M.I.C.E. Thrice!

The Massachusetts Independent Comics Exposition was this weekend, and it was fantastic! Thanks must be given to all the people who put in the work that made the show a success, especially Dan Mazur, Shelli Paroline, Dave Kender, Braden Lamb, Lindsay Moore, Cathy Leamy, and Steve Cartisano. M.I.C.E. is one of the friendliest shows around and it's because of these people.

Check out some pictures of the show (and see me in my tie and sweater) here and here.

And there were tons of awesome comics. Just ask Ashley Amber Bottoms.

Some of my favorites of all the stuff I picked up were these:


Betsy by Sophie Goldstein. This is a sci-fi comic about a world in the future and there are three panels in it that just absolutely broke my heart and made me want to cry. Those three panels at one glance left more of an impression on my than almost any other sequence of panels I have read all year. There have been single images that have hit me pretty hard, but in terms of pure comics brutality, this was one, two, three, Niagara Falls, Frankie Angel. You can check her stuff out at: dcisgoingtohell.com and redinkradio.tumblr.com.


Monarch Monkey by Doug De Rocher. These comics are absolutely amazing. I can not say enough about how amazed I am by the art in them. These are comics on a whole other level. All of the comics in here are collage. There is no pen. There is no ink. This all just pieces of paper on top of pieces of paper, and what blows my mind is the amount of control that Doug has with this technique. He gets gesture. He gets posture. It is amazing.

There isn't any website for Doug as of yet, but you should email him at brad.derocher@facebook.com

And yeah, I know I've been saying Doug the whole time, and then just gave you an email with Brad instead. That's just the way it is!


Relics by Whit Taylor. This is a great comic sneaks in and out of the Museum of Natural History in New York, and while doing that sneaking takes you back to childhood, visits post-collegiate fears, bums you out, and cheers you up. It reminded me of those moments where you're having a great conversation, no one's trying to be funny, there's no competition, it's just solid and good and makes you feel refreshed and alive (and also, sadly, reminds you of the vapid nature of so many of your daily interactions). If that makes any sense.

Check out her comics at: http://www.whimsicalnobodycomics.com/

And tomorrow, Friday, you can hear an interview with me on http://hideousenergy.blogspot.com/!



Comments

Doug DeRocher said…
Thank you so much for your review. It was fun sharing a table with you.