SPX/Baltimore Comic-Con Spotlight 2013: Curls Studio

Welcome to another entry in the 2013 SPX Spotlight series!  For the next month, I'll be highlighting creators and publishers who will be at one of the best convention, the Small Press Expo.  You can check out all of my spotlights for SPX from both this year and prior years here.

Welcome also to my first 2013 Baltimore Comic-Con Spotlight entries. Over the course of this week, I will also be highlighting creators and publishers who will be at another of my favorite conventions, the Baltimore Comic-Con. You can check out all of my spotlights for the Baltimore Comic-Con from both this year and prior years here.

Many comics are the work of a collaboration of efforts. When the team is in sync and firing on all cylinders, with a strong vision of what they want to accomplish, the results are some very entertaining comics.

That's definitely the case in the work of Curls Studio, the name of the collective work of writer/artist Carolyn Belefski and writer Joe Carabeo, who also does amazing film and video work, though that's outside the scope of this preview. The two work together to create fun comics that replicate the style of a newspaper strip but have a level of energy that I find lacking in the work of most strips running today.

Belefski and Carabeo collaborate most often on stories of Roxy and Dean, two thieves with good hearts. Often, their targets are folks who have the law on their side, but not morality, putting them in a bit of a Robin Hood-like class, except I'm pretty sure they tend to keep every penny they pilfer. The pair pop up in various anthologies and Curls offers a collected edition of their adventures.

Carolyn also works solo on the webcomic Curls, which updates twice a week. It's a cute slice of life comic with recurring characters that fans of Richard Thompson's Cul-de-Sac would definitely love. (Belefski is a member of Team Cul-de-Sac, and will be on the panel Sunday at 11am at the Baltimore Comic-Con for the organization.)

Unfortunately, the pair do not have anything new of their own to offer long-time fans. However, Belefski is now the editor of Magic Bullet, and they will have copies of issue 7 available at both shows in addition to the Curls collections, prints, pins, mini-comics, and other items that they've put together over the past few years. Make sure you catch up on anything you may have missed (I personally recommend the Carnival anthology or the Legettes, review here) and be sure to stop by and say hello!

Can't make Baltimore or SPX? Have Roxy and Dean stolen your time?  Yikes! Well, go to the Curls site, which has a link to where you can buy things from Carolyn and Joe.