The Comic Arts Brooklyn Experience - part 2

Photo by Chris Pitzer

Second installment of our CAB special, featuring a lot of wonderful guests (here you find the first part). Today we begin with Chris Pitzer, publisher at Adhouse Books from Richmond, Virginia. Chris kindly provided some of the photos of this post. Thanks Chris!

"I love Comic Arts Brooklyn. I loved Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest. I think the location has a lot going for it. People love NY/Brooklyn, and with so many creators living in the area, the quality of people who shows up is pretty damn good. This year AdHouse was debuting B+F by Gregory Benton. It was nice because I got to spend a fair amount of time with Gregory, which I greatly enjoyed. He and Florence were quite the hosts, too. 

I had hoped to get out and shop a bit before the doors opened up, but I found myself still behind the table once customers started coming in. I think I snuck away around 11 or noon to acquire a few things I had heard about, or my friends asked me to pick up for them. Probably the number one item was Epoxy #4 by John Pham. Such a great talent and one of my favorite series. I tried to get Ant Colony by Michael DeForge, but they were sold out by the time I got over there. I got the new issue of Operation Margarine by Katie Skelly, Softcore by Box Brown, the Heather Benjamin porn book, Iron Bound by Brendan Leach, Fata Morgana by Jon Vermilyea, S.F. #3 by Ryan Cecil Smith… and a few other things. I enjoyed talking to Larry Marder and Chip Kidd to name a few. Always great catching up with such talented people. 

It was a pretty quick trip for me, so I didn't get to do too much outside of the show. I did get to take in one event at the Society of Illustrators. I had never been in the same room as Steven Heller, so that was nice". 

Gregory Benton draws and signs on B+F. Photo by Chris Pitzer

Leslie Stein, cartoonist, best-known for her books Eye of the Majestic Creature published by Fantagraphics Books:

"I had a great show at CAB this year. I think I sold more books than at any other convention I've been to so far. The atmosphere was very friendly, and the cartoonists exhibiting were exciting. It was a little overwhelming and exhausting, but I have postive feelings about it and am excited that it exists and hope to be included again".

Dave Nuss of Revival House Press, publisher of books by Malachi Ward, Ted May, Rusty Jordan and others: 

"I had a very positive CAB experience. Sales-wise, it was on par with the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest from last year and the year before. I was fortunate enough to be placed at a table towards the center of the room, thus ensuring a viable amount of foot traffic.

-It felt efficiently organized with clear and concise exhibitor packages as well as a helpful amount of volunteers who were on hand to dispense amenities like water.

-The show seemed more commercially-inclined than years past. In particular, I'm speaking about the inclusion of First Second books who publish graphic novels that appeal to a broader audience, specifically the children's market.  

-Also, a friend of mine mused on the absence of a larger European contingent. In the past, BCGF catered to publishers such as the French company, Fremok.

-This same friend also pointed out the diminished amount of satellite events, with a sparser offering of programming and animation screenings.

-I went to the after-party at the venue, Union Pool. Previously, the Cartoon House (a residence inhabited by a few comic artist and publishers) served as the site for post-show merriment, thus side-stepping the trappings of a bar tab.  But an abundance of free drink tickets appeared to offset a large portion of this inconvenience.  

-People from outside of New York who I had the pleasure of spending some time with included Veronica Graham (from the art duo, Most Ancient), Todd Bak (fresh off a book tour for Islands of Memory), Derek Ballard, Simon Hansellman, Edie Fake, Francois Vigneault, Ben Catmul, Lala Albert and Jason Levian.

-I picked up the Comic Workbook from Frank Santoro, the new Battling Boy by Paul Pope, some new minis by the Close Captioned posee, and Islands of Memory by my good pal, T. Edward Bak.

-Don't have too much gossip, but Alvin Buenaventura was heard to be wandering around, apparently making claims about returning to publishing". 

Ritual #2 by Malachi Ward

Ed Kanerva of Canadian Koyama Press:

“Comic Arts Brooklyn was a wonderful celebration of comics in city that really understands them. For me, the highlight of the show was tabling with Jon Vermilyea, Alex Schubert and Ryan Cecil Smith (all the way from Japan!) who were all debuting books. Email and chat are great, but sometimes it is nice to interact outside of the internet!”

Koyama Press at CAB. Photo by Chris Pitzer

Mack Pauly of Space Face Books:

"CAB was great. Space Face debuted Life Zone by Simon Hanselmann, Baboom! by John F. Malta and Misliving Amended by Adam Buttrick. One of the highlights was Simon signing Life Zone at the table. There was a long line and he was meticulously drawing Megg, Mogg, Owl, and Werewolf Jones in every single book. His hands were aching, but he persevered. All Space Face’s books sold really well and we had an amazing time.

Space Face’s favorite acquisitions were all of the Breakdown Press debuts: Windowpane 2 by Joe Kessler, J.1137 by Antoine Cossé and Treasure Island #1 by Connor Willumsen. I would’ve bought the new Klaus book by Richard Short, but I ordered it online a few weeks ago. Too impatient. I also got the new Ant Colony book out from Drawn & Quarterly and Michael DeForge. It’s giant and colorful. The new Alien Invasion book by Lala Albert is amazing, too. Plus lots of beer and pizza. NYC is always fun".

We close this post with two links suggested by Conundrum Press to reports by publisher Andy Brown and by Joe Ollmann, author of Science Fiction book. Enjoy! And thanks again to anyone who contributed to this report, I'm very grateful.

Conundrum Press at Comic Arts Brooklyn