We came, we saw, we sold some comics

Trees & Hills debut at the Comic Book Show in Nashua, N.H. Sunday can be considered a networking success, although probably not a financial one. This is the new Talking Point. Please spread the word.

I think I sold 10 copies of the new anthology. Man, I pitched that thing. I pitched it to middle-aged women, Alan Moore fangirls, superhero nuts, goth kids and fanboys. One woman even asked me to sign my contribution, the first chapter of NUKE TOWN with Keith Moriarty and Zach Stephens.

Next dates for the show: April 1, 2007 and Oct. 14, 2007.

T&H co-founder Colin Tedford, meanwhile, was across the country at Stumptown in Portland, Ore. He checked in via e-mail a day or two ago with this dispatch, "Send guns and ammo. Food too. All dead here. Stay away."

Oops. Wrong e-mail. Sorry. He actually had this to say, "I sold 1 antho & traded 6; sold 14 other comics, traded 11. I was a little disappointed, but things seemed to go
slow for some other folks as well (Julia Wertz, for example, who came over
& traded some minis)."

Finding Trees & Hills in Nashua, N.H.

We'll be at Table 50 at the Comic Book Show at the Holiday Inn in Nashua, N.H. Sunday. Doors open at 10 a.m. and the show ends at 4 p.m.

Here are directions:
From the South:

Follow Route 3 North to Exit 4.

At the end of the exit, turn LEFT at the lights.

At the next set of lights, turn RIGHT (at the gas station)

Follow that road through the lights until you get to McDonalds, next is THE HOLIDAY INN CONVENTION CENTER.

Use the second entrance (the next entrance to the parking lot after the Holiday Inn sign).

The load in is underneath the overhang.

From the North:

Follow Route 3 South to Exit 4.

At the end of the exit, turn RIGHT at the lights.

At the next IMMEDIATE set of lights, turn RIGHT (at the gas station)

Follow that road through the lights until you get to McDonalds, next is THE HOLIDAY INN CONVENTION CENTER.

Things to do this weekend: Comic Conventions

The Trees & Hills group are represented at two comic conventions this weekend. The first, Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland, Ore. is already underway. T&H co-founder Colin Tedford is at that one.

And on Sunday Oct. 29, Trees & Hills co-founder Dan Barlow and his frequent comic book co-writer Keith Moriarty will be at the Comic Book Show in Nashua, N.H.

Copies of the Trees & Hills and Friends anthology will be on sale at both conventions. The 60-page book contains 19 comics by 22 creators from NH, VT and western Mass., including Stephen Bissette, Mark Martin, Cat Garza and Marek Bennett.

Scott McCloud hearts N.H. part two

Did you miss Scott McCloud's presentation at Dartmouth last week?

Good news: McCloud reports on his 50-State Tour Blog that he may be reading next month at Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, N.H.

The whole thing is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 3, but McCloud promises more detailed information soon.

"I'll await confirmation that it's open to the public before posting details, but it looks certain now that we're not done with the Granite State just yet," he wrote.

OMG! The Trees & Hills anthology is printed!

Much love to Jade Harmon, Chris Grotke, Zach Stephens and - of course - Colin Tedford - who came out Monday night to assemble the first batch of Trees & Hills & Friends anthologies.

This is what you need to know: It's 60 pages, features 19 comics by 22 creators from NH, VT and western MA. Featuring new work by Stephen Bissette and Mark Martin! Other contributors include Marek Bennett, Cat Garza, Megan Baehr and Tim Hulsizer.

Oh, yeah ... it's only $3.

We only have a few on hand at the moment, but more will be printed throughout the week. They can be purchased on-line at Colin's Comic Distro

Scott McCloud at CCS

You can read about it here.

Things to do this weekend: H.P. Lovecraft festival

Now, we here at the Trees & Hills secret headquarters know there is probably a large cross-over appeal between H.P. Lovecraft fans and comic fans.

But this festival occuring in Dummerston, Vt. this weekend has a genuine comic book connection: retired cartoonist Stephen Bissette will be speaking Saturday on the famous horror writer's influence on the comic book horror genre.

October's Saturday Meetup Replaced By Monday Fold-N-Staple

Trees & Hills' monthly 3rd-Saturday meet-up (this coming Saturday 10/23) will be cancelled because it coincides with the Keene Pumpkin Fest, which is the only reason to be in Keene that day unless you really like frustration.

However, join us Monday 10/23 (New Zealand's Labor Day) at co-founder Dan Barlow's apartment in Brattleboro, VT for a Trees & Hills And Friends mini-anthology Fold 'N' Staple Party! Help midwife the birth of our beautiful creation and have fun socializing! The more people show up, the less time we'll spend folding and stapling. You can see a few preview pages here and here.

