I hosted a comics reading at the Fun House last Saturday. It went really well, about 25 folks showed up to hear four very different readings!
Sara Drake went first, performing a dramatization of the comic she's working on right now. A conversation between a garden (played by Sara), a sullen garden hose (played by Krystal DiFronzo), and a cynical moth (played by Cassandra Troyan). It was beautifully poetic, and may or may not have included confetti, I didn't see it happen, but there sure was some on the floor at the end of the night.
Rickey Gonzales went next and straight-up READ his comic Concepcion out loud. Rickey's comics actually work really well in this delivery, as they could be considered sequential illustrated essays rather than comics (in the traditional sense of the word). Rickey's one of my favorite comics writers, and I was reminded how much I love his writing from his reading on Saturday.
Aaron Renier followed Rickey, and read the first handful of pages from The Unsinkable Walker Bean, which comes out in just a matter of WEEKS! Aaron's reading got me so excited about this book I nearly exploded. I can not wait to read it! Aaron's piece had a lot of dialog, and he read each character in a different voice. Hilarity ensued when he couldn't keep the voices straight for any of the characters. It was great.
Edie Fake capped the night off with a reading from his series, Gaylord Phoenix, which will be collected into a book from Secret Acres at the end of the year. Edie wasn't sure about how he would narrate the slides, as the dialog is minimal in the series, but I think his guidance of the audience through the beautiful world of the Gaylord Phoenix was really well done, directing us with enough space to let us explore the amazing landscapes Edie created. Just like with Aaron's reading, Edie's presentation left me brimming with anticipation for the book!
After the reading, everyone hung out for a little while, ate popcorn and complained about how hot my apartment was. So I told them all to scram. The end.
