#philly zine fest

[bandaidfingers]

Heyyyy! I’m gonna be at @phillyzinefest this Saturday (Nov 9) from 10am-5pm, and Temple’s Mitten Hall. If you’re in the area come by and say Hi to me and check out all the great stuff there :) I have 8 different zines, 2 comics, a ton of original horror illustrations, and about 100 hand-drawn stickers! See you there!

Leftovers will be in my Ko-Fi shop afterward 😋

[hisiheyah]

I'll be tabling at Philly Zine Fest this coming Saturday, Dec 2, 10am-5pm. I'll have mini zines (including a physical version of The Hole in the Wall), slightly larger zines, my mini comic Ghost in the Shellfish, and limited edition linocut prints. DC Zinefest was such a blast and I'm really looking forward to this one too!

.

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[thistleburr]

Our beloved cat Kokuoh passed away this year. I haven't said anything about it on here because I've just been too sad. I miss her so much every day.

I drew this portrait of her for the Philly Zine Fest @phillyzinefest and it was included in their annual anthology zine.

[arecomicsevengood]

TRIP REPORT: SPX 2023

I went down to the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland this past Sunday. While I lived in Baltimore for a number of years, and it was essentially a local show, this is the first time I've been since moving to Philly in 2019. It took a year (or two?) off on account of COVID. I don't have much to say about the show itself, I enjoyed walking around talking to people, I probably didn't see all the stuff I would've liked, I'm not really in a good place to judge trends. I missed some people I would've liked to have met, like Drew Lerman, who left before I got there. He won an Ignatz though, and good for him. I do believe that the thing about SPX and the Ignatzes is that everyone essentially occupies very different spheres of interest and sets of influences. As I walked around, seeing little cards on people's comics saying they were nominated for an Ignatz, I would ask them if they had heard of or were familiar with the thing that won, they almost never were.

At the one panel discussion I attended, about drawing detailed backgrounds as a way of of establishing worldbuilding, Rosemary Valero-O'Connell cited Taiyo Matsumoto's approach as an influence, and as I sat in the audience thinking "Yes! Let's talk more about that!" everyone else on stage, quite reasonably, talked about their own influences instead - which for Daria Tessler, who I came to see, included Mark Beyer and Jim Woodring. The panel was generally good and interesting, and it's not meant as a slight to the moderator Rob Clough to point out that the best questions came during the Q+A from the audience. One member asked the question, how do you handle tonal shifts when you are using detailed visuals for plot purposes, and everyone agreed that that at emotional climaxes or at moments of more interiority they reduce the level of background detail.

Daria Tessler was the artist I was most excited to meet of anyone at the fest. Since my local shop, Partners And Son, is on top of it, I had already read her newest comic, volume 2 of Cagelessness, which absolutely rules, and so I had to shell out the big bucks for a copy of her fully-silkscreened book Dust, that uses multi-color collages as a backdrop for the cowboy characters who, in Cagelessness, move through ornately designed drawn worlds. Her work is beautiful, another high point of the panel discussion was her talking about how Marc Bell calls the tiny details cluttering up the backgrounds of his comics "chicken fat," and while Clough cited the term as originating from Will Elder, Tessler described chicken fat as "what you put in the soup to make it taste better, if you're not vegan," perfectly capturing what makes these artists work such a delicious meal for the eyes.

A similar "I already have all of these" experience was behind my purchase of Tales Of Old Snake Creek, by Drew Lerman, which collects his anthology contributions from recent years and adds watercolor to them. I love these comics in their original formats but I'm not going to say no to the convenience of this, which is also printed at a size larger than the digests in which some things ran.

Shout-out to Bread Tarleton, who pointed out to me the Paradise Systems table, where everything looked good and lavish, but what I picked up was Cry by Yan Cong. I believe Paradise Systems to be a reprinter of self-published comics from China. Cry features cartoony figures in a charcoal textured world, and follows a man having a sexual experience with a prostitute with a weird visual punchline.

Adam Szym directed me to the Strangers Fanzine table, where I picked up Shony Glassware 2 by Manning Coe, which is in some ways probably the sort of zine a lot of people go to SPX to get. Pretty funny stuff, maybe Ben Jones influenced, by a 26-year-old who lives in Osaka. Drawing himself in a Beat Happening shirt but with a bio where he talks about listening to 100 Gecs, there is a definite vibe at work here and while I don't remember the price point of this one I feel like it had to be cheap because it's that kind of comic. If you're ordering the new printing of Bhanu Pratap's Dear Mother from Strangers and want something else that's not too genre-y make sure you throw this in there.

Adam Szym's Their Use Continues is a horror short about the current trend towards reviving dead actors as CGI phantoms in movies currently in the news. Feels nice and relevant, I think I would've liked this to be a little bit bigger (it's printed digest size) and hi-res. Adam uses some digital collage elements for backgrounds and borders that I mostly felt was making the book smaller and fuzzier still.

