Yet another comics event this weekend the Comic Arts Fest at L’Alliance New York. Organized by Rodolphe Lachat, this was a cross cultural exploration of comics arts with an emphasis on French cartoonists. L’Alliance New York is a non profit organization that is “committed to providing our audience and students with engaging French language classes and audacious multi-disciplinary programming that celebrates the diversity of Francophone cultures and creativity around the world.”
It’s a very classy setting for a comics event, with a full scale theater and a room for panels called, believe it or not, Le Skyroom. The Comic Arts Fest included panels, screenings, workshops, live music and live drawing, and a petite artist alley for publishers. It was a pricey affair – more than $90 for a festival pass and $8-30 for individual events – but given the high quality of the setting and presentation it made sense.
The two headliners of the show were Charles Burns and Frank Quitely. The latter was making his first appearance at a NYC comic related event in….. a long time. Sadly, I missed his spotlight panel. Very sadly as Quitely is one of my favorite cartoonists and one of the great comics storytellers of recent times.
Charles Burns is another one of my favorite cartoonists. I showed up for the opening night event which spotlighted him with a slideshow and a screening of Fear(s) of the Dark, an animated anthology film which came out in 2006.
Burn’s presented a slideshow discussing his recent works, and I spoke with a few people afterwards and we all agreed that after seeing it we finally understood Burns’ work in a way we never had before. I say this as someone who has read almost everything he’s done and interviewed him several times and seen many panels with him.
What was so revelatory about it? Well, he just talked about the things he liked and showed how he drew them. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but with romance comics, for instance, the things he took from them were car crashes, people in hospitals and women lying in bed crying.
Burns is such an instinctive artist. Everything he draws is innately disturbing. Of course his work includes a lot of body horror, but he makes women lying in bed crying just as troubling as oozing grubs. I think what I got out of the talk is that while his work gives the appearance of being deeply thought out, he’s just interpreting the things he likes…and they all come out scary. He’s like David Lynch in that way.
He also called out Vinnie Colletta’s romance work as an example of how cartoonists have to use shortcuts. Once Colletta found a shortcut he really stuck with it, as this slide – one of three! – showed.
On Saturday there was a talk with Quitely and Burns moderated by Chip Kidd. I’ve been to many “BIG NAME” in conversation with “BIG NAME” panels and sometimes there is a connection and it works. Sometimes…it doesn’t. Luckily, this time it really worked. Quietly and Burns had been to each other’s talks and had questions for each other so it really was two great artists who like each other’s work in conversation. What a treat! Kidd did a great job but also asked lots of questions from the audience (collected on index cards) and these were very lively and got good answers.
I’m especially sad I missed Quitely’s focused talk, though, because he’s another artist who is completely instinctive. “When I’m drawing a page I’m lost in it,” he said on the panel and that’s really the only way to describe his work.
His famous All-Star Superman cover, for instance. Superman’s expression is as dazzling and oblique as the Mona Lisa. It can’t be described, only observed. Quitely talked a bit about We3, saying when Grant Morrison offered him several projects, it sounded like the dumbest: “some animals flee wearing armor.” But the result is a masterpiece.
I was fortunate enough to moderate a panel myself, with Julie Rocheleau and Elene Usdin. I’ve moderated many many panels, and the easiest are when I know everyone on the panel. The hardest are when I’ve never even met the participants…which was the case here. Fortunately both are such phenomenal artists that I knew my task would just be letting them talk about their work.
Rocheleau’s most recent work is Globetrotters, an exuberant accounts of Nellie Bly’s attempt to go around the world in less than 80 days, and a competing bid by journalist Elizabeth Bisland. Written by Julian Voloj, it’s a true life story that seems like fiction, which Rocholeau captures brilliantly.
Usdin’s Detroit Roma is only available in French alas, but it’s as much an art book as a comic, with a story about two young women on a road trip from Detroit to Rome Georgia, while dealing with American decline and their own family histories. This is an absolutely spectacular book with every panel a strikingly painted image. Worth looking out for if you can find a copy.
I was truly delighted to be able to explore both these works, and I hope people also enjoyed the panel!
As I mentioned there was a small set up of publishers tables that include Fantagraphics, Abrams, and Fairsquare Graphics. It was busy when I was there on Saturday, despite (or maybe because of) the horrible frigid rain storm that was falling outside. Maybe a good day to stay inside and talk about comics.
There were other cartoonists on hand including Felipe Smith and Benjamin Lacombe, as well as a few signing at the tables.
I had never seen Fear(s) of the Dark before, although I wrote about it quite a bit when it was in the works back in the day. It features a series of animated horror shorts by Blutch, Burns, Lorenzo Mattotti, Marie Caillou, Pierre di Sciullo and Richard McGuire. The animation is a bit wonky in places, but several of the stories were genuinely scary – McGuire’s, about a man who takes refuge in a haunted house during a snowstorm was the most fully successful, in my opinion. This would be a great movie to screen on Halloween, if you can find a copy.
All in all, the Comic Arts Fest was a small but focused event that offered a lot of great content and seems like a worthy addition to New York’s already bustling comics event scene. I’m very grateful that I got to participate.
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