Wednesday, March 11, 2009

More guests and updates


Here we are with some more guest updates:

Gabrielle Bell!!!

Gabrielle Bell was born in England and raised in California. In 1998 She began to collect her "Book of" miniseries (Book of Sleep, Book of Insomnia, Book of Black, etc), which resulted in When I'm Old and Other Stories, published by Alternative Comics. In 2001 she moved to New York and released her autobiographical series Lucky, published by Drawn and Quarterly. Bell has contributed to many acclaimed anthologies including Mome, Kramers Ergot and The Drawn and Quarterly Showcase. Her work has been selected for the 2007 and 2009 Best American Comics and the Yale Anthology of Graphic Fiction. Bell's comic "Cecil and Jordan in New York" has been adapted for the film anthology Tokyo! by Michel Gondry, to be released in March 2009. Her latest collection, also titled Cecil and Jordan in New York, will be published at the same time. She lives in Brooklyn, New York and is working on a second volume of Lucky.

American Stronghold: "Your Tomorrows Today." http://americanstronghold.blogspot.com


Faux-Pas Industries (Sam Gaskin and Dane Martin):
Sam Gaskin rides the magic bus.
http://www.samgascan.blogspot.com
Dane Martin lives in the land of laffs.
http://www.danemartin.blogspot.com


Chuck Forsman: Chuck is a recent graduate of the Center for Cartoon Studies and is the self-publisher of Snake Oil, which won two Ignatz Awards in 2008 (Best Series and Best Single Issue).
http://www.chuckmcbuck.com



On the Fly Publications( Dan Fleming and Chris Beckett): Fans of the early '80's British anthology, Warrior, Dan Fleming and Chris Beckett created their own black and white comics/ prose anthology Warrior 27. A home for EC-style short stories, interviews with comics notables like Chris Staros andgary Groth, Dan's tongue-in-cheek rant "I Hate Brian Micheal Bendis" and whatever else can fit, these two Maine creators are looking forward to issue #4, coming in Fall 2009.
http://warrior27.com



Stephanie Piro is a cartoonist, illustrator and designer. She is one of King Features’ team of women cartoonists, “Six Chix” (she is the Saturday chick!). She also does the daily comic “Fair Game” that appears on her website and in magazines, books, calendars and cards. Her latest cartoon collection “My Cat Loves Me Naked” is available all over the place. Plus, she designs t-shirts, jewelry and lots of other stuff for her business the Strip T’s Design Company. She’ll have a variety of these things including her new mini comics at the festival.
Visit her website: www.stephaniepiro.com
Contact her at: stephaniepiro@gmail.com
Check out the Chix blog at: www.thesixchix.com

Monday, March 9, 2009

Guest announcement: Mini Marvels creator Chris Giarrusso!


We are very pleased to announce that Chris Giarrusso will be joining us for the festival. Chris is the creator of the very popular Mini Marvels series for Marvel Comics and the upcoming G-Man Learning to Fly trade paperback from Image Comics.

Visit Chris' (extremely fun) website for more!

http://www.chrisgcomics.com/

Thursday, March 5, 2009

More guest updates: Part 3

Yes, there are more guests not yet listed but I need to finish the bios for them. Look for an even larger list in the next few days. Thanks!

More guest updates: Part 2

Nate Doyle: The cartoonist behind the much praised mini comics Crooked Teeth and the Archer. He lives in a punk rock house in Brooklyn like it's 1977. his blog is here http://ndcrookedteeth.blogspot.com/

Austin English is the cartoonist behind the books Christina and Charles, and the creator of Windy Corner Magazine, both published by Sparkplug Books. He lives in a crazy apartment in Brooklyn with about 10 other people and once claimed he wanted to have a baby and raise it in the sink.
http://windycornermag-austin.blogspot.com/

Colleen Frakes: Colleen Frakes is a Xeric Award winning cartoonist and graduate of the Center for Cartoon Studies. Her Tragic Relief comics appear monthly in Bash! Magazine (www.bashmagazine.com) and she is a member of the "I KNOW JOE KIMPEL" collective (www.iknowjoekimpel.com).
http://www.tragicrelief.blogspot.com .