To RSVP, email Dan at "barlowdaniel at gmail dot com".

Things to do this week: Come meet Scott McCloud

The very first "professor" of comics and author of three books on the medium, Scott McCloud, will be entertaining students and staff at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction. Vt. for the next two days.

But the public can come out and meet him Thursday, Oct. 19 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. He's speaking there at 4:15 p.m.

SPX photo flashback

N.H. cartoonist Tim Hulsizer had a busy camera this past weekend at SPX in Maryland. In addition to N.H.'s Jennifer Omand (Square Cat Comics) and her boyfriend Matt, Timmy also chronicled the madness, the mayhem and the monsters of indie comics conventions and the after parties.

Be afraid.

Things to do this weekend: SPX

Small press and indie cartoonists from all over are heading toward Bethesda, Maryland today for the 2006 Small Press Expo. Actually, the show runs from Friday-Saturday, so hopefully most of the 300 exhibitors and cartoonists are setting up as I type!

Anyway, this blogger has it on good word that one or two or maybe even three or four Trees & Hills members may be down there for the event. If anyone wants to send us a brief funny story or a picture or two, we would be happy to run them here.

Please send to barlowdaniel at gmail dot com.

Events Update

Check out the Calendar for some new listings: twice-monthly creator meet-ups in Northampton, MA; Scott McCloud at Dartmouth on 10/19; 3rd Saturday creator get-togethers in Keene and Brattleboro (depending on the month); and the official BI-COASTAL RELEASE of the Trees & Hills and Friends mini-anthology. Special awesome pages for Comics and Articles are coming soon (really!).

Massachusetts comic networking meeting

This event is a tad out of the traditional T&H map, but I thought I would pass along the notice anyway.


WANE- Bringing together established and potential comic book creators to meet, motivate, review and promote their comic book dreams.

Greetings writers and artists,

The next WANE event will be held on Monday, Oct. 23 at 7:30 pm at the Allston New England Comics. Hopefully this will give you enough notice to arrange your schedule accordingly.

Bring your scripts, portfolios, questions, networking pants, friendly handshakes and other comic book making ideas to the event. This is a laid back opportunity for you to meet with other comic book creators who both have experience and others who are just starting out.

Call the store with questions at 617-783-1848 or stop by 131 Harvard Ave. , Allston.

Please email me an RSVP if you are coming.

David Lewis has made us a website that you can visit, join and post questions, art, comments, and more. Go there and register and we'll talk more about it at the next event. It is rad and will be more so with more people. Woo!

Go To http://captionbox.net/wane

Pass this along to other like minded people and I'll see ya'll soon!!
Erin
New England Comics
WANE master
wane.nec@gmail.com

24-Hour Comic in Vermont kicks off

Cat Garza was among the dozen to 20 people who participated in 24-Hour Comic Book Day at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vt.

No word yet on who has made it this far (it's ten minutes past midnight right now), but there has been conclusive evidence that one writer/ comic group co-founder only made it 10 hours (guess who?).

Cheers to the rest of you. There's more information and photos here.

Things to do this weekend: 24-Hour Comic

Vermont:
The Center for Cartoon Studies, 94 South Main St., White River Junction, VT 05001. Must be 18 years old or older, reservations required. Email chapman@cartoonstudies.org Start time: 9:00 AM

Massachusetts:
Modern Myths, 34 Bridge St. #4, Northampton, MA, 01060, (413) 582-6973 Start time: noon

Comicopia, 464 Commonwealth Ave., Kenmore Square, Boston, MA, 02215, (617) 266-4266 Start time: Noon

Harvard University, Adams House Art Space, Linden Street, Cambridge, MA. Phone: (617) 218-7908. Restricted to students and faculty of Harvard or local universities. Start time: 9 AM

Metaversal Studios, 236 Huntington Ave. Suite 212, Boston, MA 02118 Phone: (617) 262-9696 Start time: 6 PM Friday October 6th

That's Entertainment, 244 Park Ave., Worcester, MA 01609, (508) 755-4207. Start time: 9:00 AM

More information here.

Work on the Trees & Hills anthology has begun

Love of film returns Bissette briefly to drawing board

Some guy named Daniel Barlow wrote a nice piece about retired Vermont cartoonist Stephen Bissette, and his son Danny, drawing comic panels for a new horror movie, "Head Trauma."

You can read it here.

And then the story got picked up by the Internet's most famous and awesomest blogger, Heidi MacDonald.