Broken Frontier

Literary discussion will turn to the art of graphic novel storytelling on March 3rd when a group of acclaimed comic book creators from around the metropolitan Washington DC area will come to speak at the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Arlington, VA. As guests of the weekly, in-store writing group, this team of authors and artists will discuss both their industry and their techniques from 7-9pm, with attendance free and open to the public.

Comic book scholar and creator of the Mortal Coils suspense series A. David Lewis proposed the evening event hosted by resident writing group head Jennifer Brinn. Lewis will be joined by fellow Arlington resident, artist Steve Conley, featured in the Michael Chabon Presents the Amazing Adventures of the Escapist, Volume 2 trade paperback as well as his own Astounding Space Thrills and Bloop series. From Falls Church, John Gallagher of Sky Dog Comics comes to the group with his experiences from both the all-ages Buzzboy books as well as the recent Even More Fund Comics charitable anthology. Silent Devil Entertainment's Editor-In-Chief and Silent Forest co-writer Christian Beranek will be in attendance, as will Maryland's own multiple Eisner Award-nominee and Ignatz Award-winner for Finder, Carla Speed McNeil.

"It's a great sign of comic books' growing mainstream acceptance," says Lewis about the event, "particularly when it comes from other writers and an establishment like Barnes & Noble. Each of us is growing from our 'small press' roots here in Metro DC into the larger comic bookindustry, but it's still invaluable to have events like this -- both for people to have access to new kinds of comics but also to share what we've learned from shaping these graphic novels." Brinn notes that conversation will center around questions like "how approaching an idea for a graphic novel is different than using it for any other medium.  What do you look for?  What makes it a 'graphic novel' vs. standard short story? What do folks who aren't artists do if they want to do graphic novels?  What are the publishing options out there for new authors of graphic novels?"

The event will be held March 3, 2005 from 7-9pm at 2800 Clarendon Blvd., the Barnes & Noble at the Clarendon Market Commons shopping center in Arlington, VA. Attendance is free and open to the public, but interested parties are suggested to arrive early for seating may be limited. Additional information on the event and the Cat Vacuuming Society writers group can be found online at http://www.cvswriters.com/.