This Just In

Comics fest returns, with kids up front

Page Life

By RICK WORMWOOD | May 18, 2011

If you have any doubt that comic books are ascendant in popular culture, look no farther than the film Thor, based on the Marvel adaptation of the Norse god, which has earned more than $344 million in less than a month in theaters. Green Lantern, based on the DC Comics standby and due in theatres next month, will probably show similar earning power, although the film that fanboys seem the most primed for, The Dark Knight Rises, the third and final entry in Christopher Nolan's Batman franchise, is still a year away. No doubt all three films will be part of the conversations at the Maine Comics Arts Festival, a celebration of comics, manga, and graphic novels convening this weekend in Portland.

On Saturday things kick off at the Portland Public Library in Monument Square, with an 11 am workshop on how to draw comics and other aspects of visual storytelling with Eisner Award-winning artist Andy Runton, creator of the popular Owly series. Later on Saturday the library will also host a discussion entitled "Comics in World History and Cultures" led by cartoonist and teacher Marek Bennett. The event website suggests Bennett's exhaustive (and, we suspect, lengthy) talk will span "modern Japanese history, medieval European history, ancient Mayan culture and mathematics, local history research, and more."

Lincoln Pierce, Maine native and creator of the syndicated comic strip Big Nate, will be on hand to discuss his work when events move over to Ocean Gateway on Sunday. How can an aspiring cartoonist break into the business? Will Big Nate ever get with his longtime crush, Jenny? Has Big Nate's rock and roll band, Enslave the Mollusk, really broken up? Inquiring minds want to know.

More than 100 artists, writers and publishers are expected to attend. There will be workshops, opportunities for aspiring artists to have their portfolios judged by professionals, and even a live reading by AudioComics featuring Bill Dufris, better known to children of all ages as the voice of Bob the Builder.

You might even see fans dressed up as their favorite characters. To quote Bruce Wayne, from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns: "Children, pull on your tights!"

Related: Review: Red Cliff, Review: The Strip, Review: A Single Man, More

Review: Red Cliff
Hong Kong auteur John Woo hit commercial and artistic pay dirt in the US with Face/Off , his loopy Nicolas Cage/John Travolta neo-noir, but once he’d directed Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible II , was there anywhere left to go?
Review: The Strip
In lieu of Steve Carell’s hopelessly inept and earnest manager, we have his creepier duplicate, Glenn. Instead of the boorish brown-noser played by Rainn Wilson, there’s the more obnoxious Rick.
Review: A Single Man
Christopher Isherwood published his novel about a middle-aged homosexual grieving for a lost lover, the frank depiction of gay desire scandalized some readers.
Review: Shutter Island
I read Dennis Lehane's Shutter Island , a 336-page throat-grabbing mystery thriller, in two nearly sleepless nights.
Review: A Matter Of Size
Director duo Sharon Maymon and Erez Tadmor have fashioned a look at a group of blue-collar Israeli men and how they came to accept who they are.
Fall Film Preview: Seasonal movie disorder
Vacations end, the days shorten, the weather turns cold, the world darkens with intimations of decline and death — and yet people still love the fall. Cinephiles do, at any rate.
Review: Alpha and Omega
If Lionsgate wants to take a bite out of the animated film market dominated by Pixar and Disney, it’ll have to do better than this toothless stray.
Review: I'm Still Here
Only someone who’s unfamiliar with psychedelic treats and chemically induced psychosis could think I’m Still Here is anything but real.
Review: Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno
This autopsy of an unfinished 1964 film by the great French director Henri-Georges Clouzot ( The Wages of Fear ) holds fascinations — and frustrations — for the avid franco-cinephile.
Review: Jack Goes Boating
Always a meticulous, quirky, and sometimes revelatory actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman in his directorial debut nurtures his splendid cast into similar performances.
[NSFW?] Photos: Spookadelica at the Somerville Theatre
Black Cat Burlesque join with Something Weird Video to stage an event called "Spookdelica" at the Somerville Theatre on September 25, 2010.
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Topics: This Just In , Movies, Comics, Christopher Nolan, More

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[ 05/29 ] Brad Hooper @ Andy's Old Port Pub

[ 05/29 ] karaoke with DJ Ponyfarm @ Slainte

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