Shortbox Comics Fair 2024 Faves and More! (Part 2)
Oh October! I have loved this month more since first finding out about Zainab Akhtar’s wonderful innovative online comics fair debuting all-new digital comics from independent artists around the world. It is a perfect time for me to remember why I love comics so much along with supporting several creators at once.
The website for the comics fair shares:
“ShortBox Comics Fair is the innovative digital comics fair showcasing all-new, original comics from artists around the globe!
The aim of the fair is to serve as a creative impetus for artists to make something new; to provide a platform for fresh and unique independent comics, all gathered in one place; and to connect readers with an array of work diverse in style and approach.
ShortBox Comics Fair is an accessible, comics-focused event: artists and comics readers alike can participate online from anywhere in the world (no travel, no con-crud, no lugging suitcases full of comics back and forth!).
The fair takes place annually throughout October.”
Returning for its fourth year, I wanted to again share MORE of my favorites (Here’s my first collection of faves) from the comics I bought and continue to shine a light on comic creators, innovators like Zainab Akhtar and just geek out on really thought provoking, cute, awe-worthy comics we all should be reading before the fair officially ends!
TLDR: HERE’S PART TWO OF SOME OF MY FAVES FROM THE FAIR THIS YEAR!
Gnome Granny
Words and Art by: c.le.mieux
OH, MORE COMICS ABOUT GRANNIES, PLEASE! Gnome Granny greets the reader in a delightful way: vividly full color pages, an adorable art style and an endearing main character who we find out is a gnome collector. Maggie has been hunting after a very special little friend for decades now, after missing out on buying him the first time. When the special little gnome is seen at the produce market, she’s determined not to let anything get between her and her newest piece of her grand collection.
Representation wise, I love that Gnome Granny centers on an older woman who is living her best life, collecting what she loves with her female partner at her side. There is so much garbage in the media today from gross politicians worried about childless cat ladies to those unfortunately popular social media dating swindlers who are convinced that women shouldn’t have fulfilling lives doing what they love. Seeing Maggie, Cici, her wife and their older group of friends makes me feel warm inside, seeing this fictional but lovely queer rep and seeing Maggie’s full life full of color.
What really pushes the envelope in c.le.mieux ‘s adorable comic is the very real acknowledgement of the woes of being a collector and having those feelings validated by you, your loved ones and your community. (I could write a whole book on the over-a-decade journey I had of recollecting some of my favorite out of print manga series from when I was teenager~) I love that while Maggie does go through the stages of grief after a deal falls through, she is supported, loved on, heard by who matters most and starts learning how to cope.
Surprisingly, she finds a newer place (to her–at least, but not to us who are chronically online) of a like minded community that gives her the strength to share and start seriously processing her grief. There’s some great pages towards the end of the comic about safe places, hobbies and bonding with others in a world that may not readily accept you that really hit all the right places, emotionally in the story.
Those Who Leave
Words and Art by: cowlick
In a caption in a post with some concept art of the comic, the artist wrote “I don’t see media showcasing the culture around rural graves in China, so I wanted to highlight that in my new comic…” Always curious about the rituals we have in life and death, I checked out this black and white comic of twenty-something pages. From the eye-catching front cover of the comic to its pages where the black and white color scheme makes the journey back home striking, this comic was one to remember.
Those Who Leave has a simple premise which opens up to a thought-provoking and heartfelt short comic that delves into lineage, family and how one culturally views death and country. I loved the page of the author confronting the burials in the countryside with the question: Which is better, to be transformed by time, or to become unrecognizable in an instant?
In their own words, cowlick’s comic is “an autobiographical account of Chinese death and burial rituals featuring cute cows.” After reading I was left with my own thoughts and memories: of the last time I visited my (now dead) grandparents’ graves, on how I felt not being able to say goodbye to my dying grandmother and the funerals I may have not been present for, physically and mentally.
I really appreciate the author’s push to better understand their family and this way of life that may feel out of touch to those who don’t reside in or visit the Chinese countryside often enough. There are many ways to honor the dead, remember them, and pay homage to them. I love cowlick’s way of documenting this journey for themselves and gaining the understanding that they need in such a poetic way so we don’t “forget our cultures and customs”.
A Starladen Stroll
Words and art by Apoorva Rege
Another fully colored comic! Yay! A Starladen Stroll (What a title! If this was a candle or perfume, I’d buy it, just saying) centers on two adult friends who go on a nighttime errand together and have a heart to heart along the way. Apoorva Rege made a comic about two friends confronting the “Sunday scaries” and made it a relatable and tear-jerking read. What I love most about this comic is that the narrative leans into reminding of the importance and affirming comfort of friendship and the people who become like safe places for us.
We are honored best when the people who know us the best can pinpoint that something is wrong and work on extracting those burdened and uncomfortable feelings out of us. The artwork in A Starladen Stroll, features a beautiful landscape the two friends travel through that doesn’t distract from the narrative at hand or the lessons it leaves at the end. The creator’s coloring makes for a magical look that makes the night time adventure a stunning one to follow, visually.
Expectations, acceptance, transitions in life and even FOMO all play a part in our life’s stories. Friends being present for each other as they both climb the proverbial and physical hills of life is always a grand reminder for me to be thankful for the friends in my life as I see these two characters on the page.
I may have re-interpreted Kate Bush’s iconic “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” on my first read through of the comic towards the end as I thought about the themes of loneliness, selfishness and feeling validated with a friend played out here by Rege’s pen. A Starladen Stroll is a comic for those wanting to read about friendships, being vulnerable and those “looking for intimacy in a world that often feels like it’s against you”, as written by the creator.
Runaway Mayhem
Words and art by Zen K
This sci-fi short begs the questions: How do androids navigate a post-android world? Short Box Comics fair has included some stellar comics thriving in the sci-fi genre and Zen K’s work here is another favorite of mine that I’d recommend. The author explores that question along with touching upon what makes humans…human and how to define conservation of a species.There’s Akira homages, really great paneling throughout the comic and some fun, humorous little moments between the two main characters.
I’m really struck by the emotional depth here with a world failing at obtaining immortality and attempting to erase and having remnants still around, trying to eke out a living. When I got to the end of this comic, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this comic was the comics festival debut of its creator! (Read her interview with The Cartoonist Cooperative here!) I always feel a rush of serotonin to find creatives I am unfamiliar with, each year at the Fair and to later learn that they are debuting comics for the first time or new to comics in general.
Like any art form or medium, comics have the ability to tell stories and as a reader I gravitated to this one in particular for its promise of failure, resistance and how history is often rewritten to erase the discarded. Runaway Mayhem moves along at a steady pace with one character slowly trusting another while a terrible past history is slowly revealed on the page. I love how this narrative isn’t rushed and curiosity and non judgment really take the lead in bringing these two characters together. I would love to see more of them in a longer or reworked version as they really bring humanity to the story and the disjointed world that they both find themselves living in.
ShortBox Comics Fair is the innovative digital comics fair showcasing all-new, original comics from artists around the globe!
Carrie McClain is an Californian native who navigates the world as writer, editor, and media scholar who firmly believes that we can and we should critique the media we consume. She once aided Cindi Mayweather in avoiding capture. See more of her on Twitter (X) and a few other places she can be found online.