I nonetheless liked it better than another horror comic I picked up, issue 1 ofJenna Cha and Lonnie Nadler's The Sickness, published by Uncivilized. Both people are more mainstream-comics, which I think is fine, but this does something I really associate with the dumbest kind of attitude that can be present in horror stuff, the kind of tonal miscalculation the comics I like avoid: Presenting a mid-century American setting where characters nonetheless are using a high degree of vulgar language, of a sort that would be stylized and off-putting if it were depicting the modern era but really just completely pulls me out of something set in the past. The second printing changes the color palette on the cover in a way that makes the drawing better, but this is not the sort of thing I would recommend anyone track down, which is sad, because it's likely far more readily available than anything I liked.

Tim Lane's Happy Hour In America 1, from a few years ago, was available at the Fantagraphics table. Presumably because Tim was signing, but I never saw him. I haven't read the big books collecting his short stories, but I like his contributions to anthologies. He's a guy who can really draw, in a way that you don't often see at small press shows, or that feels more appreciated by a mainstream-comics crowd. If his stories aren't as psychotically involved on a plot level as Mack White, he's nonetheless interesting as like a Gen X'er talking about American masculinity and what animates it. I would gladly read it in single issue comics format, though I missed these the first time because it wasn't what I felt I was in the mood for.

Another thing I picked up as a half-off copy of David B's Incidents In The Night, volume 2, from Uncivilized. I think volume 1 did pretty well, and is now sold out, but now that that's unavailable, volume 2 is a harder sell. David B is one of those dudes, like Joann Sfar or Christophe Blain, that got the big bookstore push like fifteen years ago but now no one wants to put out their books in the U.S. David B is also a guy, like GIpi, who had a comic put out by the Ignatz line Fantagraphics had. I bought issue 1 of Babel at the time and didn't care for it, and would've told you I didn't iike David B's work. But lately I've been tracking down books in the Ignatz line I skipped the first time (along with the First Second books of Gipi and Sfar from roughly the same time) and enjoying them, and this fits into that trend as well. A pretty involving plot, involving booksellers, the occult, criminal organizations. I both want to track down a copy of volume 1 and am frustrated that the volume 3 advertised at the end of this book was never translated into English.

Yasmeen Abediford's Death Bloom won an Ignatz, for best minicomic. All of the Ignatz awards are really ill-defined categories, and this is one is a $25 risograph thing, which to me seems like it should exist in a different category than cheapo xerox stuff, but whatever. Anyway, I believe Abediford will also be in the new issue of Freak, which I have seen Instagram posts indicating contributors got an advance copy of but have yet to be for sale online. Abediford is from the Bay Area, but this book was printed by Lucky Pocket Press, based in Baltimore, but from people who either moved there or didn't have the press going until after I left there. They sold me the comic in a little printed bag, which included a family tree for their little mascot guy, citing the "onion peow guy" as "(father, deceased)" and "(comics legend)," which is interesting to me insofar as I don't think of any of the Peow stuff as being interesting to me, though I'm happy it found its audience and made a mark. I don't really get this one either but whatever, I'll reread it tos ee if my opinion changes.

I would also put the output of publisher Silver Sprocket in a similar category to Peow - Not for me, seems like it's for younger people, in a way that dominates SPX as it's currently constituted. I have the deepest sympathies for them not being able to dominate SPX this year though, due to a misplaced/inaccessible pallet of books that they didn't get until halfway through Sunday. They had flown out Leo Fox from England, to debut his new book Prokaryote Season. I had seen Fox's stuff on Twitter last year and thought it looked good/interesting, but was also frustrated by the fact that he had apparently released a comic that was only for sale for 24 hours - maybe a way to create demand so that people actually order a thing, but in an artificial scarcity kind of way I resent. Anyway, I bought one of his self-published things, My Body Unspooling, and yeah I think it looks really cool and interesting, though the approach taken, a sort of simple narrative about the notion of the self rather than something that seems interested in having characters interact is again the kind of trend I blanch at in work made by people younger than me. I nonetheless liked the comic, and thought it was cool, and am going to read his book soon.

I bought issue 9 of Mike Centeno's Futile from the Radiator Comics distro booth. It is explicitly labeled as No Previous Readin' Necessary, so while there were two older issues of Futile at the table, printed at smaller dimensions, I didn't pick them up. This was cool, a mostly black and white (but with pages in the middle in color) comic about a musician taking mushrooms . It looks great on a flipthrough, though Audra Stang, working the table, tried to close the center-spread of my flipthrough so that the burst into full-color I was admiring didn't spoil the story's progression and surprises. Format and cartooning kinda reminded me of Nate Doyle's series Crooked Teeth. (Nate had a larger-formatted barbarian fantasy comic available from Strangers Fanzine, which I passed on.)

