Book Haul #28: Comics! posters and such

It’s time for another book haul. I went on a comic-book-buying craze recently that started with me listening to Season 2, Episode 28 of Writing Excuses where the hosts of the podcast discuss Watchmen, a graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons with colors by John Higgins. By the end of the show, I wanted to read Watchmen so I took myself to my local comic book shop, where I not only got Watchmen, but also picked up a book I’ve wanted ever since featuring it in a Wishes for My TBR post.

Watchmen by Alan Moore, illus. by Dave Gibbons with colors by John Higgins

Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection, Vol. 1 edited by Hope Nicholson

— This is an anthology that “showcases diverse aboriginal representation in comic books.” I first heard of it on the blog Rich in Color and was glad to find it in the comic book shop.

I had no intention of purchasing more comics after this but then the Small Press Expo rolled around and I went berserk there grabbing and buying almost everything I see. The Small Press Expo is a 2-day event that features cartoons and comics by independent artists and small publishers. It was my first time attending it and I felt overwhelmed. There was so much to see and experience. I didn’t know where to start.

When I arrived, I headed straight for the showroom, picked a table, and worked my way around the room looking at EVERYTHING. Three hours later, my feet were killing me and I’d only visited half of the tables in the room. I’d even forgotten to attend the seminars I was interested in. I left and returned the next day, Sunday, to complete my trek around the room. Again I forgot to attend the seminars. Once I entered that showroom, I forgot everything and focused only on the artists and their comics. It was a fun outing. Though I went alone, I wish I could have shared the experience with someone else. It would have been much more fun.

As for what I got, here are all the cards and posters I grabbed. I’ll show the books in a separate post. Most of the postcards and bookmarks were free.

If you follow me on Instagram, then you’ve probably seen all these already. In that case, here they are again! Hahahahaaa…!!! (evil laugh)

These prints are by Lily Padula. I was stuck at her booth for a while because I immediately liked her illustrations and found it hard to decide on what to get. The print I really, really wanted was sold out but I love these two.

Another artist whose work I immediately liked was Lucy Bellwood. She did the illustrations of boats above. They are postcards but I like the small size. My mum loves them as well so we’ve decided to frame these and hang them in the house.

The larger print of the astronaut dude running down the stairs is by Michael Bencze. He had some beautiful illustrations of flowers as well but I really liked the simple lines on this one. Also, there seems to be a story there. What happened to make the astronaut dude run away or is he running late for something?

I also picked up these awesome Harry Potter postcards illustrated by Natalie Andrewson. I love her work too and her booth was right beside Lily Padula’s so it took forever for me to decide on what to get. I even left and came back. Andrewson had some great posters as well, larger versions of the postcards above and others in the same style but inspired by the Fantastic Mr. Fox and the Grand Budapest Hotel movies. She also has postcard versions of the last two that comes in a pack that’s inspired by Wes Anderson movies.

Here we have a comic book, Heir Presumptive, Ch. 1, a small poster, and a business card all by Caitlin Scannell. I loved her posters too and found it hard to decide on what to get. They were all captivating and I like the gold leaf that was included on a few of them. I chose the dude with the plants because he caught my attention first, and I so like her illustrations that I had to get the comic book. It’s a web comic.

The black kitten caught my attention first and then the bright colors. The comic book, Zodiac Starforce, #1 written by Kevin Panetta, and the postcards were illustrated by Paulina Ganucheau.

From the left, the first two are by Jensine Eckwall and the third, “White Bearded Manakin,” is by Krystal Smith. The text beneath the illustration of the lady: “The Fashion and the Fury: 300 Years of Detroit’s Fur Industry.” My favorite is the odd, little cottage.

Another set of great prints I immediately loved and couldn’t decide on. These are by Jen Bartel. I love the illustrations and the bright, psychedelic colors. Would love to get more of her stuff.

The Jackson Five and Wile E. Nelson cards are by Bruce Worden, who had a very interesting customer when I arrived at his booth. The customer was trying to trade him a pen for a card. I thought it was a joke, but the customer was quite serious about the trade. The map is from the Cartozia Tales fantasy comic anthology. Each issue is by a different indy illustrator. And I forgot the name of the artist who did the illustration of the girl.

Bookmarks and postcards. The one with the zombie dude smoking a cigarette and holding a brain martini is from an Ink and Drink Comics anthology featuring horror comics by indy artists. And the postcard illustration of the girl sitting in the large skull is by Malcolm Jamison. I really like the color tone there. I forgot the name of the artist who did the zombie girl bookmark (love it!!) and the crow in the tree card.

Another pack of cards. It’s the colorful one of the guy walking his dog that caught my attention. It’s titled “Jackson Ward.” My favorite is “Shuffle Along,” which is on the far left. It looks like the people are at a jazz club or something. These are by Richie Pope.

This set was illustrated by Rebecca Mock (love her website). They show everyday things but I love them for that and the colors make them all eye-catching. My favorite is the upper right one that shows books leaning against a small bookcase. I also like the colors used in the upper left one where we see a couple in bed.

I had to get that guy/girl with their mind on books (Scalpel and a Spoon). The picnic one was too sweet to bypass (Ann Xu) and I just like that monkey chatting with the girl (Melody Often; I think the card is from her comic Trinadot). The dinosaur bookmark is from Science Comics: Dinosaurs by M.K. Reed, illus. by Joe Flood; and I forgot who did the bookmark with the plants but it has this website on the back.

And here are more promotional material I picked up because I like the illustrations on them. I won’t list them all though because that would take too much time and I’m hungry.

With that said, here ends part one of this comic book haul. Next time, I’ll show the few books I got.

Be sure to check out the artists’ websites.

Toodles. Time for food! 😛

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