Free Lunch Comics: Under the direction of Matt Ryan as President, Steve Kanaras as Publisher and Steve Kuster as Creative Director, Free Lunch Comics (www.freelunchcomics.com) has been publishing quality books for over 10 years. Their flagship title is Bigger, the story of Willie Rison. They have recently expanded their line of creator-owned titles, including a comedy entitled Pork N' Beans, the horror anthology Only in Whispers, gothic horror masterpiece Am I Immortal, the high-flying adventure Sky Pirates of Valendor and most recently the collection of comic strip art in The Original Nutty Funsters: A List of Grievances. The most recent property to be released is The Blood Rider, a western horror comic adaptation of the novel by the same name. Free Lunch Comics has expanded in order to diversify their offerings and provide entertaining books for readers of all interests.
Zack Giallongo:

THE BIO MADE TO SOUND LIKE IT WAS WRITTEN BY SOMEONE OTHER THAN ME
by Zack Giallongo

Zack Giallongo was born in the snowy month of December in 1979. He was educated at the Francis J. Burke Elementary School in Medway, Massachusetts, as well as other higher levels of education. Zack currently lives in Rhode Island - the home of coffee milk and quahogs - where he draws pictures and writes words.

Known for "The Tenth Life of Pishio te Cat" (his brief foray into webcomics) and co-founding "Life Meter" (a videogame art tribute site), he is currently working on his graphic novel, "Broxo" (about a boy barbarian) for First Second.

His greatest ambition is to become a minor-enough celebrity to be on either NPR's "Wait, Wait… Don't Tell Me" show, or one of VH1's decade-reminiscience shows so that he can say "Aw, yeah! I remember He-Man!"

http://www.zackgiallongo.com
Sarah Glidden is the cartoonist behind the multiple award winning comic How To Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less which is being published by Vertigo in 2010. She lives in a pretty normal Brooklyn apartment which is really kind of weird.
http://www.smallnoises.com/

David Jacobson, originally from New York, has been a cartoonist and illustrator for over 25 years, and his humorous work has appeared in magazines and newspapers around the country, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today magazine and The New Yorker. For 18 years, he drew a daily Lifestyles cartoon for the Gannett Newspapers in Westchester, New York, and had a nationally syndicated sports cartoon, “Offsides,” with United Media. He's illustrated children's books for Harper/Collins and Viking/Penguin. Here in Maine, David’s work can be seen regularly in DownEast magazine and every Monday in the Business section of the Bangor Daily News.

Mike Lynch: Mike Lynch is a magazine cartoonist. His clients include Reader's Digest, Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, McGraw Hill books, and many others. He is the National Cartoonist Society's National Representative. He lives in New Hampshire with his wife and three cats. In addition to his Web Site, www.heykidscomics.com, Mike writes the popular Mike Lynch Cartoons blog on the business of cartooning.

Jeff Pert: The work of Maine cartoonist Jeff Pert appears on merchandise in the
United States, Canada and the Caribbean. Over the past 27 years he has
drawn and sold single panel gag cartoons, comic strips, editorial
cartoons, greeting cards, comic books and humorous illustrations. His
lobster and moose cartoon calendars are perennial best sellers
throughout New England. Occasionally he actually gets a chance to draw
just for the fun of it.

Mark Ricketts: Mark is a comics writer/ cartoonist located in Bangor, Maine. He has created comics for Marvel, Dark Horse, Image, Moonstone and McGraw Hill. He was the winner of the 2000 Klasky Csupo (Rugrats, Duckman) Screenwriting Award. He has created illustrations for Playboy and Nickelodeon. He has a regular feature in Bangor Metro Magazine, and has a webcomic- moosemountaincomics.com .

