MICE Preview

One of my favorite things about the Fall is that it means that it's time for the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo (MICE).  MICE is going into its eighth year, and it's a wonderful (and completely free!) showcase of small press and self-published comics (think Small Press Expo, but smaller).

This past weekend I had a chance to attend a Preview Night event, and it's got me even more excited for MICE in a few weeks.  The Preview Night took place at a nice venue called Alley in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where guests had a chance to mingle and chat with comics creators.  The more formal part of the event consisted of four different artists (who will all be appearing at MICE) presenting their work and speaking about their creative process. 

Patt Kelley

Patt Kelley spoke about his funny horror comic Scout, and also brought a fantastic sculpture of one of the horrific creatures featured in the comic and used in a sculpture cover. He showed the process of turning that sculpture into the cover for one of the issues of Scout.

Ansis Purins

Ansis Purins showed examples of his comic Zombre which is part of a larger world called Magic Forest, and walked the audience through his drawing and creative process.

Ezra Rose

Ezra Rose spoke about Rose's new comic Six Songs, which is based on Rose's extensive research into Jewish conceptions of angels and other ideas and texts from Jewish Mysticism that we definitely didn't cover in Hebrew School.

Line Olsson

Line Olsson spoke about her new comic Happy Hour in the Temple of Love, which is a collection of short comics, all dealing with love in a critical, funny and sardonic way.

This year's special guests at MICE include the terrific lineup of Michael Deforge, Liz Prince, Jason Shiga, Kazu Kibuishi, Isabel Greenberg and Mark Siegel. These creators make up only a small amount of the talented creators that will be at MICE, along with panel discussions and a number of events for kids.

I think this will be my fifth or sixth time attending MICE, and each time I go I pick up something new and interesting and unexpected (and a few years ago had the opportunity at MICE to participate in a panel discussion on writing about comics). As I said, it's a completely free event, and a great chance to meet some wonderful comics creators. 

Details:

October 21-22

Saturday 10-6

Sunday 11-5

University Hall at Lesley University

1815 Massachusetts Avenue

Cambridge, MA