Stuff I got at the First Annual DC Conspiracy Counter Culture Festival
Dr. Dremo's Tap Room, Arlington, VA, 11/12/2005
By Rich Chapell
The Dali Lama spoke last Saturday at the Society for Neuroscience conference, but I ditched him to attend the DC Conspiracy’s Counter Culture Festival at Dr. Dremo’s Tap House in Arlington, VA, just a few Metro stops from my hotel room. I’m sure the Dali Lama is a good guy and all, but I don’t trust his science any more than I would trust Pat Robertson’s.
It’s funny; when I go to a big comics convention I don’t spend a lot of time in the small press area. I’ll give it a quick walk-through, pick up any free stuff I see, and maybe buy a book or two if they look especially interesting. In contrast, at this event I spent a couple of hours chatting with various creators, exchanging Dali Lama jokes, and having a really good time.
The Counter Culture Festival had a good turnout, especially for a First Annual. In addition to comics, there were filmmakers, jewelry makers and t-shirt printers. Later in the day there was a film festival. I had to skip that to go back to my hotel and prepare for the next day’s Neuroscience conference, but I made it back in time to hear a couple of the bands before being overcome with exhaustion and staggering off to bed.
Founded in 2004, the DC Conspiracy has become a tightly-knit, supportive community. You can read new webcomics from them 3 times a week at http://www.webcomicsnation.com/dcconspiracy/ . Their first festival was a success at all levels. It built community, publicized their work, and was a lot of fun for everyone involved. I recommend them as a model for other creative communities. I picked up some comics, ranging from crudely Xeroxed mini-comics to fully realized glossy-cover books. Here’s what I thought:
The Promise, by Carol and Matt Dembicki, Wasp Comics
This 8-page mini-comic is nicely executed, with words and pictures supporting each other to tell the story. It is sexually explicit, but not brutally graphic, and has a twist ending worthy of Tales of the Unexpected. This book makes me want to see some full-length work from this talented couple.
The Alberic Heresies: The Lock, by Grant Jeffrey Barrus and Jacob Warrenfeltz
This 8-pager was intended for the SPX anthology, but, at least according to the end notes, was not accepted. It’s a complete story using characters and situations from Barrus and Warrenfeltz’ Alberic Heresies, an as-yet unfinished longer work examining the religious politics of George Bush’s America while paying homage to DC Comics’ great “mature” books of the late ‘eighties. It accomplishes its intended purpose well. In 8 pages, we are introduced to some of the characters, get some hints as to the overall situation, and enjoy a complete story. If the complete Alberic Heresies ever comes out, I’ll definitely pick it up.
Attic Wit #4: The Polish Anthology, edited by Matt Dembicki, Wasp Comics
This collection of 1 to 8-page shorts was assembled and translated by Matt Dembicki. As a Polish-American with an interest in his heritage, Dembicki developed a correspondence with several Polish creators, ultimately resulting in this anthology. The book includes stories of a variety of styles, ranging, in Dembicki’s words, from the surreal to the comical. It’s a laudable effort, but I don’t get it. None of the stories here did a thing for me. That may be my fault; I never saw the appeal of Heavy Metal or other European comics anthologies either. If you liked them, you might like these. I can’t fault the production quality of this 5½” X 8½” pamphlet. It’s just the stories themselves I find incomprehensible.
Down and Out on Planet Earth #1 of 4, by Dale Rawlings
This 20-page mini-comic first came out in 2000. While Rawlings tells me that #2 is complete and #3 nearly so, 5 years is a bit of a lag between issues. How many people who bought this when it came out are still going to be interested when issue two is finally printed? That’s no way to build an audience!
The story concerns God getting fired as Earth’s deity. This premise gives Rawlings the opportunity to express himself on the subject of faith, religion and spirituality. If his musings aren’t particularly deep, they are at least nicely drawn. Subsequent issues will portray God on Earth, powerless and trying to make a living. Will he find redemption? If issue 4 is ever released, I may buy them all and find out.
The Enchanters, by Steve Gellman, Hidden Poet Publishing
A full-sized 24-page comic with a color cover and glossy pages, this book is crudely drawn and lacks all but the most rudimentary storytelling techniques. The story opens in the present day, with the characters emerging from a 20 year hibernation. Then we flash back to 1985, presumably to learn how they entered stasis in the first place. We never find out. Presumably this will be revealed in future issues, but given that Gellman’s introduction on the inside front cover describes two separate periods of at least seven years in which he did no com
Mr. Scootles Book 1, by H.C. Noel, www.hcnoel.com
There’s a lot going on here. This full-sized, full-length comic includes two human sacrifices, some romance, cartoon hijinx, dream sequences, interdimensional travel, and ghost fetuses. The title character is a fictitious cartoon character of the early ‘thirties. Two art students discover one of his lost films and unwittingly set in motion a series of events whose full repercussions are yet to be revealed. Meanwhile, a professor at the same college is killing students in an attempt to open a doorway to Hell. The Mr. Scootles film canister is somehow involved.
The story, which I really enjoyed, is not without its flaws. When the two students fist watch the Mr. Scootles reel, Noel makes the classic error of telling rather than showing. Instead of showing us the cartoon, he tells us about it in a caption. This may have been a conscious decision in order to fit everything else into the book, but it seems a mighty important sequence to just leave out. Even a single-page montage would have been more effective. Mr Scootles himself has two distinct voices. When he speaks through word balloons he has a typical cartoon character’s slang. I hear him in my head with a Brooklyn accent. When he narrates via captions, his grammar is better and his attitude is much more philosophical than one would expect from a cartoon animal of indeterminate species. This may be a deliberate device, or it may just be sloppy writing. Future issues will tell. Since issues two and three are already out, it won’t be long before I find out.
So that’s what I did Saturday when I was supposed to be listening to the Dali Lama. I think I made the right decision.
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