Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival occurred just yesterday, Saturday, December 5th. The show was organized by Picturebox, Inc. and Desert Island Comics in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Good times. I live in nearby Greenpoint meaning that I was able to walk from my home to the show. Without stopping once.

The show had free admission which is wonderful but I could not tell if it attracted people outside of the hipster indie comics scene. That could be my own limited viewpoint. Either way, it was packed with people. The vibe of the show was described to me by many attendees and exhibitors as “chill.” People were generally easy-going, super approachable, despite the crowds and ready to hang around and chat for a while.

If you’re curious about loot, the first thing I did was blow almost all my cash at the SUNDAYS table as Joe Lambert sweet talked my dollar-dollar bills into ch-ch-ch-ch-change. I picked up the latest SUNDAYS as well as one of Joe’s own comics “Food/Fall,” Which does the “food” themed comic much better than I did. Dammit, Joe…

I also traded and leveled up with some extra Joe minicomics, I feel that I am now Brooklyn’s main expert on the subject of Joe Lambert. I moved on, talked with Austin English and Nate Doyle who were holding down the fort for Sparkplug Comic Books. On Friday, they threw a party at Nate’s raising some money for Austin’s “Sweetheart Comics.” I helped work the door, but took no pictures. BACK TO THE FESTIVAL THOUGH:

House of Twelve:

I spent part of the day hanging out with my team at House of Twelve. In January, we are launching a HUGE project on the iphone. We’re publishing original comics through the Comixology application. There are many comics in Comixology right now, but ours are the only EXCLUSIVE stories. You won’t find these comics anywhere else.

Kickin’ it

At some point, I wound up in a nook right in the middle of the show floor shooting the breeze with Mr. Phil and Liz Baillie who was dressed like David Bowie. People would just stop, join in the conversation, then move along. The three of us were there for like an hour just trading out people to chat with. Sorry for standing in everybody else’s way! I managed to meet Mickey Zacchilli and trade some comics for her RAV # 2 screenprinted comic, which was a stroke of dumb luck. I ran afoul of the Retard Riot table where I tried to stop myself from emptying out the rest of my wallet.

Of course, I knocked heads with, shook hands with, slapped palms with L. Nichols, Margo Dabaie, Peter Lazarski, Mike Turz, Lauren Weinstein, Ian Harker, Pat Aulisio, Jon Lewis, Jack Turnbull, Robin Enrico, Chuck McBuck, Julia Wertz, Matt Wiegle, JT Yost, Shannon O’Leary, Gabrielle Bell, Tunde Adebimpe, and I did not meet Gabby Schulz.

Oh yes:

At the end of the day, I left feeling wonderful about comics. I went to hang out with my friend Sally Bloodbath who had a post-show party and hung out with Nichols, Liz and Wiegle some more.

The meaty part of the discussion:

The thing about Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival is that there were no exhibitors who were bad. Everybody was pretty darn good and I do mean everyone. I will say it again: every single table at that show was worth stopping at and examining. That’s because unlike other comic shows, this show was (1) small and (2) curated. The show’s organizers chose which cartoonists and publishers would have tables and the result was a highly focused exhibition of refined taste. While there are a number of people who may not like the ultra-indie, screenprint, punk-derived comics world that this show represents, I think it would be difficult to deny that they did a great job of representing this corner of our world. Having it happen in North Brooklyn brings the point even further home.

-Darryl Ayo.