New York Art Book Fair

This week, we were down in New York for the amazing New York Art Book Fair at PS1. This year was more "comics-friendly" than ever, with PictureBox (with a whole room to themselves!), D+Q, Press Pop and stores like Desert Island, Needles & Pens and Ooga Booga, as well as several mini-comics and zine people.

Here's a crowd shot in the late afternoon on Saturday. Believe me, it got more crowded than this! I think this photo proves a few things:
1- people in New York are just cooler and better-looking than everyone else
2- at any given time, at least 25% of them are texting

Store manager Rory looks out over the booth early Thursday. Ok, ok, so bringing out our handsomest employee was perhaps crowd pandering. SUE ME.

Leanne Shapton and fellow J & L publisher Jason Fulford have a chat as Leanne sits down to sign her brand new THE NATIVE TREES OF CANADA. I can never believe how many projects our cartoonists have going on! Leanne graciously agreed to come sign books even though she had just flown in from Italy the day before and was working at her own booth at the fair. Aside from this, she seemed to know and remember every other person who came up to the booth. It was a delight to get to spend some time with her.

Once D+Q intern Harley Smart hangs out at Anteism, the publisher that he co-runs with Ryan Thompson. Seriously, though, there were so many familiar Canadian faces in this room that I can't even begin to list them all. Hopefully we gave all the American visitors a little taste of the rich and varied art publishing landscape in Canada!

How exciting was it to see Press Pop at the NYABF?! We picked up as much as we possibly could for our store here, so make sure to keep an eye on the 211 blog to see when we have it available in store.

This year was the first that Desert Island was there. In fact, Gabe told me that this was the first convention he's ever done! Aside, of course, from the one that Desert Island and PictureBox co-run, Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, happening Dec. 4th this year.

PictureBox intern Molly shills books under an enormous 3-d logo. See those King Terry posters in the background? Oh yes, you can get them from our store. Haven't you always wanted a poster of a man on a toilet that reads "Ain't Thinkin' About U"? Yes, that's what I thought. Of course you did.

More King Terry! Will the stuff we shipped back to Canada make it across the border? Only time will tell.

This bleacher shot doesn't exactly showcase how crazy Dan's set-up was, and this photo was taken on the last day, so the piles were significantly smaller than they were on Thursday night, but, give me a break! That room was so packed the whole week that it was hard to even get in there!

This show is amazing, and completely overwhelming. If you ever get the chance, definitely try to make it down, and I would suggest going more than once, just so you can soak it all in. If you missed it, though, fret not, as we'll be back in NY on December 4th!

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