Free Comic Book Day 2012

It was that day, it comes round every year in May, when you can honestly say, It's Free Comic Book Day!  In case you've been living under a rock (or I suppose if you do not or have never collected comic books), Free Comic Book Day has been around for 10 years.  It's a day when comic book stores all over the country give away free comic books.  It's a chance for big and small publishers alike to give out free samples in the hopes of attracting new readers and collectors.  I have to say that if better prepared and motivated, I would have liked to have given away comics of my own producing, but alas it did not occur.  Perhaps I will try for next year.

Over the years there have been interesting give-aways, some cooler than others, and this year was no different.  The one book that caught my attention was Archaia's giveaway of a small hardback comic (yes I said hardback!).  Of course, if the hardback was filled with crap, that would be one thing, but this little hardback had one of Archaia's biggest hits in the form of Mouse Guard, and a cool new teaser of the latest in the line of Archaia's treatment of Jim Henson properties, this time it's a prequel to the movie Labyrinth.

I wound up going to three comic book stores on Saturday in search of finding two copies of the Mouse Guard hardback, one for me and one for the girlfriend.  I was a bit disappointed (and suspicious) when one of my usual haunts had no copies (or at least that I saw).  I feel like this special edition hardback has been in the news and on the blogs for months.  I am not sure why any comic shop wouldn't want to order at least a couple copies.  But my persistence paid off when I hit comic shop number 2 (The Comic Station in Haddon Heights, NJ), and even more so when I visited Frankenstein Comics in Woodbury.

If you are in the South Jersey area and you want a nice, shiny, clean comic experience, with friendly staff and cool new comics, check out The Comic Station.  If you like a more old-school, slightly grungy comic experience, go to Frankenstein Comics.  Bill, who runs Frankenstein Comics is clearly in love with comics.  He is very knowledgeable about the industry and the history of comic shops in the region, and he is a nice guy, willing to share is time and stories.  I was persistent enough to look through all his $1 books and come up with a stack of Garth Ennis and Warren Ellis written Hellblazer books.  Did I mention Bill has a slightly unorthodox way of pricing his comics?  Yup, he's got cool, more expensive books for $25, hardback and softback collected trade papers for $10 and $5 and lots of $1 individual issues.  He even puts together set of 5 and sometimes 10 books that ran together as a story-line as a collected super pack.  These are very tempting, because you don't have to run around looking for fill-in-the-blank copies.  An entire contained storyline, bagged, boarded, and taped together for your convenience.  Very cool.  If you don't mind rooting through boxes and avoiding precariously perched stacks of comics, make the trip to Frankenstein Comics.  A special shout-out also goes to Captain Blue Hen Comics (whose logo and link you can follow on the right sidebar of this blog).  They always have cool sales, superheroes and special guest characters in costume, sketch artists and more for their events.  Worth a drive to Newark, DE.

Thank to all the shops that participated for this year's Free Comic Book Day.  See you next year!

Haddonfield Arts Festival

This post is couple weeks later than I thought it would be, but it is worth mentioning.  Every year, the town of Haddonfield, NJ hosts an Arts & Crafts Festival.  I try to go there every year, if only to browse the artwork, but it is even better when you can chat with some artists.  The show features fine artists as well as crafters and miscellaneous vendors, so for every painter or photographer, there was ten people selling country cottage decor featuring lambs and chickens, but I digress.  I spent every red cent I had in my pockets that day, and you could easily drop thousands of dollars on the works of art displayed there.  In Part 1 of this post, I will introduce you to two artists I met.

The first booth that drew me was one featuring oil paintings.  Jack Nie displayed a wide variety of oil paintings.  One side of the booth was hung with seascapes, but more interesting were his city scenes, especially from New York City.

www.niebrothers.com

From Jack Nie's website:

The painter, Jack Nie, left China for Europe in 1989 to travel through Belgium, Germany, France and Holland. He studied the works of the European masters, particularly Renaissance painters, and learned the techniques and skills of artists in the Western hemisphere. His works and that of his brother Leon were awarded 4 Gold Medals, 2 Silver Medals and 1 Bronze Medal. In the 1990s he emigrated to New York, the major center for art in the USA, where he now lives and paints. Jack Nie creates vibrant paintings which, like those of his brother Leon, are skillful blends of modern, classic and traditional Chinese art. (See more information at  http://www.niebrothers.com/English/Home.html)

The print I bought that day

Next up was Andrew Cherashore (andrewcherashorephotography.com).  He had a great selection of color landscape photography.  It was nice seeing landscape photography that wasn't black and white prints posing as Ansel Adams rip-offs.  He had some great variations on the same subject, too, such as the same mountain during sunrise versus sunset.

Click on the image to visit his website

I was immediately thinking that if I had the money, it would interesting to assemble multiple photographs, contrasting how the light significantly changes the tone and feel of the exact same subject.  We talked a bit about his trips, his method, and the film he uses.  It is always nice speaking with someone who is passionate about his work.  And he was nice enough to pose for a photograph.

andrewcherashorephotography.com

From Andrew's website:

I have always had a passion for the outdoors and discovered my talent with the camera twenty years ago. I have an interest in creating images that show true expression of the actual scene and show how magical and sometimes mysterious nature can be. I focus on dramatic landscape images throughout the United States and Canada. 

I met two other interesting artists that day that I will cover in Part 2 of this post.