Today Frank brings us news of his adventures at The Lakes International Comic Art Festival.
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival was, without a doubt, the most enjoyable festival I have ever been to. LICAF mixed the “high” and “low” together and blended it in with the general public in a way we can’t quite pull off in the States. The festival takes over all of Kendal, which is a beautiful small northwestern English town. Every cafe, bookshop, clothing store: they all have comic-book-related material on display and for sale. There was a bookstore window display with children’s drawings. One was of Batman and it read “Darwyn Cooke,” and the other was a cartooned version of Seth (!) drawn by a grade schooler in the same arrangement. I think that about sums up the show for me. Darwyn Cooke and Seth are completely at opposite ends of the spectrum in North America—and to see them presented together and also hanging out in the hotel bar together swapping stories (they’d never really talked much before despite being both from Ontario) is a testament to how different and special the Lakes Festival is, I think.
Elsewhere:
The amazing comics-related 1960s-70s underground mag Oz is now archived online. Dive in.
Also comics related: A.O. Scott writes about early fandom, nostalgia and narrative over at the NYT.
Spending dept:
I highly recommend you order a copy of the new issue of Apology. Not only did I contribute a piece about Sam Gross, but there's a lengthy interview with the great Sally Cruikshank.
And also, for heaven's sake, order this collection of White Boy! A real holy grail of expressive cartoon drawing.
