Philly Alternative Comic Con

Thanks again for another terrific year! i'm going to leave this blogpost up until next spring when i start organizing this 3rd full time job of mine again next year.


for those not in the know heres some quick ideas as to what kind of con PACC is.

PACC is...

the type of show where the 'big time' pro tables are small press publishers.

you can discover your new favorite mini comic and get to know the artist personally.

when it rains and it leaks on your table, just put a bucket there, when it rains some more, just move your whole table.

you don't really know who is 'in charge' and there are no volunteers walking around.

has an award show which emphasis's getting drunk, hanging out, and listening to live music then actually caring who wins.

theres a better chance of 100 artists with small tables then 50 artists with big tables.

having a weird secret way of getting table space.

theres more art galleries and collectives with tables then publishers.

screenprinted covers and limited edition runs of ornate book bindings reign supreme.

no sponsors or bigger company agendas

half the people are from philly and know each other already the other half arent from philly and we get excited about meeting and getting to know them.

talks in 3rd person like its some bigger 'thing' but its really just one dude doing it all.

is do-it-yourself all the way.

all about comix.

fun.



see you next summer!

GRAWLIX WINNERS

Best Comic- Illogical Comix 8 by Thomas Toye

Best Non-Comic- Sad People Sex by Heather Benjamin


Best Serialized Comic- Night Business by Ben Marra

Best Anthology- Dimensions edited by Ze San San


Best Graphic Novel- Plastic Farm vol. 1 by Rafer Roberts


Stupidest Comic- Dugout Phunnies by Jon Goff and David Jablow


Honorable Mentions- F.U.K.M. by Peter Lazarski and Mike Turzanski


Do It Yourself Doodler by David Jablow

BOX BROWN

Box Brown has been with PACC since its first year and is an honorable guest every time!
Box got his start with his sappy relationship webcomic BELLEN that cultivated him an enormous internet readership, he tossed it all away to be a full on floppy print comic peddler!


He releases his religious-based comic EVERYTHING DIES (Grawlix award nominee!) on an actual regular schedule which caught him attention, so much so that indy presses like GRIMALKIN and MICROCOSM started releasing issues for him!

He's also the mastermind behind his own soon-to-be publishing house RETROFIT! Featuring a ton of artists you'll meet at PACC!


On top of all that he's coming out with his own comic album for Blank Slate books from the UK called the SURVIVALIST. But until then you get to buy the new issue of EVERYTHING DIES he'll be premiering at PACC!


Everyone loves BOX BROWN! well....except people who spend way to much time on the internet, complaining on blogs....

DAVID JABLOW

PACC is proud to house new-comer to the comix scene DAVID JABLOW!
we first saw him around starting this time last year when he began his do-it-yourself doodler project on facebook, soon after he started appearing at philly comix jam meetings and i formally met the mastermind about the mis-adventures of Ms. Doodle.

His chops for cartooning are dead on, with a 'classic' alternative comic feel with his style of cross-hatching and we get to see his range in environments with the numerous doodler pages.



his internet-popularity was growing exponentially with ever doodler page he posted, culminating in a full gallery show with all the pages last december.


since then AdHouse Books caught on to DIYDoodler and will be premiering the full collection at PACC!


After Doodler, David went on to the weirdly-genius niche' market of Phillies Fans with writer Jon Goff releasing Dugout Phunnies, a kind of saturday morning cartoon take on the current phillies line-up. the first 2 issues are out already and will featured at PACC!


DIYDoodler is nominated for Best Non-Comic Comic and Dugout Phunnies #2 is nominated for Stupidest Comic in the Grawlix awards!


and to think last year nobody knew who David Jablow was!

JOSH BURGGRAF

Josh Burggraf is one of those dudes who piss me off at how amazing and fast he is.
You've seen the poster he made for PACC (just scroll down a few posts).
I've worked with him on a handful of books and he is always the first person done with the most impressive detailed insane stories. i mean even his shitty napkin scrawls are amazing!



His work ethic is that of a sweatshop employee of the month that is a anal perfectionist. His work in the 3D anthology MATH FICTION was a huge stand out (literally and figuratively). He's also graced the pages of SECRET PRISON and the louisvile based anthology CATCH-UP and watch out for him in the JOSH BAYER edited anthology SUSPECT DEVICE premiering at PACC!

Josh will have his Grawlix nominated MONGOLOIDS REVENGE on hand as well as his new book KID SPACE HEATER. I saw an advance copy of kid space heater, and i must say, not only is it the best work he's ever done but it might be the best new work ive seen ALL YEAR. like serious.

his work is an amazing mix of urban lifestyle, jack kirby sci-fi, animal people, and weirdness that makes you think if theres some sort of deeper meaning to it all, with a style that teeters on mainstream work and complete underground indy master, in short his work is genius.
Come by PACC and get Josh to sign copies of his books now before he's to fucking huge and famous to ever come back.

LARZANSKI aka PARTNERS IN SLIME

aka
Mike Turzanski and Peter Lazarski.
2 polish-ass dude from Rochester NY that can't stop the dripping there wares all over the comix community.
as partners they co-edit the free tabloid anthology HOPE MOUNTAIN (the 2nd issue which will premiere at PACC)!
They also continually come out with new collaborative books like DUNGEONS AND DRAGQUEENS, a book full of there monster creations, and Grawlix Nominee F.U.K.M., a surreal weird tale that move along like a river of liquid acid.


individually Peter comes out with the Dungeons and Dragons-esque parody epic adventure webcomic IMAGINARY MONSTERS where he'll be selling collected editions


Mike will be pushing his music agenda (as well as playing with his band at the Grawlix awards) selling his super deluxe screenprinted handmade box cases cd's.

One of the main draws of the Partners is there constant stream of new screenprinted posters and t-shirts! last year mike premiered a t-shirt with con organizer Pat Aulisio's face on it, who knows how they will top it this year!!

check out MIKE here
check out PETER here
check out HOPE MOUNTAIN here

COLLECTIVE STENCH

Collective Stench is an amazing newish art collective in the same realm as fort thunder or closed caption comics. they describe themselves as:

...is a loosely associated collection of people who frequently
table together at comics festivals and occasionally collaborate.
Most of them are based in the greater New York area, with a few
additional members in Providence, DC, Philly, and California.

These are a few of the comics i was introduced to released by members of the stench.

featuring some of my favorite emerging artists like
Tom Toye
Heather Benjamin

KJ Martinet
and Ze Jian Shen


to really get to know them pick up there Grawlix Award Nominated anthology DIMENSIONS


check out there collected site to see all the artists they got on board!

They're coming down to PACC in a fully hand painted psychedelic school bus and will be handing out various drugs to hallucinate off of while reading there mind-blowing comics. can't wait!

JOSH BAYER

you guys know who JOSH BAYER is?
NO??
over the past 4 months josh has increasingly become one of my favorite comic peers to share ideas with.
He's done super big commercial stuff like art for HBO's series ROME and for the remake of NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET as well art chores on music videos by Metallica and Smashing Pumpkins. But that doesnt stop him from being a advocate for making comics and not giving a shit, the attitude PACC tries to exemplify best.

His art is REAL and RAW, holds no punches and hides nothing.

He released an amazing re-make of an old issue of ROM: the spaceknight, simply titled ROM that he'll have on hand

Along with debuting a new anthology he's putting together about NANCY, yes that NANCY, called Suspect Device.
its going to feature a bunch of other PACC exhibitors like Box Brown, Mike Sgier, Josh Burggraf, Pat Aulisio, and Edwin Vazquez

check out his website for more goodness here