerator. But only two miles east of us looked like an A-bomb had been dropped. A lot of our friends suffered from that storm. We’ll be doing several things at Asbury Park Comicon to raise money for some of the nonprofits in our area and keep the focus on Sandy victims.

[The Asbury Convention Hall, site of APCC 2013]

HM-S: Were you afraid that damage from Superstorm Sandy might put the kaibosh on Asbury Park Comicon this year?

CG: It actually did. The building was going to be closed down by the city or something. We were told we needed to start thinking about an alternate site. It got pretty bleak. We looked into moving the con to Monmouth Racetrack, or one of the schools in Red Bank. We were desperate.  And then I got a call late one night and they told me we were back in Convention Hall.

HM-S: What’s going on with Asbury Convention Hall? I hear it may not host events in the future after May.

CG: It’s an old building. It’s taken a beating. It had issues before the storm. So now it’s just better to shut down completely and get everything done once and for all. May 1^st, it will be shuttered. We may be one of the last events there. This is a big thing for us to throw a con there — we grew up walking through the Grand Arcade from the boardwalk. I saw The Clash there, boxing, roller derby. To see our event on that marquee is like a dream come true — and it almost didn’t happen.

[Asbury Park Press covers COMIC BOOK MEN and Galbraith's upcoming Con]

HM-S: What’s up for Asbury Con in the future? Is it going to become an even bigger Jersey Con?

CG: We’ll know in a few weeks what the renovation schedule is for Convention Hall. We’d like to announce the dates for 2014 at this the con next week, but I don’t know if that’s quite possible by March 30th. But we’d like to move to late April and do a two day Con. The Berkley Hotel has a series of ballrooms — it’s like The Shining in there. I spoke to them last week. I’d like to keep this show in Asbury Park. Again, it’s the location that really makes a Con special. We’re planning on including more venues, galleries, etc. in the Con. Maybe a cosplay parade on the boardwalk. Put some of the bigger panels in the Paramount Theater.

We also have another big Con in the works for June 2014, but we haven’t finalized the date or exact venue. We’ve floated the ideas with a few comic industry people and we’ve gotten good feedback. The location will surprise a lot of people at first, but it makes sense geographically.

[Poster art for APCC#2 in 2012]

HM-S:  What changes had to be made in the planning process of the con to move it from Asbury Lanes to the Convention Hall this time?
CG: Besides the amount of time Rob and I had to put into it, I’d say the next thing would be the amount of money it takes to launch an event this size. People have no idea what goes into a show like this. Now we’re into things like insurance, security, lighting, sound systems, putting guests in hotels, meals, travel, advertising — the expenses pile up quickly. This is no longer a fun little get-together at the Asbury Lanes with some comics and a few beers, this is a serious business venture.

[Memorable image from APCC #2 in 2012 with Evan Dorkin, Cliff Galbraith, Dean Haspiel, and Larry Hama]

The most important thing I’ve learned about running a show this size is we can’t do it on our own. We had a lot of help. Guys like Danny Fingeroth, Dean Haspiel, Seth Kushner, Chris Irving, Mark Mazz, Dave Ryan, all got us guests that we never would’ve gotten on our own. Eric Grissom built us a great website. Stu Wexler made a TV commercial — and nobody asked for anything in return. Mike [Zapcic] and Ming [Chen] from Comic Book Men have been promoting us for months on their podcast. The people who run Convention Hall have been amazing. They all just want us to succeed — we’ve got some great friends in our corner. We’ve also got some great guests: Al Jaffee, Herb Trimpe, John Holmstrom, Bob Camp, Don McGregor, Jamal Igle, Jay Lynch, Evan Dorkin, Sarah Dyer, Mark Morales, Stephanie Buscema, and Batman producer Michael Uslan. Then there’s a whole indie crew like Box Brown, Josh Bayer, Mike Dawson, Steve Mannion, and lots of others.

I’m really fortunate to be able to do this. To have gotten my health back, to be making comics again and to put on events with so many remarkable people. Sure it’s a lot of work, but I’m having the time of my life!

HM-S: Cliff, I don’t know how you found the time to give us such a detailed insight into your own personal journey envisoning the Asbury Park Comicon with only a few days to go until the biggest APCC yet. But we appreciate your willingness to talk about it so openly and thanks for bringing a Con of this caliber to New Jersey. 

Hannah Means-Shannon writes and blogs about comics for TRIP CITY and Sequart.org and is currently working on books about Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore for Sequart. She is @hannahmenzies on Twitter and hannahmenziesblog on WordPress.

Or at least that’s what was posted on Twitter:

I am working on a book about Andre the Giant that will be published by @01FirstSecond !

— boxbrown (@boxbrown) July 19, 2012

Brown is quite the wrestling fan (that’s an unrelated Kane face above) so this should be good!

I’ll admit I’m reblogging this so I can have a chance to win. But, the reason I want to win is because this is a package containing some very excellent comics and drawings. Box Brown has started the Retrofit comic imprint to release indie comics, by some of the medium’s finest creators, in good old floppy comic format. The world needs more support for publishers like Retrofit, and for independent artists like Mr. Brown and friends.

retrofitcomics:

DRAG BANDITS GIVEAWAY!

To celebrate the release of Drag Bandits by Colleen Frakes and Betsey Swardlick (buy right here), Retrofit comics is giving away a MASSIVE SMORGASBORD OF COMICS!!

What you get:

1. FREE FOR EVERYONE: 5 page preview of Drag Bandits!
2. Colleen Frakes’ Xeric book Tragic Relief
3. Box Brown’s Xeric book Love is a Peculiar Type of Thing
4. Original ROM drawing by Josh Bayer
5. Suspect Device #1(the alt. comic Nancy tribute) 
6. Everything Dies #3 by Box Brown
7. Secret Prison 5
8. James Kochalka’s FUNGUS!

RULES:

1. You must follow Retrofitcomics on tumblr
2. You must reblog this blog post (not just heart it)
3. This FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7 I will pick a winner using a randomizer!

I ripped off this idea wholesale from Lisa Hanawalt