I also bought Beth Heinly's Girls Named Meghan from her, though Heinly is Philly-based and I've had plenty of chances to pick it up before. It's a memoir of her teenage years, growing up in Delaware County, which is where I went to high school, and the friendships she had that veered into rebellion and her apprehensions about being around people more "troubled" than she was. It is basically black and white but there's little red-pencil edits throughout, like maybe the wrong PDF was sent to the printer or something, sourced from a file where she was noting what she wanted to fix. I don't think of the other copies I have seen were like this though. Again, I think this is the sort of self-published autobio thing that many people go to SPX to find. I can see the places there this could be stronger or more impactful but there is still a fine sense for who all the characters were, and what the era was like.

I got a few other things but this is all I have read so far, at this moment when I felt like writing. Andrew White gave me a copy of the new Yearly, and a name I recognized from his writing for The Comics Journal, Henry Chamberlain, gave me a copy of his book George's Run, a biography of a Twilight Zone writer published by Rutgers University Press. I also got issue 3 of a comic called Cat Scratch Fever by a woman named Emily Zullo, and Soumya Dhulekar's Flash Valley. Both of these are in the classic digest sized minicomic format with black and white throughout, though Dhulekar opted for a a cardstock cover. This is the sort of thing I am most happy to buy from a stranger at a show and basically not even care about the quality as long as the price is right, though of course the price for both of these is higher than it used to be. I also bought and haven't yet read Leo Fox's Prokaryote Season, the theoretical "book of the show," although another contender for that title, the collection of Liam Cobb comics, What Awaits Them, looked great but I will pick it up when it comes into my local shop.

[phillyzinefest]

Philly Zine Fest 2022 Vendors List pt. 2

Jackie Kirby

Jay McQuirns Jennifer Hildebrand Jesse Arbor Jinli Spencer Jodi Bosin + @jodi_bosin Joseph Rogers Illustration Julian Shendelman KAPI Kathryn Hemmann + @kathrynthehuman + @kathrynthehuman (Twitter) Katie Haegele / The La-La Theory Katrina Kopeloff Illustration Kinos Comix Kyle Kerezsi La Horchata Zine + @Lahorchatazine Lemon Liu Press + @lemonliupress Lumen Lugo-Roman LUMXN + @lumxnzine Mara Gervais Mega Press Meldar16 Messy Them Studio + @noaisabellla Morg Studio  MovieJawn Nicole Rodrigues + @lost.mirage Nora Einbender Luks NWA Zine Odochi Akwani + @odochiakwani Olivia Fredricks + @oliv.Marie Organ Bank Pam Price Partners and Son Peppermint Alley Press + @peppermint.alley Philly Teen Zine Collective Plus Equals

Prevention Meets Fashion R28 Zines Rachel Bard Regional By Sam Ren Reptile House Comix Retrosofa Ribbon, Dame of Death Ryan Pic + @earthwormenthusiast Sarah Szymanski Sawyer Lovett Second At Best Press Sequential Philly  Simon Reinhardt + @simonmreinhardt (Twitter) Skullduggery Studios Skyla Moray Southern Exposure  + @hellobrandondean SPACEBOYNETWORK + www.afrobatix.com Spratty Lin Strong Hands Students in the Limited Edition Honors General Education course: “Makers, Hackers, Fixers” Super Not Great  Tanya Brassie

Taped Off TV The Soapbox Community Print Shop The Word Distro TheChoyceIsYours This Must Be The Place Press thrashbeatles Tree News + @_tree_news_ Urban Ochre Press Valeriya Volkova Art Vivien Wise Wally and the Witches + @wallyandthewitches WKDU yoritzo x dj crouton Yoshus Prints 

Young Artist Program + @theyoungartistprogram

[modestutopian]

Decorating my journal with stickers from philly zine fest! I didn't realize this kind of indie comics scene still existed locally. Put myself on some mailinglists & feeling pumped

[mindyindy]

Philly Zine Fest This Sunday!

I’m exhibiting in Philly Zine Fest again! I did it once a few years ago and am excited to return! It’s always great to do shows that just focus on zines. They’re affordable to exhibit in without relying on sketch art. I like doing sketch art, but creating stories is why I love being a cartoonist.

One day I’ll have to spend more time in Philly though - it’s just been quick day trips both times. The life of a busy entrepreneur!

If you’re in the Philly area, please check it out! Here’s the site: http://phillyzinefest.com/

[comixgab]

Come see us today at the Philly Zine Fest!

[rosebud-zine]

Rosebud, Vol. 1

I can’t believe I made this !!!!! with my own two hands !!!!