Trees and Hills Comics Group: Trees and Hills is a comics organization for creators in Vermont, New Hampshire and western Massachusetts. They produce and sell regional comics.
http://www.treesandhills.org

Julia Wertz is the cartoonist behind The Fart Party volumes 1 and 2 published by Atomic Books and the editor of I Saw You...an anthology of comics inspired by missed connection ads published by Three Rivers Press. She lives in a dumpster in Brooklyn.
http://www.fartparty.org/

More guest updates: Part 1

Michael Connor: Michael is the Portland based creator of many whimsical comics including Coelacanthus.

Marek Bennett: Marek is the Xeric Award winning creator of Mimi's Donuts.
http://www.marekbennett.com

Boston Comics Roundtable:

The Boston Comics Roundtable was founded in October 2006 by David Kender, to foster community for comics creators in the Boston Area. Since then the group has grown from three members to nearly fifty, meeting weekly in Harvard Square and sending contingents to conventions around the country. In 2007, the BCR begain publishing “Inbound,” an anthology of local comics, currently on its third issue.

For more info: www.bostoncomicsroundtable.com


Dan Mazur lives in Cambridge, MA and is part of the Boston Comics Roundtable crew. He has created the print and web comics, “Palindrams” and “Lummox,” among others. His comics have appeared in the anthologies “Inbound” and “I Saw You: Missed Connections,” and his strip “Canyon Comix,” ran for five years in the Topanga Messenger of Topanga Canyon California. He;s also taught comics at the Art Institute of Boston, Brookline Arts Center, and the Calmont School.

Some of his stuff’s at www.webcomicsnation.com/danmazur.


Aya Rothwell grew up reading books and catching insects. She went to film school, worked in NYC for a bit on movie sets, then came back to Boston to draw comics. She makes stories about birds, cats, ghosts, time travel, aliens, potatoes and other things that snare her interest. Her films have been screened at film festivals, her animation won an award on Newgrounds.com, and she is creating work for upcoming Boston Comic anthologies.

You can find Aya's work at www.AyaRothwell.com and her blog at ayarothwell.blogspot.com


Franklin Einspruch draws, paints, writes, and cajoles computers into
doing things for him as his wife and a houseful of various
domesticated animals look on in alternating awe and bewilderment. His
comics appear at The Moon Fell On Me and have also been featured at
Top Shelf 2.0. Franklin has exhibited his paintings at galleries in
Miami, San Diego, and Scottsdale, AZ, and he has served as artist in
residence at programs in Greece in Taiwan. His art criticism has
appeared in the Boston Globe, the Miami New Times, the Sun Post, NYFAA
Interactive, and on Artblog.net, which he has produced since 2003. He
lives in Boston. Link: http://themoonfellonme.com


Alexander Danner's current projects include the online series
"Gingerbread Houses," illustrated by Edward J. Grug III and
"Uncertainty," illustrated by Tym Godek. His comics have appeared on
ModernTales.com and in the Boston comics anthology "Inbound," and two
of his stories, "The Discovery of Spoons" and "Five Ways to Love a
Cockroach," have received Webcartoonist Choice Awards. He is
co-author of the book "Character Design for Graphic Novels," and
teaches Writing the Graphic Novel at Emerson College.

Cathy Leamy is a Boston-based cartoonist. She's the creator of the autobio/humor
minicomic *Geraniums and Bacon* and the artist for the webcomic *Planet Wifey*.
She is also a member of the comics collective Boston Comics Roundtable and has
published work in the group's anthology, *Inbound*.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Sponsors, promotion and updates

I hope to have some updates later this week. We have more creators bios to post, and some scheduling things to list. Here is what I have for tonight:

SPONSORS: We would like to thank our sponsors:

Inn on Peaks Island

Shipyard Brewing Company

Capt'n Eli's Soda

The Portland Phoenix

The Inn on Peaks Island will be hosting our opening reception for creators. More details on that soon. Shipyard and Capt'n Eli's will be providing beverages and lots of other support. Our thanks to them.

The festival will be promoted regionally with 4 full page ads in the Portland Phoenix. They have covered the comics scene here in Portland for many years.

Also, we have been scheduled tentatively as the cover story for the Portland Press Herald "GO" section the Thursday before the festival.

There are lots of other things in the works. Posters and cards are coming soon.

Thanks!