Brian Moore's Sketchblog

Over the Memorial Day weekend I visited New Jersey for the National Cartoonists Society 2010 Reuben Awards. I had a great time at the NCS events, and wandering around whatever big city that was across the water.

I was given a “first time attendee” ribbon to stick on my name tag, which I think prompted several kind people to come over and chat with me, despite not knowing me from Adam@Home. I also had the benefit of hanging around with Cartoon World Big Wheels Andrew Farago and Shaenon Garrity, who graciously introduced me to a lot of folks. And you couldn’t swing a stuffed Garfield without hitting some cartooning luminary: Richard Thompson, Garry Trudeau, Hilary Price, Mo Willems, Jerry Robinson (his on-stage reaction to the playing of the “Batman” TV theme was hilarious), etc. etc.

I’m embarrassed to realize that I didn’t take any pics (of my own) of the attendees. Instead I went after stuff like this:

Lots of architectural details, coming soon to a graphic novel near you. For actual pictures of people, head on over to Mike Lynch’s blog – he’s sure to have a great photo album.

I just received a stack of comics from the inimitable Patrick Dean. How big a stack?

If I’m reading that correctly, about 23 inches of comics! Here are the books all spread out-like:

Yeah, that’s a lot of comics. I’ve barely dug in and have already come across such gems as the Werewolf Hand Projector, Successful Bee Buys All the Gold in the World, and the Monster’s Midnight Snack. For more of Patrick’s work, check out his new illustration blog.

I made my first pilgrimage to SPX this year, and had a great time. My wife and son came with me so it sort of doubled as a weekend getaway (now I just have to convince her that New York in June will be equally fun.) Everyone was friendly, good books and art were plentiful, and the hotel food was pretty good, especially Sunday’s brunch. The hotel itself was awesomely easy to get to, right off a Metro stop.

Saturday got off to a great start when I stopped at Carla Speed McNeil‘s table and ended up chatting with her and Johanna Draper Carlson. My wife visited her table later and also had a nice conversation. We both picked up some Finder collections. The room was definitely hopping; by noon the aisles had filled up with impassable backpacks. I was glad I’d gone in at opening time, so I could get a good view of the work on display. Steve Lieber had amazing original art for sale; I looked at a lushly rendered jungle scene and he said something to the effect that after drawing gritty Antarctic scenes for so long, he was happy to go in the opposite direction visually.

Kim Thompson’s slideshow on 20 French cartoonists who helped move Francophone comics away from being “just for kids” was kind of dry but very informative, with great art on display. Unfortunately it was kind of sparsely attended. (My appreciative whistle when Jacques Tardi’s work appeared onscreen somehow failed to ignite the crowd.)

We had to leave early Sunday afternoon, so I didn’t catch Ben Katchor’s or Richard Thompson‘s panels. Bummer. I did get a signed copy of Richard’s new Cul de Sac collection though!

Another satisfying purchase: Kate Beaton’s “History Comics” mini. By all accounts Kate was a sought-after artist at the show; she sold out of her books on Saturday and apparently had to locate a copy shop to make more. Sunday buyers lost out on the cardstock cover, but gained in cover color choice. I wish I had my wits more about me when I got a chance to talk to her; I was more than a little frazzled by that point. Thanks to everyone that took the time to chat: Carla, Johanna, Dave, Raina, Ben, Alec, Drew, and anyone else I’m forgetting due to frazzled brain.

I had a great time hanging out with Mike Lynch and Mark Anderson.

For my inaugural visit to SPX I decided to bring a minicomic, my first:

“The Sweetened By-and-By” follows the story of Atom Klein, a Finder of valuable objects in a city full of monster-y people. Atom’s been having a run of hard luck and who wouldn’t mind a big find to get his accounts back in the black. He’s about to get a gig that will solve his problems — one way or another. The book had 7 pages of the story (which will be serialized online) and some filler, er, paintings and sketches. I handed out a lucky 13 copies of the book to various folks at the show (with the exception of the book my wife gave to Kim Thompson to give to Gary Groth, while I ran away weeping with fear.)

SPX 2008: The Haul (1) SPX 2008: The Haul (2)
Originally uploaded by brianmooredraws

We picked up a truckload of great books. I’m looking forward to next year’s show already!

I got a nice 3X link from the Comics Reporter today! I haven’t done a double-take like that since Shaenon posted those Drifting Classroom panels.

Andrew Farago, Brian Moore, and Shaenon K. Garrity in Charlie’s Kitchen, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Photo by Meghan Moore.

A belated report, because this week has been insanely busy …

Last Saturday my wife Meghan and I dropped by Harvard U’s Vericon to catch a Webcomics panel, featuring Jeffrey Rowland (Overcompensating), Paul Southworth (Ugly Hill), Rich Stevens (Diesel Sweeties), and someone named Shaenon K. Garrity (Narbonic, Lil’ Mel, Smithson, and others). It would be the first time Shaenon and I had met in person.

A brief digression about the panel. My contact with fellow cartoonists was pretty limited until the emergence of the internet: my friends in high school, a few artists at various cons, occasional visits with a local guy. So it was very nice to see a group of them in captivity. The panel was an open Q&A format without moderation, but it didn’t take much to get the guests talking (especially after Rich Stevens arrived.) Occasionally they forgot about the audience and just chatted with each other, at which point we had to clear our throats in unison until they noticed us again. Anyway.

I caught up with Shaenon and Andrew afterwards, and we walked with others from the con in a sort of hipster phalanx over to Million Year Picnic for the book signing. While Shaenon, Jeffrey, Paul and Rich dealt with the crowd, I had good chats with Andrew and with comics journalist Brigid Alverson, who filled me in on some of the history of British comics. S & A & Meg and I had a great dinner and dessert at a fancy chocolate place, and talked comics, cartoonists, and such like. It was a great time. Finally, because we are Old People and Need Our Rest, Meg and I had to say good night and head back to Lowell. Shaenon and Andrew (possibly fueled by all the caffeine we’d just had at the chocolate place) went off to find some excitement, and apparently ended up at the Masquerade at Vericon, where Shaenon was promptly nabbed by detective L. It was a great time, and I hope to see these folks again soon!