Reading at Pete's Candy Store 8/23

The night before (8/23) Pete's Mini Zine Fest, there's a free-and-open-to-the-public reading from 6:30 until 7:30. I'll be reading an excerpt from a veteran interview or two, it should be cool and fun. 

Pete's Candy Store is located at 709 Lorimer St., between Frost and Richardson St. in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Take the L to Lorimer/G to Metropolitan.

Check out this cool poster Cat Gilbert made:

Northern Lights - Bowerbirds

These dudes are from Raleigh, NC and are pretty good at making music.

Pete's Mini Zine Fest August 24

This year's poster was created by the talented Morgan Pielli. Definitely keep your eyeballs on his work, it's super great. For more details, visit the official PMZF event page here.

In addition to selling comics on Saturday, I'll be participating in a brief creator reading the evening before @ Pete's on 8/23. I'll be reading excerpts from some of the interviews I've collected from veterans.

PMZF is a wonderful annual festival taking place in North Williamsburg at local watering hole and music venue, Pete's Candy Store. Delightfully low-budget and overflowing with creative talents, be sure to check it out--it's free!

I'll have the last few dregs of my printed matter available, as well as some shiny Birdcage Bottom Books titles for sale.

PMFZ 2013, Morgan Pielli.

Post-Grand Comics Festival Review

I had a great time at the inaugural edition of the Grand Comics Festival, and am happy to table again next year, if afforded the opportunity. After reading Kenan Rubenstein's amazingly thorough blog post, with nearly David Foster Wallace-esque use of footnotes, I scrapped the idea to cover the event in full detail, instead hoping you'll read his post to glean just how fabulous it was. Massive props and thanks to Pat Dorian, who single-handedly brought together many incongruous parts to form an amazing show. For further reading and more photo-ogling there's also a great write up on The Comics Beat here.

Kenan's table at the Grand Comics Festival.

Photo courtesy The Beat.

Grand Comics Festival + Chicago Alternative Comics Expo

I'm tabling at the Grand Comics Festival this Saturday and Sunday, June 8th and 9th in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Come check out my newest veteran comics stories! If you missed me at the Brooklyn Zine Fest, this is a great chance to get copies of the color veteran comics I printed in March.

I'm tabling at the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo in two weeks, June 15th and 16th. It's my first time in Chicago, I'm looking forward to seeing all the incredibly talented comics creators there. I planned to debut Invisible Wounds, a 16 page story about an Iraq War Army veteran who is diagnosed with PTSD, but the debut has been pushed back to September for SPX. I will have brand new copies of Where Eden Once Stood, my new color collection of three veteran stories, and a small batch of the second printing of the popular mini comic, City Chickens.

An Approach to Tabling by So What? Press

Dave Kelly of So What? Press recently shared with me how he and his partner in crime, Lara Antal, decide which comics fests to attend every year. Dave says, “We were inspired to do this by the band Fugazi who had a similar "code" about when and where to play concerts.”

• Admission must be under $10/day or free.
• Show must be curated - - you want to feel good about being there.
• No more than one fest per month - - unless one is in NYC.
• Table price must include two badges, two chairs.
• Fest cannot run longer than two days.
• Never pay more than $100/half table, $200/full - - and always share whenever possible.

“We break the rules every once in awhile, but they've proven their worth - - and not just monetarily, but in overall positivity of the experience.  The winning combination is always a free, one-day show, in NYC - - you can never go wrong, haha!

The disclaimer: we do break our own rules sometimes and do not put ourselves above any festival.  We know there are logistical reasons why some festivals charge higher table prices.  The ultimate point, though, is that "the rules" have helped inform our decision-making process as well as improve our exposure and performance.”

Zine Feast at SUNY Purchase This Sunday

Dean Haspiel and Seth Kushner invited me to table with them at the Zine Feast this Sunday at SUNY Purchase, here's the info. I heard there will be burritos and comics, not a bad combination. The comics grapevine has estimated the event to be lots of fun. I'll be selling the last few copies of my color edition of veteran stories, as well as copies of Moonshine Sketchbook.

Today in the Studio

Jen came by with some friendly rat friends, and I finished stapling my zines. See you tomorrow at the Brooklyn Zine Fest!

Brooklyn Zine Fest in the New York Times

Matt Carman and Kseniya Yarosh got a nice mention on the New York Times website, about the Brooklyn Zine Fest here. I got a shout out as well--click and scroll down for a link to this blog, where you can then click on the link again and involve yourself in some sort of weird loop. Or just get a copy of today's paper and check out p C29 in the Weekend Arts II section. And please come to the zine fest on Sunday! It's free, so you can devote all of your hard-earned cash to buying interesting ephemera. Come say hello!

Photo courtesy Brooklyn Zine Fest.

Brooklyn Zine Fest at Public Assembly

I'm tabling next to So What? Press at the Brooklyn Zine Fest in Williamsburg this year. Desert Island, DreTime, Suzan Choy, Christa Cassano (Swingin' Meat Comics) will be there, too! Come check it out. One day only, Sunday April 21st, from 11am-6pm.
I'll have a brand-new collection of veteran stories for sale, (IN COLOR!) and a new mini-comic about my trip to Hattiesburg, Moonshine Sketchbook.

Here's a preview page from the latest veteran story I did with Army Reservist veteran, capoeirista, and designer Nichole Marinaccio de Freitas.

Grand Comics Festival This June

I'm tabling here with friends, come check out the inaugural year of the Grand Comics Fest at Bird River Studios in Williamsburg. Should be lots of fun.

In other news, I just finished the first of two one-hour interview transcripts--27 pages! It's awesome. But I can't see straight at the moment.