The Four Color Media Monitor

Athol Daily News (Greenfield, MA) announced a library convention in which a dozen local artists will be hosted:

The Athol Public Library and Hero Shack Press are busy with preparations for the upcoming Comic Book Fest, on Saturday, Oct. 1. The festival will take over both floors of the Athol Town Hall as well as the meeting spaces next door in the library. This all ages event will be a comic book lover’s dream with 12 local artists, workshops, vendors, cosplay, games, crafts and more.

Hero Shack Press wasn’t initially thinking of hosting such a large-scale event. Christopher and Diana Tamulevich, creators of The Great Cyclopian and other books, recalled their first meeting with the staff at the Athol Public Library: “As independent creators, we were looking for ways to get our comic book series in the hands of readers. We contacted the Athol library, in hopes they would be interested in reading them and carrying the books at the library. Little did we know, that idea turned into a much better plan! We began to toss around the idea of possibly having a small comic book expo.”

Comic Book Fest will feature free activities for all ages. There will be hero-themed crafts and games including Death Star target practice, villain bowling, an obstacle course and mask decorating. An Artist’s Alley will be set up in the town hall where visitors can meet local artists Krista Erickson, Francseca Theriault, MJ Clark, James Blackmore and more. Local vendors Holey Moley’s Comics & Collectibles and His & Hers Comics will also have comics and collectibles for sale.

“The idea was to invite some of our colleagues who are independent comic book creators like ourselves and host a free event that would introduce families to comic book reading as well as encourage reading overall. We reached out to our network and were able to secure some amazing talent,” explained Tamulevich.

I certainly think it's better than holding a convention in which modern writers for the major publishers are the spotlight, given how PC they can be today. And if the meaning of "villain bowling" means knocking over tenpins with images of villains on them, that's a great idea too, far better than worshiping villains, which has sadly become far too commonplace in this day and age.

Labels: conventions, indie publishers, libraries