Festival Poster by Jeff Lemire and Brian Wood!

Here is the first look at this year's festival poster. The artwork is by Jeff Lemire, with art direction and design by Brian Wood! We will have these available for distribution next week.

Festival Recap Part 3

More photos, more blogs...keep them coming!!! http://www.jamiepeeps.blogspot.com/

http://www.metrokitty.com/index.php?id=342

This set of photos is fun because it starts with the empty room and progresses to the show itself: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022362&id=1482575586&ref=mf

http://swinsea.com/blog/

Maine Comics Arts Festival Recap Part Two

Still more blogs and photos about the festival. We still have our own photos and videos to upload so there will be a part three.

http://thephoenix.com/Portland/News/83756-Bringing-the-big-comic-book-guns-to-town/

http://shelligator.blogspot.com/2009/05/mcafs-meow.html

http://comixtalk.com/mecaf_2009_con_report

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30739225@N06/sets/72157618208473381/

http://music-slut.livejournal.com/291250.html

http://www.happyblogtime.com/2009/05/maine-comics-arts-festival-maine-ia.html

http://www.examiner.com/x-10620-Providence-Comic-Books-Examiner~y2009m5d20-Maine-Comics-Art-Festival-a-success

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28262172@N02/sets/72157618294798473/

http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/random_comics_news_story_round_up052009/

http://ayarothwell.blogspot.com/2009/05/portland-maine-comics-festival.html

WOW! What a weekend! Festival recap part one

It was an amazing weekend. Below you find some of the links that we have found so far with photos or stories from the festival. If you have any others please feel free to send them along and We will post them in part two.

We would like to thank the many creators who took time out of their schedules to join us. They are an amazingly talented group of cartoonists/creators.

We would like to thank our terrific sponsors The Inn on Peaks Island, Shipyard Brewing Company, The Portland Phoenix, Capt'n Eli's Soda, Coffee by Design and the Center for Cartoon Studies.

Thanks to Diamond Comics, DC Comics and Adhouse Comics for the donations for our giveaways. Sound and AV was provided by Tom Gordon at Portland AV. Our poster was designed by Matt Talbot and our program was designed by Colleen Frakes.

Than you to the City of Portland and the office of Ocean Gateway (Larry, Clare, Andy, Andrea and everyone else). They were all wonderful to work with.

Finally, a huge thanks to the staff of Casablanca Comics and the volunteers who helped this show run as smoothly as possible. Thank you Laura, Caitlin, Duncan, Dave, Jo, Bobzarro, Matt, Melanie, Justin, Ginny, Kirby, Melissa, Kirsten, Tami and the "crew". We could not have done this without you.

We will be back next year. Watch the blog for more details.

Rick Lowell
Casablanca Comics

Follow the links:

http://inkandthunder.blogspot.com/2009/05/forrest.html

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/05/18/mecaf-report/

http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2009/05/18/the-maine-comics-arts-festival-portland-maine/

http://mikelynchcartoons.blogspot.com/2009/05/report-maine-comic-arts-festival-may-17.html

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1069120@N25/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnplatt/3539454413/in/set-72157618366672936/

http://www.marekbennett.com/blog/2009/05/hooray-mecaf-2009/

http://blog.portcitystudios.com/2009/05/17/finding-the-center-for-cartoon-studies-at-the-maine-comics-arts-festival/#more-973

http://www.wlbz2.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=104835

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?aid=23954&id=1067463425&ref=nf

http://artblog.net/?name=2009-05-18-14-05-maine

Posters are here!

The posters have arrived! Thanks to Matt Talbot for the for the great design. You can see more of Matt's work at www.mattrobot.com . If you would like to help distribute posters please let us know.

Special Guest update: Becky Cloonan!

We are pleased to announce that Becky Cloonan will be a guest at the festival. Becky's work includes "Demo" (with Brian Wood), "American Virgin" from Vertigo, "East Coast Rising" from Tokyopop and more. Full details soon, and watch for even more guest updates.

Groundhog update.....

Hello,
It has only been two weeks since we opened exhibitor registrations and already half of our tables are committed. We should be able to make some special guest announcements soon. I expect that once that happens the remaining tables will sell quickly.

If you are going to be at the New York Comic Con please be sure to stop by and talk with some of our Portland area creators who will be there. They include Jay Piscopo ( Nemo Publishing "The Undersea Adventures of Capt'n Eli" ), Ben Bishop ("Nathan the Caveman") and Joel Rivers ("Along the Canadian", a Xeric winner).

Watch for further updates. Thanks!

Hotels in Portland part II- The Holiday Inn by the Bay

We have reserved a block of twenty rooms at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland for Saturday, May 16- Sunday, May 17 2009. The room rate is $119 per night. The Holiday Inn is located downtown in the Arts District. There will be a shuttle available to bring people to and from the festival or anywhere else in Portland.

http://www.innbythebay.com/

The rooms feature two beds per room and are for single or double occupancy. Reservations must be made by calling the hotel's local reservation department at 1-800-345-5050. Attendees must ask specifically for a room from the Maine Comics Arts Festival block to ensure you get the proper rate and availability. Reservations must be made by April 15, 2009. After that any remaining rooms will be released from the block for general public resale.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Hotels in Portland- The Portland Regency

We have three hotels that we are working with in Portland. The first one is the Portland Regency.

http://theregency3-px.trvlclick.com/default.htm

This fine hotel is right in the heart of Portland's Old Port. This is where we usually reserve rooms for guests who are appearing at our store. It is approximately a 30 second walk from the hotel to our store.

They have set aside a block of rooms for people attending the festival for the dates of May 16 and 17. The room rate is $149 a night (savings of $20 per night). Reservations must be made by phone to their reservation department and you must mention that you are attending the Maine Comics Arts Festival.

Reservations & Information: USA: 1-(888) 636-8311 or 1-888-893-4606.

Of the three hotels we are working with, this hotel is the most convenient to shopping, restaurants and bars.

We will be listing the information for the other two hotels next week. We need to finalize the contracts and have codes assigned to the reservations. Please e-mail us with any questions. Thanks!

MECAF on Facebook

There is a Facebook group that links to this blog. I wanted to be sure that this blog also linked back to the Facebook group.

Here is the link:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=48705984560

We will be using the Facebook group to message people about the festival. For example, when we open registrations for tables we will be sending a notice out through the group in addition to posting it here.

Thanks!

A few more photos

Here are some photos that I took when I toured Ocean Gateway for the first time. It was mostly empty at the time as they were clearing the place out from an event that took place the night before. Look at the ladders, doors and windows to get a sense of scale.

Also, I spoke with a friend this morning who had attended an event there last night. She said the space was wonderful and should work great for our event.