The Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival returns for its second year on December 4 at the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church on North 8th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. While shows like this are a familiar platform for small press and self-published comics and other graphic works, the BCGF is a bit different. Exhibiting at this show is by invitation only—a practice that has generated a few bruised feelings—and admission is free to the public.
Despite some complaints about the policy, the shows organizers—Gabriel Fowler, Dan Nadel and Bill Kartalopoulos—believe the invitation-only format as well as free admission allows them to present a visually cohesive and high-quality show, while attracting an enthusiastic audience looking to buy new and inventive works. “The Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival’s mission is to present the state of the art form as Gabe, Dan, and I see it to as wide a public as possible,” explained Kartalopoulos, the festival’s co-organizer and programming director. “We don’t charge admission to our show. We want people to come see it, and we want to be able to stand behind the work we’re showing.”
Along with Kartalopoulos, the show is organized by Gabriel Fowler, the owner of Desert Island - a comic book store in Williamsburg, and Dan Nadel, comics historian, author and the editor of Picturebox, a small press specializing in a wide variety of international alternative and experimental comics. Fowler told PWCW that he “began fantasizing about starting a local festival in the summer of 2009 as an extension of my store, Desert Island.” Nadel, originally slated to exhibit, “went from an exhibitor to a partner pretty quickly,” said Fowler; and Kartalopoulos, who teaches and writes about comics, was brought on to organize the programming. Last year “about 1,200 people” attended the festival, Fowler said, and this year he “predicts 3,000, but this is based on absolutely nothing.” Nadel described what he called a “general audience” feel to the crowd last year, most likely helped by the free admission to the show.
“The number one difference [between BCGF and other comics festivals] is free admission to the public, which eliminates any barrier to people checking out the work,” Fowler said. “Our goal is to create a rock-solid room full of work for both the jaded comic fan and for the newbie off the street.”
Table rental is the “sole source of revenue for this festival,” Fowler said. Last year the show attracted 41 exhibitors, and this year there will be 55. And, the organizers hope by scheduling the show in early December, it will attract attendees doing holiday shopping. “Early December is obviously great for holiday shopping and is a time in the calendar relatively unobstructed by other comics events,” Fowler explained. Nadel also stressed that it’s “not in the doldrums of January and February.”
Indeed the organizers believe that by making the show invitation-only, they are “using the platform of the Festival itself as an expressive medium,” Fowler said. “I want to use our festival as an opportunity to engineer a meaningful mix of artists from a variety of backgrounds.” Nadel said they want the show to have a, “distinct, cohesive sensibility at work,” by integrating exhibitors, guests and programming.
“The combination of exhibitors and featured quests is intended to work as a whole, which I feel is different from every other show in New York,” Fowler emphasized. But the invitation-only policy has also focused criticism on the young festival, particularly from all the artists and publishers who aren’t invited. “People on the internet love to have things to complain about,” Fowler said, “It’s not like we get off on rejecting people. We’re just trying to create a show that reflects our interests, which is a perfectly valid thing to do.” Nadel agreed, claiming that he doesn’t believe there’s an “inherent obligation to be inclusive,” and said that there are many diverse comics shows all year with something for everyone and that there are “a million shows Picturebox has no business attending.”
The organizers also emphasized the limited space of the venue as another reason for the invitation-only policy. “Our show is significantly smaller, which has created demand for tables far exceeding the supply, and has ultimately led us to the solution of a curated show,” explained Fowler. “The open-call model may work for enormous venues like the Javits Center or 69th Regiment Armory [where the MoCCA Comics Festival is held], but it doesn’t work for a smallish venue. You end up with a room full of the best self-promoters, but not necessarily the best artists,” Fowler said. The organizers also claim they are better able to budget for a “curated” show. Along with “keeping table costs low,” Nadel said, it also allows them to keep the show free to the public.
“Other shows accept exhibitors on a first-come/first-serve basis and then charge admission,” noted Kartalopoulos, “And that’s valid too, but those shows often proceed from different concerns. Some of them have a fundraising mission. Running a free curated show is consistent with our mission.” Furthermore, Kartalopoulos said, they intend to keep the scale of the show relatively intimate. “One exhibiting artist told me that at most comics conventions he feels lost in the crowd, but that at [our festival] he felt like he finally found his audience,” Kartalopoulos said, noting that “consistently strong work” will allow visitors to “become more interested in looking at things they might be unfamiliar with.”
However, Nadel conceded “there are people we overlook; it’s a human process.” Fowler explained how they go about deciding which artists and publishers to invite. The process, as Fowler described it, involves “the three of us [coming] to the table with long wish lists from the international comics world. We basically invite our top choices, see who says yes, and repeat this process until the show is full.” Nadel also mentioned that after this process they “then open up to applications,” yet this is, again, limited by space restrictions. “People can absolutely ask to get on our radar,” said Fowler of those wishing to be considered for invitation, “I’ve been compiling a list for next year.”
The show will feature an array of impressive guests and exhibitors. Nadel listed “living legend” Mark Alan Stamaty, Lynda Barry, Paul Pope, Johnny Ryan, Sammy Harkham, Brian Chippendale, and “a rare New York appearance” from Renee French, as a few guests he was excited to have this year. In addition to those named by Nadel, Fowler mentioned Jordan Crane and Kartalopoulos added Anders Nilsen, noting that “many of these artists are coming because they recognize that the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival embodies values they share.”
As far as programming, Nadel said they try to have the “programming tied in with the sensibilities of the show.” Kartalopoulos said, “I keep the programming focused on the art form, looking for threads that connect artists’ work in ways that suggest interesting topics. It makes sense to have cartoonists Mark Alan Stamaty and Brian Chippendale on a panel about intensely detailed drawing, even though their work exhibits very different sensibilities.” Nadel pointed to a conversation between cartoonists Charles Burns and Lynda Barry as a notable panel, and Kartalopoulos mentioned a panel with “Sammy Harkham, the editor of Kramers Ergot, and RAW coeditor and Toon Books publisher Francoise Mouly, two of the most influential editors in modern comics history,” who will be on a panel discussing “The Art of Editing.”
Describing the show as a kind of “arts fantasy football,” Nadel said he was already looking ahead to next year’s show and planned to continue to invite Barry Windsor-Smith and Leonard Star, even though both “say no every year.” Fowler, after “begging French publisher Cornelius to attend as an exhibitor,” claimed “they gave me a solid maybe for next year.”