[rustbeltjessie]

October 9, 2022: pictures of my Midwest Perzine Fest haul - a bunch o’ zines, + stickers & pins (and studs that Jim Joyce of Let it Sink was giving out free!). Some of the pins and a few of the studs are already on my leather jacket, and the Gritty/all the rich should run for is their lives sticker from @crapandemic has found a home on the suitcase I always use for zine fests & the like, right next to the Philly Shreds sticker (which was already there) cuz, duh.

[bandaidfingers]

All my stock for @phillyzinefest this Saturday!

I’ve got zines, comics, some of my original illustrations, and ONE HUNDRED hand-drawn stickers!! Stop by my table and say Hi if you’re gonna be there ^__^

Any extras will be up in my Ko-fi shop on Monday

[retrosofa]

Just a reminder, I will be attending the NY Queer Zine Fair on October 13th. I’m going to be selling an exclusive chapter of No More Mermaids.As of right now, it’s unlikely I will publish this chapter digitally, so if you want it, come to the Zine Fair! I will also be doing caricatures, and selling other goodies as well.

I will also be at the Philly Zine Fest on November 11th. I have no decided which comic I will be selling there. I will definitely be doing caricatures, and selling other goodies, so stop by!

[zine-scene]

OPEN CALL! Philly Zine Fest is online November 7, 2020. This year’s anthology zine is open to everyone! Send us a page or two and we will compile a PDF that will be available online for free on Nov. 7. DETAILS:

-Deadline = October 15, 2020 -Size = 5.5in. x 8.5in. -Full color or Black and White -Accepted Formats = text, writing, poetry, photography, comics, illustrations More info, sign up and submit at PHILLYZINEFEST.ORG

[attract-mode-collective]

I/O Chip Music: The 10 Year Anniversary Show… Also, The 10 Year Anniversary Zine

It’s been a while since I’m dusted off my chiptune historian credentials, but here goes: the contemporary chiptune scene in North America… like oh so many other music scenes… was founded here in the Big Apple.

For almost two decades, there have been countless chip shows, mostly isolated. Though a few would end up become a series of shows; one was even a full-bore festival, the Blip Festival of course.

Yet they’ve all come & gone; many chip showcases across the globe have the DNA of Blip Fest coursing through it, yet the Blip Festival proper only ran from 2006 to 2012. Which is sad, yet hardly surprising, at least to anyone familiar with the difficulties involved in both running music shows, along with supporting the community that surrounds them in NYC.

Hence why I must one again recommend the Death By Audio documentary, Goodnight Brooklyn. But back to chiptunes: despite all the logistics, despite all the headaches, only one showcase has managed to stick around and tough it out. Only one has managed to be smart, flexible, and above all else, maintain a spotless track record of being awesome.

And that’s I/O Chip Music, which celebrates an entire decade of running show in NYC (also Philly, also Tokyo). And what better way to mark the occasion than a zine produced by Jessen Jurado, I/O’s primary creative force, and Caroline Voagen Nelson, a designer + longtime supporter of I/O? 

Gets yours tonight, cuz there’s another I/O TONIGHT, at Pine Box Shop: 12 Grattan St, Brooklyn, New York 11206.

Included in the line-up is… and you’re not going to believe this… easily one of the biggest female influences in the scene, across the board: Bubblyfish! This is her, what, first show in three years I think?

[etlui]

At Philly Zine Fest with @a.moonsang til 5, at the Rotunda on 40th and Walnut ✨ Come say hi 👋🏽 https://www.instagram.com/p/B4-Z8tGghX3/?igshid=1wonh25dbpkm2

[phillyzinefest]

Philly Zine Fest 2022 Vendors List pt. 1

713705 A+Plus Comix Aaron Novik Alex G Carol Illustrations  Ana Woulfe Angela Fanche Anna McGlynn  Anya Spector Ariadna G Audra Stang B-Roll Press balletkitty1 Ben Bobby Campbell Body Joke Press Boink Comix Bread Tarleton + @bread_comix C. Larsen | Steve Thueson Caffeinated Giraffe  Carmen Pizarro Charles Cooper Chuck Kaslow + @klassickaslow Clark Park Dog Bowl Zine Makers Club Corey Bechelli Daniel Welch Displaced Snail + @displacedsnail Divi_nation Dox Thrash House Dre Grigoropol + @dretime Dreamygutss Eileen Echikson Elena Ostock Eliot Klein EMily K Ethel Zine & Micro Press Eva Carrillo Fred Frances + @fredfrances (Twitter) frosslace GAUCHE Gndr Bndr  H.E.R. Laboratories, Inc.  Hannah Kaplan House of Rose, Adrienne Goulette & Jon Pepe Iffy Books Ina Parsons