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.

Here I Am

Dust Jacket photo by Balazs Gardi

I'm reading Alan Huffman's biography of Tim Hetherington, Here I Am. It's a great portrait of a war photographer with a singular voice. I was having a very difficult time finishing the second half of the book, because it's hard to absorb all the details leading to his death in Misrata, but it's a great book. Lynsey Addario reviewed the book on The Daily Beast late last month, which you can read here. Her post includes some of the last photographs Tim took before he died.

Studio Yolo Comic

I was the guest writer at Studio Yolo this month, here's the comic I made. I found that working from my own script was less of a challenge and allowed me to take it in a more personal direction. I should do diary comics like this. It's a bit of a leak, since the rest of the comics submissions for this month's challenge won't go live for a few more days. I took studio mate/fellow YOLO brolo Dean Haspiel's advice and kept everything simple. Click to read.

Sebastian Junger

On Wednesday night I got to meet and shake the hand of Sebastian Junger, 1/2 of the reason I started my veteran comic project (the other 1/2 of that reason is Tim Hetherington, who died while covering the conflict in Libya, a few months after I read Junger's War and saw Restrepo). I also got to give him a copy of my most recent comic and say a very heartfelt thank you. It was great.

Junger was at the Brooklyn Brewery in conversation with Steve Hindy, co-founder of the brewery and former war reporter. All proceeds benefited RISC, Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues, an organization Junger started after Hetherington's tragic death that he felt could have been avoided, had those around him been properly trained to save lives.

Victor Kerlow: Everything Takes Forever

Victor Kerlow is debuting Everything Takes Forever, published by Koyama Press, at the Toronto Comic Art Festival (TCAF). You can preorder a copy and get some handmade drawings from Victor, or grab a copy at the official release party at Desert Island on May 16th. From his blog:

"Email me at victormk at gmail dot com with your proof of pre-order and for the first 20 I get, I'll send you a watercolored drawing as thanks for the support. "