mreidsma

I took back a bunch of stuff home with me from MoCCA this year, and I promised that I'd try to write about some of it for the benefit of posterity. I just finished up benrosen's Insult to Injury #8, a little collection of diary comics from the end of his freshman year in college. Rosen's been drawing comics since he was in high school, but that was only last year! His diary comics are a mix of 2-panel to 8-panel strips chronicling his life in college. But don't think Animal House or Revenge of the Nerds--while Rosen's strips tend toward the humorous punchline, they are still grounded in a life anyone can recognize and appreciate. Like most diary comics, Rosen's drawings are simple and even hurried--sometimes you get the impression that he drew them between classes, walking down the hallway, right after something happened--but this gives the art a spontaneity that his earlier, plotted-and-planned stories lacked. The linework says as much about the quick moment that he captures as the dialogue; it tells us that Rosen was the only one paying attention, and he wants to share that with us. If you ask me, that's the key to a good diary comic, and Rosen's fits the bill.

My personal favorites:

• Shotgun
• Chivalry is not dead (Best 5th panel ever)
• So f#*@$&% indie (Inspiration for my fan art up there...)

The first seven issues of Insult to Injury were compilations of longer stories and little shorts, mixed in with some diary strips. Give them a read. (I guess go to his Livejournal and ask for them?)

Today I posted my 700th High Maintenance Machine strip. Well, there are 2 ways of counting. This is the 700th strip I've drawn for High Maintenance Machine, but there are 2 strips I've never published. So maybe Saturday will be my 700th. Who knows.

Speaking of Saturday, I'll be at the MoCCA Festival at the lovely Puck building in lower Manhattan. You can find me on the 7th floor at tables S58-S59 with the rest of the Boston Comics Roundtable rabble. I'll be there from 11-6 on Saturday only, and I'll have issues #21 and (fresh off the press) #22, as well as a hundred and fifty (or so) pieces of original art for sale at $15 a pop. PLUS, the Roundtable will have the first issue of our new quarterly anthology, InBound. I saw a copy last night and it looks really great. You don't want to miss this opportunity! Plus, if you're a cartoonist, you should stop by so I can put you in my usual convention roundup. Hope to see you there!