The Chicago Humanities Festival this weekend presents the pen-ultimate panel, entitled “The Not-So-Funny Situation of Alternative Comix” and featuring Matt Groening, Lynda Barry, Jules Feiffer, and Chris Ware. Tickets are $5.
We are likely living in the golden age of graphic novels and alternative comics, but the artists themselves are facing what may be the most significant crisis in the medium’s history: the evaporation of virtually all of their outlets as alternative newsweeklies and comix publishers cease publishing their work in the midst of their own financial calamity.
The Festival — which is already going on — has several other comics-related events, including a sold out panel of New Yorker cartoonists, also on Saturday.
We welcome all reports!
*sputter!*
Tickets are $5!?
That’s so wrong. By at least an order of magnitude. It’s like someone booked the Traveling Wilburys and then started worrying that no one would come to the show.
It’s free for educators and students. The Chicago Humanities Festival always offers low-price tickets for high-quality presentations.
Unfortunately, at this point we’re too close to the event for advance tickets, so you’ve just got show up and hope they don’t sell out. Tickets at the door have an added $5 fee, so if you don’t have one already, it will set you back a full $10.