How to use this Page

What’s that you say, with Thanksgiving days away the comics calendar must surely slow down as we attend to the making of cranberry sauce and quest for hot toys.

No Way.

This is actually one of the BUSIEST weeks in comics! Especially for indie/small press comics with at least FOUR events on around the world!

The International Comic Arts Forum 

taking place in Columbus, OH at the Billy Ireland Library with Rep. John Lewis. Jeff Smith, Phoebe Gleockner and more. Tomorrow is actually the last day and if you were going you’re probably already there. This is one of the most important scholarly conferences of the year where comics are concerned, and our own Brad Ricca just presented his important find on the thesis of Paul Cassidy.  

SHORT RUN

is in Seattle tomorrow, November 15th! There’s a kick-off tonight at the Fantagraphics store and a party tomorrow. All sorts of activities, baking and comics.

Thought Bubble in Leeds is of course one of the TOP TOP TOP shows of the year, with indie and mainstream creators mingling in a bucolic setting. I recommend following our alums Steve Morris and Zainab Akhtar for all the info. ONce again, events have been underway for a week but there is MORE TO COME, including the presentation of the British Comics Awards. GUests range from Jeff Lemire to Jillian Tamaki and back again.

THOUGHT BUBBLE!

This is one of the most loved shows of the year, with a full week of events. Follow on the scene reporters Zainab Akhtar and Steve Morris for all the scoops and excitement. Plus British Comics Awards!

NEW EVENT! NOCAZ

, the New Orleans Comics and Zine festival kicks off for the first time tomorrow! Their kickstarter to raise money for sandwiches was SUCCESSFUL for ham and swiss for all. There’s more info here,  but this show has a lot ov love and enthusiasm behind it and I hope it’s a success.

NC Comicon!

We were a guest at this for two year and it was awesome. We’re skipping it this year, but it looks like another great time, with Fiona Staples, Neal Adams and many more. Pro tip: Durham is an incredible foodie town so make reservations ahead of time. The show kicks off with a party tonight.

Oh and congrats to show runner Alan GIll who just became a dad again YESTERDAY. I think he’ll have his hands full this weekend!

Finally, a note to showrunners; It is nice to include a GOOD SIZED IMAGE OF YOUR FESTIVAL POSTER RIGHT ON THE FRONT PAGE OF YOUR SITE. Just sayin’.

BY JEN VAUGHN -  From all over the globe, scholars, professors, panelists and attendees are swooping into White River Junction as this weekend The Center for Cartoon Studies hosts the International Comic Arts Forum. Past incarnations of ICAF have been hosted at SPX (they used to plan programming too!), the Library of Congress and the School for the Art Institute of Chicago.

The academic community is itching to share their papers and argue on panels about topics such as East Asian comics and Building Postmodern Geographies. In this small area, the crowd might find just how comics-loving the community truly is! If you are in the Vermont/New Hampshire/Boston/New York area, White River Junction is within spitting distance and since ICAF if free, a true gem for the weekend. Despite the fact I live near him and talk to the man himself daily, one of the highlights of the conference is sure to be Steve Bissette’s Friday night talk called “Uncanny Geometries: Junji Ito’s UZUMAKI and Dread Geometries in Comics & Manga”

For the comics hungry crowd of international and national academics, CCS is also hosting a Marketplace complete with free graphic novels from publishers, lots of student and alumni work being sold and signings by the professional faculty members like Jason Lutes, Steve Bissette, James Sturm and David Berona. As a community that believes in the study of comics, what better place for ICAF to be this year?

So while ICAF is running 9am to 9pm this weekend, the cartoonists who are getting a day or two outta school are smartly tabling at the Center for Cartoon Studies on 94 South Main Street from Noon to 7pm, Friday and Saturday, September 20th and October 1st. Bring those dollars and get some work from the next generation of cartoonists!

The whole town is getting into the swing of things, they know that comics are king! Local lovely coffee shop, The Tuckerbox, is running a special ICAF drink. Even in a neighboring town, the local AVA Gallery hosts a Words Without Pictures exhibition curated by David Berona and featuring comic work by Alec Longstreth, Alexis Frederick-Frost, Jon Chad and myself.  Traveling around the bars (there are three) at night will prove if there are special ICAF drink-drinks. I thought the Charli