This past weekend, I attended the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival over in Williamsburg, NY. Just as it did last year, the place got packed very quickly. Trying to move around in there was like being in Grand Central Station!
This image you see here was taken on the lower level of the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, the location for the event. This year, both floors were used as space for the various dealers there. Programming had been moved to the nearby bar known as Union Pool over on Union Avenue. You can see that it got packed in a flash. Yet in spite of the difficulty in moving around, I had a good time and met many neat people.
I met the representatives of Porcupine’s Quill, who had come down from Canada to enjoy the event. Their table was extraordinary as they displayed prints and entire graphic novels that were made traditionally through woodcut and linocut prints! It’s still nice to see such a medium used nowadays, especially with the increasing use of computers. Also visiting from outside of the USA was Fanfare, based in the United Kingdom.
I also met a group called Unicorn Mountain from Western Pennsylvania. Based over in Pittsburgh, they’re a collective of local creative people. I chatted with them for a bit and told them how I attend Anthrocon, held every summer in Pittsburgh.
All in all, the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival was a huge success. I met many people, networked some more and got a look at the market. There’s going to be some strong competition for me when I sell my own work here someday. Visiting this event and some of the other independent comics shows like the Small Press Expo and Philly Alt Comic Con has given me a bigger view of what the alternative scene is like.
On that note, if you want a slightly more interactive version of what the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival was like, then check out this video I took!
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